TRon

Arsenal are going to be pumped now that Villa are showing signs of wobbling, I doubt we will beat them or Chelsea who have a new lease of life with Hiddink coming in. The games against clubs like Hull are where we have to make our supeiority in squad value count.

sooner the better, his transfer has turned into pretty much everything a lot thought it would be. Big wages, doesn't care, never fit, money that could've been better allocated elsewhere (on the team). Although he did help keep us up it's no different to what he did when he went on a little run for Boro prior to us signing to him. The signing of overpaid, under performing and/or injury prone players like Viduka are why Ashley took the whole DOF/ Dennis Wise trip. If we get relegated and Kinnear remains our manager its all Viduka's fault - we have a real scapegoat at last Shows Ashleys ignorance/stupidity in the early days then as the signings of Smith & Duke were never going to be anything but how they've turned out (although Smith has probably been worse than expected - we didn't really need either) To be serious for a moment - a lot of the crap that the club is going through now stemmed from the signings in the Allardyce transfer window and the owners reaction to preventing it happening again. It's weird because Sam has a track record of doing decent business in the market. Did it go wrong because he didn't get who he wanted (takeover going on etc), couldn't hack it at our level or was it just our luck that he f*cked up whilst on our case? However you look at it Viduka was certainly a player he wanted and was not on his B list. Absolutely. Ashley's been accused of being a cheapskate but he backed Allardyce quite heavily in the market and got stung by signings like Viduka, Smith and Barton. He probably thought paying off Allardyce and his 40 strong backroom staff was cheap compared to the long term cost of keeping him on.

Very good post HTT. I think the fact that Ashley and Llambias are publicly showing their faces in and around Newcastle is silent acknowledgement that Keegan was right to be pissed off that he couldn't get in touch with Ashley directly when he needed to, and ended up dealing with people he had no respect for.

We don't know for a fact that Llambais is lying though, Bassong was clearly one of those players who fit the profile of the type of player the club were looking to sign. Like Guthrie this was one of those signings that both Wise and Keegan were on the same page on, that was how the system was supposed to work ideally.

It's pretty typical that who signed Bassong is now being used as something else to bash the club with. I'm pretty sure Ashley would have preferred Keegan to still be here signing more players if things hadn't gone pear shaped anyway.

No, Keegan only signed the good ones Fair question though, everyone is clammering stake this as evidence that the club is run by liars without taking account of the fact that it undermines the claim that Keegan 'had to leave because of interference'. What fucking interference? The only players we now know for a fact he had a hand in signing were Guthrie and Bassong. Jonas, Colo, Xisco, Gonzalez are still unaccounted for but due to the league they played in i'd wager Wise, Vetere and Jiminez were behind them. There is also the matter of the Milner transfer and the noises made with regards to areas we needed to improve in. Oh, and there's also the Owen contract which Keegan was calling to be extended all summer. Just because Keegan signed one player (To be honest I had it on good authority that Guthrie, Bassong and Zayette were KK's only dealings. I was thrown when DL said otherwise.) doesn't mean there was no intereference. There are still a boatload of unanswered questions, such as why Mike Ashley said that there would be no interference until Keegan left when apparently he knew he wouldn't have control. It's not a black and white issue. With him on the record as being happy as fuck about Jonas and Colo, it seems a massive shame that the club's fortunes have been determined by a disagreement of opinion over a non-entity like James fucking Milner. What a waste if true. Getting rid of Milner for £12 million looked like a masterstroke...until it was revealed they've got until around 2030 to pay off the fucking transfer. I don't think it was the only problem, but along with Barton it was the one that broke the camel's back. Thats my point, this stuff about Bassong shows there was less areas of contention than previously thought. I don't think it does. As i've said i've been told that Bassong and Guthrie were Keegan's only two signings. Aside from tampering with the players we've bought and sold there's other elements such as lack of transfers, squad depth, Owen's contract and the apparent breakdown in communication between Llambias and Keegan which resulted in Llambias "wanting to punch him". The camel in question had a lot of shite heaped on it before the Milner deal was thrown on the pile. The shite that the camel had heaped on it is the same sort of shite that most camels have to put up with tbh. Not many managers can dictate who gets contracts for how much and what the transfer spend should be, which players are not to be sold at any price etc.

what a load of s***. mort said keegan knew the system/situation and agreed to it before he signed. any talk from keegan himself about breaking world records was sheer stupidity. Your the one talking s*** - Keegan would not have returned unless he had been promised significant funds and control over transfers. Why do some people on here prefer to believe Ashley rather than Keegan, amazing really at what point in ashleys time here has he or anyone connected to him claimed we would spend "significant funds"? the club would NOT have said "here kev have £200 million m8" as a lure. keegan most likely came back for the money he would get, not spend. sad, but very possibly true. The 16 million quid they were going to spunk on the croation tranny? and Woodgate in January again, that would have a knock on effect on other transfers we did complete. i would bet significant money on keegan being told he would have to sell to buy for the most part. I seiously doubt that. At the time the general mpression was that Ashley was going to spend significant money once he had his own choice as manager. Keegan's first interview he was talking about why shouldn't we dream of winning things, Ashley was talking about breaking into the top four. It was Ashley's camp who put out the stories about Keegan's transfer targets costing £200m. It's pretty obvious Keegan was in the dark how much he really had to spend.

Funny no one thought Man U were "there for the taking" before the game. Now we are making excuses for those fuckers for playing extra time before this game, with a massive squad of world class players at their disposal. Shearer could have made excuses on our behalf as well you know? We had players missing as well although he failed to mention it.

