macphisto

Not going to get into the right and wrongs of booing a player but as a 31 bloke I'd feel a right idiot actually making the booing sound, I would either groan or curse!! I'd feel like a 5 year old! I just wonder if people who boo do that in any other situations where they are not happy with someone!

Based on what? We score more goals with no strikers. How many goals has Healy scored in the league? I just don't think there's much difference between all three players, lets face it they are all pretty poor! So rather than wasting money on signing-on fees, agent fees I'd rather just keep what we've got. Yes you could point to Healy's international record but Ameobi has a decent record of goals when Newcastle have played in Europe! It's in the league where it counts and as I said all three are poor in that respect!

Signing Healy would be an absolute joke! If this did happen then it would make a mockery of Keegan going on about not signing players for the sake of it becasue that's what Healy would be! Not worth saying anymore until something happens but I'd rather keep Smith and Ameobi!

I'm don't live in Newcastle any more but I think it's a combination of reasons. When Fat Fred was here you always had the hope that if someone new came in who had the money, then we'd start competing again. Now that Ashley has come in, things have not improved on the pitch which is where it counts! So what hope is there? Things may be a lot better behind the scenes but I don't really care (that might sound ignorant but all the top teams have mountains of debt) the signings we've made so far are pretty mediocre. No football club has the right to expect to sell out a 52,000 stadium with the signings we've made recently. We'll see who comes in over the next few weeks but it's not looking promising at the moment! Also don't believe the economy has anything to do with not selling enough tickets. As a one city/regional club, with a half decent team we'd sell out no problem.

I can understand why people like him as a footballer but I don't understand why people like him as a person. He had a few problems under Robson and I also remember Robson having a go at him when he was at Villa, I think he left the stadium after he had been subbed and his team were still playing. All that stuff about him moving to London for his family was a right load of rubbish. If he wanted to stay and Allardyce had of wanted him here then they could have found a way round things, with international breaks and the number of games we play in London he would have been able to get down to see them enough.

I was gutted when Lee Clark returned and played for us the 2nd time. Just epitomised all the rubbish about a Geordie nation and having Geordies in the team that Oliver and Shepard go/gone on about. He should have been nowhere near the place and highlighted how far we had gone backwards since Robson's team. It's funny when we go through a bad patch that a lot of people go on about us needing more grit and bottle. Talent does not seem to come into the equation sometimes!

I was thinking more a long the lines of home shirt sales. I'm also not so sure how many shirts they actually sell world wide as most of them will be fakes. For example I was in Phuket a few months back and there's an official Arsenal Club shop in Patong that was empty everytime I went past, though a few locals had fake shirts on!

Hi just been having a little lunch time wager! Does any one know where to get information on shirt sales? I bet my mate that Newcastle sell more shirts than Arsenal. Four pints are riding on this!

I remember seeing Anthony Le Tallec (the player who ended up at Liverpool and has actually just left them) at St James Park playing for France against England in a youth tournament about 5 years ago and he was by far the best young player I've ever seen, just head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch. I really thought I'd seen a Zidane in the making. I suppose he's done OK but no where near what I thought he would do. I remember reading when he went to Liverpool that Wenger was gutted about losing out and once or twice I've wondered what would happened if he had of went to Arsenal.

Not just Oliver who does it, Lee Ryder also bangs on about Talyor on the videos they do. I would love to get a way from the Geordie/Young English talent agenda they go on about! Just makes them look so cluess when every other team above us in the league, especially the top four are full of foreign players!

Not going to get too bogged down in the debate but could you explain how local people could solve local problems? Any one who had half a brain about them would not be living in these areas now and all that's left is the dross. If they can't look after themselves and their kids then how can they assume responsibility for their whole community? It shows many of these people up for what they are if they are so devastated about the loss of their community because any sane person wouldn't be able to wait to get out these places. Why are they not thinking "great, I'm out of here and can give my kids a better place to grow up in"? Also too easy to blame the council dispersal of communtities as these places have been a dump since at least the mid 1980's. With regards to the woman living on £172 a week for three kids, well she shouldn't have had that many it's HER responsibility. Is it people like her who you think should be charged with managing their own community? Fair enough in some circumstances she may not be to blame but we all know that the vast majority of these mothers are having kids without a thought to the future!

