Cronky

The quotes they've used are just from that Countdown thing. The little bit at the bottom is however where in our article does it state hes not welcome back? Nowhere. The press release we have made is nothing like that one. http://www.newcastle-united-supporters-club.co.uk/statement-1912.php Although that statement talks about a 'clear aim', the only thing that I felt was clear was that your organisation wanted to talk to Ashley. It's not clear at all what you want to say to him, or what contribution you're hoping to make. It talks about 'positive change', without coming up with specific suggestions, unless that still means getting rid of Ashley. It's full of self-pitying waffle. Sorry, but it's no wonder he's ignoring you.

Kinnear shouldn't have put pressure on Owen by talking about a decision within three days, but if Owen doesn't sign in January - or even before - then the whole situation becomes very difficult. Everyone will assume that he just wants to see out his contract and then move, or perhaps move earlier. It'll be a public statement of non-committment that will make his position as Captain rocky, and won't have a good effect on team spirit for the rest of the season. I'm not blaming Owen here. It's down to the club. When a player is approaching the final year of his contract, he should either sign a new one or be sold on. Because there was a power struggle and no clear direction over transfers over the last year, the situation has just drifted on.

I'll bite. The object of the exercise is for the team to win matches, not for one player to score a lot of goals. How valuable Owen's contribution is to the team as a whole has been debated over and over, and I didn't want to get into that again. Personally I think we can thrive without him and the whole pantomime is bad for the club, but I concede I'm in the minority there. Do you think we'd score more goals if we allowed without Owen in the team? With Shola and Martins, we were creating chances and scoring goals, so I'm not worried, no. We'd need another striker to boost the numbers in the squad, but it wouldn't need to be anyone of Owen's standing. Our club has a tendency to drift into this kind of unrealistic hero worship. First it was persuading Shearer to keep playing long after he was knackered. Then it was shelling out stupid money for Owen. Then we had the whole Keegan fiasco. Now we seem to think that getting Owen to sign again would be something stupendous. It's all rubbish. The big four and the England manager don't want him for a reason. We shouldn't be offering Champions League wages to a player who isn't Champions League standard any more.

So presumably if we'd offered £120k a week that would have been even more cynical.

I'll bite. The object of the exercise is for the team to win matches, not for one player to score a lot of goals. How valuable Owen's contribution is to the team as a whole has been debated over and over, and I didn't want to get into that again. Personally I think we can thrive without him and the whole pantomime is bad for the club, but I concede I'm in the minority there.

To me, it feels that both club and player are trapped with one another. Owen would like to go, but is reluctant to take the drop in salary that would follow. The club feels they have to make this extravagant offer, either because they rate him very highly (certainly more highly than I do), or because they fear a backlash from the fans if they don't make a big effort to keep him. (Or perhaps a bit of both) It's very unhealthy all round.

I don't think clubs place enough value on managerial experience. The Premiership is a very tough league in which to cut your teeth. The standard is very high and Ince could have done with a few more seasons learning his trade before being thrust into that job. The problem with experienced managers like Allardyce, Venables or Reid - or even Kinnear thinking about it - is it only takes one so-called failure for clubs to become very wary of appointing them. Sometimes a club slips down for reasons beyond their control, and it's a matter of luck in being in the right place at the right time. Not long ago, Allardyce was a serious candidate for the England job. Now his reputation is in shreds, as though his years at Bolton never happened. Aidy Boothroyd was thought of as one of the most promising young managers, and now it seems he's at the bottom of the pile.

Signing up his old mate Fowler and his captain from MK Dons were the signs of a man lacking in real confidence.

I've felt for a while now that it'll be Man City. Their strikers aren't doing too well, they can afford his wages and I think Owen would like to move back to the Manc / Mersey area, where his family and his horses live. Plus the big four don't want him.

I'm not saying he didn't score. I'm just saying that it wasn't the fantastic piece of work that most people seem to have persuaded themselves to think. FFS, he was one on one on the goalkeeper, inside the penalty area, in ten yards of space when he received the ball. You'd back any Premiership striker to score from that position. I can't think of one who would have finished it after the bad first touch, the only way it could have gone in was the dink. Robbie Keane (spurs) would have And me in five a side I'm just relieved he didn't score Guthrie's goal. This thread would have reached 100 pages by now.

