Doug

Money. That is what what motivates players from different backrounds with nothing in common. Money is what it is all about. They want to hug each other when one scores or does something good because they can see their win /performance bonus increasing. Money is the overiding thing these people all have in common so they don.t need to like each other. It is naive to assume any other reason takes precedence. Only the fans have the unconditional love and bond with the club. Doug.

Some players take longer to adapt to new clubs. Some clubs are better than others at putting up with this. I think we are possibly among the worst for this and I am not sure why. Players have to hit the ground running here or are crucified from day one with us. It is little wonder so many players of promise fade when they play here. Rozenhal reminds me of Gary Pallister. A talented footballing defender who couldnt put a foot right in the whole of his first season after his first move (boro - Man U) but who went on to fulfill his promise for club and country after being persisted with and believed in by his new club. I think Rozenthal is another Pallister type and a prime example of this lack of patience. He is a footballing defender who is finding his feet and would be worth persisting with IMO. Sadly it seems the verdict is already out on him in the Bermuda Triangle of talent that is NU and he will no doubt have to succeed elswhere. Doug.

Every team has their star performers. We will have to Identify the best players from struggling sides and bid for them. Star players (like Berbatov)at top clubs are looking forward to titles, cup runs and European competition so will be reluctant to move to us in our present predicament. Relegation would be a disaster for signing anyone. Avoiding that will do nicely this season. Doug.

Well said Big TRon, lets have more of this. Doug.

All we can do is do our bit and get behind the set up. After all the staff want success whoever they are. We can give our support and help it along. We can be the counterbalance to the scheming and malice of the press who want to undermine our club and bring it all down. (sells more papers). the Sun this morning is so overtly anti Newcastle without having a story to be almost laughable. Doug.

Beware the southern press. They are going for the jugular straight away. Have you seen the Sun this morning. front page and back page plus inside back two pages full of a non story designed to bring us down. Doug

The worst part of this scenario is that expectation has been hyped up to unreasonable levels with KK's appointment without the on field personnel to guarantee safety. Imagine the glee the press will have in putting the boot in if we crash and burn from these false heights of optimism. The b******s will be praying it does happen. It makes a great story. They love to build things up then knock them down. Batten down the hatches and stick together because they will be lobbing editorial hand grenades at us from now until the end of the season to ensure it does happen. Expect criticism of Kevins tactics or suggested lack of them to be exagerated for starters as they start their mischief. Doug.

We'll all be looking forward to observing their minutes silence for Munich they have imposed at the next England home match then. Doug.

So he decided to spend a load of his money on booze, women and gambling did he. What did he do with the rest of it ? Just wasted it I suppose. Doug.

Precisely right that this should be brought up. no-one has had more false dawns than us, so getting carried away with the hype of KK,s appointment should not detract from the overiding priority of avoiding relegation. We have been in a Souness like freefall untill two weeks ago. Losing and drawing to Derby and 0-3 down at home after 11mins (pompey) should shake us to the core and make us realise that this squad of ours was perfectly capable of going down this season. Avoid the drop then next year will see the rebuilding for a challenge. Doug.

He is far too injury prone. Doug

Reasons to dislike Spurs. 1 The southern press build them up with the same enthusiasm as they try to tear us down. 2 Waddle, Newcastle all fish n chips,paupers. Spurs Steaks and classy. Come and join me Gazza etc. 3 Stomach turning protests by Spurs fans when Lazio took "their" Gazza from them. Remember the great words of K Keegan "never again will this club become a nursery club for smaller clubs" He did'nt say who but we all knew at the time he meant Spurs. Lets hope he picks up where he left off. Doug.

We need to get real and forget talking about challenging and breaking into the top four. It is embarrassing . We must realise we are in a relegation battle and the priority must be to preserve our premiership status. That will be a success for the new regime. I was sure we were going down until last week just as we were before Souness was sacked. If KK keeps us up with what he has inherited he will have done well in my view. It is nothing short of criminal the millions that have been squandered on mediocrity over the last few years by this club. Doug.

Ask yourself what sort of crowds Liverpool or Man u would be getting if they had not even won a domestic honour for over half a century. Certainly no place for glory hunters with a record like that. Still we see full houses of long suffering crowds to make us proud. All we crave is a team to match us. Doug.

