PRL

Carlton Cole hasn't turned out so bad, certainly wouldn't mind having him here. Not sure about Mancienne but don't buy your logic

Would pretty much agree with all those marks. I did have to spend 5 minutes in the second half working out where the fuck Smith was on the pitch. I'd totally forgotten he was even playing.

We have signed Viduka, Geremi, Colo, Xisco, Smith & Cacapa while Ashley has been in charge. In fairness, all that list were signed in his first summer here (with the exception of Colo) I think? I'm hoping that they were more Fat Sam signings than the Ashley blueprint. They were & I can see why he no longer likes to whack the cash around. The youth recruitment below senior level does not look that good to me. I think we are more bargain hunters looking around for unhappy players, clubs up shit creek & soon to be out of contract players rather than the original plan of looking on a global scale for future superstars. Looking at Mike Ashley's wider business policies that certainly seems the most plausible definition of our recruitment system.

We have signed Viduka, Geremi, Colo, Xisco, Smith & Cacapa while Ashley has been in charge. In fairness, all that list were signed in his first summer here (with the exception of Colo) I think? I'm hoping that they were more Fat Sam signings than the Ashley blueprint.

I'd totally forgotten that! Was fucking bizarre.

It's a great cause and I'm really pleased so much money is going to it... but over £3,000 for Shola's shirt... Some people have crazy amounts of money!

He's another Damien Duff, Nicky Butt, Stephen Carr, Geremi waiting to happen IMO How the hell would you know that? I'm pretty sure IMO stands for In My Opinion. I'd echo the sentiment too, he hasn't looked like a top player since 07-08. I just don't think that you can really say that Keane is likely to come here play poor purely because Damien Duff, Nicky Butt, Stephen Carr, Geremi etc. have. Incidentally, Duff and Carr have gone on to play well and stay in the top flight. Duff may even have a medal for winning the Europa League this season. I still think Keane is a very talented player. His peak was 07-08 but he is still a very good Premiership player. When you say he hasn't looked like a top player since 07/08 I assume you mean a player that should be in a team competing for a European spot finish? surely your not saying he hasn't been good enough for a Premiership side since 07/08? I would not want Keane here unless the wages were low and the fee was very reasonable. I'm also warming to the plan of investing in younger players who can have a better return on investment, whether that be developing in to a good player, having lower wages or having a better re-sale value. Ah, now that's a bit different. If he was available on the cheap and with low wages then I'd be a bit more happy to gamble. But this is Daniel Levy, who is renowned for squeezing every last penny out of clubs, and Robbie Keane would see us as his last big pay day, would want a long term contract and some big money, so I don't think it's realistic to hope for a cut price deal with low wages. Closest to that may be a loan but doubt Harry would be willing to loan to another PL team. My opinion comes from sadly having a lot of Spurs fans as mates. Their opinion of him since he came back from Liverpool is that he is a changed player, offers very little to the side and gets the fans' backs up by skulking and stropping about the pitch arguing with the ref constantly. Don't think we are going to have any room for passengers next season, need everyone working their tits off. I'm actually a bit shocked his goal record is still almost one in 3 since the Liverpool move. Looking at the Premier League stats it's 16 from 53 (slightly worse) but I'm assuming quite a few would be from the bench there? But totally agree on the point re quality, we're not going to create as many chances as a Spurs or Liverpool team. Still leaves us back to square one and i have zero suggestions of who to go after, although i'm hoping we can unearth a few gems as we did a couple of summers back with Jose, Bassong and Beye. It's always a lot harder with strikers though as they tend to be a lot more noticeable if they're banging goals in.

He's another Damien Duff, Nicky Butt, Stephen Carr, Geremi waiting to happen IMO How the hell would you know that? I'm pretty sure IMO stands for In My Opinion. I'd echo the sentiment too, he hasn't looked like a top player since 07-08.

Agree with that, he was flapping about the place and should have claimed the ball before Jose tried to knock out Simpson.

Man of the Match for me last night, despite only playing the first half. He just seemed to be everywhere.

