Disco

Good goal that like, calm as fuck finish and awesome ball into him.

Definitely, think he is a very good player. Can't see Valencia turning down a decent bid either with their current plight.

Wonder if 'Party' Pattison and his cowie jaw will be attendance with David Edgar.

That's the main reason I dno't like Celtic. I.e. the way their away fans have gone on when I've seen them in the Toon. Rangers fans are/have the potential to be just as bad. Rangers fans were alright I thought when they brought 8-9,000 down for that pre-season cup.

I just don't see how signing players who are at their peak/on their way down is the way forward, it seems Keegan see's this way as pushing on now but the problem is that all of these players around this age will need to all be replaced again in 3 years or so, the club can't afford to go out and buy the best part of a new team every 3 years, on top of that players of this age will want the bigger wages because as far as they're concerned they've learned what there is and now they're the finished article. I made this post yesterday so I won't bother typing it out again... The difference being Wenger set out a long term view of what he could achieve at Arsenal, Keegan on the other hand would be happy to spend big money on players at their peak because he's only interested in the next 3 years and isn't interested that the squad he'd leave us with would resemble Bolton's 'dads army' a few years back. If you look at man Utd for example, they've spent big money in the past but a large part of their success was because Fergie put together a talented group of youngsters and let them grow as a team together - Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt and the Neville's all came through the youth system to form part of their first team for the best part of a decade, Fergie also spent big money on Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and Andy Cole who were all 24 or under when they signed. Time has gone by and most of them have needed replacing, he's set about building another team which is built around Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Anderson, Nani, Evra and Vidic, all players signed when they were 24 or under because he wants them to grow as a team together, not only that but if you've got a quality player like Evra at left back you don't have to worry about spending big money on a left back for the next 8 years unless he goes down hill dramatically, the same way they didn't need to spend big money on a right back for a decade when they had Neville, or on a left wing when they had Giggs, it meant they could spend big on filling the places they needed as there wasn't as many to fill. That seems to be what this club wants to do and the reason they went to the trouble of setting up our scouting network, I don't mean they just want to sign young lads for a few hundred thousand and see how they develop, I'm talking about the likes of Modric who is not only quality now but could of been a part of our first team for the next 10 years, that is the quality (and age) of player the chairman spoke of the other day as what they're looking for, if the club could bring in 4 or 5 players of his age and quality then we could be sorted in those positions for the next 10 years, not only that we would benefit from them growing as a unit together. Comments from Keegan suggests he's got other idea's, the likes of Henry, Cambell, Riise, Bridge and Dunne seem to be the sort of players he's after going from the rumour mill, turning his nose up at possible young South Americans is a stupid thing to do too, I'd take the Modric's, Veloso, Gomis, Nelson, Lennon etc over Keegan's big four rejects anyday. This is what we need to do, we need to build a stable of quality players under the age of 25 that we can build the team around and add to here and there over the next 5-10 years, I'd take Dunne btw because we're crying out for some leadership at the back, I'd also take Deco if we could get him for around the £8 million mark because I think we could get another 3 or 4 years out of him and for me he was excellent in both games against Man Utd, apart from that I think we've got enough experience in and around the squad without going out and buying 5 or 6 more players in their late 20's/early 30's. Great post. Fully agree with you Baggio. This is what Robson appeared to be doing in his latter years with Jenas, Dyer, Bellamy, Woodgate, Bernard, Hughes, O'Brien all being well the right side of 30. It will also make us a quicker, more mobile team which can only be positive as current, Oba aside, we must be one of the slowest teams in the league

Speaks good English, gave an interview of MOTD after he scored past Birmingham.

Saw Jeremie Aliadiere on Thursday in Kings Cross loitering outside Burger King.

Aye, its about time they did our stand up a bit, especially the inside.

Bought him to stop Man U buying him i reckon.

I've been watching us since 1992 and our defence has never looked good.