That 7-1 Leicester game was played on a Sunday as I recall and it was the last result I needed to win 160 quid on my fixed odds coupon for a quid bet. All the other results had come up on the Saturday. It was 6-0 at half time so I knew It was safe. What a great day. we even had Lindisfarne playng to us above the leazes terrace before the game as the framework for the new stands were just being put up then. The stage was mounted on it. A Happy day that was indeed. Doug

Indi and Liam Liam Liam O Exactly right Given, Beye, Feye, Zog. There are no others for a top 6 team in this squad. Doug.

Butt is a spent force who can only play in fits and starts. Unacceptable for the engine room of central midfield I think. It is little wonder we are struggling this season. Doug.

Relegation boys and girls. Start contemplating it because we a re seeing relegation form on a regular basis this season. Portsmouth and Derby County performances belong to a team going down. Forget the Stoke game, Play the reserves in that. We need all our efforts to get points to stay in the Premiership. That is all that matters now. i can't see where the nextr points are coming from. We need 40 points asap. Doug.

I would say tribalism means you love your tribe. Racism means you dislike others. Can you experience the first but not the other. They are two different things when you look at it like that. What an interesting subject this is. It should have its own thread. Doug.

I think we are far to quick to deal out the term 'racist' these days. Mess-iah, you don't know me but but I can assure you I am not a racist and would prefer not to be called a prick either. Rather than hurl out an insult I will try to explain. Newcastle is the provincial capital of the North east of England and the citys football club is a potent symbol of the feeling of belonging to the region. This feeling of of belonging is probably as strong if not stronger than in other less homogenous areas of the country. Consequently it would be a great aspiration to have the shirts worn by local lads representing our city/region such as Atletico Bilbao do/did in Spain. However we all know this is unrealistic in this day and age if we want to compete. The next best thing is to have the core of your side representative of the UK at least so that we can identify with the players and them with us. It fits in with the tribal nature of football. I know Villa usually have 8 starters for them most games and even Chelsea have half their 1st choice team of England internationals. Most players are here today and gone tomorrow but I think it is a reasonable assumption to say there is more of the mercenary element among the foriegn players to our shores who are only here for the money. You can't blame them for that, but 'racist prick' is a bit strong for identifying that many are here only to play for the highest bidder. I think we as fans want to have an affinity with our players that stretches beyond just playing for the biggest wedge of money. Polite comments welcome. Doug.

Who wants a team of foriegners ? Not me. Nucleus of good British (isles ) players most important for a club like us. O'neil is showing it is possible at Villa

Get results is the obvious answer. All parties concerned want the same. The team needs to be fit and buzzing. He is supposedly utilising his stats to find who is up for this. He needs to axe players who cannot do it for 90mins. Some of our players do not seem to have the energy levels required for the top flight. They need to be swarming all over the opposition. (Wigan can do this it seems). This is before we even begin to look at the skill levels. He needs to get as many players in the team who can go past an opponent with the ball. This starts at the back so it is ok to persist with Rozenthal and play Zog there too. After all it is easier to get a skillfull player to show commitment and energy for tackling but not to get a hoofer to show flair going forward. For our part we need to get behind the team and show our dissent only outside of the 90mns on matchday not during it. If he does not start getting results I think a nightmare scenario could soon develop. The Derby and Portsmouth games screamed of a relegation team to me. Doug.

I think you will find the facilities on every estate idea alive and well in Holland. Was'nt Van Persie a product of the 'cage' as they call it in Rotterdam. Pie, As for Cruyf, now you are talking my lingo. The finest exponent of the beautiful game I have ever seen in my lifetime. Danswon, If putting the kids in a cage keeps coaches out as well as keeping the kids in then lets go for it I say. Doug.

'Kids games' and 'caring about the result' as Keefas said. Now therein those two phrases is the root cause of what is wrong with football in our country. Kids should not have to care about the result. If I had my way I would ban coaches, ban parents and put floodlit all weather fenced in vandal proof pitches on every housing estate with free balls supplied and just let them get on with it. Jumpers for goalposts for the 3rd millenium if you like. The money is in the game to do this, Redistribute some of it away from the pockets of the elite few (and agents) at the top and back into grass roots. Give it 10 years and you,d have more footballers for your winning teams to satisfy the coaches (for it is they who want the medals not the young kids). Only then they can teach them to play their two touch football and the shift the ball quickly stuff after they have been left alone to develop the ball skills through the joy of playing for fun with their pals. Sick to death of the greedy and misguided idiots ruining our game. Doug.

The difference with Villa is they have a crop of good home grown youngsters from their excellent youth policy. It is a good job we have a few points in the bag. This team we have could go down, some of the results have shown relegation form, it really is that bad. Still sick to death Doug