wibble

Viduka is a fantastic signing for us - he really is top class. To get him on a free is just fantastic (and the fact the smoggies are probably flinging themselves into the chimneys of those chemical works). On his day (and with Sam's influence I think there will be many!) this guy is absolutely unstoppable. Kinda reminds me of Drogba in the way he's physical, skillful, and can make mincemeat out of defenders when he's in the mood. Suddenly we have real options in our forward line, rather than just lumping it over midfield to a midget. Happy days!!

So you seriously think that the fact Dyer is on stupid wage somehow justifies handing idiotic wages for Barton? Would you mind explaining how one mistake justifies another? I don't think its just one isolated mistake. Take a look around at the report that was published the other day on Premiership wages - the wages of dozens of players are already at ludicrous levels. Also, with the new TV rights deal, clubs have another £30m (?) to waste. Small, newly taken over clubs like West Ham and Villa (tin hat on) suddenly have a LOT of spending power and can compete with bigger clubs. Wages and transfer fees are going to go into orbit. I just used Dyer as an example to compare Barton's cost today with what we already had, since I have nee real idea what the rest of our players are on (apart from Owen, like). How much is Emre on? How much was Parker on? Does anyone actually know if their wages are/were similar to Dyers?

I really don't understand why people are shocked at the alleged £70k p/w, tbh. We got him on the cheap from Man City and his wages are probably similar to Dyer's. He's undoubtedly a more consistent player than the self-styled King of Bling, and we'll get a lot more games out of him over the course of a season. Howay - Bramble's on £40k p/w at Wigan! It's mad, it's obscene, it's crazy...but that's just the way it is in football at the moment.

I thought Spurs had a wage cap of £40k p/w or so. Would they completely demolish their wage structure just to get little Mikey? That'd cause a bit of friction in the rest of the squad and have financial consequences for years.

HTT - great post. For the first time in...well, eons...we're all gloriously optimistic again. I think we'll do okay(ish) next season - improving on the dreadful garbage we're been served up this season, harder to beat, players actually knowing what they're doing, etc. Top 8 and I'll be happy, because Sam will have reversed the ominous decline of our great club. However, it'll be (yet another) season of transition. I'd love Sam to wave a magic wand and clear out the wasters in the next few weeks but, with most of them being on daft contracts, I wonder how long this will really take? Seasons 2 and 3 will be the ones where it really takes off. By getting Allardyce in, I think the board have realized the need for a monumental transition behind the scenes - it's a statement of intent that was long overdue. Big Sam wouldn't have come here if he didn't think he could transform the shambles that had become Newcastle United. And that, my friends, means we're finally back on the road to being a significant force in the Premiership.

Aye lads, its my site - I'd rather not get banned for spamming or taking this thread off-topic though so if anyone has any queries please just PM me instead. Cheers.

It is a lot of money, but Owen (for instance) has picked up £5-6m per year for just a handful of games. Personally, I think its a bit strange that individual players can earn absolute bucketloads compared to the manager. The manager will have by far the biggest influence on the fortunes (or in our recent history, perpetual decline) of a team.

I'm in the minority I know, but...I found it quite funny. A different side of the glum fat bloke we normally see at the matches. He's chatty, has a joke with the two Scouse loons and lets loose at Owen's agent. I'm not a fat Fred fan at all, but he's actually gone up in my estimation with this clip. Now we just need a couple of enterprising Toon fans armed with a camcorder/baseball bat to ambush Owen's agent...

This is killing me. Normally, I can't wait for the season to start. Now I just wish it was all over with so we can see if Freddy will (yet again) pull the trigger or back Roeder.

If we don't go all out to get Allardyce and keep Roeder in charge, I worry about our immediate future. I can't help feeling this is a critical point in NUFC's history. Stick with Roeder and we're virtually guaranteed mid-table mediocrity for another season or two. All this while the top 4-6 teams continue to rake in the cash from Europe/TV/league positions above us and strengthen their positions. Allardyce seems to be the sort of manager who gets more out of the players than can usually be expected - to be honest I'd be happy if he got just a few fleeting moments of passion, commitment and the ability to string a few passes together from the bunch of disaffected millionaires masquerading as sportsmen who play in our colours. Folks have their doubts about his tactics, but we've been served up some absolutely dreadful pub-team football over the last few years - Allardyce can surely improve on the rubbish we've seen so many times this season.

The only time (in recent memory) we've enjoyed any success was with Keegan and Robson, both of whom seemed capable of inspiring/motivating players to play above their normal levels. Big Sam can do that, and that's the major reason I'd have him here. He's consistently pushed Bolton way higher up the table than you'd have thought possible with their squad. Add to that his ability to innovate and pretty much lead the way when it comes to training methods - he'd do a great job of finally organising our squad into a proper team. If he's even remotely interested in the Toon job, FS needs to do absolutely everything to get this man in this summer and stop faffing about with second-rate, tactically inept managers.