merlin

Have you been to Fulham, great little club, fantastic stadium but you are never going to achieve much. Dangle the prospect of managing in front of 52,000 fans and saying he has full control over the football side would tempt him. Any manager with ambition would know that if he had full control of the football side of things at the club and did well that the possibilites are endless. If not him there would be others, Im sure of that! As things stand, Fulham are a bigger club than us. He wouldn't leave for anyone, let alone Newcastle. Wrong - as things stand, Fulham are CURRENTLY a more successful club ; they haven't won as many trophies, haven't got anything LIKE the stadium of fanbase, haven't been in European football as often...this is a worse statement than if someone had tried to claim that NUFC were a bigger club than Liverpool back in 1993 simply because we had a better team spirit at the time. Fulham will NEVER be a bigger club than Newcastle United - just as we will never be a bigger club than Man U. The issue about Hodgson is really nothing to do with the relative size of the clubs - he is not a young man and is unlikely to want to have the task of taking over a club like NUFC, although I very much doubt he will be given the chance.

Agree - the standard of CCC striker has been the worst feature of the league and our defence will face a culture shock when they come up against many of the PL strikers - they are much better, with both pace and movement a world apart. Coloccini struggled against that last season and will do so again - his best hope would be to be the sweeper in a five man back line because his skill on the ball is good and he would be less physically exposed...problem is that our midfield or forwards would then be swamped because we would be a man short in the middle. The Italians used to play that way in the 70s, but the days of catenaccio are long gone. You have to be able to snatch a goal and defend it for 80 mins if necessary and apart from the fact that our defence wouldn't be able to do that, getting goals is going to be a real problem unless we sign a top striker.The rules of the game have also changed, making it difficult for defenders to play cynically as the Italians used to do. Again this is a myth. People think of the PL and in their minds it's like playing Drogba and Torres every week. Elmander? Fagan? Sidibe? Jason Roberts? There aren't *that* many premiership-quality strikers in the premiership. You'll see just how much of 'a myth' this is when the season starts ! Would you class, say Yakubu as a top Prem striker because I wouldn't, yet I bet he will bully Colo to death if they play against each other. timeEd32 has it spot on - I think you have a short memory if you think Colo only struggled against the likes of Drogba lasr season. He MAY be better in an improved back 4 but we are NOT going to get that and I stick by what I said.

£20-25m + money generated through transfers would be pretty good. I don't know whether the remaining cash would be used to pay back loans to Ashley or whether it'd be used to cover the wages, etc. that Ashley's been covering with the loans to get the club running on an even keel. IF we could get 8m for Taylor(or Coloccini for that matter), I would be reasonably happy with 25m on top. This would give Hughton the chance to bring in around 4-5 decent players who may just tip the balance in keeping us up. Knocking McNally's article simply because he IS a prat and a Mackem to boot does not detract from the fact that much of it is correct - most realistic fans DO know that 15m is not going to be enough to keep this team in the Prem. We are lacking in all key areas of the side when competing at the top level...we need a RB, a Prem quality central MFielder, a Prem quality striker and also, in my view,the best prem quality CD we can get. For a striker such as Pavyluchenko, as has been mentioned, you will be lucky to get change from 10m because Spurs(and all other clubs)are well aware that we need players to survive. That would leave 23 mil to spend on 3 other positions..... Incidentally, whilst I agree that Dorrans would be an excellent buy for the club we have very little chance of signing him ; would YOU sell, say, Enrique to WBA after we have just gone up !? Their fans would go ballistic. Also, Man C are reported to be interested in the player and they would have far more chance with the type of money they would put on the table. Dorrans was signed by WBA from Partick a few years ago - maybe we should be examining our scouting network in Scotland - and elsewhere.

Agree - the standard of CCC striker has been the worst feature of the league and our defence will face a culture shock when they come up against many of the PL strikers - they are much better, with both pace and movement a world apart. Coloccini struggled against that last season and will do so again - his best hope would be to be the sweeper in a five man back line because his skill on the ball is good and he would be less physically exposed...problem is that our midfield or forwards would then be swamped because we would be a man short in the middle. The Italians used to play that way in the 70s, but the days of catenaccio are long gone. You have to be able to snatch a goal and defend it for 80 mins if necessary and apart from the fact that our defence wouldn't be able to do that, getting goals is going to be a real problem unless we sign a top striker.The rules of the game have also changed, making it difficult for defenders to play cynically as the Italians used to do.

Enrique once again pick of the bunch - this boy is one player who should be first on the team sheet for next season. His dominance of opponents this season has been outstanding and his passing and forward support has improved beyond all measure. There will be several top clubs considering trying to bid for him and it will be interesting to see what sort of money they think he's worth AND if NUFC turn them down.. Jonas too did well and was unlucky not to score what would have been one of the club's goals of the season. A good team performance and result on a night which could have been an anti-climax.Credit to Sheff U for giving it a go, but the result was deserved by Newcastle.

