TRon

Not according to his dad apparently. All it would have taken was for us to have made Shearer manager. You quoted it, so I assumed you believed it: You don't think even with a £100m transfer kitty we can convince players we are a better prospect long term than Spurs? We have sunk a long way down since Ashley took over then. This £100m transfer kitty which we were supposed to dangle in front of Woody and his dad to persuade them to sign - you believe we should be presenting this sum to all our prospective transfer targets as a given then?

thanks for cutting of the bracketted part at the end of the second quote which qualified the statement, and the second part of the sentence which elaborated on what I was implying in the first quote. YOU WIN! Why do you think Woodgate chose Spurs over us, given the fact we're going to be spending £100m in the Summer? Because he thinks the managerial hierarchy is Shearer > Ramos > Keegan? I don't think it was anything to do with money. Woodgate turned us down for boro before that. Spurs were on the up with a top boss and in Europe. Is that not enough? You can speculate all you want on what he was offered but you don't know it was down to money, so all we can go on is the reason Keegan gave which seems reasonable enough to me.

No, he's just the same Mark Viduka we signed as a free agent in the summer - a fat lazy cunt who doesnt give a fuck now he's got a nice big contract. Has viduka not got the best goals per games ratio out of him, Owen and Oba though? I think KK would play him if he'd train for two consecutive days without pulling up with this or that niggle. Even though we could do with him on the pitch, I'm 100% behind KK on this one. Viduka is a grade A cunt plain and simple.

Why would you "must surely offer" a fraction of that to a manager you're going to sack? I'm afraid A doesn't follow from B here, as it pertains to debunking the 100m figure. Also the suggestion that Woodgate chose Spurs ahead of us down to wages is misleading unless you have something concrete to back it up. Spurs are the club with a wage ceiling, and Woodgate's father said he would have joined Newcastle if Shearer was boss.

N'Zogbia isn't blameless, I'm not sure Keegan trusts him to give 100%. It's a shame because I think if he hadn't been messed about and put below the pecking order behind Duff, he'd have been much happier and we'd have scored more goals.

Probably dropped around the time you stopped calling your manager "King Kev" perhaps? What makes you think we have stopped calling King Kev, King Kev?

Please God let this be true. Duff dropped and free to go on the lash Sunday night.

I think a lot will be revealed in the Summer, not just how much money Keegan is backed with but what sort of players he's targeted, from that we'll be able to understand why he couldn't attract them in January. It's been a shit season without doubt, I just hope now they've got there man the club can start moving in the right direction, we've just got to see this season out. A sensible approach, but of course there is nothing to stop those not sharing these views from getting their boots in while they can.

Same here. I really thought Sam's fitness regime would see a new Viduka but we were mugged on this one. He's on vacation until Australia come calling by the looks of it, the fat spongeing cunt.

Mine for what it's worth: 4-4-2 Harper Beye Taylor Faye Enrique Zog Geremi Barton Milner Martins Owen

I would have thought a Chairman desperate for cash would have snapped West Ham's hands off at £6m. Bean counters don't usually risk a deal falling through by upping the price on a whim, but then recognising this probably doesn't fit in with some people's agenda so best ignore it and hope no one notices.

It's a big ask to pitch a teenager into a relegation battle. Nevertheless, Carroll looks like he would relish it. I wouldn't start him yet, first we need to see Martins and Owen given a crack, but if it isn't working, get him off the bench and alongside Oba.

I would stick with Faye and Cacapa for this one. Birmingham are direct and phsyical so horses for courses.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting anyone should come up with something beginning with P which rhymed with Duff btw, I should make that clear. Anyway, he was subbed early on Saturday, I'm hoping that means he's no longer an automatic choice. With a striker who won't take shots at goal, we can't afford to also have a winger who can't deliver the ball into the penalty area.

All true enough, but if the top managers weren't willing to come, why not go for an up and coming manager from the lower leagues rather than a proven flop? Unless Freddie's football knowledge was so limited he had no knowledge of young managers rated within the game?

I don't think he lacks pride or passion. He just doesn't know what to do with the ball when someone's in the way.

What's Milner got to do with it? He makes Duff look like Ronaldo! A young Luis Figo obviously did a few step-overs, chucked in the odd cross and scored no goals.

Because Allardyce went on tv and said he was his replacement? When a player leaves you usually replace them, yet we were prepared to hang on to Dyer until we got the money we thought he was worth, in fact we signed Enrique a week before we sold Dyer, where does he fit in this imaginary buy to sell policy? So none of the deals were financially linked then? IIRC We sold Dyer, then bought Smith, then told West Ham Dyer was no longer for sale because something upset Ashley about the way West Ham had carried out their business. How does that fit in with your sell to buy argument?

Bit early to judge really. Given another season's experience of English football I think he could be a really good solid left back. I like the way he recovers and disposesses players who get the better of him. £6m was a fucking ludicrous fee though. For that you should be buying the finished article.

You were the one who said he'd done well for Ireland, I just assumed you'd have something to back that up. A competitive match which counted for something would be a start.

Who has he played well against? Malta? Brazil. A friendly match with lots of space and no pressure doesn't really tell us much.

I prefer Faye and Cacapa, they compliment each other well, although against the more physical sides Faye should start with Taylor. Agree with the rest of your post, where was the midfield for the 2nd and 3rd goals?

Who has he played well against? Malta? I stuck up for Duff when he was out, but his safe,sterile performances have reeked of fear recently. Has he given any full back a hard time recently?

I once asked NE5, seeing as he didn't agree that Freddie was a thick fat so and so, what was Freddie's intelligent reasoning for wanting to hire Souness? Blackburn being 2nd bottom of the league at the time, and Souness being on the brink of the sack. I never got a reply to that one strangely enough.