Lotus

Neither Nobby (at RB) nor Carr will be good enough for a top 10 team in the PL next season.

If, as expected the situation ends up as follows: Taylor - Staying Moore - Leaving Bramble - Leaving Huntington - Out on loan Edgar - Out on Loan Ramage - ? Then we defo need to get at least 1 new CB.

I doubt anyone doesn't know we need a Forward who can hold the ball up and actually head it in a useful direction. We all know we need more creativity in the CM position. It's obvious to everyone that we need defenders, a proper RB and LB and CB. Surely no-one disagress with the above. So it's a question of prioritisation. We can all offer an opinion but we don't know what budget we have, we don't know who's available and at what price. You have to get value for money, Fwd's and creative CM'c are generally more expensive or higher wages if on a free. When the manager looks at who he can get he'll have to decide who can offer more for the team for the money paid. It might be that no CF or CM who could really make a difference are available or who want to come. In that case you spend it on the defence or visa versa. No-one can say what position would make the most difference to the points tally.

Like Shay Given you mean? Wasn't Ramage stalling on a contract a couple of years ago as well? Wanted some guarantees over first team football or something.

This. Best prospect we've had in ages. Maybe family circumstances + being away from home + losing his mates (Boum) has all got to him though. Still worth a start ahead of Duff. Anal's had in for him for a while i reckon. I remember him going on about Zog 'putting his pet lip on,' etc. They'll be pr1cks on here going on about how he'll want to go to Arsenal because of the French connection, completely ignoring the fact that they are a far better club in all aspects (except the fans, of course!)

Zoggy is worth more to the club than Roeder. Easy choice to make if i was Chairman. Not comparing the players but could've said the same thing wrt Souness vs Bellamy.

I'll only be disappointed if Zog doesn't start instead.

Doubt he would be interested, left Preston because he felt that tje expectations there did not reflect the realities he faced, he chose Derby as he felt the reverse was true and he would have a better chance of achieving success So few proven Championship mangers get a shot at the EPL these days unless they get a team promoted. Do you really think he'd turn down the chance if Derby don't go up?

Loved it when Miguel made Robben cry (Portugal vs Holland), marked him tight all game. Could afford to as he had the pace to catch him again if Robben gave him the slip. Pushed him about too, bullied him. Not a great defender but has enough physical attributes to make sure most LW's have a moody time of it.

Roeder clearly can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. We might have done better if most of them were fit for most of the season. He doesn't appear to have the ability to 'make do.' FWIW, i hope we don't find out if he's up to it next season. Rather he was replaced. Would have thought Billy Davies (Derby) would be worth an interview.

I don't think Roeder should be the manager. Forgetting his media spiel for a moment we should try to remember to some important points: 1) We HAVE had a lot of injuries and this has disrupted the team very badly. 2) We are not Man U and have neither the squad depth or finance to make one. I know the transfer windows appeared to be poorly utilised but losing Owen, Duff, Dyer, Baba (our only left back), Moore (our only experienced CB) and Given for large chunks or all of the season was always going to hurt us. Then there was Emre's injury/suspension (best CM partnership with Butt), N'Zogbia's injury, I've not even included Shola because i don't think he's good enough. Losing fringe players like Harper and Ramage to injury meaning we have to play Srnicek and Huntington (or Solano filling in). Roeder can't be to blame for everything, just everything that is within his minimal influence. Losing all those players meant this was going to be a bad season, fact. I'm more curious as to why we've had sooooooo many injuries, personally. Or should i say, sooooooo many injuries AGAIN....

Couldn't agree more, Shepherd did unbelievably well to get Souness then Roeder from all the ambitious and confident managers from the list who were willing to snatch the job they have obviously been reading your informed and professional website. Or talking to that willy woofter who runs the Post Office, you know, the bloke you think would be our ideal chairman Your faith in the club you say you support is touching. Such unambitious talk would have made Mckeag and his cronies proud, as I'm sure you have so much else in common with them. time after time you have gone to my site and systematically pointed out the inaccuracies. Every time I try and take you advice and fix it. Then I find I'd be going against what Shepherd has published and I think "who do I believe Freddie Shepherd, and his signed report, or NE5". My brain then explodes. You agreed with Shepherd's appointment of Souness, I never agreed with Crozier's appointment of Sven, regardless of how many times you say it. Give the choice of Sven or Souness it would be a brave man to decide either way. You are clearly braver than me in deciding Souness was the better man. Where did McKeag appear in this ? McKeag's appointments versus Souness and Roeder. Not sure I've heard you say anything against any of them. But that's cos you sycophantly back who ever is chairman then claim otherwise later. Doff your cap the rich man. Yes Sir, of course Sir !! 11th's great sir, better than 7th last year sir, and better than 3rd and 4th and 5th sir, just unlucky sir, blame the manager sir, blame the players sir, blame the fans sir, how were you suppose to know sir, yes sir of course sir, Geordies are winners sir, yes sir. (Oh and yes sir, did you like my clever comment about poofters sir, wouldn't ever catch a great man like you sir, doing anything dodgy on the sex front sir, unless you you asked me kindly sir, cos for you sir, anything sir ) . i just thought he was saying that we have had worse boards in his time and for all the slaggings off those slagging off come up with no solutions Then you probably don't know the context of these two's 'duels'.

