quayside

Was indeed, he got sky man of the match, mind you that was the worst premiership game i've ever seen. Classic Big Sam game though. Absolutely shocking game. Got a bizarre memory of fat Sam mincing across the pitch to his dugout after half time wearing a pink scarf.

Thanks - I got that very wrong!

I could check this but I'd be surprised if there is even one player in our starting line up that day who is still with the club.

Barton won't leave because he's not going to get a similar contract at a club like this one...or probably any club for that matter. As long as he continues to give 100% and doesn't rock the boat I'm more than happy with that. Agree with that sentiment, but if there is one player in the squad who can rock a boat it's Joey Barton.

Well at least now he's pocketing it. Previously he was 'trousering' it and tbh that verb never sat well with me. Always liked "trousering" tbh - it's a free world and each to their own I guess...

If all these rumours are true about Nolan, Barton, Smith, Ranger etc then it looks like there is a "cleansing" process going on. Golfmag's post all those months ago referred to Ashley's concern that there was too much player power and (I think) a lack of discipline. Maybe now is the fallout time or at least the start of it. Don't think play power has anything to do with it, it's wages IMO. Certainly agree that there is a certain amount of cleansing like. Well yes but the wages go hand in hand with the power thing, in that the power seems to rest with some of the highest paid players. Certainly Nolan and Barton have been the two most gobby players in the squad and have given clear instructions and opinions in public on what they expect the board to do, I don't think that will have gone down at all well. Any time you try and bring in a change of culture you are taking risks and, if that is what is going on now, then it needs careful handling.

If all these rumours are true about Nolan, Barton, Smith, Ranger etc then it looks like there is a "cleansing" process going on. Golfmag's post all those months ago referred to Ashley's concern that there was too much player power and (I think) a lack of discipline. Maybe now is the fallout time or at least the start of it.

Yup - if it is true that he's been released then we must have paid him off. We did something like that with Babayaro IIRC.

Much as I like and respect him I would not appoint him as the manager if I owned a football club in either of the top two divisions. I would however be delighted to have him as an assistant or as a coach. For my money he doesn't have the strength of personality and isn't streetwise enough to be a manager.

There will be an exodus but that Premiership squad should never have gone down imo.

I'm already used to the idea West Ham are coming back up. The owners need it and have some funds, and fat Sam will make it happen.

Agree. I can't say the video makes a conclusive case. He has pace, good movement and a goalscorers instinct but some of that defending was truly awful.

That's fair enough, and I don't really like comparing/intend to compare them either - just trying to look at what's changed since Pardew's arrived. I disagree about Pardew being an upgrade, but you're right that stats prove nothing on their own. The thing for me is that I've got annoyed, and sometimes really confused, over the last few months when I've seen some of the things people have said, as positives or negatives, about Pardew and Hughton's time at the club. Remember seeing a few statements which haven't matched up at all with anything I've seen, but only some of which are easier to disprove than others. At least above there are some hard facts, but whether anyone wants to/should draw any conclusions from them is up to them. No problems with that. Although my point on the stats is not so much aimed against the use of stats, it's more that neither has enough in the Premiership bank (with us) to make any analysis valid. But yes it's a free world and my opinion on Pardew based on not very much is as valid as yours on Hughton based on not very much.

I don't think we saw enough of Hughton or have seen enough of Pardew in the Premiership to use stats as any sort of evidence to big up either. There are all sorts of reasons why they got some of their good and some of their bad results. I really liked Chis Hughton and we all have reason to be grateful for what he did for this club. But you've got to call it as you see it - purely as a manager of this football club Pardew is an upgrade for me and there are no meaningful stats right now that will convince me otherwise.

But Hughton had never been a manager before ... Why do you think that was? Was probably trying to learn as much of the game as possible before stepping into a management role. He has never stepped into a management role, he fell into one with us because he was the last man standing. I don't think he was ever thought of as a potential manager until he picked up the gig with us. I'd be interested to know if he himself thought he might have what it takes to be a manager. There have been a few opportunities for clubs to give him a job since he left, and there will be plenty more in the coming years. If he is rated as a manager then his record of getting us out of the Championship at the first attempt will be valued and he'll be in demand.

But Hughton had never been a manager before ... Why do you think that was?

Thought I read somewhere that he did start out as a striker.

If the rumours are true, then he was one of the reasons the so-called hostile environment was created. So it was his decision to sack Hughton and bring himself in? Where did I say that? Ok so what did you say? He knew he had the gig some weeks/months beforehand?

If the rumours are true, then he was one of the reasons the so-called hostile environment was created. So it was his decision to sack Hughton and bring himself in?

He'll be sacked next season. My predicition is that we'll be treading water for large parts of the season and with it being an Ashley appoint think this will be enough to keep him in the job for the season but wont be good enough the season after. The odds are probably against him tbh. The percentage of current Premiership managers still doing the same job during the season after next?

Be amazed if we had any sort of sell on clause. He wanted out, he had caused a fair amount of grief (not all his fault imo) and at the time we would just have wanted to get rid. Times change, managers change etc......I could see this deal happening. It would make Ashley and co look like arses but I'm not sure they are that bothered about that.

Yes they are very well run. People on here have used them as an example of a club pursuing their ambition by throwing money about. That's a myth - they invest what they can afford.

Llambias happens to be a major part of the regime that you have so much faith in Ah - so that old toss gets wheeled out again. So you don't have faith in them then? I'm puzzled I don't trust them It's pretty straightforward really.... All I needed to know thanks And I learned nothing I didn't already know from that. That's what happens when you have no agenda Absolutely, it allows you to judge things with an open mind. f***ing hell Still reckon Ashley cares about Newcastle? Yes I think he cares in the sense that he doesn't want it to fail and, like the majority of football club owners, his definition of caring does not mean he will do what the fanbase want. We're stuck with him for now and recently I've seen enough of football clubs changing hands to believe its quite possible we could end up with someone worse or at least someone who makes exactly the same mistakes.

Llambias happens to be a major part of the regime that you have so much faith in Ah - so that old toss gets wheeled out again. So you don't have faith in them then? I'm puzzled I don't trust them It's pretty straightforward really.... All I needed to know thanks And I learned nothing I didn't already know from that. That's what happens when you have no agenda Absolutely, it allows you to judge things with an open mind.

Llambias happens to be a major part of the regime that you have so much faith in Ah - so that old toss gets wheeled out again. So you don't have faith in them then? I'm puzzled I don't trust them It's pretty straightforward really.... All I needed to know thanks And I learned nothing I didn't already know from that.