LoveItIfWeBeatU

At least their fans got to see them win something (FA Cup in 2008) before they went in to meltdown. All our memories are of near misses.

I'm sure he made noises about it possibly being his last season playing football at the end of last season. Anyway, no way will Ashley extend his £50K a week contract. Butt is no longer an automatic choice in the starting 11 when we're in the Championship so if we get promoted there would be even less chance of him getting a game (assuming we get some new players for the Premiership).

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2010/01/06/nicky-butt-fears-this-could-be-his-last-season-61634-25534943/

Agree. With the benefit of hindsight Hughton might as well have played the first choice 11 against Plymouth.

http://www.basehq.com/projects.html

I'm sure Newcastle's 'people' could have contacted Beckford's 'people' to let him know of their interest without having to go through the media. It's only tapping up if you get caught.

Can't understand why Hughton has been happy to admit to the media that he is interested in Beckford. All that's done is alert other clubs. I'm pretty sure Beckford would have heard about Newcastle's interest without it being announced in the media. Keep any potential transfers quiet until they are a done deal.

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2010/01/04/chris-hughton-not-relishing-baggies-double-61634-25518562/2/ Nufc.co.uk has quotes from Hughton saying Smith will be fine for Reading.

I haven't read all this thread yet but if the club have managed to get £1m for Geremi who is in the last 6 months of his contract and about to go to the African cup of nations they must be able to sell snow to Eskimos! http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2010/01/04/tamas-kadar-is-relishing-magpies-chances-61634-25518561/2/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8438450.stm

Who's this Sir Alec Clive goes on about? Alec Guinness? He can't be talking about Alex Ferguson.

Can you imagine how much Ferguson will moan about the ref (without good reason) if they lose this?

Only Rooney could do that.

Christ! Has anyone just seen that awful Redknapp advert for Thomas Cook?

Amusing to hear Man U fans booing their team off. The spoilt bastards.

I'm enjoying the songs being belted out live on ITV: - "Gary Neville is a wanker, a wanker" "You're support is fucking shit"

How do Johnny Evans and Wes Brown ever get a game at ManU when they have Vidic and Ferdinand? It's a long season with a lot of games and you need strength in depth to cover injuries, suspensions and loss of form. Right now we have virtually zero cover at the back and have probably been lucky not to have been more exposed. Even with the depth that ManU have, they got caught short recently and Carrick had to play in the middle of the back four. Sh1t happens - whatever level you're at.... I understand signing another Centre Back / Left Back from Newcastle's point of view. It's Kilgallon I wonder about. He must think he'll be able to muscle his way past S.Taylor or Colo to get into the starting line up. I can't imagine he'd be too keen to come here and rarely play.

Look on the bright side, another clean sheet! Krul will be happy he gets another start.

Martins makes the Nigerian Africa Cup of Nations squad but Ameobi doesn't. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/8437351.stm

http://www.true-faith.co.uk/tf/features.nsf/0/F89337F14F34F8A08025769D003680BC?OpenDocument

If we sign Kilgallon when is he going to get a game? Are we going to break up the S.Taylor and Colo centre back pairing just to give him his first game? Apparently he can also play at left-back so at least he would be cover for Jose Enrique as well as S.Taylor and Colo.

From http://www.nufc.com/ Plymouth Argyle preview: -

One thing he's wrong about. During a recession rich people who's income is unaffected by the recession shouldn't cut back on their spending. The spending helps the country get out of recession. I read Gerrard's wife saying she'd cut back on her spending. Why? Gerrard's wages haven't been affected by the recession.

Can't say I know much about Boyd or Beckford apart from that they are in the last 6 months of their contracts so would be relatively cheap. That being the case, I guess we would be able to sell and get out money back on either of them if they didn't work out.

Could we survive? Highly unlikely. Our squad last season had better quality (on paper) and depth but we still went down. Fair enough, you could attribute some of that to the upheavals going on but that doesn't paper over all the cracks. Of our current strike force I guess Ameobi is the best and none of us rated him that highly when we were in the Premiership. None of our current strikers would score regularly in the Premiership. Our midfield is more or less the same as last season i.e. lacking in creativity and lacking pace. We've still got a lot of the same problems that got us relegated: - Lack of pace, lack of creativity, lack of quality from set pieces, lack of squad depth (Geremi and Butt's contracts expire at the end of this season. God knows if Butt will retire, leave or be given a new contract.), etc.