James

I needed cheering up - and where better? youtube?

:lol:

People in this thread were not here in the 70s and 80s what with McKeag and Lord Westwood. I do, I was there, I felt the ground tremble, and can I tell you that today is much better than the bad old days. Today, we average as the 5th best club in England and have signed several big name players. Has the club shown so much ambition in the past? I think not.

Why ask the question when you know the answer?

You can say that, but then look at how O'Neill has done a few small things, triggerring a massive improvement in the performances of what were considered as shit players.

Glenn Roeder should be sacked. But not yet. That is the stance I adopt, and would hope that anyone taking over the club would take the same stance. I would also hope that Shepherd would feel the same way, but that is unlikely. We look unlikely to get relegated, and we may even sneak into the UEFA Cup once more, but Roeder has shown himself as being out of his depth in the transfer market, and has often been outwitted during matchday situations. some of his matchday first team selections have been very poor. Fact is, he is not a good enough manager for a club with infastructure the size we have. I feel that our recent run has papered over several small cracks (I'm hoping that massive cracks wont emerge with the return of Carr and Parker, if there are massive cracks, we may be in trouble and Roeder would have to go sooner), and these small cracks wont go away without us employing a better manager. Better managers are increasingly unlikely to leave their jobs midseason, and with Curbishley going to West Ham, there is only Sven who is currently both unemployed and employable (ignoring Hitzfeld and Lippi who would probably be out of our reach in my opinion). Therefore, I would want to wait until we near the end of the season before attempting to secure a top manager from home or abroad. Until then Roeder is probably better than anyone we can bring in.

As I see it, we have Watford, followed by Chelsea in the League Cup after this match, we might as well rule out the Chelsea league fixture and play our youth team, and thus secure a decent fit bunch of players for the following two fixtures, rather than have to drag a group of walking wounded through the next three matches. Two wins and a defeat would be better than three defeats. Never know, maybe Chelsea will repay us by playing their youth team against us in the cup.

?

Dude, this is like your mate from Fulham all over again, not to mention that football scout guy you pretended to be once. Be prepared that if your information is made up, that will be your third strike, and no-one on here will believe any inside information you reveal in the future after that. If you have just made all that up, now would be a good time to admit it, as if nothing of that sort is in the Mirror tomorrow, you'll be looking very stupid.

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks that by seeing someone perform a religious gesture, their life is being interfered with are absolutely moronic and dont deserve to be British.

Not a nice thing to do. Why not just boo Savage - much more fun.

No, it is all down to incresed attacking mobility in the centre of midfield and on the right flank in my opinion - something Shola isn't responsible for. PS - Worst photoshop ever.

Not a-fucking-gain

Dont worry, very soon, when Oba fully gets to grips with English, he will be reciting famous Shakespeare and Cantona quotations off the tip of his tongue while simulataneously somersaulting, subsequently confusing the pseudo-intellect and acrobat that is Garth Crooks.

Reading about him from Wikipedia, he seems to have invested in several different sporting teams before selling them on. The Ice Hockey team he owns seems to be going through a bad spell under him. He is someone who would worry me to be honest.

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php/topic,33508.195.html

A second name has entered the frame according to todays Sunday Express: US tycoon George Gillett, who has accepted defeat with his attempted Liverpool bid.

dont see the point of trying to get a result against Chelsea to be honest. We'd be better taking a rest.

So the top division would be the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich. AJAX? bluelaugh.gif OMG; they lose against every team atm, Sparta "Relegation" Rotterdam included! In the past 11 years, PSV has won EIGHT times in the Amsterdam Arena... do you realize how much that is? Imagine Arsenal winning 82% of the games at Old Trafford! May not be at their best this second, but their youth system is second to none.

Huntington had three minutes FFS. Didn't see Pattison, but the above comment on Huntington makes your opinion irrelevent.

Agreed there, those are two really crucial matches.

Yaay, up to 2nd.

So the top division would be the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich.

I think the best solution would be to have a multi-tiered European Reserve Superleague. Would give the second team an opportunity to play against a higher standard of team. You'd only be allowed in initially if your facilities were of a certain standard, and relegation and promotion would quickly sort out the teams who take and dont take second string football seriously. Improving teams will be able to get promoted out of their domestic reserve leagues, so the cut wont be permanent, and the number of divisions would increase as the number of countries with good enough facilities start to increase. Such an approach is more likely to give the top prospects a better tactical and technical grounding than a lower league leg chopping experience. To make it work properly, there would need to be an U-23 rule imposed (with perhaps two wild card players being allowed if they havent played in the first team for 6 weeks) and further rules capping the number of foreign players in the starting XI.