James

Ashton looked great until the injuries started to be honest. Was scoring for fun, and although the Liverpool vs West Ham FA Cup Final is remembered as the Gerrard final, it looked like the Dean Ashton Final in the first half. Hasn't been the same since, but would be immense for us if we found the old Dean Ashton somehow.

Viduka is out for upto six months. A target man should now be our number one transfer priority in my opinion

He's a billionaire you nutter His personal fortune was over £2 billion before he took over.. £1800 million when he took over, £1200 million now. That is 33% of his wealth lost since coming here. Only two years left at this rate

This. We all know that. The thread was more about his distance from the players and his aparent stifling of individuality than anything else, but then again you don't have the mental or emoional maturity to realise that. What GeJon said.

get your facts right lad ........ how much money do you think they should have backed them with, and I hope you aren't criticising for going into this debt, while advocating spending more BTW http://www.football.co.uk/newcastle_united/magpies_planning_more_spending_179872.shtml So there, an example where Shepherd failed to meet a valuation for a player, and instead went for a cheap deal in Carr, who as Spurs fans will tell you, they wanted rid at the time. In fact, judging from the bit in bold, Shepherd had already made up his mind that he was going cheap with his right backs. What a success that turned out to be. Meanwhile Miguel remains renowned as one of the best full backs out there. Lies according to Sir Bobby Robson, who instead wanted to sign a local lad in Michael Carrick for £500k but was overruled. As you should know, Carrick is now an £18m England international playing regular games for Manchester United. What a shame Shepherd didn't want toback Robson's footballing expertise. So, having spent millions to get back into the Champions League, you are advocating spending more than the club had to spend are you ? Carrick was at West Ham and cost a lot more than 500k by the way. We missed the boat on Carrick due to not having a youth system. Which was corrected and rebuilt when Shepherd was chairman, which had been needed for about 80 years, the same as the stadium expansion, but don't let the facts get in the way of your point of view. Benfica sold Miguel for £6m. Given how much money Shepherd threw around the following summer (unless of course you don't advocate the debt that this caused), I reckon he could have found the funds if he wanted. Carrick went to Spurs the next season for £2.75m when West Ham had greater financial stability and carrick's stock had risen, so £500k was the valuation. £500k or £2.75m is no difference in the end. Shame we didn't get him as a youngster, but that is no excuse for missing the boat a second time.

get your facts right lad ........ how much money do you think they should have backed them with, and I hope you aren't criticising for going into this debt, while advocating spending more BTW http://www.football.co.uk/newcastle_united/magpies_planning_more_spending_179872.shtml So there, an example where Shepherd failed to meet a valuation for a player, and instead went for a cheap deal in Carr, who as Spurs fans will tell you, they wanted rid at the time. In fact, judging from the bit in bold, Shepherd had already made up his mind that he was going cheap with his right backs. What a success that turned out to be. Meanwhile Miguel remains renowned as one of the best full backs out there. Lies according to Sir Bobby Robson, who instead wanted to sign a local lad in Michael Carrick for £500k but was overruled. As you should know, Carrick is now an £18m England international playing regular games for Manchester United. What a shame Shepherd didn't want toback Robson's footballing expertise.

All I can say is that we wouldn't have had to play catch up behind the 'big four' if the people in charge at the club in the years 2003 and 2004 had made decent managerial appointments and backed the manager both by providing cash and not interfering in his decisions.

I'm getting a bit sick of this Top Four nonsense. As I see it, these are just the four clubs who have recently been in the top four places in the league. It takes no time at all for one of these teams to mess things up and fall away. A few years ago, it was the Big 5: Manyoo, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Chelsea. The previous year, it was the Big 3: Manyoo, Arsenal, Newcastle. That year, around March/April, Sky were advertising the title as a three horse race. At this point, Chelsea and Liverpool were just like us and Spurs. In fact, since the Premiership has started, we've effectively put in four genuine title challenges (as in still there into the final quarter of the season) - that is four more than Liverpool I reckon. Our two falls from grace (under Dalglish and Souness) effectively came at times when we were in the top 3 of the richest English clubs. What I'm effectively trying to say is that nothing is set in stone and never will be.

Troisi should look at the likes of Gary Caldwell and Bradley Orr and how they have made decent pro careers for themselves after failing to breakthrough here. With caps for Australia and a chance to impress at the Olympics, he should be optimistic that things can work out. I can see a club taking a chance on Ramage, but away from NUFC, it is impossible to predict whether he will path out a career or fall into obscurity. Good riddance Stephen Carr. I hope no-one will want to pay him thousands a week as he doesn't deserve it.

