Ronaldo

Same as Shay Given, whose chance to go to a club going places came up and I don't blame him for grabbing it when he knew it might have gone by the summer. People mocked him "haha you're out the UEFA Cup, what a mug" well now we're in the Championship and Given will have a Premiership winners medal within three years so who's laughing? If we start to struggle in the CCC, and there's every chance, Taylor's stock will fall and he might not have a club as big as Everton come in for him again. Like Bassong, like Beye, I think he'd stay if the club wasn't being run into the ground but it is and why should he sacrifice his big opportunity to play for a club which is actively attempting to destroy itself? For years he's promoted himself as Mr Newcastle United, he now has a chance to prove it somewhat. If he believes he's good enough to play for England, surely he believes the top teams will still be in for him in a year when he's had an excellent season in the championship. Given was nearly 33 when he left, Taylor is 23. Disagree massively with the bit in bold btw, absolutely no chance whatsoever of that happening.

It's an absolute disgrace, I agree. But I never expected you to get so passionate about a player you callled a 'joke of a defender' at the end of last year. And I never expected to see Shola Ameobi, who I called a clown as recently as last Friday, score a hat trick in a league game but here we are. Circumstances have changed. Fair point, I'm surprised you're think he shouldn't be criticised should he leave though. I don't see why he couldn't just roll he sleeves up and get on with the challenge at hand, then reconsider his future in January or May if circumstances remain similar. England in the near future is a no go tbh

It's an absolute disgrace, I agree. But I never expected you to get so passionate about a player you callled a 'joke of a defender' at the end of last year.

Selhurst park is an absolute abomination of a stadium. Out of the 10 (or so) championship stadia i've been to, it's by far the worst

Were Jagielka or Lescott particularly England-standard before they came to us? Had Lescott or Jagielka had 5 years premiership experience when they signed for you? Taylor's not a good premiership defender

He'll get found out at Everton, he isn't anywhere near Lescott's league. He wont get his England chance for another 5 years tbh

You aswell? Oh no, jesus christ

and Harps, right after the shot

Alan Smith in the Championship = Roy Keane in the Premiership. Both top quality players at that level. To say Smith is a liability because he may get sent off is absurd. Its his drive and passion that makes the odd red card possible. How haven't you been banned yet?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8210335.stm :lol:

I can see us going into September with this squad plus 2 young loanees and minus 3 absolutely essential players.

the phoney handshakes and generic backslapping. Fuck the lot of em

Nolan is such a waste of space, just like Smith and Butt

Butt is worse, I feel physically sick seeing him in black & white. Give it a few months and i'm sure i'll feel the same about Smith though

Prior to 2002 I don't think any were released mate. I could burn some and drop them off the next time i'm in the states but that's gonna cost ya

Kilgallon is a very good championship defender tbh, I'd probably prefer him to Sol Campbell

I hope we can use Carroll sparingly. There are a lot of teams in this league that he'll blatantly do well against compared to the others, and for those I have no reservations about his selection. But a strikeforce of Carroll and Ameobi with Xisco coming on after 70 minutes isn't going to get us promoted, imo

We need a new striker, blatantly. And we need to try playing some football with Xisco in the team. Until we do that we have nowt to go on as far as he's concerned

Shola vs Boro 2003-04. That was some day out, Speed chests it down...............

He's got a hell of a shot on him, just needs the confidence to use it. So confidence is the reason he hasn't managed a goal with his feet (with the exception of that tap-in at City) Best locate some confidence soon then, because the other aspects of his game aren't strong enough to justifty selection

He should have been sent off tonight; in the second half he gave away a free-kick in a very dangerous area with a stupidly late challenge. He's an absolute fucking liability.

He had a few words for the midfield towards the end of the night like, which was somewhat encouraging. Looked pretty tentative up until that point Blackburn pal of mine said he was their best player towards the end of last season

How'dyou work that out then? He was good against WBA and Reading and merited a palce in the side, especially if Guthrie wasn't 100% fit. We all know you hate Hughton for some bizarre reason, but expecting him to pre-judge the events of the match before he picks the team is a bit much like - you've got to admit. I was putting words in Obama's mouth

Shearer did that around 2003 I think