CaliMag

I think that's a bit of a harsh attitude towards Northern Ireland football. I can be as proud as I want standing in Windsor, which is in my own country as opposed to Dublin which is in a foreign country. By that rationale, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should exist as a British team, which I wouldn't want to see either. As David Humphries, Ulster & Ireland rugby player said, "It's good playing for Ireland but nothing beats playing for your own country" (May not be exact words used) What I said is admittedly harsh and as I said controversial. I still feel that way though. I think the comparison with NI as opposed to Scotland/Wales/England is not completely the same, but there are admitted similarities. I dont want to hijack this thread by discussing "the troubles" but obviously I feel that if NI were forced to play with a unified Ireland that might help bring the communities closer together and even if it didn't it would be one less excuse to drive them apart... which you must admit Windsor Park certainly does. Example: Lennon's reception a few years ago. Despite my own feelings on the matter, I can't do anything except tip my hat to the current NI set up and respectfully acknowledge how much they have drastically improved with very little talent at their disposal (quite stunning really). It is possible NI qualifies and England does not which would be sweet.

I agree with Madras and the Northumbrian, but then I have never been an England supporter - so no surprise there. To add to the controversy I think NI should have its FIFA seat revoked with Windsor Park leveled to the ground and be treated like they are in Rugby: As one Country. You want to be proud of the lads from Tyrone or Belfast or wherever, fine - watch 'em play for Ireland.

So frighteningly accurate.

Out of the american national team I would have Howard, Friedel, Gooch, Bocanegra, Spector, Dempsey, Adu,Bobby Convey. Most of them on the bench only though At the very best these players would be stuck in the reserves with the exception of Howard & Friedel who are not better than Given and Harper and would cause unrest by fixing what is not broken. Friedel BTW doesn't count since he retired two years ago. Gooch - jury is still out Bocanegra is a liability. He uses agression and cheats to hide his faults not unlike Carr except Carlos is not as good at cheating. SPector would not be able to make the grade at Newcastle IMO - but I could be wrong Dempsey - we will see how things work out for him Adu - overhyped and bound to failure Convey... a possibility but how many midfielder type players do we need? (Now that I am writing this I think he would actually be better than Duff) Other than McBride & Dempsey the US does not produce out and out fowards or well balnced wingers... usually they have midfielders that sort of pretend to be forwards (see Convey, Wolff, Donavon, and Ching) Convey fits into this definition of neither fish nor foul - an attacking midfielder/winger/striker that is not creative and not so good at defnce. He woudl be useless to us (but maybe better than Duff - so I could see your point). Admittedly he did well in the CHampionship (at Reading) ... but then so is CHopra. A year ago I might have suggested Da Marcus Beasely.. but I am glad we didn;t make that mistake.

1. Given - by far 2. Martins 3. Solano That is all.

I was never convinced Gooch would improve Newcastle's defence. I watch most US games and I can't think of one American player I would want playing for the Toon right now. I still hope he improves and works out for us. Here is one point: there is immense pressure for him to do well from the national team. Since Howard left ManUre and Beasely left PSV, Gooch is playing for easily the biggest team in the world of any American national. Most capped yanks play in the MLS, the Belgian league or worse... Everton.* *(Only joking half the national team actually plays for Fulham which is almost as bad)

I am definately in the "let's just get it over with and appoint him" camp. Truth be told I would have Roeder on a three year contract extension if it meant we could get rid of Fat Fred and the current board.

Knighting footballers and other celebrites exposes the Royal handlers as lazy frauds. There are a multitude of more deserving British citizens that get skipped over. Alan is a great footballer but Knighthood ffs? I have an admittedly personal gripe with this knighthood, OBE, MBE thing - My grandfather took over the Percy-Headley School (in Forest Hall for those of you who are unfamliar with it) back in the 1950s when they placed mentally disabled children, physically disabled and just plain crazy children all in the same classroom with teachers that were ill-trained and overwhelmed. As soon as he became headmaster he began a massive modernization process that was copied across Europe (the Percy Hedley school is the largest of its kind in the UK iirc). He flew all across the world bring in education specialists to better train and develop screening and educational methods for these kids and figure out ways for them to positively contribute to society. After about 20 odd years of this he got an MBE while many other people in this field (some with even greater contributions) got no recognition at all. I have noticed a strong pattern of Brits who improve the lives of thousands and even millions get nothing but if you sell a million records or win a medal in some sport then you are usually fast tracked. The whole point of having these awards is *recognition* - well I doubt someone like Sir Paul McCartney or Sir Elton John needs any recognition - everyone already bloody well knows who they are - recognizing someone should call attention to something that actually needs calling attention to and massively improves Britain. Another reason to abolish the Royals IMO. Apologies for the rant.

If we get rid of Emre (as many on here are eager to do) we need to have either Nobby or Zoggy (or a new player) in the middle if we want any creativity or accurate passing.

