merlin

Ashley may not be a fool, but you are if you think the ref was biased against us Vs Villa based on some premier league/Sky conspiracy theory. Just wait until the end of the season and then make your judgment. If you think everything in Football(like Politics) is whiter than white, then YOU are the fool.. In the case of Saturday's ref, were you there back in 1999 when Shearer was sent off in the same fixture? Even the Villa defenders were gobsmacked. There may be no comparison between the two refs, but who knows whether he had previously had a bust-up with Viduka ? All these things enter the issue. There is an old saying which goes along the lines that ' Good men should believe that anything is possible of evil men'.... And - money talks...

This question can not be answered by a straight yes or no. Do I trust Ashley if he hangs on to the club ? Yes. Do I think he would sell IF he has found the club to be in a MUCH worse state than he thought? Possibly - he's a businessman. What I fear most is that he sells and the people buying the club do not intend to(or cannot because of the huge price they will pay)invest in it, and just want to toddle along like, say, Southampton used to and take advantage of the fans like FF did...also, we do NOT need amy more upheaval at this point. In fact, I think Ashley will probably be MORE concerned about the difficulty we face in getting into the Top 4. I know it sounds crazy, but I believe that the Premier League bosses(and Scudamore confirmed this) are quite happy with the staus quo in England - they want more competitiveness in the Prem, but they don't want upstarts like NUFC breaking the mould. Personally, I think the whole thing is dictated to by Sky - and they have shares in Man U and, don't forget, the Mackems.....it was this fact that decided me to stop Sky when I was in the UK. The NOTW bent over backwards to stitch up DSH & FS(although they were stupid enough to walk into the trap), and I reckon Murdoch's henchmen feared us as a rival to Man U at that time. Look how the Sun constantly tries to unsettle players at NUFC & publishes anything negative about the Club they can dig up...... Ashley is no fool - he will know that Refs will give us a hard time(regardless of Viduka's performance on Saturday, it was obvious he got no change whatsoever from the Ref - watch for more of that...)and as a person who shuns publicity, he will get fed up of the media's constant prying & sniping,even though he should have expected it. If someone offered him enough in the circumstances I described, you can imagine that he might be tempted to take it... I hope he hangs on out of cussedness, and decides to take all the b-------ds on by making the club into what we all know it could be.

I agree 100% mate. If Viduka is ahead of Owen then football and Allardyce should f*** off. I honestly see us as being a slightly better side than Bolton, better players but no flair. THAT IS NOT THE NEWCASTLE UNITED WAY. Probably only a matter of time till both Martins and Owen leave if we carry on where we left of on Saturday. The last couple of seasons I've been downhearted because we've under acheived. Sunday morning I was still in a bad mood after 90 minutes of a high punt into the box. Newcastle United should be above this. You are clearly under 50 years of age - high balls 'NOT THE NEWCASTLE WAY'.. In 1969, we won the club's ONLY Trophy worth talking about in 40 years using a version of that strategy - most of the Foreign sides we faced simply couldn't handle Wyn Davies' ability to jump higher than their defenders, and Pop Robson picked up the pieces to blast in some memorable goals..... It wasn't ALL about that, but gradually, the side tended to resort to that weapon, with a tough defence(Moncur, Burton/McNamee, Craig & Clark to back it up. It was only when Davies went in 1971 that we started to try to play - Supermac was good in the air, but not like Davies, and we used his pace on the deck. Don't get me wrong - I like to see football played the Brazilian way, but not many can get away with that ; KK's team won nowt, despite some of the best football played at SJP in 40 years... I personally couldn't care less if we win every game 1-0 by boring people to death - Football today is about money & success - if you don't have the latter, you won't get the former and the better players you can buy with it.. NUFC fans are going to have to live on a sparse diet for a while and become, like the team, more professional.

Anelka - Martins has not got his sulky tendency, but neither has he got Anelka's talent. If we had Anelka in this side, we would be far more dangerous - his ball control is far superior and his runs far more intelligent. The only advantage Martins has is his age - if indeed this IS his age ; in every other respect, Anelka would be a more effective forward at this time.