We WERE an embarrassment when we went down, but you have to give credit for the work and achievement which has wiped out that stain, so the answer is neither ; relief is a better description of what we should be feeling plus a sense of trepidation as to what will be done to ensure there is no flop next season. Hard work lies ahead.

Many congratulations to all at the club - esp to Hughton and the players who have given everything to bring the club back to the Prem in a much shorter time than most of us expected. Nobody could have wished for more than this achievement and all connected with the club should enjoy these happy times which go a long way towards wiping out the memories of last season(and the ones preceding it). I hope they go on to win the title and put the icing on the cake - then the owner, board and manager must sit down immediately and set up a list of sensible targets aimed at keeping the club where it should always be, which is the FIRST target....a proper policy of steady rebuilding will eventually pay dividends, so all must ensure that the bad old days of panic expensive buys unsuited to the club, never return. Very well done lads.

Macca The situation is not totally different ; Dinnis was Gordon Lee's coach and Lee was poached by Everton in January 1977, just as NUFC were in the running for a UEFA place after reaching Wembley under Lee the previous season. Whatever Lee's faults he had succeeded in motivating the side to exceed expectations over 2 seasons and the players were in favour of keeping Dinnis as his replacement. It wasn't only local lads who wanted Dinnis either because Geoff Nulty and Alan Gowling(as well as Tommy Craig)were vocal in his support. Lee left because he was unhappy with the support he had received from the board after selling Macdonald to Arsenal, and stated that he thought the next manager would have to be 'a pretty strange kind of guy' (which we eventually got when McGarry arrived!). However, faced with unrest the board backed down and appointed Dinnis - they also bought a player (from Hibs, Ralph Callachan)just as Wise & co did by taking over transfers before KK walked out - so they took the easy option just as Ashley did with Hughton. OK, so Hughton has succeeded in getting promoted whereas Dinnis got Newcastle relegated, but there is no certainty that Hughton will do any better in the Prem than Dinnis did in the top league simply because his players 'like' him. OK, maybe there haven't been players giving as vocal support in the Press as they did for Dinnis, but the existence of a so-called 'Committee' and the fact that Nolan was so free with his comments about the manager indicates that the players feel they can discuss such matters freely - would you get Arsenal or Man U players talking about Wenger or SAF so openly ? I doubt it.... What I(and any reasonable person on here)am saying is that we just DON'T KNOW if Hughton can do it in the Prem ; he is not proven there just as Dinnis wasn't, but hopefully, he WILL be given a decent transfer fund to back his attempts to keep the club up....if he does get the money and we stay up, all well & good - if we struggle badly, then he will be judged as any other manager would be.

This is probably the most balanced comment on this subject - unless Ashley has a secret deal made with Mourinho(highly unlikely), there is little point in getting rid of Hughton right now because it would destroy what little credibility the club has managed to build back up over this season. Ashley DOES have a difficult choice though because if he fails to back Hughton in the transfer market with substantial funds, people will be able to say that any bad results are the result of that and not Hughton's management ; there again, if he DOES back the manager and it all goes pear-shaped he is faced with getting in an experienced guy without a budget to offer him, and we cannot afford to be relegated again. If I was the Chairman, I would want to see the names of the players Hughton wants to bring in before June - if the players look to have potential or can fill some of the undoubted gaps in the side for the Prem, then I would back his judgment and that is all Ashley can realistically do - if he doesn't trust Hughton's judgment then he has to get rid...simple as that. The main worry I have is that Hughton may be too close to some of the players and that can't be allowed to happen - as has been said before, the Richard Dinnis appointment came as a result of player power. When the club goes to the Prem, it has to be understood that everyone starts from square one, including those on the so-called 'committee'.

He'll be Mourinho's first signing at City this summer. The cost will be irrelevant. What about the current encumbent bro? There IS talk of Benitez leaving Liverpool soon and MON is one of the names mentioned as his replacement...Mourinho has also been linked with City, so that wouldn't be a surprise if he tried for Torres.

Adding to that, how long after promotion was it that we scrapped the reserves? BOTH of these things were also BAD mistakes - you should never neglect the future of the club by scrapping or downgrading Juniors/Reserves. KK should not have been allowed to do this and frankly, I would have supported any Chairman who had put his foot down over it...even if KK had walked. For all the complaints about Dalglish, one of the first things he did was to re-start these things.

