ikri

Leeds are now thinking of legal action against West Ham too:

No one that fits that description in this country really, at least no one that would be accepted by the fans. Redknapp & Venables are the only highly experienced managers that could be tempted up here with a sack full of cash. Steve Bruce is less experienced but might be willing & he'd get enough time. We'd have to look abroad, which is something we should have done post-SBR.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/images/2005/09/20/graeme_souness_300x300.jpg Wanna bet?

They should probably expect to double that figure since they're now likely to be sued by every player & staff member who was at Sheffield United at the time for loss of earnings.

:clap: :clap:

I could no more swap my allegiance than I could swap my blood type.

Yesterday highlighted the reason why, in my opinion, we need to lose Owen in the summer. When Owen is anywhere near fit every manager we've had has tried to shoehorn him into the side regardless of whether he's the best option. Had Owen not been fit for yesterday's game, or if we ever had a manager willing to leave him out of the side, we'd have played Lovenkrands who has looked a far better option for the team whenever he's played up front. He's got the pace that Owen no longer has & he works harder for the team. Owen is a great player, but he's a luxury who disrupts the balance of the team far too much.

know exactly what you mean and have been saying this for 4 years. However, to think we'd be a league below the mackems League below, class above....

Weren't there loads of rumours about him having a real attitude problem when he was at Preston? He was a Premiership player & far too good for the Championship, etc.

I'll probably end up attending more home games than I've managed over recent seasons. Not living in Newcastle & not having my own transport has often meant that any games not played on a Saturday have been off limits to me, but with more Championship games taking place on Saturdays (& having my own transport now too) I'll be able to see more games.

Yes. But I think there are a few people who might dispute the association of the word "talent" with Andy Carroll.

And Martins using that logic. There's nothing stopping us selling Ameobi or Carroll this summer, its happened loads in the past, players signing new contracts then leaving at the end of the season. I wouldn't say it's definite that Martins will be here. I'd say it's definite that neither of those two will be sold. Only my opinion obviously and I hope you're right. I'd like to know how our crack recruitment team can't find anyone better than the likes of Ameobi, Carroll and Butt though. Dave, you know the answer to that, they give their all in training! Wish they'd stop giving their all in training & save some of it for the actual matches

Hasn't he repeatedly said that he has absolutely no interest in leaving & if he was forced to leave he'd only leave for another Spanish club? Not much choice for Villa as Valencia has debts around 500million euros if I'm correct...and the players haven't been paid their salaries for couple of months Yup, this. Valenica could well go kaput, and are pretty much nailed-on being forced to sell their big names for big cash to stave it off. If they've not been paying the players it'll be a moot point anyway assuming that there are similar laws in Spain as there are in the UK where players can walk out of their contracts if they haven't been paid for a certain period, 12 weeks I think it is over here.

Very mediocre player with a shit attitude

Hasn't he repeatedly said that he has absolutely no interest in leaving & if he was forced to leave he'd only leave for another Spanish club?

In case anyone's interested, Forbes Magazine have released their list of the world's billionaires. According to Forbes, Mike Ashley is now worth $1.1 billion (works out about £800 million on today's exchange rate) down from about $2.6 billion when he first bought the club. Mike Ashley's profile on Forbes.com

This. what if the player sticks out for a term contract ? Say no?

This.

Possibly for the same reason we've never even looked at a foreign manager since Gullit. There's a stupid nervousness about us hiring foreigners, enough people whispering that they can't settle here & the fans won't accept them. It really doesn't matter that he's interested in the job, a former player who knows & loves the team & area. The same people who suggested that Souness & Allardyce were superb appointments are the same ones who'll be suggesting that JFK is absolutely the right man for the job.

Interesting fact is that the talent in the first team actually increases when these are injured Not a new phenomena either, remember how we'd mysteriously play better under Roeder when the "first choice" players were unavailable & we'd be back to garbage again when they were back in the side?

I would. Particularly when we are signing 2nd rate players while making profits from transfer windows in sales. Which 2nd rate players, I think all signings have been decent bar Xisco but he hasn't played. they can't be. Otherwise we would be getting better results. The players aren't the only factor. If it was just down to how good our individual players were then we'd have won the league under Souness

This doesn't even make sense, you can only come into the first team if you have first team experience? How are you supposed to get first team experience if you aren't allowed to step up? I thought the whole point was the 'reserves' come into the first team to prove themselves. The plan we've been sold is that talented youth will replace expensive flops. My point is that none of the youth brought in over the last 2 years are anywhere near ready to step up to be first team regulars. The only two that have made the starting 11 this year made their first team debut's almost 3 years back. And they've only managed a few starts between them. That's the problem with youth players, they take time to develop. I'd really like to see the club send those players getting close to the first team out on loan to Hartlepool & Darlo. Middlesbrough, who have an enviable youth record, have sent their best & brightest out on loan to clubs like Darlo for a while and everyone involved has benefited from it. The players get the first team experience they need, Boro get experienced youth players & Darlo get players for free. We should be setting up agreements with League One & Two teams and perhaps a couple of foreign teams to get the players the experience they're not going to get in the reserves here.

But we were told the money was there to spend in January. We had bids totalling £40m+ knocked back according to Llambias. And if there's an expensive player the manager doesn't think is good enough....why can't he be loaned out? Even on a percentage of his wage we'd save money. It's a step not taken with an underperforming first teamer since Keegan loaned out Rozenhal and Ameobi. With the exception of Duff & Owen, our high-earning low-performing players have also been crocked most of the season too. Who is going to pay Alan Smith's £60000 per week wages knowing that he hasn't played in a competitive game for 8-9 months? Who is going to give Viduka his £80000 per week wages knowing that he's never more than 10 minutes away from yet another niggling injury that'll keep him out for the season? If it weren't for the transfer windows we may have been able to shift some of the garbage out on loan but that's a whole different thread. Frightening innit. The squad already lacks the depth needed. We're just letting the contracts run out on Cacapa, Owen and Viduka. Gonna keep paying Duff, Geremi, Smith and Xisco to play in the reserves because no-one wants them. Carroll and Edgar are the only "reserves" with first ream experience so there's no-one to come through and replace them. ...and we're spending fuck all because there's a credit crunch. I mentioned my idea for Cacapa, Viduka, Owen, Duff, Geremi & Smith a while back. It mostly involved the Otterburn training grounds, a live fire exercise, a "team building" session & a missing mini-bus. Those 6 players are costing us somewhere in the region of £20 million per season. Owen & Duff are the only ones who have really featured in the first team this season & they've managed to justify their wages when they have featured only sporadically. Joey Barton can probably be added to the list too. He's looked good when he's been out of jail & fit but that hasn't happened often enough. Plus there seemed to be a real desire last summer to either cut his wages drastically or get shot of him, too much money, too much bad press & too few games.

But we were told the money was there to spend in January. We had bids totalling £40m+ knocked back according to Llambias. And if there's an expensive player the manager doesn't think is good enough....why can't he be loaned out? Even on a percentage of his wage we'd save money. It's a step not taken with an underperforming first teamer since Keegan loaned out Rozenhal and Ameobi. With the exception of Duff & Owen, our high-earning low-performing players have also been crocked most of the season too. Who is going to pay Alan Smith's £60000 per week wages knowing that he hasn't played in a competitive game for 8-9 months? Who is going to give Viduka his £80000 per week wages knowing that he's never more than 10 minutes away from yet another niggling injury that'll keep him out for the season? If it weren't for the transfer windows we may have been able to shift some of the garbage out on loan but that's a whole different thread.

Nah, it'd be Steak Bake Park