Ronaldo

says all the right things. Sadly means very little

he'd be ideal in a 3-5-2 wingback formation like, not that i'd ever suggest playing 3-5-2

If Bruce gets the job he WILL bring back Bramble like, no doubt about it, he raves about him every week

the defence is solid, Rio and Terry have never really let us down and wont, although admittedly I'm far from Terry's biggest fan

Dimitri Kharine and his aversion to shorts

Bruce coaching a central defence of Bramble and Bassong, sounds good to me

good to see Lampard and Rooney shining like the should as two of the world's best

the argument is fair and well constructed but the picture VERY harsh imo

If Ashley intends to stick with the continental system, he needs to get rid of wise and Llambias and bring in a a proper DoF and allow him to bring in his own team of scouts. Ideally Chris Mort would return but failing that, it isn't diffcult to find a british businessman with strong footballing knowledge is you look beyond you poker buddies. A new manager should be appointed of course. I'd suggest Bruce, Van Gaal or Avram Grant who should be allowed to bring in a couple of seasoned assistants. Kinnear, Hughton and Calderwood should be thanked and given their p45. Finally, a net investment of no less than £20m in the first team. An emphasis on creativty would be nice, and i'd not be adverse to serious investment (at the expense of stopgap players like Nolan) in a massive scouting drive in South America.

True. Like I've said before the guy has been a complete and utter failure. He's played more games and scored more goals than Martins this season. What are your opinions on Martins? in the league Owen and Martins have the same amount of goals from open play, with Owen having played 4 more games Hardly huge difference. What's your opinion on Martins? Frail? Finished? some key differences here: Martins hasn't been on the wain for the past 5 years, and he most certainly is not as prone to injury as Owen, this season not withstanding. Martins IS improving. He's using the ball this season much better than he did when he first arrived and he's still the player I fancy more than any other in the squad to stick the ball in the back of the net

True. Like I've said before the guy has been a complete and utter failure. He's played more games and scored more goals than Martins this season. What are your opinions on Martins? in the league Owen and Martins have the same amount of goals from open play, with Owen having played 4 more games

Those'll be in Gateshead then? Come on Howard, if you are going to quote places that are in Gateshead then at least include Gateshead's population and preferably the rest of Tyneside's to Newcastle's when saying where Newcastle's grass roots football community comes from. that does include Gateshead. Newcastle's population alone is just under 200,000

right or wrong, I suspect he's going to be the next victim of the SJP boo boys

A minority of Liverpool fans should take SOME of the blame for Hillsbrough and it's extremely hypocritical for the entire LFC support to point the finger at the police and only the police. the victims can never be part of the cause, it's always the case. The police and footballing authorities should take the bulk of the blame, that i'm not disputing for a second, but are they aren't the only causes here, absolutely not in a million years.

you acknowledge the ticketless and drunk yet you say NO-ONE else is to blame but the authorities. Very, very daft Jesus man, read it again. He said ticketless or drunk does not excuse what resulted. I've been both at times going to watch Newcastle (either UK or Europe), i'm sure i'm not the only one. bit confused as to why you've highlighted the word 'or' like it makes a difference. You cannot put all of the blame on the authorities when the a minority of fans have acted irrepsonsiblity Is 'black and white' different to 'black or white'? it makes a difference to me. As for your second point, what is the point then of the authorities if they can't act on the irresponsibility of a minority of fans? what exactly is the job of the authorities? the authorities didn't do their job properly, nobody is disuputing that. But that doesn't mean we run a red light then blame the traffic system. The police we're mostly but not soely to blame here

you acknowledge the ticketless and drunk yet you say NO-ONE else is to blame but the authorities. Very, very daft Jesus man, read it again. He said ticketless or drunk does not excuse what resulted. I've been both at times going to watch Newcastle (either UK or Europe), i'm sure i'm not the only one. bit confused as to why you've highlighted the word 'or' like it makes a difference. You cannot put all of the blame on the authorities when the a minority of fans have acted irrepsonsiblity

you acknowledge the ticketless and drunk yet you say NO-ONE else is to blame but the authorities. Very, very daft

always thought that was a mackem on the pitch after Cisse's goal

right you are, Gillespie scored late on, nice finish This thread is starting to remind me of Father Ted's conversation about 4 Windy Shepherd Hendersons

that was a prem fixture. We beat them 2-0 at St James' in the coca-cola that season

Not our next manager but eventually would be what i'd go for

I think Ferguson more than likely would have told him to f*** off. Tbf Gillespie did look class against us in the cup I think it was. He was also an integral part of the team during Keegan's reign. didn't he score against us in their 2-0 win over us in 94-95 at Old Trafford. His performance that day was what impressed Keegan iirc

Boro at home is the only one the comes to mind but even that was well worked and as good finish

Bollocks. 9 goals under Keegan last season, in something like 17 games. He's a very clever player, but useless if he doesn't get to take part in the game. people are fond of quoting these statistics yet dont take into account the fact that his record for us is less than 1 in 2 if you take away penalties and goals are all he gives the team anyway. He isn' the same the league as an Inzaghi as a poacher and at somewhere like Man City he's a long way behind Bellamy as a footballer. He'll do ok for a mid-table club next season perhaps but he wont excel at the top level again.

too many teams basically play with 4 central midfielders. It started with teams like Chelsea and Arsenal playing all their football through the middle and of course the defenively minded managers like Souness who would justify it with stupid notions about football becoming more and more 'cat and mouse' and the need to build a 'solid foundation'