Colos Short and Curlies

go by train - there are direct one or one change (normally at Brum ) i use them for business all the time Direct to Wigan from Toon would be an achievement (unless the routes have changed in the last 5 years.) Toon to Carlisle, then Carlisle to Wigan. Used to be about £25-30 return on a Friday Evening/Sunday journey. Be warned though, Wigan Station is possibly the worst West Coast station going, worse than Penrith even. It always rains and seems to be in a permanent wind tunnel (and watch out for Blackpool hen/stag parties getting on at Preston if you are unlucky enough to be on a Sunday)

OK, so how can we change it? By that I mean the atmosphere. We need to get articles like the above out of print and into TV/Radio. As good as True Faith is it only reaches a small audience, even replicating it on here, Toontastic, .com only increases its range slghtly. Somehow getting it onto .cock might help (and it might be something that Mike/Mort would be open to). But really people who were there and still have that burning inside them need to get onto the phone ins (local and national) and bang the drum about the positives of our support (Blackburn etc). The media now have the Toon Army as a pack of baying wolves, well Wolves are very protective of their own packs and we need to start showing this. Keegan showed what a postive momentum could do for this club, Keegan is gone but his spirit is still there, even if it is now a glowing ember. Lets get a positive outflow of Toon stories into the phone in domain, lets get the Ronnie to start a positive Spin campaign, lets get Ashley and Mort involved so we can include the match programmes and .cock, lets get all of the internet forums (fori?) together and push positive stories. In the words of Eric Cartman, the Mirror, the Guradian, The Sun. They can all suck on my balls!

Was obviously just a morale-boosting trip. 'See Mike, a Champions League team shipped 4 against that lot, at least we only conceded 3'

Thing with money laundering is that if Arry was happy with the signing of Faye then he could easily find himself being charged with facilitating the laundering, it has a very wide net to catch people with

For me club management is all about getting the best people to get short term impacts - players only being in squads for a week at a time etc. It also involves great preparation in terms of locations for hotels/training camps friendlies etc. In other owrds you don't have to be a great coach to be a good international manager, someone like Clive Woodward could manage England well with the right people around him. Its also probably why the likes of Klinsman, Hughes, Billic can have an International role as their first job and do it well. The smart managers then take stock of the training methods and learn man management skills in the international arena and transfer them to club management. As for Shearer, I want him here, don't care about lack of experience as I reckon he would be sensible enough to get people in to cover his weaknesses. And he would be backed by owner and fans. No need to go to a lower league club, the skills needed are completely different

Sam is 53 is he not

Wor lass will be fuming if that happened, being a pompy fan. I'll be fuming if that happened, being a Newcastle fan, in all fairness. Was at the Spurs EGM this afternoon and someone close to Ashley's best mate thinks that Redknapp will be prised away from his South Coast home to make the move up to Tyneside. I'm not saying it will happen but there are a few who think it will. Btw, why was an EGM called? something significant afoot or just some shareholders kicking up a fuss?

Wor lass will be fuming if that happened, being a pompy fan. I'll be fuming if that happened, being a Newcastle fan, in all fairness. Was at the Spurs EGM this afternoon and someone close to Ashley's best mate thinks that Redknapp will be prised away from his South Coast home to make the move up to Tyneside. I'm not saying it will happen but there are a few who think it will. Can't see it tbh, Arry's a southern boy and its not as if he is short of funds at Pompey. In other words he'd be mad to make the move (and imo would make a mess of it too - just a gut feeling)

Betting on Dukes being injured for this one anyway. Cometh the hour cometh the Shola!

Has anyone else noticed that prior to the Reading game things were 'ok' - decent home results masking a poor away record. Toon fans had noticed this but the mainstream media hadn't really. Sam brings up the pressure the away form will put on our home performances..... Bang it all goes tits up!

I would have thought 13 games was enough for a manager to get some basics right. How about 8 years of getting them right at Bolton? Different club, different era, starting from a different base etc etc. Been alluded to in othe rposts elsewhere, but there are plenty of managers who were phenominally successful in one club then failed elsewhere. Could even be said to a degree that Keegan failed everywhere other than here. He's not at Bolton anymore and needs to recognise that fact. He's got his big club chance and (imo anyway) he's now trying to prove he can cut it with the big boys by being too clever, as if to say 'look my style at Bolton worked for Bolton but I can mix it up and be fantastically tactical at a big club'. Unfortunately he has botched it up with this approach, he should have started with the basics, stuck to a set formation and played people in their correct positions. Tinkering comes after the basics have been got right. Someone (Mort or Ashley) needs to sit him down and let him know that there is no target league position this season, but there must be signs of progress and improvement in style or he's off in May

One minor point Mick (and it backs you up more..) SBR finished high enough to qualify for the Champions league twice, remember when it all went wrong agaisnt Belgrade?

We really do have to clear out all the left over players from before. They are all losers and their attitudes stink. I have no doubt it is the likes of Duff and Carr who were clearly way out of shape last season who are now having a moan. It's quite disgusting really. Bit unfair on Duff, he only started training this week after 7 months out with injury

If the players are en-masse disgruntled with tactics/training whatever then Sam would be a big headed baffoon not to listen to them. Robson listened to the England squad in 86 and 90 Woodward let the players have influence in 2003 Ashton similar this year. Souness didn't listen to anyone Seems like Sam doesn't either

Don't most players complain that training sessions have been too light when a new manager comes in and puts in extra sessions?

Proving perhaps that he hasn't got the talent to back up the ego?

Is there a difference between signing players in January to let them settle in before kicking on next season and bringing in a new manager in December (to allow a few emergency signings if needed) and not giving any expectations until next season? I can't see where Sam is taking us (possibly lower than Roeder managed last year), and seeing as in the recent past the likes of Houllier and Ranieri have expressed and interest in the job (suggesting it is still an attractive proposition) I'd get rid sooner rather than later. Mike wants entertaining from his club - that much seems clear. He isn't getting it atm so I'd imagine his finger is getting itchy

read

Lets hope they aint in general chat today then

err dont think so , I am Mort (yes really) I R Baboon

Mourinho is a member! Cool

"...that he has negotiated" mackems.gif Should just do a West Ham, rip up the agreement and claim both parties have agreed to it

Any suspicions of Mort and/or Ashley having accounts here?

Much has been written over time about how we had to pay £15m to bring Shearer home after letting him slip through our youth net, similarly we missed out on Carrick (and would have had to pay upwards of £5m to bring him from West Ham). Looking forward it is possible that someone like Shearer or Speed will take the managers job at St James', my money would be on Shearer being our next boss. Now, whenever this gets mentioned there are always cries of 'let him get experience elsewhere then bring him in', but how much is that going to cost? Bruce has just joined Wigan for £3million, and didn't we pay almost £2m for Souness? I think that we are going to see manager transfer fees steadily increase over the next few years and soon top managers will be going for amounts north of £10m. Should we therefore be looking to bring in a recently retired player with aspirations of management and let them cut their teeth on the juniors and then reserves before taking over the hotseat? For me the 2 key attributes of a manager is to select the best coaching and scouting network and then the ability to see how a game is progressing and change things during the 90 minutes. A smart boss hires specialists to mask his weaknesses and doesn't try to do it all. Both of my key atributes can be taught, and should be taught away from the spotlight where mistakes can be made. Bit of a random ramble, probably doesn't make sense! But any thoughts? Should we try to develop managers internally or accept that we will have to pay big bucks for them and rely on other teams to brign the talen through?

Whilst I'm the first to poke fun at good ol Monkees Heed, he is knowledgable about the game