AyeDubbleYoo

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.

Yeah, you've got a point, but what teams like Man City do is breach of contract by proxy... they unsettle the player until he wants out, and his attitude becomes so bad that he is useless to his current club. Footballers should just stop signing contracts and just play window-to-window - they're meaningless anyway.

Seems a bit arbitary to me, this sort of thing happens all the time surely. Man City have spent the last six months inducing Joleon Lescott to leave Everton, I would call that tapping up.

Not a great player by any means but we need a forward at the moment and he's big and uncomfortable to defend against. Might give us an extra physical edge that we'll need against some of the poorer sides.

For all that Cardiff are a good side and threatening going forward, if we can put out our first choice back 4 we should have more than enough to cope with them. Best team in the Championship is still the equivalent of playing Hull or someone like that.

What I mean is that the top clubs move their players on when they're past their best. Shearer did a lot for us but there came a point when he was no longer top class. You could argue we weren't a top class club, but that's another thread!

I think you've got a major point there 2sheds, I love Shearer but we should have moved him on when he was a player, and we should be looking at proven managers. Our club has massive potential, we could easily be as big as someone like Man Utd. With Shepherd, Hall and Keegan firmly in the past we should be looking to bring someone in to take us to the next level. Perfect scenario - with promotion secured and a new owner in place I would think managers would be falling over themselves to get into the hotseat, no?

I think Everton have assembled a very strong set of CBs, including Heitinga. Vermaelen does look brilliant, but as baba says let's give him a few months before we judge.

You might be right, but it hardly makes sense to give him no credit when things are going well but prepare to criticise him if they turn bad, does it? Either he's influencing the players or he isn't, right?