morpeth mag

Squad member at best - just so happens to be our best CM player also. Gonzalez will have to go straight into the team and if he doesn't work then we're in trouble with Butt & Geremi.

Been poor since he came with the odd game where he is exceptional. His passing does my head in. Just play it simple and on the deck.

What was Butt doing diving in like that? Same old.........

squad player at best - deja vu

I think it was Hughton's way of not applying for the job. Shola and Xisco up front was never going to work. Too similar in style. Time to go Shola - like yesterday. Butt, Guthrie and Geremi all have no pace. None of the three should be regular first team picks at present though Guthrie may develop. Zog is not a full back - witness their second goal. Edgar is an emerging defender - the 433 formation call for an attacking fullback. So with about 5 players who shouldn't be in the first team its hats off to the Board for the depth of the squad and hats of to hughton for exposing the lack of quality so easily.

got better as the game progressed and even better when not paired with shola! jury still out but seen better and worse debuts.

LMA made a short press release at 10pm to say that no satisfactory conclusion was reached. Apparently no further talks planned. KK has always got on well with MA and so seeing him face to face is no surprise. I think everyone was amazed that MA stayed in the USA when it all blew up but maybe he wanted the Board to take the flak. If KK is threatening unfair dismissal then MA is bound to have to listen to KK's grievance against the Board. He may have hoped to persuade MA into some form of compromise but this obviously hasn't happened. For all KK's historic success in the transfer market his record since beimg at SJP first time round is mixed at best. If Wise / Jimenez were instrumental in bringing in Guti and Colo then it seems logical to back them with Xisco and Gonzalez. I think the Board are happier with Enrique as LB than KK is and view Zog/Bassong as reasonable cover. Ashley is backing the Board to spend his money. I'm happy with the quality of the signings from what I've seen but wish there had been a couple more top players. On top of this the Club alledgedly tried to sell Owen and Barton on deadline day. I personally think this was the big issue even if the above was the straw that broke the camel. KK was quite clear from the start of the summer that he wanted Owen's contract sorted. I don't think the Board rate Owen as highly and clearly dragged the contract discussions on. Even at the death the press knew about the improved contract offer before MO did. Must be the only pro-active press release of the summer. I blame the Board for this - Owen should have had a new contract in June or else KK should have been told there was to be no new contract and any xfer offers would be considered. Neither happened. I think KKs frustration with this lack of clarity and his lack of input was the real dispute. I don't think MA wants KK to go but equally he is happy with the existing transfer arrangements. I think that if the club want a coach/manager then KK is the wrong person and that we should move on. Equally if this is the arrangement then Wise / Jimenez / Llambias need to start communicating with the public directly and not hide behind the manager. Llambias needs to get everyone working as a team......they only appear to speak in a crisis. This guy has made no impression so far and Mort is clearly missed. Can't see how this is going to end without tears all round. Maybe a lucky run in the League cup can save the season.

Possible three week delay could be: waiting to see if club is sold waiting for next round of international matches (France & Deschamps) waiting to see if the protests die down and Lge cup game over (Poyet) please not Ince for me

Classic media spin to put a a name out even worse than the guy about to come in - 'Thank god we got Poyet and not Ince!'

It was because he scored a wonder long range shot away at wolves in the mists of time.

One of the benefits of the system is that you get some continuity even if you change the coach. We are not going to get a new coach who wants to start all over again but one who agrees that Xisco and gang are the future and that 2009's task is to replace Duff, Smith, Butt, Viduka, Shola and probably Owen. In my view the problem wasn't the system but the personell we had in the various posts. Someone had to go and they did. Move on. Young, tactical coach for me; Deschamps, Toral or Poyet

I think there will be an announcement before the weekend - the club have been preparing for this dispute even if they didn't engineer it (which they probably did).

I think the dispute with KK was mostly with Executive Director (Recruitment) ie Jimenez

hard to know where to start but here goes - We're missing Chris Mort who seemed to have the quality of keeping the differnet personalities together as a 'team' and to communicate effectively with the public. It seems to me that the sizt of the transfer pot was unclear. The Times article says £12m but we bid more than this for Modric. If you add up the incomings and outgoings before Milner then we'd spent the £12m at the same time KK was talking about another 3 or 4 coming in. KK iwas putting pressure on the Board to spend through the media - maybe necessary but doesn't win friends with the Board. Jimenez thinks he can spot a player better than KK. The straw that broke KK's back were the deadline day signings. Personally I've been impressed so far with the deals but it's also fair to say there has been no 'wow' signing to fill the empty seats and that at this pace of investment it will take as 5 years to even get close to a CL spot. It seems to me that KK not only lost his veto on xfer deals but lost any input. He couldn't stay in that scenario and the Board must have known that. It's not clear if we failed to sign a left back or whether Wise/Jimenez (and me!) were happy with the Enrique/Zog/Bassong combo. If it was the latter then someone should have the the guts to tell KK the truth. It seems ludicrous that KK wasn't exected to comment on transfers. He is the public face of the club especially when no other bugger will go in front of the press. Someone need to front the press and talk about seat sales, aspirations for the season, contract situations, Joey B etc etc. If KK is just the coach then the Chairman should be communicating too. It's no coincidence that Sports Direct has major communication and governance issues too. I was in favour of Deschamps last time round and was happily swept away on the KK bandwagon. We need a coach who is tactically astute and happy to work with Wise Jimenez regarding players. A spaniard seems a sensible place to start. Finally I think this was more a dispute between KK and Jimenez than KK and Wise. It just suits us to focus on Wise because we feel we know who he is.

