sempuki

I was expecting a much heavier loss considering how much we've shelled out on transfers.

Cat's want Nicky Oct 26 2006 By Lee Ryder, The Evening Chronicle Roy Keane was at St James' Park last night to run the rule over his former Manchester United team-mate Nicky Butt in Newcastle United's Carling Cup clash against Portsmouth. The Sunderland manager took in the first half of the rain-soaked affair and left before Butt was subbed on the hour. Keane and Butt, of course, are close pals from their days at Old Trafford together and the pair would have no problems linking up again. Butt would be an ideal signing for Sunderland and would bring them much-needed steel to their midfield. However, there are two snags for the Wearsiders if they wanted to pursue any interest in the ex-England midfielder. Firstly, Butt still has a season and a half left to run on a lucrative £40,000-a-week contract after arriving from Manchester United, which may be beyond Sunderland's wage structure. With Glenn Roeder's squad still wafer-thin, there is also no way the Toon boss would allow Butt to leave at the moment without adequate cover for Scott Parker and Emre - who he regards as his first-choice midfield men. However, if that situation was to change and United did bolster their squad, Butt could be allowed to go in January either on loan or for a fee. Roeder would still think long and hard before making a decision because he remains a big admirer of the man he worked with during his England career and he did not complain in the summer when he welcomed back Butt after a loan deal to Birmingham fell through.

I think he's better in the centre where he can use his energy to run at players. When (if?) he gets fit I'd play him along side Parker with N'Zogbia left wing and maybe Duff right. Owen (when he returns) and Martins up front doesn't sound bad although I think we need a new back 4 to help out Shay.

I've decided I'm not going to get up at 4.00 a.m. to listen to it on the radio like I normally do. I get the horrible feeling that when I check the internet tomorrow morning it will be a defeat with A.E.T. following it.

Hall the elder quick to support Newcastle's top men despite 'vast amounts of wastage' Michael Walker Wednesday October 25, 2006 The Guardian Sir John Hall, Newcastle's life president and most significant shareholder, spoke publicly yesterday and the rare words were in support of the manager, Glenn Roeder, and the chairman, Freddy Shepherd. Hall also accepted that "vast amounts of money have been wasted on players" during his and Shepherd's tenure, though he blames previous managers for that. Hall, 73, is in semi-retirement in Spain but was told of the anti-Shepherd chants during Newcastle's 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Sunday. "I believe it has been blown out of all proportion by sections of the media," he said. "Like I did before, Freddy Shepherd has backed every Newcastle manager to the limit of the club's resources. And, like me, he cannot legislate for what happens on the field. That is up to the manager and the players. "It is clear to me and everyone that some of the players brought by previous managers have not been good enough. Our fans must look in amazement at some of the vast sums paid for players who are not good enough for this football club." Some of those fans would doubtless counter that Hall and his son Douglas have taken vast sums out of the club. Between 1998 and 2005 they made £34m in sales of Newcastle shares and dividends, and Hall Sr wants to sell his remaining 41%. On current valuation that would net the family around another £40m. But it is Shepherd who runs the club and takes the stick. Ironically he is also hampering Hall's ambitions to sell up as any buyer would want Shepherd's 29%. With speculation regarding a possible takeover a daily occurrence the club issued a statement yesterday saying: "The company has not received a formal offer proposal from any entity." Shepherd is known to be a reluctant seller, although should there be further criticism during tonight's League Cup tie at St James' Park against Portsmouth, he will surely start to reconsider his position. The chairman, moreover, will have his eyes on the crowd as well as his ears following the six-year low attendance against Bolton. As ever, a couple of wins would alter the mood and Hall said he thinks Roeder deserves to be given an extended run. "Glenn is one of the most honest and sincere men I have met in football and I have the highest regard for him," he said. "He has got Newcastle in his heart and he feels the anguish the same as the supporters when results are not going our way. I am sure Glenn will get it right, but he needs the strength of the fans to get him through. We have also got to look at ourselves and may appoint a director of football to take some pressure off the manager." Hall and Roeder have mentioned the benefits a director of football before but of more pressing concern is the size of the squad. Roeder said Shola Ameobi, struggling for fitness, "may not make it" to the transfer window and with the on-loan Giuseppe Rossi returning to Manchester United then, leaving only two recognised forwards in Obafemi Martins and Antoine Sibierski. Albert Luque would be another but the £11m signing is off the radar and fits Hall's "wasted money" criterion. Kieron Dyer has played in a closed-doors practice and if unscathed this morning he may make the bench tonight.

