TRon

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/football/809127/MAGPIES-FANCY-OLD-BOY-OBRIEN.html Andy "Concorde" O'brien linked in the NOTW. It has to be crap though because it would be the most brainless signing ever.

The Times is The Sun with long words ffs. Respected by who? The buyers obviously.

I am a bit more wary of his articles now tbh. His public support for the NUST might have been well intended but I was surprised to see it in a national paper as well respected in the Times.

Really cant stand this comment about SKY giving football clubs money they can only do this because of there customers, I am pumping approx £50 per month into them. It is football fans that make Sky forget movies geeks, other sport fans or any splinter group it is football fans that enable SKY to dominate. I wish fellow football fans, clubs & players would understand this. Bollocks. Football fans, or any other sports fans would never have bought into the SKY concept if they didn't provide something which no other company does. One year without SKY has only reinforced my opinion that no one does it better. Fucking hell those BBC highlights were a disgrace. Incidentally I pump a lot more than that a month into Sky but those kids channels and movies, not to mention cheap broadband and HD are well worth it compared to the alternative packages out there.

It will just be a confirmation of what we already know going by the article. Hughton to stay on, the club to target slow and steady improvement with no big money for big stars likely, at least for now.

Agreed but then do we have the players in the middle who have the energy to get back and close down? Perhaps Smith but his limited ability means he contributes little else to the cause. Simpson has a habit of backing off and as good as Colo has been he sometimes goes walkabouts so it's certianly something that needs addressing. No, we don't have the players to close the opposition down. Hughton was smart and brave enough to realise that, and just concentrate on getting our midfield in position behind the ball. We need some legs in centre midfield. I don't think either Nolan or Smith will be up to it. Absolutely. If we want to move to the next level, central midfielders who can run the show are a must. Other than that wrt the original post we are already playing quite an effective physical style which will probably be enough to ensure survival.

And for those who think the sun shines out of his arse, it won't matter how badly we might do, none of it will be his fault. I thought he did a sterling job last season but I've drawn a line under that now. Doing well in the premier is a different kettle of fish and I'll judge him according to what he does from here on in. I'm especially interested to see if he manages to upgrade the quality of the squad and if he's going to have the strength of character to drop influential players this campaign who might not be good enough to step up a division. There are certain midfield combinations he used this season which would get slaughtered in the premier.

You can't really take Hughton's quotes at face value, he has a policy of bigging up his senior players in public, it's what he does in reality next season that counts. He's done a superb job this season and no one should begrudge him any praise he's received as a result, but next season will be a different test and if he sticks with too many of the legless wonders that got us relegated we'll be in trouble. Having said that, two or three fresh additions to the squad would do wonders, if he gets the right backing from Ashley there's no reason why we can't do well next season.

That's what he's said so he seems confident enough he will get the backing he needs.

This. We could never keep the player we want him to be. Or buy the player we want him to be. I agree with SSR, it's very possible he could have a good world cup and we get a decent bid for him which on the face of it would be good business. Getting in someone better is easy to talk about in theory, in reality it will probably prove very difficult with the sort of money we have available.

With a transfer budget of only £15m he hasn't exactly got a lot of room for manoeuvre. I just hope we don't end up signing players we don't really want like Leon Best because of it. I would far rather buy a couple of quality up and coming players who might command £5m fees than a collection of low paid, low fee try hards. Where's this from? It was the figure being bandied about in the thread about an acceptable transfer budget. Obviously Ashley hasn't come out and stated the exact amount available but he'll have an idea what he wants top spend and that sounds believable.

With a transfer budget of only £15m he hasn't exactly got a lot of room for manoeuvre. I just hope we don't end up signing players we don't really want like Leon Best because of it. I would far rather buy a couple of quality up and coming players who might command £5m fees than a collection of low paid, low fee try hards.

Barcelona tried to play attacking football so I don't know why they should be subject of so much vitriol other than the fact they didn't do ti very well on the night.

Messi wasn't shut out tonight, the rest of the team was.

If any money has then it will be shown in the accounts. Even if it has, its his club he can damn well take as much or as little as he likes to be honest. I agree that he can take as much money as he wants out. Call me ignorant if you like but i WILL NEVER believe he has anything other than his own interests at heart, regardless of what the "numbers" show. If he hasn't milked the club dry this year, then he will when he sells it. What difference does it make if he's got his own interests at heart? No one else wants to buy the club and run it any better so it's redundant in any case.