That Nolan felt the need to say this tells its own story. The question of Hughton’s authority only needs to be clarified because of the big deal Nolan is making about the role of the players committee. I can’t imagine Rio Ferdinand coming out and clarifying that when SFA wants something from the players he gets it, or to look at it another way, any player coming out and saying when the manager asks for something the players ignore him. The best quotes from Nolan were the stuff about him not wanting to be remembered as a legend and saying the club made big mistakes after our last promotion. It must have been ten years after our last promotion before the club made any big mistakes, unless you count regularly finishing in a European place and coming within a whisker of winning the PL. And before anybody wrongly accuses me of being somebody I’m not, it was Nolan who had to drag up the last regime and it’s not my fault he was talking rubbish. Like I said earlier, a sense of delusions of grandeur underpins the sound bites. And this is definitely it for me until next season. NE5 indeed! Some are obsessed with NE5, or should that be infatuated and secretly desire to wrap their lips around his throbbing shaft while he talks dirty about Freddy Shepherd? Andy Cole sale? The sale of Sir Les? Gullitt? Cole went because KK knew he could get Sir Les and also that Shearer was interested(I know that for a fact because he had made it clear to people he knew by the summer of 95). The sale of Sir Les WAS a mistake, but only because Shearer got injured at Everton - Shearer and Tomasson had formed a good partnership in the pre-season matches. It was sheer bad luck - all the fans would have been laughing at Spurs paying 6m for Sir Les if Shearer had not been injured because Ferdinand was heading for 31. Gullit was the biggest mistake of the 3, but the worst thing to happen in the period being talked about was the stepping down of SJH as Chairman for health reasons.

Despite the fact that a point is good enough, there will still be vast amounts of nerves in the stands(and on the pitch)until Newcastle score...even worse if Sheff go in front. Hopefully, Newcastle will score first and go on to a decent win which clinches promotion in style - a large score would make it very difficult for WBA to catch us for the title, but I'm going for 2-0.

This - wait and see what the signings are like before speculating.

Wouldn't even bother to speculate about it until I see what is spent(and on whom)in the close season.

...and that HAS to be down to the manager and coaches ; I reckon Robertson takes a lot of credit for Milner's progress, but NUFC have to accept responsibilty for either not playing him in the right position, or not developing his ability into the sort of player he now is. Maybe KK would have moved him inside - he certainly didn't want to sell him.

Zero chance of this happening for so many reasons. ...And the reasons are ..? None, apart from Scholes not wanting to move here, seem insurmountable to me...

Apart from the obvious requirements, I would have a cheeky try for Paul Scholes - IF Man U would release him on either a Free or a small fee. This guy is very fit for a 35 yr old, has masses of experience, and would be great for bringing into the side during games when we needed a late boost ; Scholes has a great scoring record from midfield and is a model pro. He would be invaluable as an example to young players - Clough and Taylor brought in Dave Mackay to give some stability and guidance to their Derby side and it worked a treat...Scholes may do a similar job at NUFC and hasn't had the number of injuries Mackay suffered before he left Spurs. All decent sides have a good blend of youth and experience and you don't get better than Scholes in the experience department.

cloughie loved us, always had good banter with our fans. used to wave to the gallowgate everytime we played them. He was close to managing us but whoever was chairman in the mid to late 70's fu**d it up. Ws it McKeag? It was Lord Westwood - he said that 'the day Brian Clough walks into this club is the day I walk out'... A pity he didn't walk out sooner - we would have been European Cup winners a few times....

I share your view ; Coloccini's biggest failing last season was getting caught out by the pace and movement of Prem strikers - he was either on the wrong side of them, or they left him for dead if they beat the offside. Look how Torres took the defence apart at SJP ; I know he's top quality, but that is what our CDs will be faced with next season. There IS an argument for saying that Colo was not happy alongside Taylor and I also have reservations about him...a good CD pairing need to complement each other and Taylor has not made any of the players he has partnered look decent. There is much thinking for Hughton and Calderwood to do when deciding transfer targets and trying to stay within their budget....

I'd rather buy a new RB to start every game rather than a sub centre back and play Taylor there. Same as a winger would rather buy a stronger player in another position than another sub. Agree - would go for Perch if he can be bought...also, have reservations about Williamson and Coloccini for pace in CD. Defence is crucial to us, we have to stop conceding in the Prem, esp away from home, if we are to get enough points to stay up.

I hope Caulkin is right because it is years since we had a TEAM in the fullest sense of the word...even in KK's first spell as manager, you got the sense that he wasn't bothered about certain aspects of the club, such as Juniors, his relations with the Board etc. SAF is at OT every day early - he checks every aspect of the club's activities and takes a great interest in the Youth and Reserves ; you have to do this if you want to create a CLUB in the fullest sense. Clough even fired some Tea ladies because he heard them laughing about a Derby defeat in his early days there...maybe a bit extreme, but he was making a point that EVERYBODY at the club had to pull together - failure to do so means no success. As for Hughton, he has done a great job(with Calderwood)this season and no-one can take that away from him, but the next season will be much harder because he will have to make tough decisions about which players to keep/play etc., and some of the squad are going to get their noses put out of joint. He will need financial support from Ashley and, if he gets that, he should be capable of keeping the side up...and that is a MUST DO...provided the side is in a reasonably safe position at Christmas, he will be half way to achieving his first target and will be safe. If we are bottom of the league and he HAS received financial support, he will be in danger as would any manager.

Rubbish about Clough 'hating; us too - Peter Taylor went on record to say that he would love to see what sort of crowds they would attract of they were able to manage Newcastle ....he said this because the Forest crowds were so poor...!!!

This - on the nail...

Agree - Perch is a fine prospect.