Rich

Most definitely they do. It's how we ended up getting Parker and Duff, to name just two. Yes they do and a good thing it is too. blueyes.gif Thing is, if we had one at the same level as Spurs do we could struggle to sign the so-called "top players", mainly because of our location more than anything else. The other side of the coin is that we might find ourselves mostly buying players who want to play for Newcastle more than they want to earn an extra few grand a week at a smaller club who pay bigger wages, which is the exact opposite of the decisions Parker and Duff seem to have made. I'm sure Parker was a Spurs fan as a boy, as well. The wage-cap is the sort of thing that makes sense though, for a club of our size, it gives a clear indication of the club's standing and is a structured way of bringing in football players on a completely manageable budget. It's exactly the sort of things I was talking about in my first post on this subject - having some sort of plan in every area of the club, all focused on exactly the same goal. I don't think overpaying wages will ever be anything more than a short term solution and it also reeks of desperation. Arsenal have a structure of sorts only broken by Henry if iirc. Players imo want to play for clubs that are competing and have good support. We have one of those already. Agreed-o. We're in a bit over our heads at the moment, though, for this to be changed - with the wages the likes of Dyer/Owen are currently on. I still think location plays a massive part, certainly as much as having "good support". However, again we could use Bolton as the exception to that supposed rule, on both counts! They might pay big wages, though, who knows?

If we've got "no money" to spend, I'll eat my hat. EDIT: People are quick to forget the incoming influx of new TV money, allied with the fact we generally always spend decent money in the summer.

Conflicting? it is a Conspiracy at first place? The difference is that one said they heard "n*gro" and the other said they heard "n*gger". Do you believe that two professionals would waste their own time and money on getting a fellow professional labelled as a racist? As for the offers from Germany, if the money is right then I would sell him. £6m or more and I'd wave goodbye, which is a real shame, but I'm fairly sure he'd want to leave if Bayern Munich came in for him.

Most definitely they do. It's how we ended up getting Parker and Duff, to name just two. Yes they do and a good thing it is too. blueyes.gif Thing is, if we had one at the same level as Spurs do we could struggle to sign the so-called "top players", mainly because of our location more than anything else. The other side of the coin is that we might find ourselves mostly buying players who want to play for Newcastle more than they want to earn an extra few grand a week at a smaller club who pay bigger wages, which is the exact opposite of the decisions Parker and Duff seem to have made. I'm sure Parker was a Spurs fan as a boy, as well. The wage-cap is the sort of thing that makes sense though, for a club of our size, it gives a clear indication of the club's standing and is a structured way of bringing in football players on a completely manageable budget. It's exactly the sort of things I was talking about in my first post on this subject - having some sort of plan in every area of the club, all focused on exactly the same goal.

Most definitely they do. It's how we ended up getting Parker and Duff, to name just two.

Thing is, if he goes on a Bosman he's nailed-on to get a cushy sign-on fee and far better wages than he could expect if we were actually selling him. I doubt he'll lose too much money on the deal, if not actually make a gain on the initial contract he signs. I'd be willing to bet that a PL club will take the gamble on him, an' all, obviously I agree with your sentiment though. Like riches said, he could go on to be very good and then the idiots will whinge that we should have never sold him - even though he's never going to get any better as long as he's here. The lad is just a "dolt", simple as, anyone who can dread going to football training every day and call it "work" wants a slapping. Although, in fairness, he did say that when Souness was here.

They've spent less than us, have they not? And they have a wage restriction in place, also? I'm obviously not 100% on this, but I'm fairly sure we outlay a fair whack more on wages and have done on transfer fees up until this season, perhaps. If Spurs have the "same" spending power as us, surely they can be considered "shoestring" too, in comparison to the "top-four"?

Tell that to Bolton or Spurs, both clubs who we still have more spending power than, or at least did last season when Spurs finished 5th. The thing about the top-four and Bolton/Spurs is that they are top-class in almost every approach to the game, or they are all significantly powerful in one important area of being a successful club.

Scouting is also my major worry, especially in the modern game. If Roeder doesn't have a list of contacts like Wenger does, then he should start taking steps to create one because it really cannot be that hard to find coaches and clubs all over the world who could keep an eye open on behalf of Newcastle United. I have some ideas about how he could do this another way, but something tells me he wouldn't be open to it. It doesn't even need to be scouts employed by the club, just friends of players who are playing abroad and all sorts of things. It's another typical example of how narrow-minded our approach is for one of the richest clubs on the planet - we are literally miles behind the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United in so many departments, it's unreal. The problems do not simply start with our lack of money and the manager/players. If there was a structure behind Roeder and his staff, to support them, and if we had the technical coaches that the big clubs have and suchforth then we would see an improvement on the pitch for far less than having to go out and spend £20m-£30m on players every season/other season. You quite simply do not need to spend inordinate amounts of money in order to challenge the top-four, although it obviously helps. The initial post is a good one, but for me it's too superficial and doesn't really take into account the improvements that need to be made as a club on the whole. We should be funneling more money into restructuring our entire philosophy/staff underneath Roeder, if he is to stay, rather than chucking all of our money at him in the hope that he makes a number of excellent signings. Because he will not spend another £15-20m of the club's money incredibly well, the odds are simply massively against this happening. For too long it's been the way that we expect the club's money to solve our problems by simply being spent on players and wages. It takes a hell of a lot more than decent players in order to challenge for anything serious these days and it's high-time people woke up and realised it.