Smith is the least intelligent footballer I have ever seen. He stands still when he should run, and he runs when he should stand still. He harries when he shouldn't and when he should, he backs off. He gives away free kicks that are more dangerous than the passage of play he is cynically trying to break up. He gets sent off for dissent when the referee was in the right in the first place. His flick-ons go away from his team mates. He lets the ball run on to a team mate only when there are several opposition defenders with a better chance of intercepting the ball. When he passes the ball, he just hits it as hard as he can at the nearest team mate, irrespective of good foot, bad foot, space, and direction of play.

So Keegan is aiming for 5th next season? That is ambitious enough for now. Wouldn't be dissappointed to fall short of that. The top 4 isn't permanent, many possibilities could shift the balance of power, we'll just have to wait and see. The best we can do is the best we can do.

With regards to the first goal conceded, people are being unfair on Smith (who was otherwise shite). As the corner was taken, Smith was tightly marking Carvalho. Butt was on Ballack. Butt is ball watching and Ballack peels off unnoticed. Smith sees where the ball is going and makes a last ditch charge towards Ballack and hence looked like the player who should have been on him when he was in fact trying to fill in for another player's duty.

Shith on for Viduka.

One passing move that ended with Essien forcing Barton to give away a goal kick was outstanding.

Looks like it may be Barton off, Smith on due to injury.......

Excellent first half performance. Back 4 + Butt have been defensively faultless. Main worries have been when one of the other 5 outfield players has wasted possession. Martins has been exciting, but he has tried too hard at times.

Man United fans.

Come on!

Was this the Chelsea team that got beat vs Spurs in the League Cup?

NUFC: Harper; Enrique, Taylor, Faye, Beye; Geremi, Butt, Barton; Owen, Martins, Viduka. Subs: Forster, Cacapa, N'Zogbia, Duff, Smith CFC: Cech; Bridge, Terry, Carvalho, Ferreira; Malouda, Ballack, Mikel, Essien; Drogba, Anelka. Subs: Cudicini, Alex, Cole, Lampard, Shevchenko. Referee: Steve Bennett Post match reaction can be found from: http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=52501.msg1311811#msg1311811 PLEASE DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES REQUEST OR PROVIDE LINKS TO ILLEGAL MATCH STREAMS. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE BANNED* *See http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=19161.0 for more information

Bit of a shock in the Conference playoffs. Exeter City were 1-3 behind on aggregate away at rivals Torquay with 20 minutes of the tie remaining, and went on to win 5-3.

Fergie had a go at Chelsea yesterday for thinking that they'd already won this game.

Scored more goals than anyone except Man United this season. Not dull. A traditional, quality winger in Ashley Young? Not dull. The pace of Agbonlahor? Not dull. Combined with the power of Carew? Not dull. The passing of Barry? Not dull. Currently in with a very good chance of finishing 5th, two years after having looked odds on for relegation, and not even having started spending properly yet? Not dull. I admire your optimism, but you're just pretending other teams don't exist and not really providing any arguments to back up your theory. It was indeed a great result at WHL but by that measure, West Ham have beaten Man U the last three times they've played. All hail next year's champions from East London. Everton dull and workmanlike? And fifth in the league. It is a very competitive league and will get more so. Villa at the moment remind me very much of Robson's Newcastle. A Shearer would have you in the top 3 in my opinion. Villa should go all out for Villa, he could be the man for you guys. I don't think scoring goals is actually a problem for Villa at the moment. No, but a top top striker would really change the dimension of the Villa team, allowing them to defend from the front much like we did with Griffin, bramble, O'Brien and Bernard in defence.

It only takes a Robert and a Bellamy at the end of the day. I'm certainly not going to be dissapointed with gradual improvement, but I wouldn't be suprised if things happenned otherwise.

Scored more goals than anyone except Man United this season. Not dull. A traditional, quality winger in Ashley Young? Not dull. The pace of Agbonlahor? Not dull. Combined with the power of Carew? Not dull. The passing of Barry? Not dull. Currently in with a very good chance of finishing 5th, two years after having looked odds on for relegation, and not even having started spending properly yet? Not dull. I admire your optimism, but you're just pretending other teams don't exist and not really providing any arguments to back up your theory. It was indeed a great result at WHL but by that measure, West Ham have beaten Man U the last three times they've played. All hail next year's champions from East London. Everton dull and workmanlike? And fifth in the league. It is a very competitive league and will get more so. Villa at the moment remind me very much of Robson's Newcastle. A Shearer would have you in the top 3 in my opinion. Villa should go all out for Villa, he could be the man for you guys.