Wallace

I heard a journalist on the radio say QPR would have him like a shot but he has no interest in leaving Derby at this point in the season. Apparently he really impressed everyone with his coaching when he was there and they want him back.

What? Benitez? You must be joking. I just think they can and will probably attract a good manager who will significantly improve them because their board will not restrict the manager's role as we do (and will pay more). As clubs, we should probably attract a similar profile of manager but given a choice, they will be a more attractive proposition. I only mentioned Benitez because it keeps being reported that he wants to come back to the Premier League and as far as I can see, his options of clubs are severely limited if that is the case and Villa like us should be challenging for the top 8 if they were being backed properly by their owner.

If it was the end of the season, I could imagine Villa getting Benitez. He wants to come back and his family are still in Liverpool so not that far a commute. Other than us (and he is far too expensive and political for Ashley) and perhaps West Ham, I cannot see which other English club would be suitable because the top 7 are taken care of. I would imagine they would be an attractive club to many managers but those interested may want to wait until the end of the season if they are already in a job and also to see if they are still in the Premier League.

New manager bounce for when they play us in a couple of weeks.

Duncan Mason ‏@Duncan_Mason 52m52 minutes ago @MsiDouglas have you seen club is cancelling season tickets that have already been fully paid for this season if you don't renew? New low ‏@MsiDouglas @Duncan_Mason Looks wrong.. Need to establish what's happened. Off today but we will seek a response from club tomorrow.

It has been that way for a while. Certainly last season, it was on the letterheads.

Saw on Newsnow that Steven Taylor had also been advocating Carver for the job. Seems to be a concerted effort at the moment and probably encouraged by the local media.

That's a shame for the Palace game. I was imagining Pardew casting adoring eyes in his direction.

If their manager was told that he had to play the loanees if fit, by admitting to that he has forced Llambias to come out and deny it. Surely that now gives him licence to play the team he wants rather than having half of them dictated to him. I wonder when Ferguson and Mbabu will be fit. The definition of "soon" in NUFC language could mean this month, next month or next season.

Don't think it is unusual for a condition of a loan to be that a player must play but it is exceptional because there are five in total so it is half the team. What if they play poorly - where is the incentive to work harder to keep their place in the team. How will it affect the other players? I get the impression that their manager doesn't seem to care too much as he is just working his notice.

This is causing a real stink. Their manager's press conference was very uncomfortable viewing.

He does seem to enjoy taking on the authorities but maybe he is starting to push the boundaries on one too many fronts.

The Premier League has changed perceptions about each football club and mass generalisations are now made about each. All clubs prior to the Premier League suffered years of peaks and troughs. Man Utd were relegated in the 70s and Liverpool were a second division in the 60s. For those two clubs, a special manager with vision transformed them whilst money has transformed City and Chelsea and although Arsenal seemed to have been historically well-managed, there were many years when they were average. Look at Southampton's recent history - League 1 football and administration. What happened in previous years does not mean that has to dictate the future. Well-managed clubs can grow and progress and although obviously money is a huge factor these days, the lack of it does not mean you should eradicate the ability to compete. Whatever way you spin the stats through the history of football, Newcastle's placing usually averages out between 6th-9th - whether that is league places, trophies won, European games, attendances etc. Yes we were rubbish in the 80s but we had our moments between the late 60s and early 70s and in most decades before then. That to me dictates that we should always be aiming to challenge the top 8 and some years we will do a little better than that. Obviously, there will be some years where you fall back into the pack - look at Man Utd with their change of manager. Liverpool fell away and now seem to be back again. It usually comes down to good management and a vision but unfortunately we have too often been mis-managed and the supporters' loyalty abused.

Old friend of mine who died 5 years ago had it right and he had been following the club since before WW2 ; he said they might as well knock the place down and build flats on it. Can't see a better alternative in the foreseeable future. That's bollocks though. Ashley won't be here forever, that's one thing we can be sure of. The way I see it, the club is in a coma rather than dead. Like KK said, one day we will get our club back. It's agonizing waiting for it though. My biggest fear is that by the time we get the club back the damage inflicted will be too great to rectify. I also believe that before he does sell - he'll hold an "everything must go" style fire-sale. Putting it mildly he'll probably leave us in a worse condition than when he bought us That's my worry. The club is already a shell of what it was when he bought it and no longer holds many of the assets it had. He is also removing the options for developing the stadium if needed. The longer he is here and the more disconnected the locals feel, the harder it will be to attract them back and that dynamic between the city and club which is its strength will no longer exist. The kids have already started to support more successful teams and in time they will probably encourage their kids to support the team they follow. The longer he is here the more damaged the club will become and we will then just be another perennial struggling club.

Wanted Lennon and Jarvis too, apparently. Apparently he wanted to send Zarate back to West Ham and loan Jarvis instead.

No way will they go back to him. He wants to spend too much and he talks too much for Ashley.

Not heard of him before so I googled him. Seems like he is obsessed with the financial side of football and cares little for the actual game, so I can see why he'd think that. He was saying that as we had never won anything for 50 years, we were expecting too much. He is an Arsenal fan. Why do fans of clubs who regularly win things (and go into meltdown if they don't win a trophy every season) think it is so wrong for fans of other clubs to want to be the best they can be. Yet again another metropolitan journalist, he only looks at the financial side of things and thinks we are doing well without considering how much a football club means to its community and the lengths Ashley has gone to enforce the disconnect.

It's not that we can't compete (as they would have you believe) but that we choose not to compete.

We just seem to be playing at doing transfers these days. We mess too many people around when we never have any serious intent. If we were serious about him, why would we need to wait until the Summer especially if other clubs were prepared to buy him now. What a waste of monitoring him for 2+ years. It is weird how every decision (apart from outgoings) seems to be being deferred until the Summer. It can't be because we are awaiting for the new manager as they don't have a say. Something else afoot?

Senegal did the same with us with Cisse and I don't think we were allowed to play him for a couple of games as a result. I am sure Senegal will pursue it as far as they can.

We know they have been trying to do it by default by selling off Pardew's favourites such as Perch so that he would play Anita instead. I can imagine there would have been questions as to why Cabella and MYM were not being played especially as they had paid big money by our standards for those players. So we know there has been indirect involvement but whether they actually choose the team on a Saturday (cup games excepted) I am not so sure and if so they are pretty lousy at it. I wonder which prospective manager told Barton that. He'll know McLaren because he spent some time at QPR but I can't imagine him confiding in Barton. I can't think of any of the other known candidates knowing Barton.

Other than the standard being poor, there is real pressure on Rangers to get promoted which most of those guys will not have experienced playing in the reserves so at least they will be tested in that way.

We were linked a lot with him before he went to Man Utd.

I hate the way they treat players purely as commodities to be bought and sold. They seem to forget they are dealing with human beings with families and not just a load of merchandise from the warehouse. It is so rare these days for a foreign player to put roots down in this area.

It is a shame as he was the one player who constantly talked about wanting to extend his contract with us whereas most of them look to get out ASAP. Maybe a new coach would develop him further but I guess the injuries have counted against him.