My feelings exactly, tbh. If we can somehow save the next generation of charva kids from following in their parents' footsteps, we could save this country from going to the f****** dogs. My feelings too though I really think the only way to save the kids would be to take them from the parents which would never happen as it would be impossible to do! Sounds way over the top I know but I can't think of any other way to get real change! Also as a society do we need these groups to function? Which many people have argued that we do!

So you basically move the problem on? What an awful way to look at the issue, to disperse people and put them god knows where. You don't work for the council do you? You are right though, regeneration is pretty much all about the money and not the people. Sadly. The communities are far too gone now, I agree, but they weren't like that a few years back until demolishing and dispersal was forced on areas and people by a greedy council wanting to cash in on the property boom, wrapped up in "regeneration", "New Hope", "New Future" soundbites to legitimise their actions. Who for though, young professionals? No I don't work for the council! It might sound like an awful way to look at the situation but from my perspective I think moving the problem on is the only way to deal with it. Put them on the outskirts of the city so they can keep themselves to themselves. No matter how much money is pumped in they will never change so it's a waste of time thinking they will. I also think the idea of giving these people more responsibility would not work as they wouldn't have a clue about what to do! I remember a community centre opening in Walker a while back and the local residents decided to call it "Wor Hoose", what they don't realise is how thick they sound whilst the rest of the city is laughing at them. I know this is one very simplistic example but they really are clueless. To be truthful I'm not too bothered about what happens to them as they've never contributed much to society and are just a drain. One other thing and I can only really talk about the East End, but it's been a dump for a lot longer than the last few years. I would say since the mid 1980's at least.

Read some interesting things in this article but a few things have not been mentioned. For me the dispersal of communities has not been big enough as I would clear out large parts of the East End & West End and send them over to Newburn or any other places on the edge of the city. The communities are far too gone and contribute nothing and essentially live on the past. By the past I mean when the shipyards were thriving and Vickers was big in the West End. I love it when I read about residents protesting against the council doing something in these areas and saying "what a great community spirit they have, great place to live". Let’s face it these places are dumps and they only show themselves up by saying that. This might all sound very harsh but for me that’s the reality of the situation. This would never happen but I also believe if you truly wanted to break the cycle of poverty it would have to involve some drastic measure such as taking the kids away from half the families so that they could grow up with the right values instilled in them. I wouldn’t go down this route as it would be far too problematic to implement but as we can’t do something like this then we just have to live with the fact that these groups exist in society. Build new houses for young professionals/first time families in the areas vacated by the current people. Reason for this being two fold in that it would cut down on commuting times and more importantly create more revenue for the council. That was the whole idea behind "regeneration" "Going for Growth", nothing to do with making places better for existing people but about collecting extra revenue as approximately 200,000 people travel into Newcastle everyday to work and if we could get some of them to live in Newcastle we would collect a lot more council tax. At the moment we have large areas of the city where not a single £ is collected. The last element to growth in our region and by that I mean real growth, is that as a region we have to be a lot more cleverer in our voting. Anyone who knows anything about politics will know that there's no incentive for politicians to do much for the North East as Labour knows they will do well and the Tories know they have no chance! If politicians had to fight for our vote I would guarantee that things like the A1 being upgraded would have been done by now and not just government money but more importantly government policies would have been more beneficial to the North East. For example start up rates for new businesses in the North East is woeful and something should be done about this!

you must be talking about the money he's earned. Which he is hardly likely to turn down and if someone offers it to you, then you take it. Because as regards to him being a fantastic professional, role model, and a great ambassador to English football, you have no case. Haven't got a problem with the money he's earnt and I'll not go into why I think he symbolises a lot that is wrong with football because I don't want to detract from the good work that I see he's done with his academy!

