Exiled in Texas

If you didn't look at the stands, you would have through this was a home game for Newcastle. When the chants started you could hear the Geordie fans coming through loud and clear. Didn't hear any Spurs chants.

Ranieri made most of their better signings, but I kinda get your point. Actually, I think Keegan is our Ranieri.......steadies the ship, and prepares us for the next stage.....although I'd like to see him stay and reap the rewards himself

Exactamundo!!.....Not good enough for 17th place, so why would they be good for top 10 which is what we are aiming for.

It should be all about stepping stones. This season - First safety, then good form in how we play. Hopefully objective achieved Then next season - Utilise our end of season form to attract some key players. Won't be earth shattering signings, but will be progress. Think Ferdinand/Lee rather than Shearer. Aiming for 10-7th in the league. Season after - then we hit top form, top 6 and beyond. Think how Chelsea were positioned by Claudio Ranieri as a good but not great team, before they kicked into top gear with the Big Signings. Without the work done by Ranieri, they would never have been able to get the signings they did get (inc Mourinho).

So far the results are looking good. The team has been playing much more mobile and fluid going back at least till the Birmingham and Blackburn games, and results like the last two games were due. Alardyce had the team standing still - passing to players who were already covered or who were completely stationary. It was poor pass one way into danger, then a poor pass right back where it had come from. No-one in teh midfield was facing forward, everyone was facing backwards....Static players, Static football. Now they have movement....the players are moving into supporting positions, the ball is played for players to move on to, and not to the foot of a stationary player with his back to the opposition. This is at least the 4th game in a row that the players have been moving and supporting each other. A few more games of this type of display and we will be a much more attractive proposition for potential players to come to in the summer.

Article from a Norwich source, indicates that Roeder was interested in Shola, but Stoke agreed to an initial loan with £5M transfer in the summer. Too expensive a gamble for Roeder to compete with. http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com/full_article.asp?i=3081 make sure you read page 2 of the article. Great business from KK if he has wrung £5M out of anyone for Strola.

All Referees miss things, and given access to replays they would increase the % of correct calls even higher. I think that if the FA did review players actions after the games, the referees would be more likely to make more calls on the field knowing that they would get looked at later.

All appeals should automatically have an increase in the ban being the outcome if the ban is upheld. What incentive is there for a team/player to accept a ban and get on with it - None. They all challenge the Ban because they might win, and the worst that happens is tha ban remains. If they risk loosing and getting the ban increased, they they wouldn't automatically just challenge it for the sake of it. If they are so sure that they are right, and the referee was wrong then they will have no worry about risking an increase in the ban. Glad to see Aladiere have his ban increased - if only they had done the same for Dida when he faked a near-fatal assult at Celtic in the CL.

Couple of points - refereeing is extremely difficult. You get one chance to try and see exactly what happened, and your expected to get to right 100% of the time. As I was told when I first started refereeing: "Being a referee is the only profession where Perfection is expected from the beginning, with constant improvement from there on" ...... As for the calls made.....I think the referees do favor the Big 4. Yellow cards for minimal contact by Newcastle, and yet Nani gets away with making contact with a player on the ground and nothing - Despite the card count being 3-0 against Newcastle. While a referee might not give Nani a card for that alone in a game where no cards had been shown, when the count is 3-0 against one team, it wouldn't be unexpected for a referee to balance it out - low tolerance etc. But I think the Big Four and Fergie particularly, intimidate the heck out of referees. And I think the referees know that they are more likely to have a review of cards given, than cards NOT given. So it's easier not to card one of Fergies guys. Until, PL referees have their games reviewed by a panel of senior referees, and have their decisions reviewed and disected, then they are unlikely to change, and learn from their mistakes. (NOTE - I would also like to see the EPL have post-game assessments of key points in a game, and bring sanctions against players who may have deceived the referees (and got away with it), or whose actions were just plain missed by the referee crew. If players knew that their dives would get disected by all angles by a PL panel, and additional suspensions would be handed down, they would be less likely to risk it)

yes and yes. you see,the reason those clubs rarely get bigger and make it to the championship is through lack of funds ie money/people through the gate,when often there are enough football supporters in the area to support a far bigger club.(it would also mean the already bigger clubs would have fewer supporters and would even the whole thing up a bit) That's a nice romantic idea, but just never going to happen. Big clubs are big clubs and will use their TV exposure and status to stay big. And the lower rungs will always be just that. The facilities and the product they offer just can't change that appeal. Only a few Big clubs will fall (Leeds etc) and only a few small clubs will rise (Reading etc), the rest will bob along in the division that suits them best with only a few surprise Yo-Yo's. To use an americanism.....some are major league, and some are minor league. For the most part, this will never change. But I think the issue was not why someone picked a Big Club to support over a small club. It's not even why they picked a club at the other end of the country just because they are winning. It's about them only having the connection because of the winning, and not a deep enough connection to survive a period when the winning ceases and suddenly other clubs are better looking.

WTF did he really expect? He can't possibly be that naieve to not realise that houses in London would be nothing like Boro or Nth Yorks.

