merlin

This post sums it all up for me.

Pardew is actually younger but has more managerial experience. I don't think you can call Hughton a young manager when people like Clough were doing it at 29 and even Fergie was late 30s. Previous clubs never saw Hughton as managment material, rightly or wrongly.

A great result in terrible playing conditions. The result more important than the performance, although this was Jonas' best contribution for a while - 2 assists for the goals and his second was a beauty. Good effort also from Best, he has been given a chance by Pardew and taken it - his goals may turn out to be crucial in keeping the side in the PL. Two wins should see the side safe and the sooner this happens the better because we are down to the bare bones and cannot take injuries/suspensions to key players. As has been said, with an ambitious owner the side could be transformed into Euro challengers next season - as it is, we don't even know if we will be able to do as well as this, but that is for another day. Well done to all concerned and I wonder how much input Carver is having,,,!

So far, nobody can knock what Pardew has achieved ; there was a real risk that the team spirit could have gone into freefall after Hughton's sacking and then Pardew had to deal with the Carroll transfer which put his credibility on the spot but he has got the team playing as a unit and to what strengths they possess; His decision to give Best a chance has been rewarded and the side have looked, with the exception of the Arsenal game, as if they are unlikely to concede many goals so you have to give him credit for a sound performance under difficult circumstances - so far. I remember KK saying, when commenting about Ashley and Co after Hughton's sacking, that Alan was, in his words, 'a good lad', so Keegan must have thought Pardew had something. If he keeps us up - and it looks as if a couple more wins should do that - he has done a very good job this season. His biggest test will come when he needs to strengthen the side and fend off bids for the better players in summer but so far, the signs are good. Let's hope he doesn't self-destruct as has happened at other clubs for various reasons.

...but he's still ahead of Carroll as a Newcastle player.....according to some people..! Show me these people, they need educating! No names, no pack drill, but I doubt they'll admit it now... I saw the comment last week on the site.

...but he's still ahead of Carroll as a Newcastle player.....according to some people..!

about 275,000 in the city boundaries. ..but the club draw fans from all over the NE region and beyond. I reckon only about half regular fans are actually from Newcastle.

Howay, we'll get more than £20 million for the pair of them. Will be gutted if we sell them though - would be testament to the lack of ambition from the owners. OK then £25m. More money in the bank. I actually think that we will get more than 25m for both Tiote and Enrique...my money is on 20m for Tiote and 12 for Enrique ; however, this is dependent on Chelsea bidding for Tiote. If only Man U or Liverpool go for him you can reduce that by 5m

IF that was his plan, he would have been sure to have someone lined up before selling Carroll - the likes of Goodwillie or Van Wolfswinkel come to mind ; if there is nobody with enough potential to replace Carroll(or anyone else)the player shouldn't be sold. If the club goes for Rip Van Winklestein to replace Carroll(as an example), the player's club now know NUFC have megabucks from the Carroll sale and the price goes up by millions....is this sound business, esp when you are forced into recruiting a past-it 34r yr old who was never great in his prime ? No, it looks as if Ashley is just asset-stripping, pure and simple - the proof will be the departure of Enrique and Tiote without adequate 'prospects' being signed to replace them.

Funny how there were different managers involved - but maybe you were a fan of Souness ?? And until Shepherd fired SBR without a suitable replacement lined up, we actually WERE doing better on the field than under Ashley. Maybe you can produce a set of your famous stats to back up your argument......

I don't think the next mega f***-up will come until the season's over, tbh. It'll be when we've made safety reasonably comfortably in the end, things are looking a bit good, people are starting to wonder if maybe the Ashley Model isn't such a bad thing after all, at which point he'll pull the rug out again. Not sure how he'll do it next, but it won't be til late July IMO. This is probably the correct scenario and we all know what it will be...

Spurs are NOT going to win the league - either this season, next or the one after that - why ? because they also have a wage cap and the best players will always go to clubs that both pay them the best rate and also sign OTHER top class players. Spurs ARE an example of the best NUFC could achieve unless taken over by ultra-rich owners. Its a fact of life and no amount of wishing will make it different - NOBODY who supports NUFC is in any doubt about the club's potential but unless the thousands(yes, thousands)of fans who have become disillusioned with the club see genuine signs of ambition, they aint coming back any time soon. The Europeanisation of the English game now means that foreign players form a large part of PL top sides and most of these either want to live in London or Manchester because of the better transport links and perception as places with more facilities of all kinds - even if this is not entirely true, so the club face enough problems geographically without the added handicap of being perceived as always being run controversially and on the cheap, which is how NUFC is seen by many players now. We have been able to sign the likes of Enrique and Tiote because they were YOUNG players, still unknown in the game and therefore a gamble for the top clubs. Now they have been seen to be top class themselves, they will be poached away if offered better deals/careers. A TRULY top club would have little fear of losing these guys unless someone like Real Madrid came knocking with megabucks because they are ALREADY offering them success and the rewards that go with them. Whether you, I or anyone else likes it(and obviously we don't), its a fact of life and until the way NUFC is run changes, we will continue to lose our best players....'.big fleas have littler fleas upon their back to bite 'em...little fleas have littler fleas and so ad infinitum' Its the law of the jungle and the guys with the biggest teeth keep winning unfortunately. The rest all keep running and hoping those teeth don't grab their best bits....! I don't really disagree with any of that, I just think that it is possible for the hierarchy in the Premier League to change. It already has pretty often over the last few years (outside of the top 3 or 4 always being the same). If by 'the way NUFC is run changes' you mean taking big financial risks to try and break into the elite, we've tried that and it didn't exactly turn out great. If you mean we need a mega-rich owner who's prepared to spunk his private money on players and wages, I probably agree that's the best chance for progress in the current system. All I really want is for us to keep making solid, quality signings of players who actually want to play for us, and hopefully that will lead to steady progress. Then we'll see what happens to the other clubs in the league and if they fall back. We did, they can to. I DID mean the rich owner scenario - Shepherd's way was a disaster, but Ashley has gone completely the other way. Whilst I agree with him that footballers; wages are scandalous, that's the league we are in so you have to strike a better balance than he currently is, or there will be no meaningful progress.