Yep, despite the fact i'd likely fall under the 'cockney' banner, I was really disappointed with the atmosphere last night. Couldn't have been more different to the Peterboro game, I just got strange looks every time I started singing in the first half, nobody around us made a peep. Moved to the back of the stand for the second half (surprisingly high number of empty seats for a sold out game) and the atmosphere was a bit better, but still pretty tame. Fair play to the Reading fans, best (section of) home fans I've heard in a while, especially considering at 2 down their season was effectively over.

this, although I think two central mids and maybe two strikers. Actually happy with 4 centre backs of colo, Taylor, williamson and kadar with Taylor at rb unless needed at cb. Not ideal but we have to cut our cloth accordingly

Was an absolutely top class save that unfortunately fell to their striker. was thinking just that as I watched... Should have plucked it out the sky on his left foot and banged it in the top corner of their net on his right

don't you mean in total? Mick Lowes just said it was goals at home. don't think we average 4 a game :-)

What?! Yobo? 5 million pounds!!?? This better be a wind up. The next post suggests we try and snatch Chamakh from Arsenal, so I'd assume not. Also: I really hope he didn't say 'wasn't' there, sounds more like the shit Harry Redknapp or Del Boy would say. It's 'weren't' Chris.

Same, he thinks he's great and will be an England keeper, and should play for a top 4 club. Sounds good. A few of my league 1 mates have said similar too, although my uncle is a Swindon season ticket holder and he swore blind that Ben Tozer was the next Rio Ferdinand when we signed him!

I have an awful feeling whichever one leaves will go on to become phenomenal, just hope as long as one stays they do the same.

Have you been to Fulham, great little club, fantastic stadium but you are never going to achieve much. Dangle the prospect of managing in front of 52,000 fans and saying he has full control over the football side would tempt him. Any manager with ambition would know that if he had full control of the football side of things at the club and did well that the possibilites are endless. If not him there would be others, I’m sure of that! As things stand, Fulham are a bigger club than us. He wouldn't leave for anyone, let alone Newcastle. Wrong - as things stand, Fulham are CURRENTLY a more successful club ; they haven't won as many trophies, haven't got anything LIKE the stadium of fanbase, haven't been in European football as often...this is a worse statement than if someone had tried to claim that NUFC were a bigger club than Liverpool back in 1993 simply because we had a better team spirit at the time. Fulham will NEVER be a bigger club than Newcastle United - just as we will never be a bigger club than Man U. The issue about Hodgson is really nothing to do with the relative size of the clubs - he is not a young man and is unlikely to want to have the task of taking over a club like NUFC, although I very much doubt he will be given the chance. Newcastle = Newly promoted side, big expectations, alot of deadwood still remains in the team. Fulham = Established top half side, playing European football, decent playing side. That's how a manager sees it. They don't go "ooo that's a big ground'" or "Well they've won more trophies than that team in the last 100 years". Whether Hodgson is 18 or 80, he won't touch 'the poisoned chalice' when he's doing so well at Fulham. Why else have our last few managers included Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder, Sam Allardyce and Joe Kinnear? ...so why did Shankly leave a comfy post to join a run-down Liverpool ? Simply because he could see that the potential was much better than where he was and that is EXACTLY why a decent manager would join NUFC. The reason why we have had all the names you mentioned as manager is because Shepherd had made such a mess of everything and our name was mud after the way he treated SBR ; in the case of Kinnear,you only need to be able to recall events with Ashley/Wise etc 18 months ago to see why we got HIM. We would not attract a top manager right now because there is too much uncertainty surrounding Ashley's ownership and running of the club - if we were taken over by a major concern run by the likes of Makhtoum there are very few managers in the game who would turn the job down. Sorry, but they DO look at things like the stadium, support base and financial standing when deciding to join a club and in the circumstances I have described, we would be looking at bigger names that Hodgson. As things stand, the club has little choice but to persist with Hughton AND give him the proper support in the market ; if the club struggles after that, they will have to look at replacing him because relegation once more would be a disaster. Based on this thread, I think it's pretty clear that the consensus expectation for next season is not merely survival. Because survival is going to mean struggling, playing poorly, losing and living with the prospect that you might go down again. That is what it means to be in the bottom fourth of the league. And if that is the story of 2010/11 it will be because of team selection, tactics and Kevin Nolan. We know this already. If Hughton wants to survive, he needs to do what Reading managed in their first season in the Premiership or Birmingham are doing this year. 2010/11 needs to be comfortably mid table, with a very strong start. Because if his support is lukewarm now, the knives are going to be out when we drop points at home against mid table teams. People might say their expectation is survival, but it won't play out that way. Anger, fear and frustration at a return to bad results (which everyone might acknowledge before the season begins) will build quickly, and he'll be hated again when reality sets in. You can practically hear the intake of air before the giant 'I f***ing TOLD YOU SO, HUGHTON OUT' and a return to the good old days of speculating whether Curbishley or Mark Hughes would be a better option, before they sign up Gary Megson or Joe Kinnear. Exactly what I was saying! When things go belly up, the same people who are now having a w*** over Hughton will get on his back and things will get ugly again with blame pointed in all directions. This will bring us back to the instability of 2008/2009, a situation that Hughton has proven to be unable to cope with. Barring the Carrol-Taylor fiasco, this has been a quiet seson for Newcastle, do we really expect the same will happen next season with more eyes and cameras following Premiership players/teams. Hughton has done well in the Championship and we owe him that. But if we can get a good replacement (Hughes would be just right), offer Hughton a coaching/assistant manager role and he refuses that, then it's thank you and goodbye. Tell me you do see the irony in what you're suggesting? You don't want to go back to the instability of last year, so your solution is to replace our manager who has just got us promoted to the Premier League with 6 games to spare and is seemingly immensely popular with the whole staff? Yep, that would bring players and a new manager leaping to join us. f***ing hell, people wonder why this club is a circus when we've got clown fans like yourself. Why would replacing Hughton with a manager who has proven himself in the Premiership lead to instability? If you think players are going to be so severely affected by a change in management that their performance will be so drastically affected, then you're the one who belongs in a circus (and not as a clown too). Cut out the personal insults and I'll engage you. There is a saying that often sticks with me: "The only lesson we learn from history is that we do not learn from history". Who are the only two managers who have made a success of managing at SJP in the last however many decades... I'd say Keegan and Robson. Tell me, had either of them managed in the Premier League prior to their appointment? Actually, I'll tell you, Robson hadn't managed domestically in England for close to 2 decades when he joined up, Keegan had never managed anyone. How about all those 'established premier league managers' we went for? Wor Kenny, Big Sam Allardyce, Sexy Ruud Gullit, Graeme fucking Souness? Yep, that went really well didn't it? You're right as well, players aren't affected by changes in management and instability at the club, we didn't get relegated last year as a result of this and the last 11 months have just been a big illusion.

