James

Why? you after him like? Nah, just needed to ask that so I could ask the follow up question: Would an 18 year old really get his 13 year old brother to ask for permission to join this forum?

How old is he?

What do you mean poor Tim. I would cancel Christmas for eternity just to be on the bench for Newcastle United [/scrooge]

We have been finding more space and speed in recent weeks making us a much better attacking force, and hope that Duff will get a chance to improve his performances with the increased momentum of his teammates. I think he will get better and become an important player for us. Agree with the other comments though. Very good first post by the way Lloydie - welcome, and apologies about the childish bickering that Deep seems to have started (case of a n00b finding his feet, doubt you will have the same problem though)

Requires same hip op as Shola does, will miss season, and wont be getting contract renewed.

Roeder has confirmed to the Sunday Sun that Bernard will not play for Newcastle again.

Happy Xmas NUFC supporters.

I still reckon we could have a decent chance at signing Klose, so I'm not too downheartened by that.

Remember, just over 24 hours to cast your votes with the closing time at 00:01am on the 24th December.

On the plus side, Martins showed that he can be a match winner even when the run of play is against him. Thats always something good to have.

Actually, I was seeing if anyone did notice

No. You are right, no. Imagine it though: (Phone rings) Hello? ello, is zis Zat? is this what? No, excuse my eenglish, I am from Barcelona. You are Zat Kneeght from Ful-Hamm? Yes. Who's speaking like? Zis is Raul. From Real Madrid. Or you said Barcelona? Zat was an Eenglish joke, I watch Fawlty Towers to eemprove my Eeenglish. Dont call me a joke. Haha funny eenglishman. You are signing for Newcastle no? Yes. That is good, they told me you were, but i just wanted to check zese things before I signs the paper. See you in january.

My cousins girlfriend operates the Newcastle United fax machine, and provided me with some info: There is a list of players who have agreed to sign for the club on principal, but will only join as long as other players we have promised to buy also agree to sign. We have therefore faxed a list of phone numbers to all of these players so that they can ring each other up and confirm that they are signing for Newcastle. My cousin has interrogated his girlfriend (who knows nothing about football - requirement of the job apparently) and discovered that the following players are on the list: Raul Klose Shaun Wright Phillips Joey Barton Leighton Baines Micah Richards Zat Knight Sylvain Distin Juan Pablo Sorin Miguel

How many games has he missed since bruising his toe? According to Roeder, he is generally OK in training, but then it hurts when he strikes the ball. There are many Newcastle players who could play through that pain. I'm starting to think that he doesn't want to play for Newcastle, and just hangs around to have a laugh with his mates at training. Good. He is a waste of air anyway.

There has been a disgraceful number of votes so far. Means there are quite a few ties that need splitting. Only a few days to go, so get voting

Cannavaro is the best defender I've seen since I've been following football. Pirlo was instrumental during the World Cup, he is an incredibly cultured player, who made split seconds on the ball seem like minutes. Without him and Gattuso, Italy wouldn't have won the World Cup. Not voting for Gattuso as although a great effective player, he is really the water carrier for other brilliant players. Essien is the complete footballer right now, he can do almost everything, and has excelled playing in several positions.

In the short term, we need to make improvements at right back, left back, central midfield, and up front, as after a few injuries in each position, we are left with Carr (at least if the team was picked how it should be) at right back, Ramage at left back, Pattison/Zoggy Central Midfield, and Luque/Carroll up front. None of these players are good enough for a team who want a stable mid-table season. As they are to provide decent cover, these players need only be squad players, although I would recommend we went for high standard full backs, as there are quite a few individuals able to fill into that position as squad players (ie Solano, Taylor, Babayaro, Huntington, Ramage and Carr) Other players like Sibierski (good intelligent use of good end product), Bramble (good for 89 minutes in a match), Moore (reliable), Milner (bags of energy and constantly improving) and Solano (good end product) are able to see us through until the end of the season. Assuming we signed the four players I feel we need in January, and the right back was a first teamer, if we are looking for consistent top 6 finishes, in the summer, I would look to sign a £10m+ valued proven centre back, a young centre back with great potential, and depending on the form of Milner, Dyer and solano on the right wing, possibly a new right winger.

That was one great game. I thought we were going to win the league. I would have done an NSG if SkySportsNews had existed. :tnarmy:

It is lovely to see the order in which they obviously rate their own players.

They seem to be having a few technical difficulties at www.nufc.co.uk

I have no idea why we should be buying left wingers over defenders and strikers.

Robert could shoot with his right as well couldn't he? Not too much of a complaint, but with Martins' obvious ability to shoot with both feet, you would expect his finishing to be a little better than it is right now, as he doesn't have the excuse of only being able to shoot with one foot.

Sign Robert. Then sign Griffin, O'Brien, Dabizas, Jenas, Viana, Ambrose, Bellamy and bring Shearer out of retirement. Promote Krul to No. 1 and put Given in the reserves. Given Griffin O'Brien Dabizas Bernard Ambrose Jenas Viana Robert Bellamy Shearer All (bar Given) are past their Robson-era Newcastle best, but they might manage 3rd place in the reserve league.

Thought there was something up when someone brings up one of my famous criticisms. As I see it, his kicking is better with Souness and Shearer gone but could still be much much better. It isa problem for all British - lack of technique coaching from a young age. I'm hoping Krul learnt quite a bit in Holland before he came here. Regardless, Given's replacement should be foreign (hopefully Krul) as I believe that a good foreign keeper is better than a good British keeper these days.