gazzaA2

It's almost like we're in a parrallel universe. Alan Smith is actually good now. He's just too good for this league.

There's plenty of teams in the league worse than Blackpool, if you knew anything about this league. They're a decent side. We need to accept we won't win EVERY match. You have to deal with a bad result now and again.

It just shows that we won't win every game in this league but no need to panic. Plymouth are the ideal opponents the form they are in and we can put a few past them at the weekend, without too much fuss. It also shows that Alan Smith is irreplacable. He's the one player we can't do without. He's been the best player on the pitch every game and needs to be wrapped in cotton wool. His red card cost us because we'd never have lost that, with him on the pitch.

Unfortunately its not just about players being better than what we've got - its about having enough players to put a team out week in, week out. If our annual injury crisis strikes anytime soon, we'll be knackered (literally) and be relying on academy players. I dont disagree that some of these free agents wouldn't/shouldn't normally be considered, but at this moment in time we can't be choosy, and we need numbers! So who signed Simpson & Loven? Fair enough in terms of getting one or two in maybe where we're short on back up but it comes down to whether we can afford the wages. Alot of these players are still free agents because they're asking for Premier League salaries and they aren't going to come here to siton the bench and we can't afford to pay them to sit on the bench. If an injury crisis strikes, we can get loans in as well.

Alot probably have but some of us didn't want him in the first place and don't just change our opinions every 5 minutes.

I don't believe Hughton is a long term answer, but while the club is officially up for sale he might as well continue the job if he's getting the results. What are the alternatvie options? He's fine for the Championship but the Roeder comparison is a good one. We're effectively the equivalent of the Real Madrid galacticos in this league and any old idiot would be expected to get us promoted. However, if we're back in the Premiership next season, we need an experienced and proven modern manager. Not Shearer. Not 90s men like Kinnear and Keegan and not coaches like Hughton but a proper manager. He's p*ssed on his chips now but Steve Bruce last season would have been a good choice and would have kept us up.

I simply speak my mind. That's what a forum's for my friend.

Gone fishing I'd rather have a proven manager. What's hard to understand? If Arsene Wenger left Arsenal, they wouldn't give the job to Tony Adams. I think you are just being a wum, whats hard to understand for you? Yeah I disagree with your opinion and the unconvential wisdom of wanting someone as manager who's achieved bugger all as a coach, so I must be a wum. Grow up mate.

Gone fishing He's got a point thought, i bet no one can give a decent reason without referring to Keegans first spell be it in their mind or actally written on here. Im not saying Shearer will be a bad manager as a reason for not wanting him here (although i don't think he will be a good manager), all im saying is at this critical time we need to guarantee promotion the first time of asking then look to move on from there, not try an incorporate another f***ing fairlytale into a history of NUFC. Emotion needs to take a sidestep and let logic and reasoning through, its actually imperative. Exactly. Its preceisely this sort of unreasoned, sentimental stupidity that holds this club back. Even when we're a Premiership club, Allardyce is in the job 5 minutes and there's morons shouting for Keegan and what's worse Ashley goes and listens to them.

Gone fishing I'd rather have a proven manager. What's hard to understand? If Arsene Wenger left Arsenal, they wouldn't give the job to Tony Adams.

These players are no better than what we've got. We should only look to bring players in with real quality. Lovenkrands is a good addition.

We're not going to play great and win 5-0 every week mate. There'll be plenty of 1-0 wins as well.

Best full back in the league. Easily.

Why do fans want him anyway? Only thing he's done as a coach/manager is get us relegated. We're more than capable of attracting a proven manager. If Shearer wants the job, he should prove himself somewhere else first. End of.

