merlin

I will be surprised if the club make ANY appointment before we play Sunderland...defeats in both the forthcoming games may have repercussions for the manager, so they are not going to appoint someone who they may have to sack a few weeks later. If they DO bring someone from outside the club, then the message is that Hughton is fireproof....

Wouldn't have him at SJP now - no player(like Beckham)with a media circus and media wife would be welcome at SJP as far as I'm concerned...

Totally agree - getting desperate now.

Because they were basically 6 pointers against fellow potential strugglers - AND at SJP too.

There has been some varied comments on here and some have been mind-boggling - I cannot believe people are actually judging a manager by whether they 'like' him or whether he's affable....Clough was neither of those things but every NUFC fan I knew back in the 70s would have walked over broken glass to have him and Peter Taylor at SJP...the bloody FA didn't give Clough the England job despite him being the best manager in the country - they gave it to Ron Greenwood because, in their words, he was a 'very nice chap !'.... We want a manager that gets the team to win matches(esp at home) and KEEP NUFC IN THE PL...nothing more, nothing less. I couldn't care less if Hughton walks down Northumberland St with a daffodil up his rear end PROVIDED the team get results...and they are NOT getting sufficient good results. Yes, he had bad luck with HBA and with Keane deciding to stay at Spurs, but as Napoleon said, 'give me a lucky general as well as a skilled one' and without SOME luck you can work your g---lies off but get nowhere. Hughton did a good job in the CCC and got the club back to where it should be but he has been found wanting with team selections and, in my opinion, too much faith in certain players...he has got too close to SOME players and no manager can do that if he wants to keep his job. Whatever people think of O'Neill, he has ALWAYS improved a team in his first few years there - and that is what we need now - a few years of stability in the PL. We do NOT need to go back to the CCC because we might be down there for years next time.... Unfortunately, MON is highly unlikely to work for Ashley, or even be asked to do so and if Hughton WAS to be asked to step down, I think that Jol would be higher on Ashley's list than MON because he is unlikely to demand as much transfer kitty in Jan. Nevertheless, I believe that MON WOULD get better results from this current side than we are seeing now because he is a great motivator and I don't believe Hughton has that quality. Its a game of opinions but in the end, results count - I have little sympathy for football managers because they usually get a big pay-off when they get sacked for failure...does anyone else on this forum have that benefit ?

You never really know how much input a No 2 has until he's gone - back in the 70s, we had Keith Burkinshaw with Joe Harvey and I know he was highly rated by the players AND Harvey. We went downhill after he left for Spurs.. Against that we had Dinnis with Gordon Lee and the players almost mutinied to get him the job after Lee went to Everton, but look how THAT turned out...relegated the following season and he never had the board's support. Taylor was at least half responsible for Clough's success at Derby and Forest but was never as good as a No 1.... Wish Calderwood all the best, but I can't help thinking that part of his motivation in leaving was the thought that he might have been getting out while the going was good...he would also be likely to leave if Hughton took the rap for our bad form - maybe there IS some truth in the Mail's story about Hughton being fired if we had lost to Wigan... As for replacement, cannot see an obvious candidate unless Ashley, once again, takes the bargain basement option with Beardsley..wouldn't make me happy, he's found his role with the kids I reckon. Yet MORE disruption at a club famous for it.........

He is one-paced, slow, negative at times with his passing, unfit and a victim of his own stupidity.Will NEVER be the player he should have been. Would have sold him 2 years ago. The only decent PL m/fielder we have is Tiote and he is a defensive player.

Sadly, this boy cannot seem to learn by his stupid mistakes - has to go now, but then, half his colleagues should as well.

I stick with my 7.5 until November - if we have lost to WHU and Mackems I will uprate it...

Rooney did say, at the time, that he WOULD be prepared to sign for Newcastle.

Very true - all the midfield apart from Tiote(who is a DM anyway)are below PL standard ; Barton lacks pace and fitness; he is also prone to sideways passing...Nolan..least said, soonest mended...Guthrie - mediocre player who is useless unless played in CM...Jonas offers effort and runs at opposition but has no end product and Routledge has failed to impress at 2 other PL clubs. In short, we lack class and even Blackpool have a player(Adam)with more ability ; add that to weaknesses at RB and up front and you can see why we are going to struggle soon. A result against both WHU and Mackems is vital or the fun will start.

What people DIDN'T expect was sub-standard performances at home against mediocre sides, or that the sides who were promoted behind us would be playing better and more effective football... The only part of your post I agree with is the last bit.

That's actually more than 20% of the season....

Ever since this thing with the tart blew up and we found out that Man U have an 83m debt, I have been wondering whether they would cash in on him - both parties can make it look acceptable to the fans by claiming that Rooney and Colleen want to 'rebuild their marriage with a new life away from the UK' and that the club are doing 'the right thing' by letting him go...all sorts of questions about this business. Real Madrid are probably the most likely buyers. Time will tell, but I reckon this won't happen until at least Summer.

Yes, and I can think of at least 2 of the Newcastle side who aren't....isn't that right, Kevin and Joey..!

I don't make ANYTHING out of it - they are currently a better side than us and looking more likely to stay up with the type of football they play...what did YOU make out of it..??

He's becoming completely clueless, and not learning quickly enough. His 'learning curves' could cost us Premier League survival if we're not careful. My thinking as well. Comments show that he's now grasping at straws - this was a HOME game against a side whose town is more famous for Rugby, for goodness' sake...!

As far as our relegation chances going up when they do well I can agree with you but as far as the product they put on the field I would disagree. They play a good game of keeping the ball on the ground and passing it around nicely - very pleasing on the eye. That's partly what pisses me off. The fact they're so positive in the way they play whereas we get such crap despite wiping the floor with them last year. Wipe the floor with them? That's a laugh, we never beat them once and they dumped us 4-2 in the cup...they should have won at SJP in the league as well...

Why ? They've appointed a good manager and have some good players...

Carroll offers most threat physically and consistently - Shola has more goal threat, but only intermittently ; Carroll needs a better partner to become effective, but I reckon he will be sold before that happens...contracts simply mean that the club gets a bigger fee...

Nobody needs reminding that losing this game could make the Mackems' visit a make-or-break... Draw needed at the very least.

Problem is that neither Lovenkrands OR Routledge are PL players - Routledge has been moved on from at least 2 PL clubs and as for Loven...he's never even played for one apart from NUFC, and he's HOW old..? Face the facts - we have a squad of players in which the majority are CCC standard.

Derby games notoriously hard to predict, but odds def in their favour if it goes to form. Can see a sending off in this game...

That'll be the day - lazy and unfit...if it wasn't that we lack real class in MF(only Tiote good enough)Barton should be sold.

The answer to this question is another question; 'Do you believe that Hughton would be manager if another owner had taken over when Ashley put the club on the market?' Yes or No..? I believe the answer would be NO, but with the current ownership, Hughton is about as good as the club will get because nobody with a better record would work for Ashley'Llambias.