thewellander

It's simple, really. If Newcastle become a top six team again in the next couple years, then the money is worth it. If we don't, we'll have another over-paid waste of money to complain about on the boards.

In regards to the comments about Martins being the one who should go, I just want to point out that he's scored almost 20 goals this season, in his first year in the Premiership, as a loan striker, with no consistant support from the rest of the team. Any evaluation of Martins that doesn't come to the conclusion that he has been a complete success is off, imo. Not to mention that he's a class act.

That article definately sums it all up, doesn't it. Very articulate, and I couldn't agree more.

Good good good. I hope that the first question Sam asked Shepherd was whether or not he'll have transfer money, and I hope the answer was yes.

I read somewhere that it comes out in early July. I'm sure we'll see a pic of it before then.

I've just done the calculations, and can confirm that if positions stay the same, we are now JOINT with Villa for the prestigious accolade of 5th best club over the last decade. Should Villa's position improve or ours worsten on the last day of the season, then I'm sorry to have to report that Villa will take on this important mantle, and NE5 will have to revise his copy and paste posts to reflect this change. Ours and Villa's average position over the last 10 seasons is 9.4. Something to be proud of, I'm sure you'll agree. On average we finish outside of the European spots, and barely in the top 10. How's that for positive, Parky? You can do better. blueyes.gif Please can we use the all time Prem League stats http://www.nufc.com/2006-07html/prem-all-time.html even taking this season into account we're 5th and with a far better goal diff I guess Leeds United must be fighting for a spot in the UEFA Cup, by those standards.

Some more: Leicester City Away 07/08 http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/stories/easygallery/leicester%20cityaway0708.jpg Nottingham Forest Away 07/08 http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/images/scotland0708/notfor0708.jpg Norwich City Away 07/08 http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/images/scotland0708/norwich%20city%20away%20shirt%201.jpg Crystal Palace Home & Away 07/08 http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/images/scotland0708/crystal%20palace%200708.jpg

It's not that I'm not looking at this positively. I'm just being realistic. I'd be very happy with a 6-7th place finish next year. Actually, I'd be happy with a Top 10 finish, with a squad that gave it their all. I'm just thinking one step at a time is all.

True enough. It's possible. As I said before, I don't think too highly of Owen as a person, so I don't doubt that there may be more to this than meets the eye.

I agree with everything you say except that Shepherd was right to say this in public. It's just not a good move tactically. He can feel this, and say it behind closed doors, but this is a strange move.

We got to 7th under Roeder with a totally demoralised side in danger of relegation. There is no reason we can't challenge for top 4 next year. Yeah, fair enough. I suppose I was just assuming that we're going to have a couple years of rebuilding ahead of us.

If we do get SGE, hide your wives. But, seriously, Shepherd's a fool. I've been slow jumping on the "Fat Fred's Got To Go" bandwagon, but it's getting more and more clear that he's a detriment to this club.

At the moment, I would say the Spurs have the best shot of breaking the top four. They'll also be looking for defenders in the summer, and if they get them, they'll have a shot. Truthfully, I think we have a long way to go to get into the Champion's League. If we can get a 6th-7th place finish next year, I will consider that a huge success; then go from there.

I have a bad feeling about this. I've read Owen's autobiography, and my impression is that he's quite a bit self-absorbed. I think that he'll leave Newcastle and not bat an eyelash, if it suits him to do so. And this little outburst by our chairman definately suggests that - at the very least - Owen and management are not on the same page right now. Hopefully we can ride this out until next week, when we have a new manager, and then we can see in what direction Allardyce is going to take this club.

bored? Extremely! But, those stupid headlines do always crack me up. And besides, we've been in such a low lately, something a little funny can't hurt.

With Big Sam coming to Newcastle, icNewcastle, the official site, and other news sources will have a fresh bash of stupid puns to fill their headlines with (ie., "End of the Roed"). I thought we should have a thread to give them a hand on these wonderfully creative headlines. If things don't turn around: "Sam Old Song and Dance" If things DO turn around: "New Gaffer Sam-ply the best"

I can't even begin to say how stupid this comment is. The fat man is basically taunting Owen. I guess this statement proves that Owen does, indeed, have a buy out clause. With statements like these, there may well quickly become interest in Owen.

Harper Solano Edgar Huntington Carr Milner Dyer Parker N'Zog Owen Martins

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2075350,00.html Sorry if this has already been posted, but I didn't see it. I hope this isn't true. I rather wanted Sidwell to join the side.

I came across this. Hard to believe, but it's from an actual on-line store: http://www.soccer-tops.com/mmp.php?no=1&pid=204

I think he deserves to be shown the door, but I'm worried about who we will be able to replace him with. We're going to have to be more active in this transfer window than we have been in a long while, and we may have to splash a bit of cash for defenders, since there are a few other teams who will be looking to do the same (Chelsea, Spurs, etc.). Not to mention, we'll have to pay compensation to Bolton, apparently, for Allardyce. And when you take into account that we're losing a few players on frees, and only loaning Luque, I'm not sure how much transfer money we're talking about here.

I don't really care what happens in the next match, tbh. I would like us to win, but I think there is finally reason to be optimistic about next season, and this Watford match is just one unimportant game in between this dreadful season and next year's (hopefully) successful season. I'm much more interested in the matches that impact the relegation battle.

I agree that WBA are peaking at the right time, but I think Derby deserve to go up, just based on the difference in points.

I would love to see him coaching Canada's team (we need a coach), but I doubt we have the money to pay him. Still not sure if I want him at Newcastle though. He'd probably do a good job with the US team, tbh.

Next season, then? Good for Man U, I guess. Still, I wanted it to go down to the last game. Man U playing for the title and West Ham playing to remain in the Premiership.