gazzaA2

You better be yanking me mother fuking chain mate. I'm not sure if its £2m but he will get a 7 figure loyalty fee, for staying the duration. Part of his contract, when he'd expected to be off after a year or two.

Owen is now apparently setting his sights on a move to Liverpool and is waiting for the call from Rafa. He knows they're skint and Rafa will have to scale down all his targets. One way or another, it looks like he'll be back in scouseland come August.

Are fans loyal to managers? Boothroyd got alot of stick off the Watford fans in his last season, despite being succesful.

did he really say that??? :dave: He's had it in for the club since the fans booed him after the England game that time. Owen was annoyed with the fans that day as well.

Owen and Gerrard are still best mates. I won't repeat what Owen was meant to have called Newcastle fans after Gerrard got booed at St James' after England missed out on Euro 2008. Gerrard seems to have had it in for the club since then for booing him. Wouldn't surprise me if Owen asked Gerrard to put out today's bollocks about welcoming him back to Liverpool () just to go hand in hand with the news about him winning damages regarding his career being over. He and his agent clearly believe his reputation in the media is key to him getting a good move next. He's used his agent and advisors to sound out a move for the last few transfer windows but up until last summer he'd have only left for a top 4 club on similar wages but no-one came in for him. He's still close to Carragher and Gerrard at Liverpool but Benitez isn't interested. From what i've heard his best offer at the moment is 60k a week at Everton with a signing on fee on top, with high appearance and goal bonuses. Probably still waiting for a better offer but he would have stayed here, on lesser terms had Newcastle stayed up. Its not all about the money with Owen. Read the bits in bold again. What I mean Dave is he wants his England place back. If Newcastle offered him 80k a week in the Championship and Everton offered him 60k a week in the Premiership, he'd probably choose Everton. He would turn down the extra money, to play in the Premiership. He is money motivated but not completely. Don't forget he came here over Liverpool for his England place, as much as the extra money.

Owen and Gerrard are still best mates. I won't repeat what Owen was meant to have called Newcastle fans after Gerrard got booed at St James' after England missed out on Euro 2008. Gerrard seems to have had it in for the club since then for booing him. Wouldn't surprise me if Owen asked Gerrard to put out today's bollocks about welcoming him back to Liverpool () just to go hand in hand with the news about him winning damages regarding his career being over. He and his agent clearly believe his reputation in the media is key to him getting a good move next. He's used his agent and advisors to sound out a move for the last few transfer windows but up until last summer he'd have only left for a top 4 club on similar wages but no-one came in for him. He's still close to Carragher and Gerrard at Liverpool but Benitez isn't interested. From what i've heard his best offer at the moment is 60k a week at Everton with a signing on fee on top, with high appearance and goal bonuses. Probably still waiting for a better offer but he would have stayed here, on lesser terms had Newcastle stayed up. Its not all about the money with Owen.

Owen and Gerrard are still best mates. I won't repeat what Owen was meant to have called Newcastle fans after Gerrard got booed at St James' after England missed out on Euro 2008. Gerrard seems to have had it in for the club since then for booing him.

One good thing came from our relegation then.... Getting his England spot back? haha. Wonder what the odds are on him never playin for England again? He still thinks he'll make the World Cup squad and that's mainly why he hasn't contemplated retirement. He's desperate for Bobby Charlton's record. From his point of view, he should be in the squad ahead of Carlton Cole and Agbonlohor and sees that spot alongside Rooney.

Apparently his agent was talking to Manchester United and Liverpool last summer but they were unwilling to take a chance on him and pay his wages at the time, on top of a fee. Now he's on a free transfer he will get a good move and although his wages will drop, he'll make up for the shortfall with a signing on fee.

FWIW, I Heard from someone close to the club that Owen was willing to stay and on less money if the club stayed up, so its not like he was only in it for the money. Shearer would have kept him on, on alot less even in the Championship but Owen was unwilling to drop down because he's desperate to get his England place back and make the World Cup squad. He's apparently in talks with Everton and Villa and sees European football as his way to prove himself to Capello.

Where was Owen today?

just thinking about your comment has got me to realise our squad is full of crap scouse s*** R.Taylor,Nolan,Owen,Guthrie,Barton get rid of these bin dippers Guthrie is Scottish and Owen is more Welsh than scouse. Barton is from Huyton which is Knowsley not Liverpool and Ryan Taylor is from the Wirral Kevin Nolan is technically the only scouser at the club, being from Toxteth.

Rubbish. two wins would see us safe and Boro and Fulham at home are winnable. We might only need 3 points against Boro next week to stay up, if Hull lose the rest of their games which looks likely. If we lose to Boro, then that's the time to panic but I can't see us losing to them.

Spot on. I we can beat boro we'll be safe.

We'll get to 35 points but we may need 37

If we beat Boro and Fulham we'll be fine

We'll get a new manager in, in the summer and everyone will renew. Had we stuck with Allardyce then alot would have stopped going but the Keegan factor kept the crowds up and now the new manager factor (Shearer, Bruce for example) will ensure the crowds hold up.

100% yes. Anyone who isn't behind Ashley isn't a true Newcastle fan. We moaned all the time that FFS should go and Ashley put his money where his mouth is, cleared the debt and any right minded Newcastle fan love him for it. unfortunately there is a poisonous minority at this club who have made him feel unwelcome and made us susceptible to foreign ownership. If we end up with someone like Tom Hicks, I hope you feel proud of yourselves you toxic bastards.

They should be quite loud today, with 5,000 at Preston. A local away in the cup and a late kick off.

