Minhosa

For some reason Skybet have suspended the betting on Capello? I'm gonna stick some money on Big Sam @ 20/1. I think he could be tempted after openly showing his hand the last time and being turned down and he's not had any public assurances from Ashley that he's the man he wants. Might have been told privately like but I reckon it's worth a dabble at 20's. Out of interest if you bet on Shearer and he was appointed as part of the management team. For example the F.A decided to appoint Venables and Shearer to jointly manage England would the bookies pay out? He might not be a bad bet at 12's.

lawrenson just said similar, like an american footballer who can come off the bench and help on crosses and set pieces. Robert............ Apart from Robert never had anywhere near Beckhams crossing ability.

From my viewpoint, as I've said earlier, these appointments are unproven which to me is a risk given we're at the early stages of building an effective scouting network. I'd have preferred to see us nick some people off clubs who already have good scouting networks and nick their databases. Appointments from clubs like Crewe, Arsenal, Celtic, Southampton..........clubs like that who seem to regularly turn out good young kids that end up in the first team squad. These lads, if they have worked as coaches, will presumably have to start from scratch?

Were they not coaches down the road rather than scouts? Whatever they were they've hardly got glowing reputation's in the game nor was their time at the Scum very fruitful. Bad appointments imo. Lets not give them a chance eh, thats the best way. Nope. How many great young talents did they find at Sunderland? and if they were Coaches rather than Scouts how many players were significantly better after signing for them as a result of the coaching ability? I can't recall many in recent time, excluding Phillips perhaps. They were coaches at Sunderland, they are scouts here. Don't see what your point is regarding their scouting ability My point is we're in desperate need of establishing a successful scouting system, as allardyce has already said. So, surely you appoint scouts with experience? scouts with a proven pedigree?

Were they not coaches down the road rather than scouts? Whatever they were they've hardly got glowing reputation's in the game nor was their time at the Scum very fruitful. Bad appointments imo. Lets not give them a chance eh, thats the best way. Nope. How many great young talents did they find at Sunderland? and if they were Coaches rather than Scouts how many players were significantly better after signing for them as a result of the coaching ability? I can't recall many in recent time, excluding Phillips perhaps.

Were they not coaches down the road rather than scouts? Whatever they were they've hardly got glowing reputation's in the game nor was their time at the Scum very fruitful. Bad appointments imo.

Great words from Sam regarding scouting and building up a player database but surely he could've found better personnel than those two wankers? They've hardly got a history of success.

That poll is bollocks.

In other tragic news Diana's been killed in a Parisian Tunnel. More soon...............

Agree with every word merlin, and I'm not being funny, but as for the bit in bold, it will be interesting to see how a new player in that bracket would be considered if such a player arrives at SJP. A "trophy signing", or a quality footballer, such is the hypocrisy and lack of understanding of some people, I suspect. I'm not sure thats fair NE5. For me, weve got to give Allardyce and the New Owners the opportunity to prove themselves and if we did buy a big name to replace Owen then so be it. Seeing it as an opportunity to castigate those who have previously complained about FFS's management style and the trophy signing culture is harsh given that it was a bit of a trademark of Shepherds reign. It would be fair if Ashley and Co sign a Ronaldinho every year but until that point I'm prepared to go with the flow and not look for opportunities to score points with regards to complaints about previous Chairman just to prove a point - regardless of who they sign to replace Owen, should he go.

Fucking hell mate - he's a footballer not a kiddy rapist. Shame. Its almost getting inevitable given his recent injury record. I guess the thoughts running through my mind are; - Is this how its going to be for the rest of his career? Injury wise? - If Sam is considering 4-3-3 in the future do we bite the bullet now and write off Owen as anything more than a bit part player? - Does his clause thing come back into effect for next summers window given that nobody will chance buying him in Jan as he wouldn't have proven his fitness by then? I genuinely feel for the lad, and seem to remember arguing the point with Gejon over the summer that we should keep him, he's proven quality blah, blah, blah but in reflection maybe Gejon was right. I still think he's quality but if we can't rely on it then we might as well have a lesser player fit every week.

Oh, for fucks sake. Not again.

That would be class. "Rumour has it the Anal Oliver is on his way out of the Chronicle following an angry exchange with the Editor. An unamed source informs us words such as "Source, gone, fucked, now, useless, buck-toothed, fuckwit" were thrown about and NUFC wouldn't be surprised to see him gone in the January P45 window". Lets start a site........................www.windupthelyingjournos.com

Seconded.

Yeah - he was interviewed in the 'Metro' paper in London and said something along those lines. He intimated that he wouldn't be looking for anything until his BBC deal expires which is in a couple of years I think. TBH I'd rather he didn't come back right now. Whilst it's clear Allardyce and Mort have got loads of work to do it's nice that they can do it without the likes of Shearer over their shoulders i.e: Without any pressure or influence from previous regimes. The pressure would increase should Shearer arrive as people's expectations would rise. I'm not knocking him here but we don't even know that Shearers any good as a Coach/Assistant Manager or at whatever role he might get in the future. Now's not the time to be taking chances with appointments based on heart rather than head.

Anybody got any idea how he's doing up at Falkirk? Any scotland based fans seen him in action?

If 4-3-3 is the plan for this season where does Owen fit? I can't see him in a 4-3-3 at all. I could see Viduka as the main central forward and perhaps Martins off him but I don't see where Owen will work in that formation. Are you saying you think he'll be gone?

So does that mean therefore there can be no action?

So what's the criteria for a FA review? Could a fan send in footage of the two-footer and get a review or does it have to be a complaint from within the game itself? I thought it had to be mentioned in the referee's report for the game?

There's no doubting his technical quality. I didn't really support either of his departures, albeit Sam had no choice anyway. That said, he's getting on and West Ham have the hassle of his Peruvian trips. Maybe we've sold him a year too early but it's not like his sale will hinder us in the long term.

Could've been much worse imo. Ground 90% full of home fans in a Derby atmosphere. Thought he was excellent for the first half hour and reasonable thereafter.

if he has to play square pegs in round holes - for now with the players he has - then playing zoggy wide right and Martins wide left is by far a better option than playing Milner, IMO, until we buy a player to replace Solano. I'm not sure NE5 - I like milner. I just think the quality of football is so poor that his choice of wingers is almost immaterial. We never play them into the game, we hardly ever have the full backs overlapping and we always seem to get the ball to the half way line and then punt it up top - almost always from Rozy or a full back. The two first choice wingers at the minute (Jimmy and Zog) have very different qualities and the Zog has it in him to beat a man and whip in a cracking cross, whereas Milner's a bit more of a battler who can cut it but neither of them will make any impact until we get the ball to their feet and have some movement around them. It's all a bit static at the minute which makes his decision to drop Beye/Enrique even more baffling to me. At least they seem able to overlap and get back into position when needed.

I think you could be correct Parky. For me, as has been mentioned by loads of other posters, Owen is almost undroppable. I would've thought Allardyce would have wanted to revert to 4-3-3 almost immediately due to him knowing the system well and having proven success with it. I would've expected him to adopt it straight away to get us results and buy him time. He could've worried about attractive football later. It seems now he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. He's not got the personnel for a 4-3-3 (in his opinion and partly because of Owen's undroppability - new word - do you like it?) and yet he's not playing anywhere near good football. I think he would've preferred Owen to have been sold and used Martins as a wide forward in a 4-3-3 - a la Diouf.

Just what we fucking need. Seconded.