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The thing is, we still have to find, negotiate for, and integrate the players that will take us up. Our major rivals already have them.

Oh well, we have a bunch of Championship fans on the board now to correct me if I'm just talking out of my ass.

You've got West Brom and Middlesbrough going down, who both look like they'll keep most of their squads which are pretty much pre-made to challenge for the Championship title. You've got Sheffield United failing to win promotion and probably spending big in the summer with the Tevez money. You've got the usual suspects, Reading, Preston, Cardiff, Bristol City, Ipswich, Crystal Palace. You've got Swansea newly competitive and QPR who's surely liable to get it right one of these days. Watford looks like they're getting things back together. On the bottom end of the table you've got a big club coming back up in Leicester and a talented young manager at Peterborough. Then you have us... pretty much screwed Is this the strongest Championship in a while?

QPR are a joke, though. How are QPR a joke? Eh? they are the championship version of a cross between the toon and man city, only even worse. not the clubs fault like, they are being run by idiots same as we and city are. Sigh. At least City got the rich idiots.

For me Ryan Taylor is the one we have to keep. I think he'd be perfectly fine in the Championship. Kevin Nolan is just an odd player. I don't think he can be effective in a 4-4-2 because he simply doesn't cover enough ground or make up for his lack of movement with good long-range distribution. For me he's a player that isn't any good in any formation except the one Big Sam tailor made for him at Bolton. I think I'd sell him to a promoted team and recoup some cash.

Pent up anger at Given's sale means Harper has become Scapegoat One. He's decent enough for the Premiership never mind the Championship. I'd love to keep Krul but not at the expense of a perfectly functional first team keeper.

He'll have a great career back in Spain. Too bad the fucking shit decided that he couldn't be bothered here.

Yes But this time, with Shearer hopfully at the helm, surely we will start the season with more than one capable player in each of the full back positions (NOT Ryan Taylor). Good news this (as long as Ashley doesn't sell) as he is one of about four of the present first team I'd keep. Ryan Taylor is more than adequate in the Championship. Not sure he is tbh. On the basis of what I have seen of him this season I wouldnt want to rely on him every week in the Championship The simple fact is that few of us watch the Championship regularly, and none of us have seen Ryan Taylor actually play there. He could be useful, he could be shit. Based on the fact that Stephen fucking Carr was the best right back in the division this year, I'm inclined towards the former.

Reading have a better chance at promotion? With Coppell gone I'm reasonably sure next year will be a rebuilding campaign for them. The likes of Doyle and Hunt probably can and will be tempted to leave. I would guess they'd be more likely to join a promoted club who'll take a chance on them though. How are you planning on signing some of these players exactly? I just read Newcastle earned £41 million through TV this season, and next season it will be a mere £2.5 million. The players you sell won't go for inflated prices because Europe knows you need the money. Bosman rulings or part exchange transfers is where you guys should be looking. Never implied we should be going for Doyle or Hunt. I don't know if we'll have a pot to piss in next season but I'd rather assume that we will. It all comes down to how many high earners we get to offload and for how much. What I would like to know is why you seemed to have registered on this forum for the sole express purpose of running around and screaming "YOU'LL HAVE NO MONEY! PANIC!"

Reading have a better chance at promotion? With Coppell gone I'm reasonably sure next year will be a rebuilding campaign for them. The likes of Doyle and Hunt probably can and will be tempted to leave. I would guess they'd be more likely to join a promoted club who'll take a chance on them though.

Habib Beye = win.

I think I might send him some flowers. God, I haven't loved a player this much since Solano.

YES!!!! :celb: :celb: :fwap: :fwap: I swear, the odds of promotion in my mind just doubled.

Asian Tour! Was gutted three years ago when Roeder turned down an invitation to come to Korea. Useless bastard.

Bassong is probably already on the radar of a few PL teams. Better news would be his announcement that he wants to stay with Newcastle and work to bounce right back. That's quite possibly the most staggeringly obvious statement I've ever seen you make.

alternatively, it could mean that he just really, really wants to play in South Africa even to the extent of switching his national side to guarantee that he do so, and will want out even more to maximize his chances.

I won't even be looking at the Premier League table. It'll be too painful seeing us not there. Used to like Man City pre-takeover because they were a team full of characters. Never had anything like a true "second team" though.

Just cast the slightest aspersion on Kevin Keegan's good name and watch the spark's fly we're going to be arguing about this on this board for the better part of a decade I'm sure. As for the topic itself, I'm kind of pleased in a sense that we're now playing in a league where we're actually one of the big players, aside from merely co-featuring for the likes of Man U and Chelsea. That doesn't make me feel any less devastated though.

Lots of potential in there but absolutely no bottle. Needs to grow up/grow a pair. He'll never succeed in a top league if he remains as flaky as he is right now. I have mixed feelings about his time here. He was an absolute legend when we were flying "high" in relative terms, i.e. parts of 2006-2007, the 4-3-3 etc. But he's been an absolute disgrace for the last few matches apart from Boro and basically sent us down with the boxload sitters he missed. Can't decide if I want to say "good luck" or "good riddance" with him. I think I'll continue to be unsure about how I feel untill I actually see him suiting up for another team.

Aside from his merits as a manager, we need him because the alternative is oblivion. If Shearer and Ashley can't compromise and Shearer walks out, it will no doubt be a messy situation that results in protests -> Ashley shits his pants again -> tries to sell -> we spend precious months in the summer in limbo with no manager. Better that Shearer just takes the job and gets on with it from day one.

It will be high time to give some players a chance, but none of them should be in the first team in anything more than cameo capacity other than Carroll and Lua Lua, maybe Kadar at a push. I just pray Mike Ashley doesn't think that relying on our "soopa youth team" is a good plan for the Championship. Thinking that kids could suddenly be capable of doing a job just because we're a division lower is a sure-fire plan for disaster.

No doubt off to the first Segunda Liga club to offer 500k

There's a whole crapload of Korean senior internationals that I could see doing a brilliant job in the Championship, the Korean league is pretty much a mirror image of the Championship in style and quality and I think many, many of our players could do very well. Kim from West Brom is at the top of that list, accompanied by Seol from Fulham (on loan in the Saudi League at the moment,) and Lee Young-Pyo, late of Tottenham and currently at Dortmund who looks set for a return to South Korea in the summer unless somebody else comes in for him. Cho Jae-Jin, who we almost bought two winters ago, would be a horrible Premiership player but has the right style to dominate in the Championship. Even domestically in the Korean Leagues I think there would be 4~5 players I would love to see us taking a chance on. But going beyond just Koreans, we should definitely have an eye on bringing in established internationals from the smaller footballing nations. There are no doubt many players in places like Scandinavia, East Asia, or North America who are desperate for a move to Europe and would come much cheaper than the best English players in the Championship, and with a bigger upside to boot. (Skeljbred falls into this school of thought as well.) If anything, our scouts should see relegation as an opportunity to further expand our range of signings, as opposed to just playing it safe and buying English/Scottish/Irish.

Now that I think of it, Kim from West Brom would be a great signing. He's fallen out of favor there but I know from firsthand experience that he's good enough to be one of the best players in the Championship if used properly. Also, if we sign a Korean I'll get to see us on the telly every weekend

regarding Chopra, he'd be a great signing but would he be available? I can see Quinn holding on to him/selling him elsewhere just to spite us.