Rich

Aye but those two don't harry defenders all over the pitch. Tevez isn't a poacher, it's never been his game, but he's still played a massive role tonight. I'll not count him out just yet, he's scored a lot of big goals for them. This second half could be off the hook.

Good fucking game, but dear me I fucking hate Chelsea. Lucky cunts. If Tevez had scored that header it would have been one of the best goals ever seen in a CL final, absolutely unreal stuff from Rooney/Ronaldo in the build up. Then Carrick fucking side-foots the bastard rebound! Miles better than I anticipated, but cannot believe that lot equalised in that fashion... I can actually. Lampard is the Bobble/Rebound King.

You've conceded ground, I've conceded ground, everyone's a winner (drawer?) baby. My initial point was that I couldn't believe people were having a go at Ferguson's tactics when it's gotten them to the final this season. Granted, it hasn't been beautiful viewing along the way, but you can't knock it when it works unfortunately! Anyway, 12 minutes until my terrestrial coverage starts (no Sky!) and I'm looking forward to a bit of Pleat personally! No Souness!

They've only gotten to a couple like, it's not like they're perennially good in the Champions League. If anything, they've underachieved in Ferguson's time there, given how consistently good they've been in that time. This season is the only one where they've really played "defensively", for me. It's not great to watch, of course, but it's f***ing worked for them. They've been like that to an extent for years IMO, ever since they bought Veron and started playing 5 in midfield in Europe. It's just that it's worked better this year. So you're wrong, basically... I'm not having that! Semi-finals last year, where they lost to the eventual CL winners in a tie that was 5-3 on aggregate and where they apparently "weren't defensive enough" according to some at the time. Admittedly they've had a rocky spell prior to these last two seasons, but I personally haven't seen them as cautious as they've been at times this season in Europe. Perhaps I have a bad memory, but I honestly can't recall it.

I think what probably annoys people more is they are capable of playing brilliant football, and we here all the time what an attacking team they are and how they boast such attacking prowess. Yet when they don't play like that it annoys people. Aye, especially for us "neutrals", like. I'd want to see them going gung-ho every game, and the Barca match bored me rigid, but you can't knock it if it works unfortunately.

They've only gotten to a couple like, it's not like they're perennially good in the Champions League. If anything, they've underachieved in Ferguson's time there, given how consistently good they've been in that time. This season is the only one where they've really played "defensively", for me. It's not great to watch, of course, but it's fucking worked for them.

Is Hleb staying, then?

Can't see that going down well at all, to be honest. There's already the growing feeling of NUFC being "run from London", which isn't a nice one, and which will be used as a big stick to beat people with if things don't go well again next season - and maybe rightly so.

I think they go more defensive in Europe because it gets them to Champions' League finals, personally. But ho-hum!

Bastard, I was just about to say are you offering them out. You would have voted "couldn't give a shit" then, wouldn't you?

If there's any Newcastle fans who've voted "couldn't give a shit" about the chairman of their club changing, then they want a good bumming. EDIT: This isn't me offering to dish them out, by the way, despite what cunts like Shak will tell you.

Yeh i'd agree with that - dont get me wrong im not saying he's a crap player or he's an amazing player but i have my opinion on what we need as a winger and at the moment from what little i saw he struck me as a differnt type of winger to the one i have in mind. It's funny though, because will we even be playing with wingers next season? That's why I'm not sure what sorts of player we're after, to me the likes of Turan and Modric are not "wingers" by definition, certainly not in the traditional Keegan mould of Sellars, Ginola, Fox, Gillespie... (fuck me, what a brilliant little quartet of players)... they seem to be more comparable to the likes of Hleb and Rosicky who play "wide" for Arsenal but aren't really wingers, much like Ljungberg and Pires weren't. I have no clue what style of football we're going to play next season after this new formation has been brought in and been a relative success, so I struggle even more to make any judgements about how a player will do for us!

Should point out that I wasn't having a go at you Fred with that comment, was very general indeed, just my take on the matter. In fact, if anything, it was refreshing to see somebody NOT getting giddy over a YouTube compilation.

He can only be judged on what he does when he's here at the end of the day - if he comes, of course. So many players have looked good before and after Newcastle but been dog-dirt here and by the same token there've been a lot who have had their best years in black-and-white and never looked the same elsewhere. You definitely can't make a proper assessment over YouTube though, whether it be a positive or negative one.

He's getting on, though. I'd rather we found a longer term solution, we've done two years without a proper right back. Aye, I keep forgetting his age because of the way that he looks. He's 31/32 now isn't he? Would just seem to me to be a very good instant-fix who could probably do you for a good season or two. It's a big ask to get a young lad to come straight in and do the business as first-choice.

I don't think we need more change at the club at this time, we need stability. Exactly. I understand that it might be the terms of the agreement and that the club/Chris Mort will have their own (good) reasons for deciding it either way, but as far as NUFC goes, from a purely selfish perspective, it'll do us no good in the immediate future to be changing chairman again, especially if the bloke who takes over has a distinct lack of knowledge about the area, the club and the game itself - which Mort admittedly had last June.

Same here, because he'd probably command less wedge than either of them and seems a good lad. Things have been thrown a bit in the air since all the wage stuff has come out, though, it's not as easy as my first instinct of just "buying the best we can". But he's not that young Supertoon, he's about 27.

Next summer, I think.

Very excited for this, but it's probably going to be another huge let-down. Praying for an early goal from Man Utd to make it interesting.

He's incredibly underrated, if you ask me. They went to shite after he got injured against us (although I realise there were other things that played big roles in their dip in form).

Would probably want daft money to come up here, unfortunately, so he'd probably not be ideal - especially when we already have Enrique here.

I like the tournament idea more than anything else suggested so far, could become a staple thing for a few years including a raft of previous clubs (whoever was available)? PSV, Barcelona, Sporting, Porto, Us, Ipswich, Fulham and WBA aren't exactly a bad pool to choose from! Obviously the venue could change each year, along with the participants. It'd be a bugger to organise, but could be a very nice touch for a very good man.

Am I the only one who's finding this thread far more entertaining than our own one, by the way? And as far as Hleb goes, Diablo, he's away isn't he? Rosicky is as good as him, anyway.

The answer. I can't believe people have doubts as to whether there are protective measures written into Barton's contract. Even if Freddy Shepherd maliciously left a time bomb (or Ashley and Mort royally fucked up one of their first ever transfers) there is no way known that we are paying Barton's wages while he is in the clink. The Dabo assault was fresh in the minds which would have prompted a "last chance" clause - a chance he blew when he beat the shit out of a boy, just after an assaulting another man. So the power is entirely in the clubs hands. I'm surprised no one has pointed out that Joey Barton played on the left side of our midfield three - the same position it was expected a certain Luka Modric might fill had he not chosen the Yids. Perhaps the club was already preparing for life after Barton...? Aye, to take my arse firmly off the fence, and after thinking about it a fair bit more/reading all the news about it from various sources, I want him gone in the way that Baggio has suggested, if it's at all possible. If it was me making the decision, that's the route I'd take. However, I'll support him/the club if he's kept on, of course, but he'll have to be much fucking better when he's on the park.

Definitely, this would be bang-on. Shame it might only happen after he pops his clogs (which hopefully won't be anytime soon.) Fantastic man. Would probably top my list of people in football who I'd like to share a pint with, could listen to him all day.