brummie

Is Owen bigger than Newcastle United? Probably, yes. In his own mind, I'm sure Owen is far more important than the club he plays for at any time. Note that this is the same with any player at any club. They're pretty much all self centred tossers. With the caveat that we don't know if Owen wants away, IF he does, then he really does need to question his morals if he's prepared to leave the club after what has happened since he joined. However, the bigger concern must surely be regarding the moron who agreed to such a release clause at those figures in the first place. It smacks of doing anything to get short term gain (ie the trophy signing, if you will) and not sparing a second thought for the long term consequences. Hard to imagine SA sanctioning that kind of agreement, but then that assumes SA would actually have input over that side of things.

Nail / head.

Boro aren't a club. They're a retirement home for the overpaid. A career hospice, if you will. But they won a trophy. That's what big clubs do. Personally I think the 'big club' debate is nonsense as it's obviously all subjective, but surely if you were to rank clubs logically you'd include all factors. When i said "win things" I meant plural rather than "win something", ie on a regular basis. I always imagine the big four (at the moment) looking down their noses, thinking "oh, they're arguing about being 'big' again" then going back to polishing their trophies.

Boro aren't a club. They're a retirement home for the overpaid. A career hospice, if you will.

No, big clubs are clubs that win things. And that's a fact that clubs like Newcastle, Spurs, Villa, Everton all have to come to grips with. Big clubs don't finish mid table which is what two of those four clubs have done this year, big clubs win trophies. End of. Until that happens they're all clubs with expectations and setups which may be geared towards winning things, but until that happens, it means jack shit. High finishes in recent years and decent players means absolutely nothing whatsoever compared to trophies in the cupboard. SA has gone to a club where the expectations are far higher than they've ever been at Bolton, and that is what he is going to have to handle. In a way, if he were to get a whiff of Owen not wanting to be there, the absolute best thing he could do for you would be to get shot as soon as he can. You'll get players who really want to be there, and send a message out that he's not to be fucked around with. Result.

True enough, but trust me, our defence hasnt been the problem. Bar the dreadful Aaron Hughes - second appearance in a while on Saturday, at fault for one of their goals, typical Hughes style, stands off his man far too long, gives him space, realises he can't catch up with him, sticks a leg out way too late.

I think Laursen since coming back from injury has been excellent. Cahil will play for England one day soon, too. Our problem is in midfield, true. We need a holding midfielder, and a creative one (Berger has been having an indian summer, but won't last much longer). On the bright side, now we've started to see how well Ashley Young can cross a ball, I don't think we need James Milner back (i say that from a 'now you won't want to sell him' angle, not a 'not good enough' one, I've said loads of times on here I'd have loved him back, quality prospect). Oh, and we need a goalscorer too, too early to rely on Luke Moore and Gabby, although they're brilliant prospects.

Take it you ignored the Jloyd Samuel bit, then?

Rumour is this morning that it will be Birmingham City. Oh, PLEASE GOD, please. you should ask god to send all of YOUR defence minus Mellberg to Brimingham Take it you haven't seen us play much this season then? Only 5 teams have conceded fewer than us. We've only conceded 14 goals at home all season (and 6 of those were in two matches). Bouma has been brilliant all season, and Mellberg, Cahill and Laursen (when he plays, which he has lately) have all been excellent. Even Ridgewell did the business (I dont know why MON wants rid). Our problems have been at the other end of the pitch. In fact, of the abovementioned, I'd suggest Mellberg was the weakest this season. The main problem we've had at the back is that shite RB you sold us, who I'd carry back to Newcastle (Freddy style) given the chance.

Rumour is this morning that it will be Birmingham City. Oh, PLEASE GOD, please.

