Theregulars

Finishing a post with "end of" doesn't mean you're right. End of. Yes it does. Period.

Personally think the flack he's getting is mad - compared with our squad as a whole, he's a useful player, end of.

I'm just bored of it. The only way we're staying up right now is if the teams below us continue to be as shit/a bit shitter. I can't see us beating anybody on current form, we only have two players who interest me at all (Jonas and Oba), our manager is awful, our owner's a crook, our captain has one foot out of the exit and we just got spanked by a team managed by Sam Allardyce.

They did this piece in an NUFC magazine - Viduka asked for world peace.

Went out and bought that strip with his name and number the day after that game... the ex still has it as I bought it when I was well fat and she used it as something to sleep in. You've reminded me to call her and get that back, good work.

what date is it?

If it's before Christmas eve I'm happy to come along - if we have 23 players I could make it 24 and have one sub each or something? Am quite useful, played for my university side.

Don't see why Shola should be dropped, fancied him to at least give their centre halves a physical battle. Our midfield is going to be tumultuously overrun. My tactic would be give the ball to Jonas and hope a lot.

Disagree entirely - Butt looked solid and generally played fine. Held things together nicely. Great free kick too, think he should take more. If Geremi is allowed despite being so awful he shoed he could at least have a go. Butt wins a hell of a lot of tackles for us and, while some of his passes are wasteful, an equal number are good.

Thoroughly enjoyed his booing, his a massive dickhead, always has been, does not deserve the lifestyle he leads. Normally against booing your own players but I don't like him representing my country as he's such a ginormous arsehole. What a pass though...

Why do they pick Duff?

I find that Wes Brown looks like the Tango man or a baked bean.

As much as I loved Keegan here, and I hate Dennis Wise not because of his London background but because he was a nasty rat turd of a player, I find myself agreeing with their transfer policy. I love Keegan's ambition to get us going again very quickly by spending huge amounts, but that's a risky strategy, it's not guaranteed and there are not that many bottomless pits of wealth. Abramovich and City aside, it's still a rarity. Ashley isn't a limitless source of money. He has had the club analysed from a business point of view, and thanks to Shepherd we were going down the toilet. If ensuring that this doesn't happen means slow building and buying lesser known, still talented players then I hate to disagree with Keegan but I do - I agree that it's wrong to do so behind his back, if that's the case then he had every right to fight back, and Wise is an odious twat as it is. But if Keegan thinks we can just throw a ton of money and buy huge name players then he's sorely mistaken. I am behind the board's attempts to offload Smith and Barton. I understand Keegan wanting to keep them as the squad was not big enough, and I am also in support of those who argue that the board has not adequately addressed the issue of our thin squad. However, we need to build slowly to achieve in the future. I don't despise Ashley, I think some of his actions are ill-informed and infuriating, but if anything I'm intrigued to see what his next move is. I think we are now being run as a business, as Ashley's business, but what's going to make him the most money? Buying young players and selling them on and alienating fans or slowly building a strong wide with prospects of success in the future? Our success = his financial success. He's not a tit, he knows that. While his methods are not popular at the minute, hate him or not Wise has bought some good young players to this club. The squad's still thin but it's better than it has been for a while. There are issues they need to resolve - Owen's contract for starters, as well as improving communication with the fans, not least securing a mutually acceptable and forward-thinking manager - but at this point to say we are relegation fodder and going down the toilet is unnecessary. If nobody gets hired for a while, we lose our next 5 games, players want to leave and nobody else is signed up in January, then I'll join in saying I have no faith in this set up whatsoever. As it is now, we have bought in 6 players who have made our squad look significantly more useful, although we've lost a manager we loved and trusted. There is clearly a downside and upside to the situation. I won't go to Shearer's Bar or buy club merchandise because it's a pile of shit anyway, the only thing I want is me shirt which I will continue to wear with pride at all games and everytime I play footy, and I agree with letting the board know that we are concerned with progress. But I'm prepared to wait until the new manager is bedded in and see how the team is playing. Who knows, in a few years, Wise's transfer policy could see us in the Champions League, you just don't know. I hate what they did to Keegan as much as the next man, I hate that he's not our manager. But I love Newcastle United more than both of those feelings.

The only thing that stands out there is the Euros. AC Milan didn't go far, Gala/Fener win everything in Turkey and one cup final appearance is something that mediocre managers can achieve - read Steve McLaren and the UEFA Cup with Boro.

