Exiled in Texas

First away game was at Joker Park for the Liam O'Brien game, but was in the Clock Stand with the Sunderland fans as my Mackem mate got the tickets for us. Would have loved to have been able to celebrate the goal, but watching the Sunderland fans get crushed by the goal was a very very close second.

Not quite up there with the RTG-BigSam thread, but some funny pics in there.

Interesting.....might be worth plunking down the PPV$$$ for this one.

Yeah - like a hiring manager is going to turn down a qualified person just because of his post code.

CP - is it the one that was posted in the thread earlier.......find the post with the pic.......and click the "Quote" button. Then you'll see how the tagaddress[/img tag] concept works. If you are thinking of editing the photo to circle yourself.....your need to post the edited-photo back to the intrawebz and then use the address of the new image.

CP - find the image on the Intrawebz that you want. Right click on the image, and on the little pop-up menu scroll down and select "Properties". You'll see a gray box which will have an Address(URL) section in the middle - you need to copy that entire link starting from the Http and ending at .jpg or .gif. Copy that address. (Please don't tell me you need help with copy/paste) Once you have the Intrawebz address of the image copied, in your post type [i m g] then past the Image Properties address, then type [/i m g] only without the spaces in "img" that will insert the image into your post. should look like [i m g]http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/7229/obrienys2tx9.jpg[/i m g] but without the spaces in img they are there so you can see this and not the actual image. Remove the spaces and the picture shows.

Right click the photo, go to properties and cut/past the full JPG URL into the post with the IMG tags.

My best mate is a Mackem and he got a pair of tickets for us to the 2-1 Liam O'Brien game. In the clock stand with about a dozen or so of his Sunderland supporting mates. Before kick off, you would see a few Toon fans work their way to the front of the Clock Stand or the Fullwell end, and then un-zip the jacket to show the Black-and white to the Sunderland fans. Then pray that the stewards would pull them out of the stand and chuck them into the away end before the Sunderland fans could pull them back in and give them a good hiding. Watched one guy have stewards grab two arms and one leg and the Mackems were still hanging onto his last leg trying to pull him back in. Ahhh, the bliss of the inward cheer when O'Brien scored. Awesome walking back over the bridge into town with all the rest of the gutted mackems.

Ah, but would you do it in Fenwicks window??

BSA will always be a legend around here......... ......for THAT THREAD on the SMB That was classic

Yep he was dire. Amazing game in ET. Getafe, down to 10 men since the 6 minute mark of the regular game, grab two quick goals in the first 5 mins of Extra Time to lead 3-1. Bayern looked dead in the water but two terrible mistakes in the dying minutes/seconds allow Toni to grab two late goals to send Bayern through on Away goals.

Snicker!!!

I don't understand the interest in Carrick. Not that he isn;t a good player, but isn't Carrick starting most games for Manure? Other than Carrick being from Tyneside, what other draw is there for him to come to Newcastle. You have more chance getting Hargreaves than Carrick.

Oba is loved because he has always stood up, and defied the media in saying how much he loves the city, loves the club and doesn't want to leave. Despite the media's best efforts to encourage him to consider leaving, he routinely states just how much he loves the club and the city. The fact that he is willing to dig into the clubs history to understand who Keegan is and what he did, or how he wants to aspire to be like Shearer and doesn't think he is a step above him, endears him to the fans. He could easily have turned his first season here into a move elsewhere, but he appears to have found a home in the Black and White stripes, and that appears to be very important to him. So why not love him and his back flips.

Beat Chelsea.....and make a statement for next year about what the future of Newcastle holds. Anything to increase the potential "pull" of the club on a transfer target. As for what happens elsewhere....not bothered.

