AyeDubbleYoo

it insinuates we're looking at the Pompey cast offs too. As long as it's Boateng I'm happy.

Newcastle united wear black n white stripes as the club kit historically NOT black n white stripes with a white patch. That makes no sense... all shirts are 'designed' now and have been for years. It's a bit like saying we don't wear black and white stripes with a puma on the chest, or saying we don't wear black and white stripes with three white stripes down the arms, or whatever other design feature we've ever used. Nonsense. The kits have always been designed and for about a hundred years the basic format was to have black and white stripes back and front. Then greed intervened. Using your logic an all red home strip with a black lace trim and a picture of a penis on the back would be fine, as it’s a ‘design’ feature. Think you might be extending my logic a bit too far there.

Truth. At the end of the day, we're in the Premiership. We're scrabbling around at the top table again... so let's enjoy as much as we can.

I'd be tempted to give it to someone who is more than just blood and thunder... so not Barton or Smudger. Really don't know what Colo is like personality wise. Probably Nolan, maybe S Taylor if he's actually going to play (or not be sold).

Maidenhead Utd for the same reason, also they're called the Magpies. And I used to live there for a bit.

Ghana!!!! My ex-gf was born there, their performance in this world cup is mint.

That was the biggest disappointment of the World Cup for me... I always thought Capello would pick the form players and the players to fit the system. Not sure why I thought that, but it certainly didn't happen.

Newcastle united wear black n white stripes as the club kit historically NOT black n white stripes with a white patch. That makes no sense... all shirts are 'designed' now and have been for years. It's a bit like saying we don't wear black and white stripes with a puma on the chest, or saying we don't wear black and white stripes with three white stripes down the arms, or whatever other design feature we've ever used.

I quite like it, the only problem is the sponsor box - but we always knew it would have that. Don't understand why everyone gets so worked up about the back not being striped, I couldn't care less.

Looking forward to it now, but ask again 6 weeks in and I might not be so happy.

I've been saying this for weeks, is the whole of Africa really behind Ghana? Seems a bit patronising to me... it would be a bit like all Europeans getting behind Germany, wouldn't it?

Gerrard on the left is horrible for the balance of the side, and to a lesser extent so is Milner on the right. Both together is footballing suicide. They both like to tuck in and wander all over, meaning very little cover for the fullbacks.

Think you're right Jayson, the main questions we should be asking are about team selection, motivation and player psychology. I don't think there are massive systemic problems with the English game. We spent most of the season calling these same players brilliant.

no telly is free thanks to the BBC Fair point, you also pay the licence fee with Sky though... or at least you're supposed to! BBC is well worth the money IMO.

Sorry I don't come up to your exacting fan standards. Never understood why people don't get behind England... I know it doesn't represent the north east at the moment, but were people saying this when Shearer was banging them in for Newcastle and England?

Freeview is free though, £0 a month. I would get Sky if you could be more flexible with what you want (i.e. just sports!) - but I would never watch 90% of those 200 channels.

They were the same resources we spent most of the season saying were brilliant. Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard, Cole, Terry etc... up there with the best in Europe according to most people.

I felt the same about ground zero in NYC, it was very weird to see people smiling and taking photos like it was an attraction.

Definitely England winning the World Cup... that would be a historic moment and a national celebration. The League Cup is mickey mouse anyway. If you replaced League Cup with Premiership I would probably go for Newcastle.

I think the Carling Cup is a good place for younger/reserve players to get a game... would be a shame to get rid of it for that reason.

That's basically it. No confidence on the ball or the ability to create (all done by foreign players at the clubs). Its bought in because this country has stopped producing or never really has produced players wil really good close control and the ability to make a pass under pressure, beat a man, whip a ball in. What the f*** are we teaching the kids at football. We should still kill howard wilkinson The kids are coached at their clubs and I doubt many clubs work to Charlie Hughes coaching manual. In fact I doubt the FA have much influence over the coaching of potential pro footballers at all. The problem and the solution lies with the clubs. Until they start playing creative and inventive football the youngsters coming through the ranks will never be much more than athletes in football boots. Unfortunately the price of failure in the PL is now so high that playing anything other than negative percentage football is a huge risk. You could argue, the fault lies earlier, if we produced our own "Mikel Arteta" we wouldn't need to go buy one would we? For starters we shouldn't be playing through winter. 2 week break from x mas to new year would IMO make a massive differance to tiredness and injuries that accumulate. Surely it would just result in having to cram even more games in the last three months of the season. If we want fresher players the only effective option is reducing the number of games. Carling Cup should just be for teams outside the PL. And the Champions League should just be for the Champions, it should be much smaller.

I was just talking about this the other day... not if Jonas leaves mind! Can Tshabalala play centrally as well? Might be some legs for the middle of the park.

I've been actively criticised throughout my footballing life for trying creative things and not just playing the percetages all the time. The amount of time we pass the ball to nobody in this country is ridiculous. Lumping it up the line is the most important part of the game at most levels. Even in amateur football and friendly kickabouts, that seems to be the case. No wonder we don't produce any decent ball players.

Not long til the start of the new season, will he have time to get back on form by then? Not sure...

Don't want to start a massive quote pyramid, but I'm definitely not just criticising his selections in hindsight... I always said I would start with Crouch, play A Johnson on the left, play Dawson instead of Upson, not take King and that stuff. Whether it would have made a difference is another thing, obviously! Also, it's not true that he would only have been able to succeed by winning the WC. If we had performed well, got to a decent stage (QF/SF) then gone out being outplayed by Brazil or someone most people would have been satisfied IMO.