macphisto

I never said anything about what fans think, though I could think of a few examples where fans power has had an influence such as Liverpool, Man U fans, Chelsea last season. The reason I'm advocating not attending is that it would show the fans will not allow themselves to be humiliated and more importantly it would hit Ashley in the pocket. He might well then throw a strop and sell the best players, etc. but I wouldn't care about that as long as he forced him out the club at some point. As I stated I would take relegation down several leagues if it meant he left the club. I'm not sure Ashley does want mid-table either if Kinnear is anyway connected to the club as he hasn't been appointed on merit.

In my opinion fans need to stop attending matches, it’s the only way. I’m done with the club until Ashley leaves and I would view fans who continue to attend as complicit as Ashley in making the club a national joke. I understand that for some fans football is only a small part of the whole match day experience but you could still get that without going to match, watch it in a pub etc. In short have some pride and get a life. People speak about Pardew being humiliated if he stays in post and I would apply the same logic to fans who still attend, Ashley is taking the p*ss out of them and they are letting it happen. This is also about much more than a football club as the city itself is so closely related to the club, it’s just a complete joke. Not attending matches might not get rid of Ashley but at least it would make him appoint a half decent manager that would keep things ticking over in mid-table until he sells the club. Even if he didn’t I would take relegation down several leagues if it meant he would go. I’ve got nothing to lose as I haven’t got a team any more………

I particularly remember watching this advert when I was at uni in Liverpool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPX_LLlpNl0

He spent big on other players too before Shearer, Barton was a world record for a defender

Before that they had a team with Savicevic, Boban, Weah, Baresi, Desailly, Dugarry, Davids, Baggio, Albertini,. Was outrageous. Getting ridiculous but surely the team before that is the best Milan team with the Dutch trio?

All this stuff about Shearer, my main problem is not how it ended as he gave his all for Newcastle when there's loads who didn't which is what counts for me. I'd have him ahead of Bellamy and Kluivert any day of the week no matter what stage of his career (Bellamy should have been a great player but his attitude got in the way, see how he's moved around so many clubs as evidence). My main problem with Shearer is him insisting that he had the number nine shirt from Ferdinand who had just had a great season (might have got one of the player of the year awards if my memory serves me right), no excuse for that.

I'm surprised that two people who had a really close mate in common (Speed) don't get a long better than they do. Not saying they have to be best mates because they both knew Speed but at least be civil to one another.

bought tracksuit bottoms from there a few years back, still wearing them. loads of cheap sweatshirts for girl 1 which are still good enough for girl 2. girl 1's air max's were cheaper there than anywhere else. as everywhere else, you know what you get at that price but i certainly get the feeling many would pay more for identical stuff from more upmarket retailers. (or at least use the place but still have a go at it) I think it's great for what it is, at the larger stores they cater for almost all major sports and at a good price. For me it's similar to Argos in many respects as you can get all sorts of things at a cheap price whilst at the same time being able to pay more for better quality. I did boycott Sports Direct for a while but then I just couldn't be bothered anymore....... I have seen a few Sports Direct shops in Malaysia, be interesting how it does over there.

Levy is good at getting a good price for his players when they leave but his buying record is not that amazing.

Didn't like the Olympics in London myself, only good thing was that it was easy to get a drink in town or book a restaurant as it turned off so many visitors. It was a massive pain in my area as there were so many restrictions and changes made that were way over the top (they built a temporary bridge at my train station). I travel a lot people did bring it up but it wasn't too big a deal in my experience people overseas were much more interested in the Royal wedding. Paralympics were much better as it did belong "more to the people" and I had a good time at the two events I went to but this no way justifies the money that was spent in securing the Olympics. Also an absolute disgrace what they did to Greenwich Park. Place still looks a dump many months afterwards and this is a World Heritage site that gets a lot of visitors. The place is looking a little bit better now but this is what it was like until very recently. Large parts of the park will have been out of use for nearly a year by the time it's fully reopened. http://www.trust.org/resize_image?path=/dotAsset/6aca7ce7-771e-46d3-9247-626ff6b19471.jpg&w=649

Where did you hear that?

I personally think our signings have more to do with our agent links than with Carr though in fairness maybe he was the one who formed the relationship between the agent and Newcastle. Reminds me of all the rumours surrounding the exit of Keegan when we took a player (I think it was the South American midfielder who never played as he was injured) on the understanding that an agent would send all of his top players to us in the future.

You should go to Thailand, Chelsea are everywhere due to their link with Singha Beer. This is a good example I found on Google but there's a lot more I saw over there too: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qUcogHDLN6w/UHgQzrVR1RI/AAAAAAAAXao/vYpQOHTi2Fk/s640/DSC00217.JPG For Newcastle, it was funny the other night as I was walking down the main road in Bangkok in my old Newcastle shirt and a motorcycle taxi driver shouted at me. I thought he was touting for business but then I realised he was shouting "Toon Army" and then saw that he had a Newcastle Shirt on too!