That, from Chelsea's POV would be an appallingly bad transfer on many levels. Anelka + SWP +£5m = Baerbatov...fuck off does it.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUKT23299720080513?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true Owen a possible target for Japan's Chiba Tue May 13, 2008 6:10am BST Email | Print | Share| Single Page| Recommend (0) [-] Text [+] 1 of 1Full SizeBy Alastair Himmer TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's JEF United Chiba are planning an audacious swoop for England striker Michael Owen, Japanese media reported on Tuesday. The J-League club have just unveiled former Liverpool first-team coach Alex Miller as their new manager and believe Owen can solve the team's current goal-scoring problems. Japan's Nikkan Sports reported that Chiba officials were preparing an initial approach and that contact had been made with Owen's agent Tony Stephens. Owen has yet to agree a new contract with Newcastle United and the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker has been linked with a move to Premier League champions Manchester United. A move to Japan could prove detrimental to Owen's England career, although JEF United have transfer funds available after selling several top players before the 2008 J-League season. "The reports are not 100 percent off the mark," Chiba's Kentaro Shiga told Reuters. "Owen's name was one of those being talked about when the team were looking at possible targets." The club insisted new boss Miller and was not behind any potential swoop for the 28-year-old former European Footballer of the Year, who he worked with at Liverpool. "The club were discussing options needed for individual positions before the new manager came in," Shiga said. "The coach didn't tell the club to move for Owen." Struggling Chiba are rooted to the bottom of the J-League first division, only winning their first game in 12 matches this season at the weekend with Miller watching from the stands. (Editing by John O'Brien)

O'Neill sure does hate spending big bucks it seems.

Spurs have brought out a ridiculous number of kits over the last few seasons, must be making a fortune.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A9lson_Marcos Sounds like a Keegan-esque FB if there is such a thing. Can't see him coming in as cover though unless he plays him LB or moves Beye.

tbh harper has always been a valuble asset. if at any time harper's presence because a hinderance to us, like shola's is, and he turned down the chance to leave, do you really think we'd be defending him then? we've always known harper was a good keeper, and been perfectly happy for him to stay, even though he doesn't get a game, because of this, and if we sold him we'd need to get a replacement, who might cost more, and be worse than him. we'll need to replace shola, whether he goes or not, because he's shite. Both have spent loads of time purely as back-up. The odd run of games here and there but never established as first choice. Harper may have cracked it this time however. They've both just stuck it out but Harper is praised for his loyalty but lets just see how much shit Shola gets for, possibly, turning down a move. Has Harper ever been the subject of actual bids we've accepted though or just papertalk bids?

I'm no Harper fan and its a fair point but Steve Harper has always had a chance of first team football , Shola has little or no chance of getting into our first team squad next season.

Fucking cunt, so he's just going to see out his contract here if he doesn't move. It's not like Stoke is the other side of the world or that he has actually live near. He could commute from Manchester/Yorkshire.

I'd take him for nominal fee. Can play both wings/upfront in 4-3-3 or 4-4-2.

Pavel Pogrebnyak - centre forward who plays for Zenit St. Petersburg, joint top scorer in this years UEFA Cup, just breaking onto the int'l scene with the Soviets. Has looked good everytime i've watched him (both for Zenit & Russia). Is 6ft plus, decent movement and 24, could well be worth a bid. EDIT: Prob stay and play CL football with Zenit next season.

Quoted for truth. Needed to score when we were on top and didn't which in the end cost us the match. Desperately need a target man as when Smith came on we lost all shape, impotus, ability to keep the ball upfront, someone to aim for upfront. Whether this is Smiths fault i don't know as he may've instructed to play deep which in my view if he was, was a big error from Keegan. We also need some more pace in midfield. Geremi and Barton altho decent players don't worry opposition defenders and are easily caught up when in space/ away from someone as a result of this we often lose what momentum we've built up and we're definitely a better team when playing at pace. Thought Oba was immense first half although he still needs to look up more but that will come. On a seperate note how the fuck was Mikel not booked, gave away 7 free-kicks yesterday, odious twat that Bennett is.

Got to be gutted if you're a Leicester fan at the Britannia like with all them neanderthal Stoke twats on the pitch

I did until i went there pre-season and saw their attitude towards us coming to town so now i think fuck em. Much prefer Leeds to come up. Bout time the likes of them, Forest, and Wednesday (if they stay up) sorted themselves out and get back in the big time.

Good to see Forest get themselves back in the Championship today. Proper football club back on the up.

Aye, especially for the stick he got at times as well. Typical media portrayal of Newcastle defender/defence being shite. 1995-1997 our defence conceded less than the Man U title winning defences which were so highly though of.