AyeDubbleYoo

I would say... yes, but only because we came back up at the first attempt. If we had failed to get back up this season, we would have lost most of our decent players and could have found ourselves in the Championship for the next 5-10 years... which wouldn't be good for anyone. Yes, the positive change could have happened if we hadn't gone down, but let's face it, it wouldn't have. We needed a catalyst to change the way the club was going, and jettison some over the overpaid wasters who were milking our club. It also gave Chris Hughton a chance as manager, which would likely not have happened in the Prem. We would have appointed some Premier League name manager like Curbishley or O'Leary probably.

Barton should stay away in the return leg, leave the revenge to Tiote and Smith. The refs will no doubt have this feud in their pre match briefing and will be looking out for Joey. Better still, just hammer wolves and don't get involved at all.

There's no rule that says an owner has to plough their own money into a club, as far as I know.

Think Hughton's entitled to speak up for his players, the way he was treated was shocking. Interesting to see if he goes out for retribution in the return game later in the season.

I never hated Ashley, as most people will have gathered. When he came in, I was happy to have a youngish English owner rather than a unknown sheik... and I was very happy to have the embarrassment of Shepherd behind us. I think a lot of people shared that view. Then it became clear that Ashley didn't know what he'd let himself in for and had little idea of how to manage a football club. He then made a few incredibly bad errors, including the appointment of Keegan intended to ingratiate him with the fans. We all know the eventual fallout, I think our reaction to it was made worse by the initial hope that Ashleys takeover had generated. I've always believed that his mistakes were down to naïveté and lack of knowledge, I mean why would he possibly want us not to succeed? So it seems like the regime are learning from their mistakes and are making some good moves to make up for the previous bad ones. If they're getting better at this business of running a football club, then I hope it continues.

350 sweet pages and a transfer to boot. Not too shabby.

Never believed this would happen TBH. Very very pleased. Now just fingers crossed he settles in and does well.

If 'somebody' means a fucking retard, posting on a fucking retarded blog that nobody who's not fucking retarded reads or takes seriously, then yes. Malcolm Tucker-esque that Dave, nice work.

Possibly, all I'll say is things are looking better recently. Under Ashley they always have the potential to go wrong.

I'd like to see this too, but either he doesn't want to or managers don't see the potential.

Seems to me all they need is a good striker or two to be very good.

Yeah, he's a big guy but certainly not fat.

Suprised Man City haven't whacked in a massive bid for Zlatan yet.

Yeah, but they might well have used it wrongly.

Sometime after now.

OK, just the first name that's getting me. Shak? Sheik? Chake? Cheek?

I don't have any bad feelings towards him at all, I just don't think he's very good.

There's no way the taxpayer would bail out Man Utd, there'd be riots. Also, the Government can't afford it.

Can't believe you missed this one:

From the video on the BBC announcement he doesn't look as defensive as I thought. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/8935006.stm Can anyone who's seen more of him shed any light?

Totally agree. The only position I can see Ben Arfa coming into is the one currently occupied by Nolan, either in rotation or as a replacement when Nolan goes 3 or 4 games without scoring. In games where we're more confident and attacking, I guess one of Smith and Barton could drop out.

No problem with that really, Ben Arfa can provide the flourishes while Tiote provides the brutal shafting.

I think we need to be wary of making too many changes too quickly as well. The continuity and team spirit we have is our biggest asset, Hughton should realise that he needs to introduce new players gradually and without damaging what we have. The advantage we have over most promoted teams is the amount of Premier League players we already have. We need to add to them with the right amount of new talent, while keeping the basic team together IMO.

I just wish we could have got Bellamy, that would have been amazing. As it is another striker would be good, you're right. Keane would probably be raring to go, but I've not seen much of him recently to know whether he's the player he was. Always looks intelligent and sharp though, which would make him a good partner for Carroll in theory.

No guarantees obviously, but I'm optimistic... we've addressed two significant weaknesses in the team.