Yorkie

Wonder where the hell we'd be now if we'd appointed him. I tell you what, if someone had offered me one of Steve Bruce or Graeme Souness after Bobby was sacked, i would have taken Souness. Cannot stand Bruce.

Great news, absolutely, but when he broke his foot last season, at one point he was scheduled to be back for the end of March. It's certainly good news but i still don't expect to see him either until very late in the season, or not at all. Not saying i know better, i'm just being cautious. We wouldn't want to rush him back and he could very easily have a setback. Just not getting too excited just yet.

Ok, I thought you really meant to buy Melchiot for 2m. PS 7m for Bent or 7m for Baines, I would definitely go for Bent. *Implodes*

Yeah... i was just being hypothetical.

Apart from the bold bit, that's exactly what i'm thinking. Glad you read back throuh my post, thanks. If i had the choice of: A. £7m for Bent/Crouch and £2m for Melchiot or B. £7m for Baines and £2m for Viduka ... I'd take B. That's what i was saying, because i think the we're of a greater need of a quality defender than a quality striker.

Big pro-sign defenders post. How old are you? 14 or something? Boumsong made his name at Auxerre, and was class alongside Mexes, which earned both of them places in the France squad, he was nout special at Rangers. If Oba is fucked, we are fucked, Charlton and Sheff U at home are examples of this. Obviously I want a decent defence, but I think you can spend less on a left back and get a makeshift one in untill the summer, whereas if Oba gets injured(and probably will) we could be pulled back into the relegation dogfight. Mate, i never said we shouldn't buy a striker - because we should, definitely. I just don't want to see us spending loads on one. I said either in that big one or in a previous one, that i'd rather go for a cheap gamble like Beattie or Viduka, and concentrate our cash on the defense. Rather than an expensive gamble on a big-name striker that we wouldn't need anyway. And btw, i'm 15. Why that should make a difference i don't really know - i can still use a keyboard and construct an opinion. Don't be so judgemental.

No, Martins was genuinely trying to use the quality that he has to score, but it didn't come off. Jenas just didn't have the quality. The lanky wankfuck.

YES! I love doing uber-posts.

It was a poor penalty, but he was trying to put it in the corner... he wasn't trying to chip it. :? I don't know, it looked to me by his body shape like he was trying to chip it up into top corner. I can't see how he got it that high and wide if he was just trying to put it in the corner. A chip to the top corner? now that would be taking the piss if he tried that I know. You're talking shite Stozo mate. ;-) Crap penalty, absolutely - but he was trying to chip it? :shock:

Except no fucker in the squad can play well at left-back. Huntington's shown promise, but if that's his best position then i'm Ziggy Stardust. It's OK spending threpence on a striker, because it isn't quite as vital a player. They're either going to work out or not and if they don't, it's not the end of the world - 11 men in the squad can score goals. However, when you spend nowt or very little on a defender, especially a wing-back, it's a much bigger gamble. If they don't work out - it's catastrophic because it's a so much more fragile position. I'm sick of us not identifying the main problem in the team - we don't spend on the defense often enough, yet the money is there. Yes, we paid for Boumsong, but we should never have really - hindsight is a wonderful thing and we should never have paid £8m on a defender who wasn't good enough for Auxerre, yet was lightning in the Scottish league. It was senseless really. Especially when we could have had him for nowt in the summer. :roll: Just shows you how shit Souness was at lots of things. The only other defender we paid for was Woodgate - which was a brilliant signing, and his injuries weren't our fault. We were right to go for that sort of player - that was good initiative. Woodgate had top quality and he would sort out our defense. He did when he played but we/he was just unlucky. We were right to get rid at the time aswell. And you look at the other defenders we've brought in. £1m on Baba. £2m on Carr. Nowt on Moore. £4m on Bramble. £0 on Bernard. Ramage, Huntington, etc - all cheap academy lads. It's crap wheeling and dealing and poor management on the whole, from both Souness and Roeder, when you look at how SHIT our defense has been for the last ten years and beyond. More Woodgate-type signings please! Identify quality... sign it. Fucks sake. :roll:

I haven't been here long... how did the awards used to be done? I think Taylor27 should be shown apprecation for organising the whole thing - he didn't have to did he - but 35 people isn't many, out of well over 100 who post regularly on the board. Is there a better method that has ben used before, that shoul dbe used for next time round?

It was a poor penalty, but he was trying to put it in the corner... he wasn't trying to chip it. :?

Fucks sake, not picking on you particularly but to even suggest the Roeder is going after Melchiot based on speculation by Planetfootball is insane. The article had no quotes from anybody and no other credible site is covering the story. Why i said "if" tbh mate.

Well done everybody! This one tickled me... So KR, Taylor, Bobyule... then everybody else.

Our opinions differ. ;-) Not saying we should or will break the bank, i'm just saying that if we were to - i'd rather we did it on a defender than a striker. But, if Roeder's going after the likes of Mario Melchiot, he is clearly saving a hefty wedge of his budget for a striker. Not needed IMO. I'd much rather we go after a £2m Viduka or a £3m Beattie than spend £8m or whatever on Peter Crouch, or someone.

You reckon? Seriously? The defenders will return from injury. What happens if Martins is injured? Serious question. Unfair to rely on Martins anyway, imo. I don't think he's a serial goalscorer*. We need defenders aswell as a striker in January. But we crave defenders - absolutely no doubt about it. Martins might score a goal every single game, but if we continue to concede two every game aswell, then we're screwed. We need quality defenders - because we're very, very short on them. I'd much rather we broke the bank in an attempt to improve the defense than the attack, which is something we simply do not need to do. *And before people jump on my back and say that i'm only stating that cos he missed a penalty today, i've actually been saying that all season.

I think you do.

We'll get mullered and people will go back to calling for Roeder's head. I dread to think what they'll be saying after the Tottenham game aswell.

Unfortunately, i'm not surprised by anything to do with Newcastle and transfers anymore. I'll take everything with a pinch of salt, because you just have to, but i'll always believe there to be a certain degree of truth in something. Simply because it's Newcastle.

But surely he should use his skills to appoint a manager capable of picking the best team, instead of one that would rather change a winning formula? Alex Ferguson changes winning formulas. Aye, he has Man Utd's squad aswell. Knew the Roeder wankfest would capitulate after these games. Two more losses against Man Utd and Tottenham and people will return to the wrist-slitting. Very, very predictable and the whole Roeder thing is very knee-jerk, whether opinions swing from good to bad. Not criticising Ohmelads here, i think he's spot on. It's the other Roeder thread - effectively the complete opposite to this one - that i believed to be knee-jerk.

:roll: :roll:

Would have loved to have seen what he could do with our squad, which i still believe is far superior to Villa's, at his disposal.

That's an excellent point actually. And Wullie - totally disagree. He's still got to put it in the back of the net, hasn't he. ;-)

I love Oba.

I think Emre's got massive potential. So long as we play him with the right players (player - Butt). I wouldn't like to see us sell him. Barton would be a decent replacement if we do, though.