Rich

Good read, most definitely.

Re: Spurs. They didn't simply get a good manager and a few good signings, they were taken-over by ENIC in 2001, who came in with a proper plan for the club and money to back it with. If Spurs still had Sugar I'd be highly dubious that they'd even be in the Premiership, let alone near the top of it. However, that's not to be said ENIC got it right straight away, either. Not saying this will happen at NUFC, but I'm just saying that Spurs didn't "just" get a good manager and made some good signings. In fact, ENIC seemed to take a while to "strike it lucky" with Jol, after the Santini debacle - but they certainly seemed to have a vision for the club and backed it with cash. As Gemmill has said, we're looking for some of that from Shepherd this summer, because at the minute everything about the club is being questioned from all angles.

pervert mackems.gif You know, though, it's supposed to be a fucking "strip-tease" and they've gone and whacked the titties out immediately.

Surely it would have made more sense to go from the socks up to the collar!?

Source £1m-£2m are the fees mentioned there from when Fulham (£1m), Chelsea (£2m) and Marseille (£2m) were rumoured to have made bids for him. Seems to make sense and is a well-written enough article, from a decent source, to suggest there may be truth to it. So it looks to be between £0-2m for him, that's quite a range. Certainly not the £3m/£4m some have suggested.

Most definitely. But I'm sure I recall reading at the time we got him that his contract was expired in the summer and that we've agreed a fee already with Standard if we want to make the deal permanent. If his contract is up and Standard have allowed him to leave on loan then surely that fee is going to be next-to-nothing? It's either this summer or next summer, at the latest.

At least the bloke has some raw materials to work with, though. Unlike Ramage and Huntington, in particular. Depending on the fee I think we should definitely look at keeping a hold of him, hopefully with a view to partnering him with a top-class player. He's massive, already fairly good in the air, seems to be fairly athletic along with it and he has showed, at times, some ability with the ball at his feet. He has been dodgy-ish, yes, but like you've said he's come into a dodgy team at a bad time and hasn't been helped by having to miss the European games. Nobody is beyond saving, ever, especially not after a few games.

Unless he was like Michael Owen and didn't come near the place until his rehabilitation was due to start Whatever the weather, it's going to take a fair bit more than 1 centre-half who knows the game/can play the game to sort out the current mess. Like HTL has said, ideally you want at least one in every section of the field. Signing the crazy bugger would have been a start, though, along with Woodgate - of course! This summer is shaping up to be an interesting one, if nothing else. Am I naive for thinking we'll be slightly more active than we have been the last two times around the block?

28 people... Jesus.

I never said it was from everyone, and I was fairly sure you wouldn't be one of the ones who didn't rate him. As for the Solano suggestion, I'm extremely dubious that he should be a first-teamer next season, especially at right-back. Can't help but feel he's been more than a little bit found out after his initial impressive start in that position. Teams have begun to pinpoint him for his lack of pace/height and he's struggling because of it, from what I've seen today and on Thursday, in particular, I'm not sure whether we can consider him "good enough" if we have any ambition for next season. At SJP against weaker teams he could still be invaluable in offering us ways of opening teams up from deeper positions, but away from home and against "good" wingers, I have serious reservations. At the minute, though, I certainly wouldn't argue with that IF there was a loss of Parker/Given - although Butt seems to be ahead of him in the pecking order for the armband, an' all. As for Campbell, Dave, I think most people with any sense would have taken that gamble (hoho) - although he could easily have been utter shite/gotten injured IF we had got him. Unfortunately, we'll never know and fair play to him for being so fucking outstanding for Portsmouth. He was apparently immense again yesterday, going on the reports I've read.

I thought his contract was expiring in the summer?

The way it's written, formatted, scructured... I know it's from the Sunday Sun, and I shouldn't be expecting anything brilliant, but it's utterly average and not at all easy to read. Barely scratches the surface on most points, as well.