Further to above posting, I reckon(controversy here) that the Football authorities have been against this for so long as it allows them to 'dictate' results in important games to a degree - remember the dodgy decisions in the 2002 WC, when S Korea were given benefit of Pens not given against Italy or Spain !?? They don't want a host nation going out of a tournament too soon or the revenue would dry up... As it is, the Hawkeye will only cut out goal controversy - pens , offsides etc still remain the Refs decision and open to mistakes....

Should have been done years ago - too much at stake now if the ref/officials make a serious mistake with pens/goals that weren't etc(Schwartzer's thing against Fulham was a case in point - he clearly had the ball over the line when he caught it..). It only takes a few secs for an official in the stands to see the vid replay & tell the ref over headphone that its a goal or not etc. Can be replayed on stadium screens so fans KNOW that correct decision has been made - imagine if we were on the verge of winning FA Cup, and a similar incident to Schwartzers took place, and we ended up losing as Fulham did to Boro in the last few minutes..would you STILL say technology has no place in Football...!!??

He's doing what any DECENT Chairman should do - working quietly in the background, supporting the manager, and concentrating on the club's future development as well as presenting a well-moderated and coherent face to the fans & media - who wants anything else ? Shepherd back anyone ? Or the likes of Ellis perhaps....!!?

The voice of reason from an outsiders perspective, Ive been expecting that. Totally agree brummie Yes, me too Brummie - I have been a Newcastle supporter for over 40 years and I have never been so disgusted with some of the immature reaction from other fans on this site. I saw us win our last trophy in 1969, and I felt as hurt as any when we lost to Hereford in 1972, but the reactions of some fans today is unbelievable. There were justifiable complaints about the previous set-up for a couple of years and the club was going nowhere with it - we get what everyone has been praying for, and suddenly, the team is expected to play like Brazil 1970 as soon as the season starts - incredible !! We've got 4 points from 2 games, Man Utd have not won 1 game from 3, and the top 4 are still below us. Incidentally, you've got the makings of a good side, Brummie..!

Just wanted to add to my earlier comment about Shorey - I had temporarily forgotten about Enrique and we can only hope he is the business, but he IS young and has no Prem experience. Only time will tell if he IS the answer.

I agree with this post - i watched the whole game on Foxtel until 2.15 am our time, and make the following observations ;- I expected this to be a tough match and I wasn't wrong - those who have knocked O'Neill in the past should eat humble pie as he had Villa really well organized ; they defended excellently and we hardly got a sniff. The closest we came to scoring was Rozehnal's shot(well-saved)and Viduka's header(deflected over). They could also have scored twice through Laursen & Carew, and should have scored through Agbonhalor, so a draw was a fair result athough we did shade the possession. Our Positives - the high tempo of play and work-rate - last years' team would have lost this match. Smith & Butt were instrumental in keeping us going & Milner's work rate is exceptional ; he must have been knackered at the end as he was the only man taking defenders on . Also, we ARE keeping shape as a unit which is good for the long-term- no-one gave up. The negatives - as I said last week, we lack a midfielder with vision & passing ability. We lack pace up front which will probably not be solved with Owen as he will have lost some of his acceleration off the mark ; we could do with signing Anelka who would give us a whole new look up front. For those criticizing Viduka - get real ; he was virtually isolated among 3 defenders for much of the match as Martins & the midfielders were slow to support him on breakaways.he got very little help from the ref either, who gave Laursen the benefit 8 times out of 10. It was noticeable that the best forward pass of the game was from Viduka in the first half and should have opened them up. Martins does not, in my view, possess the vision to be a really top forward - athleticism yes, frightens defenders when running at them, yes, but control is not good and he doesn't see the quick forward pass when a team-mate is making a run. N'Zogbia needs to be further forward in order to use his pace against the full=back - he is playing out of position, and we need a good L/B asap - I thought Shorey was excellent again yesterday against Everton and he would be a good buy.. Neither side wanted to lose, and it was noticeable that the 2 managers had a long and friendly chat at the end - there is obviously mutual respect,and so there should be as both men are building decent sides from a low base. I agree with those demanding patience - we have fallen far from the heights of 1996, and even from 2002 but I believe that SA WILL get it right - but probably not this season.