One reprocussion which hasn't really been discussed with all the debate about what we the fans will do as a reaction is what's going to happen to the squad. There's a whole host of them that I can't see staying. If the papers are to be believed, Barton is effectively gone as Keegan was the only one who wanted him here, same with Smith (good). Owen will leave, I reckon he will have had enough of this nonsense and the only man pushing for him to get his new contract is gone. Can see players like Nicky Butt, Shay Given, Steven Taylor becoming seriously disillusioned. A To be honest, if any half-decent or bigger club comes in for any number of our players bar the new recruits I think they'll want to leave.

To be fair to the lad he's going to be one of a very small group of players who will actually still want to play for us, so I think he'll be pretty key for the future.

Only one from an available crop I'd want is Rijkaard. Doesn't mean I think he'd be successful here.

Hooray. Sense. Exactly! Disappointed that he's sided with Wise and Llambias over Keegan, but how much of this is just pantomime hero v villain based on extreme local bias? It's a strange sign that our net spend this summer resulted in profit for the club, but it's one thing to jump to the conclusion that he's using us for a business when it is clear that he has cleared us of massive debt.

Don't fool yourselves, it's going to be Wise/Poyet. This week has showed a) how much power the board has and b) how little the fans needs matter. This is club is being run as a business, nothing more. All they'll want in is a man happy to pick up his over-inflated paycheck, accept players hei s given, develop them and farm them out for an inflated price a few years later. There is no good manager who in their right mind would take this job, no manager who will make up for our loss and no self-respecting man who would put up with a board like ours. It's going to be a puppet.

If you're all so worried, go and do something else. Sitting on this forum like lemmings and talking about your worries/ideas for a solution, which may be credible but are in effect completely useless, aren't going to benefit you in anyway. It looks like he'll still be our manager, but there's going to be a nasty taste left in the mouth for some time.

A lot of people are leaving Viduka out. If he's fit, KK will start him, fact.

The saddest and dumbest thing about this whole fiasco is that it seems the argument is between two sides who think they're doing the best for our club - Keegan wants to control players, thinks he knows best and wants immediate first team impact signings, the others want the club to move to a continental style system, based on youth development and signing players with potential that they can develop. Surely some calm head in a position of power can see this?

Those players who were supposedly to be sold will have heard the rumour. I'm sure they'll be looking for clarification. It's all very well Keegan saying he wants to keep them, but I dare say it will be a strange feeling knowing that the board wanted to flog you. The only way for this to move forward is to accept that it will take time to forget about it. Both parties need to come out, admit that there were issues, and give a definite statement that they have been resolved definitely and for the long term.

One way of thinking is that in order to get his way in future Kev threatened to walk/leaked that he was resigning, knowing that it would prompt a huge reaction amongst the fans and show the board that he couldn't be messed around. Might be reading too much into it but if that's the case the man's an outrageously courageous genius.

I don't like the fact that transfer business is going above KK's head, but I'm not going to pretend that I'm not keen on the players they have bought for him - it's the wrong way of doing it, but it seems to be getting us good enough players. A different what if would be what we would look like with the players Keegan wants - if it's true he wanted Schweinsteiger, I'd be more pleased with him alone than Xisco and Gonzalez combined. However, this is about principle - Ashley hasn't necessarily done anything wrong, he's done something foolish that goes against Keegan's character and desires completely. He clearly doesn't understand Keegan and hasn't really done his homework on him. I like the idea of having a good scouting team - think Wise is a twat but if he's responsible for players like Jonas and Colo, then I thank him for it. I think there is a case to say Keegan needs to calm down a bit and understand that football is different, the way clubs run is different, but Ashley also needs to understand that by installing Keegan, he has effectively hamstrung himself and cannot mess around with a man so adored by his footballing public. Both need to back down a bit and compromise a bit, ideally, but I don't see it happening. It's a clear-cut choice between a clean break - a very risky strategy as fans will be disillusioned to say the very least - and a compromise solution, again risky as it is not a god foundation on which to run a football club. I blame Ashley and co for the mess as it is clear that they have told Keegan things which are not true and given him assurances on which they haven't delievered. I like Ashley and hate all this paper shit about him being a beer-swilling incompetent buffoon, but he certainly needs to change his position on this matter.