James

Why do you think that? Why can't we bring him on any further? He's 21 for crying out loud and has already shown a lot of potential. Bramble, on the other hand, will always be Bramble. I seriously hope i'm gonna get whooshed here, but i swear you're mixing Taylor up with Ramage. Taylor loses his man rather alot due to ball watching, and doesn't seem to be able to sort it out. That is why we have signed Gooch, and why we are playing him alongside Bramble. taylor would, should and must be number one choice CB once we get full backs worthy of the shirt, anything less and we deserve everything we get name me a better prospect, ENGLISH prospect, for his position at his age...please Curtis Davies, Micah Richards (whose natural position is centre back) right now, and David Edgar will be better by the time he reaches Taylor's age (yes, I know he is Canadian, but I dont get all this English s***). Another centre back that is better is Daniel Agger. Taylor is a good 6th to 16th placed club Premiership defender, but no more, and right now, he is only the third best centre back at the club if you look at both current ability and how the players gel together as a unit. At £7.5m+ we could buy an improvement on him. a) curtis davies has never played consistently and therefore been proven at the highest level b) micah richards is 3 years younger than him and to my knowledge has played primarily at right back and is actually considered a long term prospect for defensive midfield c) edgar has played a handfull of games and looks a good prospect agreed, but you can hardly suggest he's currently to be considered a better prospect than taylor d) agger is obviously not english, but is decent, agreed....albeit even he hasn't convinced for liverpool if you talk to their fans and this is his first full season at the club, a long way to go then.... e) who could we buy for 7.5m, at the same age, who is PROVEN to be better than him then? a) Davies consistently played well in the Premiership last season in a side that got relegated, and still plays consistently for the U21s. He also plays more U21 games than Taylor. b) Richards is versatile enough to play in many positions, but he will be a great player whereever he plays, so that makes him a better centre back. c) During his short stint at centre back, Edgar looked more composed and better in the air than Taylor ever has d) Agger has displaced Hyypia, and fans now like him afterhe had had a dissappointing start to his Liverpool career. Given Liverpool's good defensive record, he must be doing quite well. e) Age is irrelevant. Taylor is unlikely to get much better. Players do not significantly improve while at Newcastle United. I'm sure there are over 20 centre backs with more current ability than Taylor who would cost less than the bid I would accept from Chelsea. Taylor is a good player, but he is replaceable. Curtis Davies is one example of a same age player proven to be better. All just talk though, as there is no way that Chelsea are interested. Taylor is good, but not that good. Davies doesn't play more U21 games than Taylor, he has 3 caps Taylor has 14(and 3 goals). The last time Davies played he looked like Bramlbe at his worst, did you see the Spain game? It was a disaster for him. More caps perhaps, but that is because Taylor emerged a couple of years before Davies. Davies has been around for longer, Taylor has around 50 appearances for us whereas Davies has 62 for West Brom and 56 for Luton. Also he had a full season of football in the premiership, something which Taylor is only getting this season. Taylor has played 70 games, about two games in three since January 2005 which was the time he emerged, and remember that he spent time out injured last season. Thus, Taylor had emerged in top flight football long before Davies did. Again, sentiment seems to come ahead of realism. Also, in answer to Mrmojonson's question regarding how many top level European games has Davies played in, you cant really say that Taylor has played in any top level european games either, or at least he hasn't played any team better than Chelsea, Manyoo, Liverpool or Arsenal. Therefore, both Davies and taylor have played against the same high standard opposition. a) no-one mentioned "top level" european competition, merely european...so how many has davies played in and proven himself to be good enough to play against the likes of PSV, Fenerbache, Sporting Lisbon or whoever Taylor has played against in the last 2 and a bit years? by the way i'm not saying davies is better or worse than taylor, i've barely seen davies play - i'm simply questioning your utter conviction he's better than taylor b) oh and by the way would you sign davies for 8m if we sold taylor for 12m for example? 'cause davies wouldn't get any better at NUFC remember... a) Taylor has played against Lillestrom, Ventspils, Levadia, Palermo, Fenerbache, Frankfurt, Celta Vigo, Waregem and Alkmaar. He may have played in a couple of others, but no real big European games, as this is his first real European campaign. Hardly a great experience to put him above Davies. Bolton, Everton, Spurs are better than all of these teams, and Davies has played against them too and proven himself. b) i'd definitely take it, they players currently of equal standing, and I'd say that Davies has it in him to be a better player. Then, there would be £4m to spend on that full-back problem you keep using as an excuse to defend Taylor.

