Bad Mongo

Possibly, but why have it sitting around in an account just now when we need to rebuild? We've had three transfer windows under Ashley with very little spending. Like some other people, I withheld my judgement of Ashley until the end of the transfer window, and now I've lost all faith in his ambition. He's turning us into another Spurs.

quite possibly libelous If the money isn't invested in the squad, it has to go somewhere else. It seems to me that making the club profitable has a higher priority than making us competitive. The lack of investment is evidence of that.

So you seriously believe getting rid of Milner to stuff the owner's pockets instead of replacing him with someone better is improving the squad? We're short in numbers, "replacing" Smith and Barton with Xisco and Nacho would leave us short two players compared to the beginning of the transfer window.

Six out and six in, in a squad already desperately lacking in numbers. Two of the players out could play right back, none of the players in (I'm sure Coloccini can, but not for us); only one of the players out can be considered a youngster/backup player (Ramage), while two (Guthrie, Bassong) or or three (+ Xisco) of the players in should; only two of the players in are certain to improve the first team (with Gonzales as a big unknown); two experienced centre backs replaced with one + a youngster. There's nothing wrong with the players brought in, they just fail to strengthen the key areas that most needed strengthening. They're a bunch of players on the cheap, we haven't built a squad. We're being made profitable, not competitive. We're not being made into Arsenal, we're made into Spurs.

It's not an either/or. Ashley said there were money to spend, and he lied.

We haven't improved the areas of the squad that most desperately needed it, though: central (defensive) midfield and fullbacks (backup), nor have we replaced Milner. Neither have "we" made money; those money are only "ours" insofar as they are reinvested in the club. Virtually all the clubs we're supposedly competing with, bar Spurs, have invested more. I'm happy with not spending over the odds, but not with a negative investment.

No one (except NE5) had a bad word to say about him because they had decided to withhold judgement until after the transfer window was closed. Now that it has closed, we see there is no investment in new players -- loads of foreigners dragged in on the cheap, and a sort of strengthened squad, but it could have been far better with actual investment. For instance, we're still stuck with Butt as our only proper DM.

It's not all that "wide of the mark", though, to use one of AO's own clichés. The club should have spent at least twice the amount if funds actually were available, as was promised. We got nearly £20M in through sales (Emre (£2M), Rozenhal(£3M), Faye(£2M), Milner(£12M)), and did certainly not spend much more on new players, all while not replacing Milner, and not getting proper cover for the fullbacks. The thing about Owen and other key players being put up for sale has been widely circulated in other media, and while it might be untrue (unlikely, if you ask me), it's certainly not Oliver's invention. [edit] And Mick, the club shouldn't be about making money on selling players. That's what clubs on their way down do. If we make money on sales, they should be reinvested ASAP, just like Keegan promised to do, but couldn't.

Instead, that bar bill could finance a week's wages for Michael Owen. Just to put things into perspective.

It would surprise me if intentionally devaluing the club for a takeover isn't a criminal offence, and it would surprise me more if Keegan did it.

God no. Name that's cropped up from a mate of Paul Kemsley, which is close enough for me. I've wasted £20 on that premise. Oh I hope you're not going to finance yet another holiday with a shit Newcastle manager appointment.

Even in the radio interview when he named Henry as his dream signing, he admitted it was totally unrealistic.

That's the most cringeworthy comment I've seen on this site. Even if Harry-Norway posted his annoying clapping hands emoticons after this, your post would still be embarrassing in comparison.

I'm certain it will be someone with a cockney connection. Of those, I'll take Deschamps. However, he's already resigned from Monaco and Juventus due to conflicts with the boards, so he won't come to us. The same goes for Curbishley, of course.

It's really not that strange: we got an offer that valued Milner higher than his wages reflected, and when it was refused, he wanted wages consistent with our valuation of him. We would either have to give him the wages of a £12M player, or sell him. So we sold him.

http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1383045,00.html NEWCASTLE United can confirm that meetings between members of the Board and manager Kevin Keegan were held both yesterday and today. Kevin has raised a number of issues and those have been discussed with him. The Club wants to keep progressing with its long-term strategy and would like to stress that Kevin is extremely important, both now and in the future. Newcastle United values the effort and commitment shown by Kevin since his return to St. James' Park and wants him to continue to play an instrumental role as manager of the Club. For the avoidance of doubt the Club has not sacked Kevin Keegan as manager.

So apart from Keegan's meeting with Ashley, it's just another normal day. I suggest we all panic.

The gospel according to Murdock. It's like when people say The Times is more reliable than The Sun when they are both owned by the same person. It is, though. Murdoch doesn't write the stories, he just owns the papers. There's a market for reliable reporting (The Wall Street Journal is also owned by Murdoch), and there's a market for tabloid gossip. To cash in on both, you need different products, as you can't mix them in the same package.

We can expect his delivery to be much better with Villa's strikers, tbf.

We need better movement in the middle. Guthrie is like the ACM version of Scott Parker, slows down play too much, Nicky Butt is too old.

ITYM ironic.

PR is the biggest problem, I think. Even though Kevin Keegan and the results so far this season should be enough to create a buzz and some excitement, and our squad really isn't that terrible, there's a perception we're in a perpetual crisis.

How long have you been supporting NUFC ?? That's what I'm trying to say, it's almost worse than some of our most shite defending through the ages. And I've supported us since before I can remember btw. I've seen Bramble do worse, but not twice in the same game (same defender behind all goals, he scored Brann's as well). Taiwo hasn't impressed me at all as a defender.

Wayne Rooney?

Those stats confirm what most of us already thought. He won't be a huge loss for us. Those stats say nothing. The games without Milner were the run with Viduka, Martins and Owen all fit.