Cronky

Yes, yes it is. Massive progress from where we are this season if it were to happen, and that is all that matters. Things can change so quickly in terms of injuries, players, managers, and owners; and at present the last three are not going to be attracted to the club as we stand, so lets just hope to f*** we make it. Writing us off before we even get back there as Bird is doing, is pure doom mongering at it's finest. The end is nigh my ass, the club will be in a better position for it, end of. What he's doing (and has been all season) is trying to spitefully wind up Newcastle fans solely because we haven't done a Leeds. No other reason. It's disappointment we haven't imploded. There's plenty like him. I think you've read this completely wrong. I'm sure Bird is a Newcastle fan, who, like all of us, is concerned that if we go up we will have a rocky road ahead of us. Surely there's no argument about that? He is saying it's not like last time when optimism abounded and with good reason. This time what do we have? A lot of players who are not Premiership standard, an owner who wants to sell at all costs and no prospect of anyone buying us. What's so difficult to understand? He's simply giving a pragmatic view. I doubt that. I think the story he'd really like to have written is how we won't get promoted and things are going from bad to worse. Instead he has to settle for we'll probably get promoted but it won't make any difference.

Yet again, I thought the TV commentary was biased last night. The only story they were interested in was plucky Preston upsetting the big club that keeps fouling up.

I'm never quite sure whether the likes of Simon Bird and George Caulkin are really siding with the fans or whether they're part of the much larger group that enjoys writing about the NUFC soap opera and, deep down, hope that the recent set of mishaps continue so that they can fill the back pages. I feel very uncomfortable when I see supporters applauding these guys. They have their own agenda.

The best thing is that we have some good young players emerging who I think can play in the Premiership in time - Kadar, Ranger and Carroll. Ironically, the lad who I thought was really going to seize his chance - Lua Lua - seems to have slipped backwards. I wonder if he has too much of an individualistic streak, like his brother. The most worrying thing from the point of view of possible promotion is how often the defence gets exposed. We don't close the opposition down further up the pitch and they have time to create chances. We're simply not getting punished at this level. The team that intrigue me are Blackpool, who are mixing good results with bad.

Perhaps I'm getting a bit carried away with a lad who is a work in progress, but I don't rate either Taylor or Colo that highly, and sooner or later Kadar will overtake both.

Harper 7 - didn't have much to do. Simpson 6 - solid. I'd like to see him get forward a bit more. Colo 6 - Good enough. Still makes me nervous though Taylor 6 - Didn't see much of him tbh. Didn't make any mistakes. Enrique 7 - Too strong for the opposition in this division. Guthrie 4 - Out of position most of the game. Often turned back into trouble and gave the ball away in dangerous situations. Smith 7 - A real leader. Nolan 7 - My MOM. Showed some surprising touches of skill. Jonas 6 - A difficult performance to assess. Great when he has space to run into. Terrible when he's closed down. Harewood 5 - That's the best I've seen him play, and he still wasn't that good. Carroll 5 - Didn't get involved. Not fit, I gather. Ranger 7 - As always, got stuck in right away. I'd like to see him start. Kadar 7 - This lad looks like our best all round defender. Probably our best passer too.

Great talent. A bit frustrating at this stage of his career. There were a couple of times when he stood and watched instead of attacking the box.

Yep. That should have been 2-0. Inexperience showing.

He hasn't been able to get involved tonight. He hasn't looked injured though. But out of the two: Carroll and Harewood, which would you take off? Harewood, but on this occasion, it's a tough call. Carroll has been poor.

He hasn't been able to get involved tonight. He hasn't looked injured though.

Really disappointed with him this season, thought he'd be good in this league, but he's just done.. nothing. He is not a winger, that is the real problem... Let him play in central, and let him get some consistency, and i think they boy will blossom... It's a serious problem, because he's always drifting inside and backwards, to get into the playmaker role. We're out of shape on the right.

Nolan's doing well. We ought to win this game comfortably, but we need to up it a bit. Some of our defending is very casual.

The problem with Guthrie is he's a playmaker rather than a wide player, so he's often going backwards to receive the ball rather than running into space. Have we ever had a wide player who's looked less likely to hit the by-line? It's like a waste of a player.

Kiss of death time, but it looks easy so far.

They will do if they bring in a new manager and give Maradona some kind of figurehead position to save face.

I've just seen the goals. Did anyone else think it was a rather poor effort by the Wigan keeper?

No. The football is more entertaining now IMO, and I never thought that standing in the pouring rain was a great experience that needed to be preserved for future generations.

That's a very interesting article. Thanks for posting that. I've sometimes wondered why the German League seems to be operating in a different way to the other major leagues, and that makes it clear.

The best memories from that period was of watching Gazza emerge as a major talent. I can remember a 1-0 win at Highbury where he was the best player on the pitch, even at the age of about 20. My worst memory was travelling 200 miles to Exeter, on a freezing night, with a streaming cold, all to watch the lads get stuffed 4-0 by a Third Division team. My mate and I were so miserable we barely spoke to each other on the way back.

Spain and Brazil are clear favourites, as everyone says, but beyond them England, Holland, Germany and Italy will have a chance. Argentina and France seem to be in disarray. The World Cup is largely a knock-out competition, so although it goes in the end to one of the big guns, it's not easy to predict beyond that. The winner has to a) peak at the right time and b) have a little bit of luck, because the odds are that they will need to get through at least one penalty shoot out.

I thought City threw away a winning position there. They had Liverpool well beaten. Wayne Bridge looked all at sea. Liverpool created so much down his side.

I do wonder how many refereeing decisions in football can be made with total 100% certainty, even with the benefit of video technology. I'd say it could be as low as 10%. The Henry situation is the exception, not the rule. Note - I'm not talking about making better decisions with video technology, I'm talking about making decisions from the position of certainty, which is what you'd need to actually over-rule the ref's decision. What you'd end up with this 'appeal' system isn't an end to an argument, it'd be a continuation of it in most cases. Maybe as far as Courts of Law, which you'd have to try to avoid at all costs. It's all very well saying it's worked in other sports, but quite simply football isn't like other sports.

Good lad Yep. This one needs to be put to bed.

He bears grudges. That's his biggest problem.

Exactly. The rest of the squad aren't exactly going to welcome him with open arms. It could put a dent in team morale. I've got a higher opinion of Shola's ability than most on here, but I wouldn't have thought he'd be worth the aggravation.