Boey_Jarton

Dont agree at all. Duff was not our worst player for 70 minutes. If Duff had been a bit darker and his surname was N'zogbia you would not be saying the same thing.

West Brom were wide open to the counter attack and we took off all our pacy players and resorted to hoofing it long to shola and Xisco. Hats off to Duffer - he was the only player who seemed to put his foot on the ball. You could see him trying to urge the other players to push up as the others were content sitting deep on the edge of the box.

I wish we could just do straightforward wins.

What i hate about Shola is the unnecessary pressure he puts on the team from the top. He gives away needless fouls and doesn't understand the offside rule. You wouldn't mind so much if he learned , but the lad is 27 and still makes the same mistakes.

The Journal article mentions the debt now being equity as explained by Chez - Equity which Ashley has made part of the sale price. Yes and equity is not debt whether it's part of the sale price or not. As I said it could be described as semantics - if there was no debt/equity the price would be approx £100m less - so an owner has to find that amount anyway - although I accept from Chez's explanation that equity is prefereable. The "he has cleared the debt" statement is being sold as if Ashley got his wallet out and handed over the cash which means it's "gone" forever - that is clearly NOT the case and I'm sick of people talking as if it was an altrustic act on his part. If he was to remain as owner then the debt not being on the clubs book would be good - but even if he stays for 5 years he'd still want that back. I'd also argue that given the choice between finishing 13th every year and being debt free and taking on a serviceable level of debt and showing some ambition. I'd take the latter. The market value of the club before was approximately 210m, but approximately 80m of this value was attributable to debt holders not the shareholders. Since Ashley was buying into the equity of NUFC, he paid the MV of this equity net of the debt , i.e 130m ish. Now there is no debt (or very little) , the MV of NUFC would be attributable solely to the equity holders, so any sale by Ashley would obviously be at around the 200m + mark. Ashley is obviously going to include the debt he paid off in the selling price because this would be the price that reflects its economic worth. Ashley has paid off the debt - the fact this had lead to an increase in his selling price of the club is irrelevant.

I got to watch a training session and eat with the players at the back end of last season as part of a prize a family friend won at a charity auction at the NUFC fashion show. The banter and atmosphere did some to be generally really good between the players. One thing i did notice though, is that Faye got in a strop on quite a few occasions. After Diatta had been involved in a late challenge on another player (possibly smith IIRC) , Faye got involved and was really aggressive, moody and complained for the rest of the session. Keegan had to take him to one side to tell him to settle down. Im not sure if there was a rift of any sort between him and other players but he definitely did not look too happy.

Zola always seems to rank overly high in these polls because he is little loveable Italian who did funny interviews. Very strange list outside the top 10 Russel Latapy > Marc Overmars ?

Yep, hopefully these will work as im not too good at these linky things: Martins with his lollypop again: http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/1268/dsc01240mu5.jpg Habib Just wins his race against butt and barton: http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/9510/dsc01205lz0.jpg Martins tries (unsuccessfully) to save Geremi's free kick in a cameo stint in goals: http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/3610/dsc01231jb8.jpg

I love that line. I always wondered what he would be like outside of the stadium...makes me like him that much more. Great post tho Boey_Jarton, Its glad to see the lads in better spirit - to be honest I wasn't shocked about Carr...I always thought he had some pace...But not so sure he has it in long distances anymore. Shame about Zog, but like an old professor once told our class "Shape up or Ship out." Martins was proper bling bling but very friendly! http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4618/cimg0451ke4.jpg

Our players seem in great spirit for this game- I have been lucky enough to attend this mornings training session, meet all the players and have lunch with the players at the training ground. (A family friend won this at the charity auction at the NUFC fashion show) I thought id share some of the experience of the training today- After the warm up, the first team divided into 4 teams of four, each team competed in relay races around cones. The one thing that struck me was that Stephen Carr (yes really!!) was actually one of the fastest at the sprints winning all of his races. Micheal Owen and Oba won nearly all of their respective races also. The players then split up into two teams for a match on a half-pitch. The most impressive player in this 20 minute match had to be Duff (yes really!). He looked pacey and dangerous, and set up a few goals. Geremi was wearing a yellow T shirt with abuse on it because he had been voted the worst player in the previous days training session. I was impressed with the team spirit- Martins in particular was always involved in the banter. He was the last to leave the training field; he was diving about in goals whilst Geremi was practicing free kicks. Im not sure if the Zog is injured but he trained all alone and looked fairly grumpy. Emre and Milner did not train at all. At the restaurant i also noticed we seem to have employed a Vicor that goes from table to table speaking to the players! Barton in particular was talking to him for ages. Strangely, Habib Beye and the Duke seemed to be great pals, the 2 were laughing away for ages on their own table. Oba ( who was dressed like a proper gangster and sucking a lollypop), said he is looking forward to the reading game and thinks he will score!