Yes, but at the same age, they have played at the same high level ie Manyoo etc. Taylor has played more Premiership games, but that is because he plays forNewcastle, and not West brom or Luton.

depends what you mean or will accept - bernard improved first time around from when we sent him out on loan to being a very good left back that most people liked (ignoring his subsequent collapse) charles n'zogbia improved throughout last season from when he made his debut but injuries and a few other factors have held him back this season james milner, ALL people seem to agree, has been one of our best players this term and therefore has improved that's off the top of my head, but you're right they're few and far between, doesn't mean it can't happen Cant really say that Milner and n'Zogbia have significantly improved. Through playing games, they have acquired the necessary experience that makes them look like first team players rather than inexperienced youngsters, and due to both having natural ability, they have made it at this level, but N'Zogbia has hit a glass ceiling, and wont improve unless we improve our coaches (but i'm still hoping Roeder or Pearson will have a trick up their sleeves with this one), and it wouldn't surprise me if Milner was to hit this ceiling as well.

Why do you think that? Why can't we bring him on any further? He's 21 for crying out loud and has already shown a lot of potential. Bramble, on the other hand, will always be Bramble. I seriously hope i'm gonna get whooshed here, but i swear you're mixing Taylor up with Ramage. Taylor loses his man rather alot due to ball watching, and doesn't seem to be able to sort it out. That is why we have signed Gooch, and why we are playing him alongside Bramble. taylor would, should and must be number one choice CB once we get full backs worthy of the shirt, anything less and we deserve everything we get name me a better prospect, ENGLISH prospect, for his position at his age...please Curtis Davies, Micah Richards (whose natural position is centre back) right now, and David Edgar will be better by the time he reaches Taylor's age (yes, I know he is Canadian, but I dont get all this English s***). Another centre back that is better is Daniel Agger. Taylor is a good 6th to 16th placed club Premiership defender, but no more, and right now, he is only the third best centre back at the club if you look at both current ability and how the players gel together as a unit. At £7.5m+ we could buy an improvement on him. a) curtis davies has never played consistently and therefore been proven at the highest level b) micah richards is 3 years younger than him and to my knowledge has played primarily at right back and is actually considered a long term prospect for defensive midfield c) edgar has played a handfull of games and looks a good prospect agreed, but you can hardly suggest he's currently to be considered a better prospect than taylor d) agger is obviously not english, but is decent, agreed....albeit even he hasn't convinced for liverpool if you talk to their fans and this is his first full season at the club, a long way to go then.... e) who could we buy for 7.5m, at the same age, who is PROVEN to be better than him then? a) Davies consistently played well in the Premiership last season in a side that got relegated, and still plays consistently for the U21s. He also plays more U21 games than Taylor. b) Richards is versatile enough to play in many positions, but he will be a great player whereever he plays, so that makes him a better centre back. c) During his short stint at centre back, Edgar looked more composed and better in the air than Taylor ever has d) Agger has displaced Hyypia, and fans now like him afterhe had had a dissappointing start to his Liverpool career. Given Liverpool's good defensive record, he must be doing quite well. e) Age is irrelevant. Taylor is unlikely to get much better. Players do not significantly improve while at Newcastle United. I'm sure there are over 20 centre backs with more current ability than Taylor who would cost less than the bid I would accept from Chelsea. Taylor is a good player, but he is replaceable. Curtis Davies is one example of a same age player proven to be better. All just talk though, as there is no way that Chelsea are interested. Taylor is good, but not that good. Davies doesn't play more U21 games than Taylor, he has 3 caps Taylor has 14(and 3 goals). The last time Davies played he looked like Bramlbe at his worst, did you see the Spain game? It was a disaster for him. More caps perhaps, but that is because Taylor emerged a couple of years before Davies. Davies has been around for longer, Taylor has around 50 appearances for us whereas Davies has 62 for West Brom and 56 for Luton. Also he had a full season of football in the premiership, something which Taylor is only getting this season. Taylor has played 70 games, about two games in three since January 2005 which was the time he emerged, and remember that he spent time out injured last season. Thus, Taylor had emerged in top flight football long before Davies did. Again, sentiment seems to come ahead of realism. Also, in answer to Mrmojonson's question regarding how many top level European games has Davies played in, you cant really say that Taylor has played in any top level european games either, or at least he hasn't played any team better than Chelsea, Manyoo, Liverpool or Arsenal. Therefore, both Davies and taylor have played against the same high standard opposition.

