TRon

I think Lovenkrands and Oba either side of Viduka would be pretty tasty in a Mourinho version of 4-3-3 when he was at Chelsea. I think I mentioned it somewhere in one of the other threads as well. Obviously this would make it hard to accomodate Nolan which would be a disaster of course løvenkrands needs to play wide left....he could be ok in that position you mentioned! up front middle or right wing would never work! My teacher at school is a Rangers fan and said Lovenkrands is shite on the wing as he can't cross to save his life, his best position is CF. Indeed the word is he is a shit wide man, but played as a left sided forward off Viduka...I could see that working.

I doubt Martins will be pitched straight back into the team, more likely it will be Smith who has at least played 65 mins in a reserve game.

The people who had just arrived at the club, probably with the help of Russell Cushing, very few people walk into a new business and start to make changes from day 1. From what point in time can we hold them accountable for their decisions? Are they still learning? From the point they sacked Allardyce and hired Keegan would be fair I think.

The sad thing is I wasn't even sure it was a wind up

I think Lovenkrands and Oba either side of Viduka would be pretty tasty in a Mourinho version of 4-3-3 when he was at Chelsea. I think I mentioned it somewhere in one of the other threads as well. Obviously this would make it hard to accomodate Nolan which would be a disaster of course

Bellamy was only worth £5 million in 2005? Boumsong was worth £8 million? Just doesn't work that way. Hindsight is useless in the market place.

If Given was worth more than what we sold him for we'd have got it from somewhere, fact is only City were interested. I also now believe Trappatoni's words a while back were used to pimp Given internationally by Given's 'lawyer'. Goodbye and good riddance.

The club were quick to deny the Martins/Bent swap so if it's not true I'm pretty sure they would have said something by now.

I'd rather have signed someone else than waste precious time trying to make daft deals which never had chance in hell of coming off. But to answer the question.........? Let me rephrase it then: I'd rather have attempted to sign someone else than waste precious time trying to make daft deals which never had chance in hell of coming off. But to answer the question..... ...or to stop avoiding the answer? You've not answered it. If it was sign Richardson or get no one, which would you prefer? Did we sign Richardson? Was it a fruitful use of time pursuing him on the last day of the window? These are more important questions that need answering I feel.

I'd rather have signed someone else than waste precious time trying to make daft deals which never had chance in hell of coming off. But to answer the question.........? Let me rephrase it then: I'd rather have attempted to sign someone else than waste precious time trying to make daft deals which never had chance in hell of coming off. But to answer the question..... ...or to stop avoiding the answer?

I'd rather have signed someone else than waste precious time trying to make daft deals which never had chance in hell of coming off. But to answer the question.........? Let me rephrase it then: I'd rather have attempted to sign someone else than waste precious time trying to make daft deals which never had chance in hell of coming off.

I'd rather have signed someone else than waste precious time trying to make daft deals which never had chance in hell of coming off.

It's a well written article and George Caulkin has to be the best broadsheet journalist covering Newcastle, but there's really not a lot the NUSC can offer which is going to put things right. The only way out of this is for the club to be bought out and someone to sink a boatload of money into the squad. Boycotts and protests won't achieve anything constructive.

I think what annoyed me more than anything else was all the talk from Joe for months now how he'd got players lined up, loan deals for arsenal players, players in Italy, players in Spain, Championship stars and the rest of it. Then on the last day they were scrabbling round making daft bids for Sunderland players which were never going to come off.

...and we have a winner!

Actually it's because we didn't sign the M'Bias or the Velosos that we are going to need Butt. That is the reason everyone is pissed off. Aye because the pair of them would willingly move away from their European challanging clubs to a Premier Leage club fighting relegation. Yeah we need a replacement but it's going to be no where near the quality of those two. These are players that Joe himself said we were after, in fact he was publicly debating whether to spend £10million on M'Bia after for some reason bidding £4million. There's a huge gulf between 34yr old Nicky Butt and those two. I'm pretty sure that we could come up with an alternative to Butt for the right money if we were really interested in doing it rather than chasing pie in the sky targets like Veloso or Kieron Richardson.

They didn't work for various reasons. Dalglish had Shearer's injury to deal with in his first full season, but despite doing OK in the FA cup he produced some dreary safety-first style football at times that no one wanted to see. Gullit was a crap manager who could only deal with players as good as he was, he couldn't understand when players didn't know what to do & needed his guidance. When you're managing players like Zola you can get away with it, when you're David Beharall's manager it fails. Worse, after the Gullit disaster the then board were shit scared of appointing another foreign manager, limiting ourselves to British managers who, bar Robson, shouldn't be managing a pub team let alone a Premiership team. Robson did pretty well, once he got rid of Mick Wadsworth. I'd rather forget Souness ever existed. A manager in the same style as Gullit but without the charisma. Total reliance on players knowing what they're doing rather than develop anything resembling tactics or instructions. Brought in his inept mates as coaches, told 3 of our better players that they'd never play for the club again, spent millions on rubbish. Makes Kinnear look competent. Roeder, did great when he had Shearer with him to act as his 2nd in command, but had little support from the players when he took the job on full time. A nice guy, but too weak. Fat Sam came in to show us all these new and amazing training techniques & apparently understood tactics. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the players he had here were totally wrong for his tactics and the players he brought in, bar Beye & Enrique, pretty poor. He played football so negative that he made Dalglish's tactics look exciting. If we'd have been winning games too it wouldn't have mattered, but to play shit football & still lose is unforgivable. For various reasons the proven managers have been garbage & brought in as knee-jerk reactions to deal with some perceived fault from the previous manager's era - players aren''t listening to the manager? bring in that hard nut Souness to sort them, training techniques stuck in the 1800's? bring in Fat Sam & his team, etc. Appointing a proven manager isn't necessarily wrong, but like buying a Chelsea or Man Utd reject you have to ask why aren't they wanted by others?. Get the right manager in, proven or unproven, put the right people around them & give them time to succeed. Top post.

Actually it's because we didn't sign the M'Bias or the Velosos that we are going to need Butt. That is the reason everyone is pissed off.

I heard that too but it's obviously not happening. Ashley and Wise were still queuing for the pies at the canteen so couldn't get the email to the FA in time.

I said Bruce earlier, but I'm not sure he would come under the current set up. Martinez would be a good choice IMO. Ideal in that he is cross cultural so would be able to broker the team spirit better between foreign and home grown players, and more importantly his team plays good football so future signings will reflect that. Kinnear likes his battlers and grafters which is why he's drooling at the chops now Smith is fit again. I dread to think what our squad will look like if he has another year in charge.

I have no problem with an all English team provided it's one of the quality that MON is building, but that takes serious cash and an intelligent manager. Joe on the other hand is loudmouth knob who will buy cheap and cheerful Brits because he can understand what they are saying.

This is why the criticisms of Jonas lack of end product are pointless. We have people like Geremi who provide end product but seeing as they spend most of the game gathering rust it's useless. If it wasn't for the likes of Jonas we wouldn't get the ball out of our own half.

Do you think Liverpool fans would rather have Guthrie than Mascherano? Would Man U like to swap Berbatov for Andy Carroll? You are either being obtuse or you are missing the point completely. What is your point? You would prefer an English team and no foreigners right? Well Joe shares the vision.

Do you think Liverpool fans would rather have Guthrie than Mascherano? Would Man U like to swap Berbatov for Andy Carroll?

You'd have to ask Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool fans this question.