LionOfGosforth

We're gonna be going into the season with about 16 players at this rate.

Reading these reminds me of an ancient memory...Blackpool away in the league cup in 87...just got beat 1-0, bloke in front of me with a face purple with rage proclaims the next day's chronicle back page headline should be "F***ING SH*T!!!!!!!!"...probably had to be there to appreciate the savage comedy.

Players I'm happy to see play for us in the Premier League. Harper, Krul, Forster Simpson, Enrique, Coloccini, S.Taylor, Williamson Jonas, Ferguson, Marveaux, Cabaye, Barton, Gosling, Ben Arfa, Tiote Ba, Best That's 18 out of 25 places, Neil Taylor will probably be added to the defensive list, there's bound to be one more striker and by the players linked with possibly a winger too taking us to 21 players. I don't think anyone outside the top 6 is going to have all 25 players who could all be at home in the first-team, so you still have squad fillers like R.Taylor, Guthrie, Ameobi & Lovenkrands in there too. I don't think it's that bad tbh...provided those 3 players come in, and any outgoings from the above list are replaced. Just to play a little devil's advocate to that post...the back line is way too thin, we're an injury to Colo away from a virtual crisis. The forward line is the same, nowhere near deep enough. The midfield is our strongest area but...Jonas is inconsistent, Ferguson is too green to rely on, Marveaux and Cabaye are completely unknown quantities, Barton is not likely to be around due to contractual wrangling, Gosling is always injured and can't be relied upon clearly and Ben Arfa is coming off an injury that threatened his career. That leaves Tiote from that group. Not trying to be a doom merchant but that's the flip-side, our squad has huge holes in depth and quality once a couple of injuries or ANC appearances come along. I don't think Jonas is inconsistent at all really. You are entitled to your opinon, mine is that although he is a valuable squad member and good at certain things (ball retention, workrate, drawing fouls) he almost completely fails to provide any kind of reliable service from wide areas or many goals to compensate since his shooting is usually awful. Sorry If I expect a little more from wide players that pull on our shirt. So...if by "not inconsistent" you mean "consistently failing to be a decent winger" then I agree

Players I'm happy to see play for us in the Premier League. Harper, Krul, Forster Simpson, Enrique, Coloccini, S.Taylor, Williamson Jonas, Ferguson, Marveaux, Cabaye, Barton, Gosling, Ben Arfa, Tiote Ba, Best That's 18 out of 25 places, Neil Taylor will probably be added to the defensive list, there's bound to be one more striker and by the players linked with possibly a winger too taking us to 21 players. I don't think anyone outside the top 6 is going to have all 25 players who could all be at home in the first-team, so you still have squad fillers like R.Taylor, Guthrie, Ameobi & Lovenkrands in there too. I don't think it's that bad tbh...provided those 3 players come in, and any outgoings from the above list are replaced. Just to play a little devil's advocate to that post...the back line is way too thin, we're an injury to Colo away from a virtual crisis. The forward line is the same, nowhere near deep enough. The midfield is our strongest area but...Jonas is inconsistent, Ferguson is too green to rely on, Marveaux and Cabaye are completely unknown quantities, Barton is not likely to be around due to contractual wrangling, Gosling is always injured and can't be relied upon clearly and Ben Arfa is coming off an injury that threatened his career. That leaves Tiote from that group. Not trying to be a doom merchant but that's the flip-side, our squad has huge holes in depth and quality once a couple of injuries or ANC appearances come along. I completely agree with you. Just saying that group is who I wouldn't be opposed to seeing in our starting XI at any one time. Agreed, midfield is easily our best area, just can only hope we either have a ton of luck with injuries and/or we add some more depth. Otherwise second season syndrome will be the least of our worries.

