Nate

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.

Commentator on Owen's 'goal': "And for Nigel Pearson, that decision could be the difference between him being given the top job full time and being unemployed in a couple of weeks."

This formation could be working if Butt and Smith weren't so poor is possession.

I thought Pearson would at least play an attacking 4-4-2 and have a go, what have we to lose?

I wouldn't put it past us to get something here, looking forward to it after all the off-field chaos of the last few days.

Wolverhampton 0-3 Crystal Palace. Warnock has to be applauded for the job he's doing there, very good Championship manager. ...and Barnsley 1-3 Norwich.

...just a bit. To sack Sam at such a ridiculous time without, now we find, anybody at all lined up is scarily reminiscent of Shepherd's decision to sack Bobby. Yet what would have happened if they'd tried to find out for sure about Redknapp before sacking Allardyce? We'd have a situation where we approached another manager with Allardyce still in charge, had that manager turn us down publically as Allardyce sits in the background still Newcastle United manager. What would people say then "Its a shambles, they should have let Allardyce go if they wanted another manager, now he's been undermined and we have nowhere to go from here but to sack him". How can they win with some people around here? There's a way of doing things. Ashley's best friend is very well acquainted with Redknapp, i'm sure it wouldn't have been difficult to find out if he was interested without the press getting hold of it.

Yes but Rozy, Cacapa & Enrique have been a waste of time, you could include Geremi in that as well. So 2 out of 6, not great is it? No, it's not great, but he didn't make a solitary 'decent' signing in midfield or attack.

'Alot of his signings, certainly the defensive ones, haven't been good enough.' - Paul Walsh. Sam's only decent signings were defensive ones.

Harry confirming he met with and was made a massive offer by Chris Mort last night. Good interview from Redknapp, to be fair, hold no grudges against him.

...just a bit. To sack Sam at such a ridiculous time without, now we find, anybody at all lined up is scarily reminiscent of Shepherd's decision to sack Bobby.

The club reiterating the fact they want an experienced manager appears to be a blunt message to Shearer. Now i'm clinging to the faint hope that experienced manager isn't Redknapp.