It depends if the Chelsea/Man U links are true. I'd trust them to spot a top youngster and if they like him he's probably pretty good.

as stated earlier, so far in his career he has always started off well at new clubs then tails off. i hope it's down to inexperience, believing he's made it and eases off . Aye that would suggest that it's down to effort rather than form and there is nothing to suggest that he's lazy from what i've seen. Hopefully he's just had alot of bad luck. He holds onto the ball too long for my liking, I'm thinking that might be why he's pissed a few managers off. other than that he's got everything he needs in his locker...whips in a decent cross surprisingly. Just needs to add a touch of intelligence to be a consistent force in the premier.

Carroll's going to score a few goals with his head in any division and seeing as it's hard to see where else the goals will come from next season that will probably turn out to be priceless.

That is true, but to buy players of Valencia's class would cost a lot more than £1.5m. Jonas and Routledge are both players we should eventually be looking to upgrade on but at this moment in time I would think a central midfielder with a good engine or a quick striker of pedigree is more important. The wingers have their flaws but they are both good enough to do a job in the premier.

Amazing no one bought the club last season when these sort of profits were to be had in just two years. Mark Fenwick must be kicking himself today as things have turned out.

Fuck sake! Have you and Skirge forgotten that Jonas and Colo are on over £50k a week and after their gash performances of last season they were left with Hobson's choice regarding a move to another club, take a massive pay cut or stay with us. So please don't give them credit for making a no brain decision. Let's see how they do against the big boys next season and if they can justify their inflated salaries. So how about the fact that they have actually performed and shown heart this season then? If they were only interested in their wages they could have and would have played a lot worse. Their wages will have obviously been a factor, but to suggest that its the only reason they stayed and not give them any credit for their performances this season is ridiculous. There weren't exactly a queue of clubs knocking on our door desperate to take the Argies off our hands were there? I think your omitting the fact that the "Championship" is vastly inferior to the Premiership, you can only appreciate how inferior it is by having your club compete in it, so if the players attitude was right they were entitled to outclass the vast majority of players they were facing on a weekly basis. I agree that Colo and Jonas have looked good in the "Championship" but I'm still to be convinced that they have the character and mentality to do the same in the Premiership. I'm hoping like everyone else that our new found team spirit will allow the squad to compete next season, but I think it's vital that we get off to a good start for that to happen. I could pick a few faults with both Colo and Jonas but character and mentality wouldn't figure among them. Coloccini has maintained a fantastic record of missing very few matches through injury, and Jonas covers more area of the pitch than probably any other player at Newcastle.

It's always the case with our players that we need someone with more legs next to them, usually because they are past their sell by date. This is definitely the case with Nicky Butt otherwise Man U wouldn't have let him go, same as they let Smith go because he was becoming a liability rather than an asset. Both are fantastic pros, just like Owen was and no doubt Nolan still is, but put too many of these types in the same team and you end up with stationary, legless bunch of good lads who end up relegated from the premier.

Fuck sake! Have you and Skirge forgotten that Jonas and Colo are on over £50k a week and after their gash performances of last season they were left with Hobson's choice regarding a move to another club, take a massive pay cut or stay with us. So please don't give them credit for making a no brain decision. Let's see how they do against the big boys next season and if they can justify their inflated salaries. So how about the fact that they have actually performed and shown heart this season then? If they were only interested in their wages they could have and would have played a lot worse. Their wages will have obviously been a factor, but to suggest that its the only reason they stayed and not give them any credit for their performances this season is ridiculous. Right. They are on high wages for the Championship but for the premier it's pretty par for the course and both players are key for us next season as it stands. If we can get better players in then great but until we do then it makes sense to hang on to our few players of relative quality.

In the chronicle today that we are looking at Hunt from Hull. That would be an excellent signing, him and Routledge to battle for the right wing spot.

Kevin Nolan can do all those things, just it takes him three times longer than most other players to do them. It's like we hunted high and low for players with the least amount of energy, speed and stamina and then played them all in one mega slow midfield. Even Guthrie looks like he smokes 40 tabs a day.