Heron

A foul is a foul, end of....

N 'Zogbia excited me like, I think he was one of my favourite players in his time here, but he made an arse of himself and didn't show enough fight in a poor side which made him fall in my estimations.

Who is Zinedine Zidane?

Just watching Sky Sports News there and Antoine Sibierski was shown - he wasn't a favourite player of mine but I always thought he played a good, hard, honest game, and he seemed to be passionate even though Newcastle was not his club. Players like Martins spring to mind, who hasn't been a total success but I still like him to play and he's probably one of my favourite players at Newcastle at the moment. Didier Domi I used to think was good too.... Anyhoo...which players used to excite or be a favourite of yours despite not being "top notch"?

A well publicised fan group can make a big effect on certain players' morale, but it doesn't mean it the group is particularly good or effective overall.

I always thought they had to blow for full time/half time when the ball was in a neutral position, or in a position where theres no chance either side could score immediately. Was surprised the full time whistle was blown last night just after Ronaldo's last free kick had been saved, I would have guessed they would have played on until it had been cleared. I don't know if it's been changed in recent seasons but the rule used to be that the ball had to be in play for the game to end and as a goal kick or free kick is taken to restart the game then technically the ref can't blow the final whistle until after the kick has been taken. The opposite occurs in rugby where the game can't only end with the ball in play. No, the rules haven't been like that. Only penalties have to be taken before the referee can blow the final whistle. Free kicks, throw ins and goal kicks does not have to be taken. Fair enough it was just my understanding, I've played in hundreds of games, pro and semi pro and watched hundreds more and I've noticed the referee blow the full or half time whistle with the ball out of play. Who did you play pro for? He's played Pro-Evo he means...

Why the hell do the majority of professional footballers have an inability to think about using both feet? (see Eboue tonight)

....I'll start with this one; Why the hell do players find it necessary to put a ball just before the penalty spot or just outside of the designated spot for corners or goal kicks. I have just seen Van Persie do it and it only added to his pressure - despite him scoring the penalty in the end. I really don't know why the hell players do it though. Add your "Why the hell"s too....

No such spot. I realised after I said that...lol.

We will finish in an intertoto spot...

A few of you may or may not know but a while ago members of the Toon Ultras were involved in a joint protest with some Man United fans - United We Stand banners were made from both parties and pictures taken, etc. I think that is a perfect example of how fans can get along and show there discontment with the way we as supporters are being treated throughout British football in particular.

We'll win the FA Cup in the next 5 years.

Yeah ...some people overly criticise his game, but the bottom line is that he is poor. He is sluggish, lacks technique, isn't intelligent and often is a poor finisher. He a rubbish, useless, nonsense player. But stays fit and wants to be here. With our current strikeforce, Viduka is always injured and is sluggish. Owen always injured and doesn't wanna be here. Both are supposedly on massive wages whereas Shola isn't. Caroll deserves his chance imo, but I think he is injured, and Xisco definately desveres more of a chance. At the end of the day come end of the season when peoples contracts are up and they dont want to be here he still would want to. I do agree he doesn't have the quality, but people need to get off his back and show a bit faith in him. Kinnear did that and like you mentioned he scored on 3 or 4 occassions, won a penalty or two and made a few. If more people showed a little less negativity towards him his performances might MIGHT just get a little bit better. Rather worryingly, we NEED Shola Ameobi at the moment, given our injury crisis and lack of stability at the club. Having to play him is merely a sign of the times...

Good question. If Wise did make the signings pre-season then imo he did a fairly good job...

I know the slating I will receive here but meh... Shola Ameobi is the current Titus Bramble of our squad. He is the scapegoat, he is the one who has done wrong before he even gets on the pitch. The fact of the matter is, that yesterday we had 10 men, we packed the midfield and defense and hoofed up long innaccurate balls to Shola. You cannot hold up a fucking ball with your head. Why didn't we play it into his feet? Shola Ameobi is definately not the quality of player we should have in our first team, but as a squad player to come in he is canny. Yesterday I heard people saying Shearer would have done this Shearer would have done that. Well don;t be so fucking stupid - Alan Shearer is one of the greatest English strikers in history, comparing him with Shola is absolutely pathetic. As far as I'm concerned, we need rid of Viduka, and Owen, we need a new quality striker in and people need to get off Sholas back. I don't think anyone would say he is quality and worthy of his first team spot...but the lad does try imo and if he doesn;t it's probably because of the amount of unjust stick he gets. People should really just give the lad a break. If he went to somehwere like Wigan he would do well imo, then those who constantly complain about him would look stupid.

Man of the match for me yesterday. If not him it was any of the other 3 at the back..

I never thought the day would come when our defence was the least of our worries. I know. However I personally feel that our lack of a protective midfield has been at the root of our problems for a number of years now. We just had too many scapegoats at the back i.e. Bramble, Boumsong, et al who were easy to blame. Don't get me wrong none of those mentioned were "the answer" but they were made to look far worse than they actually were due to our midfields inability to protect them. Currently we have too many "past it's" both in Midfield and up front, either that or injury prone players...the best thing for us this summer would be to get a quality new striker in and someone with a bit of creativity and drive for Midfield.

Misses a Midfield in front him, just like the rest of the back four. Our main problems lie in Midfield and then up front.

Bassong is the best value for money signing in the Premier League this season. FACT.

Out of curiosity, what songs were sung if any? Was there swearing involved?

Hideous. Football fans need to start uniting against this sort of shite..

We have displayed our main intentions in the ground really, a Bring Back The Noise banner and vocal fans sitting/standing together kind of says enough really...but doesn't say everything I guess. You're right though, we need to get our intentions and aims out so they are a bit more clear. We have a lack of structure compared to NUSC, and ours doesn't have specific leaders, that is what is the problem in a way, we need a group of dedicated leaders with the time to push us forward.

best thing the toon ultras can do is to join the NUSC, get the best of both worlds, the extra clout and influence that NUSC can only be good in spreading the message that the toon ultras are trying to portray. Heza don't believe most of this thread as its based on blinkered opinions and not showing a true reflection on the NUSC from the 3 meetings i have been to. Aye, I agree, I am just uncertain as to whether they would be open to this idea and I wonder how it would work... I have a sneaking suspicion that they would see it as them doing us a massive favour rather than it being reciprocal, but that's just an assumption. It would be best for a few lads from Toon Ultras to go to the next meeting though....

I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air, they fly so high, they nearly reach the sky, then just like Sunderland they fade and die, Tottenhams always running, Chelsea, Arsenal too, The Leazes end is running, They're coming after you! UNITED!!! UNITED!!! UNITED!!! well i can honestly say i've never heard that when i've been at the match and to be honest i'm quite glad cos its pretty embarrassing. BBTN have come up with some good songs and are helping improve the atmosphere but that song is crap. Yeah, but in the 70's and 80's it wouldn't be quite as embarassing as hooliganism was far larger back then. It wasn't a song we made up....