Mid-table teams that lack creativity are normally pretty solid and hard to beat. Unfortunately we're a soft touch.

The most basic of research would have brought about the conclusion that Gullit was never going to be a good appointment. Didn't need foresight for that one.....or Souness......or Roeder.......

Charisma in Leadership is essential. I believe Shearer has Charisma, i also believe Roeder doesn't. What Shearer's influence was last season, we can only speculate. Shearer supporters will say he had a big part to play, others will question it (with an open mind i hope). Re: Warren Barton, i have no idea tbh.

Didn't think we'd do well. Seems to me we always struggle after an International or enforced break. The team seems even more disjointed than usual.

Why is anyone looking forward to Ameobi coming back?

There is no point in sacking Roeder without an idea who to replace him with though, surely?! That's how we ended up with Souness...

Could use him to replace Gary Speed tbh

I was always told that little stretch of skin between your b@lls and your @rse crack was 'The Road to Grimsby.' It's a sh1t hole or it smells of fish maybees, forgotten the reason why now. Doubt the 'Sky Boys' would know that tbh.

Agreed. What, because someone doesn't agree knows better than you ? Sad that like. Isn't that what message boards are all about ? Why do you think everybody should agree with you ? The part about them spending £10 million and not hurting their finances too much is because as far as I'm aware they already have the cash in the bank, compared to us who would have to loan it from the bank, I thought I should clear up that point before someone gets their knickers in a twist over it. I'm not exactly averse to a DOF but a good manager won't need one. And just because Spurs are doing well under one doesn't mean anything really, I'd say their progress is all down to Jol and the team on the pitch more than anything else. If they were doing s****, how would the DOF get them out of it? He wouldn't, however when the under performing manager is replaced the new manager will walk into a club with a great squad and an excellent scouting network, btw wasn't it Arnesen that brought Jol in as a coach? Football is too big to leave it all to one man now, there was a thread on here months ago on how many staff the big clubs employ compared to us, I'll try to dig it out. EDIT - http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=31057.0 What happens if the new manager doesn't rate some of the squad left over from the previous manager? Fergie et al don't have any problems managing a club without a DOF, neither did SBR who was in his 60s when he took over Newcastle, he worked 18 hours a day at times. BTW I'm not disagreeing with you here or against the idea of a DOF, at times I've wondered myself whether we should go down that route but only because the manager is inept in certain areas. Again, if we had a top manager in charge, there would be no need for a DOF. Spurs appointed one because their new board came from a non-footballing background and thought they needed a middleman to help them run the club on their behalf. At the moment it looks like they have a good setup there, but Jol and the team out on the pitch will determine whether Spurs as a club succeed and not their DOF. Alex Ferguson had over 20 years to get Man Utd the way he wanted, Bobby Robson was excellent for us but it's often pointed out how much money he wasted, money that we just can't afford to lose anymore, which is the whole point of this thread. You say Spurs appointed one because their board came from a non-footballing background and thought they needed a middleman to help them run the club on their behalf, isn't that the case with us? Can we really trust Shepherd and Hall to bring in a manager after employing both Souness and Roeder? If you look at the other 'Big clubs' in the Premiership they are all ran by people with knowledge of football with the owners in the background, Abramovich owns Chelsea yet he isn't chairman, at Arsenal it is David Dein not Peter Hill-Wood, at Manchester United while the Glazers own it they realise their shortcomings and it is David Gill who runs the show, we need someone like that. I'm not saying a DOF should come in and buy all the players he wants, I'm saying how much the club would benefit by having someone in who could set up a top scouting network and spot bargain players at other clubs, of course the manager would have the final say on all transfers for the first team but having Roeder ringing around trying to get anyone in on loan on January 31st is a bit of a joke as far as I'm concerned. People talk about Keegan at Fulham and Pleat at Spurs failing as DOF, neither of these have any sort of knowledge of setting up scouting networks or anything like that, both were appointed because of who they are not what they know. I would of thought the 5th best club over the past decade and the 8th biggest club in the World would have enough contacts to find someone with a proven track record as a DOF to come in and sort this club out, however I have strong doubts it would work with Shepherd as chairman. Fair enough Baggio, you make some good points and put a strong case forward but would you concede that appointing a top manager and giving him complete control would reduce the need for a DOF and therfore be the best option? For me a DOF at Newcastle defeats the object somewhat, it is kind of like being bought off. "OK, you can't have a top manager, you'll have to do with a s*** one, but to soften the blow, we'll bring in a DOF". I'm not saying we should have to do with a s*** one, a top manager is important and what matters most as far as the first team squad is concerned, however Mourinho and Wenger, both top manager, have someone in the background taking care of every other aspect of the club from scouting to fitness etc as the job is just too big for one man alone, football has moved on a lot since the Premiership was invented. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/4224278.stm it never has been one man doing all those jobs. Keep up the cliches though 8) Instead of trying to shoot down everyone else's ideas and trying to score points all the time, why don't you tell us how the club can improve. Oh, I have told you many times. By finding the new Keegan. Unfortunately, other clubs are looking for the same person. In the real world, there are only 2 winners, and the european spots are the next best, so you must be doing something right to get into these places. So you're suggesting we sack Roeder then and find another manager? If we get someone better, of course. When we find the money to pay him off though, I'm sure you will agree with that. It would be a far better move than employing a "DOF" Name someone? We qualify for Europe a lot so it'll have to be someone with experience of European football, that rules out Allardyce. O'Neill did alright at Celtic in Europe but some don't favour his style so he's out. Man U picked the right man. Arsenal picked the right man. Liverpool picked the right man. Chelsea picked the right man. Bolton picked the right man (imo). We haven't, twice in a row. And only 2 of the managerial appointments out of the last 6 have done anything. Why? Only bad luck? It hasn't happened to Liverpool or Chelsea, both of those clubs have changed managers lately for the better. Why haven't we? We've got to where we are, great. No need now to compare ourselves to clubs who are doing worse, how about comparing ourselves to clubs who are doing better, consistently better. Who's going to pick our next manager? How well as he done at picking them in the past? How successful have they been? I'm all for the club staying with it's present owners but i'll make this comparison: I run a small business, if i don't know much about something i ask someone who does. If i have to keep asking him, i employ him.

