Yorkie

Don't think i've watched an avatar over and over again like i have that one.

No, he really was shit and past it actually Nah mate, he wasn't. 19 goals that season. He said that he thought his performances had continued at a level he was happy with and rightly so. He wasn't particularly good in his last season, but like i say, he still reached 14 goals. He deserved the record. He missed far too many matches - three major career injuries is what he had. Like he said, he's had somebody else's there.

Controversial indeed. You mention that one of your reasons for disliking him was because we just lumped the ball forward to him all the time. I would agree, it's not pretty to watch, but is that Shearer's fault? Did he pick the team and did he define the tactics before each game? Same with this God-like status he acquired. I can't say i'm a big fan of it all, in spite of how much i love Shearer, but he didn't ask for it did he? I'll give you credit for attempting to reason your decision, which one or two people have refrained from doing, and subsequently just looked like idiots, but i think your comment about him being 'selfish' is just daft. In that season that he announced that he would stay on - he scored 19 goals. It was hardly as if he was shit and past it. The legs hadn't compeltely gone had they? Selfish for crying out loud? He was a centre-forward, and he was a Newcastle hero and he wanted the record badly because it was something that he deserved. He wasn't great in his final season, but for all his statuesque nothingness ( ), he still went into double figures. Again. And besides, in playing terms - all good centre-forwards are selfish.

GREAT shout, another one that i considered putting, but thought he was decent enough not to be lumped in there. Plus we acquired a tasty £8m in return for his services.

You genuinely are one of the most sinfully boring posters.

Harsh. He's been poorly. The diseased, overrated, mediocre little shit for brains.......ah, thats better. Unbelievable, tbh. Honestly don't understand some of the slating Dyer gets on here. Really? Oh well. Maybe, when you stop believing he is an international-standard, creative player who actually contributes anything tangible, you'll come to your senses. Good luck with that. Utter bullshit, but agree entirely with The Jan. This has the potential to be a decent thread so i'm not going to go on about something this nonsencial and typically Northern Monkey-like. My dad's happy to help, btw.

Harsh. He's been poorly. The diseased, overrated, mediocre little shit for brains.......ah, thats better. Unbelievable, tbh. Honestly don't understand some of the slating Dyer gets on here.

Actually thought of putting Barton tbh. I can remember, like 97/98 season or something like that, my dad and i thought Barton and Albert were absolutely shite. Albert was class before that, though.

Yes.

I reckon Cort would have been great for us if he'd stayed fit. Great player underneath it all, and Bobby loved him. He could have turned him into a special player.

Cheat.

I reckon Emre's a class player in all honesty, and he could have been so good for us. I'd love to see him in a team like Arsenal - who play good, penetrating football on the floor - short passes, a sheer driving force. That's what Emre's so good at - driving forward and stirring things up. Even if he were to stay, it just won't have worked out for him here. 1, because of the injuries to him, 2, because of the injuries to players around him, 3, because of the general averageness of the team itself, and 4, he's never been used properly. Or very rarely. I really like Emre, but we won't have missed him if he goes.

The first one i'd have to mention, would undoubteldy be Titus Bramble. It's pained me to see him stay at this club for five years, it's beyond belief in fairness, when he was abnormally shit from the very off and has improved only a miniscule amount. Whatever potential he had has oficially extinguished and it's players like him who have held the team, the squad and generally the club, back. I know i'll look back in ten years time, not remembering Bramble's few good runs where he was excellent, i'll look back and think: God. He was shite. Alessandro Pistone. He was just average. He was never really anything, was he? He was average-to-shit and one of the players that epitomised the era. Average-to-shit. We were crap at that time, finishing 13th in back to back seasons, and Pistone was just one of those players that was never, ever, going to do anything for us - despite his big reputation when he came. That attempt at a tackle against Overmars. Oh. Oh! A typical Newcastle wing-back of the modern era, you could say. Finding it difficult to pick out a third one. It would have to be somebody like Jenas, who just couldn't care less come the end of it all and was simply shite. Andreas Andersson might be a decent suggestion. Man. He was crap.

I've always thought Celtic Park looked very similar to the new St James'. Especially photos from inside Parkhead - as if looking at the 'Leazes'. Looked very similar.

What he fuck do you achieve from having 'maybe' as a poll option?

