CaliMag

God... this isn't going to end up like the Souness v Bellamy issue is it? KaKa - good post. I agree with most of it. If it came down to one or the other I would probably keep Ashley and his current set up. Depending on what solid info we get in the next couple of days my opinion could change though.

i reckon that would go the route of fc united of manchester with a new club being formed to catch the support. I meant to put "If a replacement team was NOT allowed..." messed up that post there. Sloppy typing.

Joey Barton in "He's not a very nice lad shocker!"

Even if we lose 4-0 its not a free fall. I thought we'd have a solitary point after our first three games... things are already better than expected.

If a replacement team was allowed to be established the small local clubs would have a massive increase in attendence and money - one of those would eventually replace NUFC as the Geordie Nation representative/giant... Whitley Bay? BlythSpartans? Who knows? Probably not the Berwick Rangers though... just a hunch. Maybe Newcastle West End and East would reform and we would all give eachother grief as much as ... we do already...

I can't believe its been seven years since we beat them at their place. I am cautiously optimistic. They have been playing terrible and we ARE better than Fulham.

Desperate ideas: 1. Start training players as striker who did at one time play in that position (Haper and Taylor IIRC?) 2. Start training players that would compliment Owen as a strike partner - mobile with close ball control and crossing ability: Zoggy & Gutierrez 3. "Pull a 'Boro" and claim that our games need to be postponed due to safety reasons that are totally unrelated to our injury crisis... might be a bit tough to pull that off on our away games, but hey there must be some corrupt cops down in the smoke right? 4. Call in a bomb threat to our games... ... 5. Play Smith

C'mon we all want a Ranger / Zamblera partnership starting up front. Why is everyone being coy about this?

Supposedly Pompey were after Jonas during the January window and tried to get him this summer. I would be surprised if 'Arry didn't address this.

I am unconvinced that the top four other than Chelsea have gotten better. In fact I think the other three have regressed a bit while some mid-table clubs have improved: the smoggies, Villa and us. Man City, Everton and Spurs have lost ground. One of the biggest question marks for me is Pompey. A good squad and an underrated manager, but is the squad big enough? Can they cope without/ or replace Sully Muntari? And most importantly will the team and manager have the mettle to bounce back from a motherf*cker of a start to the season (They will probably be 20th into October)?

Because maybe you read this on .COM?

Heaven forbid a young lad having a laugh! I agree. Seems pretty harmless to me. If I was a youth team player at NUFC and had access to the place like NR seemingly does, I would have probably done worse.

http://www.jordiflp.com/images/Serv_Head_test.jpg Spelled wrong.. but you get the point. They sell laboratory equipment in the US.

SJ Earthquakes are going to build their own stadium. They have to do this to keep their franchise. MLS gets better every year and loads of EPL rejects are finding it harder to get into MLS sides. Steve Howey was the first I heard about that surprised me (3 years ago now?) - and this year aven the woeful LA Galaxy released Babayaro for being generally crap. It is shocking to see Bobert decline so badly. Smoggies away 2001 is what I will remember him for.

I didn't think Zoggy did that bad today. He did square rather than try to beat everyone - the passing in today's game was MUCH better than last season and some of the credit goes to the Zog. His positioning was due to the fact that KK clearly told him to run up and pull the midfield away from Jonas which worked a treat. Colo drifted left to cover and it seemed planned.

Compare and contrast that interview with Jose Mourniho's first with Internazionale... and his "I just started learning Italian two weeks ago..." in flawless Italian. I am embarassed for everyone involved including the populations of Holland and England.

I had not heard that story, but I did hear he was just as tempermental as ever. He likes to find people to blame for everything which in any type of management is a recipe for disaster. Where do you listen to "World Soccer Daily"?

Can't see Beckham wanting (or even being allowed) to be player/coach. My dream appointment: Gary Speed. See if he can do the business at this level before going back to England/Wales.

Its W - L - D

Gullit has left LA. Back to punditry for him. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-galaxy12-2008aug12,0,4926526.story I have seen the Galaxy play a few times and this should come as no surprise.

Not a great deal. I think that's the problem. Oh, his use of the word crisis threw me there. They did finish 5th last season though, their squad can't be that bad as it is. I think the Guardian puts it best:

Good post.

Yeah, and sticking with Bez when Elliot was class. Even the greats have their favourites (Dyer-SBR). Barton was a grafter though and most great teams have at least one in every starting XI.

Well we're halfway there. Apparently we've signed "Putty CUSTARD" as a striker.