macphisto

Everyone is entitled to their views but we could put Emre in there or leave him out and it wouldn't make too much of a difference. Simple fact is that he's just a mid table player like the rest of them. Infact I was thinking about our central midfield the other day and we just seem to have a revolving door of midfielders that cost about £4-£6 million and don't improve the team, they are just average. Jenas, Dyer, Parker, Viana, Bowyer, Butt, Emre, Geremi, Smith and Barton for my mind are all middle of the table players. Look at that list and is it any wonder we've been a mid table team for the last few years when they are so average? I'm not saying we should be getting world beaters but the simple fact is that none of those players are even fit to lace the boots of say Rob Lee and that is the quality we should be aiming for, even if it costs around £10 million or so.

Strange thing I find about booing is actually making the sound! As a 30 year old I just couldn't bring myself to utter the soud of booing as I'd feel like an idiot! I'd much rather just say something like it's "F***ing S**t" or something as a way of venting my anger! Obviously you can't coordinate the crowd to say the same words to get the message across together but saying that you don't need to as the team will know when a crowd is not happpy without the booing. Also don't agree with the presssure of the crowd getting to certain players as that is what they are paid to handle and if they can't handle it then they are being overpiad and should not be here. Also all the players who have left here have never gone on to better things so I just think they were either over raated when they were younger (i.e. Jenas & Parker) or were over the hill when we got them (i.e. Kluivert)! Actually just thinking, how is Boumsong doing in the top flight with Juventus?

Don't agree mate. If you look at previous decades at short periods when the England team has been decent there has been a spine of genuine class players. We don't have that right now. If I can be bothered I may look up some team selections during periods when we weren't bad, but just looking at '66 through to '70 I'm talking players of the calibre of Banks, Moore, Charlton etc. We just don't have that level of comparative quality these days. Even going back to 1990, the team then had players like Beardsley, Waddle, Lineker, Pearce, Shilton, Gazza, Walker, Platt.....all of which would be in the England team now, yes I'd put Beardsley and Lineker before Rooney and Owen. [although I wouldn't dispute that Rooney is worthy to step into Beardo's shoes, I'm talking more of a partnership). Only Gary Neville and John Terry of the current team would get into that England team IMO. It's an absolute and total myth that foreign players have improved English players. The top class ones have given glamour to and enhanced the premiership ie Zola, Henry etc, but overall they have stunted their growth. Topical - watching the under 21's now, and Theo Walcott looks every inch the player Keyring Dire dreamed of being, but never will be in a million years. He's finished. His crap attitude has cost him his career, he's wasted it. James Milner has just scored a penalty after Walcott was brought down. It's well recognised that Banks, Charlton and Moore were Englands top 3, true World Class players. I would add Ray Wilson to that list too. Where England really scored was that the players all played to their best, in their most comfortable positions, and the overall balance and shape of the team suited everybody. Some people also say we won because we were at home. This was a big factor, but I think England could have won that cup anywhere in Europe. We were certainly the 2nd best team in the world 4 years later, by which time the Brazilians had found themselves again and had the best international team that has ever won that competition in my lifetime anyway. I think the biggest football travesty of all time is that the Dutch team from 1973 to 1978 won nowt, they were the best team for that period and how they didn't win the World Cup in '74 and again in '78 tells the story that the best team doesn't always win. That Dutch team against the Brazil team of 1970 would have been a spectacle to behold and England would have been in the mix at that time. In 1970 England weren't far behind Brazil both individually and collectively, it would have been a very competitive final in 1970 had it been England versus Brazil and we may have won, the teams were that close. Overall, for a number of years we were a benchmark for the rest even though we only won it in 1966. While I'm comparing players of today against players of the past I'm doing it in the context of comparing the current players against those of other nations right now and it's clear that we just don't get close individually. We could always fluke something, of course. Like Greece. Not an expert on the 1966 world cup squad and football at the time, but there's no way I could see an England manager being strong enough to leave out an individual like Greaves (for example Rooney in the present team) for the benefit of the team. Recent managers just seem to be too blinded by individuals and not thinking about the pattern of the team.

