AyeDubbleYoo

Nice try!

We lack anyone decent for the right wing though, Jonas has a questionable impact, Barton has rarely performed in the Prem and Smith looks horrible in that division. On paper our team wasn't bad enough to go down, we're at least as good as the likes of Blackburn and Bolton. Problem is the players never performed, for whatever reason.

I know frighteningly little about the other teams, I'm just starting to see them as lambs to the slaughter now... I'm not bothered who they are! A tad overconfident of course, but hopefully the players are feeling the same.

That is one of the things I've loved so far... not having to watch the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd whinging, diving and harassing the refs. Seems a bit more of an honest sort of football, the kind fans can relate to.

I'll be there, although my tickets haven't arrived yet. Have other peoples? Nope. Righto, no problem then, I'll just be patient.

Enjoying the fact that we will probably win most of our games, it's reinforcing my 'newcastle fan belief that we're special'. We really are too big a club to be in this division! The problems will come if we have to spend a couple of seasons down here, one is fine... but not more thanks.

I'll be there, although my tickets haven't arrived yet. Have other peoples?

A season eh, the local lads don't even get a day. Smith, Nolan, Taylor, Duff have all been branded s**** since the day they signed whereas no matter which mediocre foreigner we sign from a mediocre club they're class and have their own little fanclub. Taylor in particular has been given loads of slack I reckon. And none of the others are local lads.

You could argue he came in at the worst possible time and was never given a chance, but then again you could argue he gave up too easily. Whatever, we won't miss what we never had.

I argue it's good because I want divers to be punished and diving driven out of the game. Yes, I hope it is applied to everyone.

I'd like to think that Wenger would be telling Eduardo off in private, that would be something I suppose. I still think that managers need to start saying publicly that they don't want their players to dive. It's in nobodys interests, they must concede a couple of dodgy penalties for every one that they win. If they would 'lose the morale of the dressing room' by criticising divers, then the dressing room is full of the wrong type of player anyway.

Don't agree with that at all babatunde, maybe it is slightly out of proportion with other punishments, but maybe it is the start of a (well overdue) backlash against cheating. Managers and clubs need to start stopping their own players from diving, and punishing them when they do so. That would be a major step forward. You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Can't see that Chelsea have any chance with thhis appeal, except maybe on a legal technicality. It's beyond reason that after deciding to ban them FIFA will reconsider.

For me, it's the nickname potential... I've seen so many on this site alone!

Still don't really understand it tbh. Championship clubs have always signed players on short term loan deals, and we are not the only club who has said we will use it. Yeah, I don't really understand it either. Probably like most things in football, there are rules but you don't have to abide by them if you don't fancy it. The term 'emergency' is just their way of getting round the transfer window for lower league clubs. It doesn't have to be any special situation to sign a player on loan for 3 months. Which is what is said in that thread if you read it all. Consider me chastened.

they just said you were s**** dunney boy. He's decent, just not as good as Lescott or Toure.

Still don't really understand it tbh. Championship clubs have always signed players on short term loan deals, and we are not the only club who has said we will use it. Yeah, I don't really understand it either. Probably like most things in football, there are rules but you don't have to abide by them if you don't fancy it.

Can't see that anyone will be coming in on loan now - doubt we could convince anyone it was an 'emergency', could we? http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,64279.0.html

As pilko said, the ability to get the odd good tackle and pass a simple ball and head is more than enough. It's sad to see such a gulf in class between the two top tiers but it's true. So true, I never really had much time for the 'gulf' argument before this season, but it's definitely real. Makes the fact the clubs like Hull and Stoke manage to stay up even more impressive. To be fair, it might be a gulf between the top half of the prem and the rest - even the top tier is full of poor teams at the moment... Hull, Stoke, Bolton, Wolves, Wigan, Blackburn, Burnley - the list goes on.

It's always 'if' with Mark Viduka isn't it? If he's up for it, and if he stays fit, and if his wages are high enough, he'll be a good player... too many ifs for a club to bother with IMO.

Nice to see Simpson has fallen in with the wrong crowd already! The Ranger boy is a straight up G.

This is a terrible idea. The rules of footgball are perfect and fine. The enforcement of these rules by incompetent officials is the problem. Fair point, I realised it was a bit leftfield! Referees do have a difficult time though, I suppose they could rectify it by only giving penalties if they were 100% sure they had seen a foul... but they would need to be backed up by their bosses and assessors. I have a feeling that as soon as managers started whinging that they weren't getting penalties they would end up losing matches and getting dropped from the Premier League list. What I don't understand is why everyone is so slow and reluctant to act on divers? And managers, WTF is Wenger doing appealing against Eduardo's ban? It doesn't benefit anyone - even teams that win the occasional penalty will have a number of unjust ones given against them for the same reason, surely?

I'm almost tempted to say get rid of the penalty completely, except it would lead to mad fouling to prevent goals! Maybe no automatic penalty but only if the foul denies a goalscoring opportunity. So stop players kicking the ball miles away from themselves and diving.

Harewood must be itching for a chance to play some football as well... might help make up for his basic lack of ability.