Martin Lol

Where the hell did they drag those two up from???

With McKay already trying to manufacture a move for Chimbonda, it's not difficult to guess what his ideal scenario would be.

I thought he was a Czech national?

Spurs don't want him and tbh, don't need him. Bale, Gilberto and Gunter all play or are capable of playing LB, Bale, Gilberto and Malbranque can all play LM. Add to that Yuri Berchiche (Spanish u19 international at LB) and Danny Rose (England u19 international at LM) pushing hard, especially Rose who has made the bench on a couple of occasions and you can see there are more pressing areas for improvement. I do rate Zoggy highly but not needed imho.

If past history is anything to go by, he'll do pretty well for England, maybe score a goal then go off injured top start the recovery process in Newcastle. Not wishing that on the bloke but that's how it seems to me almost every time.

We can but hope... Until recently Spurs had the attitude that they wouldn't pay big wages until they were a top 4 side. Now they're prepared to pay a crock £65,000 a week and pushing through transfers despite failed medicals (I can't see why Hertha would lie about this). So I'd say you have reason for more then hope Woodgate isn't on £65k pw, he's 4th highest earner behind King, Berbatov and Keane. There will be performance bonuses on top but if he was on £65k before, he's taken a significant pay cut. Spurs had Hertha by the balls, accept a reduced fee or he'll go on a Bosman in the summer. When it was announced Gilberto had failed the medical, I said here the deal will go ahead and it did. The Janitor said "Don't think he actually failed the medical, or if he did then Spurs have got him cheaper. For once the Spurs ITK's got this one right, as MJ was on here much earlier today saying the deal would still go through but at a reduced price. They had Hertha by the short and curlies apparently." http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=48098.msg1187589#msg1187589

Maybe a little paranoia creaping in, but is this another Sky/Daily Mail attempt at having a go at us? Woodgate turns us down, and now he's saying he wanted to play for a 'proper' manager ,and a club that are 'going places'?? Probably a little paranoia tbh. My guess is that his words were more directed at Southgate and Boro. I was told on Saturday that Newcastle wasn't seen as a credible option at this point in time. Woody is comfortable with Spanish thinking on training and nutritional aspects and Spurs have now resolved their problems and are moving forward. Woody thought more time was needed to get Newcastle to where Spurs are now, he still thinks there are more ripples in the pond to come with Newcastle. The bit in italics was how it was put to me but I'm not offering it as word for word accuracy.

TBF what top manager would want to come here? If KK can get us top 6 next season and the season after then surely we will be a more attractive club. With just about everything about the club, I find it hard to believe that a top manager outside the premiership wouldn't be interested in the Newcastle job, the big hitters excepted (Real, Barca, Juve etc). Spurs got Ramos to give up involvement in the CL and I think Newcastle would be well capable of recruiting someone of that level or higher. It's ironic that Ramos's appointment was with the help of Tony Jimenez, I don't believe for a minute that he wouldn't have been able to recruit a high calibre coach. I can see similarities between Keegan now and Jol, capable of improving the club from where it was when they were appointed, but perhaps falling just short of the level that the fans would ideally like. So, in short, I agree with CG, I think Ashley missed a trick, especially as the plan was to adopt the continental structure of management.

As promising as Ryan Donaldson is, Newcastle should be pinning their future hopes on more than just player. Personally, I'm happy that Wenger likes the look of the u17 squad. Spurs have 3 at the Algarve tournament (Parrett, Townsend and Smith), Arsenal 2 (Bartley and Watt), Chelsea 2 (Mellis and Nouble), Villa had to pull out Delfouneso and Forrester. They are doing well over there btw having won 3-0 and 2-0 with the final match tomorrow. Reports on the first two games are: http://www.thefa.com/England/U17s/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/17sDENMARKreport.htm http://www.thefa.com/England/U17s/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/17sFrancereport.htm Overall, the picture for Newcastle doesn't look so great. In the groups u16 - u20 inclusive, there are just 2 players named (Carroll is the other), Villa have 4, Spurs 5, Chelsea 8, Arsenal 9. That shows the challenge that Dennis Wise has got, and, tbh, what the other clubs have got to do to keep up with Arsenal and Chelsea.

That's the problem with booing, if you're not chanting at what you're moaning, booing becomes an overall thing. If 'You don't know what you're doing' goes up, it's obvious that it's aimed at the management. Booing could be aimed at anybody or everybody. I always think that seeing hundreds of people leaving a stadium during a poor performance says a lot more than any booing or chanting will ever do.

Any booing I think is all part of the 'I want it now' attitude, happens a bit all grounds other than Man Utd, Chelsea etc I don't agree with 'season ticket' theory either, a fan is a fan, supporting through thick and thin. How many people went to see Newcastle prior to their promotion? Significantly fewer people than go nowadays, even allowing for the fact that SJP has been enlarged.

Yes, but the spanners traditionally pretty well against them, we traditionally get beat. Pleasantly surprised. Quite a few people north of the border were saying he's good attacking but poor defensively. I thought defensively he was solid and got to grips with the pace of the game quickly. I can't see Chimbo getting much of a look in at all tbh. Tactically, Spurs are sharper under Ramos than with Jol, Ramos very simply thinks on his feet more. The main difference for me is fitness and stamina. As said here, Malbranque is barely recognisable from the player under Jol, JJ is revitalised and Huddlestone almost looks mobile!!They are not the only ones, but they are the obvious ones. It's also good to hear that Woodgate (who I thought was awesome yesterday and was my MOTM) continued to be a follower of Escribano's nutritional philosophy after his days at Real Madrid and has just had his profile updated. Poyet reckons the change of diet is the biggest single factor in the change of performances.

