James

Wasn't it Hansen who said that? Souness just victimised James Milner in particular.

More Owen's fault for going to the WC unfit and endangering his career. Name one football fan in the world who would not play in the World Cup despite being passed as fit by both club and country doctors. He wasn't match fit and was why he came away with an injury, it doesn't matter if he was right to go, he wasn't fit, it didn't pay off, and he and the FA are partly responsible for where we've finished in the league and therefore responsible for us not having Europe and why he's in the position of leaving. Lets put this differently... If Steven Taylor got injured at the World Cup when playing when not fully fit, missed almost an entire season, then activated a release clause to join a top 4 side, would you blame him?

More Owen's fault for going to the WC unfit and endangering his career. Name one football fan in the world who would not play in the World Cup despite being passed as fit by both club and country doctors.

Poor results on the pitch, making a Top 4 club a much more attractive proposition to Owen.

If we sell Parker, I want concrete assurances that this money isn't somehow going to get 'lost' during the takeover.

Fucking hell, thats £53 million they've spent so far this summer.

Furthermore, Owen has often spoken off seing out his Newcastle contract due to him not wanting to move his eldest kid out of his Newcastle-based school. Being a family man first, and a footballer second, Owen is only likely to hop off if a really appealing offer comes through, and if that is the case, then who are we to stop him? It would be the fault of Shepherd/Roeder/Souness if he hada get-out clause, not Owen.

He wouldn't have to bother publicly bigging up Allardyce if he didn't want to stay in my opinion.

We got taken off due to the state of our pitch perhaps? I know we definitely used to be on the list.

Threads might be down because there is nothing new to talk about, so when someone inevitably posts something that is already being discussed, it is quickly merged.

Sunderland at home would be brilliant. All eyes across the county would be on us for two weeks in advance.

I'll agree with Andy, otherwise he might give me a FINAL WARNING like he did to Apisith.

Think I remember being impressed with him at the World Cup.

Owen has been named as captain. Personally, I think their are better captain figures in that team in King, Neville and Smith.

Now that a cash injection seems likely, we can seriously talk about a few silly players that would have otherwise been considered as waaay down our list of priorities. How about Julio Baptista, Arsenal cant afford to keep him (going rate is toohig for a squad player there), and Real Madrid dont want him, so he's going to be somewhere new next season. He would add some real power and muscle and battle to the team, and could potentially be used as a third striker, with him slotting into a midfield position when called upon. He would definitely bring a flexibility to our starting lineup, as well as improving the quality.

I know he did. I've got thick skin, just like a melon.

Don't worry Gemmill, you can still abuse me, and I'd be powerless to do anything about it.

I've merged your thread with the other thread Graemeh72, so that anyone who wants to respond to it can respond to it.

Southampton are losing £12m a year, and are auctioning off their best players. Bale will go, even if the highest bid is £3m.

Unfortunately its just part and parcel of football, and you aren't going to stop it.

No need to panic on this one. Theoretically, we have two players in this position, and with a new chance under a new manager, they may get their old form back. If they don't, I'm sure Milner and Emre could cover the position until January.

Bluf can borrow my head if he wants.

David James has always had a physical advantage over Shay Given though. Also, you get the impression that James isconstantly improving himself, whereas I've never seen that with Given. Given has a set of outstanding, natural attributes, but there are numerous flaws to his game which have meant that he'll never play for one of the best teams in the country. He's had chances to improve his flaws, but he hasn't. Because of this, these natural abilities are going to wane over time, and he'll become a mediocre keeper. Meanwhile, Krul is at the perfect age and potential ability to allow us to smoothly switch keepers a couple of years down the line. Keepers are hard to replace, and we appear to have a solution. It would be idiotic to keep Given in the team and lose Krul, as it could have bad implications for several years. Would rather have a not-quite-as-good-as-Given keeper in goal for a couple of years (assuming Krul continues to develop in to a good player after hemade the starting lineup), than lose Krul, have Given in goal for a couple of extra years, and then have no good keepers for the next 15 years.

A 38 year old Shay Given playing for Newcastle can only be a bad thing. Personally, I'd say that he peaked last season.

I think they have been for quite a while such that people can access the arcade.