merlin

Seriously? Its complete twaddle. Gazza and Waddle only played for us for a fraction of the time Shearer did. Gazza & Waddle were better footballers(Gazza ine of the most talented ever), but Shearer had no peer as an all-round striker and gave the club 10 years service. Best value for money buy is between Lee and Kilcline - the former gave us 9 good years and was a great all-round midfielder, whilst the latter was the rock that stopped us giving away the goals that would have taken us down in 1992.

In other words, whatever happens, appointing him was the right thing to do. If he succeeds, he's a genius, if he fails, it's someone else's fault. Well, it was certainly Shepherd, Hall Jnr and Fletcher who were responsible for appointing him the first time round. Shame that the majority shareholder Sir John decided to float the club on the Stock exchange which resulted in losing him. Being a PLC hasn't resulted in Man U losing Ferguson - also, I personally believe that it can be unhealthy for one family to own a club ; you yourself have rightly blamed Westwood, Seymour et al for the club's mediocrity before, and even though NUFC WAS a Plc, it didn't stop Shepherd and Hall Jnr from running it like a personal fiefdom when SJH retired, did it ? They were major shareholders, so if KK had had any faith in their ability, surely he would have stayed after Sir John left...

A very interesting and well thought-out topic, Brummie.. My own views were mixed - remembered his first spell as manager with great fondness but felt that perhaps the hard-line tactical shrewdness and cold-hearted steely determination demonstrated by the likes of Fergie and Wenger was missing - possibly because he is basically an honest guy, which is a sad indictment on Football and life itself. This is possibly even a more difficult challenge than he faced in 1992 because he DID have some decent players(by then-First Division standards)to work with ; the likes of Kelly, Peacock etc plus very promising youngsters like Watson & Elliott..this time, he has a much less promising basis on which to survive and build a new side, plus the fact that he is 15 years older and has suffered some bad setbacks in his managerial career. I hope & pray(for the club's sake, esp the fans) that he succeeds in keeping us up, but there are no guarantees ; the next few games are critical - if we stay up, I reckon he WILL improve the side, but not as successfully as he did from 93-97..those days are gone as there is now too much competition. If we stay up, I reckon he will serve out his 3 years then leave as he will then be 60 - if he leaves us in a healthy spot with European football, his second spell as manager will have been a success in today's game. It would be sad for the memory of his first period in charge to be sullied by failure or relegation but football is an unforgiving game. I definitely want a younger ambitious manager next time, as we will not be able to get the top liners.

Basically, the problem is a sort of reverse snobbery - 'You can't be a PROPER fan unless you were born on Tyneside' etc etc...it just makes these people feel exclusive - and they are NOT. All they are is small-minded - the sort who think we've had a good season if we finish above the Mackems... Then there are those who think you can't be a proper fan unless you have x No of pints before a game and a big curry before it... All this stuff is just SO pass'e - if we want to be a REALLY big club, we need to welcome as many overseas fans as possible, wherever they are from.

Your first assumption is the correct one, and there are more joining us every week...!

Great STRIKER but not in Gazza's(or Pedro's)class as a footballer - he would probably tell you that himself. Milburn was also a better footballing CF than Shearer. The question is "greatest player" not "greatest footballing-skiller" Anyway, since when is hammering in goals like a madman not a "fooball skill." It's not just about fancy dribbles and passes. Since when did strikers score goals that they had ALL created by themselves..?? Ask Andy Cole how many goals Pedro made for him... If you had to pay to watch a goal-less game, whoi would you rather be watching - Gazza or Shearer ? Thankfully, I don't pay to watch goal-less games. ...but you do see plenty where NUFC don't score, don't you..!!

Great STRIKER but not in Gazza's(or Pedro's)class as a footballer - he would probably tell you that himself. Milburn was also a better footballing CF than Shearer. The question is "greatest player" not "greatest footballing-skiller" Anyway, since when is hammering in goals like a madman not a "fooball skill." It's not just about fancy dribbles and passes. Since when did strikers score goals that they had ALL created by themselves..?? Ask Andy Cole how many goals Pedro made for him... If you had to pay to watch a goal-less game, whoi would you rather be watching - Gazza or Shearer ?

Not a patch on Alan kennedy...

Great STRIKER but not in Gazza's(or Pedro's)class as a footballer - he would probably tell you that himself. Milburn was also a better footballing CF than Shearer.

