alpal78

Don't you know, all Mike's money belongs to Newcastle, the two accounts are fungible!

and? Is that good or bad?

so they are still looking at how he performed in La Liga and Europe as a benchmark, makes no difference. He has been consistently good over several seasons, whilst Carroll is just about to complete his first 'good' season in the Premiership

fair point, but I guess that's the part that confuses me. If he's "fit as a fiddle", then shouldn't he be ready to train football already or is he still doing rehab?

I know a lot of people don't have time for the national team now but it still rankles with me every time the team fails. The relegation I hoped wouldn't happen but deep inside I knew would happen. Not qualifying for Euro 2008 I couldn't bear to think wouldn't happen. I love the Euros, I love the World Cups, I love international football. When England lose an important game it hurts me more than when Newcastle lose a game. And I love this club a lot. Maybe I have my priorities wrong, I don't know. It's disappointing to see the amount of people who have just given up on England because we're down at the minute. I'm with you, not that I support England more, just that I see international tournaments as the pinacle of the 'pyramid of football' with international selection as one of the main motivation for players to perform in the domestic leagues (though I know that in reality there are probably more important factors). The fact that an international tournaments start with a drawn out qualifying process also builds up the anticipation and the 2/4 years of waiting for the next one doesn't help either

Many of our results made me really despair but in terms of what nearly made me give up football was the England vs Germany game with Lampard's goal. It is frustrating when something so obvious like that happens and then to hear Blatter come out with the usual rubbish was just too painful. Oh ya the De Jong - HBA incident made me sick too especially coz he went unpunished and then to hear pundits after pundits talking about how football is a man's game or Mancini cunt insisting that De Jong is a fair player...that made me absolutely livid

There's more to training than just kicking a ball you know. He can do his conditioning and fitness regime over here

wait if he's "fit as a fiddle", why is he not training with us?

FFS you can't just look at one season's performance and compare the price. The main similarity between the two players is their age/youth. Aguerro has been consistently scoring goals in La Liga and Europe for several seasons now

You're right There is no network coverage in Portugal AT ALL Genius! I didn't know Portugal has telcommunication facilities, thought they were still using pigeon post

I initially thought the same but I think these days our manager is only minimally involved in transfer negotiations. He'll probably get a call along the lines of "Awight Pawds, how's about Robbie Earnshaw? Well the thing is, we're signing him. Enjoy Portugal geez!" You might be right, I just would prefer the manager to meet the player face to face before signing especially if it is a major buy. This is also important if there are more than one buying club, the player would be more impressed with the manager who took the effort to meet him instead of just talking on the phone

Gosh I have no idea which is my favourite now, that Bent one was excellent especially the way he glanced sideways with his tongue sticking out. Kasper man this is brilliant, why don't you conisder doing this for profit (not on this forum though), think you could make a tidy sum

It just occured to me, if Pardew is in Portugal, does that mean he won't be involved with transfer negotiations or worse that he has given up and that there will be no incomings?

i think you have a point to the extent that this wasn't intended for broadcast. on the other hand, they're still saying that stuff "at work", and in the case with the tv cameras gray is saying it in front of multiple people/colleagues. Well I guess it would depend on what "at work" means. Normally you would have a code of conduct for as long as you are in your company's office/building. But with tv personalities/pundits, I get a feeling that they are 'off work' once the show is over and cameras stop rolling. Have no idea whether they said it in front of other colleagues, or was just a private banter. But if the BNP can have a political public platform to air their borderline racist views in public, I'm struggling to see why what Keys and Gray did were wrong when they never meant it for public consumption. In fact if anything they should be suing whoever it was who taped them for breach of privacy.

I might be completely wrong here coz have not heard the audio myself, but why is it wrong to be sexist in private? Most of us do that when we are amongst friends in say a bar and I'm sure women say nasty things about men to when they have their sorority or women only gatherings. I would have a problem if they did this on air in their official capacity but why should they be restricted in their private thoughts? Like I said, I could be completely wrong here coz everyone one seems to be condemning them, so maybe someone can tell me what I'm missing??

If there is one manager who can stop Barca, it's Mourinho. He's done it before with an inferior team in Inter imo and he can do it again especially because he has no qualms in playing defensive and hitting Barca on counter. The likes of Ronaldo, Ozil and a fully fit Kaka can tear down any defense on the counter. Is that Barca beat Real 5-0 then only 2 months back. In Nou camp, I was referring to Bernabeau and the overall title race

If there is one manager who can stop Barca, it's Mourinho. He's done it before with an inferior team in Inter imo and he can do it again especially because he has no qualms in playing defensive and hitting Barca on counter. The likes of Ronaldo, Ozil and a fully fit Kaka can tear down any defense on the counter.

Yeah this really sounds like a business man like Ashley... who has recently signed contract extensions? vuckic, carroll, taylor right? all young home grown players, cheap barton's is still outstanding as far as i'm aware, as is enrique's the point being he's such a shortsighted clown that as they're the highest earner's (or would need to be) i could see him trying to play hardball and them just f***ing him off and leaving time will tell, hope i'm wrong oh, and is this businessman mike ashley who essentially relegated us due to the quality of his decision making on the managerial and player front is it? Ashley has made many stupid decisions, but I doubt he is the type who will let a player run down his contract and go for naught.

I like the idea that the players are goig for a training stint/break somewhere else. Due to the paper thin squad, most of them are knackered. The change of the environment will hopefuly recharge their batteries for the run in and spending time as a group will hopefully strengthen the bond and team spirit. Pardew gets some credit for this.

Yup until we have firmly established ourselves as a Premiership team with a decent squad size (which may take another 2-3 seasons with Ashley in charge), all other competitions are a distraction.

Hopefully when Ben Arfa returns he'll play in the hole, alongside Jonas on the left, so we can have all our best players in the same side in their best positions. I agree with this, Jonas is more a continental type of winger who play 'pass and run' instead of going to the byline and whipping in a cross (crossing is just not his game although it has improved a bit of late). Right now the only who can play this passing game with him is Enrique and perhaps Barton to a lesser extent. That is why Ben Arfa is so important to us, not just for his own ability but also because he can bring out the best in a few others, including and I think especially Jonas.

Nah their buy Spanish first policy went along with the Spanish waiter Benitez, don't have a good feeling either at last not until we get him to sign a long term contract. If any player should be exempted from our alleged wage cap, then Enrique should one of the very few, top 4 quality and with age on his side

This is probably the least focussed skill amongst English footballers, the best we've got to show is Joe Cole and that says it all, so I'm not holding my breath on this one.

Indeed, it's unfair but it's going to be easier to pin bad things on him than good ones, in my view. All the same, you can only call things now as you see them. If we're talking about Pardew's performances and not Ashley's, what Hughton would have done is as irrelevant as what Mourinho would've done - both better managers in my view but there's no point in mentioning either. We can just judge where the club was when Pardew took over, and judge what he's done with it subsequently. For me, things could have already become a hell of a lot worse and haven't - which I give him credit for - but haven't gone as well as they could, which I criticise him for. That's a very objective way of looking at things

Honest question, when does it stops being Hughton's team and starts becoming Pardew's? And if Hughton gets the credit for our current form, then does he also takes the blame for any of our shortcomings?