Yorkie

Cracking argument, btw, Ronaldo.

you don't half talk some shit at times That a fact? Could say exactly the same thing about you mate.

NUFC Player of 2006 Nolberto Solano. I dare say the most consistent figure in our first team this year, despite a poor start to this season. However, his competence and maturity was merely proved by the fact that he has easily slotted into a position that he has barely played in for 6/7 years. Plus, he was immense for us when Roeder came in last season; his goals and his service was a key factor in us climbing the table. NUFC Young Player of 2006 This is a difficult one, because Zoggy has been poor this season, yet Taylor was injured for the first half of 2006. I think that, between the two, N'Zogbia has done more for us in 2006. He scored lots of key goals and got a few assists aswell, he was excellent last season. Taylor has done well, and has improved vastly this season, but he is only one player in a much improved defense. Best game of 2006 Sunderland 1-4 Newcastle. Obviously, that was simply fairytale. That one is my official choice, but to add a bit of variety, i'm going to say 1-0 against Fenerbahce. That's been my favourite so far this season. The atmosphere seemed to be great, and it was a special European night that we haven't seen at St James' for ages. And the loudest cheer all season for me - when Sibierski scored. Awesome game. Worst game of 2006 Newcastle 0-1 Sheffield Utd. That was simply shite. Nowt else to say. Best NUFC Goal of 2006 Nobby Solano's against Everton. That was pure genius to be honest. Parker's against Charlton was good, as was Emre's, but the technique and ability shown in Solano's finish... to curl it with the outside of his boot - from that angle - into the corner of the net: simply delightful. It was a fabulous build-up aswell, with Emre and Bowyer i believe. Best goal conceded in 2006 I hate people that are saying Alonso's. That was a big kick for goodness sake and Harper fell on his arse. Henry's free-kick against us this season was simply brilliant. Jimmy Bullard's was superbly executed aswell, for Wigan last season when Shearer scored his last goals at St James'. Favourite Alan Shearer moment of 2006 The penalty in his testimonial. Special mention to his interview after the Grimsby game. (Although that was probably 2005). Best atmosphere at SJP in 2006 The testimonial, obviously. I can't really comment on this one because i haven't been to any games. Best away game of 2006 The Sunderland one, again for obvious reasons. I'll put the Blackburn one in there aswell - that's probably been my favourite away one this season. Simply because of Martins - this was the game where he really, really blossomed. Two of my favourite goals this year. Plus, i was keeping track of the results with my mate who supports Blackburn, so that was fun. Best opposing player in 2006 Cristiano Ronaldo.

Hughes was shite in his last season. Always thought he was a decent, consistent right-back, but he fell apart when he lost that position.

I dread seeing Cech behind Carr, Baba and Bramble. Given absolutely knocks the spots off him tbh.

Petr Cech is immensely overrated in my opinion. With an average defense infront of him he would have been found out a long time ago. He has concentration issues. :roll: Fortunately, for his sake - his backline tends, or tended, to include John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, William Gallas, Paolo Ferreira, Geremi, Wayne Bridge, Ashley Cole, etc. In no particular order: Shay Given Edwin Van der Sar Jussi Jaaskelainen However, i think Ben Foster is a big talent. Likewise with Scott Carson - he just needs to find a club. :?

Agreed.

If i'm not even in contention for the best avatar one i'll be fucked off. I provide a service tbh.

Aye, Volz - deffo. Have said we should get him in for cover for a while, actually.