I'd go if I could but no doubt would regret it later.

Isn't his contract running out? If so we should be able to get him on the cheap - not that I'm advocating that mind.

I still rate him as a player but he's 32 next birthday and no doubt Milner's 4m move to Villa would only cover his wages for a season. I thought Roeder wanted to lower the age of the squad although you can be guaranteed FF would be behind it to restore his flagging popularity.

I was shocked to hear my Mam (who goes crazy when we get a throw-in) or my Dad who has been going for nigh-on 50 years, week-in week-out are not going tomorrow night. Indicative of the malaise.

Shock horror! This one was very predictable.

I'd say we'll struggle to get over 20,000.

Shepherd the bad guy in Geordie soap opera By Henry Winter Nativity plays in Tyneside schools this year will surely feature boisterous audience outbursts of "Shepherd Out". As Newcastle United writhe in another bout of introspection, the piercing search-light should be focused not on the short-term leadership from the dug-out but the long-term direction from the board-room. Chairman Freddy Shepherd is the problem, not manager Glenn Roeder. Musical chairman: Shepherd discards managers too easily Life at Newcastle is often depicted as a soap opera, a sort of North-eastenders with repeating plot-lines of aspiration unfulfilled, yet it is also real life laced with deepening sadness. Away from the chairman's office and certain incompetent corners of the dressing-room, this is a club teeming with proper people, supporters of unbelievable patience and passion, and employees who view the world solely in black and white. When Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were dragged to the press room to explain their infamous on-field spat, a heart-broken club servant turned the photograph of Jackie Milburn to the wall so that the late, great Geordie No 9 would not see the shame brought on the club he represented so sportingly and selflessly. In Shepherd's defence, a middle-aged suit sitting up in the stands can hardly be held responsible for two midfielders scrapping down below. Not all of Newcastle's ills can be laid at Shepherd's door; the thoroughbred Michael Owen, a Shepherd transfer coup, went lame in England's colours. Shepherd has consistently provided funds for excellent recruits such as Scott Parker. He even allowed Roeder to gamble £10 million on Obafemi Martins, the infuriatingly inconsistent Nigerian striker. advertisementSympathy for Shepherd disappears the moment his salary is examined. According to the latest available accounts (year ending July 31 2005), Newcastle's chairman was paid £502,954. Good money for indifferent work. Shepherd is no benefactor in the mould of Middlesbrough's Steve Gibson, the benchmark for "a fit and proper person" to lead a football club. Developments 200 miles to the south also embarrass Shepherd, down at Aston Villa, where Martin O'Neill has again been playing the sleeves-rolled up alchemist. O'Neill is the manager Shepherd should have wooed and appointed this summer, and Newcastle fans understandably gaze enviously at events off Spaghetti Junction. Roeder is an admirable person, a terrific coach, and outstanding Academy director, but he will never be the Pied Piper of Toon Army dreams as O'Neill would have been. Talk swirls around fans' chat-rooms and City circles about a putative take-over, by the Belgravia Group, yet would Shepherd sell? Yesterday, one enraged supporter despatched a missive to Shepherd, pleading with him to leave, arguing that the chairman had wasted the legacy built up by his distinguished predecessor, Sir John Hall. "When you took over the club you were handed the second-best team in the Premiership, a club that was looking like it was destined for greatness and you've destroyed all of that through your utter contempt for the fans and your lust for power and money," wrote Michael Foster. "You've totally failed in everything a chairman is responsible for." Such Newcastle fans deserve better. Those of us neutrals who travel the English football circuit, mixing with fans of all club colours, and gauging the depth of their fervour, readily admit respect for Newcastle's following, home and away. Battered at Manchester United, Newcastle fans never stopped singing. St James' itself is a special place, an arena that makes the pulse quicken when the teams walk out and that extraordinary roar erupts from countless Gallowgate throats. Attending Alan Shearer's testimonial last season was uplifting because of the outpouring of love for a local hero while also painfully poignant. The absence of Shearer's name from the cast-list rips away much of the lingering class clinging to the club. A die-hard Newcastle disciple of this observer's acquaintance is convinced the club will be transformed only when supporters show their dissatisfaction at serial mismanagement by voting with their feet. Empty seats. No queues in the megastores. Might focus a few minds in the board-room. It will never happen. Following Newcastle is a birthright, a religion, a warm-up before the knees-up of a night out. On the Geordie check-list of must-do activities, watching the Toon ranks alongside breathing. Such loyalty merits better leadership. Shepherd Out.

