toonarmy

very very clumsy challenge by diouf, on the edge of the box. no doubt about it.

damn

ughhh own goal off carragher. total domination by liverpool in the second half, and spurs score against the run of play

id agree. only thing i'd say is that i thought guthrie did ok as a more defensive midfielder. didn't offer much going foward, but tracked back pretty well. barton instead of butt is an easy call. same for jonas instead of geremi. enrique over bassong makes sense as bassong is clearly a center back, not a fullback.

one thing i must say, it's nice having options again. it's been so long since almost everyone's been healthy and available, it makes a world of difference. bench of zoggy, xisco, butt, bassong, geremi, cacapa and harper would do me just fine for now. correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe owen is our only real first teamer out, and he should be back in a week (viduka doesn't count, i don't know if he's still alive, and smith doesn't count as a footballer.)

I just think that City have a very odd mix of elite players/creative potentially great players and mid-level somewhat average premier league players. You take a Robinho, an Elano, an SWP, Jo, Petrov, Benjani, etc. and those guys could potentially be starters on many of the great teams, but then you take the rest of their players, and you could easily swap them for players on any other average team. I don't think this combo has mixed well yet, the average ones drag the whole team down. They'll buy more potentially great players in January, but even then, I think they will follow the Chelsea model of taking a few years before they really gel, mentally get used to the idea of being competitive with the big boys, and start to be at the big 4 level.

a pretty accurate match recap that I think captures it all pretty well and succinctly:

http://www.4thegame.com/club/manchester-city-fc/news/225030/ireland_strike_denies_magpies.html

it's like stoke is trying to make sure that tottenham scores in the 11th minute of stoppage time to snatch the draw.

also, dawson off for a bad studs up tackle. nearly another eduardo there.

Manhattan, New York City. Asking how I became a Newcastle fan is a long story, but I'll try explaining succinctly, if only because I think my specific reason is actually common for hundreds or even thousands of American Toon fans.

 

There were a few articles written a few years ago by likely the most popular American sportswriter Bill Simmons, who after watching the World Cup, decided to get into the EPL and pick a team to follow. Millions of Americans were enthralled by the World Cup for the first time, for a myriad of reasons (not least of which was Zidane's headbutt, which even managed to somehow become famous in mainstream American culture). Since he knew absolutely nothing about the EPL, he asked his millions of readers for suggestions and reasons why he should pick their team. He then wrote a series of articles where he explained the merits of each team-from whether he'd like to visit the city to stadiums to their unique history to who their fans are, etc., and ranked each team (he ruled out ManU before he started due to frontrunner status). He actually ended up ranking Tottenham number 1, but had Newcastle in the top 3. He was very interested in Newcastle, talking about things like the loyal and long suffering fans similar to his hometown of Boston, the youtube video of bowyer and dyer fighting each other, the classic uniforms, Michael Owen, but ended up ruling it out mostly because Newcastle's true rival Sunderland was not in the EPL at the time. So even though he ruled out Newcastle in the end, the things he said led a lot of people who were also at the same time becoming extremely interested in European football to check out the Toon more and eventually fall in love. And when I say I'm not the only one led down this path by Simmons, I mean it. Simmons is by far the most read sportswriter in the country, with an average audience measuring somewhere between 25 and 50 million readers. The influence he had in convincing Americans to follow Newcastle, Tottenham and Liverpool is immense.

 

Oh, and if you want to read the article, here it is (it's a pretty interesting read for some of you I'd think, to see an outsider's perspective, specifically an American's-he writes from the everyman's perspective, representing the average American sports fan, and not as a journalist who is paid to have access or insider's knowledge): http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719

 

Goal No. 2: Avoid a team that's too tortured. Already went down that road with the Sox. Once was enough.

 

Bet you wish you had listened to him

Haha I didn't make my decision based on solely on that article, it just got me started down the path of learning more and considering Newcastle. But yea, sometimes I do wonder why on Earth I subjected myself to the torture, but then I remember that every other team I support is famous for epically failing, it just wouldn't feel right to support a frontrunning team. Newcastle was meant for me.

Manhattan, New York City. Asking how I became a Newcastle fan is a long story, but I'll try explaining succinctly, if only because I think my specific reason is actually common for hundreds or even thousands of American Toon fans.