Have you been to Fulham, great little club, fantastic stadium but you are never going to achieve much. Dangle the prospect of managing in front of 52,000 fans and saying he has full control over the football side would tempt him. Any manager with ambition would know that if he had full control of the football side of things at the club and did well that the possibilites are endless. If not him there would be others, I’m sure of that! As things stand, Fulham are a bigger club than us. He wouldn't leave for anyone, let alone Newcastle. Wrong - as things stand, Fulham are CURRENTLY a more successful club ; they haven't won as many trophies, haven't got anything LIKE the stadium of fanbase, haven't been in European football as often...this is a worse statement than if someone had tried to claim that NUFC were a bigger club than Liverpool back in 1993 simply because we had a better team spirit at the time. Fulham will NEVER be a bigger club than Newcastle United - just as we will never be a bigger club than Man U. The issue about Hodgson is really nothing to do with the relative size of the clubs - he is not a young man and is unlikely to want to have the task of taking over a club like NUFC, although I very much doubt he will be given the chance. Newcastle = Newly promoted side, big expectations, alot of deadwood still remains in the team. Fulham = Established top half side, playing European football, decent playing side. That's how a manager sees it. They don't go "ooo that's a big ground'" or "Well they've won more trophies than that team in the last 100 years". Whether Hodgson is 18 or 80, he won't touch 'the poisoned chalice' when he's doing so well at Fulham. Why else have our last few managers included Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder, Sam Allardyce and Joe Kinnear? ...so why did Shankly leave a comfy post to join a run-down Liverpool ? Simply because he could see that the potential was much better than where he was and that is EXACTLY why a decent manager would join NUFC. The reason why we have had all the names you mentioned as manager is because Shepherd had made such a mess of everything and our name was mud after the way he treated SBR ; in the case of Kinnear,you only need to be able to recall events with Ashley/Wise etc 18 months ago to see why we got HIM. We would not attract a top manager right now because there is too much uncertainty surrounding Ashley's ownership and running of the club - if we were taken over by a major concern run by the likes of Makhtoum there are very few managers in the game who would turn the job down. Sorry, but they DO look at things like the stadium, support base and financial standing when deciding to join a club and in the circumstances I have described, we would be looking at bigger names that Hodgson. As things stand, the club has little choice but to persist with Hughton AND give him the proper support in the market ; if the club struggles after that, they will have to look at replacing him because relegation once more would be a disaster. Based on this thread, I think it's pretty clear that the consensus expectation for next season is not merely survival. Because survival is going to mean struggling, playing poorly, losing and living with the prospect that you might go down again. That is what it means to be in the bottom fourth of the league. And if that is the story of 2010/11 it will be because of team selection, tactics and Kevin Nolan. We know this already. If Hughton wants to survive, he needs to do what Reading managed in their first season in the Premiership or Birmingham are doing this year. 2010/11 needs to be comfortably mid table, with a very strong start. Because if his support is lukewarm now, the knives are going to be out when we drop points at home against mid table teams. People might say their expectation is survival, but it won't play out that way. Anger, fear and frustration at a return to bad results (which everyone might acknowledge before the season begins) will build quickly, and he'll be hated again when reality sets in. You can practically hear the intake of air before the giant 'I f***ing TOLD YOU SO, HUGHTON OUT' and a return to the good old days of speculating whether Curbishley or Mark Hughes would be a better option, before they sign up Gary Megson or Joe Kinnear. Exactly what I was saying! When things go belly up, the same people who are now having a wank over Hughton will get on his back and things will get ugly again with blame pointed in all directions. This will bring us back to the instability of 2008/2009, a situation that Hughton has proven to be unable to cope with. Barring the Carrol-Taylor fiasco, this has been a quiet seson for Newcastle, do we really expect the same will happen next season with more eyes and cameras following Premiership players/teams. Hughton has done well in the Championship and we owe him that. But if we can get a good replacement (Hughes would be just right), offer Hughton a coaching/assistant manager role and he refuses that, then it's thank you and goodbye. Tell me you do see the irony in what you're suggesting? You don't want to go back to the instability of last year, so your solution is to replace our manager who has just got us promoted to the Premier League with 6 games to spare and is seemingly immensely popular with the whole staff? Yep, that would bring players and a new manager leaping to join us. Fucking hell, people wonder why this club is a circus when we've got clown fans like yourself.

