merlin

We are NOT safe yet - when we get 41 points I will say we are safe... Our performance/result against Spurs will give is a good indication of whether we can reach safety easily because we have some tough home games coming up.

Agree about the size of fee but it is possible it may rebound on them....that was also the gamble KK took when he allowed Andy Cole to go.

You have to wonder what is behind this move - there are several possible reasons ;- 1. Bent is unhappy at Sunderland(they won't admit this if true) 2. Bruce has someone else lined up - if not it would go down badly with our dear neighbours.. 3. Villa are going to sell someone for a fairly large fee - my money is on either Ashley Young or Agbonlahor ; if Young, the likely destination is Liverpool or Spurs. Let's face it, Lerner wouldn't fund any more big transfers for MON without him raising cash first so the odds are that Houllier is in the same position. 4. Bruce has realised that Bent is better in a 4-5-1 formation and he has spent 13m on Gyan so has to play 4-4-2 if Bent is still at the club. The whole thing is not unlike our sale of Andy Cole to Man U in 1995 - completely out of the blue and a shock to supporters...not impossible that the Mackems could get Agbonlahor in part-ex as we did with Gillespie. Whether it works out as well for our dear neighbours as it did for us(signing Ferdinand then Shearer 18 months later), remains to be seen - wonder if Bruce will go on to the steps of the SOS a'la KK to explain this move to the fans.........!! More of interest to our fans will be whether NUFC are involved in ANY transfer activity.....

On yesterday's showing, both Coloccini AND Enrique should be in the side - either of them would have been a plus for any side in the PL incl Man U , Arsenal or Chelsea.

Would take a point from this game now if offered - they have far more quality than we do, esp up front. IF Carroll is fit, we stand a chance of shading it, and had Tiote also been available we would have been in with a decent shout. As it is, a point would be very welcome but it will be very tough.

Agree - should have left Gosling until next week.

As derbies go, this wasn't too bad - not much great football but plenty of action to keep you watching. Cannot see how anyone can blame Harper for their equalizer - the shot was struck low down(and the player should have been closed down anyway, bad marking in defence), and Harper could not punch it up or it might have gone in anyway. They were incredibly lucky that the rebound struck Gyan(he knew nowt about it)and looped in. Coloccini was excellent - the bedrock on which all their attacks floundered.His reading of the game was first class. Enrique also gave a massive performance and nobody could say that the foreign players didn't appreciate the importance of this match to the supporters. All the defenders put in a great stint but Simpson was shaky at times. Harper was his usual steady self and I still reckon he is currently our best keeper. The M/F did better than expected without Tiote, but that may have been because the Mackems had Clattermole missing and we won more ball. The problems are , as we know, up front - toothless without Carroll but I thought Best got more into the game as it went on. Shola missed a sitter early on and that could have been costly although he partly made up for it with his header from which Nolan scored. After the goal we could have taken them apart if we had any decent strikers as we created more chances but when it didn't happen they gained enough self belief to have a final crack at us and the goal was the result, partly of our carelessness at the back for once. Over the 2 games, we have been the better side - no doubt about it. Having said that, if we had Gyan in our side we would probably have won this easily due to his pace up front which we lack. A well-deserved point which will p--- them off no end although it could and should have been 3. Now we will sweat on injuries for next week.....

Lofthouse was a great CF - as billytray says, 'The Lion of Vienna' after his great performance against what looked like a really good Austrian side. In many ways, a bit like Andy Carroll - typical English CF with great physical strength as well as being a decent footballer. Gave great service to Bolton and was their equivalent of Jackie Milburn as they both played in the same era. RIP Nat

How many FULL 90 mins has he completed..? What's that got to do with it, you plonker? Why don't you try thinking about it - if that is possible in your unknown galaxy... It might just mean that he isn't viewed as an indispensable part of the squad...oh, wait - they are prepared to sell him...! ' Pillock.

How many FULL 90 mins has he completed..?

Next season is going to be interest. You won't have to wait that long for things to get interesting.....

This transfer shows every sign of going tits-up - if the guy was interested, he would have signed straight away.He is obviously hanging out for more money so its a waste of time pinning too many hopes on a player like that ; not as if he's a world-beater either....shows just how far NUFC have fallen when a Brum reserve turns his nose up....

The absence of Tiote is critical and we will struggle to get anything at all out of this game. Before Tiote was suspended - and I blame Pardew for this as the Cup game was lost long before Tiote was brought on - I was quietly confident that we could get a point at Sunderland. The suspension makes that far less likely and I believe they will win comfortably. We will have little physical presence in M/F now and that is where the game will be lost as the likes of Clattermole will be allowed far more license than at SJP. Whilst nothing should be ruled out where NUFC are concerned, I will be surprised if Sunderland manage to match or equal the scoreline at SJP.....then again, after the gutless performances at Bolton at Stevenage, maybe I should retract that statement.......