From what my mate says, they lose alot of away tickets to supporters clubs outside of the city, which dilutes the atmosphere a bit but they do have a loyal following away from home, who go absoloutely everywhere but that's also part of the problem. Away tickets are sold on loyalty and are like gold dust, so on the one hand its the same faces every week, who probably get a bit complacent and on the other side there's daytrippers and not much new blood coming through. We only took half our allocation to Everton for example but they sell out everywhere straight away. They do have a different mentality anyway. Other away fans will sing for 90 minutes but if you listen to what they sing, its absoloute crap. They'll just sing anything; even if its "Shall we sing a song for you" 50 times and then they'll go home and say "how sh*t where their fans", whereas Liverpool fans just get behind their own team if and when they please but when they need to be, they can be as loud as anyone. My mate always says about the away fans at Anfield that they might be outsung but the away fans aren't getting behind their own team, or inspiring them, as they spend more time berating Liverpool's support and its a bit sad, the way our own fans tend to the same both to home and away fans FFS. If they had a few years in the doldrums like us, the post Istanbul crowd and the daytrippers would go and their support would be better for it. They were quiet on Sunday but last season were one of the loudest at our ground and that was because they came to support their manager, who was on the verge of being sakced at the time. That day, we spend the whole game abusing ours and that's why quality is more important than quantity when it comes to noise.

I think its as a result of for years away fans having a go at home fans for their s*** support "Your supposed to be at home!" etc. etc. Now, it has got to the point where home atmospheres everywhere are pretty s*** that a teams away fans are the yardstick for how good their support is. Liverpools were s***, that is why they are being critisized. Or we could just not give a crap how loud or not their fans are and just concentrate on supporting our own team. Say what you like about Liverpool fans (and yes they are often quiet) but when they do sing, they sing about THEIR OWN CLUB and don't just come here to abuse us like most. A novel idea. Do you think "Your support is f*ckin s**t" inspires your own team? No, its just pathetic "look how great we are and how crap your fans are" bravado. Liverpool's away support was no different on Sunday, to 3, 5-10 years ago. We didn't give them stick about it then because we were getting behind our own team but now we seem more interested by how loud the other lot are, than backing our own team. I for one couldn't give a f*ck how loud Liverpool fans are. Who cares? I don't think we can have too much of a go, with the amount of booing we did, when they came here last season either, when they were actually quite loud. We were even joining in with "Big Sam for England". Something that's even worse than giving your team stick, is sitting there like a muppet. When we got hammered 4-1 at home to Pompey last season, we gave our own players a lot of abuse, but at least we showed plenty of passion. Better than just being a set of spectators that don't really care. I wouldn't even bother going if there was never any noise. That's a fair point that we shouldn't care about other team's support and should concentrate on our own, but I'm not against promoting ourselves in retaliation to all the grief other sets of fans like to direct at us. Liverpool fans included. They tend to be quite arrogant and like reminding us how we've 'never won f*** all'. I've been following Newcastle home and away for over 20 years and in that time, have probably been to 30+ Liverpool Newcastle games. I've been to Anfield, when the noise was absoloutely deafening and i've been when you could hear a pin drop. Its that sort of ground. We've played them at St James' when the ground was rocking and we've played them when its been silent, with us booing our own players. We aren't perfect fans either believe it or not. My best mate is a Liverpool fan and they just have a different mentality to us. We show our support and passion by singing for 90 minutes and we're a passionate fan base. They're a passionate fanbase but they just don't have that sing for 90 minutes mentality away from home. They can go for 15 minutes without a song and think nothing of it and it shouldn't bother us enough to berate them for it. We sing more than they do but when they sing, they sing their own songs, about their own team, which i've always respected. Everyone else comes here and gives it the "Shall we sing a song for you".

I think its as a result of for years away fans having a go at home fans for their s*** support "Your supposed to be at home!" etc. etc. Now, it has got to the point where home atmospheres everywhere are pretty s*** that a teams away fans are the yardstick for how good their support is. Liverpools were s***, that is why they are being critisized. Or we could just not give a crap how loud or not their fans are and just concentrate on supporting our own team. Say what you like about Liverpool fans (and yes they are often quiet) but when they do sing, they sing about THEIR OWN CLUB and don't just come here to abuse us like most. A novel idea. Do you think "Your support is f*ckin s**t" inspires your own team? No, its just pathetic "look how great we are and how crap your fans are" bravado. Liverpool's away support was no different on Sunday, to 3, 5-10 years ago. We didn't give them stick about it then because we were getting behind our own team but now we seem more interested by how loud the other lot are, than backing our own team. I for one couldn't give a f*ck how loud Liverpool fans are. Who cares? I don't think we can have too much of a go, with the amount of booing we did, when they came here last season either, when they were actually quite loud. We were even joining in with "Big Sam for England".

This grudge you have against Owen really is ridiculous. With all the s*** we've been through this season, Owen is really the only one that can come out with his head held high. Been a model pro and his leadership and commitment can't come into question. Not really the behaviour of someone that "doesn't wanna be here." Without Owen we'd be dead certs for going down, we are very lucky to have him. The thing is, he's got alot to prove. He's desperate to get back in the England setup and he wants a big money bosman move next summer. He's not going to get either by playing half hearted or sulking, while at a struggling team, that's become a laughing stock. That's why he has to put a good shift in.

Michael Owen will leave on a free. Something he's been planning on doing for a while anyway.

Ashley's plan was to clear debts, make us financially stable and develop good youth talent, so that we're producing players with a good sell on value. However long down the lie, he could then sell for a big profit and return on his investment. Chairman live and die by their managerial decisions in effect. He got rid of Allardyce who he probably wouldn't have wanted but bringing back Keegan to appease fans and then undermining and marginalising him, was ridiculous. If the fans had just accepted Keegan leaving, then who would come in? Paul Ince or Poyet? We'd become a stable, mid table club maybe but crowds would drop, we'd lose key players like Owen cheap and debts would remain.