merlin

Agree 100% - Beckham is a spoilt, over-rated fading player who thinks he is too good for the US Lge, but quite happy to pick up the big bucks from a contract which HE willingly signed ; a typical example of his generation, who thinks the world owes them a living because they 'look nice'. Looking forward to the day when he and his similarly over-rated WAG finally disappear from the news forever.

or it could polarise things further as clubs like chelsea and man city can,will and do pay more in wages after tax then the vast majority can pay top line. No, because eventually the likes of Abramovitch will take their money out - a bit different in the case of the Arabs, but then, even our esteemed neighbours on Wearside were once known as 'The Bank of England Club' back in the 1930s, ad a fat lot of good it did them...when sponsorship monies start to become tight, it will be well-run clubs that benefit, not just the present Top 4. so until that happens it will polarise further. Not necessarily - it could well become a different matter for rich owners if they were having to bankroll ALL the club's expenses with only attendance money coming in - and I can see a wages cap coming in, as they have in the US and Australia for major sports stars.

I can see the day when these ridiculous wages will have to stop and then it won't be an issue...IF someone is earning the type of money so-called top players earn(as opposed to top engineers, scientists, surgeons etc etc) then there should be a special Tax bracket for them because frankly, they don't deserve such huge salaries.

or it could polarise things further as clubs like chelsea and man city can,will and do pay more in wages after tax then the vast majority can pay top line. No, because eventually the likes of Abramovitch will take their money out - a bit different in the case of the Arabs, but then, even our esteemed neighbours on Wearside were once known as 'The Bank of England Club' back in the 1930s, ad a fat lot of good it did them...when sponsorship monies start to become tight, it will be well-run clubs that benefit, not just the present Top 4.

The UK in general is going to suffer loss of talent in ALL fields because of Brown's Tax policies, but worse still is the short-sighted way that UK Govts over the past 30 years have allowed the country to be based on Financial Services and 'Service Industries' generally ; not to mention a bloated Public Sector with an unsustainable Pensions liability... Football is no different, and I said this would happen nearly a year ago because the Prem will cease to be the major attraction for top players - Spain's decision to lower their top rate of tax(forced on them in desperation, they have unemployment around 20%), will certainly exacerbate that trend. Eventually, this WILL be good for English football, as the country will be forced to concentrate on bringing through local talent and that, in my view, is going to be great for the game because it will prevent sheer money being the be all and end all of what determines where players go - clubs like Burnley(who had a really good youth policy in the past) will benefit by selling their top youngsters to other clubs and more money will be spread around the game. I cannot see why any NUFC fan would object because as a club with a traditionally large fan-base, Newcastle will eventually be able to afford to compete with other big clubs - they definitely WON'T in today's set-up, and this development could be the one thing that saves the club from disappearing into the category of 'Past Glories' English clubs. As things currently stand, Lge 1 beckons and that could finish the club.

You took the words out of my mouth...

It will be very interesting to see how many people turn up at SJP for the first home game ; if fans have any sense, they will keep well away and let Ashley worry about how far down his 'investment' can go.... This has all the hallmarks of a club in total free-fall - many months of humiliation lie ahead for NUFC fans if this turns out to be correct.

Harper is quite right - the club IS dying a slow painful death. Unless the situation is clarified this week, there is a real danger of the club imitating the Mackems back in the 80s and going into the old 3rd Div(Lg 1) ; if that happened, I reckon there would be huge repercussions off the field because support would dwindle away until there was a hard core of around 10,000 fans.... This season is almost dead now, and unless the club starts performing convincingly, both on AND off the field, it will become harder & harder to attract decent recruits - look at Sheff Weds, for example, once a major player in the top league - it is hard to see them ever regaining anything like their former status and before anyone says ' we are NUFC, we are different..' NO, we are NOT ; even Wednesday fans never had to put up with the amount of sleaze and off-field balls-ups that Newcastle supporters have faced over the past 5 years, and the fans have had enough...if this isn't sorted out soonest, the attendances will be laughable in comparison to those over the past 15 years, and if NUFC lose its supporters, it loses everything that makes it look like a 'big' club - lets face it, the trophy record doesn't, the way it is viewed by the rest of Football doesn't and even the stadium doesn't ; Sheff Weds built Hillsborough at a time when other clubs played in hovels, but the team lost out as a result of the cost - now, Hillsborough is old hat and the team matches it... NUFC needs NEW, switched-on owners who want to succeed - a return of the Shepherds does NOT fill that requirement and will always be viewed with suspicion by many fans so it can only be hoped that, either by good luck, greed, or whatever else motivates Ashley, we get the new owners the fans deserve. Results on the field are vital, because the club will get nothing but bad publicity from the Murdoch-owned press and media who have been behind the club's demise right back to 1998.