WHY?? If you read the next sentence, I have thoroughly explained that statement. Have you bollocks. It's an excuse for a reason. 'Players don't improve at Newcastle'. Load of s***, mate. You don't need a reason you just want to write him off and write the club off. Have I written the player or the club off? no I haven't. In fact, it is the job of a supporter to be vocal about how the club is run. Taylor is a good player, and has my support, but to reject a bid above a certain level is bad business, and I have to be realistic about the ability of our own playing staff, and when a chance arises to improve the club through good business, it is my duty to put all sentiment aside, and support what would in the long run improve our football club. If you cant do that, you are quite a bad fan for the club to have. Again, by pointing out that no player improves significantly at Newcastle, I am doing my club a favour, and I am doing Steven Taylor a favour, as if enough fans were to read this and agree with the points I'm making, there would perhaps be more pressure on the club to improve the management and coaching. Criticism is an important part of supporting a club. If people wont criticise bad management/bad business, then the club will never win anything. Incidentally, can anyone name a player who has improved (not regained form, actually improved) since Dalglish became manager? given I'll give you that one, but our goalkeeping coaching has been pretty good. Outfield coaching is different though, and we have not significantly improved any outfield player as far as I'm aware.

Why do you think that? Why can't we bring him on any further? He's 21 for crying out loud and has already shown a lot of potential. Bramble, on the other hand, will always be Bramble. I seriously hope i'm gonna get whooshed here, but i swear you're mixing Taylor up with Ramage. Taylor loses his man rather alot due to ball watching, and doesn't seem to be able to sort it out. That is why we have signed Gooch, and why we are playing him alongside Bramble. taylor would, should and must be number one choice CB once we get full backs worthy of the shirt, anything less and we deserve everything we get name me a better prospect, ENGLISH prospect, for his position at his age...please Curtis Davies, Micah Richards (whose natural position is centre back) right now, and David Edgar will be better by the time he reaches Taylor's age (yes, I know he is Canadian, but I dont get all this English s***). Another centre back that is better is Daniel Agger. Taylor is a good 6th to 16th placed club Premiership defender, but no more, and right now, he is only the third best centre back at the club if you look at both current ability and how the players gel together as a unit. At £7.5m+ we could buy an improvement on him. a) curtis davies has never played consistently and therefore been proven at the highest level b) micah richards is 3 years younger than him and to my knowledge has played primarily at right back and is actually considered a long term prospect for defensive midfield c) edgar has played a handfull of games and looks a good prospect agreed, but you can hardly suggest he's currently to be considered a better prospect than taylor d) agger is obviously not english, but is decent, agreed....albeit even he hasn't convinced for liverpool if you talk to their fans and this is his first full season at the club, a long way to go then.... e) who could we buy for 7.5m, at the same age, who is PROVEN to be better than him then? a) Davies consistently played well in the Premiership last season in a side that got relegated, and still plays consistently for the U21s. He also plays more U21 games than Taylor. b) Richards is versatile enough to play in many positions, but he will be a great player whereever he plays, so that makes him a better centre back. c) During his short stint at centre back, Edgar looked more composed and better in the air than Taylor ever has d) Agger has displaced Hyypia, and fans now like him afterhe had had a dissappointing start to his Liverpool career. Given Liverpool's good defensive record, he must be doing quite well. e) Age is irrelevant. Taylor is unlikely to get much better. Players do not significantly improve while at Newcastle United. I'm sure there are over 20 centre backs with more current ability than Taylor who would cost less than the bid I would accept from Chelsea. Taylor is a good player, but he is replaceable. Curtis Davies is one example of a same age player proven to be better. All just talk though, as there is no way that Chelsea are interested. Taylor is good, but not that good. Davies doesn't play more U21 games than Taylor, he has 3 caps Taylor has 14(and 3 goals). The last time Davies played he looked like Bramlbe at his worst, did you see the Spain game? It was a disaster for him. More caps perhaps, but that is because Taylor emerged a couple of years before Davies.

