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It was actually a serious question i dont think we will win reading am i being negative again just like when i said we were in a relegation battle only to be laughed at Have to say I think Reading probably are one of the stronger teams from down there as usual i look at the fixtures and say to myself which newcastle will turn up. The battlers or the team just praying the 90 comes and goes fingers crossed it wont come down to that but by god we are giving ourselves a hard time of it.

some people recon we could go down, Boro were dog shite V cardiff and only have one point over us so I still think they are in the mix with the rest of us.

Boro, derby and birmingham loosing would come in handy at the moment mind

very true but as with anything never say never...

yea increase it to 120mph i mean the A19 never has any accidents on it....

wonder in terms of creating something on their own something out of nothing show flashes of amazing skill rather than someone who is going to win world player of the year.

totally agree. Coupled with the lack of a leader in the side that raises spirits etc the side seem to just never shrug off going a goal down. not even a leader,we need more than someone who'll clap and shout,we need someone to spark something football wise. I will never see more of a classic example of that then Beckham did V greece and what gerrard does for liverpool time and time again. One player who takes the game by the scruff of the neck and makes it work. We just dont have a wonder player in our side bar zoggy and owen that could do that for us and unfortunately for us they do not do it consistant enough. maybe it is the language barrier that holds our communication play behind, we have struggled for a while to break play up and to break defences down

totally agree. Coupled with the lack of a leader in the side that raises spirits etc the side seem to just never shrug off going a goal down.

Then again they have key players missing too and it could be a great time to play them while they are weakened.

Depending on your view we are either 5/6 players away from a top 6 side or 1/2 I for one am some where in the middle and think 3/4 would do it basically its catch 22 you need to have a good squad depth to survive a season and finish well due to inevitable suspensions, injuries, international call ups etc and we dont seem to have that in any great abundance then you need to weigh up making totally changes i.e complete new back 4 which can be too much for a side to adjust to. I would rather make steady progress than try and buy our way up the table lets face it we have tried and looked where it got us . Depends on who we were buying e.g. proven premiership players likes of Berbatov Bentley SWP spending money on these would work whereas in the past we have spent it on unproven foreigners I can see the point but it goes back to me saying earlier that the players you mention are 15-30M each and no doubt Kev will not have limitless funds I would rather we didnt run the risk of getting only one or two of these blowing the transfer kitty and rely in them to carry the team. This would also be against the basic need to have strength and depth in the squad which can kill a season once your "big names" are out of the picture. I agree that looking to europe doesnt always bring results and we have had to pay hefty fee;s in the past when there has been a prem player of equal value which could pose less risk. Even prem players though can be a gamble they can fail to adapt to the squad they play with and they can be unsettled in the region which all effects their playing so no player is risk free but its even worse if your gambling so much money of them.

I expect signings that will be able to get us into Europe e.g. like Villa have done then we can build on the quality Depending on your view we are either 5/6 players away from a top 6 side or 1/2 I for one am some where in the middle and think 3/4 would do it basically its catch 22 you need to have a good squad depth to survive a season and finish well due to inevitable suspensions, injuries, international call ups etc and we dont seem to have that in any great abundance then you need to weigh up making totally changes i.e complete new back 4 which can be too much for a side to adjust to. I would rather make steady progress than try and buy our way up the table lets face it we have tried and looked where it got us .

The "Pulling power" argument was used against Roeder and Souness and they got big name signings e.g. Owen, Duff, Martins, etc. Shepherd signed Owen. think the massive signing on fee and the 100k plus a week had a lot to do with it.

The "Pulling power" argument was used against Roeder and Souness and they got big name signings e.g. Owen, Duff, Martins, etc. Thats when we thre silly money about which i dont expect to happen and quite rightly. Plus these players needed to move were as the players who we need this summer will be wanted by clubs in europe The bigger clubs sometimes already have a big enough squad to not need to buy anyone usually the likes of man united, arsenal, barcelona etc all buy one or two top quality players. Not every one available can go to a club in europe some fall out with a manager or a board and request a move. Yes silly money may be needed but sometimes its just a big gamble you need to make on a player as to wether they will suit the prem or not. I for one am not in the camp expecting deco, rooney, ronaldo etc to walk in the door over the summer but there will be quality out there that will improve the current squad and when you are there to do a task over the long term that is what is needed.

The "Pulling power" argument was used against Roeder and Souness and they got big name signings e.g. Owen, Duff, Martins, etc. for most players the money usually has the final say those players who come for footballing reasons i.e to play at the highest level, battle for trophies or be part of a world beating side then the top 4 takes them in any league. The scraps and rare finds really are any ones fair game and we have as much chance as the everton's, man city's and villa's of this world.

