ianovthetoon

Its quite ironic, anal mentioned something in Tuesdays's Ronny about this. He said that because Tord Grip was at the Arsenal game it was inevitable that the Sven rumours would resurface! Owen's in great shape: RoederApr 10 2007 By Alan Oliver, The Evening Chronicle Glenn Roeder has admitted England striker Michael Owen is close to a comeback. And the Newcastle United boss revealed today that after briefly considering unleashing Owen and Shola Ameobi after their long fights for fitness in tomorrow's reserve game with Manchester United, he decided against it. However, Roeder insisted the £17m man remains firmly on course in his rehabilitation from knee surgery. He said: "With Michael, it is quite simple: the very fact we considered him for a game on Wednesday - and Shola is the same - just shows you how close both of them are to playing. "You can make your own assumptions from that. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT "Michael Owen is world news, not just British news, in football. If I say he is going to play in the middle of next week and he does not, hysteria breaks out that he has had a setback when, for sure, he has not. "All I can say is we are getting very, very close. He is in great shape, he really is. And we can pick up the phone to any local club and get a friendly pretty quickly, within a day." Owen has not played since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in England's World Cup finals clash with Sweden in June last year. And he has managed only 11 appearances and 10 starts for United since his big-money move from Real Madrid in August 2005. But Owen was at St James' Park yesterday - and so too was Sir Bobby Robson - while England boss Steve McClaren was sitting next to Sven-Goran Eriksson's No 2, Tord Grip. However, while Sir Bobby was a guest of Freddy Shepherd, Tord Grip was there at the invitation of Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, although this will not stop speculation - which will be 100% wrong - that Eriksson is bound for St James' Park.

Maybe thats why the fat one is constantly inviting SBR as his guest to home games in the hope that he can persuade Mourinho to come to the toon hahaha. There's more chance of Roy Keane being the next manager than Mourinho and that's none existent!!

He'll be feeding the poor of Africa next. Yeah free tickets for asylum seekers next year to fill the ground and a free pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The U.N. have asked him to mediate in the Iran crisis. blueyes.gif Yeah that would piss the president of Iran off. Let the Hostages go or you're watching Sunderland for the rest of your days

He'll be feeding the poor of Africa next. Yeah free tickets for asylum seekers next year to fill the ground and a free pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First-half diagnosis? Boring Second-half diagnosis? Boring Full-time diagnosis? Decent Result, Crap game Star man for United? Butt Worst United player? Carr Opposition comment? Contributed the same to the games as us - very little Toon-pros? Clean Sheet Toon-cons? Given/Dyer injuries Post-match feelings? The players are looking to the end of the season by the looks of it, gives most of them time to put their houses on the market in readiness of a move

Roeder has also been quoted in the press saying he wants to buy players under 25, brown is 27 so that could blow that one out of the water

Thing is, although we might only be 7 points off relegation, it won't happen, too many teams worse than us between bottom 3 and 11th. But if we finish say 15th or 16th which would be our worst ever premiership finish, it should mean the end of Roeder hopefully.

Roy Keane's wife is lost at sea for 5 years and he's elated at her return. "I've so missed making love to you Roy", she says. He says "fine, I must just put in a few conditions though. First of all can we sleep in the spare room because I've spent so long in our bed alone". "Secondly can we sleep with the lights on because its been so dark without you". "Anything else" his wife asks. "Yeah" Roy says, "Can I call you Triggs".

We had a new thread full of Roy Keane/Mackem Jokes cos he's a horrible cnut, Here's one to get started Roy Keane Got caught Wanking his dog at the vets Well he was in a hurry and it said first come first served! Any more for any more!

I was born in Newcastle, lived in Gateshead all my life, and I can see the Tyne bridge from my house, does that count

That will give Roeder a massive selection headache then ;D

Don't let his dodgy accent fool you he's Bensham born and bred

It's the same old argument really, Glenn probably secretly knows his job is on the line, but I would seriously doubt if he sees Shearer as a threat to it. Shearer wouldn't want to take the job unless he was virtually guaranteed success.

I think had Mourinho came here with SBR, we would have seen Robson almost certainly move upstairs, and who knows what would have happened. One good thing there would have been no Mick Wadsworth and therefore no Bassedas, Cordone or Fumaca, that on it's own would have been a result!!!!