WHY?? If you read the next sentence, I have thoroughly explained that statement. Have you bollocks. It's an excuse for a reason. 'Players don't improve at Newcastle'. Load of shit, mate. You don't need a reason you just want to write him off and write the club off. Have I written the player or the club off? no I haven't. In fact, it is the job of a supporter to be vocal about how the club is run. Taylor is a good player, and has my support, but to reject a bid above a certain level is bad business, and I have to be realistic about the ability of our own playing staff, and when a chance arises to improve the club through good business, it is my duty to put all sentiment aside, and support what would in the long run improve our football club. If you cant do that, you are quite a bad fan for the club to have. Again, by pointing out that no player improves significantly at Newcastle, I am doing my club a favour, and I am doing Steven Taylor a favour, as if enough fans were to read this and agree with the points I'm making, there would perhaps be more pressure on the club to improve the management and coaching. Criticism is an important part of supporting a club. If people wont criticise bad management/bad business, then the club will never win anything. Incidentally, can anyone name a player who has improved (not regained form, actually improved) since Dalglish became manager?

WHY?? If you read the next sentence, I have thoroughly explained that statement.

Why do you think that? Why can't we bring him on any further? He's 21 for crying out loud and has already shown a lot of potential. Bramble, on the other hand, will always be Bramble. I seriously hope i'm gonna get whooshed here, but i swear you're mixing Taylor up with Ramage. Taylor loses his man rather alot due to ball watching, and doesn't seem to be able to sort it out. That is why we have signed Gooch, and why we are playing him alongside Bramble. taylor would, should and must be number one choice CB once we get full backs worthy of the shirt, anything less and we deserve everything we get name me a better prospect, ENGLISH prospect, for his position at his age...please Curtis Davies, Micah Richards (whose natural position is centre back) right now, and David Edgar will be better by the time he reaches Taylor's age (yes, I know he is Canadian, but I dont get all this English s***). Another centre back that is better is Daniel Agger. Taylor is a good 6th to 16th placed club Premiership defender, but no more, and right now, he is only the third best centre back at the club if you look at both current ability and how the players gel together as a unit. At £7.5m+ we could buy an improvement on him. a) curtis davies has never played consistently and therefore been proven at the highest level b) micah richards is 3 years younger than him and to my knowledge has played primarily at right back and is actually considered a long term prospect for defensive midfield c) edgar has played a handfull of games and looks a good prospect agreed, but you can hardly suggest he's currently to be considered a better prospect than taylor d) agger is obviously not english, but is decent, agreed....albeit even he hasn't convinced for liverpool if you talk to their fans and this is his first full season at the club, a long way to go then.... e) who could we buy for 7.5m, at the same age, who is PROVEN to be better than him then? a) Davies consistently played well in the Premiership last season in a side that got relegated, and still plays consistently for the U21s. He also plays more U21 games than Taylor. b) Richards is versatile enough to play in many positions, but he will be a great player whereever he plays, so that makes him a better centre back. c) During his short stint at centre back, Edgar looked more composed and better in the air than Taylor ever has d) Agger has displaced Hyypia, and fans now like him afterhe had had a dissappointing start to his Liverpool career. Given Liverpool's good defensive record, he must be doing quite well. e) Age is irrelevant. Taylor is unlikely to get much better. Players do not significantly improve while at Newcastle United. I'm sure there are over 20 centre backs with more current ability than Taylor who would cost less than the bid I would accept from Chelsea. Taylor is a good player, but he is replaceable. Curtis Davies is one example of a same age player proven to be better. All just talk though, as there is no way that Chelsea are interested. Taylor is good, but not that good.

