ianovthetoon

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.

The next managerial appointment may well be the most important decision in the club's recent history so I think Shearer would probably rule himself out before GR's P45 left St James Park. The problem is where do you conjure up a Bobby Robson type experienced manager from. If Freddie is more than happy to pay absolute top dollar for his players he may well have to break the bank to at least make a manager of this calibre seriously think about coming to the club. Someone mentioned Hiddink on another thread, could well be a fair call provided Mourinho doesn't jump ship at Chelski. But why not ask the man himself - Bobby Robson who he thinks is suitably experienced to take on the job. After all he spotted the talent in Mourinho

At this present moment in time Shearer would be mad to take the Newcastle job. I've got a feeling he may leave management alone anyway, especially if he is enjoying his new lifestyle as much it seems. Why take a job that could go tits up at any time and risk losing his affinity with the fans. He may have been a hero as a player, but if he presided over a shambles on a par with the current regime those supporters who once hailed him a hero would be calling for his head. And to be honest I just can't see Shearer wanting to cut his teeth at a league one or two club the whole thing would become a bit of a circus. I think the only way Shearer would get in to management is if we ended up in the championship, similar to the way Keane has taken over down the road. Either that or if Southampton remain very much mid table in the Championship and get rid of Burley, kind of going back to his roots. I just couldn't see him taking over at the likes of Rochdale or Rotherham some time in the near future!

If things get any worse Freddie will have to send for the A team. Imagine Mr T taking training -just win the goddam match you crazy fool

If we finish the season poorly, Roeder will undoubtedly be sacked and regardless of the players we are linked with a trophy manager will sell all the season tickets FACT. I'd be more than surprised if Shepherd didn't go down this route and use the excuse give the new man time to make his team with pre season blah blah blah I know it's not everyone who uses these forums but they're a good gauge to the reaction of the fans in general and i would be more than surprised if feedback about what is being written isn't being communicated back to the fat one. He'll decide that if we sack Roeder and replace him with a big name(Hopefully not Sven) the fans will be happy cos the new manager will give loads of soundbites about how it's his biggest challenge and he's going to win trophies.

If Sir John Hall wants to help get our club back on track, the first thing he should do is use his majority shareholding, canvass a few smaller shareholders and force a vote of no confidence in Freddie Shepherd as chairman. Not only would this get rid of the root of most of what is wrong at this club, it would likely make a takeover a lot easier to go through as he would be less likely to stay on. A lot is regularly made of the money which is being siphoned from the club by the Shepherd family, and indeed Douglas Hall. If John Hall wants to give this club something back before he sells up and takes his millions, then it would be the opportunity to allow this club to progress. Yes I stood on the terraces when we were looking relegation in the face, I realise we are a million miles from being in that state again, but surely after sustaining a place in the top 20 richest clubs in the world for many years, we need to start putting this wealth and status to good use. We have one of the largest wage bills in the premiership, now in most other businesses this means we should have one of the best workforces(ie teams) in the league To try and illustrate why I think we have a terrible management team liken us to any other business. You wouldn't assemble a talented workforce then put the tea lady in charge of them. In sorts that is what we have done. We have a squad of some of the best players in world football, and put a man in charge of them whose previous experiences led to relegation on all 3 occasions, and whose tactical nous has come under scrutiny, and clearly is unable to motivate them to want to succeed here. To add to that, the man making the decisions above Glenn Roeder, has shown that he knows very little about running a football club. The man who controls the purse strings, who seems to think he must be a good chairman just because he throws countless amounts of money at managers to buy midfielders and centre forwards. With the financial resources this club has we should be capable of mounting a serious challenge on the top 5 or 6 every season(I'm not saying guarantee to finish in these places as that would be disrespectful to the jobs done by other teams), and to at least give 100 percent effort in competitions that are winnable instead of doing the hard work only to throw it all away. Yes Shepherd gives the manager money, but does he ensure that this money is spent wisely? I think not. Yes, we all have these adrenaline rushes when we sign the Michael Owens of this world but unless these players want to come here to win and not pick up obscene amounts of money they are not what is required. Shepherd clearly isn't up to making sure that the club's money is spent wisely. It is becoming increasingly obvious that at some point in the near future the Halls will sell their shares. The worst case scenario is that the Shepherd family would somehow finance such a deal, no doubt by securing it on the assets of the football club. In this instance we would probably spend most of the next 10 years or so hovering between 8th and 15th in the table, making the odd trophy signing to guarantee season ticket revenues. As a private venture this would give the Shepherds far more wealth from the club than they already take. Obviously the Halls will be wanting the best price possible for their shares, as would the Shepherds if they sold out too, but surely if the club is looking back towards the higher echelons of English football they would get more money for their shares. This is why I suspect the Halls will eventually sell out to Shepherd, because as things stand that we aren't going to be a viable investment to anyone at the price they are looking for. But if John Hall was as true a fan as he says he is, he would ensure that the words Shepherd and majority shareholder were never associated with this club, this is why he must canvass to have Shepherd removed as soon as possible