If Carr is all that he's cracked up to be on the scouting front (including background checks on personality) I wonder why he suggested Remy as he doesn't come across too well in this whole episode? I'm not saying this based on Ryder's report but more the fact that Remy ended up at QPR simply for the money.

I think Adams was OK not as good as Des Walker before him and also not as good as Ferdinand after him. Had a few drinks so I'm not sure if I've followed the argument between Ronaldo and Ock correctly but there were a load of players better than Aguero and Tevez around in the 90's who meet the criteria mentioned earlier. Based on skill I'd take Romario, Gullit, Berkgamp, Van Basten, Baggio, Batistuta and Ronaldo at the end of the decade ahead of any modern day players apart from Messi. With regards to English football there may not have been many skilful forwards but we've always had people like Dalglish, Beardsley, Yorke and Sheringham. Even Nigel Clough and Nicky Barmby were decent at certain times.

I thought the Clarke Carlisle was very one sided and had an agenda, why did they not speak to Chris Hughton and Chris Powell at Charlton, two managers who have done well in the game? It would certainly carry more weight if they thought racism existed and had been a success despite some barriers they had to overcome (that's if they think football is racist). It was also a glaring omission that they didn't ask Barnes about Suarez as he was very public in his support for Liverpool and the player.

As amazing as Ronaldinho was, I'd put Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of him. That team would score 10 goals a game Good team, but I'd put Matthaus ahead of Redondo and Van Basten in a front two replacing Ronaldinho. At a time when Italian football was much more defensive and the off-side rule was in favour of defenders Van Basten was a fantastic player, such a shame he had to retire early. I would also rate Keane as the best midfielder of the Premier League years, Man U were so lucky to follow Robson with Keane. No luck about it. They bought him and developed him. Too much in football is put down to good or bad luck, or lady luck according to Souness. Ferguson has to be credited for the signing. It was a British record at the time n all so Ferguson definitely put his balls on the line with it. By luck I meant to have two successive midfielders who were the best of their generation. No doubt they were going to be good players (fair play to Ferguson and Atkinson for paying so much for Keane and Robson) but I don't think anyone would have predicted they would turn out to be so exceptional. Paul Ince is a an example of a player where you could see he was decent as a young player and knew he would do well and be a solid player and lived up to those expectations without exceeding them. In many ways it reminds me of when we bought Andy Cole, we paid a lot of money for someone in the 2nd Division (3rd division in old terms) and I'm sure Keegan thought he was going to be a good player but I doubt he thought he would be as good as he was in the Premier League. I'd also put Rob Lee in that category too as we bought him as a winger.

As amazing as Ronaldinho was, I'd put Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of him. That team would score 10 goals a game Good team, but I'd put Matthaus ahead of Redondo and Van Basten in a front two replacing Ronaldinho. At a time when Italian football was much more defensive and the off-side rule was in favour of defenders Van Basten was a fantastic player, such a shame he had to retire early. I would also rate Keane as the best midfielder of the Premier League years, Man U were so lucky to follow Robson with Keane.

Just heard Lee Ryder's interview on Talksport, just embarrassing: http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/kickoff/121009/newcastle-journalist-magpies%E2%80%99-new-sponsorship-deal-wonga-182764

Lived in London now for almost 5 years and really enjoyed the place. I'll probably look to leave next year but that's only to get on the housing ladder, if it wasn't for that I'd happily stay here for the long term. With regards to Newcastle and London there's no comparison about where you go if all things were equal as Newcastle isn't in the same league as a place to live if you were on a footballer's salary. Saying that as a footballer football should come first and we are way above Fulham as a football club, I'd much rather play for club where you get the third largest crowd in the country and the potential to be a very successful. Indeed the only two clubs I'd sign for ahead of Newcastle if there were some London clubs in for me would be Arsenal and Spurs (I wouldn't go to Chelsea).

They have so much money that they have invested in a few places, I know in London that they built the Shard in London and also own Harrods.

They get not too much less than full house anyway and gate receipts of 3-7,000 extra people won't make that much difference I'd have thought. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/029ffd93e9ae0e16b1aa688909a49f95.png Unless they're planning a move to the Stade de France. I don't think these people come into football to make money through the club itself so I don't think they'll be bothered by attendances, TV revenue or any other income stream. It's more to do with how to raise their profile, marketing, and who knows what else....

PSG is probably the best club to invest in the whole of Europe as Paris has a large population (2nd most important European capital after London???) and is pretty much a one club city. Their exposure in France and former French colonies around the world will be fantastic. They will also reach a big audience through the Champions League.

Wonder how he will perform over the next month as Ramadan starts on Friday.

Don't think it's been mentioned but Rob Lee deserves an honourable mention for the goal he scored in his own half against Brentford even though it was disallowed.