Raconteur

The man is a legend... for the Socceroos Good to see the Duke smiling again - I know he gets hammered for being a fat Aussie bastard but I love him and long may he play well for the Toon!

Ouch!

But stability isn't what he wants. He could have sat and bided his time at Arsenal but he didn't. He could have stuck with the U21's but he didn't. He now wants to move on and chances are he will move upwards, but he has the attitude that could lead to him taking a chance on what might be, and if you are going to gamble, Keegan is the man to back. The highlighted part is the flaw in the argument of those who think Bentley might come here this summer. Read the quotes carefully - he's talking very specifically about the next two seasons (after the current one). It seems to me he wants to play European football for both of those seasons - which we can't offer him. We can offer the chance of European football in the season leading up to the World Cup, but that's it. I'd be very surprised if he left for any club not in the top four, although he's a chance to go to a club like Everton or Villa. But not us - and using that logic probably not Spuds either

Isn't his shooting and crossing meant to be a bit weak? That's akin to saying Titus was a bit clumsy...

I can see this going pear-shaped - all this talk in the press puts pressure on Shola, plus the warnings that Stoke's fans are even more demanding than our own... Good luck Shola, you might need it son!

A golden moment - and more joy than NUFC has offered in a long time

4-3-3 at White Hart Lane would be risky to say the least - and then the question becomes "Does Keegan have the balls to drop one of the strikers?"

We must also prepare ourselves for the possibility of Oba on the right with little Mickey and either Smith or Viduka up front...

What about Yobo?

Fair call - "significant money" is a relative term though. Significant compared to Ashley's personal fortune? Or relative to the club's bottom line? I dunno - I see all these responses assuming an enormous transfer kitty for Keegan but I'm wondering where all the positivity comes from? Look at the gossip gdm shared - Scotty Mac for Christ's sake? We've already got Shola and Carroll - another fat Aussie (disclaimer - I too am a fat Aussie!) will not catapult us into the Euro places. If we sell little Mickey then we need to trade up, not down... And even if 24m is a number made up by the press, does anyone think 24m will buy the six-eight international class players we need to compete for Europe, or even the cups? Maybe I've read too many posts by NE5 - but maybe he makes a good point when he suggests we are blinded by love for Big Mike?

If the club were offered £9m for Owen I'm sure they'd rip their arm off they'd take it so fast. If we sold Owen for £9m it wouldn't mean his replacement would have to cost £9m maximum. Mike Ashley is loaded! Having said that, we'd possibly use the scouting network to identify up and coming strikers in Europe rather than blow fortunes on already established 'super stars'. Without wanting to sound like a well known poster - the evidence thus far indicates that transfers are to be self-financing. Ashley has given no indication he intends to spend bucket-loads of cash... Or maybe the current predicament has me so down that I'm simply worst-casing everything...

No surprise there - I'm sure someone running a book on Keegan not lasting the season let alone starting the 08/09 campaign

What was the figure that little Mickey could be sold for this summer? Something like 9m was floated last year - would everyone be happy with 9m for Owen? The only question is replacement - if Bent cost 18m, what would 9m buy?

Smith doesn't pick the team,but Keegan does tbh. No, but he can say "Look gaffer, I'm not on top of my game and I know the boys are grumbling. How about sticking me in the stiffs for a week or two?"

Wrong, wrong, wrong. He looked shite, he was shite. Even against appalling opposition he showed he just doesn't have enough in his locker to lead the line for Australia. I spent the whole game wondering exactly how shite the SPL must be if Scotty Mac is shining. He is so far from what we need at NUFC it is not funny - and I would love Aussie players at the Toon. Maybe if we went for Bresciano or Culina that would be different...

That seems to be the general consensus mate, the problem being if the majority of us can pick that team, how come or recent string of managers don't! With 71 voters so far the majority team stands as: ----------------------------------HARPER-------------------------------------- BEYE-----------------FAYE---------------CACAPA------------------ENRIQUE MILNER--------------EMRE--------------N'ZOGBIA--------------------DUFF -----------------------OWEN-------------MARTINS------------------------------ That has the look of a more continental ball playing football team which would suit Keegans typical style of football. A bit light weight in midfield but probably from a technical perspective our best "footballing" team. Looking at that team though, it looks awfully soft in the middle. Instead, my team is soft at the back: Taylor and Cacapa, with Geremi and Faye in front of them

That is indeed an excellent question

Nothing compared to Di Canio. Didn't he get nine games or something like that? Vukovic got nine months! In the vein of turning this into a general A-League thread I saw an interesting interview with Craig Johnstone I thought I'd share. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=511583&root=global&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2&cc=3436 Ten years old, I was, when Johnstone scored that goal. Just, wow! Love the "surfing for England" line too - it was true then but certainly not now...

Why? From the regular reserve watchers I haven't heard many good things about him - a distant fourth in line behind Krul. And who knows, perhaps young Soderberg can take advantage of Foster's absence from the reserve team to stake a claim to that "fourth choice" slot... There are those who would suggest Taylor has some responsibilty for us being an "awful team" at the moment...

Personally I think there's more hype than substance to Djite, but on the few occasions I've seen him play he has a sort of "fan's favourite" about him - he's big and fast and exciting, but I don't think he has enough...

Dida is out with a back injury - Aussie keeper Zelkjo Kalac, who had been playing in recent weeks, is very doubtful with a dislocated finger. Carlo Ancellotti made the staggeringly insightful comment :"For a goalkeeper a finger is very important" http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=509307&cc=3436

Depends entirely if there truly is a bottomless pot of gold, really. If there is, then try and get someone in who is guarenteed better than Given and will be for years to come, and be done with - no more goalkeeping situation...

I dont think he is assistant manager, i think he will just be coaching the first team. IIRC he started off coaching the u18 keepers then after Roy Tunks left with Souness he got promoted to first team keeper coach for a while, he then decided to concentrate on coaching outfield rather than goalkeepers when Roeder? brought in Terry Gennoe then he started coaching the reserves then got promoted to Reserve Team Manager now first team coach. With all the backroom comings and goings amongst the coaching staff it's little surprise that those who survive get promoted quickly. I remember Lee Clark changing from part-time coach to having an influential role beside Roeder indeed being lured away from the Toon by Roeder - maybe the cream rises to the top...?

Far be it from me to try and add some positivity to this thread, but it seems no one has considered the following scenario - Keegan has had a look at our midfield and defence and decided that Rozenhal and Faye (yes, I know KK hasn't seen the Africans, but he does have a backroom) are needed in the midfield, thus leaving us shorter in defence than might otherwise have been thought...?

Be sure and paste that one into the "media hate" thread