Players I'm happy to see play for us in the Premier League. Harper, Krul, Forster Simpson, Enrique, Coloccini, S.Taylor, Williamson Jonas, Ferguson, Marveaux, Cabaye, Barton, Gosling, Ben Arfa, Tiote Ba, Best That's 18 out of 25 places, Neil Taylor will probably be added to the defensive list, there's bound to be one more striker and by the players linked with possibly a winger too taking us to 21 players. I don't think anyone outside the top 6 is going to have all 25 players who could all be at home in the first-team, so you still have squad fillers like R.Taylor, Guthrie, Ameobi & Lovenkrands in there too. I don't think it's that bad tbh...provided those 3 players come in, and any outgoings from the above list are replaced. Just to play a little devil's advocate to that post...the back line is way too thin, we're an injury to Colo away from a virtual crisis. The forward line is the same, nowhere near deep enough. The midfield is our strongest area but...Jonas is inconsistent, Ferguson is too green to rely on, Marveaux and Cabaye are completely unknown quantities, Barton is not likely to be around due to contractual wrangling, Gosling is always injured and can't be relied upon clearly and Ben Arfa is coming off an injury that threatened his career. That leaves Tiote from that group. Not trying to be a doom merchant but that's the flip-side, our squad has huge holes in depth and quality once a couple of injuries or ANC appearances come along.

Isn't Ba likely to be buggering off for up to a month due to the ANC as well? So apart from worries about him staying fit, if he's going to the ANC in January, we'll be without him for a while anyway. He simply cannot be our only forward signing this window, would be idiotic.

We were about three minutes away from doing just that a few weeks ago. Yeah but he wasn't in the team man /sarcasm

It's that easy innit. for most clubs run properly, yes it could have been. For us... Until the last minute we didn't know if Carroll was leaving (well apparently) Torres had been linked to Chelsea for a week while Sturridge was in advance talks with Bolton over the past few days. You've no idea if Sturridge fancied coming up here, saw Bolton a better option due to position, might have got on with Coyle, might have been promised to start every game when fit or quite simply he was that far along in a deal and nearly complete compared to an offer that had just sprung up and relied on two other players moving and agreeing terms. But aye, just demand something and it will happen as long as you are run properly that is. It would have been nice in hindsight, but until this last few months at Bolton Sturridge has only ever been potential, and Chelsea would have wanted us to cover his £60kpw wages, in hindsight worth it, back then, i'd have had my doubts and thought it a risky move. Signing anyone is taking a chance. So is not signing anyone when all we've got for strikers are Shola, Best, Lovenkrands and Ranger. Sticking by those 4 is taking a big chance. Besides, i thought it was out in the open now that the club had been touting Carroll around for a couple of weeks beforehand. AMPLE time to make a loan deal for a good young, available player like Sturridge. That rumour (about Carroll being touted around for weeks) is just as valid or believable as assuming that all deals were done and we had no time to move. Pretty much the point I was trying to make. Without a doubt, not moving for ANY striker when we had needed at least one BEFORE losing Carroll, was an incredible gamble that we could easily have paid dearly for.

It's that easy innit. for most clubs run properly, yes it could have been. For us... Until the last minute we didn't know if Carroll was leaving (well apparently) Torres had been linked to Chelsea for a week while Sturridge was in advance talks with Bolton over the past few days. You've no idea if Sturridge fancied coming up here, saw Bolton a better option due to position, might have got on with Coyle, might have been promised to start every game when fit or quite simply he was that far along in a deal and nearly complete compared to an offer that had just sprung up and relied on two other players moving and agreeing terms. But aye, just demand something and it will happen as long as you are run properly that is. It would have been nice in hindsight, but until this last few months at Bolton Sturridge has only ever been potential, and Chelsea would have wanted us to cover his £60kpw wages, in hindsight worth it, back then, i'd have had my doubts and thought it a risky move. You know about as much about how advanced the Carroll deal was, how long Torres had been talking to Chelsea and how advanced any Sturridge to Bolton talks were as I do. In other words, you know next to nothing about any of it. But sure, make the case that i'm being too simplistic and that we couldn't have signed him regardless. My entire point is supposition and so is yours. Of course I can't say we could ever have signed him, but I have no problem whatsoever believing that the opportunity was there and our powers-that-be f***ed it up because they're so clueless at everything and lie constantly. If you choose to believe that it was basically an impossibility, and any other train of thought is invalid, that's your choice. Appraisal of the player is of course based on hindsight, nobody could have predicted his impact. It's entirely typical that we appeared to make no move for this player (who could have been a brilliant partner FOR Carroll, but no let's sell him and not replace him into the bargain), and he went on to score multiple goals (some of them superb) and who knows, a top 6 place could have happened instead of trundling along with Shola and Lovenkrands scoring a goal every 3/4 games. His price will now be almost certainly way beyond what we would be prepared to pay, if he is even on our radar yet

It's that easy innit. for most clubs run properly, yes it could have been. For us...