I don't think Keegan is the world's hardest worker on the managerial front. Arsene Wenger will go home and watch a video of a South American under 17 tournament to try and spot some talent which others have missed. I don't think Keegan is into that kind of hard grind. His focus is more on the players who have already got a reputation. When he was England manager, and England got knocked out of the Euros, he went straight home. Every other manager stayed till the end of the tournament, watching the other players and the other team's tactics in the hope of picking up some useful information for the future. Keegan was very conspicuous by his absence, and we all know what happened next. It's been said that Guthrie was Keegan's buy, but in fact he was the only signing who had actually played against us. He didn't need to do much in the way of research.

I'm not saying he didn't score. I'm just saying that it wasn't the fantastic piece of work that most people seem to have persuaded themselves to think. FFS, he was one on one on the goalkeeper, inside the penalty area, in ten yards of space when he received the ball. You'd back any Premiership striker to score from that position.

must've just had the helicopter waxed ;D This exaggerated praise for anything Owen does is driving me mad. It was a gilt-edged chance, set up by another player. It only became a difficult chance when he miscontrolled the ball. If Shola had missed it, everyone would be screaming for his head.

I was very pleased to see him come on instead of Viduka. That's a clear declaration that he's ahead of him in the pecking order for target men. As I've said before, I think we're better when he's in the side and I'd play him every week.

All game, I don't think they found one another with a pass more than 2 or 3 times. It's not a question of big man / small man. You just need someone up there who can hold the ball up and / or drop deeper to link with the midfield.

Pompey really do look bad. Some of the mistakes they made were ridiculous. I mean the last two seasons, they've been one of the strongest teams in the league and were very hard to break down. I don't know what's changed. Totally different team than the one that came to SJP last year. After the first 20 minutes, gaps started appearing all over the place. However good a player Adams was, he's inexperienced as a manager, and he's likely to face a difficult second half of the season.

Great result, obviously, which will hopefully give the team a bit of confidence. Tbh, I didn't think it was that great a performance. Our first two goals came from them giving the ball away in their own half. It was also a bit of a tale of two keepers. I just wish we were a bit better at keeping possesion when the midfield is under pressure. Still, Enrique proved in the second half that he can defend when he's got a mind to. Now please don't give me all the somepeopleareneverhappy bollocks.

After a totally shambolic first 20 minutes, we've come more into it. We're starting to get a bit more space. The midfield looks very jittery the moment they're put under pressure though. Jonas is the only one who looks confident in possession. Portsmouth look pretty ordinary. Makes you think that Redknapp was a far better manager than many here realised.

How so? Well, he's been in charge about 18 months, which isn't long. It was a messy takeover from a Chairman who didn't want to go. One manager had just been sacked, with the team in decline. A new manager had been appointed by the previous regime and he struggled. There was a lot to be sorted out. The big mistake that was his doing was the appointment of Keegan, whose motivation for the job was always a bit fragile, and who wasn't suited to the team structure that Ashley wanted to impose. Obviously we've yet to recover from that. What I like about Ashley is 1) he put a large amount of his own money into the club and 2) he was prepared to put in place a long-term plan. We've spent the last few years stumbling between a series of short-term fixes. So I'd like him to have a longer opportunity.

Too early to judge Ashley. There's been a lot of turmoil - some of it of his making, some of it not. I'd like to see him stay longer. Freddie turned out to be a bungler. The longer he stayed, the more it became a one man band, and the further downward we slipped. Ashley I think will learn from his mistakes. Freddie never did. The worse things got, the more he thought he was the only man who could save us.

That League Cup defeat under Souness against Wigan reserves will live long in the memory. One big fat zero from beginning to end.

Without getting into an argument about who is 'better', I do think Bellamy would offer us something different and something which we really need in order to pull defences around a bit. He's a creative player who operates well when he roams in that area between the striker and the midfield, and out on the wings. Martins and Owen are out and out strikers. He'd also offer raw passion, something we are missing from our team as a whole Yeah, Bellamy always goes out there thinking he's the best player on the pitch and determined to show it to everyone. We need a bit of that swagger, even if he's an irritating sod.

Without getting into an argument about who is 'better', I do think Bellamy would offer us something different and something which we really need in order to pull defences around a bit. He's a creative player who operates well when he roams in that area between the striker and the midfield, and out on the wings. Martins and Owen are out and out strikers.

Call me an incurable optimist, but we may be one of the few clubs with cash in hand to spend in the transfer window. We could be in a very good position to prey on the poor and needy (eg West Ham)

Well said, and I think we have the right lad for the job. soopa nile? Noooooooo. The Great Kazenga. I'd agree. There's less responsibility and the role is a bit simpler.