80

That might well be what I was looking at, then. Too committed for his own good, I like that

Zog. Hard to imagine an on form Duff. In addition, I think there's a question mark over whether today's on form Duff is as good as the on form Duff of three or four years ago. If Allardyce can work wonders, then fair enough, but I generally discount him from my thinking, as I did Dyer.

Pretty pleased with his performance today. Gave West Ham's Left a difficult day, sticking to their players and forcing negative passes from them. I can't see him being bamboozled and left swiping at shirt tails as regularly as Carr is/was. He made a decent fist of moonlighting as our right winger in Smith's absence, too. That said, there were a couple of times when I thought he was injured, the amount of time it took him to get back in position following a driving run forwards. Looked really lazy, strolling along watching play taking place within yards and neither attempting to assist nor meaningfully seek to get back to where he should be. Still, early days, so I'll let him off seeing as he was such an improvement overall. Even earlier days for Enrique, of course, but seeing as he's had some praise, I'll just say I wasn't wildly impressed by him. All things considered, he's plenty of excuses, given its his first match of the season, starting at a new club in a different country, of course. Main thing I recall is that I believe he was most responsible for that scare from Camara at the corner. Given the actions of our other players, it seems he was meant to be marking him and instead stood still, ball-watching, whilst Camara made his run.

Yes, it occurred to me that that may be the case after posting. Unfortunately, I/we don't know if that's the case. It's certainly a possibility, though.

Strangely enough, I come from the reverse of that, if anything. Though I've not liked this recent applause thing, I've partly explained it by the idea of the applause showing appreciation for the things achieved by the individual in receipt of it, be it a great career or a more personal sense of joy the person has provided others. What, then, did this lad have time to achieve? Obviously, I didn't and don't intend to enter this thread to dismiss him, but I have to say, none of us will have heard of him and probably never would have done, either. To me, he's had a tragically short life and the silence would show respect for a young lad's passing, the fact he never really had his chance, and also show those who did know him that they aren't alone. If we were to reflect on anything, I suppose it would be reflection upon life itself, the way some are fortunate and some are not. Reflect on the fact we should make what we can of our own chances. The applause seems, to me, to be at least potentially superficial. I appreciate that that's not the case for everyone and can understand your take on it, however. My fundamental point in this is that I don't like the way a decision has been made by the club for us as to how we go about this matter. To be neutral, they could've said a "minute of respect" and let people resolve it amongst themselves, ways of demonstrating that being a personal matter.

I don't feel comfortable with this planned period of applause. I never have had to engage in such an act and haven't expected to, it's just not the way I've been raised to do things. Now I feel I'm in a position where I'm disrespecting the kid by engaging in what is the traditionally respectful and respectable thing of a minutes silence. RIP to Jordan.

Great news, an excellent sign of Allardyce's immediate impact upon members of the squad.

Why don't you think your vote doesn't count? Because you don't go to all the games? I'll be going to half of the home games this year. My point was, as going to SJP is still a relatively new thing to me, I'm excited about experiencing the traditional atmosphere and build-up to the game. As an outsider this includes the aforementioned track. There's nothing boring about it at all, to me. You've a valid vote. Sadly.

Thank Christ Parky can back this up, I was getting worried.

A quickie from me - keep Local Hero out of the ground. Energy-sapping dirge.

Probably right. Gets them press if nothing else. Paying out only on slips with Derby for relegation and nothing else included? Probably only a few bets in Nottingham to worry about then.

I'm pretty open-minded about selling him. Depends on the fee and Allardyce's ideas on him and any prospective replacement/s. Just now, though, I'm not as happy as most with Rozehnal. He's made a number of mistakes that have had serious consequences for us, so far. Hopefully he'll come good, there's possibly an element of him still adapting to our League involved and for his fee he won't be too much of a mistake, but I don't have more confidence in him than I do Taylor and wouldn't want to leave this season in just his and the (bearing in mind a new league, age and injury record) unproven Cacapa.

Ashley sighted this afternoon at Middlesbrough, sitting next to Mort, wearing a Toon top.

Geremi, too.

He won't be - even if he doesn't leave 'till next Summer, his time in exile would rule him out. This would a gesture of appreciation, an unofficial testimonial and a charitable act towards his countrymen back home.

If they'd had the sense to have an earthquake a couple of months ago, we could've done it in pre-season. More seriously, I've always fancied a Toon versus Peru/South America XI as a testimonial for Nobby, this could be it unofficially, with a greater cause benefiting.

wasn't that the constant theme at bolton ? worked though. on a much smaller budget. doesnt mean he will do it here. might do. but he has more £ to spend here. i've no problem with it if it is more longer term planning than it seemed at bolton The main point is, ultimately, that we're not Bolton. He wouldn't have brought (or have been able to bring) in Enrique there, the nature of a club like that at the level they are/were at brings a host of new challenges. Players who can already envisage bright futures wouldn't go there, they might here.

Allardyce is talking about breaking him into our game gently, decided this wasn't the game to begin him with.

Find it a slightly strange idea, never thought of Geremi as captain of a club like ours historically, but no complaints here, either.

Strictly speaking, I think it was the deal itself that was a rush job. Allardyce probably knew of him but had him down in the "nice but unlikely" category of signings. When it turned out he was there to take, we took him. No shilly-shallying, I like it

It's illegal to drive without insurance though. A curtailment of liberty, surely. You should be allowed to get your face smashed in when not taking appropriate precautions in car or on a motorbike, too. The main crux issue is that it nedds to be ensured that you have themeans to compensate others involved in an accident. Its been claimed he earns £70,000 a week He could kill someone's entire family in a crash and buy them a new, better looking one with greater prospects from Poland. Yeah, but if Joey Barton is exempt, why not exemplify everyone, including Mr Chav McDole, who proceeds to fail to purchase insurance, and subsequently isn't able to pay a penny of compensation to the guy he proceeds to run over. Convict on failure to fully recompense. A lucky few already have the means to, the rest can insure themselves as they (are supposed to) do, already. Ah... Jumpers for goalposts... I love a good footie discussion.

It's illegal to drive without insurance though. A curtailment of liberty, surely. You should be allowed to get your face smashed in when not taking appropriate precautions in car or on a motorbike, too. The main crux issue is that it nedds to be ensured that you have themeans to compensate others involved in an accident. Its been claimed he earns £70,000 a week He could kill someone's entire family in a crash and buy them a new, better looking one with greater prospects from Poland.

It's illegal to drive without insurance though. A curtailment of liberty, surely. You should be allowed to get your face smashed in when not taking appropriate precautions in car or on a motorbike, too.

I think Ameobi was in a similar position, once. Thing is, when you're that rich, do you need the insurance? His wallet could probably pay for any damage caused.

Newcastle - 12 players Titus Bramble, Celestine Babayaro, Pavel Srnicek, Nicky Butt, Stephen Carr, Damien Duff, Shay Given, Stephen Harper, James Milner, Scott Parker, Peter Ramage, Nolberto Solano Michael Owen canny as ever.