LoveItIfWeBeatU

Harper signed a new contract taking him up to June 2009. For all the Players contract durations see: - http://www.nufc.com/2006-07html/squad.html

Nolberto Solano, Craig Moore, Titus Bramble and Antoine Sibierski all have contracts that end during summer 2007. They will all be free to talk to other clubs in the January transfer window. Which are worth keeping? Solano is not the player he once was. If nobody comes in for him the club would be in a strong negotiating position and would probably be able to reduce his weekly wages (assuming Nobby wanted to stay and the club wanted to keep him). The same applies to Bramble. Ipswich have made noises about wanting him but I'm sure he'd prefer to stay at Newcastle. Moore has said if the club don't offer him a new contract soon he will go home to Australia. Sibierski has been a reasonable emergency stop-gap. I know a lot of people will want rid of Bramble but if we can keep him as a squad player on a lot less money than he's on now then he may be worth keeping. We have a very small squad and don't have a lot of money at the moment. We need squad players.

Sir Bobby Robson doesn't seem to like them very much. After Bobby was sacked Sir John Hall came out and said that Bobby should have been sacked after we lost the Marseille UEFA Semi-final game. Bobby also seems to think that Dougie Hall was the one who got him sacked. Freddie following orders is how it comes across in Bobby's book.

Write a letter/email to Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson pointing out that fact. It will never sink in with them though.

He is only 20. Plenty of time for him to improve. Not every player is World class at 18. Most players only reach the top of their game by their mid to late twenties. Saha wasn't amazing when we had him on loan. Now most people would want him in our team. Anyway, who could we replace Milner with for the £4 million quoted who would actually want to come to NUFC in our present state?

By the way, anyone who thinks we should try and loan him, we can't outside of the transfer window. I think the rule is that you can't loan players to a team in the same division outside of the transfer window but to other divisions is ok i.e. Premiership club can loan to a chamionship club outside of the transfer window.

Words on the build up to the match from Matt Le Tissier on the skysports website: - "The Newcastle fans are clearly upset, but I get the feeling they are a little confused as well. At the end of last season there was a big campaign to get Glenn Roeder the manager's job and it worked, but now it's not going so well, they can't have a go at him because they pretty much put him there in the first place. That's why Freddy Shepherd is getting it in the neck." I think you'll find it is you who is the confused one Matt.

Macdonald just gets angry at any Newcastle fan that dares to ring up and not have the same opionion as him. He usually starts shouting then ends the call in the huff. He also always denies saying things that he has said in the past. I can't listen to it these days. It must be like listening in on calls to The Samaritans at the moment the way Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough are performing.

One thing people shouldn't forget is that Milner is only 20. Most players aren't at their peak until their mid to late twenties. He's got plenty of time to improve. If NUFC sell him, especially for £4 million, it would be madness. He can play on the left or the right hand side. We need versatile players, especially when money is tight and other areas of the squad need improving. Solano is in the last year of his contract and most people agree that he hasn't been at his best this season. Milner is the present and future. Solano is the present and the past.

The chances of getting anything from this game are slim so I would pick 'fringe' players like Luque, Pattison, etc (as they have a point to prove) and rest a few first team players for the must win game at the weekend.

No matter what anyone thinks of Luque, we may as well play him against Palermo. Joint top of Serie A versus NUFC in our present condition. We're bound to lose and all of our strikers are injured so why not rest some players and give Luque a run out? It puts him in the shop window if nothing else. Pattison and a few others could also play.