Nate

Aye, I'm surprised at such goodwill towards him tbh. Not to say he isn't good (I have no idea), but he's done nothing compared to Houllier, for example. A foreign Hughes? I think the Champions League run is swaying a lot of people and rightly so. The main concern with the likes of Hughes and Shearer is wether they would be found out, tactically, at the very highest level. I agree with KaKa and Parky, it would an exciting and ambitious appointment; the opposite of the last three.

He couldn't manage to beat the current Man Utd team (minus Tevez, Anderson & Hargreaves) with his own Chelsea squad. Liverpool are still a couple of truly world class forwards short of winning the title under any manager.

They need to be careful on that front, but I think it's commonly accepted (by the board and the fans) that winning is first and foremost. ... and that Newcastle are not soon to be a team that can expect to win all games, hence a "style" of football where at least those kind of inevitable losses are at least in some kind bearable and not resulting in booing-orgies again. Agree with this, most definitely. From what I've witnessed at SJP from the crowd over the past few seasons, I genuinely think the booing will be quelled if the team is going all-guns-blazing against whoever we are facing. It's different being utterly atrocious and getting beaten by Sheff Utd, etc. than it is having a go and going down fighting. For all people say that results are the top priority (which is right, of course), the performances do have a major impact on things. Even as recently as Man City, where we went 0-1 down before half-time, the players were applauded from the field because we'd been playing it on the deck and having a real go at the opposition. That said a lot to me at the time, and resonates now. Do we not have to make a choice between a manager who will come in and win and lose, in equal measure, but with flair; and one who will grind out results, build from the back and gradually create a side capable of competing with the top four? As Mort said, it is only the great managers that can combine both - how many are available to us? How many are there currently working in the league for that matter? Talking about stylish football is only going to heighten the expectations of fans when realistically nobody is going to come in and having us playing 'the beatuiful game' overnight. I'm not convinced Houllier ever would.

Does anyone else think all this talk of stylish, 'carpet' football is heaping unnecessary pressure on the new manager before he's even arrived? I'm convinced Newcastle fans would be delighted if significant success came with winning 'ugly', it was losing ugly which was the problem.

If a manager shows signs of improvement he'll get time. First full season he finished 6th and then sold his best player at the time. sadly "signs of improvement" and finishing 6th won't appease some of our fans. Are you joking? Give the fans more credit than that.

Pinochet, i would have thought.

How can they get away with fabricating an entire interview?

Keegan: 'I would not rule it in or out. It's a club I love, everybody knows that.'

prolly get slaughtered for this but if your scenario there happens and in 2-3 years man u come calling for hughes then the likelihood is that NUFC would have had a pretty good 2-3 years??? i'd fucken take 2-3 good years right now and hope we could build on it then.... Then we'd hire Shearer who by that time will have had 3 years experience under his belt at Blackburn.

BBC Interview Have a look at his reaction to being asked about the job from 2:35 onwards. He'll come.

That's exactly the same as you wrote it the first time. Oh yeah, i just reread the part you bolded. :-[

There's a long, long list of managers i would rather we turn to before Shearer, but when we're talking about someone like Hughes - who is still relatively inexperienced and unproven (especially with money) himself - i think hiring Shearer would be preferable purely because he would have the fans and dressing room united behind him, that's something we have not had for a long time.

There is no chance Hughes would reject it if offered, he's clearly frustrated by a lack of funds at Blackburn. I'd almost rather Shearer, so much of professional sport is about confidence and he would instill more in a Newcastle squad.

Tottenham have a better manager than any of those listed, unfortunately. Liverpool will ease into 4th this year, too much quality.

Thinly-veiled come and get me plea to Mort, if you ask me.

Given Carr Taylor Edgar Enrique Rozehnal Emre LuaLua Duff N'Zogbia Owen I thought the 4-2-3-1 looked quite good at times on Saturday, but it relies heavily on having two ball-playing central midfielders. Milner has been awful of late whilst Kazenga looked quite comfortable in possession during his cameo last week, so i'd give him another run out against the Championship defence. Edgar in would be the only other change, Caçapa has really struggled against physical strikers and Stoke have two of them in Sidibe and Fuller.

I'm tempted to say he's the most talented of the lot, not forgetting his devolpment has been severely hampered over the last 18 months after first being dropped by Roeder and then played out of position by Allardyce. He doesn't quite have the pace of Lennon, crossing ability of Young or the footballing brain of Bentley; but he is quick, technically gifted, very strong and most importantly composed on the ball. A perfect examaple of that was his goal against Blackburn a couple of season ago, a chance i wouldn't back the others to create and finish now, nevermind when they were still teenagers. His main weakness is probably the fact he's always looking to beat his man or cut inside and produce something spectacular, he's yet to master when to keep it simple and play the quick short pass. Out of that list, Bentley and Young are currently more effective, but i'd tip N'Zogbia to become the best player. Comfortably the most promising player in our squad, i just hope we can hold on to him. There would be no ceiling on what he could achieve under a coach like Wenger.

van Gaal is still 66-1 on Skybet, might be worth a bet. He has the most attacking philosophy of the three and would definitely accept it if offered.

that's entirely your problem, mate.. if you choose to ignore the last 10 seasons of miracle saves, that's ok.. you're not the first short-sighted delusional fucker in here just try to resist the temptation of picking on the only player that's left in the club, who has proved that he's top class and cares for the club and show some respect. thank you and good night Eh? I didn't start the thread, i think Given is more than good enough for us. My point was that his shot-stopping is occasionally overrated due to the sheer volume of chances our defence concedes. Today, for example, people are saying it would been double the scoreline without him whereas i didn't see one save i wouldn't have expected the average goalkeeper in this league to make.

I do rate Given as shot-stopper but with the amount of action he gets behind our defence he does tend to make strings of routine saves look spectacular.

Completely unsighted by a wall which jumped over the ball for the first. Put under stupid pressure by Cacapa and Enrique for the second. I hate the agendas people have against players. If it wasn't for Given today it would have been 12-0. Do you mean if we had been playing without anyone in goal? I can't recall more than one save from Given that i wouldn't have expected the average Premier League goalkeeper to make.

Only reason i was watching it again.

Arsenal do lack natural width on the left.

Oh fuck off.