Why do you think that? Why can't we bring him on any further? He's 21 for crying out loud and has already shown a lot of potential. Bramble, on the other hand, will always be Bramble. I seriously hope i'm gonna get whooshed here, but i swear you're mixing Taylor up with Ramage. Taylor loses his man rather alot due to ball watching, and doesn't seem to be able to sort it out. That is why we have signed Gooch, and why we are playing him alongside Bramble. taylor would, should and must be number one choice CB once we get full backs worthy of the shirt, anything less and we deserve everything we get name me a better prospect, ENGLISH prospect, for his position at his age...please Curtis Davies, Micah Richards (whose natural position is centre back) right now, and David Edgar will be better by the time he reaches Taylor's age (yes, I know he is Canadian, but I dont get all this English shit). Another centre back that is better is Daniel Agger. Taylor is a good 6th to 16th placed club Premiership defender, but no more, and right now, he is only the third best centre back at the club if you look at both current ability and how the players gel together as a unit. At £7.5m+ we could buy an improvement on him.

Why do you think that? Why can't we bring him on any further? He's 21 for crying out loud and has already shown a lot of potential. Bramble, on the other hand, will always be Bramble. I seriously hope i'm gonna get whooshed here, but i swear you're mixing Taylor up with Ramage. Taylor loses his man rather alot due to ball watching, and doesn't seem to be able to sort it out. That is why we have signed Gooch, and why we are playing him alongside Bramble.

Taylor isn't brilliant, especially at set pieces, and I dont think we could bring him on any further. Bramble is better. He's worth £5-6m considering his current age and ability though, so if Chelsea were to offer £7.5m+, I'd take it if I knew that the money was going to go straight back into the defence.

I think that is a good and fair deal for Leeds, and a bit ofa risk for us, but suggests we still have money to spend.

Would still agree with many of my comments, although I'd say he scores a few more, and creates a bit less, which is neither a good or bad thing. Still need another striker to take the burden off him with though.

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcastleunited/chroniclesport/tm_headline=boot-camp%26method=full%26objectid=18734567%26siteid=50081-name_page.html Good to see Shepherd say no to a seven-figure sum in favour of some decent preparation.

With Owen, Martins, Zoggy/Duff, Milner/Dyer looking to get behind a deep defence, we need a player who can exploit the large gap between defence and midfield. Martins can do that by dropping deep maybe, but it would also help if we had a central midfielder who could shoot from distance. I'd like to see Parker partnered by Pedro Mendes in the middle.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/03/10/sfnsve10.xml Interesting news there. Cant really see who it could be though. Possibly some agreement may have been made with West Ham, but things have probably changed since then. Otherwise, Chelsea perhaps? or perhaps the new Liverpool owners don't like Benitez.

Would laugh if it was Bayern, Manyoo, Liverpool and Chelsea in the semis, and Hitzfeld goes and stuffs shit down Freddy's throat by beating two top Premiership clubs on the way to Champions League glory.

Load of nonsense, stop trying to turn it into something its not.

He's always been excellent in the last few months of the season. However, for some reason, at the start of each new season, he's overweight and playing appallingly. He really needs to slow down during his holidays. Usually he just surrounds himself with his Ipswich friends, and messes around, inevitably getting on the front pages. Realistically, if he is ever going to be good for us all season, he needs to get some new friends.

I actually think that Butt and Parker are starting to gel together. It gives us a bit of backbone, and more possession, but we rely on our wingers and strikers to create all the chances. Last night, with Sibierski coming deep, and both Duff and Dyer roaming at times, we were very creative.

I've been keeping count - check my sig.

Even though we conceded two away goals, it is still ours to lose. The defence, like the rest of the team were outstanding tonight against an outstanding team. Their first goal was undefendable, the second was just one of those bad pieces of luck. Player ratings: Given 8 Solano 9 Bramble 9 Taylor 7 Carr 7 Dyer 8 Parker 9 Butt 8 Duff 8 Sibierski 8 Martins 9

It's going to be presented by Pele, who will be taking on Pavel Srnicek in a penalty shootout at half time.

Cornish pasty and hulahoops.