We are neither Spurs nor Arsenal and good young players with potential will not see it your way - they will simply see a club selling its best players,so how do you replace them unless you pay decent wages ? This has been NUFC's problem over the past 7 years - they have only been able to attract players that other clubs didn't want to pay big wages to(like Owen and Martins)because NUFC WERE prepared to pay under Shepherd...success didn't follow so the club built up a huge debt. Ashley's method prevents big debt but it also leaves the club likely to lose its best players over time.

Spurs are NOT going to win the league - either this season, next or the one after that - why ? because they also have a wage cap and the best players will always go to clubs that both pay them the best rate and also sign OTHER top class players. Spurs ARE an example of the best NUFC could achieve unless taken over by ultra-rich owners. Its a fact of life and no amount of wishing will make it different - NOBODY who supports NUFC is in any doubt about the club's potential but unless the thousands(yes, thousands)of fans who have become disillusioned with the club see genuine signs of ambition, they aint coming back any time soon. The Europeanisation of the English game now means that foreign players form a large part of PL top sides and most of these either want to live in London or Manchester because of the better transport links and perception as places with more facilities of all kinds - even if this is not entirely true, so the club face enough problems geographically without the added handicap of being perceived as always being run controversially and on the cheap, which is how NUFC is seen by many players now. We have been able to sign the likes of Enrique and Tiote because they were YOUNG players, still unknown in the game and therefore a gamble for the top clubs. Now they have been seen to be top class themselves, they will be poached away if offered better deals/careers. A TRULY top club would have little fear of losing these guys unless someone like Real Madrid came knocking with megabucks because they are ALREADY offering them success and the rewards that go with them. Whether you, I or anyone else likes it(and obviously we don't), its a fact of life and until the way NUFC is run changes, we will continue to lose our best players....'.big fleas have littler fleas upon their back to bite 'em...little fleas have littler fleas and so ad infinitum' Its the law of the jungle and the guys with the biggest teeth keep winning unfortunately. The rest all keep running and hoping those teeth don't grab their best bits....!

I've heard of lies, damned lies and statistics, but this is ridiculous - how many decent chances have been created an MISSED ? Also, 2 pens in the Arsenal game, so only 10 on 6 games from open play. Also, how many did we concede playing in those games v Bolton and WBA ? 8, I believe it was..... You can extract anything you like from any period to prove your point but we are living with reality here.. Tiote scored HOW many before last week ? Its not even his job and he won't get many more...how many will Coloccini get and it was his goal that won us a point against Spurs...? We have, as the expert alpal has pointed out, now lost Carroll and he has been replaced by a 34 yr old has been....we are looking at where the goals will come from in the NEXT 6 games, not the past. You had better hope that Best keeps doing it because Ranger and Lovenkrands won't....see yesterday. I'm confused. Why have you brought up the WBA and Bolton games? Those games weren't in the last six and Carroll played in both. 10 goals from 6 games is bad? Seems reasonable to me. I also didn't realise we were taking away pens from our tally, they all count so I'm not sure why. Stay confused - its easier that way...!

Good post - I agree with most of what you say. The whole thing can be summarised by saying that we have half a decent side and half a Championship outfit ; in such a situation, you are going to get ups and downs depending on which half of the side dominates in each game. Some people on here will use any stat they can to show we are safe and that, frankly, is ostrich territory. With such a small gap separating several teams, it does not take much of a slump(or a lift)in form to either be dragged down or to get into what appears to be 'safe' territory. With the players we have I foresee quite a few draws, both home and away because thanks to the likes of Colo, Enrique, an improving Simpson and Harper, we will be difficult to score against ; if these guys slip up, though, we will find it difficult to pull back deficits because of the woefully weak forwards. There will NOT be an Arsenal-type escape in 99 games out of 100 so scoring first is a priority if we are to stay in comfortable territory over the next 3 months. If I had to bet on it, I would say we will achieve survival by a small margin - but its by no means a certainty.

hes one of the better lbs in the pl, but best no not if you ask me, on form i'd put baines as the best lb this season tbh as good as enriques been Football is a game of opinions - you have yours, I have mine...

