James

One thing that also struck me from watching that video is that it was the last major tournament to be about the fans rather than about corporate sponsors.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7421046.stm Class look back at the best bits of Euro 96 from the BBC archives. I still yelp at Gazza's miss, plus I couldn't help but laugh at Southgate by the end of the programme. It is an hour long, just so people know.

Yep, complete with the stunning revelation that Sydney Govou, who has been playing up front or wide right for both France and Lyon for years, is in fact a right back not worthy of Habib Beye's shirt.

Howay guys, calm down, kingdawson is one of the more honest posters on here. FWIW, I think that Dunne would be an excellent signing for Spurs and for us, so I'd be pissed off if he went there. But if KD thinks he isn't good enough, fair play, he's wrong, but he can't be right all the time and I don't think he is trying to wind people up on here.

Believe me, I'm as concerned as you about the transfers this summer. The squad needs a fair bit of investment, and I'm not sure that lots of young promising kids is the correct way to flesh out the squad - we need some proven quality and experience in there too. Promise, and/or credentials alone don't mean a player will be a success at St James Hugo had promise. Didn't do a huge amount over here for whatever reason. Cacapa had lots of the credentials in the french league. Didnt appear to be entirely suited to the premier league. Are we really paying three more people, or is it just three different people? I wonder who was making the most - Wise or Doug Shepherd. We've made a positive start by getting rid of some of the liabilities (I'm not sure Troisi's release was a good or bad thing), hopefully they can start to rebuild, buy some good players and play some good, winning football next season. As for SWP and Eagles? I doubt it very much. We're constantly linked to Wright-Phillips, and Eagles? Nah... Just a name off the top of my head - use Saha in my example if it makes you more happy. was trying to write in between work and got bogged down by semantics to summarise; some people are happy/content (call it what you will) that a team of specialists brought in to basically do one job have produced no tangible results in almost 6 months i'm not, that's all i'm saying if we start the season with a wonderful deep, packed vibrant young squad then there's a standing apology from me Not asking for too much are you? christ on a bike "if we start the season with one new player" - does that do you? Well pretty much saying that you already don't like the job done by people who have only had six months in the job, and will only change your mind if we have "a wonderful deep, packed vibrant young squad" is both unfair and unrealistic. I hope that by September, the squad will be improved, but I do not expect it to be perfect.

Three article interview with Carver in the Chronicle today.

Believe me, I'm as concerned as you about the transfers this summer. The squad needs a fair bit of investment, and I'm not sure that lots of young promising kids is the correct way to flesh out the squad - we need some proven quality and experience in there too. Promise, and/or credentials alone don't mean a player will be a success at St James Hugo had promise. Didn't do a huge amount over here for whatever reason. Cacapa had lots of the credentials in the french league. Didnt appear to be entirely suited to the premier league. Are we really paying three more people, or is it just three different people? I wonder who was making the most - Wise or Doug Shepherd. We've made a positive start by getting rid of some of the liabilities (I'm not sure Troisi's release was a good or bad thing), hopefully they can start to rebuild, buy some good players and play some good, winning football next season. As for SWP and Eagles? I doubt it very much. We're constantly linked to Wright-Phillips, and Eagles? Nah... Just a name off the top of my head - use Saha in my example if it makes you more happy. was trying to write in between work and got bogged down by semantics to summarise; some people are happy/content (call it what you will) that a team of specialists brought in to basically do one job have produced no tangible results in almost 6 months i'm not, that's all i'm saying if we start the season with a wonderful deep, packed vibrant young squad then there's a standing apology from me Not asking for too much are you?

i'm not gonna argue this down to the bones with you mate, i'm just not...but lets say for argument someone could have been at the turkey game the night before or the ivory coast game the night after, such venues might have prevented his attendance in moscow due to travel time etc...? but it's not the point, i don't really care because other clubs haven't signed anyone means we shouldn't does it? you're right though, maybe we've got deals all lined up and the players ready to dance june first personally i'm expecting another half-arsed transfer fiasco...just more annoying 'cause we're now paying 3 new people to fuck it up Easier to get to Moscow from Istanbul than it is from Newcastle At the end of the day, there are more scouts than just Wise and Vetere. There are several officially employed by the club, and many more who will work for us freelance (Zola apparently). Fact is that you don't know who is watching who, so it is unfair to make such comments. Besides, Keegan, Wise et al joined in January by which point summer plans have been made. The world doesn't revolve around NUFC 24/7. If Keegan is happy for people to be on holidays before Euro 2008, I trust him. After all, we have been looking at players for a few months now, and lets face it, the majority in the Euros won't join a club beforehand. Most the players will already be on an agent ban by now anyhow. I certainly remember signing the best player at Euro 96 after the tournament.

I would take Govou, definitely, as long as Keegan knows his position.

Hence the laughter

Well Keegan now thinks it is the best time to take a break from NUFC to concentrate on his soccer skills circus, and I trust Keegan if he thinks it best to leave the job to others before then.

I'm not worried about anything the media are coming out with regarding Keegan, as Keegan pretty much said on the Official Site that he is staying away from NUFC matters until the start of EURO 2008, and probably won't even go to EURO 2008 unless someone else needs him. In fact, this own statement in bold from Keegan sounds very much an acceptance of the fact that Vetere and Wise would be taking care of stuff for him.

that`s what I thought he`d be more suited to Serie A than the EPL due to the slower pace and physicality (more so than La Liga too). I reckon if he had a proper defensive midfielder alongside him in the Batty mould, doing all the donkey work he might`ve been more of a success but not many teams can afford to have one of those luxury number 10 players (that float between the midfield/attack) as you might call it. Can`t think of any EPL teams that play 3-5-1-2 formation. He was certainly not suited to the 4-4-2 that we mostly played Maybe if Juve won the signature to sign him at the time ahead of us things would have turned out better for Hugo. Probably because not playing a goalkeeper is too risky

I posted this in another thread, but is more suited in here:

If the club announced that Keegan was replaced by Marcelino then Ashley, Mort, Wise, Vetere, Jimenez and Llambias would be hanging from the Gallowgate before people realised that it isn't Marcelino of the dodgy finger.

It's a code!!!!!!!!!!!

To be honest, to consistently win things in England at the moment, I think you have to be in the same league as Ferguson and Wenger as manager. Mourinho was, Grant isn't. Unless the next appointment is exceptional, expect other clubs to closen the gap. This could be the wheels off moment for Chelsea. How many seasons of being mere runner up can Abramovich take?

This is where Phil Brown shows that he was the brains behind Sam Allardyce.

Fumaca 2.5 out of 7

He is a Nigerian striker who does somersault goal celebrations. His nickname is the Buffalo. So in short, he is a cross between Martins and Enrique.

Would be (sort of) hilarious if thanks to Mort's hard work behind the scenes prior to leaving, top players sign under the stewardship of Derek Llambias, and despite effectively being the same regime, the NE5 history books will note the shambolic failure of the Mort regime based on no-one of note joining the club.

Although I rate Ashton, I am personally alarmed the 11.8% of the average fan specifically saw Ashton as their No.1 ideal signing.

Wasn't a poll. You had to submit names rather than choose between voting options.