Just aswell anyway i suppose... there's some cracking bosmans available this summer.

Going back to my previous point... it really is hilarious how he feels that superstar, world class manager, Glenn Roeder - is the man to lead this super-club to the height of the Champions League, and competing with the Chelseas and Man Utds for the championship. We'll get relegated before we challenge for the title again, never mind how fucking big the stadium is.

Is there? The finances the other day suggest otherwise. I bet you any money (pun intended ) that we'll spend in excess of £10m this transfer window. Probably over £15m. Roeder isn't going to lie... he's been looking at big money players all season, and has continued to in the close season, and he has said that the money is there. What is £6.9m to a Premiership club after all?

However, if he feels that Glenn Roeder is the master to take us to glory and lead this super-club that he sees in the future, then he's just as deluded as we thought.

It is poor timing, but its something we need to do. The only thing making us a 'big' club right now is our fanbase, so the expansion makes sure we keep that going and keep it rising. We've had the 2nd biggest ground in the league for ages, now its the 3rd, and in two seasons it will be the 4th, i for one hope we get it back to 2nd, and fill it. If its finished by the 2008/09 season (one after next) and were on the up again, it wont seem a bad idea. Maybe he has some plans in the summer, maybe that extra £20m is going straight on 3 new defenders, would be a good start. Aye, agreed tbh. It's a fairly exciting project, i reckon. There's a slight concern as to whether or not we'll fill it, but i bet we will. Whether the atmosphere stays the same/improves, is another matter. That's a lot of money aswell, but the arguments for "why aren't you spending it on players?" are just daft tbh. There's clearly money to spend in the summer and it will get spent. I don't think people need to worry about that.

None of which explains poor touch or movement. I've said he's done well to score as many goals as he has, but nobody can tell me that the lad has good touch or good movement, and he will always be a very limited player unless he (with the help of coaching) sorts that out. I hope he does. It's unlikely he'll do that in a black and white shirt.

We have a winner.

Can't bare to see him given £10/15/20m to spend, when somebody competent could have it. I've really changed my tune on Roeder. He will be, undoubtedly.

Not his game and I doubt it ever will be Ally. This is where the absence of Michael Owen is mostly felt. Thanks for making my point before i posted it.

I like Martins, absolutely no question about it - and i think that he has the potential to develop into a marvellous player. To compare him to Peter Crouch is difficult in my opinion, because they're different sort of players. The sad thing for Martins this season, and along with his age and inexperience in this league, i think one of the main reasons for why we haven't seen the best of him this term - is because he's been played as the centre-forward. Crouch is a centre-forward. He works inside the box. He makes the runs to the near and far post. He's the one that charges into the box looking for the header. He's the one who plays on the shoulder of defenders, bustling them out of the way. He's the one that, with his back to goal, he should be turning and shooting on target. That is a centre-forward. Martins isn't. And he's been relied on because we haven't had another centre-forward in the squad, because Shola's been out. Sibierski plays behind Martins and so does Dyer, so it's been unfortunate. That's why i feel it is difficult to compare Martins to Crouch - because they're different players. But Martins has been forced into an 'un-natural' position, so Crouch is going to win it hands down. What's been unfortunate for Oba, is that he hasn't had the coaching staff or mentor to teach him how to play that role. His main flaw being his positioning. Roeder was a centre-back for crying out loud, he's not going to teach him how to be sublime in the box, getting away from defenders. Martins needed a Shearer to tell him what's what, if that's the position that he was going to be forced to play this season. We need Owen back - a world class striker for inside the penalty area. Then the roles will change and Martins will benefit. Martins is good at making the play, working outside the box, bringing other players into it using the wings. He's not the one who should be make the charging runs in and around the penalty area - and that has been his major flaw this season, undoubtedly - which is where i agree wholeheartedly with Gemmill. I just don't think it's all his fault, if you see what i mean. But i do feel it is a shame that we're picking on one of the our very few bright sparks of, lets face it, a pretty grim season. As for Crouch, he's a player that i've always liked - even when people have continually slated him on here. Funny how people change their tune when he bags a hat-trick. I reckon that he'd have the potential to do brilliantly well here, but knowing Roeder, he'd revert to the pitiful long ball when really - Crouch is very good with the ball at his feet. Just look at his third goal yesterday. Anyhow - Forza Oba.