Shak

And you a Geordie? It definitely does show ... Cleverest post ever tbh.

Gloryhunter. I couldn't see myself picking a top club tbh. After years of suffering through Newcastle, it would seem so cheap to switch to a team who would likely win something within a year or two.

Dunno why people are bothering to explain that it's not exactly an easy task for a lot of us to to just pick someone straight away, seeing as most of us have no connection to other teams, seems like you just assume we should all be able to do so... somehow. I assume most people would eventually DEVELOP a liking for another team, but it's impossible to know now who that team is. Come up with an answer yourself yet?

Great thread this Anyway, as unfathomable an idea as this is I wouldn't be able to just switch teams at the drop of the hat and support them with the same passion I support Newcastle, no way. I'd be a neutral, and over time I would probably develop a soft spot for team and start supporting them. Impossible to tell now who that team would be, and even then it would take a long time before I were ever to support them with the same commitment as I do Newcastle. Is this an acceptable answer? If not I can draw teams from a hat and give a clearer and more concise answer? Might be fun, actually.

I'll be at the Blackburn game and if N'Zogbia doesn't start on the left I'll charge the dugout personally and confront Roeder. "Shak doesn't resort to violence, but you about to get knocked the fuck out!"

Ah you crazy Geordies...

I'd like to see that actually. Sounds fun, like. "Please, Glenn, just put the gun down and let them go. Everything will be OK." "Glenn Roeder doesn't believe in using guns, but I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it"

If we got a top class manager in I'd be happy to trust to his judgement and let him do things how he sees fit and keep the players he wants. Having said that, I doubt such a manager would keep any of the four of those players.

Roeder really seems to be cracking under the pressure more and more. I think he knows he's lost the fans now, and he isn't strong willed enough to deal with it at all. We can only hope that it all ends in some sort of highly dramatic fashion, perhaps with Roeder getting himself some hostages and scaling St. James' Park to make one last desperate stand.

Upwards of 15m and yeah, but not for less. Can't see anyone paying upwards of 15 though, so no I suppose. The poll really lacks an option between the first and second choices tbh.

Can't see how that's possible. Souness was a complete prick, Roeder is just incompetent and losing it a bit with the pressure so he's starting to say stupid things. Souness was a prick from the get-go, who put himself and his own agendas before the good of the team. Roeder hasn't done that. Souness bent over backwards to make sure N'Zogbia was alright after his dad died. Roeder mocked Boumsong in front of a couple of hundred fans at a talk-in while still a player after having a few family problems of his own last year. Aye, he also bent over backwards to ensure that he drove our best player to boiling point so he'd have an excuse to drive him out of the club, just cos he didn't like the guy.

Madness if we don't just let N'Zogbia play on the left if Duff is out, regardless of whether we're flogging him in the summer.

Can't see how that's possible. Souness was a complete prick, Roeder is just incompetent and losing it a bit with the pressure so he's starting to say stupid things. Souness was a prick from the get-go, who put himself and his own agendas before the good of the team. Roeder hasn't done that.

My guess is that Shepherd hoped and thought Roeder would be able to do a decent enough job this season to be able to let him continue on next season, before getting moved aside after next season for Shearer to take over. Now we're in a real problem position, if Shepherd still wants Shearer as his boss ultimately. Who is going to take the job here unless they have Shepherd's full backing, as in being given finances to rebuild the team? Surely FS wouldn't give big money to a manager he had no long term plans for? If he wants Shearer as his boss, he should offer him the job this summer. Take it or leave it, Al. If Shearer turns him down, forget about him and look for a top boss and back him to the hilt, long term. I've no faith though.

Golf?? Surely Greg Norman is a relative or close friend? Yeah, Greg and I go way back. We used to skip of school and go smoke joints and play golf down in Melbourne back in the day... good times, great memories.

I'd love to see Shola actually start scoring regularly next season, purely for your reaction. Not that I think it'll happen, before you go off on one. Anyway, with any luck Shola will be battling a new arrival for the 3rd choice striker role come next season to back-up Owen and Martins. He may even have a good chance of starting some games if Owen and Martins don't work together as a partnership, which is very possible.