Decent signing. I agree - bad sign for those who continue to believe that Bruce will be a failure for them and that its just a matter of a year before we are top dogs again...NOTHING is guaranteed in football, as some on here will discover.

This - nub of whole issue...

No.

Agree he gets on my tits on the legends and he's been foolish in his personal/ private life but, and a big but, he was f***ing magnificent in his pomp; he was strong as an ox, as fast as an olympic sprinter (fact), he was brave, had an awesome shoot and power in his headers. The only comparable centre forward of the last 35 years was Sir Les. On top of that he then made Fulham into a fantastic footballing team. He came up here with Houghton, Lewington & Davies & they murdered us in the old 2nd division (shown on motd) 3 or 4 - 1. What the f*** went wrong I don't know; they were the best team in that league by a mile. Agree with most of your assessment, but not about Sir Les - he was a fine CF, but not in Macdonald's class for excitement ; Mac had a more powerful shot and was yards faster.

Feel pretty similar. Dont care whether he becomes top scorer, but the bias against his on here is laughable. His main strength being his movement in the box, surround him by players who cant pass & he doesnt score much. Who wouldve thought it. Its his status & wage that determines he gets all the criticism. Reality is though that the status he had didnt mean we should have expected him to be able to save us singlehandedly. His injurys again, crap for us. But i dont begrudge him for wanting to represent his national side & as for the rest..i dont really consider us to be the best club to be at in terms of injurys anyway. Half of it could be down just as much to our incompetence as him. Reckon he'll do very well at a side like Man u. But my main problem with him has been the fact that he didn't give a s**t about Newcastle United, which as a captain was kinda his duty. Yes he was unlucky with injuries and we didn't give him the service he needs to score goals, but the fact is he was being paid very well, was our captain, and never once seemed like he was a member of a "team". He didn't do much press/interviews, didn't do many endorsements wearing the black n' white and while injured, always sat up in the executive box at SJP, well away from his teammates and spectators. It's sad that he's getting rewarded handsomely after being one of the key reasons why we were relegated, but that's just the way it is being a Newcastle United fan.... ...And how many of last season's(and the one before's) er- heroes, DID give a s--- about Newcastle United? Get real, they are almost ALL mercenaries and the result of appalling judgment by both managers and directors...they have ALL taken the money purely for the money. Unless we build a team around Academy players, there will be very little loyalty from either overseas players(esp them)or players from other areas. As Alan Foggon said 'we played for the shirt as well as the money, but these players don't care now'.

Pulis is clearly not a bad judge of a player then...!

He 'bled the club dry' as you put it, simply because one F.Shepherd gave him a stupid deal in order to deflect criticism away from himself after firing Robson - yet one more reason to keep that same Shepherd well away from SJP...would YOU have refused that sort of deal ? Also, he got injuries, something that had happened before so you would have thought that someone might have noticed that before offering such big money...

Smart move imo. He has prob about £100million to spend on players this summer, may aswell get Owen for free too. Absolutely - I have had the best laugh in weeks looking at all the posts who derided Owen as a player, now furiously huffing & puffing in trying to justify their stance, now that Fergie looks like signing him. Because nobody in their right mind would be able to portray Fergie as a bad manager, there are now comments about his ego etc..Please... Anything rather than admit that Owen was playing in a crap team, getting no service and, as any intelligent person would be, totally pissed off with the comedy show that was Newcastle United.... Owen will be an asset to Man U if used sparingly, as Fergie doubtless intends to do - he will be getting 100 times better service and support than he did at NUFC and this move will benefit both parties - I am not in the SLIGHTEST bit surprised that this has happened because Fergie, despite his arrogance at times, is still a shrewd and clever manager.

ALL of this - plus the nepotism, constant dealings with the likes of McKay etc AND the way he started the club's downfall by failing to either back SBR or bring in a new manager in the summer of 2003(because he didn't want money spent at that time) - is the reason that, after almost half a century, I will be finished with Newcastle United if it falls under his influence again. Whatever happened in past years, we always had hope that something better may be around the corner, but there is no way I would feel like that with him in charge - if NUFC has to depend on FS taking over to survive, then the club isn't worth a light in my view. Will never enter SJP again if this happens - the club will be a total laughing stock and deservedly-so.