For Freddie to start the discussion about Owen and England back up We won't rush Owen backMar 26 2007 By Alan Oliver, The Evening Chronicle Freddy Shepherd has warned England that Newcastle United will not rush Michael Owen back to help them out of their Euro crisis. England have only scored only one goal in their last five games and now there is every danger that they will not qualify for the finals of the European Championship in Switzerland and Austria in the summer of 2008. And with England's under-fire manager Steve McClaren having a public fall-out with Wayne Rooney after Saturday's disappointing goalless draw with Israel, Owen is now seen as the only hope in the eyes of some supporters. Certainly if Owen returns for United before the end of the season then he will be in the England team for the summer Euro qualifier against Estonia in Tallinn on June 6. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT But if Owen does not return with United before then it has to put a question mark against him playing for England in the summer. However, in an exclusive interview, United chairman Shepherd told me today: "I am an England fan and I want to watch them in the Euro finals in 2008. "But let's stop this clamour for Michael Owen returning to play for England before it gets up a full head of steam. "Michael Owen will return when it is in the best interests of the player and Newcastle United not England. "The player and Newcastle United come first, but he will not be rushed back just so that he can play for England in the summer. "And make no mistake about it, if Michael is not fit for Newcastle United this season he will not be fit for England." Shepherd is already at loggerheads with FIFA about the amount of compensation United should get after Owen injured his knee in the World Cup game with Sweden in June. As far as the United supporters are concerned, some I have spoken to want Owen back in a black-and- white shirt as soon as possible. Others tell me they would be prepared to wait until the start of next season. There was a report over the weekend that Owen has pencilled in his comeback for the game with Chelsea at St James' Park on April 22 and that would certainly add some spice to an already attractive game. But Glenn Roeder told me today: "There is no comeback date for Michael Owen at this moment in time. "However, I have to say Michael is now flying in training and we are delighted at the progress he is making." It wouldn't surprise me if he plays no part for us this season, simply so he doesn't play for England close season

Looks like a new twist in the tail to Roeder's transfer policy - buy a top and we'll scout you!!!! You too could be earning 50 grand a week, all for the price of a toon top! Let's hope John Terry Ashley Cole and Berbatov all preorder their toon tops!!!

I noticed an article the other day about Benitez bemoaning the quality of reserve team football. Firstly, the main thing that would obviously make reserve football more interesting to the clubs would be incentive, ie Financial reward. If this was done, and say making it an under 23 league, surely this would be a good way for promising young players to play competitive football making them more likely to stay loyal to their clubs instead of getting itchy feet, plus more clubs would develop younger players meaning it would only be good for the game.

The question I'd like to hear the answer to is "why do you think you are the best man to take this club forward".

Surely it would make a lot of sense spending some of the transfer budget on shipping out the current manager and bringing in someone else, because full backs aside, a lot of people would agree Roeder is a liability to this team.

Surely his reg is G1 EGGS with a bolt to make the 1 look like an r

Could be like that but the white stripes are going to be the thickest because its the white stripe central on the preview

As there's little hope of a change at the top of the club(ie Shepherd), one idea that could work at a club like ours would be to have a board member elected by the fans. Similar to the way Madrid and Barcelona elect a president each year, a spokesman for the fans with the right to vote on club matters, elected by Season ticket holders, the lifeblood of the club. It would be helpful to put across the point of the supporters of the club on matters such as managerial appointments, and could even help bring managers to the attention of the urrent board who they haven't even thought about. There are people who watch a lot more football than the present board, and therefore more names would come to light. It would be interesting for someone to stand in a board meeting and be able to give the opinion of the man on the street on how things stand at the club. Most other businesses are proactive in taking on board the views of their customers, so it would do profits etc no harm, plus it would allow someone to actually present serious debate to Shepherd and his Cronies along the lines of the Hitzfeld for the toon campaign instead of it being dismissed as an attempt at a betting coup. You just know he wouldn't go for it but it would be a move in the right direction

It's also quite bizarre for FFS to be coming out in support of Roeder too. By this stage we'd normally be getting the "The performances from this club aren't good enough" speech saying we should be at least 6th in the league and challenging hard for the cups. It might just be a ruse to lure Glenn into a false sense of security before he presses the eject button

I wonder which 5 or 6 players he is on about. Of the 11 that started yesterday's game, 4 were Roeder signings - Martins Duff Sibi and Gooch, I wouldn't have thought he meant Given, so that just about leaves everyone else who started, mind its only taken him about a year to realise they're pants and given the way Roeder likes to study his new signings roll on the 2008 transfer window :bang:

The main problem at this club is that we always give the managers the benefit of the doubt, give them the transfer window to sort it out, then when things don't work out sack them half a dozen games in to the season. This would give you another 6 games with a Terry Mac type in charge before the new man comes in, having to mould players he knows nothing about in to a team that plays to his style, whilst praying for january to come so he can take his pick from the dregs available mid season. This means the next season and a half are a "transitional phase" where we expect nothing and when we get that in abundance we call for the managers head so the merry go round starts again. I just think the situation with Roeder is more unique than in the past. Here is a man who by his own admission, didn't even hanker after this job on a permanent basis when he was installed as caretaker. But a run of good fortune in the last few games changed his mind, and he took it. Shepherd obviously gave him the benefit of the doubt, thought maybe a man with a feel for the club could inspire us to better things, although his CV dictated otherwise with relegations at his 3 previous clubs, West Ham, Watford and the mighty Gillingham. It has been written in the press that Roeder is a good coach, I am not saying he isn't but a good manager he is not. When you look at people who are assistant managers at most clubs, it's very rare that these people are good managers. Good ASSISTANT managers yes - ie coaches but not good managers. I think Roeder is quite possibly a man who falls into that category. He has been given the benefit of the doubt by Shepherd, but he has proven beyond doubt he isn't up to the job in hand. His shortcomings in the transfer market, fielding the wrong side/tactics in important games have shown him to come short.