If he "didn't really want to join Newcastle" he would of stayed at that small club Real Madrid. He wasn't playing much for Real Madrid, he wanted to play matches in readiness for the World Cup, preferably in the premiership. Maybe I should have said I believe he would have preferred the option to move to one of the Big 4. The fact is he had a option of staying with Real Madrid or going to Newcastle United and he picked to come to Newcastle. That does not constitute to this Myth "he didn't really want to join Newcastle United" Of course not, if he really didn't want to come to Newcastle, then he wouldn't have done so, but it is also true that he needed match fitness and exposure which he wasn't going to get on the bench at Real,. The screwed up thing here will be if FS really did agree to a release clause. Actually, not just a release clause, but one so low. If that turns out to be true, then it'll cast a lot of light on the situation, and also on FS's modus operandi.

I agree, I like him for the same reason. Exactly the same reason I like Mourinho, entertainment value. a league full of Arsene Wengers would be so boring.

If he "didn't really want to join Newcastle" he would of stayed at that small club Real Madrid. I suspect the fact it was a World Cup year and he wasn't getting a regular game there had something to do with it, mind. has he actually made any comment at all about this situation? Seems he's possibly getting stick for nothing.

I agree with Mr Jol. I'd also say that the situation with finances is much changed, too. There are far more clubs with shit loads of money to spend, through the television deal for all of them, but for some of them through wealthy individuals buying them out (and there are bound to be more of these over the summer and next season, including newcastle, man city, everton, I'd have thought). In a situation where almost everyone has got huge pots of cash, other than CL football, things like getting the structure of the club right, having the right manager, having top notch training and other facilities, having a really good youth academy and so on, are going to become the factors which make the difference, and I'd bank on SA being the sort of manager who would get all of the above right. I think it will take time, though.

:-[ Unbelievable. Give the bloke a chance.

Been a problem for years. That's an indication of the sort of problem he's going to have to surmount. FFS shouldn't be saying anything in public about playing staff. On the bright side, I don't think for a moment SA is the sort of manager to put up with that shit, and will soon stamp it out if it happens in the future.

If things are as screwed up at the club as you posts here indicate, then I wouldn't expect miracles next season. If he wants to put his stamp on the club, and sort it out from top to bottom (which is what good managers do), then that is going to take time. Surely it is best that he gets this time and does it properly rather than patch over the problems in an attempt to get some kind of result quickly? Europe would be great, obviously, but you really need him to build proper foundations for long term success. I'd expect a season of consolidation / slight growth followed by a push for Europe. Not unlike another similar underachieving, until-recently-fucked-up club

Wait till you get taken over. You'll get what we got with Ellis, 12 months of endless threads arguing over his legacy - "nah, he was a cunt", "but he did some good things, he made the trains run on time" etc

White kits with coloured collars look so much better. I quite liked AC Milan's away kit of a few years ago, stripey black and red collars on white. Spurs new kit does look very dull. All four of them

What's with the poses? I like the collars. I hope Nike make ours from the same template.

See, I was nodding my head with the original post, and agreeing then you go and spoil it. Personally I don't think it was just the money that saw him go to Newcastle, it was also the desperate need to get some Premiership football in the World Cup year, wherever he could get it. If he fucks off over the summer (and personally, i hope he doesn't, and if the lad has any conscience, he won't) then all the stuff you mentioned above is going to leave you with a bit of egg on your face, isn't it?

I'm scared of technology, Dr S. I think he uses it to transmit mind rays to disrupt the opposition, and that Kevin Davis is actually made of Lego Mindstorms or something. I wonder why Little Sam has gone all retro though. That new one looks suspiciously late 1990s, doesn't it? Did they change it before Big Sam left or just this last game? I think we ought to know.

Will he continue to wear that stupid fucking bluetooth headset thing that makes him look like some NFL head coach? Or even worse, will he do what Sammy Lee has recently done and "downgrade" to what looks like a five year old, non bluetooth model of the type you see people wearing in call centres?

Get in there, Lukey Moore!

Villa fans at the Reebok are serenading Bolton fans with "Big Sam is a Geordie fan, Big Sam is a Geordie fan"