He'll be under unbearable pressure if we lose against Portsmouth (that's a hard game in the current circumstances) and against Charlton.

It's becoming too realistic.

8 goals, 7 points and 6 defeats already from 9 games tells it's own worrying story. 2 points above the relegation zone but although I punched my couch several times after they scored I somehow feel less angry than last week's shambles so I presume apathy is setting in.

I'm starting to feel ambivalent after our Gullit-esque start to the season. We didn't play that badly but with our powder puff attack we've got no chance of even getting in the top half.

United set to offload Bramble Oct 22 2006 By Neil Farrington, The Sunday Sun Newcastle are aiming to offload Titus Bramble in January - and take up to a 90 per cent loss on the error-prone defender. Bramble's latest horror show, in last Sunday's Premiership defeat to Bolton, was the last straw for United's top brass. And with the 25-year-old out of contract next summer, United may sell him for as little as £500,000 in the new year - one-tenth of what they paid Ipswich for him in 2002. Even then, Newcastle know they may not be overwhelmed by interest in Bramble, although a move back to Portman Road is a possibility. United boss Glenn Roeder hopes to sign THREE defenders in January - after admitting it was "frustrating" not to sign Jonathan Woodgate ahead of today's opponents Middlesbrough in the summer. But despite United's poor start to the domestic season, Roeder insists he doesn't feel under undue pressure. And amid mounting discontent on the terraces, has vowed not to ditch his calm and composed image. "It was frustrating not to get him," Roeder said of Newcastle old boy Woodgate, who chose to join Boro on loan from Real Madrid. "But there were two considerations. "One was his medical record, which suggested it would be tough for him to play lots of games. The other was his desire to play for his hometown team. "The thing with Jonathan is, because of his injuries, you never know how long you will get before he breaks down again." Robert Huth was a stronger target still for Roeder, but the former Chelsea centre-back also chose Boro and may partner Woodgate today. "I saw a lot of Huth when I was in London, and I got glowing reports about him from players I am close to at Chelsea," added Roeder, tracking Macedonia centre-half Alex Vasoski according to new reports in Europe. "Why did we not get Huth? There are reasons that are difficult for me to elaborate on, but he decided to join Middlesbrough."

Of us going for Beckham as a trophy signing rather than the defenders and forward(s) we need in January?: Becks reveals Real frustration By Alex Livie - Created on 22 Oct 2006 David Beckham has spoken of his frustration at being relegated to the bench at Real Madrid. The former England captain has been a cornerstone of the Real team for three seasons, but he has slipped down the pecking order this term under new coach Fabio Capello. He started last week's loss to Getafe, but was once again on the bench for the UEFA Champions League win over Steaua Bucharest and the 31-year-old is unhappy with his lot in the Spanish capital. "Every day I feel sad and very frustrated as a footballer because I am not playing for my country or for my club," Beckham told the Mail on Sunday. Beckham is in talks over a new deal with Real, but he may well wait to consider his options before committing his future to the club. "Two more years on the bench would be very difficult," he declared. "At the moment it is very difficult for me not playing. "I am not even thinking about retiring. When my heart and legs give in then that will be the time, but that is not the case now." Real take on Barcelona on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, and Beckham will be hoping for the chance to impress at El Santiago Bernabeu.

John Gibson makes some very good points in the Chronicle tonight on the video section and basically echoes everyone's concerns on here.

I'm still too depressed from yesterday to drum up any optimism but I'm starting to fear the worst.

Good chairmen (like Moores at Liverpool, Steve Gibson) don't interfere with the manager's decisions. I can't imagine many chairmen buying players for the team (that were probably recommended by his son or Willie McKay). He loves power too much and his over-inflated ego won't allow him to take a back seat and not to meddle. There's no doubt he's a fan but he can't seem to detach himself from it and it seems to me like he thinks he's playing a real version of football manager.

Roeder does seem very "hands-on" and is probably running the whole sorry show. It's hard not to feel a bit sorry for him when FF prefers to blow all his budget on substandard attackers and totally ignores the whole infrastructure.

Waddle is a mackem! I'm not sure what kind of reception he'd get either. He is totally unproven in the Premiership and was terrible at Burnley.

bring back Keegan Keegan wouldn't come without pots of cash - something I seriously doubt we have. I can't imagine his relationship with Shepherd is very good either. Besides he's now up in Scotland with his soccer schools project.

Denilson is on a free and training with Portsmouth. He may not be the force he was but I'd prefer him over Sibierski.