Its not that simple though. Stoke had a Championship team on paper and finished 12th. It comes down to good management and team spirit. Two things we didn't have last year and Stoke did. Now we have and we also have the quality, which is why we look like running away with the league. Say there are 150 players in this classification. Then not all of them can play for the 3 teams that get relegated. I take your point about management but that wasnt what i was talking about. I was talking about the gulf in class in the leagues and how some players can therefore fall between the two. But we aren't one of those sides who are full of players too good for the championship but not good enough for the prem. Nolan, Smith, Jonas, Barton, Harper, Guthrie, Taylor and Enrique are proven Premiership players, who we are spoilt and blessed to have in this league. Butt and Geremi are proven but have arguably seen better days. The only players i'd maybe put in that category are Ameobi and Ryan Taylor. Ameobi clearly a class apart in this division but won't get 20 goals in the Premiership. Having said that Taylor still did well for Wigan and Ameobi would probably do well for someone like Burnley or Bolton. So no i don't think we've actually got any players who aren't good enough for the Premiership. Fair enough but if you think we have the nucleus of a side already that will be able to keep in us in the premiership if we get promoted then we disagree. I think Guthrie can improve, Barton is good enough, Jonas should be but is lacking in ccutting edge, Nolan is ok but would not provide the strongest link in a prem team and Smith the same. Enrique is a great defender but gives the ball away even at this level too many times. You're also essentially denying that the gulf in class between the leagues exists. This gulf logically creates this class of player, since individual ability isnt determined by TV revenue but club quality unfortunately is in the long-run. The gap is mostly between the top half and the bottom half of the Premiership and then between the big 4 and the rest. The Championship is a poor division in terms of quality which is why teams coming up need to strengthen. The likes of Bolton, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Hull and last seasons promoted sides etc are in my opinion inferior to what we have. Allardyce kept blackburn up through good management and grinding out results, while we had to put up with the farce with Keegan, JFK and then try and rely on a guy with no coaching experience to get us out of trouble. If we go up with this squad then we clearly would need to add to it and will do. The main thing is a realiable Premiership goalscorer. Had Michael owen done what he was paid for, then we wouldn't have been in any trouble. I disagree that Allardyce kept Blackburn up with good management, he stumbled upon a set of players which fit his long ball blueprint. if he'd been a good manager he'd have made better use of the players he had at Newcastle rather than trying to play the same brand of football with players who weren't suited to it. He still wouldn't have relegated us though. Yeah, his methods are pretty effective at just avoiding relegation. And top 6 finishes at Bolton.

Its not that simple though. Stoke had a Championship team on paper and finished 12th. It comes down to good management and team spirit. Two things we didn't have last year and Stoke did. Now we have and we also have the quality, which is why we look like running away with the league. Say there are 150 players in this classification. Then not all of them can play for the 3 teams that get relegated. I take your point about management but that wasnt what i was talking about. I was talking about the gulf in class in the leagues and how some players can therefore fall between the two. But we aren't one of those sides who are full of players too good for the championship but not good enough for the prem. Nolan, Smith, Jonas, Barton, Harper, Guthrie, Taylor and Enrique are proven Premiership players, who we are spoilt and blessed to have in this league. Butt and Geremi are proven but have arguably seen better days. The only players i'd maybe put in that category are Ameobi and Ryan Taylor. Ameobi clearly a class apart in this division but won't get 20 goals in the Premiership. Having said that Taylor still did well for Wigan and Ameobi would probably do well for someone like Burnley or Bolton. So no i don't think we've actually got any players who aren't good enough for the Premiership. Fair enough but if you think we have the nucleus of a side already that will be able to keep in us in the premiership if we get promoted then we disagree. I think Guthrie can improve, Barton is good enough, Jonas should be but is lacking in ccutting edge, Nolan is ok but would not provide the strongest link in a prem team and Smith the same. Enrique is a great defender but gives the ball away even at this level too many times. You're also essentially denying that the gulf in class between the leagues exists. This gulf logically creates this class of player, since individual ability isnt determined by TV revenue but club quality unfortunately is in the long-run. The gap is mostly between the top half and the bottom half of the Premiership and then between the big 4 and the rest. The Championship is a poor division in terms of quality which is why teams coming up need to strengthen. The likes of Bolton, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Hull and last seasons promoted sides etc are in my opinion inferior to what we have. Allardyce kept blackburn up through good management and grinding out results, while we had to put up with the farce with Keegan, JFK and then try and rely on a guy with no coaching experience to get us out of trouble. If we go up with this squad then we clearly would need to add to it and will do. The main thing is a realiable Premiership goalscorer. Had Michael owen done what he was paid for, then we wouldn't have been in any trouble. I disagree that Allardyce kept Blackburn up with good management, he stumbled upon a set of players which fit his long ball blueprint. if he'd been a good manager he'd have made better use of the players he had at Newcastle rather than trying to play the same brand of football with players who weren't suited to it. He still wouldn't have relegated us though.