Of course nobody is going to come out of this well; the club; Ashley; KK or Wise. I'm not sure we'll know the straw that broke KK's back but the problem of who controlled transfers was there from the beginning. KK thought he had the final say on all incomings and outgoings but a quick look at the structures suggest that Wise and Jimenez are both on the Board and he is not. The Board set the long term vision and direction and their business strategy of buying young upcoming players just didn't fit with KK as manager. I think in a perverse way the success of Guti and Colo strengthened Jimenez in the eyes of Ashley. It's hard to think these aren't his recommendations even if KK said 'yes' to them. So on deadline day we get two more from the same pot rather than the KK list. You feel that the real issue is that Wise / Jimenez don't rate Milner (for £12m), Smith, Barton and Owen (for £100k pw) whilst KK wanted all four. I tend to back Wise on this but that's because we're all playing FM rather than running a 'team' and KK has a history of getting that bit right. I'm sad that KK has gone but we need someone in to build for the next 3-5 years with a similar view on players as Wise / Jimenez. Not sure if that is Poyet or Marcelino but I'm not sure I'd come to NUFC with potential buyers hovering. We also need better communication; with the fans; with the players and between the five or so people running the club. Not sure how bridges are to be built with the fans if we don't have a string of good results. Another season written off in August / September - sad

Just back from a weeks hols and trying to make sense of what I've missed! In hindsight the hiring of KK was a mistake for all concerned. He's just too big a person to take a coaching role but I'm also not sure he knows enough to recruit the young emerging players the business model is based upon. The roles of Wise and KK were just not clear enough and a conflict appeared inevitable from the beginning. I trust KK's judgement on players but it seems like the Board weren't ready to back his marginal calls on Owen / Barton and Milner. I think we'll get a Poyet / Marcelino / Deschamps coach in the short term and Ashley may be able to ride this out if results go well. Otherwise we'll have to hope for a wealthy buyer. I'd also comment that things have fallen apart since Mort left and that his political skills are missed at a Board level but also in the communication from the club. I'm sad that KK has gone but had a feeling that it was 'Back to the Future' when he came back in Jan and that we should have gone contintental then. Having said that KK certainly moved the team on in his six months. I was won over by my memories of the past against what my head said was right. I'm not sure where I stand on the Summer's xfer activity. The Argentinians are certainly impressive - I just wish there were four not two similar quality signings. Jury out on Xisco. I think, like KK, I was expecting a bit more quality and quantity on the incoming front. Selling Milner is a decision I'm comfortable with for £10-12m but it is a decision that will only be justified next season now. Finally I think it has to be Poyet as manager. He is a good coach and could work with Hughton (Who I rate) and Wise.

He's gone and so is Barton - just a matter of when.

Hope it means we're getting Inusa from Liverpool as part-ex as well as a new RW

I'd love turan and will therefore be cheering for Steaua tonight Steaua Bucharest v Galatasaray, (agg 2-2), R3, L2, 18:45

Enrique has to play against Arsenal - the Zog would have too many balls played inside hime for overlapping players. Zog on the left of midfield please.

Now that Spurs are signing Pavlyuchenko and Zenit have spent the Arshavin money already who do you think is the buyer of this 'wow' signing?

Agree he is a better defender but he got forward plenty times tonight and his ball for the winner was supurb. Having said that I thought the Zog was a real threat all night and worthy of his place - I just think he needs to player higher up the pitch where instinct as opposed to vision is key. But Guti has to play so.... bloody glad KK is manager

Wednesday is the big night out in the City after the Coventry game. Roulette for Milner; black he stays; red he's off to Villa. Followed by full breakfast about 2pm to justify late night session. Quick game of FM to decide on Owen's contract and Saviola on loan. Sober up in time for the Arse on Saturday. Another tough few days in the City.

Arshavin will go to spuds when they sell Berbatov to ManU which will enable us to sign ..... as the wow striker.

Oops.....cat out of the bag.