TRon

Barton? Hum, I hope not. I'd rather he left it to the likes of Smudger and Nolan. Really? Because everything I hear about Barton's attitude around the training ground and with the younger lads sounds really positive, and that is from the likes of Nolan and Smith. I am pretty sure that if someone was disrupting the team spirit that the lads seem to have, the likes of Smith, Harper, Nolan and Barton would be the ones to sort it out. Agreed. the strong characters seen to be the ones to follow, even Barton is sober(its a start) the one thing i actually am in favour of is that Beckford would instantly be the little fish and that could shake him up to change it(now thats optimism!!!) The strong characters are mostly the washed up players who have had better careers elsewhere and are here picking up their retirement funds as far as I can see. Barton, Smudger, Nolan, Butt, Geremi etc. shame these fuckers got us relegated in the past but what the hey.

pretty much this. If he can keep Burnley up, better offers will present themselves in due course. Like they have for Phil Brown and Tony Pulis? To be fair, I think Coyle's achievements with Burnley are better than either of those two - also, Burnley have generally tried to play football, whereas Stoke have relied in a more physical approach(Hull too, to a degree)....if I had to take a gamble on Pulis, Brown or Coyle at NUFC, I would pick Coyle. I agree. It's a calculated gamble by the Bolton hierarchy but you can understand the logic and I admire it tbh. Similar to Wigan's appointment of Martinez, might work, might not, but it's the right sort of decision making for me.

He's ambitious which isn't a bad attribute. We could always buy players with no ambition and looking for an easy pay cheque at the end of a successful career at other clubs, like Duff, Butt, Geremi and Owen. All super characters I'm sure.

Yeah I already agreed he's shit. I was looking at the broader topic of piss poor management at newcastle which for me is the bigger issue.

Hasn't Kilgallon told us to fuck off? Moncur sounds like a jilted lass mooning over the one that got away tbh.

I know Carr was mentioned in the OP but there are much better examples of players thriving after leaving here. Milner, Bellamy, Zog, Duff, Speed, to name just a few. It's quite funny that Souness was once quoted as saying you won't win anything with Milner and Ambrose in the side. Both are doing far better than most of the garbage he brought into the club at massive expense. Ah, I know, Carr is still generally pretty wank imo. The first thing you're told as a defender is not to let the ball bounce and he did it at least twice today. He's also crap in possession, there was a game away at Southampton where we played him RM once, and his ball retention and distribution was unbelievably poor. Yeah Carr is shit without a doubt. Conceivably though any player can be used to his maximum ability if the management is right...even Nicky Butt. That's the real issue for me.

I know Carr was mentioned in the OP but there are much better examples of players thriving after leaving here. Milner, Bellamy, Zog, Duff, Speed, to name just a few. It's quite funny that Souness was once quoted as saying you won't win anything with Milner and Ambrose in the side. Both are doing far better than most of the garbage he brought into the club at massive expense.

The manager doesn't usually appoint the medical staff, I would think that's the job of the board of directors. Seeing as Shepherd appointed his own son to deal with signings like Boumsong, Luque and Owen, I wouldn't like to think how he made decisions regarding medical staff. I'm in no way suggesting that the Shepherd family benefited financially in any way out of those signings btw. Not at all.

That's what I can't ignore tbh. The quality of some of the goals puts him above the average player for me. He looks like an athlete as well, although he's clearly not the hardest working. I would far rather risk £2m on a player of this type than some proven cast off who's best days are behind him.

I love this talk that Beckford is a risk at more than £1.5m because he might not score goals in the premier. If you want a risk free investment in a striker who will score goals in the premier start talking £10m plus then. No doubt Ashley will gladly pay 80k a week to this diamond std striker as well. LA LA LA LA LA LA :cheesy:

Absolutely spot on. Bad management from the very top all the way down to the bottom/. Just the basic inability to build a balanced squad and pick an effective team has been lacking in most of our managers. Roeder with his team of diddy men...Souness with his brainwave to play two defensive midfielders alongside each other while leaving Milner out of the team....Allardyce playing long ball with Owen as his striker.. it's a joke really. We haven't even touched on the physios and board.

We have had poor managers, it's as simple as that. If it's true that Shepherd bought players over the manager's head that won't have helped either.

I'm pleased as well beacuse I reckon Forest are a better bet than WBA, so if you consider it a battle for the top two spot it's probably better that West Brom lost.

Wesley Millington is a perfectly respectable name Gurdips hit nail on head though What worked was Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez. To mention owen in the same breath is laughable.

Same with Burnley. I haven't seen Burnley play in all fairness, their results look decent other than the one they bottled against Wolves.

You have to admire Forest, they are getting results playing good passing football which is a lot tougher than playing to the percentages. It's even harder in the premiership on a budget but Roy Hodgson has shown that it can be done by a clever manager.

Is it possible for Beckford to sign a pre-contract with us before the end of the season? Then we could let him run down his contract with a few half-arsed displays at Elland Road and deny them any transfer fee. We could use the money saved to bring Marlon back on loan if we are desperate for a striker.

I don't give a toss tbh. Fingers crossed we'll be out of this division and I can get back to watching extended highlights of every game on Sky next season. Three cheers for Sky plus! Huzzah!

This is the mentality I find hard to understand tbh. Shola is castigated for having a poor touch, but we have a midfield who can't manage to pass sideways without losing possession, defenders who lump the ball long in case they get caught on the ball and Andy Carroll who's only attribute is jumping high. Why does Shola still get picked out in this company?

The other possiblity is that as we are no longer a big spending club, he might have got a better offer from another club. 1878 says Everton want him, and they are one of the few bigger clubs who are bargain basement hunting. Probably suits them to compete with us for players rather than clubs in their own division as they are on a pretty tight budget these days.

I feel the same tbh. Despite all the supposed faults in his game, the goals I have seen him score look class.

If he wants a guaranteed start every game he should probably just sign a new contract at Sheffield.

I'd laugh if Barton was fit for the re-arranged fixutre and scored the winner.

Hughton has put a lot of time in pursuing Kilgallon this season and there always seems to be some hitch at the death. Maybe he's pulled the plug because he wants a loyalty bonus or something.

Back on the subject of Beckford, doesn't surprise me that Villa have been mentioned even if it's complete speculation. O'Neill does tend to go for English talent especially those with unfulfilled potential, like Milner and Delph. Beckford would fit the mould, although i suspect it's bollocks tbh.