Interesting thoughts....big club, bigger club etc. Obviously the lights burn brighter in the home town and obscure the lights in the other towns. I don't think Newcastle fans can truely/objectivly judge the attraction of their team vs another despite how we may claim to be biased. There are just too many unspoken perceptions and preconceptions built into our lives. Ever heard of Peter Wythe or Gordon Cowans? Yes, us oldies have....we remember listening to the radio at night for games from Rotterdam, or Bucharest or Moscow. Gary Lineker.....he played?? I thought he just did MOTD. Who remembers the him leading Everton as Div 1 leaders. Actually...who remembers the First Division. The simple fact is that a 40yr old will have a different view of these teams than his 20yr old son. The just have different references to base their views on. Clear as the Cathedral on the Hill, Newcastle have a big stadium full of passionate fans. Does Goodison Park or Villa park have the same atmosphere. No. They don't. The makeup of the stands, closeness to the pitch, Height of the roof, one terrace or multiple levels etc all make the stadiums unique. One man's state of the art cathedral is another's soul-less cookie cutter stadium, just as one mans 4 cow shed dump is another old-school real-football home. As a Newcastle fan I can judge the appeal of Everton vs Villa vs Pompey, but for sure I can't truely compare Newcastle to these teams as I am too invested in the Toon to truly be objective. But I can make assessments of KK Newcastle vs BSA Newcastle. If we could split reality and have a KK Newcastle and a BSA Newcastle playing in the EPL next year. KK finishing the season his way, and BSA playing out the season his way.......what would the off season look like. Who would sign for each team? Imagine both Newcastle's challenging for the same player....I am sure that the style of play (the demeanor or swagger of the team) would be a huge factor in making SJP an attractive place to commit the next three years of your football future if your an ambitious young player. Do you want to play sterile, no risk, by the pro-zone numbers game? Or do you want to play attacking swash-buckling football? I think we stand a better chance signing a Bentley or a Deco or a Moutinho under KK than we would under BSA. No wether they sign here or at Everton or Villa or Athletico Madrid......that's another matter.

he's s*** now... maybe he can't manage the pressure of the hype Yep, commentators said he was having a poor season, but you don't get bad quickly except for loosing your confidence. Having said that, he had a good game against Gettafe.....I'd love to see him come in to play in Butt's DM anchor role. What the f***? Do you want to sign Ronaldo and play him left back as well? Schwienstager is no MidFielder in the Ronaldo role, but perhaps the holding DM is not quite his best role. Certainly playing the Barton/Geremi role in the 4-3-3 would suit him. Still like to see him in the B&W Stipes.

The key thing now, as was pointed out by the broadcast crew, is that now Oba and Owen are working FOR each other instead of competing AGAINST each other.

he's s*** now... maybe he can't manage the pressure of the hype Yep, commentators said he was having a poor season, but you don't get bad quickly except for loosing your confidence. Having said that, he had a good game against Gettafe.....I'd love to see him come in to play in Butt's DM anchor role.

Had nothing on the Owen/Beye celebration, to be honest. Yep, with Owen hanging on for dear life :-D

I'd love to see us make a bid for the out-of-favour Bayern Munich midfielder Bastien Schweinstager (sp?). Strong midfielder, with a good gengine and a wicked long range shot. According the coverage of the Bayern game against Getaffe, Schweinstager has rarely featured for Hitzfeld's Bayern this season. Of course this may be a case if him just waiting out Hitzfeld, and waiting for Klinnsman to arrive for whom he featured strongly in the 06 World Cup. I thought Schweinstager was great for Germany in the WC, and am suprised to hear that he is out of favour at Bayern. Wonder what he would cost though?

So who saw the Oba-Faye two step together after Oba scored. Pretty funny seeing him and Faye start out with the hand-dap and then go on to hips and heels. Very funny.

If Arshavin can play every week, like he played for Zenit against Leverkusen in the Waffa cup this week, he would be a great addition.

Arshavin did have a great game for Zenit against Leverkusen. He is quite the deminutive player, but quick as foook. Scored a great goal from out of nothing by running hard at the defense, made another with a great run and a perfect pass, and set up their third goal with a superb midfield pass to get the wide player running into space. Overall, he looked a very nice player - skilled, fast and mobile - but a tad small to lead the front line. As a winger/in the hole he might be very good though.

I'd like to see us play out the season with some good football played (similar to the style we played against Blackburn, Fulham and especially Spurs). Finishing with a flourish in either 12 or 11th would be great - 3 wins, a tie and 2 losses would be fine. But it's the style that we play that will be important. We need to show prospective targets that we are on the up, and playing attractive football. The better we show, the easier it is to attract the higher quality players. Then next season our target should be 7th-10th place. Step by step. Easy does it. Solid foundations all the way, without gambling on the quick-fix that may not pay off.