The only two things we really lack are pace and vision in the form of a dominating midfielder who can see a great pass on in an instant - these 2 things are vital, esp in away games if you are trying to catch a team on the break - that is why I think this Saturday's game will be a good guide as to how we deal with a team with these qualities.

There is no doubt that he has tons of experience and seems a very steady defender - however, he WILL find that the Prem is quicker & more physical than the French league and the fact that he hasn't played competitive football regularly over the past year may have taken his edge off - only Sam will be able to judge that, but if he comes in and does as well as Rozenhal did at Bolton, we can have no complaints - my concerns in this match are mainly over the fullbacks against their speedy wingers, but if we control midfield - and I believe we can - then we should have a good chance of 3 points.

I have a whippet, ironically he's called Merlin. Good post though. I'm honoured - on both counts....!!

What?! We don't?! Weeeellll - don't tell 'em...!!

His signings are OK for now - we need to get some tangible success in League or Cups so that we can start to compete for younger , top class players as they have more clubs after them - we just have to trust Sam's judgment until the end of the Season.

Lets wait until at least November before speculating whether we can get into the Top 4 or not ; we need to take things on a game-by-game basis - there will be all sorts of wingeing if the wheels happen to fall off against Villa on Sat ; if we beat them, THEN think about the next game... Lets face it - all the disappointments of the past should have taught us all that, and Football can be a strange game... how many on here would have tipped Spurs to be pointless after the 2 opening games they had.!!

If this is about Keane's rant against the so-called WAGS of English football, then this is one thing that i DO agree with him about. Its not just Sunderland who would have a problem getting certain players to sign for them - we also would have the same difficulty, despite Newcastle being one of the most lively & progressive cities in the UK . People like Beckham's wife are a pain in the butt, and have far too much influence over the players - as Keane says, the players & wives that come into that category are weak and also thick - they probably still think the North East has stacks of coal-mines, chimneys with thick smoke, and all the fans wear cloth caps & have whippets/pigeons etc. etc. This is a common phenomenum when the women are from London/S.east - most of them have never been north of Watford anyway, and foreign players , esp Southern Europeans, think that London is the centre of everything - even if the lifestyle is crap. At least when Hamman & his wife were based in the North East, he did say that he really enjoyed all the lovely countryside around the area and they both used to drive into Northumberland etc at weekends or days off. That is why it is SO important that NUFC has a really good Academy system, not just in the UK, but eventually overseas in order to dispel these myths and get in players who REALLY want to play for the club and not just pick up their oversized wages so their particular WAG can go shopping in London...... I believe that these WAGS were partly to blame for England's pathetic showing at last year's WC - too much concentration on pleasing the girls instead of total concentration on the games.

This will be a hard-fought game - it would have been better for us if they had managed to sneak something from Liverpool, as they will now be desperate to get at least a point on the board. O'Neill will have them well organised & wound up for this one - expect them to defend in depth & hit us on the break if they can. If we win 2-1 in a tough game I will be well-pleased & consider we are making the right sort of progress - success is all about confidence and we need to learn to grind out results when teams try to snuff the game out. I too expect a defender to be one of our scorers, most probs from a set-piece.

100% spot on and so refreshing to hear a manager, especially a Newcastle manager, speak out about something that has almost become our stock and trade these past few years. My two cents from earlier... About this booing malarky. I honestly think we've been fed so much drivel, s*** and excuses over the last 3 years, that it was inevitable that we (the fans) would crack. Lets hope with the positives coming out of the club, when something goes wrong, or somebody fucks up, we can see how far we've come, and respect that. I'd also like to add, that I don't think the fans at home will be half as restless this time around. We can see a new horizion, we can see plans. Agree totally - as long as team gives 100%, they will get proper support as the fans now know that things are much better behind the scenes.

Best thing about this situation is that most of the midfield players seem to be mature guys with a good attitude to both the game and the situation - Smith will know, as will the likes of Geremi & Butt, that you need a decent squad to have any hope of long-term success, and they will accept that sometimes they are in the team & sometimes not, depending on injuries, opposition, whether home ar away etc. The ones who will be hardest to keep happy are the strikers - Viduka will have injuries from time to time, but will be in the side if fit(we don't have a better CF/Target man), but Owen and Martins will be fighting for the same spot and neither will want to be dropped - Owen because of his England ambitions, and Martins because he has other clubs interested.. Milner will accept being in & out for tactical reasons or loss of form, but Zoggy could be a problem.. Either way, its a nice problem to have, but we could are still vulnerable to injuries to the forwards, esp goalscorers..