Its not that simple though. Stoke had a Championship team on paper and finished 12th. It comes down to good management and team spirit. Two things we didn't have last year and Stoke did. Now we have and we also have the quality, which is why we look like running away with the league. Say there are 150 players in this classification. Then not all of them can play for the 3 teams that get relegated. I take your point about management but that wasnt what i was talking about. I was talking about the gulf in class in the leagues and how some players can therefore fall between the two. But we aren't one of those sides who are full of players too good for the championship but not good enough for the prem. Nolan, Smith, Jonas, Barton, Harper, Guthrie, Taylor and Enrique are proven Premiership players, who we are spoilt and blessed to have in this league. Butt and Geremi are proven but have arguably seen better days. The only players i'd maybe put in that category are Ameobi and Ryan Taylor. Ameobi clearly a class apart in this division but won't get 20 goals in the Premiership. Having said that Taylor still did well for Wigan and Ameobi would probably do well for someone like Burnley or Bolton. So no i don't think we've actually got any players who aren't good enough for the Premiership. Fair enough but if you think we have the nucleus of a side already that will be able to keep in us in the premiership if we get promoted then we disagree. I think Guthrie can improve, Barton is good enough, Jonas should be but is lacking in ccutting edge, Nolan is ok but would not provide the strongest link in a prem team and Smith the same. Enrique is a great defender but gives the ball away even at this level too many times. You're also essentially denying that the gulf in class between the leagues exists. This gulf logically creates this class of player, since individual ability isnt determined by TV revenue but club quality unfortunately is in the long-run. The gap is mostly between the top half and the bottom half of the Premiership and then between the big 4 and the rest. The Championship is a poor division in terms of quality which is why teams coming up need to strengthen. The likes of Bolton, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Hull and last seasons promoted sides etc are in my opinion inferior to what we have. Allardyce kept blackburn up through good management and grinding out results, while we had to put up with the farce with Keegan, JFK and then try and rely on a guy with no coaching experience to get us out of trouble. If we go up with this squad then we clearly would need to add to it and will do. The main thing is a realiable Premiership goalscorer. Had Michael owen done what he was paid for, then we wouldn't have been in any trouble.

that logic has never ever worked in the history of the game. It may have worked in 1996 as we were on course for the title. Then signed Tino. Let's just leave the team as it is. its not even a nearly similar situation. we need players in. its a very simple concept for a club with a small squad. I'd like us to add to the squad today but only if the right player becomes available and I don't care who we bring in, they'll have to wait for their chance. If it comes down to it, then i'd be happy with what we've got and then just use the loan market if needed. You don't change a winning side. End of.

Its not that simple though. Stoke had a Championship team on paper and finished 12th. It comes down to good management and team spirit. Two things we didn't have last year and Stoke did. Now we have and we also have the quality, which is why we look like running away with the league. Say there are 150 players in this classification. Then not all of them can play for the 3 teams that get relegated. I take your point about management but that wasnt what i was talking about. I was talking about the gulf in class in the leagues and how some players can therefore fall between the two. But we aren't one of those sides who are full of players too good for the championship but not good enough for the prem. Nolan, Smith, Jonas, Barton, Harper, Guthrie, Taylor and Enrique are proven Premiership players, who we are spoilt and blessed to have in this league. Butt and Geremi are proven but have arguably seen better days. The only players i'd maybe put in that category are Ameobi and Ryan Taylor. Ameobi clearly a class apart in this division but won't get 20 goals in the Premiership. Having said that Taylor still did well for Wigan and Ameobi would probably do well for someone like Burnley or Bolton. So no i don't think we've actually got any players who aren't good enough for the Premiership.

that logic has never ever worked in the history of the game. It may have worked in 1996 as we were on course for the title. Then signed Tino. Let's just leave the team as it is.

Its not that simple though. Stoke had a Championship team on paper and finished 12th. It comes down to good management and team spirit. Two things we didn't have last year and Stoke did. Now we have and we also have the quality, which is why we look like running away with the league.

We'll bring two in today I think.

Oh behave will ya. Name a better one then? West Ham went down with a better team but they all left. We've managed to keep a team of Premiership quality players together. Not a squad admittedly but the youngsters and loan signings from the Premier league, plus one or two more in today will more than make up the numbers.

Or we could just leave things as they are and carrying on winning football matches. Really tough decision that.

I keep remembering that picture of the Scunthorpe player with the 'Bring on Shearer' flag. Yeah, they're going to be shitting themselves now the Hughton Heroes are bang in form. Even the Leicester fans were saying no team will be able to match us.