Mick

You do know that European football hasn't always been around so was not possible at times when we would have qualified had it been around, you do don't you? Did Shepherd finish above shitty Doug Ellis in the league more often than not? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ

How do you know how much Allardyce was promised by the old board, the old board which was carrying over £100 million in debt, the old board who had already spent the Adidas and Northern Rock money? The old board that you think/spin ran up more than £100 million on redeveloping St James' while actually spending £44 million on the ground expansion. How much do you think Allardyce should have been given considering he's spent more net than the average net spent under Shepherd and more money then Sir Bobby was given when he first took over? Mort has spent more new money already than Shepherd spent on average, is that proof that he has more ambition than Shepherd? Actions do speak louder than words, good job we're now spending more than our average spend for the previous chairman, wouldn't you agree?

bluelaugh.gif bluelaugh.gif Congratulations, you've managed to turn a thread about Danny Haynes into a thread about the board, you're obsessed.

Three or less.

I didn't mention Drogba because he'd been mentioned in the post that I replied to.

Look at where those teams are, we've took 2 points from the top 7, the others mentioned are from the bottom 7.

I think Allardyce had an ideal player for this formation in Anelka.

We've had to build the team/squad up to the current level because we got rid of so many players, we had to pad out the team which has been done. We might suffer a bit in January when we lose players but that will last for weeks, we're building much longer term and can't really keep taking a short term view. We haven't got too many players who are young and capable of coming through, I just see what we're aiming to do in January as another sign of progress as a club, we need to bring in flair and we should do it if possible in January but long term, we don't need to replace the players who go to the African Nations Cup. The daft thing is that we've done better recently with a settled side which will be changed again soon, this should give other players a chance to come good and possibly get a few games which they wouldn't have got without this tournament. I think of all of the players going away, we'll miss two, Faye and Beye. We should be OK up front as we'll have Owen back and we'll be able to move Milner to the right and bring N'Zogbia into his best position by putting Enrique on the left side of defence, it doesn't look too bad as we'll also have Taylor fit again.

I'm going to leave it as it's no longer got anyting to do with the original thread and isn't even worth going on about as nothing new has been said for the last 5 or 6 pages. To get back to the original post, January could be interesting as it looks like we'll be buying for the future, proof that the plans for the club are long term as I doubt buying kids is going to add value to the club from day one.

Blame Keegan for casting the doubt and John Gibson for not questioning him about it. It's a direct quote from Keegan and put into an article by Gibson this year, I agree that it's doubtful that the timing of the quote is right but Keegan was quoted, not me.

Was only hiring a boardroom decision or does that also stretch to firing? Also, why should anybody take your side of this against somebody involved who claims that he was offered the job, a claim which has only been denied by you? If somebody claimed I'd offered them a job when I hadn't, I'd make sure my side of it was known.

He wasn't what?

Keegan did cast some doubt on the timing of that quote when interviewed by John Gibson earlier this year. http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcastleunited/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=18923168%26siteid=50081-name_page.html "When Newcastle came calling for me it was very exciting," recalled Kevin. "John Hall phoned and said `Only two people can save Newcastle United and they are talking to each other right now.' That was a powerful message."

4-3-3 is a bluff, it's a way of trying to get people to buy into 4-5-1 and a way of having to explain a negative formation. I can't stand the formation and most of the football we've played with it has been shite so far. The only reason we've done better recently is because we've had a settled side, I'm sure we would have at least done as well if we'd stuck with 4-4-2 and I'm equally sure that the football would have been more exciting. How many people were complaining about our performance against Fulham? Reading through the match thread I would guess that as many people fell asleep as didn't. We played Ok'ish against Blackburn but if anybody thinks we did it because of the system then you're forgetting what had been going on the week before that game.

Steve Bruce was quoted as saying he had been offered the job, I'm sure the quotes came out around the time of the FA Cup game against Birmingham last season.

Medical science.

they dashed to the toilets at half time for a smoke.

!957 FA Cup v 2007 FA Cup, it's worth a watch.

You've put your own spin on things. I've seen Freddy Fletcher get most of the credit for bringing Keegan in and as far as I'm aware, it had something to do with Keegan and Fletcher having worked together previously, Sir John wasn't against bringing him in, he didn't want to sack Ardilles because he classed him as a friend but Douglas forced him into a corner and he agreed to it, he did this as chairman. Here’s a quote from Sir John: “They had made their decision, Freddie (Fletcher) and Douglas, they said it was the best thing for the club if Ossie were to go. I didn’t know Kevin, but Freddie knew him from the two years he was with Newcastle as a player doing things for the brewery. Freddie had met him through his own contacts with the brewery. When I made the point that Kevin had been out of the game for years, Freddie said, “The fans love him. He’ll do it!” I had a link to an article on icnewcastle where Sir John tried to support the decision of Shepherd for sacking Sir Bobby. http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcastleunited/news/tm_objectid=14660423%26method=full%26siteid=50081-name_page.html "The problems in the dressing room seemed to continue through into the season and I can understand Freddy Shepherd, the chairman's decision. The best I could find for the cost of level 7 was from wiki, I know anybody can edit it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James'_Park The cost of the new construction work was estimated at £42 million The first 6 month net spend with Mort is £10 million, the first 6 months under Shepherd was £3.8.

I know you have a good knowledge of the clubs history so use it. The club is in a similar state this season to when Sir Bobby took over except for one thing, we didn't have the massive debt that we started this season with. We've spent more money (net) so far than we did at this stage under Sir Bobby. I don't remember too many people questioning the ambition of the board back then so why now when we've started off in a worse position? Ashley has paid off £75 million of the debt which was more than £100 million so that the club can be self financing. I doubt we’ll spend heavily in the Summer, I think it will be the summer after before we spend daft money but it will be money that the club can afford to spend. I still think we’ll buy players before that time but it will not be in the numbers we saw coming in during the last window, I expect fewer in numbers but better quality. The fact is that we've started from a worse position at the club. We've spent more than we did under Sir Bobby at this stage. Mort has not said he isn't spending, he's said that he wants younger players who will be around for a good few years, or words to that effect. Allardyce has said that he doesn't have to sell to spend. Why do people have a problem with that?

Spot on.

I'm not a Butt fan, that sounds horrible. I think we should look to get rid of him in the summer as he's very limited and getting on for a footballer. He's too one dimensional and his passing at times is shocking, it's not just that we lose possession it's also where we lose it and the outcome. I'd like to see him replaced and shipped out, we should look for somebody young as back-up to his replacement, a younger player who can develop and come in as cover.

We've had our better results recently with Geremi in the team than we had for the few games without him. Maybe he makes a difference that we're not seeing, I'm not saying that he does but you never know.

Mort has never said we'll not spend in January and Allardyce has said that we don't need to sell before we can buy, all that has been said is that we'll be going for young players who might not be bought to go straight in to the first team.