There were a few articles written a few years ago by likely the most popular American sportswriter Bill Simmons, who after watching the World Cup, decided to get into the EPL and pick a team to follow. Millions of Americans were enthralled by the World Cup for the first time, for a myriad of reasons (not least of which was Zidane's headbutt, which even managed to somehow become famous in mainstream American culture). Since he knew absolutely nothing about the EPL, he asked his millions of readers for suggestions and reasons why he should pick their team. He then wrote a series of articles where he explained the merits of each team-from whether he'd like to visit the city to stadiums to their unique history to who their fans are, etc., and ranked each team (he ruled out ManU before he started due to frontrunner status). He actually ended up ranking Tottenham number 1, but had Newcastle in the top 3. He was very interested in Newcastle, talking about things like the loyal and long suffering fans similar to his hometown of Boston, the youtube video of bowyer and dyer fighting each other, the classic uniforms, Michael Owen, but ended up ruling it out mostly because Newcastle's true rival Sunderland was not in the EPL at the time. So even though he ruled out Newcastle in the end, the things he said led a lot of people who were also at the same time becoming extremely interested in European football to check out the Toon more and eventually fall in love. And when I say I'm not the only one led down this path by Simmons, I mean it. Simmons is by far the most read sportswriter in the country, with an average audience measuring somewhere between 25 and 50 million readers. The influence he had in convincing Americans to follow Newcastle, Tottenham and Liverpool is immense.

Oh, and if you want to read the article, here it is (it's a pretty interesting read for some of you I'd think, to see an outsider's perspective, specifically an American's-he writes from the everyman's perspective, representing the average American sports fan, and not as a journalist who is paid to have access or insider's knowledge): http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719

Dont believe the newspapers saying the credit crunch will stop a takeover, any serious bidders will not have financial worries.

 

That's ridiculous. I don't think the credit crunch will stop a takeover, but to think that any serious bidders have no financial worries is incredibly wrong. First of all, those hit worst by the meltdown are those that had the highest percentage of assets in the market-i.e. the rich. On top of that, the wealthy are working on more than one project at a time, they will have to prioritize what to use their limited credit for now, and Newcastle might not be their top priority. Maybe a real estate deal in Dubai is, who knows. Beyond that, people don't just have 300 million pounds lying around in a bank generally. And even if they do, no one with that much money is stupid enough to just take that much out of a bank to buy something like a major football club. Even the billionaires will borrow to some extent to pay for the club. This credit crisis probably won't stop a takeover because there are many bidders in the process, most of whom will weather this pretty well. But it will likely delay the process-bidders will wait to see if they can survive this before they commit, and it will likely cause at least one or two bidders to drop out. The meltdown has already caused Ashley to lower his price, and I fully expect it to have further effects on the takeover process.

The chances of a consortium raising cash to buy Newcastle by borrowing are zero. Banks aren't lending to each other never mind to people wanting to buy a football club. Even if there is a multi-billionaire with the cash to buy NUFC can they actually get at their cash? We'll be lucky if Ashley can sell the club to anyone the way the financial system is melting down at the moment.

I actually agree with this. Anyone that has to raise cash by finding new investors or new credit will not be able to find it. However, the serious bidders presumably already have lines of credit that are active-i.e. with banks that haven't gone under. Some consortiums may drop out, not because they don't have lines of credit, but because they don't want to waste their few good remaining ones on Newcastle when they may need them for something like a real estate deal, or because they have to scramble now to save their remaining assets. But still, those that remain in the hunt aren't likely to commit to Newcastle anytime soon, not while there is so much uncertainty and the potential for a real global meltdown. I wouldn't expect anything to happen for weeks at least, and probably months. For good or bad, Ashley is almost certain to remain owner for a good while longer, even if he wanted to sell at a rock-bottom price.

Dont believe the newspapers saying the credit crunch will stop a takeover, any serious bidders will not have financial worries.

That's ridiculous. I don't think the credit crunch will stop a takeover, but to think that any serious bidders have no financial worries is incredibly wrong. First of all, those hit worst by the meltdown are those that had the highest percentage of assets in the market-i.e. the rich. On top of that, the wealthy are working on more than one project at a time, they will have to prioritize what to use their limited credit for now, and Newcastle might not be their top priority. Maybe a real estate deal in Dubai is, who knows. Beyond that, people don't just have 300 million pounds lying around in a bank generally. And even if they do, no one with that much money is stupid enough to just take that much out of a bank to buy something like a major football club. Even the billionaires will borrow to some extent to pay for the club. This credit crisis probably won't stop a takeover because there are many bidders in the process, most of whom will weather this pretty well. But it will likely delay the process-bidders will wait to see if they can survive this before they commit, and it will likely cause at least one or two bidders to drop out. The meltdown has already caused Ashley to lower his price, and I fully expect it to have further effects on the takeover process.

