LoveItIfWeBeatU

Frank Williams, owner of the 'Williams' F1 team is a Newcastle fan. He was born in South Shields: - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Williams

Wasn't there supposed to be a campaign this season wanting people to boycott attending games until Mike Ashley had sold the club? I guess it wasn't a very successful campaign or the people who boycotted were replaced by newcomers. Even when Keegan came back we weren't selling out the 52K every home game.

"England out!" What a dick.

I don't understand the clamour to play people like Ranger and Kadar at the possible expense of winning the title. It is extremely unlikely that Ranger will be starting games in the Premiership for us next season. If we keep him, loan him out for a season to a Championship club. The same goes for other fringe players. Not all of our players have played in the Champions League, Europe, Internationals, etc. A lot of them have never won any competitions. Winning the Championship title is all we're likely to win for a while.

This. He's just too frustrating as a player. If the right money comes in, then sell. Jonas scares the shit out of me when he tries to hold off opposition players or run the ball out of defence past one too many opposition players rather than just clear it. If he loses the ball in our final third against Premiership sides it will lead to at least a chance if not a goal for the opposition. I won't complain if he stays but if he had a good World Cup and NUFC got a great offer for him I wouldn't complain if we sold him (providing we got a decent replacement first).

Players based at European clubs being much cheaper than British based players isn't as true as it once was. The Pound is worth around 1.14 Euro at the moment. It used to be worth around 1.50 Euro per Pound. That makes a big difference to a transfer fee. It also affects the wages a European based player is happy to accept.

For Sheffield's goal Enrique was standing behind the goal line. Not very good considering the idea is to stop the ball crossing the line! If he'd been on the line it probably wouldn't have gone in.

Regarding wages, outside of Chelsea, Man U, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa I can't see any Premiership club paying any new players mega wages (£40k+ a week) next season. Reality has hit home for a lot of clubs.

Owen said when he came back from Real Madrid that he didn't want to play abroad again. Also, his horse stables are in England. Based on the interviews Owen gives his horses are his life. Owen has the (mistaken?) belief in his own abilities to think he'd break in to the Man U first team. He also recently said he'd rather train with top quality players than play in a lesser team.

Saturday so we can then move on to concentrate on our next target of winning the league!

Yeah, look at Hull last season. The perfect example actually. Started out brilliantly and trailed off once the team started falling apart as a unit. Great example. Hull stayed up and the 'big' team (us) full of expensive 'superstars' went down. I'm not saying we don't need to add to the squad but people are blinded about wanting to spend big money on players. I'm hoping the scouting team find some cheap players who turn out to be good e.g. Williamson, Bassong, N'Zogbia, etc.

Does our current squad have less quality than the Wolves squad who at the moment look like staying up in the Premiership? Look at where Birmingham are after their promotion from the Championship. You could easily argue that a lot of Birmingham's squad is made up of Championship players. Contrastingly, West Ham's squad is made up of Premiership players. Team spirit can go a long way.

Highlights: - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8595002.stm

It's more important how wisely/luckily we spend the budget rather than worry about what it is. For example, I think Williamson will do a reasonable job in the Premiership and he 'only' cost around £1m. Compare that to the £5m or so that was spent on Xisco.

Where is it?

Reading these articles, it doesn't sound like he'll be wanting to leave Olympiakos (who play in the Champions League) for a team fighting to stay up in the Premiership: - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/28/matt-derbyshire-olympiakos-blackburn-rovers http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/matt-derbyshire-ive-got-the-beach-the-pool-you-cant-pop-out-in-lancashire-and-find-that-1907442.html Blackburn is his home town club and he left them for Olympiakos. I'd be surprised if he wanted to join Newcastle, especially as he wants to win medals.

In other Whitley Bay FC related news: - http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-evening-chronicle/2010/03/24/ex-whitley-bay-star-fights-devastating-illness-72703-26099646/ http://www.whitleybayfc.com/news/index.asp?ID=1080

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article7078254.ece

It's not that long ago Norwich fans were watching Premiership football. And to be fair, a good save is a good save at the end of the day. Being able to judge a goalkeeper in more depth ie. positional sense and command of area, has little to do with what level of football your team plays at, more your own knowledge and grasp of the game. I sort of agree but there's a difference in saving shots from the likes of Rooney, Torres, etc. every week and the shots Forster will face in League 1. I'm not saying Forster won't turn out to be a really good keeper, I'm just saying League 1 is nowhere near the standard of the Championship never mind the Premiership so it's not the best yard stick.

Are fans of a League 1 team a good judge of what is top class? If the Championship is anything to go by the standard in League 1 will be miles away from Premiership standard. I see no reason to sell Forster or Krul. Forster is contracted until June 2014 and Krul is contracted until June 2011 according to: - http://www.nufc.com/2009-10html/squad.html Loan one out for next season to a Championship club and have the other one as cover for Harper.

After Swansea got thrashed haven't we got the best defensive record in any league now?

All that talk of Williamson coming back and he isn't even on the bench.

True, it's just seeing Butt's name on the team sheet is like nails down a blackboard. Looking on the bright side, there's plenty scope to change the formation and team personnel during the game if it isn't working out.

We've played the 4-4-2 formation twice away from home. Once was in the thrashing we got off Derby and the other time was Saturday against Bristol. The 4-5-1 formation has served us better away from home.

Why do the media keep referring to Steven Taylor as Newcastle's captain? Butt is captain, Smith is vice captain, Nolan is captain when Butt and Smith don't play. What does that make Taylor? Vice Vice Vice Captain?