Must tell you about this(just remembered it)... Went to see Newcastle play at St Johnstone in a pre-season friendly end July 1972, Macdonald's second season with the club(I was on honeymoon at the time, so I suppose this even beats Bill Shankly's story about going to see Accrington Reserves on HIS honeymoon...!!). Plenty of NUFC fans had made the trip to Perth, and were rewarded by two things - the first was an unforgettable goal by Macdonald, scored straight from the kick-off ; John Tudor, his strike partner, had noticed the SJ keeper had strayed off his line, and told Macdonald to see if he could catch him out.. Tudor took the kick-off, gently teeing the ball up for Supermac, who was still in his own half ; Macdonald's shot was inch-perfect, beating the scrambling keeper and sailing into the goal just under the crossbar. Needless to say, the B & W fans went berserk, and even the SJ fans applauded. The goal was unofficially(because it was a friendly)the fastest recorded at around 4 secs - unbelievable. It obviously stunned the SJ players, because Newcastle beat them 7-2 at a canter(the second reason for NUFC fans to celebrate), but there wasn't much 'friendly' about the game - Macdonald played for much of the second half with his socks rolled down after a terrible tackle from behind by a SJ defender - the red stud marks were clearly visible on the backs of his legs, even from the stand. A memorable day(can't remember what the night was like, so don't ask...!!),and I have never seen this feat repeated.

Courtney WAS very clueless - I actually suspect he had sympathies with Sunderland... Harrison was VERY pro-NUFC in his early days(75-76), but lost the plot totally when McFaul was manager(he thought Willie was the bees-knees(!)..), and was against the Magpie Group takeover, simply because he knew McFaul would be out of a job and he was very pally with him ; don't think he ever got over it all, but as was said by Bigtron, he's ancient history now.

We won't get HALF that - reminds me of stacks of people trying to sell houses - completely in denial that the price is far too high for what its worth...!

Totally disagree with yr comment about Shearer - as I said, Shearer was a better leader of the line, but Macdonald was a more exciting player to watch ; Shearer NEVER had Macdonald's out and out pace, even when at his best(which was arguably BEFORE he played for NUFC). Your point about England caps is also not valid because Geoff Hurst, for example, won more than Greaves, but you won't find many fans thinking that Hurst was a better striker ; Hurst simply fitted into the team pattern that Ramsey wanted, and Macdonald was a better League player than an international - even so, his record of 5 goals in a game still stands, and even people like Rooney, Owen AND Shearer have failed to do this at international level - no matter HOW poor the opposition are(Andorra..!?). Shearer was the best UK striker of his generation, but at a time when quality British forwards were at a premium - there was definitely more British talent when Macdonald was playing, but defences feared him just as much as modern defences feared Shearer. Had Macdonald played for a better club when in his prime he would have been an even better player. No question that MacDonald's pace and power made him a dangerous player, and he did produce some great moments, but he wasn't particularly skilful - unlike Shearer - and that limited his effectiveness at the very top level IMO. My main memories of him are in away games against decent sides, where he would really struggle to have any impact. I think he was given his chance at international level, but didn't take it - five goals against Cyprus notwithstanding. We'll have to agree to disagree - some of Macdonald's play was every bit as skillful as Shearer's ; the only area of CF play I reckon Shearer was better was in shielding/holding up the ball and being a 'team' player - it takes unbelievable skill to score some of the goals Macdonald got, and much as I didn't like some of his brashness, he had an amazing record of consistency ; 95 goals in 5 years compares well with the 10 yrs it took Shearer to beat the club record, and he also scored nearly 1 goal in every 2 games whilst at Arsenal, where his career at the top was ended through knee injury - some claim that part of his problems were caused by returning too early to play for Newcastle after surgery for cartilage removal, which happened a couple of times.... He was basically a one-footed player when he arrived at NUFC, but he improved all aspects of his game after that, esp his heading ability - I understand how disappointed Wallace was after the 74 Cup Final let down, but Macdonald was not the only player to have a bad game - the whole team were over-awed by the occasion, but Macdonald(and the team) made up for it by his performance against Liverpool the following January, when we hammered them 4-1 at SJP

Totally disagree with yr comment about Shearer - as I said, Shearer was a better leader of the line, but Macdonald was a more exciting player to watch ; Shearer NEVER had Macdonald's out and out pace, even when at his best(which was arguably BEFORE he played for NUFC). Your point about England caps is also not valid because Geoff Hurst, for example, won more than Greaves, but you won't find many fans thinking that Hurst was a better striker ; Hurst simply fitted into the team pattern that Ramsey wanted, and Macdonald was a better League player than an international - even so, his record of 5 goals in a game still stands, and even people like Rooney, Owen AND Shearer have failed to do this at international level - no matter HOW poor the opposition are(Andorra..!?). Shearer was the best UK striker of his generation, but at a time when quality British forwards were at a premium - there was definitely more British talent when Macdonald was playing, but defences feared him just as much as modern defences feared Shearer. Had Macdonald played for a better club when in his prime he would have been an even better player.

