LoveItIfWeBeatU

We've got the 'carrot' of Alan Smith to offer. Blackburn didn't fill their ground when Mark Hughes had them up to 7th in the league. Sam's style of football will empty their ground quicker than the credit crunch.

Who knows what we really have offered him but I liked the sound of the incentive based contract that was supposedly offered. I.e. Get a weekly salary of say £60K but get paid more if he's fit to play 80%+ of the matches and big bonuses for scoring goals and getting assists.

Even if we do manage to avoid relegation this season the future isn't bright unless we have massive changes at the club. Assuming we survive, by the start of next season we need a new owner, a new board, a new manager and a lot of new players.

I hope those two players Kinnear's expecting to bring in January are Ronaldo and Kaka. We are shite. We can't win at home or away. We can't hold onto a lead. Will 38 points be enough for survival as we average 1 point a game? Kinnear is shite and the players aren't much better. Mike Ashley you bastard.

I doubt any of the players out of contract at the end of the season will leave in January. It isn't in their interest. Leave now to go where we get offers for you from or take your pick in the Summer and get bigger wages as they haven't paid a fee for you. At the moment we haven't an alternative to playing Butt. Who else is there? Barton is injured. Geremi?

Completely agree. God knows who and how many players we'll be able to attract if we're still stuck in limbo in the Summer (hopefully having stayed in the Premier League). That wouldn't be a contract for some players, that would be a life sentence. Viduka, Owen, etc. "I hereby sentence you to play 160 games for Newcastle United."

We were the first team in Champions League history to lose their first three group games but then go on to qualify out of the group stage (I think one other team has done this since). Great game and great memories.

Reminds me of this story. The American police said the man killed himself because Björk was going out with an African-American. It's funny how they describe Goldie as an African-American when he is English.

I'm sure I read the other day that Everton haven't got any money to spend in January.

This is what I picture: -http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=b_-gA7JFZhk&feature=related They did say Mike Ashley "Likes to park his tanks on your lawn".

In answer to a question posed in a different thread, Yes I would take 17th place if it was offered now.

I suppose the free kicks Smith frequently concedes just outside the penalty area are slightly less damaging than Butt conceding penaltys.

Worrying!

Sorry :-[ Not a problem. The original thread had dropped to page 3. My point in mentioning it was a lot of people's opinions on this subject are in that thread.

I don't expect people to trawl the forum before posting a new topic but there was already a thread for this subject: - http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,57386.0.html

I know it's negative thinking but I was just wondering if we got relegated who out of our current squad do you think would stay? I could see Harper and Ameobi signing new contracts and staying. Barton would probably stay too out of a sense of loyalty to the club for standing by him. Guthrie would probably stay. I could see Butt signing a contract for his last season before he retires. Bassong would possibly stay. Geremi and maybe Duff are also possibles. I imagine the reserves and youth teams would all stay.

If we get relegated, yes! He's the sort of quality we'll be able to keep hold of if we go down. He'll probably do well in the Championship.

Disgusting that we have to sell to buy. Weaken an already weak team. As has been said, what about the £12m from Milner's sale? It's a joke the papers thinking we're going to sell Smith. Who would buy him? Putting aside the fact that he has been absolute shite for us, he is recovering from a major injury. Not exactly the type of player clubs rush to buy in the January transfer window. I'm glad Mike Ashley is so confident we definitely won't get relegated. I wish I shared his optimism. I can't see us buying anyone. Loans yes, buying no. Does anyone know how many loans we can make?

They need games to work out each other’s game but you're right, today was only 1 games but I think they've shown enough to be left alone for a while to see how they can develop. What I said about Taylor (which I think I read off ICNewcastle) has been contradicted by a story in todays Chronicle. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2008/11/22/mark-viduka-back-in-frame-for-boro-clash-72703-22316768/

The same back five played last week though. I don't know if Taylor's return is imminent anyway. He can run ok but has groin pain when he kicks the ball. Apparently he's been sent for a scan.

They first mentioned this when JK mentioned today as 'D-Day'. I'm sure the morons in the press would use it if they were clever enough to look it up.

Like I said before, loans are the way to go for us in our present state. I found this in an article from 'The Independent' September 2003: - "Any Premiership club may take a maximum of two players on loan at any one time and up to four over the season with a maximum of two from any one club." If that's still true then having Gonzalez is a total waste of one of our loans.

I've always hated 'Soccer Am' and particularly Tim Lovejoy. He ruined the series of '5th Gear' he co-presented. Luckily the producers realised he was unpopular and they got rid of him after one series.

It sounds like he looked dangerous without actually scoring. Reading that above report it sounds like he nearly scored about four times. We all know about nearly scoring.

Sounds like Duff missed a few chances for the Republic of Ireland http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7738673.stm