An NDA can certainly say something to the effect of "you cannot disclose your interest until the sale is completed." However, I have rarely seen this outside of something like a bidding process for government defense contracts. One reason Ashley might request that is that if the bidders do not know who the other bidders are, it is harder for them to guess what the minimum they need to bid is, and therefore are more likely to simply outbid themselves. Bidders, on the other hand, would prefer many times to go public, both to get a feel for who their competitors are, and especially in the case of an entity like Newcastle that has so many influential shareholders (the fans), gauge fan response if they bought Newcastle before they actually commit to it. However, going public is a prisoner's dilemma-they know there are supposedly eight bidders. If they are one of the first two (Nigerians, South Africans for example), they are at risk for disclosing themselves and getting beat up by the public, while getting nothing out of the other bidders.

So while I wouldn't discount a potential buyer simply because they were public with the bid, those that are public now were likely more desperate to get their name out there, either to hopefully lure some more investors, or get in so good with the public that they give themselves a leg up as a sort of de facto lead bidder. If enough of the bidders make themselves known to the public that we reach a tipping point where the rest feel they need to do so also to stay in the game, then it becomes a different story. So while, Ashley may not have made them sign NDAs that limit their public disclosure of interest (though it is certainly possible), I agree in general with .com's point that the most serious bidders have likely not made themselves public yet.

damn it, I can't find my gun. anyone got some rope for me?

I actually think there is a lot more to this than would appear, JK having a go at the press. TBH it's not been as bad as JK is implying. Where I think he is being very clever is trying to a) get the fans on his side, standing up to the press is an excellent way of doing that, just look at the respect he's gotten in this thread b) respect from the players, they hate journos and if they see there boss having a real go at them, they'll know he's in their corner and be prepared to fight for him c) creating an "us against the world" mentality, like he had a Wimbledon.

 

The interview is fanstatic entertainment but at the same time extremely clever of Kinnear, I think he's gone about things exactly the right way so far, good on him.

this

Onyewu looked like a solid and confident defender last night for Standard Liege against Everton.

He does seem to have improved. I know that in his last half dozen or more performances for the American side, he has developed into a rock solid defender. Don't know if that would translate into success if he were to come back to England, but at least for the level he plays at, he's become a mostly consistent and strong defender.

Cracking dive

I would give it a 9/10 for showmanship, 8/10 for execution, 9/10 for timing. All around brilliant dive. :-p

awful game. don't think owen has even touched the ball yet. both teams look totally out of sorts, no confidence, can't string anything together. First goal will mean everything, not because that will give them confidence (no team is anywhere near being good enough for that yet), but so they can bunker down and disrupt the other team, which is easy enough right now.

the midfield of cacapa, geremi and butt can't move, can't pass, get run around in circles, provide no service forward and can't back to defend. in short, they are useless. then add in a defense that has two fullbacks playing out of position and doing a poor job of that, and centre backs who are exposed and are having poor games. finally add in two forwards that haven't been able to create something out of much less than nothing (not that you could rightfully expect them to).

and that's how you get a pathetic display that is lucky to be 0-2 down. fuck.

taylor, fucking awful. why are you turning away colo?!?! throw yourself in there and stop the damn ball!!!

passing has dramatically imporved no?

improved from the biggest pile of shit ever to something resembling dog poop. i suppose that's something.

this has disaster written all over it. fuck fuck fuck.

some of the worst refereeing ever, end to end game. actually fun to watch, even though i hate them both now.

he scored a f***ing open goal ffs. he's been missing headers all day. he's s***. he doesnt even play for spain.

 

it's his first game in a new country, he's very young, and he's thrust in to this mess, with a bunch of teammates out injured that could have provided cohesive support. what more can you reasonably expect? he's craeted chances, worked hard, looked lively. ok he's missed a couple of headers and such, but overall, he's made a decent first impression, especially given the circumstances.

 

I'm almost positive that was sarcasm.

tough to tell these days, everyone just seems angry all the time. :-p

he scored a f***ing open goal ffs. he's been missing headers all day. he's s***. he doesnt even play for spain.

it's his first game in a new country, he's very young, and he's thrust in to this mess, with a bunch of teammates out injured that could have provided cohesive support. what more can you reasonably expect? he's craeted chances, worked hard, looked lively. ok he's missed a couple of headers and such, but overall, he's made a decent first impression, especially given the circumstances.

whens the draw for the next round of the Carling Cup btw?

saturday