We missed the boat on Sturridge in January. Should have been signed on loan with a view to a permanent. Very little chance of getting him now, even if Chelsea are stupid enough to sell and persevere with their over-priced other strikers. Can't believe we let Carroll go without getting this bloke, even before anyone knew how good he could be. Why didn't we insist on Chelsea telling Bolton to f*** off and giving Sturridge to us or they wouldn't get Torres? maybe by the time we realised we could it was too late. Amateurs.

A good few hammerings at Anfield/Goodison in the 80's...always good craic but on the pitch it was murder. Boro away in 89/90, final day of the season, got hammered 4-1 and walked the gamut of the in-breds outside, horrible place. Coventry in 99, also a 4-1 hammering and got threatened a couple of times outside and on the train as well by some drunken tw*ts. My one and only visit to Wembley to see the Toon should have been a great day...except Manure hammered us 4-0 in the charity shield and then the heavens opened outside and got stuck in roadworks on the A1 on the way home, didn't get back until 3am. Had to be up at 6 to start a new job anaal...great fun.

aye, was a great day out aswell. we'd met a local in some bar in the city centre (he was booking his trip to deportivo) and we had a few drinks with him. he said he'd take us to his pre match pub and off we went, it was claret and blue all ove, like their strawberry. i had a word with him on the way in"if we go down you are the first on the floor" while one of the other lads got a speech of one of us as he was going to take off hus nufc lapel badge "if you've got one thing in this life it's pride and if you take that badge off i'm going to drag you on top of that pool table to sing the blaydon races"........the local was as good as his word and there was no bother. in the game steve staunton gave away his customary penalty and we really became a good team. Yep,I went in their end and we were sheperded into the Toon side area by the police...definitely over crowded in there but nobody cared...remember getting back to Cov and getting arseholed.Great day. I can also recall seeing a load of Toon fans being escorted from the Holte end, sadly one of them was a bloke in his 50's who'd obviously caught a few whacks and was on a stretcher going around the side of the pitch as well. Apart from that sad sight, brilliant day, dominated on and off the pitch. We had the whole end behind the goal and a coupe of thousand up the side as well, wall to wall Toon fans around the ground. One of my favorite away days ever.

Leicester away 84 first game after promotion, first away game ever, won 3-2 brilliant day. Man Utd in 87 when Mirandinha scored 2 in a 2-2 Forest away, final day of 86/87, lost 2-1, huge fistfight on the pitch with about 100 fans from each side (I wasn't involved, watched from the safety of the seats!), Forest away, new years day 1988, won 2-0 The very next day (January 2nd), went to Celtic v Rangers with a school pal, Celtic won 2-0 (think Mcstay scored first goal), that was an experience Some crackers from the 92/93 promotion season (Sunderland, Derby, Tranmere, Grimsby) Villa away in October 93 early on in the season after promotion, won 2-0 (Malcolm Allen scored a pen), fantastic day. A few memories there, most of the better ones coming during memorable wins, no coincidence there.

This is our goal difference advantage getting pissed up the wall as well.

Wasnt that 3-2? aye pretty sure it finnished 3-2, keegan playing for us- supermac was Fulhams manager- Was thinking about that game when we drew 4-4 with Arsenal. Rare event - we looked f*** all like equalising never mind winning. Never leave early! Think Trewick scored with 2-3 mins left and then Wharton improbably in injury time with a Leazes end scramble. I remember that more from the "going up" footage than actually being at the game

Started going during the back-end of the 83/84 promotion season. I *think* my first game was home against Grimsby, around February or March and we lost 1-0. Hooked from that day. Barely missed a home game from that day until I moved to the US in 1998.