I had to laugh at the Bobby's son comment. That was a running joke on the NUFC.NU forum. Dyer was born in 1978 in Ipswich - I just assumed after SBR won the UEFA Cup with them he went out to celebrate, got really pissed and knocked up Dyer's mum. I can't see how anyone who was watching our performances under SBR from 2002 to 2004 would not be annoyed with Dyer. It didn't matter how crap he played (or how well the stand in performed) he would never be dropped. He was constantly giving Speed a huge task of playing two positions as he would invariably go on a awalkabout during matches. "Special treatment" is a huge understatement.

Nice intergenerational conflict you have going here lads. I am not sure why people feel the need to slag off Niall and Biffa. Those two lads have chronicled the high's and lows of the club for over 13 years on an almost hourly basis. That kind of committment and perseverance is impressive. They are certainly allowed their own opinion which to their credit they usually relegate to the match reports.

Quite funny... and not a wind up. Who are you and what have you done with the real Crumpy?

The season ended on Thursday... there's not much else to discuss until the transfer window opens.

Very interesting thread (aside from the usual hijack). I like HTL's proposed team and I really like scy's but both of them have Moore and Nobby. As stated many people on here have concerns about Nobby over the course of a season - I have the same concerns if Moore stayed (which I do not think he will). and in both cases I think people's hesitancy to rate either of them is due to the fact that both tend to have two good games followed by one really terrible one. Witness Solano against Charlton for an example. In both of their cases this happens after a two or three game run (usually during a cup or European game) - neither player can handle playing more than one game a week and if there are two in less than 6 days neither is able to do well. Next year will be even harder for Nobby and I am an unabashedly huge fan of his. A solution for no money on the RB would be to convert Milner. In HTL and scy's teams the fullbacks are going to have to do most of the running anyway and Milner could handle this. Once in a blue moon he can also put in a good cross - if him and Nobby trained together and were consistantly trained in that spot it might work. Also we must remember that next season is probably Nobby's last - according to a recent interview I believe he is planning on retiring in 2008 and moving back to Peru to pursue coaching. As for the troubled CB positions without Moore we are a bit stuck but playing narrow with Butt and Parker as DCM's must surely take some of the pressure off... right? How about converting Parker to CB (then moving Emre Back and replacing with Zoggy)? He may not have many skills but he can tackle very very hard. He could stay as captain in that position as well. In LB we have to get in someone new. Babayaro and Bernard are clearly not going to make it. Zoggy might be converted there but that would be a waste of his emerging midfield talent. Taking a loss: I think morale is so tenuous at the club that we need to get rid of the unhappy players even if that means taking huge financial losses (buying out massive contracts). I am talking about Luque when writing this but I am sure there are other players that are not happy being at Newcastle and they need to be gotten rid of. They drag the whole team down. Keeping the dross: Keeping players like Sibierski is important. These type of players counterbalance the impacts of players like Luque and can raise team morale. They are not world beaters but are triers and set an example for others especially in training and in desperate spots. Players in the past that were not very good but had a positive impact on others and in many cases raised the whole team: Dabizas, K. Gallacher, Bez and Acuna. I think a shoestring budget is what we will have so regardless of what we would like in ideal cicumstances some form of what has been discussed here will probably be tried at some stage next season.

I completely agree. Thank you for the post - the way many on here go on about Emre makes no sense to me.

Jenas got a bit skoooled there... http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/design05/images/PH2/Shev.jpg

F*ck me... we always tend to fail fantasically don't we. I feel bad for the academy lads especially.

Great news - lets have another Liverpool player sent off please.

Any updates on this game lads? Texts, phone calls, etc... ?

Finally some good news - I just assumed after the week we have had that he was about to get a 12 month ban quickly followed by news that Owen has ruptured something at the physios during rehabilitation. For what its worth I think Emre is a good player that does not seem to be able to work well with Parker. He can actually pass more than ten yards forward with the ball on the ground which puts the total sum of our players that can do that at 2 (or three if you count Zoggy).

Did anyone else spot the irony?

The players become just as gutted as us in some cases. Not all of them are apathetic spoiled brats. I remember losing to Chelsea in the league cup quarter finals 7 (?) years ago to a last minute Hasselbaink goal and Solano was so distraught and frustrated he actually started to cry. It happens, players do actually care sometimes. I would say all four of the players listed above certainly do.

Please put your tin hat on and prepare for snide comments and insults.

Maybe it's a case of once bitten, not in my case though. No - definately not you, but many of the Souness supporters have no credibility on this subject. Despite yesterday's loss Roeder is still a better manager for us than Souness - yesterday's defeat did not change this.

This thread deteriorated rapidly. Roeder isn't going anywhere. Shearer will be the next manager but not until next season. Also I note in the early pages many of the Souness supporting hold-outs are on board the "Roeder out" bad wagon early - I can only hypothesise that the abuse they took last time has either taught them a lesson or has taken away some of their courage.