STM

where a lot of you are getting a little bit confused here, in your usual haste to misrepresent the old board, is that the 2 things tend to come hand in hand. Although I would strongly disagree that a Chelsea fringe player is a "big name" , none of the top 4 teams would have considered him to be a "big name" especially the one that sold him. Buying a top quality player is certainly a "statement", Keegan himself said it many times during his first spell as manager. Likewise, buying free transfers and low key buys that are "good business" is also a certain type of "statement" too Don't get me wrong Ne5, i agree that they come hand in hand but the quality comes before the statement, if that makes sense. We are not going out to make a statement, we are going out to sign good players, making that statment in the process. There's some good players out there that can be bought for reasonable money, who perhaps aren't big names that we can improve our squad with. For me all Mort is saying is that we won't be JUST signing players such as Owen etc. We need to go out an be sensible too. A good example of what i'm talking about are players like Vidic and Evra. Personally i'd never heard of them and the money wasn't massive, so their was no statement but they are just as important to Man Utds title challenge as your Rooneys and Ronaldos. A little from column A and a little from column B please. I fail to see where you can say that the club hasn't always tried to do just that. Because, whether you like it or not, it {b] has [/b] been attempting to do that, just not so successfully as manu and 3 other clubs in particular, but better than pretty much all of the rest. I would rather Mort got on with showing he can do better than in the past, rather than belittling the good club that he has been left to run. What are you going to say when Keegan steps up the pressure and demands the club show its teeth and ambition, like he did the last time ? Because if they don't, its a nailed on certainty that he will do precisely that. You must agree thats highly ironic to bleat on about "appeasing" fans then buying fans drinks in town ? I'm sorry, and no pun intended, but I just can't buy into that. Ah you see, i have never once implied the club hasn't tried to do that. That's what they have done but in the past, managers (and allegedly the chairman) have made huge mistakes in the players we sign. As for Mort and probably more specifically Ashley, i believe the club will give Keegan the cash. Keegan, as you say, will squeeze those above but that's to be expected. You obviously have major doubts on whether the will give him the money and you are quite entitled to your opinion. IMO, the trio will have sat down when KK was appointed and talked about the backing. If KK wasn't happy with it, then i don't think he would have come back. Maybe he will get stabbed in the back but i believe they will come good. Nobody is denying mistakes have been made, if they hadn't, we would have won loads of trophies, every club can say exactly the same in fact. As UV has said, its not simply a case of just giving him the cash, its punching your weight. We should be targetting the players that WE want and just getting them, if they are playing for clubs smaller than us it should be a no brainer decision for the player. Matching clubs like Blackburn, Bolton and all the mid table teams with half our fanbase just doesn't come into the equation here. We have to act bigger than them, and show we are bigger than them. Once in a while a "big name" transfer busting signing makes a "statement" and its the sort of "statment" the trophy winning clubs make. Clubs who operate in the lower marketing area also make "statements" in their transfer activities, which are that they are clubs either incapable or unwilling to match the real big boys Which do YOU prefer, and which one do you think Newcastle United should be operating in ? Agree with that TBH. So what do YOU think will happen win the summer and what do want to happen? Also which players do you think we are capable of signing?

where a lot of you are getting a little bit confused here, in your usual haste to misrepresent the old board, is that the 2 things tend to come hand in hand. Although I would strongly disagree that a Chelsea fringe player is a "big name" , none of the top 4 teams would have considered him to be a "big name" especially the one that sold him. Buying a top quality player is certainly a "statement", Keegan himself said it many times during his first spell as manager. Likewise, buying free transfers and low key buys that are "good business" is also a certain type of "statement" too Don't get me wrong Ne5, i agree that they come hand in hand but the quality comes before the statement, if that makes sense. We are not going out to make a statement, we are going out to sign good players, making that statment in the process. There's some good players out there that can be bought for reasonable money, who perhaps aren't big names that we can improve our squad with. For me all Mort is saying is that we won't be JUST signing players such as Owen etc. We need to go out an be sensible too. A good example of what i'm talking about are players like Vidic and Evra. Personally i'd never heard of them and the money wasn't massive, so their was no statement but they are just as important to Man Utds title challenge as your Rooneys and Ronaldos. A little from column A and a little from column B please. I fail to see where you can say that the club hasn't always tried to do just that. Because, whether you like it or not, it {b] has [/b] been attempting to do that, just not so successfully as manu and 3 other clubs in particular, but better than pretty much all of the rest. I would rather Mort got on with showing he can do better than in the past, rather than belittling the good club that he has been left to run. What are you going to say when Keegan steps up the pressure and demands the club show its teeth and ambition, like he did the last time ? Because if they don't, its a nailed on certainty that he will do precisely that. You must agree thats highly ironic to bleat on about "appeasing" fans then buying fans drinks in town ? I'm sorry, and no pun intended, but I just can't buy into that. Ah you see, i have never once implied the club hasn't tried to do that. That's what they have done but in the past, managers (and allegedly the chairman) have made huge mistakes in the players we sign. As for Mort and probably more specifically Ashley, i believe the club will give Keegan the cash. Keegan, as you say, will squeeze those above but that's to be expected. You obviously have major doubts on whether the will give him the money and you are quite entitled to your opinion. IMO, the trio will have sat down when KK was appointed and talked about the backing. If KK wasn't happy with it, then i don't think he would have come back. Maybe he will get stabbed in the back but i believe they will come good.

