quayside

I don't know if anyone remembers what I said a few weeks back but it's all being worked on this afternoon. The nightmare scenario. I remember what you said - Pardew in...

A half season loan on Keane would be fine. Keane isn't the player he was but he's still Premiership standard. If we're going to bring someone in as a striker for a half season we need to know what we are getting not taking a punt on someone. We knew what we were getting with Harewood and that worked. I suspect though that Spurs will be looking to sell Keane rather than just loan him out - and that's a very different proposition. 2 year contract maybe? But would he take a wage cut to come to us? Villa would probably be prepared to match his current wage or come close to it.

I think its hope rather than expectation - and the hope is that Hughton (or whoever scouted Best) saw something few others have. He's not had that many chances to date tbf and I'd like to see a bit more before passing judgement.

Because we're currently 9th with home form as it currently is, the home form can only get better. On the other hand look at some of the home games that have gone - Wigan, Blackpool, Blackburn, Stoke, Fulham = 2 points. Stating the obvious but we've played games there that we should have got a minimum of 9 points from and we can't play those teams again. West Ham and Wolves are the only obvious home fixtures left that we can look at as "bankers" if anyone dares look at any game in that way. be realistic though, we play better against teams with more quality We have done thus far, but how confident are you that trend will continue? I don't think we can rely on that to keep us in the top half, I think we'll be ok, but not better than 15th.

Like Bolton? Bolton aren't a lesser side like - they've played very well at times this season. They have but my view is that they've over achieved so far and got off to a flyer, but won't sustain it.

Like Bolton?

Because we're currently 9th with home form as it currently is, the home form can only get better. On the other hand look at some of the home games that have gone - Wigan, Blackpool, Blackburn, Stoke, Fulham = 2 points. Stating the obvious but we've played games there that we should have got a minimum of 9 points from and we can't play those teams again. West Ham and Wolves are the only obvious home fixtures left that we can look at as "bankers" if anyone dares look at any game in that way.

15th

After Sepp Blatter branded it the "best bid" i suggest not. He'll have said that to each country man. So if we f*cked up the opportunity - other than the speculative stuff about bribes etc how exactly did we f*ck it up?

Fanni shits all over him. Divided by a common language...

Apologies if I sounded cryptic. I suppose what I'm getting at is that the Journal gets their info on a story lime this from one place according to my mate in the know - that one place being Derek Llambias. It all smacks if a clear and sustained agenda to portray Taylor as the bad guy in all this. Or do we take it as read that this "new contract offer" really exists? Exactly. The club have become very canny at manipulating public opinion and making Taylor out to be the bad guy will make it easier to ship him out without much fuss from supporters who now think he is greedy and holding the club to ransom. I am not saying they necessarily want rid but they will only want to keep him on their terms. They are incredibly difficult to negotiate with and will only negotiate when it suits them but will imply that it is the other party that is being difficult. No-one knows the details of the supposed contract offer or what Taylor is currently earning. The club can leak all the figures they want but at the same time deny Taylor the right to reply. (And we all know figures can be manipulated to promote whatever angle you want to push). It is funny how players previously perceived as being popular have all left under a cloud (and are now portrayed as being greedy) - Milner, Given and potentially Taylor. These are players who may have had their detractors but who have been good servants to the club and have not caused any negative headlines. Those that fans dont really give a toss about leave quietly and are immediately forgotten. You may have a point but imo Alf Taylor (his father, who acts for Taylor) has played the media game as well. If you look back over the last few years the subject of Taylor's contract has had a fair amount of coverage and there have been things published that look very much as though they have come from Taylor's camp. I did ask on an earlier post if anyone can recall who started this "war in the media" because I honestly don't know.

Anyone remember this shambles? I watched it on Sky. launching long balls to Luque and expecting him to challenge for headers All the while Wigans second string players passed us off the park. :-[ I remember it well. We were completely outplayed. Regardless of his ability to fit into our side it was quite obvious that Luque wasn't even close to being fit enough to play, pretty sure it was his first game back after doing his hamstring. Souness had a habit of putting players on the park before they were ready as I recall.

Agree he was a beast in his first season He had definitely lost something in season 2 (glandular fever is a bitch) and wasn't up to playing that more attacking role. From what I heard he didn't want to leave here but Sam wanted to bring in Barton and Parker was peddled. I freely admit that at the time I thought that replacing Parker with Barton was a great move.

Great post. The only decent signing during the Souness era was Tim Krul, and i'm pretty sure Souness didnt have much to do with his signing. that would have been down to our scouting network. Fair enough but there again I'm not sure how much Souness had to do with signing Luque and Owen tbh.

