thenige

Just got back, christ that was awful. Obviously the game plan was tailored for Shola (direct) but when he went off we were just clueless. Looked as toothless as I've seen a Newcastle side in a while. Service was poor but none of the strikers really looked up for it. Only way I could have seen us scoring in 500 minutes was through a set-piece. Did not enjoy paying £35 from that shite.

Hear hear.

Was speaking to a mate at work at Man Utd. It was only after Hughton's sacking that I realised he'd never seen a different manager take over his club, he's never had that experience of a new manager coming in. Absolutely crazy. Supporting Newcastle is like supporting nobody else, the crazy stuff we've had to put up with over the last twenty years or so have been nothing short of ridiculous.

Nah, we got great money for a decent player who could quite easily go either way. Has the potential yes, but is also a bit of a bloody idiot. Could quite easily end up in jail rather than the greatest striker to walk the Earth.

Trusted Keegan first time around although was gutted to see him go. This time, surprised he went but for that money we'd have been crazy not to. Where's the option for 'not fussed about either'?

Don't forget Lovernkrands.

Well it works either two ways, Carroll wanted to move for the extra moolah, or Ashley wanted to sell but didn't want to be portrayed as the 'bad guy' so said Carroll would have to make a 'transfer request' to move. Either way it doesn't really matter, the player is gone and nowt we can do about it. I'm sure Carroll will spout the usual nonsense about how a move to Liverpool was too good to turn down, playing under Dalglish was a dream after watching him dismantle the Newcastle team of the late 90's yadayadayada...

Would have been over the moon, quality player. This is what I get for ignoring SSN for a few hours mind...

I'm pretty sure if Carroll wanted to stay, he could stay. Absolutely mental people are believing 'Arry just to stick the knife in to Ashley. £35m ffs. He'll be in jail within two years.

Who gives a shit, the player is gone - move on. Hopefully we have a decent kitty for the summer and we'll work hard with the players we've got to stay up.

Best news of the day so far.

Steve Claridge is without a club...

Marc Janko!!!

Marc Janko from Twente please. Thanks!

Nowt after he spends a year in jail and goes on a goal drought of 20 matches.

Goes from bad to worse. Oh dear.

To be fair has turned his career around back in Italy, good spell at Siena led to a move to Palermo, and now has just signed for Samp. For what it's worth, I'd say Richard Wright leaving Ipswich is a pretty strong candidate for this thread.

Can't agree there. It will be a great transfer window if we kept hold of Carroll, Barton, Tiote, Enrique etc. and manage to bring in HBA & Ireland. Prices are so inflated and players are so reluctant to move in January that you'll struggle to make wholesale changes. Populist bollocks. There has been loads of decent signings this Jan. Really? Maybe not in the Premiership but if you cast your net a bit wider yes. Rakitic, the 2 defenders from espanyol, Andrea Barzagli, Pazzini, Buenonotte, & Gary Medel have all moved for below what is probably their true value off the top of my head. We play in the Premier League, so your point is moot. Only Bent has moved for big money so far and that's fairly unprecedented for this time of year. But we are allowed to buy players from outside of it. Hell, even HBA was a potentially a steal at what we paid. You need to be creative in the January window. Just because clubs should be creative doesn't mean they actually are though. The reality of the situation is that Premier League clubs don't experience major movement in January. With only one month to do a deal it's a sellers market - you either pay what is demanded or you go elsewhere. The only clubs who do spend big in January are the teams who need to (Villa buying Bent, for example) or the teams who have more money than sense. My point is that bringing in two, possibly three players with no outgoings would be a very good January for us. Bontempi said we've done poorly and I disagreed in the strongest possible terms. There are a number of positions I would like to see us improve but anyone who expected us to go into January and buy a right back, a left back, a centre back, a right winger, a play maker and a couple of strikers is clearly touched. I totally agree with the second point. Not losing anyone key was key although I'd not have let Routledge go. The only way we'd have bought would've been a Larsson esque buy (taking advantage of a contract situation) & like that type of transfer I was just saying there are bargains to be had but not necessarily on a wholesale manner. Hopefully we'll see at least 3 or 4 of the positions mentioned come in the summer. Oh aye, we definitely need competition for Simpson, back up for Enrique, a right winger that would make Thatcher jealous and a partner for Carroll. I'm happy to wait until the summer though. Pretty much every post you make sums it up perfectly. Such sensible views have no place on a football forum, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Enrique is class, but unfortunately his contract runs out in 18 months and teams are aware of that.

Really gutted for the lad that he's not first choice, hope he gets a move soon to a decent club. An absolute legend for Newcastle, have absolutely zero complaints about the way he left and is a top top keeper. Would give him a standing ovation without question. Totally agree that this sudden culture for booing former players despite years of service, even if the way they leave the club is somewhat difficult, is pretty pathetic.

Good point. We should pick a team of eleven strikers, then we'd score lots of goals.

Going to this game, neutral end here I come. Predict a tough game, they looked very strong against Liverpool mid-week. Would take a entertaining draw, but these are the sort of games we should be looking to squeak out three points from...

To be fair Reid is a decent player, has a quality left foot and linking up with someone like Jose could do us a world of good. Can also play anywhere across the midfield. Not the quickest mind, could do with some real pace in the team...

Living in London I managed to get along to the West Ham v Man Utd game and to be honest, neither side were all that impressive. Of course you have to take into account their age and experience, but Man Utd really struggled to create any clear cut chances, and if the WHM goalkeeper hadn't have made a mistake for their goal (or had some absolutely shocking kicks during the game) it could have been much tighter. The so-called 'names' in their youth team were too busy doing pointless tricks to cause any really penetration. Our youth team perhaps isn't as good as it's been in recent years, but in terms of quality I don't think we should be fearful of a hammering in the next round. I also went to Chelsea v Arsenal, where I'd say the standard was much higher, Josh MaEachran (unsurprisingly) and Milan Lalkovic definitely standing out from the rest.

Get the bloody Guardian podcast team in.