How old was Woodgate when we signed him...? He was a quality defender long before the age of 27. If Williamson was top class, he would have been signed up by a top 4 side ages ago - its not as if they are brimming with quality CBs anyway. Williamson fits the mould for an Ashley-owned NUFC - cheap, reasonable value for money, but nowhere near being a top class defender ; lacks pace and prone to holding in the box. If Williamson was a top class defender, as a British player it wouldn't have taken him until the age of 26 to be playing in the Premiership Exactly.

How old was Woodgate when we signed him...? He was a quality defender long before the age of 27. If Williamson was top class, he would have been signed up by a top 4 side ages ago - its not as if they are brimming with quality CBs anyway. Williamson fits the mould for an Ashley-owned NUFC - cheap, reasonable value for money, but nowhere near being a top class defender ; lacks pace and prone to holding in the box.

I dont think he ever took the Newcastle job particularly seriously. For that, I wish him ill will at Liverpool who are an awful enough club without him. This is utter nonsense, frankly - HTT is absolutely right, Dalglish WOULD have done a good job at SJP(we were 6th in the PL when he took over and finished 2nd to Man U after winning at Arsenal on the last day), but the club had limited transfer funds due to PLC disciplines, he got hit with a bad injury to Shearer in his first full season and that cost us the best of Tomasson. Dalglish restarted the Reserves after KK scrapped then in pique because he didn't want them playing at SJP and also the Juniors ; he signed Hamman, Gary Speed, Nobby, Given and Dabizas and was limited with funds for much of his spell which is why he signed some poor players also. As I have said many times, he fell out with Fletcher over Gillespie's transfer to Blackburn - reputedly, they even almost came to blows over it...hardly the reactions of a man who didn't take the job seriously.... Because of that, the club fired him at the start of 98/99 after 2 draws and we ended up with that clown Gullit who would have taken us down had not HE decided to walk after the shambles against this Saturday's opponents. Yes, we got 'sexy football' alright - we paid heavily for it and the reality wasn't as good as people(not me) imagined it would be ! The media hated KD because he wasn't KK - he kept them at arm's length and that is commonsense where NUFC are concerned. They always wanted him out and that was what they got. It was actually after thrashing Nottingham Forest at SJP on the last day. I know we beat Forest 5-0, but was not sure if it was last day ; we beat Arsenal at Highbury on 3 May, 1997 with a goal by Robbie Elliott and that was decisive because if we hadn't, Arsenal would have taken the second CL spot...only 2 available in those days.

A really good post leftie - you got it in one. As you say, too much gap between first teamers and the remainder of the squad. This cannot be passed off as 'just one of those things'(how many times have NUFc fans said this after cup defeats to lower sides!?), and your point about lack of hold-up play from the forwards is spot on. Only Carroll is decent at that, Shola is hopeless and as for Lovenkrands..... Thanks for your comments - well thought out without any digs..!

Howay man, it's not the first time we've been knocked out the cup by a team lower down the divisions than us. It's not the end of the world EDIT: And who's 'happy' with the result? God man this is the worst performance in more than 15 years I've been watching nufc. Too many ppl on here have short minds about what the cup means to NUFC. And you seem to have forgotten every good result we've had this year. Let the mongs from their shithole with a train station have their moment. If we'd lost to Wigan and West Ham but beaten Stevenage would I be happy? Would I f***. EDIT: Just seen your quip about Routledge. f*** off with that s***, you accuse other people of being short sighted but you've completely forgotten about the effect Routledge had on our championship winning season. As far as Routledge is concerned, his contribution to the CCC season is in the past. David Kelly gave far more to the club than Routledge ever has and KK let him go to Wolves after we got promoted because, rightly or wrongly, he didn't see him as a PL player. That is also many people's view of Routledge, including mine and he has done little to dispel that since we went up. He has been allowed to leave every PL club he played for....that tells it all.

Remember the sensible and concise reaction from the NUFC fans around SJP on Sky Sports News when we brought back KK/When Shearer was appointed/when we sacked KK? Exactly why its frightening. Look how that worked out.... KK would have done OK in his second spell - maybe not as good as the first one - if Ashley had kept Wise out of his face. No doubts about it at all.

I dont think he ever took the Newcastle job particularly seriously. For that, I wish him ill will at Liverpool who are an awful enough club without him. This is utter nonsense, frankly - HTT is absolutely right, Dalglish WOULD have done a good job at SJP(we were 6th in the PL when he took over and finished 2nd to Man U after winning at Arsenal on the last day), but the club had limited transfer funds due to PLC disciplines, he got hit with a bad injury to Shearer in his first full season and that cost us the best of Tomasson. Dalglish restarted the Reserves after KK scrapped then in pique because he didn't want them playing at SJP and also the Juniors ; he signed Hamman, Gary Speed, Nobby, Given and Dabizas and was limited with funds for much of his spell which is why he signed some poor players also. As I have said many times, he fell out with Fletcher over Gillespie's transfer to Blackburn - reputedly, they even almost came to blows over it...hardly the reactions of a man who didn't take the job seriously.... Because of that, the club fired him at the start of 98/99 after 2 draws and we ended up with that clown Gullit who would have taken us down had not HE decided to walk after the shambles against this Saturday's opponents. Yes, we got 'sexy football' alright - we paid heavily for it and the reality wasn't as good as people(not me) imagined it would be ! The media hated KD because he wasn't KK - he kept them at arm's length and that is commonsense where NUFC are concerned. They always wanted him out and that was what they got.

