2sheds

It won't change my mind about Shepherd - I still think he's the last person I'd want to see back. Shearer on the other hand would appear to be stringing the lot of us along with his 'negotiations' with Ashley. Cue another 100 page thread where no blame whatsoever gets apportioned to shearer

^Well said Keefaz

If Given had stayed till the end of the season and we still got relegated the dickheads in this thread would still be calling him a coward for leaving. If I was Given I would have pissed off when Souness became manager and it was obvious we wouldn't see Champions League football again at SJP

Harper, by Premier League standards, is a mediocre goalkeeper. The whole team is mediocre by Premier League standards - that's why we went down. Or is it easier for you to blame one man?

Shay Given has saved this club from relegation on more than one occasion. He has been a fantastic servant to the club in his 12 years here. If I was him i would have pissed off a lot earlier to a team more suited to his talent. To call him a coward shows what dickheads some of our fans can be.

The problem is the contract they legally signed contained a loyalty clause.

Who's thinking and/or saying that? I speculated that if Freddy gets us Big Al would walk away and Fat Fred would try to lure Keegan back. Why would you think Shearer would walk away if Shepherd came back?

Two weeks after relegation and we still don't have a permanent manager. What a fucked up situation.

Goebbels with his gammy leg alongside porky Goering would be more dynamic than those fuckers

Did you actually watch that game?

Indeed that is quite witty

You missed the part where we draw Everton in the cup and the little b****** scores a hat trick against us and rubs his grubby hands together again.

FYP

so he wasn't a leader throughout his international career cos he didn't take a penalty ? and i would have both batty and southgate up before adams. Why? Batty had never taken a penalty before that miss in 1998 yet he still showed more leadership qualities in doing so than Adams, who was hiding in the centre circle at the time. Again it's back to 'lead by example' because he had more ball skill than adams.......i'd rather beye than bassong take a penalty type thing. also that one incident means he wasn't a leader throughout his time as an international ? One incident? WTF are you on about? Did you watch Euro 96 when we had a few penalty shoot outs (without Adams volunteering to step up at any time) or the 98 World Cup where again Adams went missing at the crucial time? Or did you think both Southgate and Batty missed pens on the same day? or maybe he thought he wasn't very good at penalties Or maybe he didn't want to take the responsibility himself.

so he wasn't a leader throughout his international career cos he didn't take a penalty ? and i would have both batty and southgate up before adams. Why? Batty had never taken a penalty before that miss in 1998 yet he still showed more leadership qualities in doing so than Adams, who was hiding in the centre circle at the time. Again it's back to 'lead by example' because he had more ball skill than adams.......i'd rather beye than bassong take a penalty type thing. also that one incident means he wasn't a leader throughout his time as an international ? One incident? WTF are you on about? Did you watch Euro 96 when we had a few penalty shoot outs (without Adams volunteering to step up at any time) or the 98 World Cup where again Adams went missing at the crucial time? Or did you think both Southgate and Batty missed pens on the same day?

so he wasn't a leader throughout his international career cos he didn't take a penalty ? and i would have both batty and southgate up before adams. Why? Batty had never taken a penalty before that miss in 1998 yet he still showed more leadership qualities in doing so than Adams, who was hiding in the centre circle at the time. Again it's back to 'lead by example'

Without starting a pyramid Madras I would say the time for Adams to show he was a leader was when David Batty is offering to take a penalty. Or Gareth Southgate. In fact did he ever step up to the mark and take the responsibility for taking a penalty himself?

I know I can't really back up this following statement, but in my opinion ... If Owen isn't captain and say Beye or even Butt was I believe we stay up. We missed staying up by one point. I believe a more vocal and instructive leader would have at least got one more point for us this season in one of the many close calls we had when we just needed that extra push. How demoralising it must have been to see the club captain so quiet, sour faced and dejected when were struggling. well beye or even butt should have a long hard look at themselves if they feel they need an arm band to be vocal and lead. I really wonder what our captain was ike off the pitch you know ... Through all those tought imes, did he ever take it upon himself to get the guys together on an off day and just hang out and try and kick back and get the team morale up and bond a bit? Without the manager or any of the coaches around? It's these little things that sometimes make all the difference. Owen's more likely to have been straight into his helicopter and out of the city. People talk about the owner not living in the city. The captain of the team didn't! Crazy stuff. why couldn't anyone else do it. did tony adams become a shrinking violet cos shearer was his captain when playing for england. no. the captain wears the armband and calls heads or tails. you don't need the arm band to lead Adams is a bad example to quote he hid whenever England had to take penalties. Where was the 'lead by example' ethic there? Also I remember the t*** in the papers whinging that he should be the captain instead of Shearer, then criticising Al for retiring from international duty. 'I'd never turn my back on my country' he said........................before retiring from internationals himself a few games later have it your way then. tony adams wasn't a leader. Well you did specifically quote Adams on England duty when he was far from a leader. Clubwise I would agree with you but not for international duty.

Not really Ian I've seen us relegated 3 times and this current bunch is a shower of shit compared to the other two times. Each time we have spent a good few seasons outside the top division so there is nothing to suggest we will bounce straight back or even not drop down a further division. It's not what I hope for it's just the way I see it playing out.

At least 5 seasons outside the Premier League with possibly one or two seasons in the old third division

I know I can't really back up this following statement, but in my opinion ... If Owen isn't captain and say Beye or even Butt was I believe we stay up. We missed staying up by one point. I believe a more vocal and instructive leader would have at least got one more point for us this season in one of the many close calls we had when we just needed that extra push. How demoralising it must have been to see the club captain so quiet, sour faced and dejected when were struggling. well beye or even butt should have a long hard look at themselves if they feel they need an arm band to be vocal and lead. I really wonder what our captain was ike off the pitch you know ... Through all those tought imes, did he ever take it upon himself to get the guys together on an off day and just hang out and try and kick back and get the team morale up and bond a bit? Without the manager or any of the coaches around? It's these little things that sometimes make all the difference. Owen's more likely to have been straight into his helicopter and out of the city. People talk about the owner not living in the city. The captain of the team didn't! Crazy stuff. why couldn't anyone else do it. did tony adams become a shrinking violet cos shearer was his captain when playing for england. no. the captain wears the armband and calls heads or tails. you don't need the arm band to lead Adams is a bad example to quote he hid whenever England had to take penalties. Where was the 'lead by example' ethic there? Also I remember the twat in the papers whinging that he should be the captain instead of Shearer, then criticising Al for retiring from international duty. 'I'd never turn my back on my country' he said........................before retiring from internationals himself a few games later

"You are not going to take the p*** out of this football club and you are not going to take the p*** out of this city." With these words Alan Shearer addressed a small gathering of malingering Newcastle United players one morning last week at the club's Benton training ground. http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/player-power-and-low-standards-the-real-problem-1729603.html Quite ironic really considering these alleged wages demands, on top of the reportedly £250K per game he got for taking us down.

Nail. On. Head. Great post. +1 FFS back would be the ultimate punchline for the year we've just had. Excellent post Joe 90

I wonder how the relationship is between Ashley and Wise these days? His faith in this odious little spunk bubble looks like it will cost him around £140 million, well done Mike