You mean we are going to concede even MORE soft goals from distance because his successor is yet another second-rate buy? One day, we might get a team without most of the plodders we currently have, and THEN people will see how stupid they've been to think these players are any good.. Given has had his day - some players start going downhill faster than others and there is NO room for sentiment at NUFC..however I do think that there is a shortage of really good goalkeepers.

We couldn't play that way to save our lives - these players are basically second-raters and when it comes to defending, THIRD raters.. Better to have a go than try to defend at SJP - can you imagine the field day the media would have about NUFC 'locked in their own half all game - terrified of Man U etc etc'.... Almost certain defeat - better to lose by going down fighting than playing chicken all game.

The hardest job(apart from saving the club from relegation)is restoring any real credibility to Newcastle United F.C,- we are viewed as a joke club and it will take a long time to alter this. It also means that we will find it very difficult to sign good players.....

There isn't a single party in the UK worth voting for - they have ALL sold the country down the river and the s--t is about to really hit the fan...hard times on the way.....

End of the road for Gordon Brown, hopefully. f****** hell...nationalising a bank. What a complete bollocks he is...and as for that human-badger-hybrid Alistair Darling, what a total jockey. Dismayed, I really am. still rather them than cameron and osbourne. Aye, not much of a choice really is it? Like choosing between amoebic or bacilliary dysentry. Totally agree.

Now THAT is one thing that might just make me give up on the club...!

Hmmm not really they had OK debut seasons but none have produced in any big games yet. All have been easily knocked off their games by early bruising challenges. Tahj Minniecon is another youngun that hasn't produced yet but may make it in the end simply because he has so much raw pace. The only on field player in the A-League currently who has shown signs of being good enough to make it in Europe is Joel Griffiths (Newcastle Jets). Natural striker, good finisher, golden boot of the league, bit of pace, consistent performer, good amount of arrogance about him. Carried the entire team for half the season. I think he's about 21? You'll probably see him kicking about the Eredivisie or Bundesliga or something similar next year. Vastly superior to Alan Smith... but lets not go there. Only other player who has shown enough talent to definately make it in Europe is Mark Milligan (CB Sydney FC), but he's had an awful few months and if he doesn't sort his head out is well on the way to being another Titus Bramble. Would be a shame though... No - Griffiths is 28, nearly 29(born 1979) .. has already been to UK with Leeds in 2006 and it didn't work out. The younger players I mentioned need building up physically(weight training would make a huge difference to Kruse' upper body in my opinion) but they have both pace & skill as well as being almost 10 years younger than Griffiths. Look at what happened to KK - when he was a young player at Scunthorpe he was small and lightweight ; he took up body-building and weights and the rest is history..I saw KK play at Darlo when he was with Scunthorpe and he looked nothing special(this was 1969/70)..two years later Bill Shankly signed him... Pedro was also ruled out because of his size when young, as was Bryan Robson....! Agree with you about Milligan though - needs proper defensive coaching in my view but has the potential to be a good defender.

Yes, I watched the whole game live and although they did play well today, the Newcastle United Jets are not the best team in the A League ; the team they beat(Queensland Roar) have been the most attractive side - Kruse and Zullo(who played well today, although I reckon Kruse is the more effective winger)are two of the best prospects in Aussie Football ; both 19 and with plenty of skill. Watch out also for Nathan Burns at Adelaide - another talented 19 year old forward.. The Jets are a good possession side on their day though, and today was their day - did anyone hear the commentator say that the ground is being redeveloped into a 45,000 all-seater stadium!?? I said on another thread that Aussie football is on the up...Newcastle are a decent club but they don't have the potential crowds that Sydney or Melbourne Victory have ; when those 2 met up in the first A-League final a couple of years ago, there were 52,000 at the game in Melbourne... Did anyone notice the sign being held up among the Jets fans saying 'NUFC' with a Star motif!?? Obviously some expat Geordies in the crowd(there are many former N/Easterners in Newcastle - even some of the suburbs have names like Jesmond and Wallsend...!). This is the club FS tried to buy back in 2002, but Con Konstantine, the club President, wouldn't sell although they were keen on keeping links with us...obviously that fell by the wayside..!