For me the problem is more deep down. I was reading Gianluca Vialli's book comparing our game to Italian football and one of the main problems identified with the British game is the emphasis on "passion" with out looking at the more technical aspects of the game. A case in point would be the appointment of Pearce at under 21 level who is basically only there because of his perceived "passion", what are our younger players going to learn from him? Similar problem with Newcastle, when we get beat you mostly hear people saying the players don't care and lack passion. Complete rubbish, most of the time it is because they are not good enough. For example I'd have a player like Robert who many thought lacked passion but produced the goods going forward to someone like Lee Clark who was pretty limited as a footballer. I also think our game is far too inward looking, hardly any managers or players go abroad and when they do look at what happened to Coleman this week. Also look at the resentment that there is against the coaching badges, we should be embracing things like this to help people become better at their job.

Shearer, Beardsley, Gascoigne. (Special mention for two people I left out, Lee and Ferdinand out)

I agree that a new keeper is not a priority but I sort of know where this thread came from. I don't think Given is as good as some people make out, a very good shot stopper, decision making OK but not too much prescence in the box. Saying that I also don't think this is a great time for goalkeepers as there are not too many out there who have a good solid all round game. Actually related to this, you see people like Parker, Duff, Shaun Wright Phillips, Johnson leaving or being linked with a move away from Chelsea, but I'm amazed that no one has ever gone in for Cudicini. Not sure if this says more about him being happy to get his money or Chelsea not wanting him to leave.

Agree 100%. They are also on to something when they said there was some people in the press box who would have liked us to have got beat and not just on the Mackem side. Oliver said the same thing on his video review about knowing NUFC fans who wanted us to get beat, but I don't know one person who would have liked us to get beat "to bring things out into the open". Did anyone on here say they wanted us to get beat?

You'd have to go for Gazza for what he did at Italia 90 in my opinion, never seen an English player turn it like he did at a world cup. With regards to our current lack of players, not sure how much I blame the academy. For sure we should be doing a lot better but for me that would be by brining in young players from further a field. Middlesbrough has been mentioned as a shining example but who exactely have they produced who is a good player. For me it's only Downing and even then he's just half decent. I said it in an earlier thread there's been a shocking lack of talent North of the M62 since Shearer. I can't think of one player (bar Woodgate if he wasn't injured) who you could regard as "world class". Compare this to some of the players produced in the North East and Scotland in the years before Shearer. Also compare how many good players the North East is producing to the North West.

I'd like to answer this when we've won it!! Don't think many toon fans can honestly answer this question as about 80% of fans have not seen the club win a thing!

See what happens now Clark has gone :parky:

Seeing that the Norwich fans are not too impressed with Roeder, it makes you think how did we end up with him? An absolute joke! By the way I do not wish the bloke any ill will but at the same time I wouldn't say good luck either as he does not deserve another managerial job in football.

True. However, there have been as few North Eastern players lately as Scottish players with any significant quality. No idea why. In their prime the likes of Beardsley, Waddle, Gazza, Robson etc would walk into most Premiership sides. Likewise, Hansen (who was a superb centre half/sweeper), Dalglish, Souness and Steve Nicol (most underrated player I have seen). Even John Wark is a step up on wat they have now. Perhaps there may be some resurgence. There certainly needs to be. There has been f*** all of any note out of either place since Alan Shearer. Of course there was the likes of John Robertson who shone up there, but generally established players up there did f*** all down here with the exception of Dalglish - at least thats the only one I can think of. The rest came down as kids. Very good point and I've thought the same thing for a long time, especially when you had Shepard going on about Geordie players and what have you. Like you say Shearer was the last great player to come from north of the M62, though if he had of stayed fit I would have put Woodgate down. Compare this to some of the players coming from the North West.