It's just as well there are worse teams than us in this league. Given the additional money available to clubs next year through television revenue if we keep Roeder I'd put my house on us going down. There is one word that describes every part of this club at the moment - inadequate.

What would make complete sense is for FFS to fire Roeder after the last game of the season irrespective of where we finish in the league. That way we could have a new man in by the time pre season training starts so he can mould the team to his style etc. We have never appointed a manager during pre season in recent times, instead they are allowed to start several games into the season with no transfer window to fall back on, then expect them to get the best out of players they don't neccesarily rate and write the season off as a transitional phase. We have fallen too far behind the top 4 already we can't afford to keep faith with a manager who quite simply isn't good enough to take the team where we aspire to be. Shepherd then needs to take advice from Bobby Robson about who he thinks is good enough to manage this club. He may have fired Robson but they are still clearly in touch as Robson is often seen on TV at NUFC games next to Shepherd. And I really think Shepherd could do no worse than ask the guy's advice. After all he did see the potential in Mourinho as a coach

I have it on good authority(A friend of mine works for adidas and is responsible for providing replica kit to premier league teams) that the new top is one of the best yet. She wouldn't divulge any info on it's design but i managed to get it out of her that it isn't based on any of the current adidas kit ie liverpool chelsea real madrid etc and is a unique design, as soon as i get more info out of her i'll let you know

In terms of long term investment, Newcastle would have to be a sound bet. Fair enough, it would take a substantial initial investment to sort out the playing side of the club, but with a huge fan base, much of it relatively untapped because of the cost of following football these days, a successful Newcastle United would be a licence to print money. If you go look at the catchment area we have - the city itself, Gateshead, North Tyneside, Northumberland, much of South Tyneside and Washington along with parts of Durham and Teeside, there are not many places in the UK with such a huge area to call on. We are also popular in other parts of the UK, I have visited most of the country through work and rarely fail to spot a few people wearing our colours. It is inevitable that sometime in the near future clubs are going to be allowed to negotiate their own Television deals, the sums of money likely to figure in that will be obscene. A lot is said about our debt, but most of that is self financed from future season ticket sales and is manageable so that should not be off putting. And as much as it pains me to say it, should the mackems have some sort of relative success from Niall Quinn and his consortium, the peanuts he shelled out for the club will more than likely be an astute piece of business. Never mind him telling the press and the media it's because he loves the club, its because he knows if he gets the Mackems in the premier ship and out of the bottom five he will guarantee himself 48000 inbreeds at every home game and many more buying shitty Lonsdale Tops so they can look really daft in the Metrocentre on a Saturday afternoon

May I suggest a few choruses of Bye Bye Freddie to the tune of the Bay City Rollers Bye Bye Baby at tomorows game to celebrate, whilst adding in a few Freddie Give us a waves :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: