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Someone's mentioned it but no harm in repeating - the vid seems to be from a couple of weeks ago, which is why you not only see Barton, but you see Troisi (trial in Holland) and Beye (injured and gone off to ANC) as well.

TT's said it as well

Potential I suppose. I disagree. They're building a new stadium, he's got a team flooded with youngster and filled with pace, and he's being backed (heavily) in the transfer market. It's a dream job for any manager, especially for someone who's already highly regarded and loved there. Coming to Newcastle at this time would actually be a massive risk and I'm not sure whether success here would be more valuable than if he did the same at Portsmouth. And this 'bigger' club nonsense is just that. We're a big club because we have money and have a big stadium. He already has lots of money to spend and pretty soon-ish they'll have a bigger and better stadium (than Fratton Park). There's no logical reason for him to jump ship.

All the signs really pointing to us having someone lined up already. Please be true!

So were we suppose to appoint a new manager WHILST Big Sam was still in the job?

Why would Redknapp want to come here btw? What hasn't he got there that he'll get here? Money? Doesn't seem to be the case. He's getting a lot of cash from the Russian bloke. Time? No fucking way. A better chance of winning things? Not at this time. The Portsmouth team that he's built is very good and has a lot of potential so why would he leave that behind and come to us?

Wondering what's the name of the manager that 'blew Mort's socks off'. Honestly, no British manager out there would (should) have that effect on Mort. Clutching at straws here but if Oliver's right, it has to be a foreign manager.

I remember someone mentioning an idea about us appointing a manager, letting them enjoy the honeymoon period then sacking them when it's over and employing a new one then do the same for a whole season

I've stuck £1 on Houllier and Mourinho each Here's hoping

I'd rather that his name just isn't mentioned anytime our manager (whoever it is) is in trouble and if he gets his chance and fucks up, that won't happen anymore. Shearer all the way... if it has to be British that is.

Mick Quinn's an idiot for talking about Shearer being the fan favourite etc. and saying it's got to be Shearer. I wish they'd get their heads out of the fucking sand and realize that there's a world outside of the UK!

If that really happened I would have preferred them letting Sam resign and then explaining that he wasn't their choice/their man so they didn't want to invest money into someone that they didn't believe in. At least that would have been acceptable.

If they limit themselves to British then I'll be dismayed if it's anyone other than Shearer. Anyone else would be a side-step and would not be an improvement on Allardyce. Anyone else and we'll be here again in a year or two max. It has to be Shearer because of the time, potential and 'vibe'. I have to say though, I never wanted Allardyce in the beginning, always knew his football wasn't going to be pretty so I was always dissatisfied. I doubted that the board would fully back him from the off and thought he'd be gone before or at the end of the season as soon as the takeover was completed. Kinda sad that I was right

I can talk myself into supporting Shearer. I can see the potential with him because of his stature, and because of the time that most of our supporters will give him. I can see why Mort and Ashley will be tempted by the idea of Shearer as well. If we've ruled out all the foreign managers then it has to be Shearer.

If it's going to be an English manager then please let it be Shearer. Every other manager is NOT a step-up on Sam. The only one with any potential to become a top-class manager is Shearer so give him the job and get this shit over with.

Allardyce was appointed by the fat one though

We better all fucking hope this is true.

Better that he's gone now rather than letting him spend some cash then having to sack him a month or two later. I can see why Mort and Ashley did it now instead of waiting. If they can get a new manager within a week or two, that'll give the new man a couple of weeks to sign players (and Sven showed that it doesn't take long if you know who you want from the start).

Houllier anyone? He was my man before BS took over and he'd be a big step up, although I wonder whether his negative tactics will be given a chance here by the majority of the fans.

Alan Oliver was right :lol: Mutual consent though, so maybe BS couldn't handle it anymore? Either that or they've got someone significantly better lined up. It'd be a fucking joke if we ended up hiring someone like Jol, who's slightly better at best.

If we buy a quality AMC (VdV/Deco/Diego in the £15m range) and a RM (someone like Simao who costed Ath Madrid £15m in the summer), we'll actually be better than Pompey. And with regards to Pompey's strikers, Kanu < Viduka Utaka = Martins Nugent = Smith/Ameobi Benjani < Owen. Benjani's more lucky than good, and Owen has a more all-rounded game whilst Benjani is pace and fuck all else. Baggio's right in that Pompey set up their game to exploit the pace of their strikers (Utaka and Benjani) and that's why they're scoring goals and winning games.

The only difference between Pompey's squad and ours is the midfield. Their defence is the same as ours, they've got a similar quality keeper and their strikers aren't special (Kanu, Benjani, Utaka and Nugent). They've got quality in the middle of the park, but it's not going to take a massive sum of money to fix this problem for us. A good quality AMC and a RM will put us on their level imo. And that's not going to cost £100m

Laursen or Diarra. Both will be worth the money. TT's already mentioned what's wrong with Ashton and the rest of them are just average (except the bloke I've never seen so can't comment).

If we get 2-3 top tier players (AMC, RM and maybe a striker), we'll have everything we need imo. The players starting now (Milner, Duff, Geremi, Viduka etc.) will drop off to bench and become squad players, which will mean we have squad depth. We don't need to spend that much. Certainly not £100m anyway

Didn't Mort say that we were looking to sign young players who can be at the squad for a long time. The three players we've signed so far fits in with the profile