Ronaldo

It's the late teen - early twenties lot that sing Jonas' name and ask Pardew for a wave. They should be banned from SJP till they grow the fuck up.

He was excellent yet not in Baresi's class. As Deuce said, Italy have produced some outstanding defenders. I go back as far as Facchetti ,Scirea and the monster who had the most ironic name ever, Claudio Gentile. All class but Baresi for me is the best. Can you we really call Baresi a true great when Peter Ramage modeled his game on him and that was the end result?

Likewise I think a lot of us are here because our introduction to football was that period. How could you not fall in love with football and with NUFC as a 7 year old watching us blow teams away at SJP then meeting the same players at the training ground every so often. It was magical to support us back then.

The key bits tie in with Bobby's book, to be fair.

Ancelotti's book is another one that needs to be read btw. For a bloke who's won the European Cup 4 times there's not a hint of ego about him. Takes the piss out of himself on virtually every page.

Agree with that. He's not dead, though.

He's been linked to top clubs throughout his career...... with no materialisation, ever.

Nesta's easily the best defender I've seen fwiw.

Not having that, like. Vuckic looks like a very comfortable footballer who just needs to learn the game.

Can we all just agree that Ancelotti's the world's best and move on?

Yeah, but it's also the main reason he has a contract.

His teams are exactly like you say, counter-attacking teams. Score the first goal and they'll sit back and wait to kill the game by counter-attacking. Good manager, but horrible philosophy (does get him the results though) in my opinion. Funny how his aging Chelsea side broke the PL goals record on the way to winning the double. Now SAF's retired Carlo's the very best manager on the planet. Total class act as a person, too.

I've read the Newcastle bit. There's a funny bit about Solano (a la Suarez) calling a Lua Lua a negro.

Nothing actually. Robert was Shearer's mate. Waxed lyrical about Solano, Dyer and Kluivert. Said Bobby was effectively gone the day Speed was sold. Speed was Bobby's voice on the field and often the dressing room.

The book's an absolute cracking read, like. He goes into more detail about his time with us than his other clubs. Fantastic anecdotes about Shepherd, Bobby and Souness. Shepherd comes across like a brilliant nutter. Bellamy didn't like him. The important bits: Shearer told the players personally than Bobby tried to sell him to Liverpool in 2003. Shepherd put the brakes on it. Bobby didn't know that Shearer knew so Shepherd apparently went to him first. Bellamy felt bitter about Shearer's role in Bobby's dismissal which led to tention and also said Dyer and Bobby were 'too close'. Allardyce tried to swap Owen for Bellamy in 2007. Liverpool didn't want Owen back.

Should go back to the States. Let Cabaye kick a ball off the training ground fence for 2 weeks under Carver's supervision.

Wrong on both counts.

He wanted to replace him with Emile Mpenza, as has already been said.

We've signed three strikers with more pedigree than him in the last two seasons, though. I count two. Ones of which was barely even ours.

Good call, dude. I've heard OT was so loud that day people outside the stadium knew something was going on inside it.

Do you mean the town of Salford or City of Salford?

They all look (and play, actually) like dirty old men.

Target the vulnerable to make your point, generally what fascists do.

What - the bit in Bobby's book that you mentioned? Most the posts are referencing Shearer's supposed motivations without evidence. Beyond the book there's far too many coincidences.

Nothing, other than what's been posted.