Benwell Lad

100%

Agreed. A real hard man not just a yappy whinger who did little else "hard" other than harangue referees and break a fellow pros leg on purpose. you don't like Roy Keane then ? Fair enough You do ? Also fair enough. I'm not bothered either way, but I'm not letting the fact that he played for manu and is now the mackems manager influence my view of what happened Me neither (not sure you'll believe that though ) I just honestly see him as more yappy little scroat than the hard man he likes to act. Canny player in his day mind.

Agreed. A real hard man not just a yappy whinger who did little else "hard" other than harangue referees and break a fellow pros leg on purpose. you don't like Roy Keane then ? Fair enough You do ? Also fair enough.

read his book. Apparently he used to stick up for his mates against lads much bigger than he was when he was young, and invariably won. Hate to say this but we've no idea who would have won if he had managed to get to Shearer that day he lost his rag So Keane talked hard about himself in his book ? Really. nah, it was a biography, or ghosted by someone else. Can't remember. Like other books, it gets other people to tell what they know of him in parts too. Divvent knaa why people automatically think Shearer would have came off best in that one, its not the case. Keane had completely lost it. Has anyone any recollections of Shearer being a hard lad, apart from the supposed incident with Gillespie ? Shearer's whole persona and play was displayed real mental toughness - hard doesn't necessarily mean chinning people. Wyn Davies was probably the hardest centre forward I've seen. The punishment he took from Inter Milan's defence in that Fairs Cup game was unbelievable but he just got on with it and kept going.

Agreed. A real hard man not just a yappy whinger who did little else "hard" other than harangue referees and break a fellow pros leg on purpose.

Or he WANTED to be restrained. After all it was Beckham doing the restraining !

read his book. Apparently he used to stick up for his mates against lads much bigger than he was when he was young, and invariably won. Hate to say this but we've no idea who would have won if he had managed to get to Shearer that day he lost his rag So Keane talked hard about himself in his book ? Really.

The sycophantic press seem to wallow in the idea of Roy Keane the hard man and I think he himself has played it up since becoming a manager, wanting to exploit the image of the "mean and moody one" as that smoggy idiot on BBC likes to refer to him. But is Keane really a hard man ? He certainly started the annoying habit of players surrounding referees after every adverse decision during his days as Alex Ferguson's captain constantly whingeing at officials. His most infamous tackle when he intentionally ended the carreer of fellow pro Alf Inge Haaland was cynical and cowardly and he later blabbed about doing it on purpose. Hard men normally get on with things quietly and say very little. When he was confronted by a "hard man" e.g. when Shearer stood up to him, his arse fell out. Cowards always hate people standing up to them. No, when you compare him to genuine hard men like Shearer, David Batty, John McGrath or even their own Joe Bolton or hard but fair Kevin Ball I'm not sure Keane is the tough man he likes to act. Keane - pit bull or irritating yappy terrier ? Probably the latter.

With SJP fully subscribed for most games and sometimes the only available seats at aroung £50 each I think the Polish community would not want to pay what to them could be a weeks salary for a ticket. Cheap tickets would not be an option, as NO football club would knock back £50 punters to accomodate fans paying less. It could only happen at clubs who regularly struggle to fill their grounds (e.g Sundlund or MBoro) most tickets on a per game basis are far cheaper than £50. i've never paid that much to get in. and do you really think £50 is a week's salary for a polish fella earning £15000 a year driving a bus? it's not just about going to the games either, but watching the match on tv, buying kits and merchandise for their kids, exporting the brand out to eastern europe, and helping them integrate into the city as a whole. I don't really know about per game basis tickets, only what I've heard, and people I know who have bought them paid that price. No I don't think £50 is a week's wages to someone earning £15,000 p.a. (Not unless my maths is really bad), the point is most eastern European migrant workers are supporting people back home and £50 a week is a good Polish salary, so they would very likely equate the ticket price to that. I'm not really into the "exporting the brand" stuff, but I'm not sure the marketing people would see eastern Europe as a prime target at present. Polish people are as welcome at SJP as anyone else just as long as they don't bring their appalling hooligans with them.

