Teasy

Its very odd that all through Enrique's time here the national press seem to constantly berate him. No matter how well he plays, they always talk absolute shit about him (included in the biggest flops of the season list from one paper and constantly referred to as the happless Spaniard by another). It almost seems deliberate when you see an article like that from the independent. I mean nobody with half a brain could actually believe that a player being brought off in the 88th minute (especially when its a defender for a attacker) is being taken off because they'd had a terrible game.

You sarcastic bastard

I couldn't watch the match myself due to having to go to fucking work But nearly everyone seems to think he was either very good or excellent. Hopefully I can see the full game myself sometime and decide for myself.

HTT being controversial?

I think it's the opposite. If he signs the contract now he is valuing "safety" and "money" higher than his career. It is plain obvious that his career has went downhill in the last few years he needs to play in a top team in Europe to regain his status. Like he said "unless he goes to one of the big 4", he'd be well advised to sign the contract. Going to the likes of Man City or Everton isn't going to help his reputation.

A lot of fans just like to see us down and talk shit about us because of how good we were in the past, that's Football fans for you I suppose.

I've always thought he was a very good left back and a potentially class player for the future. I'll be very annoyed if he's sold. Lets put the Jose Enrique songs into overdrive in future to let the management know that we want him to stay.

IMO he was THAT bad. While he was here I had zero confidence of us beating anybody, plus we played a 'style' of Football that was nothing short of painful to watch. He's the only manager ever to make me not look forward to watching the match! Don't agree for a second that he was a victim of anything either, apart from his own ignorance maybe.

As I remember it he wasn't able to adapt to the premier league at all, and that was a few years ago. Great player, but not for us I think. He played 64 games for Chelsea and scored a goal every 2.66 games (24 goals). No matter what other problems he may have had at Chelsea that's a pretty excellent goal scoring record. That many? I didn't think he'd played half of that to be honest.. completely forgot about his wife losing the baby aswell. You probably just forgot his second spell at Chelsea? He played 31 games for Chelsea in the 2003-2004 season and scored 12 goals. He left on loan to AC Milan for the 2004-2005 season. But then came back in 2005-2006 and played 33 games scoring 12 goals.

that shows what happens when you look at the world through statoculars Even stats don't back that up to be honest.

Didn't you predict he'd be fantastic here as well?

As I remember it he wasn't able to adapt to the premier league at all, and that was a few years ago. Great player, but not for us I think. He played 64 games for Chelsea and scored a goal every 2.66 games (24 goals). No matter what other problems he may have had at Chelsea that's a pretty excellent goal scoring record.

Then again, how many players have been given a £100+k contract at 25, and then still offered £90k aged 29? Will Owen see it that way though? Do you think he'll consider himself lucky to get that offer in what he (and others) will consider the peak of his career? To be fair to Owen he's a world class striker and not a player you can honestly ategorically doesnt warrant a £100k wage in the first place, it'd be a massive thing for him to be takng a pay cut whilst players like Lampard and Terry are getting a pay rise AND longer contracts offers at older ages. How do you think that will bode for him? People get salary increases because other clubs will pay them that amount, Owen started on a wage far more then anyone else were willing to or even could pay. He's a world class striker IMO that would be worth £100,000 a week if he wasn't injury prone he's not stupid so he'll realise that has to be taken into account. Remember, we're not just talking anout £90,000 a week, more then anyone else will pay IMO, we're talking about a 4 year contract which means he'll still be on £90,000 when he's 33. For a player with such major injury problems that's an incredible deal. If he doesn't see it that way then I hope we don't offer him a penny more. I think theres a of a prestige issue here more than a monetary one. Lampard is a prime example of that. The injury record is a moot point ot be honest Mark Viduka being a prime example of that as well. Its not a moot point at all, had Viduka not been such a cripple we'd have had a much harder time signing him given his quality at the time. Both prestige and money come into it, but Owen's not going to accept a much lower wage from the likes of Everton, Spuds, Villa or Wigan for prestige reasons The top 4 won't want him either. Man City might be his only option, simply because they could offer him the same deal or better. Will they?, probably not IMO.

Fucking hell!

Do you really think Allardyce is the kind of manager who can come into a club in trouble and adapt himself quickly to the players he has to keep them up though? He was good with Bolton given years to find the right players for his style but he showed here that he can't adapt at all. He can only play one way and if the players don't fit his style they're fucked.