I'm not sure you need to worry too much, mate - he looks finished here to me.

CLOTHESLINE... LAMPARD DUCKS OUT... STUNNER!!! That would have been better, tbh. Blatant clothesline attempt.

Which, based on that logic, would mean that Michael Chopra was in the England squad as of yesterday. Have a word.

Must be s**** then. Wasn't a dive like, Carvalho clearly didn't get the ball. I thought Berbatov was excellent in the first-half, especially considering he was up against John Terry for the vast majority of it. Held the ball up well at times, made a lot of good runs, won a stack of headers and his first-touch was absolutely phenomenal. Faded a bit in the second and Chelsea came into it more, but then won them the penalty and would have probably scored if not because of it. A fair bit better than Martins at the current time, IMO, and would be far better with Owen, as well. Excellent mate Did he care to jump at Jeanne-Arse pinpoint cross... no he didn't? he just care that it might mess his hair... where his flick-ons goes... to nowhere lands... Skillfull at feet? yes he is.... Pace?no... Heading? no The pinpoint cross that was about 6-feet ahead of him? Mess his hair!? Crikey, I'm not sure if I can argue with such a mature explanation for Berbatov having a poor game, you have truly demonstrated that your opinion is the correct one. I assume his hair does not get messed-up when he challenges for hopeful high balls and wins the vast majority against John Terry? No pace? For someone his size he's not exactly slow, is he? Christ, I don't even know why I'm bothering with this. For the record, I'd say I dislike Spurs as much (if not more) than anyone on here, but Berbatov is a class-act and is only going to improve. I just hope to high heaven he shuffles off to a bigger club in the summer, so that I can enjoy watching him play a lot more than I currently do. He was unplayable at Stamford Bridge in the first game and he gave their central defenders a torrid time again tonight. He did miss a few flick-ons and passes, but his vision, first-touch and aerial ability are something to behold. How you cannot appreciate that, I do not know. By the way, do you honestly believe that he committed a "blatant dive"? Or have I been sucked into another wind-up?

Has to be 95/96 for me. My Dad certainly hasn't been the same since and I remember my Granddad being totally devastated by football from that point onwards, up until his death even he was never as enthusiastic about them again (and he'd been going since he was a bairn) not to mention the fact that my Great Uncle can barely bring himself to watch a Toon match these days, either, mainly because of that. I wasn't exactly old enough to remember the full impact that it had on the city/club/staff/players, but I've done a fair bit of reading/watching-up on it (there was a programme on ESPN Classic last night that touched upon it for 15 minutes or so with interviews from Terry Mac, Big Les, David Batty and others about Keegan) and it brought it all flooding back to me. That season defines the modern Newcastle United, unfortunately. Still wouldn't swap it for some of the stuff the older generations have had to suffer, mind.

remember the good old days when we used to sign a net 12 players every year... He did say that it wouldn't all happen in one window, you big goon. Very good read, I thought. Found myself agreeing with a lot of the things that YT mentioned. Not all of it, but a lot of it made sense and it was well-written as well. However, no team ever "totally fixes their weaknesses", there are no perfect teams (obviously). Although we should strive for perfection as a club I think we should be prioritising things, first and foremost, which is where most of the recent debate about the summer transfer window has come from. There is nobody saying we don't need to sign a few/a lot of players, it's just which players and for what positions.

Must be shite then. Wasn't a dive like, Carvalho clearly didn't get the ball. I thought Berbatov was excellent in the first-half, especially considering he was up against John Terry for the vast majority of it. Held the ball up well at times, made a lot of good runs, won a stack of headers and his first-touch was absolutely phenomenal. Faded a bit in the second and Chelsea came into it more, but then won them the penalty and would have probably scored if not because of it. A fair bit better than Martins at the current time, IMO, and would be far better with Owen, as well.

Loved the sly kicks on the lad on the ground from the Chelsea players, Ashley Cole in particular. Mental fans.

Its funny what people will choose to ignore if a player has the ability. Think it was more a case of Bowyer's other on-field/off-field antics, allied with this, in comparison to Woodgate's, from the public perception. Bowyer was hardly shite at his peak, either, so the ability thing isn't nailed-on. Woody might be a right cunt off the field, but he's not on it, and that's where the vast majority of people will judge him as a player/person. EDIT: As for the Bellamy thing, I cannot believe you've brought him up in here!

