AyeDubbleYoo

Don't think he's going to help his chances of getting anyone by saying 'the players on the list aren't good enough'. Then why look at them Joe? It's a bit blinkered to write them all off IMO - it's amazing what a player can do if someone gives them a second chance.

That OP is way too harsh in the players we should get rid of. IMO all except Smith, Butt and Duff should be persevered with, providing we add more quantity and quality on top.

But has it not always been the case that a tiny proportion of youth team and reserve players make it to the top level? We're talking about premiership football here, as well as the influx of established foreign players to the 'best league in the world'. No matter how much we invest in the academy, it is always going to be massively unlikely that we will produce any star players. From a player's point of view you'd almost be better off not being at a premiership academy, and just making the first team of a lower league or foreign club. I'm surprised more talented English youngsters don't realise that they should try to head over to Europe at about 8 and get picked up from there later!

Will Carr, who I'm assuming is even worse/more unfit than when he was released, be able to do a better job than Edgar, Taylor or any other young defender we've got? I seriously doubt it.

We need a couple of players in January to be honest, waiting until the summer might be far too late.

I would as well, just not so sure he would be able to acheive anything of note even then.

However Seymour Pierce present the information, I would think that any buyer will have their own exhaustive investigation performed - unlike Ashley who seems to have been caught out by the amount of debt.

Even for the goalline thing though, how many dubious goals are there every season like that? Maybe about 4 a year, not worth starting down the path of technology for that. Just accept that football isn't perfect and get on with it.

No offence meant!

Bearing in mind I only really know the toon from the first Keegan era, this is pretty bad. But still felt more terror towards the end of the Allardyce reign when I really thought we were going down. Sure that feeling will return if we don't sort ourselves out, but for now it isn't quite as awful.

The only reason I came into this thread. :laugh Any chance of a swift title edit? I know it's pedantic but it's driving me mad

The human element is crucial, yes it hurts when a decision goes against you but that's life. If people would accept that referees make mistakes and decisions can never be perfect the game would be a lot better.

Right now, I would love to guarantee first place. Hopefully I won't still be saying that at Christmas.

Interesting point, it was probably the era of Vieira, Petit, Keane and Makelele that did it, everyone wanted a classly player in the middle who could break up the play. It is quite fashionable though, how many premier league teams have a true holding player I wonder? I don't think in their primes Keane and Vieira were holding midfielders though. Are there any then? Even if they weren't 100%, I can see why they were labelled as such, protecting the back 4 and getting a foot in all over the place. You're right though, they did get up and down the pitch a lot.

Interesting point, it was probably the era of Vieira, Petit, Keane and Makelele that did it, everyone wanted a classly player in the middle who could break up the play. It is quite fashionable though, how many premier league teams have a true holding player I wonder?

Not sure, what you really need in the holding role is to be able to get around the pitch. You also need someone else in midfield who will do a bit of attacking. Butt is so sluggish around the pitch, and conservative in possession, that I'm not sure he can cut it there anymore. I really wanted us to get Muamba when he went to Bolton, would have been ideal IMO.

Can't see us getting anything out of this one unless Joe is a bigger arse-kicker than anyone on the planet. We need Beye, Martins and Jonas back to have even a half-decent team.

What are Ian Harte and Thomas Brolin up to these days?

Makes you wonder who is really in charge of what players can and can't do. I mean, I can't see Newcastle saying "here's an idea Mark, head over to Australia for a few weeks and get sorted". Surely we would rather have him treated here where we can keep an eye on him. Even if he's just watching training and giving Xisco a few pointers, while he's on the payroll he should be around the club.

Obviously I'm contractually required to hate Roy Keane because he's mackem manager, but can't deny he's done a decent enough job so far, albeit spending quite a bit of money.

I don't really blame him personally, he's been unfit and overweight for a while now, it's just irritating that we ended up signing him - more so because if he could keep himself fit he would be really useful for us.

The way I basically see it is - we can only achieve negative and harmful outcomes by the sort of emotional reaction that we've seen in last few weeks, both for the actual position of the club and the reputation of the fans. So the only way we can do any good is to just support whoever is here, or keep quiet. Yes, that means being 'shitted on' once in a while, but there's no other way.

We may as well forget that Viduka is a Newcastle player.

That's in the rules/mission statement you posted earlier, so it looks like it has been decided.

Don't have anything against Crazy Joe. If nothing else a new, experienced head might just be able to say the right things to get us out of this shit.