Why? He's more or less telling everyone Rangers on his last chance. He has the talent but is going to f*** it up with his s*** attitude. If players like Carroll have already had to have words wih him then I think this is the pre cursor to him being peddled. And when he does go we'll all know why. Totally agree - losing patience with this guy, he got a great chance when he moved from Sts, but obviously just happy to do the min and take the dosh...if so, he must go.

Regardless of the outcome of this appeal, there IS something seriously wrong with the game. I would have thought that the conclusion is obvious after all the manoeuverings from Blatter & Co esp re using technology.......

Have not seen game or goals - not on Foxsport or ESPN over here. Being in this season's FAC is not vital, but losing like this to a Lge 2 side is a disgrace. Clearly, Stevenage seemed to want it more than NUFC and we have lost one of our best players for a vital PL game next week, It doesn't seem to matter how many years go by or which players wear the B&W strip, Newcastle United's capacity for humiliation at the hands of lower league sides remains the only consistent thing about the club. Whilst this defeat is not as bad as, say, Hereford(a non-league side)in 1972 when we had on paper a much stronger side than the one that played yesterday, it still ranks among the worst in the club's history. For a club which once had such a great reputation in this competition, NUFC are now a joke. This result proves several things - 1. That most of the back-up players are not first team material - most of us knew that, but I bet one or two on here have had the scales lifted from their eyes about certain players - Krul and Williamson among them. The fact that the club's resources have been exposed in this way would, at some clubs, be a blessing because action would be taken to rectify matters. Unfortunately, I cannot see this bothering Ashley enough to get his hand in his pocket enough times.... 2. The side have looked more stable at the back since Harper returned - proved in abundance yesterday by most accounts on here, and I wouldn't sell him at this time. 3. Tiote will be a HUGE miss, especially next week - as the Mackems also lost(and at home), they will be equally if not more determined to do us at the SOS and Tiote's midfield play in breaking down opposition attacks will be sorely missed ; I reckon we are more likely to lose this game now and I cannot imagine what Pardew was thinking about in playing him. 4. We face probably 3 seasons of struggle without major investment in the squad and results like this will continue to happen - look at the inconsistency of the results and it is clear that we are back to the situation we often faced in the 70s and which cost us silverware on at least one occasion. and that is having a decent first team(in those days, some really good players)but nothing in reserve whereas teams such as Leeds and Liverpool had a much better squad. Campbell is now well past it, Williamson has major faults in his play(let's face it, he was a reserve at Pompey), Ranger is a player who looks as if he will not realize his potential because he doesn't have the mental strength, Perch is not a PL player, Lovenkrands also past it as is Smith and so the list goes on. We will have a hell of a job to sort out this squad and more days like this lie ahead - even when we least expect them. At least people will not have to face jibes from Mackem and Boro fans at work on Monday - what a great football hot-bed the NE is.....NOT !!

That just won't happen - Dalglish is far from being a bad manager. The players at NUFC liked him but some of the Board and the media didn't. Crucially fell out with Fletcher and that sealed his fate despite as many good signings as bad and being hamstrung by the PLC budget. Has been out of the game a long time, but will keep them up.

Finally got to see this game on Foxtel recording last night. Apart from Best's amazing PL debut at SJP, the main plus was beating a team who are in the bottom 3 - it keeps them down and NUFC out of trouble. Probably 2 goals were the result of bad WH defending(Nolan's stands out for that although he took it well), but Best's finishing was great on the night ; his general movement is better than Shola's too so he offers us an alternative when we are down to the bare bones, Only time will tell if the lad can keep it up but at least he took his chance when it arrived. Barton ran the m/f with Tiote(what a miss HE will be if he isn't fit for the SOS), Enrique was great and Coloccini excellent. Ranger's awful miss near the end will probably have a big effect on his future at SJP - he will now go one of two ways ; either he will buckle down and sort himself out as both Hughton and now Pardew have tried to get him to do, or he will end up being transferred to a CCC side. Its all down to him now and if he chooses to waste his talent, there is no-one else to blame. Although the side didn't play as well as in some other games this season, they did the business and the 5 goals will probably be worth an extra point by the end of the season.....well done to the whole team for getting the much needed New Year results against sides they needed to beat.