Stubbins is a good shout Mick - great player and a big lad too ; saw him at SJP in 1992 when he was presented to the crowd as the week's former start player during our promotion season. However, for sheer natural ability, it has to be Gazza - never seen a kid of 17 with so much talent when he made his debut against Spurs & forced their keeper(was it Clemence?)into a brilliant save from a free kick. Could have been the bedrock of the England side for years if he had anything like a sensible brain - even in Euro 96(on the downward path then), he scored that great goal against the Scots, and what about the one at Wembley against the Czechs some years earlier...he had almost everything except common sense!! Beardsley was very close behind but he didn't quite have Gazza's outrageous talent - made up for it with his stability. If you think of players like these, I find it ludicrous that on another thread, some people are saying English players are rubbish & over-rated - they may be now, but who is to blame for that ? I give you a generation of teachers and politicians who have made a career out of running down everything about the UK and making it their business to ensure the place has no discipline or tough laws....there are no demands on kids to have high standards and PLEASE don't try to give me all the c--p about 'excellent A level passes' etc etc...the standards today are pathetic and modern A Level students couldn't even attempt the old O Level GCEs - 20% come out of school illiterate and that also applies to their physical standards, hence poor young footballers.. Is anyone trying to tell me that they wouldn't want the likes of Gazza, Beardsley, the Charltons, Bobby Moore, Colin Bell etc etc etc in ANY English club side , because if so - COBBLERS. Some on here, too young to remember, should be told that it took until 1968 before W.Germany, WC holders in 1954, managed a 1-0 win over England....results since have not been great have they, so why do people think that is ? A German super race, or something!? No, its because of the crap system both in schools and coaching of youngsters together with a culture of non-expectation.

Totally agree with your assessment of both their and our players - they will scrap, whereas the plodders we have aren't capable(apart from Smith & Barton, and they don't do it very cleverly..!) Hope you are wrong about relegation, but I fear you may be right... Suspect a 1-2 defeat for us at SJP - as has been said, we are useless in the second half and I reckon that we will score first and lose by 2 second half goals.

Agreed - Plus too many aging players in midfield(or whose legs have gone..!).

Tbf oldtype, how many strong Asian leagues are there? I reckon the Japanese one is the strongest, and then you have the middle-eastern leagues (Al-ahli etc.) and the Korean league. What other leagues are there? The Chinese league is w*** and most of the leagues in South-east Asia are of the same low quality. Trust me, there are many knowledgable football folk in and around Asia who will receive the clubs with open arms. And with regards to the Australian league, it's really not a priority seeing as Rubgy and Aussie Rules are more popular. But, we all have a different perspective anyway. For someone like me who's gonna be heading back after university/couple yrs of work, then I like this idea because it'll give me a bigger chance of getting to see us play competitively without having to visit England/Europe. So as a fan, I welcome this idea. You are totally wrong about football in Australia - Aussie Rules and Rugby have been heavily-backed by the Aussie media, but there are now more kids playing football at school than the other two codes - the interest is great and growing ; World Cup ties etc draw crowds over 50,000 and in one qualifier at Melbourne they had 96,000 in the MCG...think again - there will eventually be more really good players from Oz and only its geographical position makes players leave for Europe.