These are my (arguably) realistic prospects for the next two transfer windows. Obviously, i'm not expecting us to sign this number of players, but these are what i'd call my preferences. Two names for each position we need strengthening. Lauren - £2/3m? Dunno his contract situation tbh. Won't be surprised if he leaves Arsenal at the end of the season. Eboue, Hoyte and even Gilbert who may been in Wenger's priority above Lauren. He's been plagued with a rotten ankle (don't quote me) injury for the entirety of 2006. But he's an experienced player, who is hard as nails and simply knows what to do. Would improve our defense massively. Lucas Neill - £3/4m or £0. He's a twat, but he's a good full-back who needs a move desperately. Besides which, we need some nails in our defense, Babayaro's a half-hearted ponce, Carr is simply incompetent and Taylor/Ramage are inexperienced. Out of contract at Blackburn in the summer, i believe. Sylvain Distin - £2/3m or £0. He's unlikely to be leaving in January, but i don't think we really need a centre-back in January anyway. I would have liked us to have got Pressley in for cover, but that boat's sailed. Distin is a competent, controlled and experienced defender - who already knows this club; he's a top professional. He'd not only improve the defense itself, but he'd bring on the young lads, plus he's versatile. Madness not to go for him if he's available on a free in the summer. Wes Brown - £5m. Class centre-back when he gets a run in the side at United. If he's going to be available for this sort of rumoured price, it's simply a bargain - despite one or two injury troubles. Wasted at Man Utd, he's never going to properly become a regular in the side there, and if he was - he would have done by now. Doubt he is available, but if he is, it'd be great. Leighton Baines - £7m. We never replaced Olivier Bernard. Not with Taylor or Ramage, not with Babayaro, and Huntington isn't a left-back. It's time that we knew what we were doing with our defense, and paying good money for this sort of quality is what needs to be done. Baiens is already a top quality wing-back, who is simply going to get better. We need to get this guy, he'll sort out our pitiful left-back situation 'once and for all'. It's, without a doubt, the weakest position in our squad, and i'll go mental if we don't sort it out with a proper signing in January or the summer. Gareth Bale - £7m. Same theory as with Baines, but every man and his dog is after Bale, and he's more of a risk than Baines. Darren Bent - £9m This guy has got undoubted quality, but i am umming and ahhing as to whether we actually need another class striker or not, i think we probably just need a stopgap*. I just hope that Bent goes in January, because i can see Pardew keeping Charlton up, and he might stay. But anyway, he'd work fantastically well with Martins in my opinion - because he's a natural goalscorer and Martins is more of a creater. IMO. I'd certainly prefer him to Crouch. We'd have a superb striking line-up if this guy was in our squad. Worth the money in terms of quality, but questionable as to whether we need him or not. * Mark Viduka - £2m. The stopgap. This guy has got quality, no matter what people say, and he is incredibly skillful with his back to goal. However, i would want to bring Viduka on the cheap to play with Martins, and just score goals. Let that be his job, because he's too porky now to playmake - just put him in the box and give him the ball - he'll score, much like Shearer's role in the last two seasons. Positions that are not a necessity: Shaun Wright-Phillips - Loan. He's leaving Chelsea, i think that's a given now. Him coming to Newcastle until the end of the season would work spectacularly for us, and well for Chelsea, and even better for him. It bumps his price up for Chelsea, it helps us gain a European spot, and it gives him regular football and a chance back with the England squad. Milner's turning into a good player, no doubt, but he's got no competition in that position, and despite my liking of the lad - he hasn't got the quality to get us into a top 6 spot, this season. Next season and beyond, definitely. SWP has that quality, and if we got him on loan until the end of the season, i'd be dead chuffed. Lassana Diarra - £4m. Doubt we'd get him, but he'd my ideal replacement for an ageing Butt come next season. Young and highly-rated and DMis his position. But Makelele's just warming his seat apparantely. Giles Barnes - £4m. Major talent, who will end up leaving Derby. So versatile; can play across all of the midfield, and upfront/behind striker, a la Dyer and Sib. I just like him though, i don't think we especially need him. He proably wouldn't make it here - because there's so much competition for places, and there will be upfront next season. Wouldn't be disappointed to see us get him, like. Preferences: Lauren - Summer Wes Brown - Summer Leighton Baines - January Shaun Wright-Phillips - January Darren Bent - January Of course, a lot depends on cost. Do we have the funds or not? We may do by the summer.

Baines. :thup: If we want good defenders and a good defense, it's about time we started paying for one. Boom excluded, of course. £7m on Baines is a fair price for a good defender. If we don't pay good money... expect more Babas.

Why the fuck would Chelsea be after him?

You must have been f***ing fuming when we signed Woodgate!

Damn. We could have done with Charlton winning that.

Can't help but feel we might be missing out there. Capable, experienced, hard-as-nails player going on the cheap. Thought he might have been good for our defense. Ah well.

Yes. We tried the 'softly softly' approach in the summer thinking we could snap up all of our targets in the last few days and it blew up in our faces, if there is money to spend then lets not mess it up this time. We also tried the "let's give them an offer they can't refuse and sign them up quickly" approach two years ago and look what happened. Aye - we signed one of the best strikers in the world if i remember correctly. Are you saying Owen's injury is directly linked to the amount of money we paid for him? Two years ago, December 27th, 2004...5 days later we signed Boumsong. Gotcha.

Yes. We tried the 'softly softly' approach in the summer thinking we could snap up all of our targets in the last few days and it blew up in our faces, if there is money to spend then lets not mess it up this time. We also tried the "let's give them an offer they can't refuse and sign them up quickly" approach two years ago and look what happened. Aye - we signed one of the best strikers in the world if i remember correctly. Are you saying Owen's injury is directly linked to the amount of money we paid for him?

Aye my thoughts aswell, Ive never seen this Krul lad, didnt catch the Palermo game but my dad was adament that he should have started yesterday over Pav. Shame he's injured. Shouldn't have been in the squad if he was injured.

Seriously? Some deals may go through, but you'll be surprised and pissed off if some players don't move until the last moment while waiting out for the best possible deal they can get? I didn't really phrase it correctly. I meant that if we're doing deadline-day panic deals a la Rossi, Sibi, Bernard... it's a pathetic display of management/chairmanship. But i will be disappointed, atleast, if we don't have anyone in fairly early. I don't see why we shouldn't... i bet you that many of the top teams will have put deals through within the first couple of weeks. Why can't we?

If we don't have anyone new through the door within the first half of the month i'll be slightly annoyed. We've had four months or so to conduct any transfer arrangements, etc, aswell as January itself. It's a pathetic show of management/chairmanship if we're doing deals on the last day again. 13th January: Mark Viduka - £2m

We had this the other day.

Don't get me wrong... i'm not slating Roeder for bringing Pav in if he wants him to be a coach, and it's not a particularly bad idea to have a fourth choice goalkeeper. But, like i said previously, if he wanted Srnicek to be a coach - he should have been a coach - not a player. It isn't an uncommon thing to loan a goalkeeper if your situation becomes critical, many teams have done it - and i think i'd rather we did that.

I doubt Butt will have the legs for another season playing consistently in the Premier League, nor the ability. Don't want to sell him, though.

Give him one when he retires, aye. It's shit doing it when they're still playing, like the Rob Lee one. Which everyone has forgotten. Unsurprisingly.

My auntie said almost exactly the same thing. "You mean the one who wears those glasses?"