He was attacked by the Driscoll brothers. They never touch the face but knock hell out of the body. Nice Only Fools reference. Dalglish looks like a fuckin garden gnome next to ******* in that shot.

35 million...for all those on here reasoning that it's a great deal and we couldn't turn it down, and it'll all turn out ok in the summer when we spend the money (!)... i'd like to see a list of STRIKERS (because that's what we actually need, you know, to replace Carroll given that our remaining forwards are turbo shite) who we could realistically afford to purchase who would actually want to come to our ambition-less club?

I read that as "our spending for the next 56 windows"...might be close to the truth.

its cold inside here, resisting putting heating on too soon. I'm exactly the same, man! Totally getting old. Refusing to put the heating on until I've exhausted all other avenues first - extra jumpers, blankets, setting fire to the carpet, etc. Can only imagine what it'll be like at the match tonight, having to sit in the freezing cold, watching Sam Allardyce football. Its almost like it was planned to make the experience even more s****. Ho'way HUGHTON LAD! LIGHT OUR FIRES! mee too- hoody and gillet on at the mo. soon as i hear from mot garage- if im not gettig car back tonight- putting heating on! 1st game in ages I could went tonight but cant manage steps due to relapse in foot rehab. t***. Always wondered about that. If you were a season ticket holder in the rafters, but broke your leg or something; do the club let you sit at the front or are you expected to be winched up to the rafters to your normal seat? I can remember the first game of the 93/94 season (Spurs), had done my knee in the summer playing on a rocky pitch, and had a full leg cast on. I sat there with my right leg resting on the seat in front of me which the bloke sitting there didn't mind. I don't think he was as please in the 90th minute when O-Brien rattled a free-kick off the post and I nearly kicked his lug off in the near-celebration of a goal. teddy f***ing sheringham wasnt it? Aye, Spurs played well that day as I recall, can remember thinking "bloody hell, hope all prem teams aren't this slick". They were going back to front in the blink of an eye and it was scary to watch, took us a few games to really settle in the big league that year. And me knee knacked all game as well

its cold inside here, resisting putting heating on too soon. I'm exactly the same, man! Totally getting old. Refusing to put the heating on until I've exhausted all other avenues first - extra jumpers, blankets, setting fire to the carpet, etc. Can only imagine what it'll be like at the match tonight, having to sit in the freezing cold, watching Sam Allardyce football. Its almost like it was planned to make the experience even more s****. Ho'way HUGHTON LAD! LIGHT OUR FIRES! mee too- hoody and gillet on at the mo. soon as i hear from mot garage- if im not gettig car back tonight- putting heating on! 1st game in ages I could went tonight but cant manage steps due to relapse in foot rehab. t***. Always wondered about that. If you were a season ticket holder in the rafters, but broke your leg or something; do the club let you sit at the front or are you expected to be winched up to the rafters to your normal seat? I can remember the first game of the 93/94 season (Spurs), had done my knee in the summer playing on a rocky pitch, and had a full leg cast on. I sat there with my right leg resting on the seat in front of me which the bloke sitting there didn't mind. I don't think he was as please in the 90th minute when O-Brien rattled a free-kick off the post and I nearly kicked his lug off in the near-celebration of a goal.

Lion - didn't you love the coverage that the game got, all the goals were reshown during the final credits too....especially liked how the female commentator kept calling them "the Mackems" instead of Sunderland. Hahahahaha Yeah that was quality!! I feel lucky to have even seen 5 mins highlights in the end really.

I genuinely feel sorry for you mate!!, Sounds like a tramp begging for scraps of food My only chance to see the whole game unfortunately, if that makes me a tramp so be it. Btw i wasnt implying you were a tramp, Just likening the situation to that of a tramps , Yeah I assumed that, pleased you confirmed though!

Exactly...plus they've monkeyed around with Sky Sports on FSC as well, used to get it at 7pm like clockwork daily until recently, now it's on at 2am only most days.