I think the Kinnear appointment had "laughing stock" status and arguably Souness and Shearer didn't. And of course Kinnear's appointment is still commemorated on this board - which other manager has a

I'm not sure about the logic that breaking off negotiations and putting someone on the transfer list without telling them is "doing everything to keep him". They still haven't even got round to putting in the paperwork. http://www.givemefootball.com/pfa-transfer-list You'd almost think the transfer list announcement was done purely as a point scoring exercise. When you think about how secretly the club tries to do business these days, isn't it strange how easily some information leaks out? As you say the club does try and keep a lid on its business but is still quite capable of playing out a PR war through the media. I would say though that in this case Taylor (and/or his father) have certainly competed in that war. Now what I can't remember is whether the club or Alf Taylor actually started it.....anyone? I wouldn't place too much credence in that transfer list website btw - there's only two players on there who are on sale for a fee. The rest are free transfers, juniors and possible loan signings. I had a quick flick through and I hardly found a player on there who is currently with a Premier League club, but I may have got a duff sample! Also apart from the odd one like Aliadiere they certainly aren't names anyone will have heard of. I will bet my house that there are players who will change hands in January who aren't on that website...

Everyone else had turned it down, because of the influence that Shearer was allowed to wield around the club as the fans' hero and the future manager in waiting. It did for Robson and only a man who had no other options would put their career at risk like that. I would love to know who did turn it down - Steve Bruce seems pretty convinced that the job was his if he'd wanted it and I'm sure I read somewhere that Fat Sam was also offered it. Anyone else? I would think the brainless timing of SBR's sacking left the board with very few options. Managers didn't want to make the switch 4 games into a season with no time left to do anything in the transfer window - unless of course they were about to be sacked from their current job. O'Leary, O'Neill and Shearer were other names I've heard mentioned, but we'll never know the whole truth. But the main reason why Souness was appointed was Shepherd had run out of options. He sure did exhaust all options there then. I don't see how it's Shearer's fault that Shepherd couldn't look beyond a handful of managers. Well I certainly wouldn't go as far as blaming Shearer for anything much but, given his status as captain and club icon, I would be pretty astonished if Shepherd didn't at least consult Shearer on who to appoint. I think its probably a fair point that only a handful of candidates was considered, in fact I doubt that anyone properly "foreign" got past first base. Alan Oliver, the club's mouthpiece at the time, said at a live talk in"we don't want a foreigner managing our club man".

I thought the days of us offering stupid wages for useless/average players had gone But maybe if it means we get to sell him for a decent fee (instead of him walking out for not much or nothing) its worth the short term financial pain of paying him stupid wages How dare you think that the club is capable of cunning plans like that. I feel thoroughly ashamed of myself

I thought the days of us offering stupid wages for useless/average players had gone But maybe if it means we get to sell him for a decent fee (instead of him walking out for not much or nothing) its worth the short term financial pain of paying him stupid wages

Everyone else had turned it down, because of the influence that Shearer was allowed to wield around the club as the fans' hero and the future manager in waiting. It did for Robson and only a man who had no other options would put their career at risk like that. I would love to know who did turn it down - Steve Bruce seems pretty convinced that the job was his if he'd wanted it and I'm sure I read somewhere that Fat Sam was also offered it. Anyone else? I would think the brainless timing of SBR's sacking left the board with very few options. Managers didn't want to make the switch 4 games into a season with no time left to do anything in the transfer window - unless of course they were about to be sacked from their current job. O'Leary, O'Neill and Shearer were other names I've heard mentioned, but we'll never know the whole truth. But the main reason why Souness was appointed was Shepherd had run out of options. Yup - I really can't see that the choice of Souness came from anything other than desperation. I think the O'Leary rumour sprang from a car being seen at St James with a number plate that was thought to belong to DOL. In fact the car (and the number plate) belonged to Les Rayner, a mate of Shepherd's. The O'Neill rumour was an Alan Oliver exclusive in the Chronicle. Apparently Oliver was asked by Shepherd to ask MON if he wanted the job and the answer was yes according to Oliver. I'm sure I read an interview with MON in which he said he was never offered the job, but I can't find it on the net. Dunno about the Shearer rumour....

Everyone else had turned it down, because of the influence that Shearer was allowed to wield around the club as the fans' hero and the future manager in waiting. It did for Robson and only a man who had no other options would put their career at risk like that. I would love to know who did turn it down - Steve Bruce seems pretty convinced that the job was his if he'd wanted it and I'm sure I read somewhere that Fat Sam was also offered it. Anyone else? I would think the brainless timing of SBR's sacking left the board with very few options. Managers didn't want to make the switch 4 games into a season with no time left to do anything in the transfer window - unless of course they were about to be sacked from their current job.

I'd rather we kept him in our squad tbh, but a new contract (even if he signs it) isn't necessarily a statement of loyalty from the club or the player. The deal obviously means that the player gets his wages increased but, for the club, it means that if anyone wants to buy him they've got to pay the market rate. Milner signed a new contract not long before he left iirc.

Ok so it sounds like: Krul Simps Taylor Sol Enrique Rout Barton Tiote Jonas Shola Carroll If Shola not fit then Ranger

Some great defending by both sides but real credit to Saylor and Sol when you consider the amount of proper football they have played lately. Chelsea looked like they could split us at any time in the second half. F*cking brilliant point imo.....

Sounds about right.