Left-back is most definitely THE priority position, for me. Full-back is generally a vastly undervalued part of a line-up, especially in the modern game. I might be slightly zany here, but full-backs are my favourite players to watch (good ones, that is.) They need to be adept at so many different skills and they need to cover so much of the pitch. It's arguably why people say there are "so few good left-backs/right-backs", because it is such a difficult position to master. We've all seen the difference Nobby has made in games where he is allowed to attack more than defend, imagine if we had someone that useful on BOTH sides of the pitch and equally adept at defending/attacking?

Michael Chopra thinks he should be getting an England call-up? Christ has just fallen off his bike.

It's never years, man! He signed the £80k p/w contract in the summer of 2005, played about a dozen games that season and made his full return to "fitness" in November 2006, this season. I'll give you "15 months", but no way are you saying we've paid him £80k for being injured for years! Cheeky blighter! Technically, we've never paid a supposed back-up player £80k p/w, have we? Ever?

How many back-up players have been paid £80k a week, like? Must have missed all of them over the "years", I highly doubt there were first-choice players getting over £80k even 2/3 seasons ago, man. Or even before Owen was here, to be precise. That daftness aside, it's one of those "agree to disagree" things because I'm never going to believe that playing James Milner on the right ahead of Dyer with Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins up-front is the best move, until it proves to be so (if it ever does), nor will I agree that we should be paying a "back-up" striker the second-highest wage in the entire squad, especially when we need to spend money so badly at this particular time. (£80k a week is £4.16m a year, according to my noggin.) I'm sure you feel equally as strongly the other way, too. It's one of those things that can't be proved and that we could spend hours of our lives going on about. If you're ever truly at a loose-end for something to do we could bring it back up, though! As for the original question of strikers/defenders, I completely agree with your initial post on the subject in that it would be ludicrous to buy another big-money striker if Martins & Owen stay and IF we don't have that much cash to throw around. The Viduka suggestion is one I back 100%, although it's probably wishful thinking, but as far as spending big money goes I think we need to build from the back and I think Glenn knows it. People shouldn't underestimate the difference that having a fully fit Michael Owen/Shola Ameobi will make to our goalscoring power, either. Both had excellent goal records in varying times last season, playing in a team that was no better than it is now and playing with vastly inferior partners to what they should have now. Two first-choice fullbacks and a centre-half would be top of my wish-list for this summer, with Carr, Bernard, Moore & Bramble all hopefully waving "goodbye" and provided that Onyewu improves/is signed, which I fully expect to happen.

£80k a week for a backup striker is ludicrous, I think we've adapted to suit Dyer's wages after 8 years. It was more ludicrous paying £80k a week for a player who lies on the injury table for 18 months... Still doesn't change the fact that we cannot afford to pay £80,000 every week to a player who will not be considered first choice, whatever way you spin it. Is your general stance that Dyer should not be a first-choice player at all, then? Or should he start ahead of Owen/Martins (if they are ever fit at the same time, that is)?

£80k a week for a backup striker is ludicrous, which is why it seems nailed-on to me that Dyer will be considered as first-choice right-midfielder next season, if he's fit. It seems our only option is going to be to play an on-the-deck passing game with pace on the flanks and up-front, if Owen stays and if our "big players" are fit. Sort of like a shoddy version of Arsenal, at their very best, with Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg, Vieira and Gilberto as their front-six. Dyer being the Ljungberg of that group, obviously, as a wide-man who cannot really be called a winger. I don't think Roeder considers Dyer as a stiker unless there are no other options available and I certainly don't think the player himself has been overly brilliant in a more advanced role, although I can see where you are coming from and I think he would prosper in a team that plays it on the deck and looks for his oft-excellent runs early. I think you're right in saying that up front is probably his best position and I think he'd thrive if played there with the correct service. However, basing it on our current crop of players Dyer's best position, for me, is on the right of the midfield, because if Martins and Owen are fit he quite simply will not get a look-in up front - leaving the only realistic position to call his own as right-midfield (as Roeder doesn't mind dropping Milner half as much as anyone else.) Which, thankfully, he's not all that bad at either. Dyer is a useful player, although his form has stuttered recently, in that he is good enough to be a first-choice player in our current midfield and, as you say, he also offers decent cover up front when called upon. His best game this season came on the right of midfield, I reckon, and he's played some excellent games there in the past, so I'm certainly not worried about him making that role his own. Watch him get injured soon, anyway, rendering all of this entirely futile.

Stozo started his first, in fairness. By a mighty 16 seconds, no less! Good news for us and Emre, I say. He's our best option in the centre.