Kanj

Cisse is killing me today -- has to get his act together man.

Everyone seems to forget how hopeless Shearer was in the league that season. The torch should have been passed off and it would have had SBR been kept in charge. Bellamy's own goal scoring was improving at that point as well - he and PK should have been our men.

Keep it up

Man, PK's celebrations sometimes were epic. I remember one match where Shearer went on a great run into the box and crossed in and PK smacked it in and ran over to him pointed to him and they both celebrated together. Remember at the time thinking...holy s*** AS + PK are our f***ing strikers. Pass the torch and he and Bellamy would cause havoc... That Bellamy/PK Crystal Palace goal, or Patrick's header at home to Chelsea in the cup...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40407000/jpg/_40407321_patrick300.jpg Mental this day. Still can't quite believe we had him...wish he was arsed man, gosh if we had him motivated and fit.

Play the right team, our best 11, and we can get a result there.

Shepherd wanted to be the chairman, the fan, and the hero. He could have been all of that had his ego not clouded his judgment and given him the notion that he could make major footballing decisions that were ultimately flawed and out of his depth. I agree with HTT, I think the Big Sam hire was his realization that he had mucked things up and needed to rebuild and modernize the club. Was it the right one? Well of course that's debatable for all...

Freddy Shepherd's ambition and vision for our club (obviously Sir John Hall prior to him) was and continues to be something we sorely miss. Their ambition with the right footballing man ie: a David Dein type character and we would no doubt fighting for European football every year at a minimum. HTT: top post, a classic one at that. Glad to see you weighing in on this topic mate.

Dude, it's an absolute must. Cracking insight into the SBR/Souness days. Agreed, great book.

It all adds pressure. not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club. Nobody wants to the buy club at the price Mike wants. I'm sure there would be a ton of interested parties if the price wasn't so outrageous. there wasn't a load of people breaking down the door when it was for sale in the championship was there? Only one guy who couldn't afford a knock down price for it. The price isn't going to change. He will want at least to break even or perhaps even to make a profit. Think you are forgetting about the global economy meltdown when we went down too though mate.

It all adds pressure. not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club. Nobody wants to the buy club at the price Mike wants. I'm sure there would be a ton of interested parties if the price wasn't so outrageous.

Something about this league for better or for worse I guess. Anyway can we revive a Robert appreciation thread? And this thread go back to talking about our mad mercurial beast that is Hatem?

And the strange part was a man of his experience and age he just seemed mentally shattered and never recovered from that.

Cacapa Man, who was that dude. So frail and weak. That debut (?) where he got manhandled by some tonk Portsmouth striker at home. Hideous. IIRC he was immense in his first few games and then the Portsmouth game come along and he was essentially a train wreck from then on. Benjani wasn't it? That's how I remember it too. Yeah same. He looked a classy CB first few matches before Benjani destroyed him.

Add that to the list of why I love Steve Harper

Growing up watching the sport over here in the US, it was always Newcastle 1 and AC Milan 2 for me. Really class to read everyone's take and thoughts - wish I could have seen and attended, nearly all of my favorites were out there. The idea that Baresi, Costacurta, Maldini and our Newcastle legends were on 1 pitch for our backup loyal keeper in Stevie Harper is just what sums up this club for me. Words can't describe. Class.

Barton is an active player too

Class

Alan Thompson on, I always wished he came back and played for Newcastle just b/c I enjoyed seeing him play well at Celtic....

Hilarious man

We must go with an unchanged back 4 in front of Krul. The chopping & changing of that back line has to stop, there needs to be some continuity and I'd rather see MYM continue to work well with Debuchy and being partnered by Capt'n Colo. If Cabaye is to start, then a 3 man midfield with Sissoko + Anita retaining his place b/c of his excellent form. Up top it has to be Hatem, Remy (if fit), and Cisse. If Cabaye is not starting I'd consider replacing Marv for Gouffran to give us some pace & energy out wide with Remy and Cisse up top. Hatem out wide as usual and Sissoko + Anita retaining their partnership in the middle of the park. Either line-up should get us at least a point and if we start with the first one, we should be capable of getting 3 points. The key for us to attack and impose our game on Villa - the end of the Fulham match has to be the springboard (I hope).

So how is the football at one of these testimonials? As I've never been - entertaining, bit of nostalgia, a fun occasion? Some daft shots from far, etc? Wish it was on tv....

That spider monkey bicycle heel kick

Robert's range of free kicks were insane like said before me - he could curl them with precision, smack it with precision or do that run-up and just smash the hell out of it. He absolutely understood whipping the ball in with pace via cross, corner or strike into danger areas b/c with the pace he could get on the ball - it could go anywhere. Brilliant player man. That Arsenal away match at Highbury

In terms of giving f***s, Robert certainly gave none. One of my favorites to ever wear our shirt and one of my personal favorite players ever. Some of the things he did man, my goodness that magical left foot of his. TaylorJ nailed it too, another one of those crazy lads who's played for us you can't help but love. Hatem has every bit of skill and talent to go on and be remembered forever as one of our greats if he gets himself fit enough to play multiple full seasons relatively injury free and signs a new deal with us.