oldtype

not a bad draw for Ketsbia. Poor Bate... Whoever they are

damn, Zenit are fucked.

cripes, Chelsea sweeping all the awards so far

Hmmm, Terry wins that over Ferdinand how?

well, he was when he was at Leeds. Presumably thats why Alex Ferguson bought him too ? Anyway, I hope you aren't suggesting the club actually buys players based on how they have performed at previous and/or current clubs He had a run when Keegan came in and Oba was in the ACN and Dukes was injured and did absolutley tosh. The only time he had a remotely dcent game was when he played in front of the back 4 against arsenal I think and was literally just told to tackle. I also recall that he had a good game up front alongside Martins where a lot of people mentioned in post-match comments that "Smith-Martins" should be our first-choice pairing. (I'd dredge up the thread but I'm afraid that I might have been one of them. )

If this actualy happens I will strip naked and run onto the pitch at the next home game I go to.

depends on how many games he plays this season to be honest. and how many goals he scrores. Regardless of how good he is, we can't have a player who only plays roughly half the games every season be a major part of our payroll. Additionally, he'll be 34 in 2009, making him even slower and less fit than he already is. (I realize that movement isn't a big part of his game, but still.) Probably be more prone to niggly injuries too. Unless he scores 30 goals this season, no to a new contract. err, so what if he bagged 15-20?? its impossible to say at this minute wether he should o shouldnt be given a new contract. It will hav to be decided after 20 games or so. He won't PLAY 20 games, so this may be difficult. I wasn't serious when I said 30 goals, it's not like that'll happen anyway. Just saying that it would take a minor miracle to convince me that he should be resigned

depends on how many games he plays this season to be honest. and how many goals he scrores. Regardless of how good he is, we can't have a player who only plays roughly half the games every season be a major part of our payroll. Additionally, he'll be 34 in 2009, making him even slower and less fit than he already is. (I realize that movement isn't a big part of his game, but still.) Probably be more prone to niggly injuries too. Unless he scores 30 goals this season, no to a new contract.

That said, he shouldn't be given a new contract.

Even without signings our squad's still bigger than Villa's or Everton's by the way. Not saying I don't want any but...

strongly considering just going off on vacation somewhere for the next four days so I don't have to live through this madness.

RE: the bold bit, unfortunatley I think the FA are waiting until he is available to play again before acting. Maybe, if true that makes them totally out of order. Okay he has only recently admitted it but they could and should have acted by now. I thought his hearing was on the 4th of September? They've already got themselves pretty far out of order by planning to punish a player for something he's done over two years ago now. No doubt they'll do it anyway, being cunts and all.

Sigh, wait and see. Wait and see. If we've really got nobody by the end of the deadline, I'm ready to join all of you in crucifying Team Ashley.

Ah well, been on this board six hours now. Going to sleep. When I get up we BETTER have some new signings.

"I'm sorry sir, we can't match your valuation of Derdiyok. We'll just have to play the RAIN-JAH instead."

I think this could be a class pairing if Barton is ever ready to play football again.

Aye. I kinda miss having him around. Was class that fluke win against Liverpool where he said in the post match that he couldn't help elbowing Bellamy because Bellamy's hed only reached up to his chest.

Is the Gooch still with them?

Good post, a few are forgetting that bit in bold I think. That's true. I hadn't thought of that. Still, according to KK none of our strikers will be back by then though.

You realize that saying that here is the equivalent of walking into the Vatican with a copy of The Davinci Code and reading it out loud at the top of your lungs?

They play kids. Ours are injured too.

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcastleunited/sundaysun/tm_headline=injuries-take-gloss-off-cup-win-for-keegan%26method=full%26objectid=21615770%26siteid=72703-name_page.html Viduka out 4 (which I'm guessing will end up being closer to 8) Duff out 4~5 Martins out 3~4 Carroll out for a similar period. Milner is leaving. Shola is leaving. Smith is.... Smith. So we've basically got Owen and nothing else. Can't even play Milner or Duff as a withdrawn striker anymore. ...what exactly is KK supposed to do for Arsenal this weekend? Or for the entire month of september for that matter. PS. Let's leave Nile RAIN-JAH out of this.

I don't think so. We were absolutely dogshit last season. We're no longer dogshit this season. In fact, we may even be decent. They've gone from absolute dogshit to just mediocre. They have improved alot I reckon, if we are not on our game we will get turned over at the SOL. Thing is, Keano's spent something like £85 million on players so I cant see them finding much more cash over the next 3 years which is pleasing. Look on the bright side, most of their new signings used to play for the team we've been slaugthering home and away by at least 3 goals to 1 for 2 seasons now.

No Japanese! Then I'm back on Beasley. You're American, right? Yeah. I live in Boston by the way. Well, I will be for another year at least.

I don't think so. We were absolutely dogshit last season. We're no longer dogshit this season. In fact, we may even be decent. They've gone from absolute dogshit to just mediocre.