Less words, more action (come the summer) is what we all want to be honest. I'm not particularly bothered about what he said but it's just cheap point scoring against the previous regime and I'm not particularly impressed with that. No real need to say anything at all. An enigmatic 'wait and see what happens during the transfer window' is all he probably should have said. Can't argue with that mate but we don't know how the question was asked. I don't know about you but i'm more than confident that KK will be backed the relevant funds to turn us into a top 6 side.

Everton got a bargain in Arteta. How they picked him out i don't know.

where a lot of you are getting a little bit confused here, in your usual haste to misrepresent the old board, is that the 2 things tend to come hand in hand. Although I would strongly disagree that a Chelsea fringe player is a "big name" , none of the top 4 teams would have considered him to be a "big name" especially the one that sold him. Buying a top quality player is certainly a "statement", Keegan himself said it many times during his first spell as manager. Likewise, buying free transfers and low key buys that are "good business" is also a certain type of "statement" too Don't get me wrong Ne5, i agree that they come hand in hand but the quality comes before the statement, if that makes sense. We are not going out to make a statement, we are going out to sign good players, making that statment in the process. There's some good players out there that can be bought for reasonable money, who perhaps aren't big names that we can improve our squad with. For me all Mort is saying is that we won't be JUST signing players such as Owen etc. We need to go out an be sensible too. A good example of what i'm talking about are players like Vidic and Evra. Personally i'd never heard of them and the money wasn't massive, so there was no statement but they are just as important to Man Utds title challenge as your Rooneys and Ronaldos. A little from column A and a little from column B please.

That's what i was like. You do get a different perspective watching it on T.V. Note that the T.V didn't give the atmosphere the respect it deserved. FAO Janitor: Maybe we should be at work or something?

Mort made a mistake with his statement TBH. What he should have said was "I'm not going to make one off signings to appease the morans". I'm a newcastle fan and what would "appease" me is if we went out and sign 4 quality players. I'don't give a fuck whether they are a "big name" or a "Statement signing" because neither of those specifics will get you into the top 4, which should be our aim. For me Keegan is the "big name" and the real "statement" of our intentions.

Mort says nowt about not signing good players, the rest is irrelevant.

What pleases me is that i can see the support Enrique gets at the match. Yesterday most the fans around me were raving about him. For me, he looked one of the most confident players on the pitch. Unlike alot of our previous defenders, i never worry when he is on the ball, i always feel as if he will do something useful with it. As well as that, he seems to have a good awareness of the players around him. The amount of times he didn't even need to look up to find a team mate was wonderful. Sometimes positionally he can be found wanting but because he has the pace and the strength, he makes up for it. In terms of attacking, people are being far too narrow minded. The guys spanish, therefore his view on attacking football isn't bombing up and down the flank like Beye does but trying to pick a pass. Normally his aim is either a ball over the top for Martins or one into the feet of Viduka. His attacking is good but it's also different. It's because of this style of attacking that makes him a good defender because he wont get caught tracking back, he will always be in his zone most of the game. In short Enrique is a very good defender but i'm not sure if he's a keegan defender. I can gaurentee KK would prefer a Beye on the left.

Aye mine too. That along with "Have you ever seen a mackem in milan" Got to love that one.

Watched the whole game back on sky plus and Barton didn't give the ball away until the 60th minute (barring a few long range, risk, passes which is ok). At that time the whole team got sloppy. In fact for me Barton and Enrique were the only ones that had the confidence to play a tricky ball. Barton seemed to help his team mates out all game, being an extra man in midfield at times. Geremi is the weakest link because despite the umptine times he's got an assist he lacks any flair or pace.

I booed the little bastard and loved every second of it. Poor little rich boy eh?

Notice joey barton say "i told you so" to owen after the penalty. i.e he thinks he was right about hitting it with power.

That's class. When did he say that? When he first arrived.

You know what i love more than anything? The fact that i KNOW KK will be aiming for top 4 next season, regardless of whether he thinks the players are capable of it, he will make them believe they are and that is the key. If we fall short, so fuck, top 6 will do very nicely indeed.

Was he sat at the front of the gallowgate? Not sure mate, i seen him outside the ground.

He will sign IMO.

He's very quickly becoming a Solano esq foreigner, who we all love. An adopted geordie, in the making, for sure. We should have known he would be like this when someone asked; "How do you prenouce your surname?" Beye: "It's Beye, as in whitley bay"

Did anyone see the guy with the Keane mask who ammusingly brought an inflateable dog with him? Hilarous stuff. For that matter was anyone in Sam Jacks before the game? Funny as fuck.

Aye, and the usual shite is being spouted by their fans about how quiet SJP was. I don't know why they even bother with it ("it was deed quiet, the roof would have been off at the stadium of light") when it's so patently not the case. Best atmosphere there for years, I'd have said, and although I'm not a veteran of every ground in England, I'm sure there won't be many that routinely make a better noise than today. The booing of Chopra was astonishingly good. Made a thread a while back about Liverpools atmosphere (or lack of) and was saying the same thing. No matter how many people say "its not like it used to be", i will never be convinced that we have anything other than a top notch, consistant stadium when it comes to atmosphere.

Agree with all of this. With a few additions we could be bloody good next year.

I thought Taylor kept Jones very quiet. Didn't see the game but might that be because he was up there on his own? He might have had a better goalscoring tally this season if he'd been playing with another striker. Aye your right they had it easy because he was a lone striker but it still needs to be dealt with and Taylor never put a foot wrong.

Thought the support to day was on another level. We didn't play the best of games but i didn't here one negavtive word from our fans. Brilliant noise. Sunderlands fans are terrible BTW.

amazing atmosphere. never witnessed anything like it TBH.