We're desperate for a striker in the summer imo. I think central midfield is probably the biggest problem but I'm not convinced any of our strikers are 'good enough'. Viduka is technically good and will score a few but his lack of mobility greatly limits any team. Shola isn't good enough, that's been pretty much proven. Smith looks s****. Martins is very inconsistent and Owen is rarely fit, half the player he was and potentially away in just over a year's time. The entire structure of our attack and midfield is all wrong. The partnerships up front and in central midfield are all wrong in both areas. what partnerships are they ? there hasn't been time to forge any partnerships since keegan came in. i doubt smith is his first choice forward nor barton/butt his first choice central midfield. You see, people are making excuses for the new board not backing Keegan ie you and mick who didn't reply to my earlier question. Keegan isnt' going to say anything other than what he said, because he quite firmly said that he wanted to bring in 2 or 3 players before the end of the transfer window. So what do you think changed, when players moved during the window ? And don't forget about other players such as Bentley who's transfer value has most definitely gone up in the last week or two ie buying him in the summer will cost more than buying him in January, so whats this nonsense about people saying wait until the summer all about ? Especially when we are in a relegation struggle. Fact is, the new board have cocked up with their policy, and they haven't recognised we have been playing a dangerous game with a squad short of numbers and quality. The central midfield balance between Butt, Faye, Emre, Barton is weak and unbalanced. The central strikers of Owen, Smith, Martins, Viduka is the same. Take into account other positions ie Enrique cost 6m quid and has hardly played, the failure to replace Solano. You are talking about major changes to the team here, and it won't be done looking around at 17 year old kids and cheap players out of contract alone. They have failed to understand football and grasp what was needed. didn't even see your earlier question. keegan also quite firmly stated that in his view he couldn't get in anyone who was better than what we already had. could it be the board have left it to the manager to decide ? You see, this is the bit that I simply don't buy. We know Keegan, we all know he wants results yesterday. There is no way he hasn't came in and decided instantly that we need a striker and midfield player, and didn't already know players playing for clubs lower and/or smaller than us who would improve us overnight. Whats wrong with bidding for these players ? He's being conservative with the truth, and rightly so in his position. He's missed off, at the end of his sentence, "for the money I have at the moment". We are playing a dangerous game, dicing with our premiership status here. or the players weren't available at the time?. the woodgate bid wasn't leaked by NUFC the levante centre half thing wasn't denied by NUFC ..they say nowt. we have no idea who they went after in the most part. for example...if we had bid for bentley,blackburn would hardly want it going public as they may have an unsettled player if an auction starts knowing full well that they'd get more in the summer if they wanted to sell. i agree we are playing a dangerous game but you may well be falling for the idea of "because i don't see action then none is happening" during the window. I can accept that is possible. However, we know that Benjani was available, because he moved. Keegan may well think he wouldn't do better than Viduka, Smith or be a better partner for Owen or Martins, do you think so ? I don't. The club - or somebody at the club - failed to grasp the need to replace Solano and Dyer, at least, letting them both go on transfer deadline day, and 5 months later still don't grasp it. no but it's more than possible he didn't want to sign someone like that just until the end of the season when he'd want to get better again in. FWIW i'd take martins,played correctly over benjani. Keegan might like Martins, in the short term he might get more consistency of performance and application from him, but my guess is in the long term he'll get shot of him. I agree - he WILL, one way or another...

Yes, the timing of Allardyce's sacking was poor - he should have gone before Christmas because as we all know, the team is just not good enough and negotiations should have been under way LONG BEFORE the Jan deadline so we had signings in the pipeline - NOT scrambling around after players who have virtually already agreed to sign for another club. To this extent, it was not wise to appoint someone who had no idea how bad the players were because he had had no chance to see them in action until we were right in the middle of the Transfer window...if Ashley wanted KK, he should have made the change when it was going to be easier for Keegan to get new players in rather than a mad scramble which resulted in nothing. Only time will tell whether this decision will have serious consequences for the club - right at this point in time, I just don't know where the next points are coming from watching this team ; they are in dire need of new blood in the squad and if we get heavily beaten by Man U and L/pool morale will drop even further so that games against the Mackems & Blackburn become real hurdles.

I am absolutely SICK of excuses being made for wasters at Newcastle United - it is a DISGRACE. We've had the likes of Dyer , Bramble and Barton dragging the club's name through the mud by both their off-field AND on-field activities, many of which have contributed to making the club into a joke for Journalists & fans outside the region. I am not the TINIEST bit interested in their hard-luck stories - not a bit...they are in a job most decent people would give their right arms for and yet they behave like childish yobs. Dyer would never have worn the shirt again had I been Chairman and saw what he did with the captain's armband after being subbed at Boro, or after hearing he had refused to play RW for SBR, let alone his fiasco with Bowyer for which Dyer was equally to blame. Likewise with Barton after his nightclub brawl in Liverpool - he had his chance, now he should go.. This club needs to establish a reputation that if players persistently offend, they are OUT - no second chances, or we will continue to end up with the dross of the PL on our books.

I have been pointing out, ever since late September , that the passing and movement off the ball has been dreadful ; I was blaming the coaching and if this keeps on being a feature of our play it indicates that it is definitely the players to blame as KK always got the players doing pass & move/5 a side in training during his first stint as manager. The type of midfielders we have tend to be static(Butt, Geremi, Faye when played there - even Barton has been poor in that department) ; only the likes of Zog, Milner and Duff show plenty of movement off the ball and they are basically wide players.Emre CAN do it, but is a bit lightweight and disappears for long periods of the game which is probably why managers tend to use him as a sub. Emre is the only one who attempts a through ball to try to split defences - no-one else has the accuracy... The wide players, with the exception of Duff, are also poor crossers of the ball - only Duff has tried to beat the fullback and pull the ball back into the area ; the others tend to lump it in from behind the 18 yard line. Altogether, as I said previously, we do not have a TEAM - they don't attack as one, or defend as one and once possession is given away(which is very regularly)they are under pressure immediately. It is not hard to see why we are in this position.....