Sorry Rich, hate to step on the holy grail, but why don't you explain his comments then? Man U were back to full strength rather than coming off a cup win where juniors were played because the Carling Cup was a side event. why did Shearer need to denigrate our performance by suggesting we had it easy?

First time I've felt compelled to use that. If there isn't a viable answer it's a good enough cop-out.

This might be a lesson in football at a minor level but how does it equate with NUFC as a professional outfit? HTT bigs up local favourites like Steve Taylor and dumps on the likes of Coloccini and Jonas, so his judgement is flawed IMO.

Oba would be off. Immediately. Same with Bassong and Jonas. I could see all three of them (Enrique as well) moving to a top six club in any of the top 3 leagues +top teams in Russia, France, Germany. Obviously the best players will leave in such a situation. Shay Given left even before relegation was an issue and he was a Tyneside hero.

Shearer's comments on MOTD about it being a good time to play Man U after a cup tie...did anyone else think they were mean-spirited? Man U played a weak team in the cup and brought back their big guns for our game. I notice he also mentioned that some of the players were probably still in celebration mode. Seems to me he tried his best to put a negative spin (again) on our performance. Is he really a Newcastle fan?

Of course you would Nicky. Look you are still a valuable squad member and we've given you a contract extension so just chill. Let the knee heal, no need to rush back...please!

I remember Rio Ferdinand having a blinder against us for West Ham when we used to be a good team and he absolutely blotted Alan Shearer out of the game. I always thought he would go on to great things and he has.

I don't know if you've noticed, but they're fucking shit too. Don't be blinded by a good result against an awful away middlesboro team. Very winnable, although I wouldn't have considered us favourites. I just think we have failed in so many other "winnable"games this season that I dont think we can label any of the remaining fixtures the same (the Stoke game still pisses me off) This is true. The danger is that we will draw too many of these games like we have been doing all season.

I still think with our key players coming back to fitness we will stay up, although it will be a lot closer than last year. This current squad would piss all over any team in the Championship.

I must admit this bothered me last night. Fans saying things like that Slugsy baffles me a little bit. It comes across that it doesnt matter if Kevin Keegan was pushed to the point where he didnt enjoy coming to work every day, but you feel pissed off at him because he didnt hang around, just to make you happy. I wouldnt expect anyone to stay in a job if they were unhappy - just for my sake. Whether its my brother or Kevin Keegan, if he is unhappy, he has to make a decision based on how he alone feels. The problem with Kev is, once he's unhappy, he lets it affect the rest of the staff including the players. It was the same back in the 90's when he left, it was clear there was something wrong and performances were affected. At the end of the day Keegan has to do what he feels is best, that doesnt stop us from wishing hed bite the bullet once in a while for the sake of the club. Regardless, he'll always be a hero of mine as well, warts and all, and if he came back tomorrow I'd be over the moon.

When the team loses or fails to score, that will be all 11 players without meaningful contributions. You cant underestimate the ability to collect the ball under pressure and either make space, beat a man and move the ball forward. If you look at the worst NUFC teams and the worst performances, you'll see players collecting balls under pressure without the ability to find a man, make space or beat a player. The team loses possession and eventually the pressure cranks up until we concede. Jonas collected the ball in his own and was surrounded by 3 man u players. If he loses the ball, man u go on the attack. He didnt and we went on the attack. Thats a meaningful contribution imo. You can quote all these fine theories until you are blue in the face - the only thing that matters is END PRODUCT ; Shearer produced this in bad sides, Solano did also - in past years, Beardsley and Waddle also did...Jonas is an Argentine international, but I wouldn't have him in the side as opposed to, say, Waddle if they were both the same age. Watch some of Waddle's amazing goals when playing in a mediocre Newcastle side in 84-85 - HE didn't need to be in 'a decent side' to produce either dangerous crosses or great goals...Jonas has dome neither in nearly a full season. True, Waddle would be better, so would David Villa. In fact I reckon Stewart Downing would be a better alternative, let's play him against Hull. Good spot.

For me Loven and Martins must start up front, they provide genuine threat on the break. Owen will be a nice insurance policy on the bench, there's no need to rush him back in the first match he's available. I'm not sure I'd start Guthrie either, it's a big match I'm not convinced he always shows up in these games. For the love of God please keep Butt out of the team.

When the team loses or fails to score, that will be all 11 players without meaningful contributions. You cant underestimate the ability to collect the ball under pressure and either make space, beat a man and move the ball forward. If you look at the worst NUFC teams and the worst performances, you'll see players collecting balls under pressure without the ability to find a man, make space or beat a player. The team loses possession and eventually the pressure cranks up until we concede. Jonas collected the ball in his own and was surrounded by 3 man u players. If he loses the ball, man u go on the attack. He didnt and we went on the attack. Thats a meaningful contribution imo. All you "but he can't cross..he can't score...end product...boo hooo.." types should read this very carefully. Then read it again a few times until it registers.

Spot on. The quick passing to forward players for the first time in ages wasn't a coincidence. I'm not saying Smith is the answer, obviously Barton and Guthrie will come in when they are fit, however, it should be clear now that both Smith and Geremi should be on the team sheet ahead of Butt and IMO should start ahead of Nolan as well because if anything he's slower than Nicky Butt.

I still think we have the players to get us out of this, it's just now a case of making sure the right ones get picked if available.

Geremi from our current crop of players qualifies I would say.

So is this awful player finally out of the reckoning or is he going to take NUFC to the grave with him?