Offshore

If and its a very big if Shearer was offered and took the job I don't think he'd actually pick Keegan to be his 'mentor' anyway.

lol. No defending that tbh. Bentley's replacement for when he brings him here!

Yesteryear there was no football academys, and virtually no organised kiddie football leagues but just about every bairn played football down the park or in the back lane. While we weren't exactly swamping the professional game with prospects from the North East we had enough being taken on that we could at least genuinely be called a 'hot-bed of football'. Jump a few years, no kids play football outside but the local pitches are choc-a-block with kids teams on a sunday morning being run by shouty parents in nike 'coach' jackets and we now seem to have hit a dryish spell of talent. May be only a blip and previous service will resume soonish but as the OP say, it a bit of a worry.

Its acutally the midfield thats the major problem (not the only part of the team that could do with a bit of revamping mind you)

Souness has never acknowledged being responsible for any of the crap he's presided over at any of the clubs he's managed, and now looks to have convinced some on here as him being the victim. Teflon Jock.

He would still have fucked it up though.

is he still the 'buffer'?

rebel_yell12 link=topic=48656.msg1153407#msg1153407 date=1200210893 Nail on the head, other than the Zog, we must have the slowest and immobile midfield in the prem. That and coupled with Smith (how many games does it take for the club to notice that he's not now or ever likely to be a midfielder!!). I lost count of the number of times we gave the ball away when we weren't under any pressure, Butt and Smith (surprise, surprise) especially and then not chasing back to try and make up for their dropped bollock - not that they would have been able to catch anyone though.

too radical that like.

I don't see how they've failed this "test" yet as we haven't appointed anybody yet. you've been quiet the last few days. If this had been the fat b******, you'd have been slating him right left and centre To be fair NE5 it depends on who is appointed, if it is someone ala SBR then we'll have done well, if it turns out to be a Souness type appointment then the shit will really fly from everyone!

I don't see how they've failed this "test" yet as we haven't appointed anybody yet. Yes, but that eventual someone will be, by the chairman's admission, inferior to Redknapp. So rather than failing the test by hitting the kerb, he's now mounted the pavement and killed a pedestrian. When did he say that?

Its a win-win situ for me, I was expecting to get beat at Man U pre-sacking so whatever happens, getting mauled excepted, i'm not going to be too down if the usual happens. Also, gives us something else to take our attention from the 'who's-it-gonna-be' ............... for a while anyway.

That. Word for word. It's also a desperate message to whoever they approach next that they AREN'T second choice, that indeed they planned to speak to them all along - they were just speaking to Harry first. All bollox really, but after handling it the way they have then what choice did they have? Should have handled it better in the first place, of course. I think this'll be quite a learning experience for Mort and Ashley. That. Word for word. It's also a desperate message to whoever they approach next that they AREN'T second choice, that indeed they planned to speak to them all along - they were just speaking to Harry first. All bollox really, but after handling it the way they have then what choice did they have? Should have handled it better in the first place, of course. I think this'll be quite a learning experience for Mort and Ashley. there is no time for a learning period we are in a mess and with their targets we will not get out of it What targets are these then, they've only just released their first statement which acknowledged they'd approached Rednapp. No-one connected - officially - with the club has given any names away.

Cheers, its hard to see the wood for all the trees at times.

Granted I haven't read every page article on this but has anyone other than 'insiders' or papers actually confirmed we'd contacted Portsmouth and then Harry's turned us down or has he just ruled himself out before being asked?

You'll have to ask Mike Ashley that one, he's the one who desperately wants him (apparantly).

A thought provoking post, certainly, but surely it was Sam's apparent inability to learn from his errors that was one of the chief sources of concern. As I've tried to get across in other posts, while "Rome wasn't built in a day", there was evidence from relatively early on that it was in the process of being built. In Sam's case, exactly what on-field evidence was there that we were moving in the right direction? Imo, precious little ... in fact, none, as the month of December demonstrated clearly. Did I want Sam to go? For the most part (and probably for the want of courage), no. Do I, in retrospect, think that he had to go? Yes, so long as Mort and Ashley have a genuine blueprint for moving the club forward (even if, bizarrrely, Arry proves to be an early piece of the puzzle). There was precious little progress to be seen anywhere and that was a major concern. But it's the timing of events that leaves me scratching my head. Why sack him now? By the time a new manager is installed he may well have a matter of days to sign his own players, and he'll still be working with a squad many of whom are still settling at the club or indeed settling in this league. Our choice of managers is greatly reduced at this time of year too. Do we rush into it and run the risk of appointing the wrong man due to limited time and availability of candidates? Or do we soldier on with a caretaker until the summer and scour the market for a new man? Neither sounds too appealing to me, I don't see why we couldn't give him another 20 or so games and if there is still no improvement, make the transition in the summer. That would seem the logical thing to do, unless the board do have something big up their sleeve. Agree with what you say, it usually is the best time to hunt for managers (and players) during the summer, but I can only guess that M.Ashley has had enough of an indication from Harry (alledgedly) to make the sudden decision to bin Sam at this time. I haven't anything more than my opinion to go on as to why he didn't go with Sam till the summer then say thanks and bye and then go for Harry other than the fact he's got eyes in his head and watched the complete dross we've been playing all season and decided that since its 'his' club/toy he can do what he wants so thought enough is enough. If it is to be Harry then so be it, not exactly my first choice but there you go. As long as he backs him with decent funds then i'm prepared to give the Mike/Harry regime a bit of leeway and time to see what happens.

Sounds more like a ghost-writer standing in for him this week

Hughes. I'd have no problem with him being appointed at all. He' actually be quite high up if I made a wish-list of managers tbh.

They'll still come up short for the title though, but next year will be interesting unless of course Drogba's off in the summer (as rumoured every now and again).

Bayern manager next season......talkshite news.

same here.

The only thing wrong with him going is the timing. Jesus, the way its going on here you'd think we'd sacked SBR again.

Ha, thought you were being serious until I got down to no.4......

I've never seen the like away from home. Some of the stuff that went on, not from a small minority of pissed up charvas either (some have temporarily escaped my memory, others will know): Obviously chanting for Oba from about 15 minutes onwards Shearer, Shearer - long, loud and persistent Very loud booing when Allardyce picked up the ball when it went out of play Booing at half time and full time Most tellingly, the vast majority for most of the second half: "We're s*** and we're sick of it" All totally justified too imo. Today went beyond the pale. ashley was in the crowd aswell. i think it's a question of when rather than if. Did he join in?