They might charge for adults and I know they charge for summer courses but during the year they allow 10,000 kids to go for free! Mostly made up of local schools but some come from further afield!

For a person who symbolises a lot that is wrong with football that I won't go into, I just wanted to say credit where credit is due! I had a tour around the Beckham Academy in Greenwich and it really is a fantastic place! Two full size pitches indoors and the other facilities are top notch! Something like 10,000 kids go each year for free coaching, classes on healthy eating and so on! Shame these facilities are not spread out more around the country!!!

Seeing as NE5 seems to be absent I will make his point on behalf of him: you don´t get in the top 15 of financial powerhouses in world football by being mismanaged. Now if only it could translate to some decent results on the pitch.. Well from what I can see we have got into the top 15 of football clubs by being mismanaged! I'm not going to get into a debate on this as it's been debated to death but we are where we are due to blind loyalty, socio-economic factors, and geography more than good management! Also being in the richest league in the world helps!

How would Spurs be so far ahead of the Toon? I haven't got a hang up about Spurs like some on here just curious as to how they would have more! Surely league positions and them being in Europe does not account for a £16million difference? Bearing in mind we get a lot bigger crowds. If these figures are accurate then it again highlights how mismanaged the club has been in the past! Though that's hardly a surprise!

Positive for me is that KK and the board will be under no illusion as to what is required in the summer!

I'm not saying Fat Fred would have given him more funds as I don't know that, but in the cold light of day it's not hard to see why we are struggling and that is because we did not invest enough last summer. Allardyce had to sign a whole new defence, three midfielders and also got a forward. £25 million gets you nothing when you need that many players. As he had so little money for what was needed he had to take a chance on foreign players in defence and I can understand why he got Smith to cover a few different areas with the squad being small. I also think he went for Smith and Barton because it would have been asking too much to have people new to the league in both defence and midfield.

Amen to that!

I see your point but then some of them have not that chance under Keegan, playing football. I respect what you say Dave, but I don't think it matters too much as the players are just not good enough. Since finishing 5th under Robson we have just been a mid table team for the last 4 years or so. Seeing that nearly everyone around us spent a lot more than us in the summer time it's no surprise that we are struggling! I don't know if you were alluding to Emre as being a player who should be given a chance to play under Keegan but for me he sums up everything that is wrong about the Toon. He could be managed by any manager in the world and he will never be consistent! Same goes for Shola and who ever else is mentioned. We could all argue who should be in the team but really as I said they are all much of a muchness! What is really sad to see is how short changed our fans have been and out of desperation we have threads like this where people are clutching at straws, deep down we all know that the vast majority of our players are terrible and it would make no difference who was playing!

Read the thread and most of the players are much of a muchness so not really bothered who plays or doesn't play! They have all had their chance this season and haven't done the business! Thing that pleases me is that finally the board and some fans are finally realising we have hardly got any decent players and that big money needs to be spent! What we spent in the summer was a joke when compared to the expectations of the fans and the size of the club! That's why we ended up with Smith because £6 million does not get you much these days when wanting forwards and midfielders. I was also pleased that Keegan did not buy anyone in January as it would not have made much difference as I don't think we'll go down and if we had of added one or two players I don't think we would have made Europe so I couldn't see much point in adding to the squad!

The problem was more to do with the fact that the board did not back Allardyce. The money he had to spend on replacements was not enough together with the fact he had to buy a completely new defence. People can argue who was better, Parker or Barton/Dyer or Smith but at the end of the day they are all roughly at the same level, either inconsistent/injury prone/bad life style choices or just not that good! How many goals have the whole lot scored for Newcastle in their time here? I guess it's no where near enough! You can also throw in Emre and Butt into the same category too. With all these players we've mostly just been an averagee mid table team swapping £4-£6 million pound midfielders every few years and not moving forward!