He WAS a great CF - I knew that he would be a wow at NUFC the first time I saw him playing for Luton ; scored a great hat-trick against Sheff Weds.It was a fantastic coup by Joe Harvey(supported by Stan Seymour Snr`- he was the one who played for us in the club's great days) to beat other clubs, including Man U, to the punch. Supermac was only 21 when he signed for us, and although we never won anything he was, at his best, even more electric than Shearer...he could do the 100 metres in just over 10 secs and some of his goals were absolutely amazing - the hat-trick against Liverpool on his home league debut was stunning, esp the second one hit from a tight angle into the Gallowgate goal with his left foot, leaving Clemence gasping... My own favourite was, sadly, never televised - a goal created from our own box, ball passed between Alex Bruce and Irving Nattrass, over-lapping on the right who, hearing Macdonald's shout, put a crossfield pass just into the Leicester half - Macdonald hit it on the run with his famous left foot, and I've never seen a ball hit with such power over what must have been nearly 40 yards - it streaked into the top corner of the Leazes goal, Wallington(the Leicester keeper) still diving as it had hit the back of the net. The ground was stunned into silence for a second, then erupted ; I was carrying a cup of bovril a mate had brought me(it was almost half-time), and most of it went over the poor guy standing in front - he didn't care, said it didn't matter after a goal like that(ah, those were the days..!!!). We went on to win 3-0 and that season reached the LC Final at Wembley - this match was in Aug 75.. Macdonald may get up people's nose sometimes, but he was one of the best CFs Ive seen in a B & W shirt ; the closest goal to this one for power of shot was probably Shearer's against Everton a few years ago, but Supermac would have left him dead for pure pace - Shearer was a better leader of the line, but not as exciting to watch, even though he was the best CF in Europe when we signed him. Supermac had a very chequered personal life and terrible problems with his knees, but I'll always be glad I saw him at his best - what a player !!

Most of this is closest to the mark about Ashley - 'One trick Pony' is about his level..

Wouldn't that be staggeringly expensive? I think the main problem FIFA or whoever face with implementing this technology is how far down does it go? Surely they can't just give it to the top leagues, so where do you draw the line? If the prem has it, the championship should have, so should leagues one and two, do the conference get it? Below there? Ideally it would be every game in every league, but the use of hawkeye in tennis and cricket isn't universal and it certainly improves the decision making when it is in use. Why not just prem/champs league/major championships? Cost-wise surely it couldn't cost that much more than those stupid headsets, or the little golf carts they bring on to carry players off the field. True, I really don't understand the logic in use when people say things like "It's too expensive, we can't use it at all levels" or "it undermines the referee"(you hear this all the time, especially with cricket fans, but it hasn't really undermined rugby referees has it?). The only standard should be 'Is the technology an improvement over the human element?' If you can answer that in the affirmative, the technology should be used. Besides, the Premiership is a massive league and small decisions can cost millions of pounds. Someday, perhaps, every official game played across the globe can be legislated by technology, but for now, if we have a way to get it right, let's use it. Exactly, the sooner the game gets away from authority, and towards accuracy the better. Not sure why it's like this in football, cricket is the only other sport I can think of where you hear people regularly speak out against technology. True, the fiasco with hawkeye when England were in the Windies earlier this year is bad, but as long as the effectiveness of the technology comes first, then I think it's fine. It's actually funny, because cricket and football are the two sports where one (wrong) decision effects the game the most, yet people are so reluctant to use technology in these cases. If you think about it, these are the only 2 sports where referees or umpires actually have public personas and people know their names enough to talk about them down the pub. Not really sure why people think this way, I suppose it's just a suspicion of technology to do its job. It's because the powers-that-be in the game want to be able to manipulate it ; its all about money... If a host nation, for example, goes out of the WC too soon, then crowds for the other games will drop and so will revenue - esp for the Governing bodies, who also control referees..... IF for example, FIFA allowed the use of TV technology in domestic games, there is no argument for NOT using it in major tournaments. Also, the TV/media journalists have, in general, a very cosy relationship with football, hence their backing for the status quo ; the only one who has really challenged them about a major corruption issue was Brian Glanville, once of the Sunday Times. Glanville was a very astute journalist with a deep knowledge of world football - he took up the issue of the Lobo-Solti Affair after Derby complained about their treatment by a German ref in a European Cup Semi against Juventus - Brian Clough was particularly annoyed about it... If anyone is interested, they can research it, but basically, Glanville opened a huge can of worms because the Portuguese ref(Lobo) for the second leg in Derby complained to his FA that he had been approached by a Hungarian called Solti to fix the game........after the enquiry, Lobo was, without reason, removed from the list of refs for the 1974 WC.......!