I thought he looked quite nippy the times i have seen him.

he scored against west ham last season

Just back from the game and the one thing that stuck out to me was how confident the players were on the ball. N zogbia was top class at centre midfield today especially, i hope he stays there for bolton.

I have an NUS card so am entitled to the £200 10 game tickets in blocks a and b in level 7, or the 130 quid tickets in block h. Can someone advise me whether it is worth forking out an extra 70 notes for blocks a/b rather than h? Cheers in advance.

Im from Cardiff but have supported Newcastle all my life since my old man is from amble and put the curse on me. I now live opposite leazes park and can get from the match to my front door in less than 2 minutes!

sorry if its in another thread, but are england under 21s on the box tonight, cannot see it on anywhere

I was out drinking last night in the living room on grey street and half the team were there boozing. Apparently it was a celebration for Oba's birthday. Obafemi, Geremi, NZogbia, Taylor, Emre Habib Beye were all there. There were lots of half naked blonde birds prancing about too, much to Geremi/Beye's delight! Tuncay Sanli of boro also turned up with emre . Some guy asked Taylor "why arent you playing anymore? you are better than faye" He nodded without really saying much in response. Taylor's attitude to drunk fans annoying him was spot on, just smiled and took loads of photos with them.

The main plus point for Anelka is that he can play in almost any combination, since he has strength and pace. Anelka and Martins upfront would scare the majority of defenders im sure. I think we may be in a pickle regarding owen this summer. He will have only 1 year left on his contract ( i think? correct me if im wrong?) His release clause supposedly lowers again. We could be in a position where we have to sell him. Bolton look doomed under 'Mr Bolton Wanderers football club' and have a good chance of going down. Anelka could be an ideal replacement if we were forced to sell Owen.

This topic reminds me of when i got made to look like a complete fool against Michael McKay, who used to play for Consett Town but now plays for Hartlepool (and scored against Carlisle a couple of days ago). He megged me and made me look like a complete mug. He is the quickest and most skillfull player i have ever come across- which is a bit worrying considering he does not even get into the starting XI for a league 1 side. Makes me think how good premiership players really are!!

Keep your legs together Goofy. Just foul them when they try to go past

Gary Speed was always a fave of mine. Those thighs

On a kind of similar note: Ugliest Newcastle players (past and present): I reckon a top 3 of: Andy "concorde" O' Brien Clarence Acuna Peter Beardsley

Harper - 7.5: Great saves by Harps Beye- 7.5: A great first showing by the new lateral one. Liked the little run and cross in the first half Rozenhal - 6.5: Lost a few headers but when he did lose them, he at least did enough to put off ashton. Deals with low crosses very well (the kind of crosses Titus would daisy cut into the net) Cacapa 6.5: Steady showing from the samba man Nzogbia 8.5: Crossing can be taught to milner. Once the bull slots in at left back, Zoggy is going to run riot. Smith: 6.5 Plays better with more hair. Not all that effective in midfield but still gave a decent display. Played well up front at the end. If owen and viduka are out, i'd pair smithy with Oba. He couldnt do worse than number 23. Butt 7.5 : why did he not play like that against derby Germei 7: See above , but to a lesser extent Milner: 6.5 - Not quite jimmys day but 100% for effort Owen 6 - Quiet Viduka 9 - Absolute class. Great first touch, linked up the play superbly. Unplayable when in this kind of form. So effective when we play to his strengths and pass to his feet rather than aimless hoofs. Basically this performance was the complete opposite of Ameobi's against derby

The refereeing at Old Trafford is always a complete farce. Shocking decision

TIme for some match ratings on that shower i think: Harper - 5 : Seemed to waste time with his kicks when we needed to get back in it. Looked a bit flat footed for the goal but didnt really have a chance Taylor- 5 : Pretty poor display, lacked composure at times Cacapa- 5 : Thought he could have done better for the goal and sometimes seemed to give howard too much time Rozenhal- 5: At times did not look too composed. Missed a sitter but to be fair did really well to get there in the 1st place NZogbia- 4 : The fans favourite had a shocker. What boots does this guy wear??? He was like an ice skater for the majority of the match. His set plays were woeful Milner - 6 : The only player with an ounce of creativity. Tried his best to make things happen. Geremi: 4 : Seemed to slow the midfield down together with butt. No fluidity at all Butt: 4 Formed an invisible midfield combo with Geremi Smith: 4 - Slid about to show commitment to the cause, whilst not actually using his brain. Captain Owen: 5 - Woeful service to Owen. Having played with the england lads last week he must have felt like he was playing in the Blue premier tonight. Ameobi: 2.5 - An abysmal performance. Did not hold the ball up, hold possession nor engage his brain in any of his play. Im not quite sure what he does in training, maybe the others are just not trying which makes him look half decent. Allardyce: 4 - What were you playing at Big Sam Setanta Camera team: 10 - Great directing to miss the derby goal so i can pretend it never happened.