Wallace

Well we lasted more than 9 minutes with a "poor" defence!

Just have to win on Sunday to boost morale seeing as we are likely to lose to Villa and Man Utd before we face Blackburn on 1st March. That would be a winnable game but if we lose tomorrow and then the next 2 games, the players may be too demoralised for that one and then we will be in a serious mess. I was just hoping that our strikers would manage to score a goal or two in recent games just to give them a bit of confidence.

Whilst Shepherd was Chairman, Shearer knew that he only had to say the word and he would be the manager. Now with the new ownership and Chris Mort saying that he would have to get experience first, suddenly he has a dilemma about what his next move should be. I can imagine him being somewhat peeved that it isn't going to be as straightforward as before to become our manager. Don't imagine KK is that bothered either.

You would think that with all the supporters aware of the rumours about Woody that the clubs would be as well.

That surprises me because you think of Paddy K as being finished and whilst RVN is still in his prime despite the injuries.

At this moment in time, Keegan cannot afford to let anyone go until he has replacements in first. With Viduka and Owen being injury prone and Martins away at the ACN, it would be a risk at the moment.

I think it is daft when people compare average attendances for teams from different periods as Mick Dennis has done - it ignores lots of other contributing factors. For example, in the 80s football reached it's nadir and attendances all over were falling whilst in the 90s, it was a boom period. What about unemployment back in the early 80s and then the loadsamoney attitude of the 90s. Football was out of fashion and then it was back in fashion. Newcastle in the 80s was a depressed city hugely affected by the economic situation of the time and in the 90s started to regain its confidence and redeveloped itself. Was that the situation with City or with Norwich? Maybe, maybe not but unless you address those issues in the argument, it is a pointless discussion. No doubt in the future, people will say Newcastle had an average attendance of 36,000 in the early 90s compared with 52,000 10 years later but will omit to say that the ground capacity had increased.

If the fee was to be as much as £9m, then you would hope it will be appearance based.

I think it is because there are a lot of people in the broadcast media who support them so when they are doing well, they are hyped up out of all proportion and so you get sick hearing about them. Heard one last night - now they are through to one final, they expect to win all 3 cups but then I know others you would be happy with just the one cup. I guess the more irritating and embarrassing fans (like our own) are more vocal that the silent majority.

Newcastle move for Richards fuels wage boom fears http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=509616&in_page_id=1779&ito=1490

I love the way that they are now reviewing Keegan's first managerial stint with us. The only compeptition was Man Utd, all the other teams were ordinary at best, the other managers were poor, we had loads of money then and so paid over the top wages. It is getting silly now.

The city feels like it has been depressed for too long and we are now all on the happy pills together.

I always felt that Keegan had an emotional involvement with us that he didn't have with Fulham and City. I hated seeing him manage other clubs - just never seemed right.

Troisi had a trail with Roda JC, dont know what came of it He came back to us. He trained yesterday and today with us anyway. Troisi was interviewed on Sky yesterday about Keegan as he drove into the training ground. Didn't seem to know much about him.

Given

That French bloke from France Football has just been on Talksport again and is still convinced that Deschamps will be the one. Said that if he did come, there would be a lot of transfer activity (in and out) before the end of the transfer window but would not discuss names until he had been appointed!

Talksport were talking to Philippe Auclair (spelling?) from France Football who said that their information was that it was not Houllier that Newcastle were interested in but Deschamps and that talks had definitely taken place. He thought it was a strong possibility but it was not a foregone conclusion that it would happen. He did say that Deschamps was keen on working in the Premiership though as he would have more freedom than at clubs on the continent.

If this is the direction the club are moving in, then it makes the choice of Redknapp even more bewildering. Ashley and Mort are relatively young men and along with Deschamps, it would feel as if we are becoming a younger and more vibrant and dynamic club.

FFF = France Football Federation

French correspondent on TalkSport says it is not Houllier but Didier Deschamps that has met Ashley's people.

The club has said that they are looking at a long-term plan so they would have to bring in someone like Houllier to sort out youth development etc. Shearer may prove to be a brilliant manager but at this stage, there is no way he can deal with everything that is involved with running a football club.

The one thing I do not understand is that on the one hand, Celtic and Rangers are desperate to get into the Premier League and on the other hand the Scots despise England and want to go it alone as a nation. You can't have it both ways.

One thing Keegan is never acknowledged for is that the 3 clubs that he got promoted playing good football have all managed (so far) to stay in the Premiership.

I read years ago whilst Shearer was still playing that he had been earmarked by the FA as a future England manager. A lot of respected people who know him, seem to think he has the qualities required. I think if he proves to be successful, he will be the next England manager.

Spot on.