Wasn't Mort recently quoted (a few weeks back) as saying he wants to spend as money comes in? sky money and season ticket sales would offer a fair chunk even if the ashley isnt willing to put more of his own money in + current players moving on.

always a bad example to use as it is totally different club to club but Man city are a perfect example of where I want us to go in the summer they too had little to offer any "big players" out of the capital not in europe ropey couple of seasons under old management. However still managed to get some great players in and I for one can say now i knew fuck all about then when they first arrived may be much down to svens much better contacts but I have some small hope thats how the board want to do it here. The worst case we go out there looking to spend 30+ on one player and rely on him to carry the squad 3-5 additions would do me nicely with carr, shola and viduka moving on possibly even Owen if he still has ichy feet.

Not putting anything past the toon the board are going to be out of excuses come the summer. Sky money comming in = instant cash got the manager in they want will have most if not all the backroom staff in they want the manager, scouts and staff will have had nearly half a season to look at the squad see who they want out and see who they like out there. Summer is a bigger window more players moving. if the board dont put in 30-50m into the pot for transfers then we need to seriously worry when will the board will ever put hard cash into squad development. using this as some simple logic i cannot see how we will not have some heavy summer spending.

Also seemed to be alot of support for coleman as some sort of role with the club. I am not saying that the two are exactly the same but both have done relatively well and still young maybe a good compromise that the board was aiming for. Lots of experience from the manager and then a dynamic up and comming manager to take a key role at the club i.e shearer mold. I am neither for or against this but can see it being a good thing as I dont want kev in on his own in the deep end with his history of cracking under pressure.

I assume Kev came with the assumption there was money to spend, he didn't have the time to get in who he wanted already commented on the difficulty of it all. i would like him to assess who he likes and doesn't in the current squad and take it from there. Can see it being a man city type big spend but can see a few leaving so I would imagine we will still be putting up with a relatively small squad still. predicition 50m then minus any out goings.

What's your point? I think Shepherd and Roeder would have been more of a turn off than anything else to be honest. Its ironic that one of the reasons for woodgate wanting to leave could be the lack of ambition, lack of fan attendance, the nasty support players do get when people turn up ala Downing. An Huth signed and disappeared on a roller coaster of injuries not exactly the picture was looking for when he signed.

Any fee mentioned? £12m i think i heard. Yakubu money gone then

suppose it will be lua lua in midfield for saturday then

Its the chance you take doing something so drastic as bringing back KK, but could Hughes turn this around? Could Houillier? Anything above that quality just isn't going to happen, and for me Hughes is the best British candidate, and Houillier the best realistic foreign candidate for me, yet i think both would struggle, and both don't play the football Ashley is possibly looking for. KK/AS combo is probably the safest option, two men that love the club, love attacking football and would strive to achieve happiness for the fans. With money they could possibly be a real force, a few heads that have dropped would certainly pick back up, ie Owen, Given, Taylor, and the likes of Barton would be rejuvenated with such characters looking after him. Im not sure how the players would react to anyone else right now, i just know the madness of the whole situation would sweep them up and they couldn't do anything else but buzz from the appointments as like it or not, the majority of the City (not just NUFC fans) want this to happen. I have deep reservations on whether football has changed too much for KK, if Shearer has enough talent and whether we can get both men in, as for me one or the other is pointless. I would personally like Rijkaard I dont know how likely any candidate is as with many money talks and if ashley can put across a winning vision, package and transfer kitty I think we have a good shout for everyone. As many who dont want KK have pointed out he has been out of the mix for a while, left in bad circumstances and really looked ready for a permanent break after the england mess. I like you probably just have this blind faith that if anyone is going to do it KK can. Shearer does come across as the ideal package to go along side him been in the game due to his press work and has still connections with the club (is he still an official club ambassador?) Is a local lad who loves this club but we may never find out as I dont know how much of a gambler ashley is well shit he did buy us so he must love a gamble

aye I know what you mean we were the entertainers back in the KK days and it would be great to have it back, back to the issue I am sitting on the fence I want KK to come back and kick ass but I feel that down about the toon at the min i think he will come in and leave with a wimper.

I take it you didn't read it then? Well written minus the circus theme all the way through fav line -"Then there are the occasions when he has to take a custard pie square in the face — usually from Sir Alex Ferguson. But the ups and downs, all of that drama and seesawing entertainment in the circus, is what grips this city"