Which results? Even early on we weren't doing particularly well under Allardyce. I can remember maybe 2 or 3 good results, the rest were average to diabolical. We were unbeaten at home until November, that's pretty good going if you ask me. Infact we had 5 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats in the premier league. It wasn't until Portsmouth at home that the wheels came off for us really. Like I said, early on we were getting decent results. This is exactly what the press were saying at the time, completely ignoring the fact that we'd had an incredibly easy start to the season. I'm not ignoring the fact that it was an easier start to the season than most, if not every other team. All I'm saying is that for the first few months we were getting results against teams that we'd expect to get results off, with only 1 major blip - that being Derby. It's not like we're the only team to ever lose to a team much worse than our own on paper. My argument was that we were doing good at the start of Allardyce's campaign and it wasn't all terrible results and performances like some people make out. I'm glad he was sacked as I never really wanted him here in the first place, but I'm willing to recognise that for a short amount of time we were getting results and things didn't look all bad. Ok fair enough we did ok in our first 9 or 10 games result wise. But I was never truly happy with the results overall even back then.

Based on 1 good game out of about 10 ? Or based on his overall impression of the player in the 30+ games he's played for us? Or have you only seen the last 10 games?

Which results? Even early on we weren't doing particularly well under Allardyce. I can remember maybe 2 or 3 good results, the rest were average to diabolical. We were unbeaten at home until November, that's pretty good going if you ask me. Infact we had 5 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats in the premier league. It wasn't until Portsmouth at home that the wheels came off for us really. Like I said, early on we were getting decent results. This is exactly what the press were saying at the time, problem is it ignored the fact that we'd had an incredibly easy start to the season.

Which results? We beat bolton away Wow, they were utterly s*** though. Bolton away, West Ham, Everton & Spurs at home, Arsenal at home, Fulham away. Fulham wasn't early on and neither was Arsenal but I'll forget about that. Six good results, some of them like Bolton and Fulham only borderline considering how shit those teams were at the time. Not really much to shout about in 24 or so games. What I was actually talking about by the way is the idea that Allardyce did well early on with us, he didn't, we just had very easy fixtures to start the season

Which results? We beat bolton away I suppose any away win is a good result but we should remember that Bolton were incredibly shit early in the season. They went on to get 5 points from there first 10 games.

Which results? Even early on we weren't doing particularly well under Allardyce. I can remember maybe 2 or 3 good results, the rest were average to diabolical.

That normally happens because the other clubs are willing to pay those higher salaries though, this is a unique issue due to his age and the monstrous amount of money we're supposedly paying him already. Can you envisage a situation where Owen will be on the free transfer list with no teams going near him becaseu of his wage? How often does the oppurtunity to sign a 1 in 2 striker come about? In todays game £100k isnt a unique thing, even Sol Campbell is on £90k... Correction, he's a one in two striker who's played just over 50 games in three and a half seasons.

Then again, how many players have been given a £100+k contract at 25, and then still offered £90k aged 29? Will Owen see it that way though? Do you think he'll consider himself lucky to get that offer in what he (and others) will consider the peak of his career? To be fair to Owen he's a world class striker and not a player you can honestly ategorically doesnt warrant a £100k wage in the first place, it'd be a massive thing for him to be takng a pay cut whilst players like Lampard and Terry are getting a pay rise AND longer contracts offers at older ages. How do you think that will bode for him? People get salary increases because other clubs will pay them that amount, Owen started on a wage far more then anyone else were willing to or even could pay. He's a world class striker IMO that would be worth £100,000 a week if he wasn't injury prone he's not stupid so he'll realise that has to be taken into account. Remember, we're not just talking anout £90,000 a week, more then anyone else will pay IMO, we're talking about a 4 year contract which means he'll still be on £90,000 when he's 33. For a player with such major injury problems that's an incredible deal. If he doesn't see it that way then I hope we don't offer him a penny more.

David Craig "The Blackburn fans will look at his ability to get the best out of players" Then they'll all slash their wrists in unison

He doesn't foot the bill anyway. However you might be right in a round about way. He might only be making the offer because Newcastle United with Owen is a more attractive asset then Newcastle United without Owen. If he was staying then perhaps he'd be more interested in cutting the wage bill then keeping the value of the club as high as possible.