Agree strongly with all of the bits in bold and I've been saying similar for a while now, and it was plainly obvious when Speed left who the real leader was. If I remember correctly, Speedo used to get absolutely mountains of abuse at the time as well for his "inability to pass" and a host of other things, I was probably one of the ones who didn't rate him much at the time as well. But then, you don't really think of what players offer to the team outside of their obvious football ability, do you? Especially when you don't know much better. If this sounds like some sort of veiled Parker defence, it's not, as I would also prefer us to have someone else captaining the team (although as I've already said I see no obvious candidates in the current crop). Like I've said, though, we're going to have to buy leaders this summer if we want them. We need a leading centre-half (or 2, if possibly) like nobody's business, we need Given to keep up being as loud as he was today, we need Michael Owen back in the team on a regular basis and we need Parker to come good. Because quite simply, Roeder won't sell him, drop him or remove the captaincy from him unless something untoward happens or he gets a bad injury. There isn't a captain in the entire squad, though, the vast majority wouldn't say "boo" to a goose.

Not sure it's a done deal yet, is it? But I'm sure I remember "2 years" being mentioned...

Don't know how you'd know that seeing as we've never bothered with them roeder is a tactician Has to be a windup surely.. I'm yet to see Newcastle use any 'tactics' We have the long ball to Sibierski, the long ball to Milner, I've seen the wingers swap sides before and against AZ we tried that nifty free-kick with Dyer/Solano (funnily enough on the SECOND free-kick we got, for some reason). If those aren't tactics, then I don't know what are! All of that in over a year, as well, just think how far we'll progress by next March!

3 goals in 11 starts in the PL, plus 11 substitute appearances. Urgh. Has been a revelation in Europe, but is not suited to being the target man when played against defenders who are generally a lot bigger and stronger than he is, unsurprisingly. Don't think he should have started today.

You cheeky goat. Chez was spot-on about the issue needing resolving, though, hence why I'm one of 3 people to vote for a certain option in the poll (I was the first, you know?). The club is like a big rudderless tanker at the minute, at least with Shepherd in complete control we'll have some kind of identity. I genuinely think we'll be better off for it, as well, as the bloke isn't daft enough to take 100% control and then not back his investment, is he? I honestly don't believe that he'll see us relegated. Really. What the feck are our other options, exactly!?

Personally, I'm looking for any excuse under the fucking sun to avoid Man City (h) like the plague.

Ah sense, how I love you.

Wind up statement, but can't resist- sorry: It's easy not to give the ball away when you turn around so much you wind up disappearing up your own arse with it End of wind up Every post you've made in this thread has been a wind-up, man! Cracking way of getting out some tension by replying to them, though. I knew my term on basic crowd physcology would come in usefull - as i wrote in my final year - "left to fester without any release, negative frustrations can manifest themselves into a destructive force" Glad I could help Heh. Exactly mate, exactly. Everyone needs to release something, rather than just bottle it up and right now there's nowt more that riles me personally than attacks on our Wonderful Capitan. Or El Capitan, as I shall call him from now on.

I have to say I'm starting to agree with the sentiments in the opening post of this thread. The most frustrating thing about the last few seasons is that me, as nowt more than a fan, can do fuck all about it... except for the time when I caught the ball at the match, I've had no direct influence on anything to do with Newcastle United (), which is a right fucking ripper when it affects my mood so much on a matchday. How hard would it really be to get something (anything) rolling?

Erm... I have a confession to make...

Play him. Will at least mean less criticism for the members of our team who do actually give a toss when things inevitably go balls-up.

Wind up statement, but can't resist- sorry: It's easy not to give the ball away when you turn around so much you wind up disappearing up your own arse with it End of wind up Every post you've made in this thread has been a wind-up, man! Cracking way of getting out some tension by replying to them, though.

Oh aye, which is why I've said in a previous thread on here that "at least he accepts the responsibility". I honestly can't see a viable alternative though in the current squad, we are going to have to buy a captain to take the armband off him, if that's even possible to do.