James

I'm thinking more along the lines of Mallorca or Zaragoza. Shola can be good against some continental teams because he's a little different. I can think of loads of worse Premier League strikers, its just that Newcastle have been spoilt with quality strikers for over fourteen years, making us all a little fussy.

Shola is better than Ipswich to be honest. Much of his general play is not as good as we need, but he can still be an effective player at times. I reckon he should give it a go at a top flight club on the continent.

have you read the thread ? At now point other than from you has it been said on this thread that it was spread betting. Regardless, you normally have to spend a lot more to lose a lot in financial markets, and the chances are that NOTW changed putting £129m on falling assets into losing £129 in total if you get what I mean. stozo on this very page aswell points it out aswell. have a read of the article. Regardless of how it was spent/lost, the fact remains that in all likelihood, NOTW being NOTW and not FT exaggerated the £129m loss in that it could have actually been £129m invested in falling assets with a smaller figure actually lost.

have you read the thread ? At now point other than from you has it been said on this thread that it was spread betting. Regardless, you normally have to spend a lot more to lose a lot in financial markets, and the chances are that NOTW changed putting £129m on falling assets into losing £129 in total if you get what I mean.

Just looking at how HBOS shares have dropped recently (assumming that is where the investments took place, and Ashley purchased at the peak and either kept the shares, or sold them at the trough), Ashley would have needed to have invested about £473m cash to lose £129m, which is about 1/4 or his estimated worth, and highly doubt he'd have that much cash, and if he did, he wouldn't put them all into shares of one company. I reckon he put £129m on shares, and then when the shares dropped, he lost £34m, and the media have written it all in an exaggerated way.

Barton's better.

In the end of the day, there are two factors that determine who a player will sign for: a) Opportunities for successful career b) Money being offerred The likes of Luque have admitted that coming here wasn't a career move, it was a financial move, and those players signed under the late Shepherd regime didn't have the motivation to show their quality over a season. It is going to be hard to promote reason a) as a reason to join the club right now, while reason b) is very flawed, especially as we have too many like that already.

I tend to ignore the quote pyramids, so that is the first time I've seen such an explicit case of him saying: "Everyone of those fans thinks this. OK, some don't but they don't count as I'm arrogant enough to know better." Drug induced fantasy featuring hallucinations of head in cloud ninety-nine.

Dear NE5, read this article, and then read the comments: http://www.newcastle-online.com/2007/07/02/buying-from-our-premiership-rivals-2007-blackburn-rovers/ why do you think I'm bothered about the opinion of a handful of Blackburn fans ? I've been to Blackburn twice in the 80's and there was more NUFC fans than they were. They boo their ex player who won the title for them almost single handed, idiots that they are. Without Jack Walkers money they would be nothing, because they are a small club, albeit with a good manager at the moment who will move on when the right offer comes Did Blackburn fans really boo Shearer? Yeah.

Dear NE5, read this article, and then read the comments: http://www.newcastle-online.com/2007/07/02/buying-from-our-premiership-rivals-2007-blackburn-rovers/ why do you think I'm bothered about the opinion of a handful of Blackburn fans ? Well you say that even the biggest Blackburn fans would admit that NUFC are the more attractive club, and now you are faced with conflicting evidence that contradicts your point, you claim not to be interested in their views. Do you only think people that share your exact same viewpoint are worth listening to? FWIW, I think it would be very difficult to get Bentley, but I think that we should try.

NE5, read the comments on the link I posted on page 5 regarding the attitude of Blackburn fans.

Jol, Newcastle U18's beat the Italian elite to some youth trophy a couple of years ago, and none of the players have come through since.

Dear NE5, read this article, and then read the comments: http://www.newcastle-online.com/2007/07/02/buying-from-our-premiership-rivals-2007-blackburn-rovers/

Going to hand in a transfer request if things don't improve at the club apparently according to todays papers.

There has been debate in the spark thread about the importance of tactics in football. Owen's role today was a tactic, but opposition managers will now see that, and any that are half good will be getting players to keep tight on Owen when he is approaching from deep.

Fulham were poor with the final ball, so even though Bullard dictated tempo at times, Fulham were snuffed out every time they got near our goal.

MOTD editors made us look like Brazil tonight.

Jenas, Defoe, Agbonlahor, Wright-Phillips, Wheater and Young out. Upson injured and not replaced. Carson injured and replaced by Robinson.

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/7954/50671618re3.jpg

Looking at Spurs' remaining fixtures, I reckon that we could have them.

No-one can really agree on who are best players were today, which probably speaks volumes about the standard of play in the team as a whole.

Today and Birmingham are another example of Geremi starting, and us getting some sort of result this season.

I thought the most pleasing part of the game was the intelligent movement of some of our players, in particular Enrique seeming to adopt the right positions on and off the ball with Barton in front often cutting inside, Butt dropping deep at all times, Owen and Viduka coming deep to collect the ball from midfield. The formation wouldn't have worked otherwise.

Did you see the game? Yes How can you give Geremi 8 and Beye 6? should be the other way around. Corners aside, Geremi played an intelligent game and played quite a few good and important passes that led to goals/chances. Beye's slightly suspect positioning got a bit exposed with just the 3 midfielders instead of four. Not a bad game though.

Did you see the game? Yes