Cronky

Barton? Hum, I hope not. I'd rather he left it to the likes of Smudger and Nolan.

I don't think this will get resolved until the end of January. From Leeds' point of view, they may as well postpone accepting the offer until the last minute so they get the most use out of the player. This is assuming that our offer will still stand, which seems like a reasonable assumption, given that we've been after Beckford for a while. I'm more worried about Beckford's attitude than his ability. He seems a rather mouthy character who could upset the harmony of the dressing room. Hopefully we have the characters who can put him in his place.

SIPP (Self invested pension plans) wasn't it? I'm no pension expert but that sounds like something you can do what you want with. I was very keen on this idea when it came out but feel somewhat distant from it now, it needs something to re-invigorate (fake word?) people now. real word btw. i cant see any sense myself in investing your pension in any football club let alone newcastle united football club, there simply isnt going to be any return on it. it would be a serious case of heart ruling head when with pensions it should always be head over heart As I understand it, a SIPP means that you can decide where your pension funds are invested, but the issue of releasing the funds still remains. A pension fund isn't like a savings account that you can get at any time you want. Because your pension payments enjoy tax relief, there are regulations about how soon you can get at them, and even then if you cash in before retirement age you lose out financially.

Apart from the fact that these responses from fans are statements of interest, not pledges, I'm puzzled by this issue of the pension funds. As far as I know, you have to be 50 (and 55 from April) to have cash released from a pension fund, and even then you can only get at 25% of the total. I can't see many people going for that. Are NUST talking about something else? Anyone know?

I just wonder if there's more here than meets the eye - eg some problem between him and the Burnley board. Even if Bolton is his favourite club, that isn't usually a good enough reason to leave. The best you can say about this is it's a sideways move, and sideways moves often don't work.

No. I can't see why any manager would swap places between those two clubs at the moment. I wondered whether Coyle was hoping to use Bolton's interest as a way of getting a better contract at Burnley. I hope I'm not doing him an injustice, but that sort of thing happens all the time.

That's an interesting way of looking at it, and hard to argue against. The difficulty of playing a finisher on the shoulder of the last defenders is that they're sometimes no good at holding the ball up, which is what you often want the most advanced player to do. (Ref Owen). Beckford showed enough on Sunday to suggest that, while that's maybe not a strength of his, he's good enough for us in that area.

Not strange to me, I find it is always this way. The more they try and standardise something the more bland it gets. Effectively you are training creativity and fresh thinking out of people, whatever the field. I haven't seen any evidence that suggests that standards have gone down. Previously, managers received no training at all, so most of them just repeated what they had been taught before as players, good and bad. There were innovators, but they were the exception. My feeling is that there are those of exceptional talent who can manage their own education, and there are those at the other end who will perform poorly no matter what training they receive. However, there's a large group in the middle who have benefitted from exposure to some different ideas through training.

At the start of the season, I didn't rate Arsenal's chances, but they're playing the best football in the country at the moment, and they're not at full strength. Players like Song, Diaby and Ramsey have emerged as completely comfortable at the top level. I watched the last half hour against West Ham, and Arsenal were just picking their way through their defence at will. It's not like Chelsea and Man U are looking unbeatable. I'd say Arsenal have at least an even chance.

Or the false prophet, depending on viewpoint, yeah?

I didn't see the whole game on Sunday, but Beckford was a bit better than I was expecting. He played with a fair bit of intelligence, and was always involved. He was able to hold the ball up and get a few free kicks. He's not just a finisher. For £2 million, I'm just wondering what the catch is.

He's struggling to adjust to the greater pace and physicality of the English game. He looks completely out of tune with what's going on around him at the moment.

It's a sad comment that at a time when the English game has never been more awash with money, there are Premiership clubs in financial trouble. I'm not sure whether deposits are a practical or effective idea. The main problem is that clubs take risks because they want to get to or stay in either the top four or the Premiership. This in itself is caused by the huge income gap between the Champions League places and the Premiership, and between the Premiership and the Championship. If those gaps could somehow be narrowed, the climate of panic that grips many clubs would be eased.

That was only the final and most recent example of his reluctance to take on the role. He was being groomed as Sir Bob's successor and could have walked into the job when Shepherd was in charge. The message he was always giving was he'd like the job 'some day but not now.' Any top football management job makes great demands on that person's time and personal life, and my strong feeling is he is very wary of that. That's why he's ended up as a TV pundit.

What Shearer seems to lack is hunger. If you look at the top club managers - Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez, Ancellotti, Wenger, Scolari - they did not have particularly successful playing careers and that left them with the need and determination to prove themselves. Shearer seems in two minds whether he wants to make the necessary sacrifices. It's like he doesn't want it enough, and is reluctant to lose his pundit's armchair. He could have had our job if he'd really wanted it, but he was only prepared to accept it under conditions which boosted his chances of success. There are exceptions to this - notably Cruyff - but a lot of very good players find the long haul of building a management career not worth the hassle.

Has to be. Is still over-rated. In second place, Shearer in his last two seasons. Hardly any of us rated Shearer in his last two seasons though. I can recall much jumping for joy on here when Shearer decided to postpone his retirement for another year. Not from this quarter of course.

Here we go again. I think the correct term is Shearer non-worshippers.

I think Shearer's big mistake was to beat the Geordie patriotic drum - eg the Blaydon Races before the Portsmouth game. He should have been trying to reduce the pressure on the players and get them focused on their jobs. Instead he was reminding them of how much rested on their efforts and that had the opposite effect. A record of 1-2-5 and failing to score in 6 of the 8 tells its own story. It wouldn't have taken a lot to keep us up, with Hull in free fall, but he couldn't do it.

On what I've seen, I'd have to agree. Better, certainly. He looks far more relaxed and confident. There's less pressure at Wigan and maybe that suited him.

Speed as manager, possibly. Shearer, not a chance.

Cahill - he's not the only cheat in the game, but for some reason I find him the most irritating. Ince is a close second for his moaning. Of NUFC players - Butt - he gets very involved in a game but achieves little. Very annoying.

I'd agree he was over-rated, and that there came a point when he held back the development of the team. But the most over-rated? The competition is pretty fierce for that title.

I think, because it's realistic that we could get back to being a mediocre midtable prem team, as we were before Ashley's arrival. However, it'll be virtually impossible for us to get back where we were before Bobby left. I'd agree. Shepherd messed up a good situation.

Roy Keane losing it with Shearer and getting a red card at the end of the 4-3 game.

Bosingwa's only played for one season! Another uncharacteristic mistake from Cech there. a) Is there a qualifying period to be included? b) Cech's on poor form at the moment, but for most of his time at Chelsea he's been brilliant.