I think Sam's done a great job. I don't think Sam had too much money to play with in the summer (£75 million going on the debt) and I'm pleased he laid the foundations for a successful team by sorting out the defence. By the end of this season we should have a good back four who have a good understanding of each other and a good strike force. This just leaves the problem of midfield where we'll just have to put up with a "functional" midfield that can pass the ball and work hard but have no real creativity for this season. Some people may say why did he get Smith? But I can't think of a creative midfielder who does the business consistently for £6million, at least with Smith you know what you are going to get and covers a few positions. For the money he had, the best we could get is someone similar Emre which for me would be a bad mistake as he hasn’t done anything in his time here. So for me if Sam gets in one or two good creative midfielders in the summer, then this time next year I would not see any obvious weaknesses in the team.

Egypt was the one country in the Middle East I was referring to that would let Israeli nationals in. Pretty sure none of the rest do (possibly the UAE may do). Just thinking about it, entry into Egypt in football terms is pretty useless because they are part of the African Confederation. With regards to two passports I could get one because I was connected to the UK embassy, but I'm pretty sure anyone can if you have a business reason.

Israel could only travel to about one country in the Middle East because the rest of them do not let people enter who either have a Israeli passport or visa. I was nearly going to be going to Israel on a visit and it would have meant me having to get a new passport, as I had to keep one passport without an Israeli stamp. This was because I would not have been able to then visit other Middle Eastern countries with an Israeli stamp in it.

I trust Ashley to run the club in a professional manner which will see results on the pitch. What I like about Ashley is that he appears to be the most successful business man to take over a club. Who knows how Ambramovich made his money but we can all guess, Shinawatra at Man City, well we can guess again there, and all the American owners appear to have got some big loans to buy the clubs (Not sure about Learner at Villa) and I most certainly would not want West Ham’s owners. Actually I think the decision to buy Newcastle shows that Ashley has his head screwed on as I think it has more going for it than a lot of clubs who have been taken over. I'm actually glad that Ashley's in it for the money because I would seriously question someone who was doing it out of the "goodness of their heart". What I mean by this is that the days of Jack Walker at Blackburn when he won the league with I don't know say approximately £30million are long gone. To be successful these days you need to spend a lot more than that and I do not know how it can be justified. If I had the money Ashley has and wasn't after a return on my money I'd help the less fortunate people in the world.

Interesting in the Chronicle today that there was no quotes from Allardyce regarding the weekend. More signs that Oliver is well and truly out the picture.

Just have to agree to disagree on that one then as I reckon Beardsley could pass on so much to the youngsters/youth team in terms of helping to develop their skills. Also think Gazza, if he was working in the age group of say 10-16 could have a good impact. As I said earlier if Gazze had his head switched on he could pass on so much to the players in their late teens in a similar way that Tony Adams has done with his "football clinic". Having these two on the books would also make it easier to attract younger players from out side the area and the UK.

Just been reading this thread for the first time and I'd happily get rid of Solano as I don't think he's half as good as some people think he is. Also think he's had some friends in the press as he caused problems for Robson and Roeder last season but not much got out in contrast to some of the stories about Dyer which for me have been blown out of proportion. Related to Solano, the time I realised that Newcastle was going down the pan was when Clark and Solano returned to the club under Souness. It was all made worse with a large section of the fans applauding too. Also saw some comments about Solano going on the coaching side by a few people at the beginning of the thread, but it got me thinking about how under used Beardsley is. A far superior player than Solano and pretty much any other Newcastle player for the last 50 years. I just can't believe how he's not more involved in the game, makes you wonder if there was more to the bullying accusations of a few years back. I also don't know why we do not get Gazza as well to work with the kids. Sure he'll not be the best coach but I reckon he would give the youngsters such a lift by his sheer presence. If his head is in order he could also teach the young players about the pitfalls of being a footballer. Not saying the two above because they are Geordies, but more that we have two world class ex footballers on our door step doing nothing.

