Mick

The last thing I heard about the resignations at Bolton was the Bolton Chairman saying they had 1 year contracts so would have to honour them, I don't know if they called his bluff. As for how Mort and Allardyce get on, they seemed comfortable with each other when we played Celtic. Did Allardyce not say that they were in daily contact but not always face to face?

It could be a plus point, I really think that we'll benefit for having someone who isn't a fan and who can distance himself before making decisions.

Financial backing is no good if it brings the wrong people in, we've spent almost nil so far and have brought 4 players in, I'm more than happy that the 4 people we have brought in will do a job for us. I want to see more coming in but I'd rather see another 4 come in for next to nothing than some of the shit we've paid over the odds for in the past. I expect the Chairman to back the manager as much as he can and I think he will, it may not be this transfer window but I'm sure they want what's best for the club as they own it so have a lot at stake. You say you'll be happy if Ashley backs the manager, I'll also be happy if he does that because we look as if we've got a manager who can take us forward, time will tell on that one. If we don't look as if we're showing ambition at the minute then I'll accept it, that's not to say that I would accept it if it became the norm. I don't have a hatred of Shepherd, I just don't want him running the club because he's made a pigs ear of it, what he's said to the press isn't something I've taken personally, I take it as a sign of us having an idiot running the club, only an idiot would repeatedly get caught out in the way he did, you've just said yourself that he was daft. I don't think it's impossible to appoint the wrong manager, once is a mistake but to do it so often should have people questioning his ability to get it right, something he probably has done with his last one, that'll be two that will have turned out to be right, 4 that have turned out to be wrong, that’s a hell of a failure rate, a failure rate that I wouldn't get away with at work, why should he get away with it?

Shepherd and Allardyce didn't have long to work together as Shepherd was in Hospital within days of his appointment, he was seen on TV at the Allardyce press conference in pain so how would Allardyce be able to make up his mind if he liked working with Shepherd or not? Allardyce isn't at Newcastle to run the club so he wouldn't need help with that anyway and from what I'm aware he's been given all the help he's asked for as we've appointed the people that Allardyce has asked for, contracts permitting. I get the impression that Chris Mort is not a 24/7 chairman at the minute because he's still got commitments to Freshfields, he's not taking on anything new but he's finishing what he was involved with. Normally if you take on a new employee you have to wait until they have worked a period of notice, Mort didn't, he came in from day 1, that doesn't mean on that day he was finished with his previous employer, I also think that has something to do with him becoming vice-Chairman while he reduced his work-load in London.

I agree with most of that anyway, a lot of people were sick of the shit football and the way the club were being run, a lot also kept going because they still enjoyed it although it was as much for the day out as much as any expectations of how well we were going to do. It still doesn't change the fact that our gates were not shit and were much better than they should have been, they were better than quite a few of those on the top division. It also doesn't make our current gates an endorsement of Shepherd as he was clearly unpopular yet people still went. You've just said that those who stopped going had higher ambition, is that why you're happy to support Shepherd, because you don't have high ambition? Last season was the first time in years that our gates had dropped, does that mean people thought Shepherd was shit?

Excellent, enlighten us.

Why do you think?

Scottish teams will never play league football in England, too many people would be against it.

In 1991 we were in the old 2nd Division, the teams listed below were all in the 1st (top) division. why was this ? Why was the share issue aborted ? Why was there so little interest the club couldn't even sell 2.5m worth of shares ? shot yourself in the foot, predictably. Why were Leeds, Chelsea and Liverpool getting higher gates than we were, at the time you mention, but don't now ? You are getting into that area where you are going to claim that Newcastle United needed the sky TV money to exist in the premiership, and get above the likes of Oxford, Southampton, Swindon, Oldham, Ipswich, Port Vale, Hull, Watford, Plymouth, Barnsley, Brighton, QPR, Millwall, Charlton, Luton, Norwich, Bristol City, Millwall, Notts County, Bristol Rovers etc were ALL above us in the league during the period when we were in the old 2nd division ? You're a bigger joke than ever, for making such a pathetic, and stupid claim. If you aren't then please tell us how this was the case anyway ? What is the point of you ? bump I'm surprised you bumped that without editing some of those teams who we had to "get above" when they were never actually above us anyway. I'm also surprised that you bumped a post where you were asking about our poor crowds before Hall & Shepherd only to be shown that most other clubs were also having problems with lack of crowds.

Great piece as in great reading for NUFC fans? icnewcastle have a story about Ashley having a bad time with SDI so it could be something along those lines. http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0500business/businessnews/tm_headline=sdi-fails-to-score-with-city%26method=full%26objectid=19534951%26siteid=50081-name_page.html

Excellent, nobody would have noticed if it wasn't for the upper case.

I can't remember Ginola getting clattered all of the time, I remember him jumping as if he had springs in his boots any time he was tackled.

The same could have been said about Ginola, it didn't stop him from being a good player for us.

What sort of ratio of goals to games does Luque have since coming here? I bet it's not bad.

Given is worried about our lack of defenders. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2136573,00.html Size matters, says Given, as he urges signings at Newcastle Michael Walker and Matt Scott Saturday July 28, 2007 The Guardian In what seems a familiar warning, the Newcastle United goalkeeper Shay Given has worried aloud about the size of the club's squad. Fresh injuries to Steven Taylor and Nicky Butt sustained during Thursday night's friendly against Celtic have hit a squad already missing Joey Barton. "The squad's the lightest that it's been for as long as I can remember," Given said. "It's extremely important that we get some players in but the manager knows that. He's not silly. "Offensively we're very strong and as strong as most clubs but we don't have too many defenders floating about these days. I know we've got some young defenders coming through but it's a lot to expect of them to be playing every week in the Premiership. They're learning their trade and it's important we get some experienced defenders in to help them develop and improve. "We're very thin on the ground. We need to improve on last season because our finish last time was a big disappointment to everyone. For a club of this stature and the players we have here, it just wasn't good enough." Kieron Dyer's only hope of quitting St James' Park appears to lie with West Ham after Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur denied any interest in him yesterday. He seems set to leave Newcastle after the manager, Sam Allardyce, omitted him from a pre-season friendly in midweek, and West Ham's manager, Alan Curbishley, who admires the 28-year-old midfielder, is preparing to make a bid. It is believed that Newcastle would be willing to accept between £4m and £5m for a player who earns £60,000 a week but, as the only interested party, West Ham may seek to drive this down further. Dyer has a long history of injury problems and will need to pass a stringent medical if he is to move to Upton Park.

It'll be strange seeing Boumsong at St James' and not have to worry about him.

It's amazing how many have flags with "Remember Bannockburn" printed on them, I used to piss them right off when I reminded them about Culloden.

Anybody who thinks Dyer is world class at anything is barking mad, he's not as bad as some say but nowhere even close to being world class. He came here as a very good prospect but he hasn't moved on since, he's wasted his talent and we've had the pleasure of financing a very good lifestyle for him. If he wants to leave then he's robbed this club for 8 years and thrown it back in our face. He's had a lot of stick from some, he's brought it on himself by the way he's conducted himself when away from football, I don't know how he's got the brass neck to want away, I'd feel indebted to the club and fans if I was him.

Did't Rob Lee say he wouldn't sign for Boro because they were too far north.

The injuries are not thought to be too bad but that was last night, I haven't seen any updates other than Taylor was due to have an assessment this morning.

You're saying you've strung together some random comments made by different people and you make it look as if you're saying it. Then you wonder what is funny about it. OK.

Remind me how much we paid for Geremi.

Much better.