Would be happy with Shorey OR Brown - both would add considerably to our defensive strength, but if I had to choose 1 it would be Brown ; can cover at RB, is a very steady & experienced Central defender and still ata good age. Brown alongside either Taylor or Rozenhal would be a strong central pairing and if we get this guy we could concede far fewer goals this season - we would only need a decent playmaker to make us realistic candidates for 5/6th.

Provided he stays clear of injury, Smith could prove to be one of the signings of the season - he will be essential to us in away games with his committed approach, and, no little skill.

Watched whole game here in Oz - much better result than I expected, although I did say before that we should get something if we scored first & kept them out for the next 20 mins. Better side by far in 1st half, went off boil in second, although we weathered their expected charge after half-time. Rozenhal was superb - coped really well with the step up in pace & aggression ; looks a class defender & its a pity we never got to see him & Woodgate play together - would have been as good a Central pairing as any in the Prem, if not better. Still problems with full-back, esp Carr ; Smith excellent, great workrate amd probably a must in midfield in away matches ; he & Butt snuffed them out, but we do need a playmaker - urgently... Viduka was great at holding up the ball until he tired, but looks a top acquisition - something we desperately needed - Ameobi showed his lack of pace off the mark when given a great pass - defender simply caught him up ; not Prem class in my opinion. Geremi was steady and involved, Milner never stopped. We had some luck with Martins' second, but I reckon either Roz or Smith would have put N'Zogs free-kick in even if it didn't drift across them , so all in all , a deserved win. As Sam says, still much to be done, and we need to retain possession better when teams put us under pressure - went through a spell after their goal when we gave the ball away recklessly outside the box... Will be interesting to see who Sam picks for first home game next week....!

It'll be a tough one - we could have done without this as a first match. They'll be fired-up because of Sam etc., and we have basically a new set-up with some key players missing. Had Barton and Owen been available, I would have fancied us to get at least a point - now, I think we'll do well to get one. If we score first and keep them out for 20 mins after that, we should get something ; if they score first, we could lose by 2 at least. Rozenhal will, as Sam says, find it a baptism of fire - they are very physical and play at a higher tempo that he has been used to in France, which is why I think that we need to keep them out for a while so he can adjust - an early goal for them could cause the defence to lose confidence & shape to disastrous effect.. Essential that we try to control the middle - hope Smith is playing in there as he and Butt will bite a few ankles - they will definitely try to do us physically... There'll be no prisoners in this one and I hope we don't get any more bad injuries from the game - if we come away with a well-earned point AND stand up to their battering, we will be on the verge of a good season - there won't be any tougher away games than this bar the top 4 & Spurs, but then, Football has a habit of surprising you !!

I know far more about the subject than you seem to - don't accuse me of incoherent rants when you haven't looked at the big picture - Trade ? They sell us far more than we sell them(we have a surplus with every area of the world and a DEFICIT with the EU(try looking at how many French/German cars on UK roads..!??). How many SHIPS built on Tyneside now ? Sunderland yards closed in 86 when they were most modern in Europe, French now build Cunard liners.... COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY costing UK families at least 1000 a year extra in food(subsidising French farmers). As for the Political parties - all these guys want to get into the Euro Parliament and get far more wages/pension than they get at Westminster(paid for my us - I mean - YOU now! Regarding companies,only multinationals want us in it because they can avoid exchange controls WHEN the UK joins the Euro(which it will have to after signing the new Constitution - Whoops !- I mean, 'TREATY'...... They will simply leave & go to China or India when EU Labour costs get too high... The only thing keeping the UK economy up is the Financial Services in the City of London - look at the disparity of house prices there and in most other parts of the country. EU/UK depend on Russia for Gas(now THAT's good 'business', isn't it!!??) As I said before, but you Europhiles never listen, do you - this is a FOOTBALL site - you asked for this reply by your continuation of the debate - just drop it before the Admin clamps down.