The part about them spending £10 million and not hurting their finances too much is because as far as I'm aware they already have the cash in the bank, compared to us who would have to loan it from the bank, I thought I should clear up that point before someone gets their knickers in a twist over it. Sorry if this is a blinkered view but, doesn't the success of a 'DoF' system depend on the quality of the DoF? If there a good enough DoF's out there then why hasn't everyone got one? We will need to be lucky enough to find a good DoF and a good Manager? I get your point though, a good DoF may even find us a good Manager! Spurs found a good DoF and he was replaced by what seems like another good one (Commoli i believe). I'm fairly happy for the club to remain in the hands of the present owners however i doubt their ability to 'scout' a good, upcoming manager, they'd have to be lucky. Therefore they'd have to equally as lucky with the DoF. It doesn't appear to me that we have anyone at Board level who knows much about football or football people. The Board would have to recognise they're ignorant on that point first.

Good thread. Maybe an idea to swap Martins and Owen in your original line-up, i think the pace of Dyer and Martins hovering around the channels would worry a lot of opposition full backs into bombing forward regularly. That would be a problem otherwise, the other team has the width because of overlapping FB's. I think making such a stiff midfield would encourage a team to play wide against as well. However if Dyer and Martins work reasonably hard it should help our cause. I would also be a bit worried about Solano's legs going. Theoretically Emre shouldn't get too isolated because one or two or the front 3 can drop a bit deeper to help him. I think it sets us up as a good counter attacking side. Players would need to work hard but i think with Zoggy, Milner, Duff and Ameobi we would have options with substitutions that could keep the same shape. I don't entirely agree with your personnel choice at the back but that's not really the point of the post, the system looks workable.

Based on what other than wishful thinking? Coz it seems to me that it's less wishful thinking than the other partnerships i can think of. Moore hasn't played for ages so i would have been reluctant to make him start against the pace of D. Bent away from home. I'm not sure Bramble will be here next season but Gooch might be so i'd try him out with Taylor (if fit). For what it's worth i think Bramble has played better than the lot of them recently but he showed signs of miss-timing things on Thursday and if his confidence is suspect i'd leave him out (Taylor didn't do well either imo). It's hard to pick a pair that look decent out of the current squad but those are my reasons for Taylor & Gooch. I don't bother with wishful thinking i just form my own opinion, right or wrong. All academic in the end though.

I'd have said Taylor & Gooch. Bramble and Gooch if Taylor's injured. All our combinations would have the potential to be regularly terrible tbh.