Let's be honest, proximity to a clubs isn't really a good enough reason to support them. There is a big difference between supporting your local Division 1 or Division 2 team, and supporting your closest big club. Should someone living in Darlington be castigated for picking Newcastle over Darlington, or should those living in the Wirrel be forced to go to Tranmere vs Leyton Orient instead of Liverpool vs Everton? I see no reason why people can't follow their local BIG (let's say EPL or Championship) club, even if there is a small club (League 1 or 2) 10 miles closer etc. There's a lot more to it than location. Stadiums and game day experience is much better, what about the standard of play, do they play on nice grass or clogging mud. What about the TV/Newspaper coverage? Good players, Poster boys for the kids vs some part time plumber hoofing the ball up field instead of playing a pass. There are plenty of reasons to pick a big/popular team......but you only get to pick once. Then you have to have loyalty. The problem is really with the fans that don't have the staying power to live through the bad times. Those that switched from Man U to Chelsea in 2005 when the Man U were struggling (aye - 3rd/4th is really struggling). And those new Chelsea fans that are putting their Blue shirts back in the closet and digging out their Red shirts again. The earlier poster was right.......until you have tasted the depths of despair with your team, you cannot possible fully appreciate the exquisite sweetness of victory.

Keegan was the right choice because he was the only realistic candidate to stand a chance of being given the time necessary to turn the club around. Any other manager would have had the vultures swooping even more by now because they would never have had the majority of fans behind them. There would always have been a large group of dissenters no matter who was the new manager. As for Keegans role.....he is being brought here to stablise the club, improve the team to a reasonable level, and to make us an attractive proposition for the top tier coach we need. As we have seen over the last 3 managerial appointments, we don't have a huge queue of the worlds top managers begging for the job when we go out looking. Keegan will spend a couple more seasons after this one steadily improving the club before riding off into the sunset and letting the next grade manager come in. If Keegan can do a Claudio Ranieri/Chelsea or a Martin Jol/Spurs improvement, and set us up perfectly for our own top six placement and position us for an assault on the big four in a couple of years with a new leader, then I will be ecstatic.

Willie McKunt

I'd love to see Coleman come in as Keegans #2. He has recent experience of the EPL, has managed players and done well with a limited team. Would be an excellent signing for Keegan. As for Shearer in the Academy - no way. He only grudgingly sees himself as a #2, no way would be he exiled into the Academy. He is first team or nothing. Now maybe he could come in as first team forward coach with Coleman as first team defensive coach. Now that I could really get behind.

Coleman would be a very astute recruitment by Keegan. Experienced in PL. Knows Keegan well. Has managed well during his time in the PL with Fulham. And it's not like he is going to be #2 under for a small team or a low profile manager. He would be signing on for the Newcastle Revolution and likely be given a large amount of responsibility with the first team. I'd like to see him come in under Keegan.

Barton's shirt might have H.M. something on it, but it won't be H.M. Treasury.

That pretty much sums up my feelings on the appointment.

Based on who appears attainable (Realistically Mourinho, Hitzfeld, Hiddink, Van Gaal are not interested), the Houllier would be a good choice, and I could warm to Deschamps too. Houllier is less risk. Would solidify the club and set us up for phase 2 - breaking into the Big 4 (just like Ranieri at Chelsea) Deschamps is certainly higher risk but maybe better football played. Keegan/Shearer would be have big initial impact and have the time/credibility to make changes. I'd be happy with any of these.

Whoever the new manager is, they are going to need patience and understanding from the fans. Some managers will have enough of a reputation or respect to be given time. Whoever gets the longest Honeymoon period might well have the best chance of success, because whover comes in is going to have some rough games ahead of them, and they need some time to ride the storm. No matter what their acheivements have been, some managers would be on a hiding to nothing from day one. Harry was never going to get a chance from the fans. He would have been as precarious on day 1 as Sam was in Mid Dec. Was never going to have a fair chance and I think he realised that and stayed home. Hughes is in the same position.....never going to have the fans backing unless he started out with a 4 game winning streak. Then he might be back at evens with the fans. Any of the European coaches mentioned - Hiddink, Van Gaal, Hitzfeld, Flores, Co Adrianse would be on a short leash as none of them would be a unanimous choice. Reputation would buy them some time, but who knows how much. Keegan or Keegan/Shearer would have the most time and patience "Credit" built up for them. And considering that what we desperately need is someone to unite the fans and to unite the players behind a belief that the team has a destiny - they might welll be the best choice.

This passion and vision is what Ashley needs to sell to our future manager. Sell this to Van Gaal, or Hiddink, or whoever Johny Foreigner we get. But this has to be the speech given to them.

I think Oliver is right now hiding behind his sofa going "What have I done, What have I done" as he made it all up to fill an empty day of news, and never in a million years thought that M&A would be crazy enough to sack Sam. Now needs a big name to be hired to make his story look true.

Shearer's too smart to consider stepping into the role yet. No way will he risk it.

Why would Redknapp want to leave the good thing he built at Portsmouth to come and manage our shambles? His team are higher in the division than us, they have a better defense than us, their team are playing better football than us, and they have positive energy whereas we have a decidedly negative vibe going on at the moment. I don't see why anyone would think that Harry would give all that up to roll the dice up here with us. Now Steve Coppell.....maybe!!

Scouse, actually I was just going on the two different articles and noting that both could have some truth to them. I did pin most of the blame on Luton Fans (and acknowledged that they/The Sun conveniently ignored that part).