They can fuck off at that price tbh. Though think of the amount of left wingers we could buy with that money...

Tell me about it. One of my best friends, a Man U fan, said to me about a year or so ago "I'm just sick of supporting Man U. I mean, we've won what in the last few years? FA Cup a couple of times and been finishing 3rd mostly. I mean, what good is that?" He was deadly serious too. Wanted to kill him. Should have, now that I think of it.

If it's any consolation going to Wembley with my dad to see us beat the mancs in the final is still one of my best ever days I doubt it is, to be fair.

Two Liverpool 4-3 losses I cried over, the first time in a room full of my friends and family (Man U and Liverpool fans every one of them) and the second time I was actually in Anfield, sitting amongst the Scousers with my family. That Everton game Stevie mentioned, the 2-1 loss to Blackburn when Fenton the cunt scored twice, the Man U game we lost 1-0 the same season. Few others tbh. The Chelsea Cup semi in 2000 was probably the last time. Hard to get to that point these days, or maybe I'm just older and able to deal with it better. You'd only really cry when it was a massive game though, and its been a long time since we came close to winning anything so it never gets to that point. Even Lisbon and in particular Alkmaar had such a sense of inevitability about it, you never felt we had the bottle to win it out. Relegation would probably do it though, God forbid. Only other sporting occasion I've ever cried over was when Greg Norman blew up in the last round of the US Masters and lost it to Faldo.

Absolutely. Let's hope the people who keep banging on about this read your comment and actually understand it. To be fair, I do remember Shepherd making comments last summer that we would be focusing our transfer efforts on getting in attacking players rather than defensive ones. Can't find an article but I do remember him saying such. Only defender I think we really targeted with any conviction was Bridge, which failed due to the saga that was the Cole transfer. We had alledged interests in Woodgate and Huth, but it seems that those efforts were half-hearted. It seems unlikely that we'd fail to get any defenders in whatsoever if the manager acknowledged it was a position of need, so it would seem he didn't.

Aye. There are countless other managers capable of taking us in the right direction, we just desperately need to find one.

How anyone can call Parker or Butt trophy signings is beyond me, Butt was seen by many as the player we needed in midfield to really make us contenders. Parker, meanwhile, is hardly a glamorous player either and was signed at a time where CM was a need. Duff could be classed as a trophy signing though, depending on how you define the term. Big name, big reputation player who was signed for a position that wasn't a pressing need by any means, who took the place of one of our more promising, though less well-known first teamers.

Campbell and Sorin would have been great additions at the back. If Man U go for Bale during the summer you'd wonder what Evra's situation will be. Depends on whether Heinze moves on as well I suppose. I'd like Evra here though for sure. Arteta has to be the best signing on that list, fantastic player.

Since he can't pass the ball or tackle properly I've no idea why you think things would look up if he plays a defensive role. Besides, are you seriously saying he's playing a "creative" role right now. f****** hell. Well Butt is a holding midfielder, and from what I've seen Parker seems to be the one expected to get forward. So yeah, he's playing the creative role. Horrendously so, but it's what he's been doing. I think he can be a good DM, if he were to learn a bit of discipline in his play. As it is he works very hard and does very little. But we saw displays last year which showed he can be a good DM. He's not a young player anymore. It's a very understated and specialised role in how good a player has to be to do this well. Their reading of the game and distribution has to be first class and I don't think you can just learn it by putting a bit of discipline into your game. They have to be a natural, there aren't many around like Gary Speed who can change their game and work this role effectively. I seriously doubt Parker has even 10% of the ability of the likes of Speed at anything, let alone in that defensive role. He needs to go and I hope he goes soon. Personally I'd be happy to see him go as well, but unfortunately can't see it happening any time soon. He'll never be a top class DM, as you say he lacks the passing ability and reading of the game for that. But he does work very hard and can put in some crunching tackles, which you need someone in midfield to do. If we're stuck with him, as I believe we are, moving him to DM can vastly help the situation. Cos while he'll never be a top class holding player, he can be passable. As a box-to-box player, which he and Roeder seem intent on him being, he's beyond horrific though and we'll go absolutely nowhere with him there.