For once, I agree - but why aren't we part of the 'dozen or so'..?

I've heard of lies, damned lies and statistics, but this is ridiculous - how many decent chances have been created an MISSED ? Also, 2 pens in the Arsenal game, so only 10 on 6 games from open play. Also, how many did we concede playing in those games v Bolton and WBA ? 8, I believe it was..... You can extract anything you like from any period to prove your point but we are living with reality here.. Tiote scored HOW many before last week ? Its not even his job and he won't get many more...how many will Coloccini get and it was his goal that won us a point against Spurs...? We have, as the expert alpal has pointed out, now lost Carroll and he has been replaced by a 34 yr old has been....we are looking at where the goals will come from in the NEXT 6 games, not the past. You had better hope that Best keeps doing it because Ranger and Lovenkrands won't....see yesterday.

As Brian Clough said ' If your auntie had b---s, she'd be your uncle !' NUFC are NOT a big club - its a lower-middle ranking PL side with more fans than most and haven't won a major trophy for 42 years.

After his performance today, I am prepared to stick my neck out and say that Enrique IS the best LB in the PL - bar none. I have always thought that in the past year or so he has been the best DEFENSIVE LB but he has now added quality overlapping and crossing to his game ; the side could and should have had at least 2 goals from his runs/crosses/passes in the 1st half alone - I wouldn't swap him for Evra or Cole. He WILL be sold - no doubt about it. The lad would almost certainly stay at SJP if NUFC were an ambitious club aiming to win trophies and pay the going rate to its top players, but as Brian Clough once said, 'if your auntie had b---s, she'd be your uncle' and NUFC are NOT an ambitious trophy-winning club....or likely to be in the next 5 years unless something totally out of the blue(AND unlikely), happens. In that case, the lad needs to make the most of his career and win some medals as well as getting the money he is capable of earning. I don't blame him one bit of he leaves, he's been a great servant and always given of his best. Some people on here need to get real - players are no different to anyone else, if they have a chance to better themselves, they will just as people who slate them on here for 'disloyalty' would if given the chance. People want a job where they are paid what they are worth, appreciated by their employer and with a company going places both now and for the foreseeable future - are NUFC any of those things ? The club are basically a feeder club for the Top 4/5 and with the current regime, always will be. To be fair to Ashley & Co, it may be almost impossible to break out of the box the club is seen to be in even if new owners take over....too many vested PL interests now.

This - games like this, where we are on top, are a great opportunity to put a gap between the rest of the bottom half and ourselves. It also serves to sicken them if you pull further away. As it is, Wigan will take great heart from their point at Liverpool and W Ham also after coming from 3 down at WBA ; in fact, the latter game could be critical because if WBA had won, they also would have been lifted and now, the Hammers will be thinking they can escape. I now believe Wolves and WBA will be doomed unless they win their next matches and this leaves one place left....there will be a major scrap to avoid that and unless we can start scoring in crucial games like this, we will be drawn in. A pity because the side were better than Blackburn and Enrique outstanding esp in the 1st half.

IF we are talking about Pardew and not KK(!), then I agree with most of the findings that he is doing between Good and OK ; had a difficult job when he arrived and has faced a difficult situation over Carroll whilst keeping the team focused on the pitch ; results have been as good as can be expected with such a lousy attack. On the Carroll situation, yes, undoubtedly, every player has his price ; the problem with this transfer in most people's eyes is either that he wasn't replaced(risking relegation) or that it was stated beyond doubt, that he was NOT for sale this season. People would have been far less concerned if a half-decent striker had been signed in the window. As for KK, my biggest problem(and, I suspect, Keegan's also) was the interference coming from Wise plus the decision to sell Milner without replacing him with a decent player ; I believe a man like KK would not be able to work with his decisions being subject to Wise's approval and both Fergie and Wenger backed his stance as did the tribunal. Its history now - he's gone, never to return and we have Pardew....for better or worse and at the moment he's doing OK ; this is NUFC, so that can change in an instant.!!

I willingly hold my hands up about my early judgment of Coloccini. The first time I saw him at Man U in the first game of 2008/9, I actually though he WAS a good player because he read the game well. However, he was obviously affected by the upheavals at the club following KKs walk-out, plus he took time to adjust to the English game/way of life. Ever since last season he has been good, and this year has proved beyond doubt that he is a quality player. He has been awesome in some games, esp at the SOS when he almost played their attack on his own. I have never seen a player make such an improvement at his age and I am delighted I was wrong about him. Just a pity he isn't a couple of years younger because he could have been the bedrock of defence for 5-7 years. As it is, he is probably going to be away within 3 at best and if a decent offer comes in, even before. His one weakness is in handling fast physical forwards who get tight on him, but nobody is perfect. Best CB we've had since Woodgate and stays fit too which is just as well because we will need him for the crucial run-in games.

I'm embarrassed that NUFC have been forced to stoop this low. I'm sure you are - but surprised..! Not a bit, and there will be similar events at the club before things get better. Many seem happy with it, so why worry..!??