Benwell Lad

He'd kind of stand out around there.

They do have around the clock sports and news channels to keep going. They can, arguably, get more mileage out of inventing stories than they do out of reporting real facts.

I have never found the anti-Ashley feeling around town and amongst those who attend the matches to be as strong as it is on web forums and in the national press. Even at the height of the Anti-Ashley frenzy - post Hughton - I'd doubt if more than 1 in 50 people in the ground were singing about him - but it did make a convenient story for the nationals once again. That said there aren't any Ashley fan clubs either, more just a pragmatic realisation that without him and his money the club was going to the wall and that with the business standing him something like £300M he is entitled to call the shots whether it pleases the masses or not. Overall I'd also say most people I talk to and drink with prefer today's way of doing transfer business to the "Hollywood" nature of days gone by and think the club is generally in better shape than it was 5 years ago.

Puts it in a very interesting perspective. Would be good to know exactly how these deals evolve, e.g. Carr spots, Hughton approves, Llambias seals, in order that credit could be given to those who made it happen. We'll probably never find out, but overall I prefer this way of doing business to the soap operas we used to be involved in.

Has he been sold ? Must have been judging by some reactions on here - was it Spurs or Man City or did Chelsea steal the deal at the last minute ? BTW seriously - anyone know who AC's agent is ?

Disgusting! The tapping up of Pienaar isn't beginning. Apparently, the only point at issue now is whether he joins in January for a small fee or in the summer for nothing. Will suit your style - excellent player.

It never harms to pad out the squad but I'd have young players with something to prove over has-been journeymen every time. Great acquisition - just hope he lives up to expectations.

I'm not sure we would have got the results we did against Liverpool and Wigan if CH had still been in charge. Of course we'll never know for sure ? It just seemed that his team were no longer up for it and his final game against WBA - who were poor themselves - they just handed the points over. Hughton did a wonderful job for this football club and will never be forgotten but maybe getting rid was a very brave and timely decision despite being universally unpopular.

If there does turn out to be anything in this story (and it's highly unlikely), then it will have had absolutely nothing to do with him going to London for a scan. Most professional athletes go to London (or even further afield) for treatment. Sadly Harley Street just seems to have the best people nowadays. This is the old Geordie paranoia at it's very worst (thanks nufc.com) - wasn't he going to Man City last week anyway ?

Since when was there a Sports Direct on the first floor? I haven't been since it was JJB - how long ago was that?! I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that there is a Sports Direct store on the first floor. There is, it's been there for years Putting people before profiteering and bringing branded sports goods to the masses at affordable prices. Surprised the owner hasn't been knighted for services to the nation's poor and under privileged.

Would make a great Starbucks.

Is there going to be any kind of boycoutt or official anti-Ashley protest because of Taylor's rejection ?

Some bloke playing the violin in the New Year's Day Strauss concert in Vienna and our non-fiddling former fuhrer Fat Freddie.

Aye, my brother told me this last night, absolutely mental. From the fanzine True Faith's match report and they're Newcastle fans. Some of their stuff is decent but they have some piss poor writers who know very little about football or are too pissed to see what's going on. Newcastle United: Harper 7, Simpson 7, Collocini 8, S Taylor 7, Enrique 7, Gutierrez 5, Nolan 5 (Smith 86), Tiote 6, Barton 7, Ameobi 6 (Best 78), Lovenkrands 5 (Routledge 70)

In fairness, he normally does.

Glad. He's too much of a No.1 to be an assistant, and not a particularly great No.1 either, recently.

Gypsies, tramps and thieves gets my vote What about "Coming home Newcastle" as virtually their entire playing and coaching staff do just that after their occasional obligatory couple of hours on Wearside.

Colo's equaliser versus Wigan at home is our biggest goal to date and this was the season's most important win so far. Thought Shola lead the line superbly but would never have 90 minutes in him. Enrique needs a kick up the arse, love the guy but he's becoming the defender who makes the difficult look easy and the easy things difficult. He must cut out the sloppiness to reach the standard he's undoubtedly capable of.

saw that one, didn't see the one on barton. Just re-ran MOTD - immediately after replay of 1st goal it cuts to Barry playing ball back to Lescott, Barton challenges and Barry kicks out - not as clear as at the match but crowd reaction is very clear.

It was a blatant kick and that's bad enough to be a red. Thousands saw it at the game and there was an angry reaction from the crowd quite obviously, been told it was clearly visible on screen in build up to 2nd goal on MOTD. How different it would have been if Barton had kicked Barry off the ball.

Seen by thousands at SJP yesterday and clearly visible on MOTD but not seen by the referee or he'd have been red carded. Surprisingly nothing mentioned on MOTD by City fan Dixon or dimwit Lawrenson and I suppose we can assume the FA wont be bothering because Barton was the victim rather than the culprit. Are the Arabs bunging the BBC and FA ?

Probably not a bad thing. Between him,Colo,Willi, Tozer and Kadar on the surface it looks like we've got central defence sorted.

God, you must have been going fuckin nuts when we equalised and even more so as we nearly took the lead.

Might have got away with a 2-0 yesterday but it was a performance on a par with the seven goal thrashing Everton gave them last year. Worrying. Especially considering how much the fat Geordie lad has spent on squad players and salaries. Still it's doing a lot of good for Tyneside's property market and economy in general, if nowt else.

Wonder what Hughton would have said instead? 'Re the mistakes we've made today in the first 10 minutes, that's still very much specualation.' I don't think any manager/coach in the world could have said much else. You start with a game plan, you go 2-0 down to a world class team after 5 minutes, you no longer have a game plan. Having had to take the game to a team as good as them for 85 minutes meant it was quite an achievment to only concede 3.