GM

It's not just about the failure of Shola Ameobi to be half-decent footballer worth his probably ridiculous salary. It's about the consistent failure of Newcastle United's owners and managers over the past decade to recognise that the lad is an average Championship player at best. To that extent, the phrase "about as effective as a solar-powered lamp" could be used to describe the competency of Messrs Shepherd, Robson, Souness, Roeder, Allardyce Keegan and Shearer as well as Messrs Ashley etc who have seen fit to keep the bandy-legged muppet at the club labouring under delusions that he could one day be good enough to play for England.

But when Carroll gets dropped for the next game, his confidence will be down the swanny again. I don't see that goal changes anything. We've just witnessed another 90 minutes of impotence and flaccid, directionless Sunday pub team football. Hardly inspiring, and for you to see it as potentially season-changing leaves me wondering if I can have a pint of whatever you've been drinking tbh.

I can imagine what Ron Atkinson would have to say about Oba.

I'm also antipathetic towards Nicky Butt, but I can't see who else there is to replace him. It's not like we're blessed with a multitude of fantastic midfield players at the moment.

Up from an 8 to a 9 for me now. Shearer clearly hasn't got what it takes to turn this around - and it was always going to be a difficult ask in any case, regardless of whoever took over, given the absolute shower of shite that passes for our so-called first team squad. I'm feeling extremely pessismistic now.

Man, he ain't no batty bwoy! He's STR88888 LIKE A BANANA! http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/3366/nile.gif

We're so diabolically useless that I'm considering getting my hair done in corn rows and buying myself a Manchester United shirt.

Lee Stewart is a cock.

Good to see Shearer's got the lads "giving it a right good go"... ...talk is cheap, especially from a pundit.

This is fantastic stuff, Alan. So FUCKING glad we've got someone of your immense tactical nous guiding us to league safety...of the fizzy pop variety.

Sack Shearer!

Sad indictment of Martins, really. Only this morning Shearer had been quoted on Sky Sports website saying how crucial Oba's unpredictability on the field could be key to our salvation. Bitterly ironic that his off pitch antics should be a nail in our coffin.

Goodbye Premiership football... Deary me. No bite at all. Fuck - there's not even any bark on this dog.

Legend.

Source

I don't trust Ashley much. I am starting to wonder if getting Shearer in was his last nail in the NUFC coffin...knowing we're as good as down, he thought 'who better to have at the tiller when the ship goes down' than one of our greatest living footballing icons - SHEARER.

All I want is for a chance to build a proper fucking TEAM, not a ragbag of mercenaries, old age pensioners and Sunday league teenagers. I'm delighted we've got Big Al until the season ends, and I hope that it proves to be a successful endeavour for us all. I'm just sick of the managerial merry-go-round, the concomitant lack of team development, team ethos, fluidity of play, possession, aggression and passion on the ball and in the game...I'd love Shearer to be given a proper shot at it...rip it up and start again but this time do it right.

Weetabix?! Shredded Wheat?

Now I've slept on it, and still hoping this isn't a cruel April Fools' joke, this post sums up my feelings brilliantly. Cautiously optimistic...

The midfield remains a disaster zone, the players are shoddy mercenaries and yet it's "ALL HAIL SHEARER THE MESSIAH!" all over the place. This'll end in tears.

This is a definitely a very bad April Fools' Day joke by Ashley...regardless of whether it's true or not.

"You glorify the past when the future dries up"

EXCLUSIVE: At last some good news for Newcastle as Taylor's injury is not as bad as first feared By JOHN EDWARDS Last updated at 12:11 PM on 25th March 2009 Steven Taylor has given crisis club Newcastle a massive boost by sailing through a scan on his damaged ankle and setting his sights on their key relegation battle with Stoke. Newcastle chiefs were bracing themselves for losing their England Under 21 defender for the rest of the season after fearing he had torn ligaments in last Saturday's 3-1 home defeat by Arsenal. But he was given the all-clear late last night (Tuesday) after a scan showed he had suffered nothing worse than bruising. Taylor, raised on Tyneside and fiercely committed to the Newcastle cause, was said to be 'hugely relieved' and anxious to return to an increasingly uphill struggle for Barclays Premier League survival at the earliest opportunity. He still seems likely to miss Newcastle's next match with Chelsea, a week on Saturday, but now hopes to be fit for the relegation showdown with Stoke at the Britannia Stadium seven days later, where his battling qualities will be needed more than ever. After being forced off against Arsenal, Taylor limped away from St James' Park on crutches, his bruised and swollen ankle in an air-cast. 'There were real worries about how long he would be out for,' said a Newcastle insider. 'People were talking about a month being the worst-case scenario, but if a tear had shown up on the scan, that would have been it for the season. Now he could be back in two weeks.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1164732/EXCLUSIVE-At-good-news-Newcastle-Taylors-injury-bad-feared.html

Even if it is biased and based more on speculation and supposition than hard empirical evidence, I suspect the article will resonate with more fans than not. Won't be long before the logical extension of this line of thinking makes itself felt, and Owen becomes a scapegoat for all our ills, post-relegation - a totem of the once great club's hubris and subsequent downfall.