With SJP fully subscribed for most games and sometimes the only available seats at aroung £50 each I think the Polish community would not want to pay what to them could be a weeks salary for a ticket. Cheap tickets would not be an option, as NO football club would knock back £50 punters to accomodate fans paying less. It could only happen at clubs who regularly struggle to fill their grounds (e.g Sundlund or MBoro)

Excellent post. You love football (and Newcastle) for all the right reasons. You'll be very welcome.

Game really isn't very popular in India/Pakistan. Can't comment on how popular it is in the Middle East. The lack of Halal food, the alcohol, and the rowdy atmosphere may also be contributing factors for those of them who are practicing Muslims. Football is huge in India, both in terms of local attendances and through satellite TV. In the middle east they're as mad about football as we are in the north east of England. (Egypt, UAE, Iran, Iraq etc etc) The majority of muslims I know drink alcohol and I'm sure those who have been to Mecca would not think of an EPL game as having a "rowdy atmosphere" As with any other section of society if they like football then go to the match, if not don't.

I wonder if Nail Quin has got wind of this yet ? The mackems probably haven't tried this one yet, he'll be flogging cheapies outside the mosque in Laygate as soon as he hears.

I agree, we shouldn't do that, but what do you class as bending over backwards? There's no booze in the family section either, but I don't see people moaning about that. I've also been to loads of away grounds where they don't sell booze to the away fans (in fact, isnt Villa Park one of them?) but people don't have a massive problem with that. Small gestures (and this is a small gesture) can go a long way. Yeah, special treatment is probably a better way of putting it than "bending over backwards"

A recent TV documentary said that Muslims contribute less and take more from the UK economy than the average person, while conversely our Hindu population contributes more and takes less than the average citizen. So why should they be given cheap tickets and special treatment ? If they have problems integrating into British society and customs (e.g football) that probably has more to do with their attitude than society's. Those Muslims who want to come and watch football and in particular support Newcastle are very welcome but I don't see why we should bend over backwards to attract them.

Why, and why? As stated because one is not ready, albeit based on limited viewing and one never will be based on extensive viewing as a junior, reserve and first team player. But hell, thats just my opinion. I think both will ultimately make a living in the lower leagues, however I'd love to be proved wrong.

Re the original title Edgar or Taylor ? I'd go for the "neither" option if there was one. Nothing against Edgar he's just not ready to be seriously tested at the top level and sadly Taylor never will be.

or they provide what they think society wants hence why the tabloids outsell the broadsheets and why the broadsheets have been dumbing down for years. want to know why we have a s*** press/media ?.........take a look at the society it is catering for. Sadly very true.

Ban them from St.James' Park and give their luxury seats to people who have supported Newcastle through thick and thin for decades or to people who work tirelessly for local grass roots football in the north east.

He even looks smelly.

Ckocsucking leeches the lot of them, making a living out of a game they patently know very little about, they don't deserve to inhabit the same planet as a man of Keegan's passion and integrity never mind try to ridicule him.

The way the government have fcuked up the prison system if he does go down at all it won't be for long, they hardly put real criminals behind bars at the moment and even let terrorists out early.

Don't normally get into stats but here's their respective Records for Premiership games started this season. (I think) P W D L F A Pts Harper 15 6 4 5 22 21 22 Given 18 4 4 10 18 29 16

yeah he is looking good. so is geremi. and i think most of their success can be tracked back to Nicky Butt who has been absolutely outstanding the last 3 games. Fair play to the trio. Very true. All 3 have been excellent.

Seems most think Kelly's goal was more pivotal in the club's future (survival ?) and that's probably right. The similarities however were both players digging deep to find something extra to score the goals and I still think had Owen not got to that ball and we'd been beaten that night, we'd have been talking different stuff on this board right now.