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Can see posts like this being regretted in a few months... We'll have to see. Hope not, obviously...

I like his quality being recognised, I think it can only be a good thing if we're going to go anywhere as a club. All hinges upon the fact I think he genuinely does mean what he says about loving the place and wanting to take us up with him.

After an extremely positive opening day result...

Seeing as there's this paranoia about him not getting praise for good results, thought I'd put myself on record - I like him. Got a lot of time for him as a manager. Don't really have a clue where all this is going to end up, mind... But actually, that's quite a positive thing to say, when I think about it - I'm not putting any limits on my expectations of him.

Should have kept it till at least 40 points, I was a fan of it. Looked like a proper bastard. Unusual in today's game.

I'm literally now going off to ask the others if I'm supposed to ban him for that, I'm not totally sure if I can even work out what he's saying... Sort your grammar at the very least, mate.

Your signature is doing my head in. I can't bring myself to care THAT much about this result against Villa - we wouldn't have done what they did, I'm glad we've done them over for it, but I don't wanna make out they're more important than they are. Have never been on our radar, frankly. Couple of banners aren't going to change that in my mind. This is more like doing Birmingham City or Wolves in the past - sweet but... Thinking about it, we don't really get on with the Midlands, do we?

Either a similar article has been done with him in the past or someone else has told a very similar story a few years back... can't think who.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6301/ohtehnoes.jpg Fwiw, I do sometimes wonder if he is important in what good things we do have about the team off the field. Would be happy if we could keep him on as a cheap coach... not happening, of course.

Fuck. Beautiful :lol:

Might have made a difference... depending on whether he could have avoided the white shirt disease that was going around. Of course, chances of him getting on the pitch were slim to none given Capello's attitude re: Lampard et al.

No expert but I also understood that to be the case.

I don't wanna make this out to be too important, but I think actually signing him will add to Hughton's gravitas and help him in other areas to an extent. Just being perceived as someone who knows how to impress and can make noteworthy moves helps you repeat that trick. Attached to that, having him here will help restore the fame of the club - some on the continent will have forgotten we exist, while it'll also make it slightly more attractive and less daunting to join for another decent foreigner - won't just be a team of cloggers that he'll have to join.

And it is genuinely a mad transfer. Shouldn't be forgotten. Don't know how the British media can be so slow to pick up on the events. Players going on strike, unilaterally flying to England, then being turned away from their desired destination because the club don't want to be hit by a FIFA punishment, plus christ knows what else. This is newsworthy. There's more than normal to talk about.

Seville v Betis - I've seen that as lively rivalry between the fans? Well, there have been some naughty incidents in those games. But Andalusian fans are livelier than Madrid/Barça ones by far. Really, any game between Sevilla and any other Andalusian team (they hare hated throughout the region) is pretty entertaining in the stands. I like your anglo colloquialisms a lot, by the way

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2010/08/17/kevin-nolan-in-battle-to-be-fit-for-aston-villa-72703-27077398/ For what it's worth, a possible excuse for Nolan's performance. Article doesn't say whether he's been concussed for the past 18 months, but still, I suppose we should bear it in mind for last night.

Didn't see the second half as clearly as I'd have liked to. Biggest single critical thing to say would regard our lack of attacking pace and verve. Broadly appreciated the attitude shown, though. Call me on the 1st of September and we'll talk.

Always imagined he's more likely than most to make a really decent manager. Hope he does... and comes back here at some point.

Good post. I think his formation selection in the first 4 weeks will say a lot about how he's planning on setting about keeping us up. Yes, although one thing I've been pretty impressed with by Hughton is that underneath what has appeared to be a pretty static front, he's shown he does think about revisions and is prepared to go with them as and when circumstances allow. For example making us more attacking at probably the right time, and moving Guthrie inside to his best position once he no longer served the overall club best on our extremely weak right flank following Routledge's arrival etc. Basically what I'm trying to say is if I see something weak in the way we're going about things in the early season, I'd give credit to the idea that he sees it too but has valid reasons for not having resolved the issue as yet. See I'd say the opposite in that it took him until well after Christmas to realise how much better we were than all of the sides we were facing and go out and just try and beat them. No, I'm sympathetic. Think we were brittle well into the campaign. Also because the other sides were so crap we could rely on the notion that they wouldn't score while we sat back. I think we could have started looking bad, in our own eyes and in the eyes of the competition, if we'd started having more shots and getting less points. I really feel one of the single biggest factors in our success last year was the opposition literally expecting to lose. Failure of ambition. Any sign of weakness (games dominated and three points not taken) would have fed into a 'bottling geordies shown up' narrative. That had to be avoided at all costs, even if a few short-term losses were incurred. Better to be envisaged as solid and unremarkable than flashy and vulnerable. Fact is we didn't have much attacking talent prior to January. Gutierrez individually is as potent as a wet fart, I don't think Lovenkrands is much special and we had no right winger. Our most creative, fit central midfielder was the only one much who was much use at filling that role, which left us with Smith and Nolan in the middle. Dealing specifically with Hughton and my idea that he doesn't just plump with decisions until something has to change, I think stuff along the lines of the above were what fed into his actions last year, even if he was wrong.

hes making ashley and llambias look competent which is as damning a criticism as i can think of

Good post. I think his formation selection in the first 4 weeks will say a lot about how he's planning on setting about keeping us up. Yes, although one thing I've been pretty impressed with by Hughton is that underneath what has appeared to be a pretty static front, he's shown he does think about revisions and is prepared to go with them as and when circumstances allow. For example making us more attacking at probably the right time, and moving Guthrie inside to his best position once he no longer served the overall club best on our extremely weak right flank following Routledge's arrival etc. Basically what I'm trying to say is if I see something weak in the way we're going about things in the early season, I'd give credit to the idea that he sees it too but has valid reasons for not having resolved the issue as yet.

Nice one, thank you. If he does come to us, we're in for heaps of fun...

Me, unfortunately Get to it. Me or one of the others'll paste it in.

Let's do a first-page update to outline this bloody story. Who has actually followed it all?