The more we see of Ramos's organisation, the more we realise where we might have been now if Jol had gone at the start of the season. The best Spurs performance I've seen in years, everyone leaner, fitter, playing with a purpose, extremely optimistic about the future. Unlike most on the Spurs' forums, I thought Clattenburg did well, as you say, it could have got well out of hand with a different ref. I thought Nani was fortunate to stay on the pitch but, apart from that, no real complaints. We got pulverised for 20 minutes by the best attacking team of the big 4 and very nearly held out. A lot to be encouraged by.

blueyes.gif Still better than Mido or Aliadiere, though. Not many premiership strikers who aren't better than Mido tbh.

I think if we signed another midfielder we would have finished fourth Now, it's up in the air. You didn't help yourselves, that's for sure.

Three points made. Every one pretty well spot on imho.

Would be a brilliant signing. Got absolutly no idea who´s that is. But who cares? If they say his good I buy it! Bring him in=D He is Academy Director at Portsmouth, didn't do that well when he went into management but has a brilliant reputation and has brought through a number of players in his time in charge of the academies of Leeds and Nottingham Forest. He was phenominal at Forest in particular, literally one after another, Jenas was one of them. Promoted him to manager, was less than successful and they sacked him instead of giving him his old job back. Forest have never been the same since. Yep, I've edited the post above to show some of the players he helped bring through. Regarded as one of the best in terms of youth development, would be a brilliant move if we can persuaded him to come here, he's only been at Pompey since March 2007. And has been for quite a long while now. My only concern about him would be that he has been away from the Academy side of football for quite a while and coaching techniques for youngsters have changed dramatically over the past few years. Having said that, he was very good with the old methods.

New manager but same players. Better performances but the same results. Losing becomes a habit just like winning.

Would be a brilliant signing. Got absolutly no idea who´s that is. But who cares? If they say his good I buy it! Bring him in=D He is Academy Director at Portsmouth, didn't do that well when he went into management but has a brilliant reputation and has brought through a number of players in his time in charge of the academies of Leeds and Nottingham Forest. He was phenominal at Forest in particular, literally one after another, Jenas was one of them. Promoted him to manager, was less than successful and they sacked him instead of giving him his old job back. Forest have never been the same since.

The only reason you're going so far in the FA Youth Cup is because you keep getting easy draws, Ipswich, Colchester, Crewe!! We've got Port Vale still to play and, assuming we win that, Chelsea in the quarter finals with Miroslav Stoch, Gael Kakuta, Morten Nielsen and Sergio Tejera in their team amongst others. TBF, Tejera did look good when I saw him. "The only reason" ha ha. Heaven forfend that we should actually have a very good youth program, which has culminated with several graduates in the first team squad. *winky emoticon* It is the only reason and you know it. You're only top of your section of the table because you've been lucky!! :lol:

I agree with the first sentence, agree with the last, it's the middle one causing me the problem. Instead of saying Shearer will never be manager while I am in control, maybe for Ashley/Mort to say that KK is the manager now and any subsequent appointment will go to a candidate who has proven managerial credentials? Same message but leaving the door open if Shearer wants to prove himself elsewhere first.

Both. I'm talking about players who were bought for the future in general. I always think there's a lot more satisfaction in seeing 'one of your own' come through. In the future, it's going to be harder to get top quality kids unless they've come through your Academy as anyone with ability will already have been snapped up by a bigger fish. Of course there will be some that will slip through the system to resurface later, but I would be surprised if they will be as prevelant as they have been in the past.

The only reason you're going so far in the FA Youth Cup is because you keep getting easy draws, Ipswich, Colchester, Crewe!! We've got Port Vale still to play and, assuming we win that, Chelsea in the quarter finals with Miroslav Stoch, Gael Kakuta, Morten Nielsen and Sergio Tejera in their team amongst others. TBF, Tejera did look good when I saw him.

I know, that's why i said "or developing, at least" get them in, work on them. He's still miles from any sort of finished product, and very young, but we can make him better. He may be very raw but, as you say, he is still very young. I've seem him play maybe half a dozen times, mainly with the England kids and always looked to be one of the brighter sparks in the team. I know we were trying to get him as well but we got our own back when Spurs signed Dean Parrett, who was very much on your radar. It's all well and good having a successful Academy but there also has to be the desire to promote from the youth/development squads rather than go out and spend another couple of million on another Johnny Foreigner. Spurs traditionally have (though what they have brought through has been generally poor), Villa have and obviously the scum up the road, but generally speaking, I think there is a tendency to look abroad , presumably in the search for instant results. Anyway, I should be having a look at your kids next week as they visit us tomorrow week. It should be a good game, it was good in Brum earlier in the season when we lost 2-1. When you're talking about youths, are you speaking about those like taylor who have gone through the Academy or players like Milner who, whilst young, were well past the Academy stage of development?

Cheers for that. As I said all along yesterday.