macphisto

I'm still very confident we'll stay up but that is only based on what I expect in the transfer window and deals are done early.

What major companies, Newcastle Brown Ale? We'll just have to disagree on whether coming from the bottom of the 2nd division to spending what we did in such a short time is organic growth or not. To make the strides that we did back then was not organic growth in my view as that would imply building a club over a much longer time frame and having the right foundations in place; by the end of that period we didn't even have a reserve team. Newcastle was falsely built up at the time through external debt to maximise the return for the Halls when they floated the club. After that we were never able to spend like that again. As I say, my major point was that no one complained back then when we were breaking transfer records which is something we had never done in our history.

That's not organic growth, 2nd to Man U after only 5 years, ahead of Liverpool. It was fuelled by debt, our income didn't cover a transfer like Shearer's together with our other expenditure at the time. That's why we had the years under Dalglish where we had to buy players like Rush, Pearce and Barnes. We were fairly skint due to our debt. For info, I know what you're saying about our commercial deals, for example I remember the Adidas advert with Ferdinand kicking a ball being shown around the country. Anyway, my major point is that we have had dramatic growth in the past and no one cared less; everyone loved it.

Our income didn't cover what we spent at that time, no where near. If this link for 1997 is correct then the money we were spending at the time was not matched by our income. The only difference between now and then is that our spending was fuelled by debt rather than the pockets of our owners. The point still stands that it wasn't organic growth and we grew rapidly by spending money, more than our competitors. In addition to what we spent on transfers and wages, also worth noting the money Hall and Shepard were taking out too, i.e. warehouse in Gibraltar.

We can still go the way of Man City and keep our identity. We went under Keegan, within a few years, from nearly being relegated from the 2nd division to breaking the world transfer records for a defender and a forward. Not a single person in Newcastle a that time thought we had lost our identity or complained about the money we spent. Keegan's teams weren't built over time, they followed a model not too dissimilar to Man City and Chelsea. As I said above, we broke the world transfer records for a defender and forward during that time.

I'd have Keegan back as a scout if possible. People have spoken in this thread about his man management skills, quite rightly, but his biggest asset was being able to spot a player; very few of his players were duffers.

Not if he's been fully vaccinated, no question at all if he got it on the NHS.

Qatar buying PSG was a condition of France (Sarkozy)/Platini, in his role at UEFA, supporting the Qatar World Cup bid. There was also some big investment in France (maybe an arms deal or gas, can't remember) attached to the World Cup. That's what I read in David Conn's book The Fall of the House of Fifa. Leeds weren't in the equation.

Great player, might have been a decent person or a dick but I don't care as long as they do it on the pitch. Would have been up there with the best of he could shoot properly. Shame Dyer was a replacement for Hamman when I'd like to have had both at the club. Went under the radar but I always thought Solano was the one who caused more problems for Robson. As soon as his place was in doubt, stories started coming out about having to leave for his family who were down South rather than fight for his place. Strange as he didn't have the same problems when he was past it and came back a second time. Goes to show the benefit of having the Chronicle onside.

Think it was more about Ginola being a half-season wonder. Was never the same after getting kicked off the park by Dixon in a league cup match (I think it was the cup) at Arsenal. He then went in a huff the summer after when he couldn't get a transfer to Barcelona. Batty was a much better player than Clark, different level in my opinion. A key midfielder in two teams that won the league says it all when compared to Clark.

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.