Wullie, I was just about to write the same thing, the secrecy surrounding this transfer has been really strange. This transfer together with journalists being clueless (i.e. stories ranging from signing Ronaldinho one week to being broke the next), Thompson House being left out the loop, secrecy of the takeover just sounds like "classic Ashley". By this I mean that in all the info I've read about him, the one thing that stands out is how secretive he is and it now appears to have been transferred to the Toon as well. This change of culture could be more significant to the club than anything else to happen this summer. The stuff that has been leaked in the past has been ridiculous and has only served to undermine the club as a whole. One thing to bear in mind which has already been mentioned elsewhere is that a strategy of no/little information (which I'm in favour of) could seriously come back and bite us if we go through a bad patch as the press will be waiting to have a go. The media are being made to look like clowns at the moment as they have not got a clue about what is happening and they’ll not be happy about it. I don’t think Ashely himself will be too bothered what the press say but it’s important that the fans do not get taken in by what they read when the going gets rough. One thing that would completely put a spanner in the works though is if Martins is sold as then the fans really would not know who to believe.

Can't start any posts yet so I've used this thread. Did anyone listen to Oliver on Talksport today when he was on the show that Andy Townsend does? Basically he was saying that the club is in a mess as we are overloaded up front and in goal but short of numbers in Midfield and Defence. Also said it was not like "what the brochure said" for Allardyce. Basically complaining that Allardyce has not had enough money from the new owners. Also pretty much blaming Ashley for the Dyer deal not going through and that the Smith signing had been dependent on Dyer going so we've got a problem there. Strange to contrast his pessimism with the optimism that has been on this board in the last 24 hours. I actually applaud Ashley and Allardyce for not giving Oliver the time of day but it's a risky strategy because when we go through a bad patch next season he'll not miss an opportunity to whip up the fans. I only hope that the editor of the Chronicle gets rid of him because it's becoming evident more and more how disliked he is by both the fans and now the club. Also related to journalists, I buy the Mag and always find some interesting information that is tucked away which you never hear about. In an article with Brian McNally in the “press watch” section he was saying that the prominent journalists who were campaigning for Roeder to be installed as manager had massive bets on him to get the job and that they should be ashamed of themselves. Just shows how much the fans have been taken for a ride these last few years. Also highlights the sheer audacity by the club of claiming “the Hitzfield for manager campaign” was a betting scam. I’ll let you decide who McNally was referring to!

Participating in the Intertoto Cup may have played a part in our fitness levels as the players may not have had enough rest and pre-season training would have been disrupted.

I'd probably let him go but only if we had someone else lined up to replace him as there's too muchil feeling there. On another point I don't think Dyer is as bad a player as some make out. In fact Dyer along with Robert, Bellamy and Jenas (all players who got stick from a lot of fans) must have had something about them as we did do well with them in the team under Bobby. Thinking about the list of players just mentioned, I also remember Gary Speed also seemed to get stick from the fans as well. People also go on about Dyer going missing in games and not playing on the wing under Bobby, but what about Solano who a lot of fans praise? He goes missing a lot of away games and has stormed off from the stadium when not in the first team before but I hardly hear any criticism.

Agree with what most people have said though I'd go for King at Spurs ahead of Berbatov. People are going to laugh at this but I'd go for Viduka as our best player now. Give Owen his due he scores on the big stage but his league goals are nothing special. Been on the scene for 10 years and never scored 20 league goals and his team play is nothing special.

I said in a post a few weeks back that I'd want us to be within 3-4 points of 5th place by the end of the season and it's what I would still expect if Sam gets some decent money. As a sign that things have changed and that we are finally trying to build a team I'd love to see us buy a left back for about £10 million. It's a position that has been weak for a long time and needs fixing. It would also demonstrate a "new" Newcastle if we spent serious money on a left back and got a forward (Viduka) on a free, it's always been the reverse in the past. With regards to Ashley releasing money after the strategic review takes place, I think is a smokescreen. I personally do not think the strategic review matters one bit. In an interview with John Gibson a few weeks back, John Hall said that Ashley bought the club without any due diligence being carried out. This together with the maverick nature that he has operated his other businesses makes me believe that he has some grand strategy for Newcastle and will not let anything get in the way/delay achieving it.