Yorkie

It's like a mutiny. I personally feel that Bramble no longer has potential, therefore Ramage has more.

Aye, Shearer's was at the Leazes, near-post. Kezman equalised from a penalty at the same end, then Speed scored at the Gallowgate.

Well OK, that's fair enough Ally if you think that. I can't really argue with you if you think Ramage has no ability at all... I think Ramage has the ability and can be nurtured... I think Bramble has the ability but cannot be nurtured... That's where we think differently... We'll agree to disagree mate. EDIT: Same to Jon, n'all.

What i'm saying there is that, yes - i was wrong about Ramage's age - but in this case it's simply irrelevant... Ramage can be matured - Bramble cannot.

Nah mate... we played the first leg in Eindhoven. It finished 1-1, Jenas scored just before half-time. In the second leg Shearer and Speed scored.

Truth is, Bramble's crap - always has been and will not improve. Ramage on the other hand, will probably improve. Let him see out his contract atleast, and if he shows no signs of promise, let him go. Bramble, on the other hand, is too far gone and the blinding mistakes will never be ironed out. He simply doesn't deserve a contract and it's pointless keeping him on. We're just going backwards if we 'reward' Titus with another contract.

This, and Moore. Leaving us very thin on the ground, and with our recent transfer window debarcles, i can hardly be convinced that we'd replace (and improve) the defensive squad. Just get rid of Bramble. Ramage will mature and Moore is a useful old head.

Absolutely beyond me how people can still say that to be completely honest. Bramble has done absolutely fuck all except mess up our defense in his five years ( how on Earth?) here. He's been under three different manager, one of which was top class and the other two former defensive players, and none have been able to sort him out. He's 25 now and he's not even brinked on the England squad, and for a 'young' centre-back who's apparantely a monster who's gonna be immense, that is plain pitiful. The best part of his Newcastle career came in a 7 or 8 game period at the end of last season, when everybody was playing well. He's shit... always has been and always will be. Ramage on the other hand, on the whole, has looked relatively promising who's just never going to be a world beater. He's only 21 and there is time to iron out the mistakes and develop him into a half-decent defender. The likes of Roeder and Pearson can do that. Bramble on the other hand, it's just too late.

We WON that PSV game, Muzhibs. 2-1. Welcome, btw.

Pie-in-the-sky clarification: Steven Taylor Curtis Davies - presuming we sign him for say £6/7m Oguchi Onyewu - presuming he does well enough to stay Peter Ramage David Edgar Paul Huntington I'd be content with that... Moore might stay aswell which would be helpful. We could even snap up the likes of Tal Ben Haim and Sylvain Distin for frees in the summer. Would definitely go in for Ben Haim; it wouldn't be Campbell mark II either, cos the Israeli's only like 24.

Ramage - not great, but has shown far more potential than Bramble and is arguably versatile. Plus, Ramage has got a lot of years ahead of him and will probably mature under Pearson and Roeder. Bramble - has failed miserably at Newcastle, proving that he was never good enough and never will be. Has to be time to get rid of this total liability and halt people from lying about how he's gonna be an awesome player. Has failed under three different managers and simply cannot be fixed. Ramage > Bramble for me, Captain Underpants.

Just had a look at Gooch's stats this season... Dang - he can't play in the UEFA Cup.

Anyone who doesn't pick Given for that team is off their tits.

Indeed, HTT... If we sign Babel (doubtful, i know, but we don't appear to have dropped interest) and Piquionne does well - next season we'll have an attack line up of: Martins Owen Babel Ameobi Piquionne Sibierski Dyer I'd be content with... Martins Owen Ameobi Dyer Sibierski TBH. There's nowt wrong with our strike squad. Well, not next season anyway. Glenn's right to be simply going after a stop-gap until the end of the season. I can't say that Piquionne was my initial choice, , but he'll do.

Cheeky shit.

Yi wat?

Toontownman... Notice how we scored our two second half goals when Dyer advanced into a more attacking position. Dyer was playing far too deep for the first half and part of the second, and it was being played up to Sibierski all the time - who was doing nowt for Martins. Dyer advanced and hey presto.

Duff can still be a decent signing for us. If he continues in the vain of form that we saw prior to his injury, i'd be surprised. I can't imagine he'll return to his best any time soon, but he'll certainly improve. Hopefully he can follow in Martins footsteps and come back from injury raring to go.

Dyer's record is shit and he isn't a whippersnapper either. My point being that the Dyer-Martins combo has already proven to be a good partnership - producing goals and causing danger. Not especially displeased with the Piquionne signing - i just hope he hasn't been brought here to be Martins strike partner. As others have said... it's decent cover and better than the likes of Sibierski/Luque. I've really fallen for the Dyer-Martins partnership, though, and i feel there is no need changing it. A, because it works, and B, Dyer appears incapable of effecting a game from a midfield position anymore.

Well, it's a player isn't it. That record is shite and it's hardly as if he's a whippersnapper. Dyer---Martins all the way.

Not thrilled. Not disappointed. First signing: 29th January. Not surprised.

Means nowt. They're doing a countdown until Thursday morning.

Agreed, from Christmas onwards 4th was there for the taking - we were rank. Lost three games from Christmas onwards. We weren't rank - Liverpool were too good.

John's a shitearse.

Not sacked Sir Bobby. Bobby was in the middle of developing a team. It was a team that, under a great manager like Bobby Robson, would have gone on and won things in the next two or three years. He brought in some good younger players that were quickly turning into superb superb senior players. I'm talking about the likes of Ambrose, Milner, Bellamy, Robert, Jenas, N'Zogbia; those sort of players. These were the ones who had shown promising signs under Bobby (obviously not Milner and Zoggy at this point), and were going to develop into cracking players. Unfortunately, Souness was brought in and he crucified all of that. Ambrose and Milner went through a period of never playing, and it was just daft. Bobby was nurturing them and progressing them, and as a whole, the team was progreessing. We got knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the semi-final and didn't finish fourth. We were never going to do either of those things and it would be unfair to think so, because our squad didn't have the required experience. You have to remember that our triumphs of the Champions League progress and finishing third came with the help of an experienced (mobile) Shearer, Rob Lee, Gary Speed, etc. We didn't really have that balance Bobby's last full season - it was a very young squad that wasn't going to win a trophy at that point. But after a couple more years under Bobby's guidance, and say that it probably would have done. Sir Bob was stopped in his tracks and it was disgraceful. On the other hand, the disgraceful thing arguably wasn't Robson's sacking, but Souness' appointment. Had we have appointed a Benitez or a Hitzfeld at that point, we might have got by, but i still say we should have kept Bobby.