I'd take Hutton if we could get him. Not sure we could, mind.

Probably, but if it's a choice between Simpson and bringing Beye back....... Totally agree. Sure there are better options out there but if it was a straight choice between the 2 I'd go for Beye.

I think a lot of people are, but since we've signed Routledge, Smith and Butt haven't had too much of a look in when Guthrie and Nolan have been fit, which was a major test for me, and one that he passed by showing the balls to stick them both on the bench.

Sums up my thoughts far more succinctly than I managed. Agree 100%

They are not wanted nor needed by the club Sorry like lads but if we want 52,000 ay every game they are wanted and needed, aye its a pisser they walked away BUT I bet they watched every TV game bet they all still love NUFC just still hate Ashley. So as soon as we're promoted the hate for Ashley that's somehow been keeping them away suddenly vanishes does it? SJP does not need these fair weathered fickle fans. Give me 40k that care over 52k who just want to see top flight football. Admirable, but those 12,000 people paying £25 a game for 19 games next season would give us an extra £5.7m in revenue. I'd rather have the fans there and have another £4.5m player earning £25-30k a week.

So all of his success this season is totally qualified yet last season's caretaker record isn't in any way misleading despite the fact the club was being absolutely ripped apart from every angle? We could have got Capello in as caretaker last season and he would have likely struggled such was the state of the club. As for complaining re the players selected, after ONE transfer window he has remedied that almost completely with most match day threads showing people are pretty content with the line up. With regards substitutes, we moan about this all the time, yet time and again the player we're all saying should be taken off scores / gets an assist. See Nolan last night as a nice recent example. Also, see Pancrate at half time in the game before at Peterborough. A change was needed and Hughton made it. I genuinely cannot believe we are having this debate. Promotion sealed with 6 games to go and yet still people aren't happy. I was one of the nay sayers right up until the Christmas / New Year period but he has won me over. He has signed the right players, got the right results and instilled the right attitude. f*** knows what more you expect. But you're right, lets get rid now, have our reputations as laughing stocks restored and continue with our policy of screwing up any stability the club has had to chase a possible short term solution that likely won't even work. Brilliant. Right coz that's what I said that I am not happy with what he has done this season. Well done Try to calm down and read the post again will ya Err... Your suggestion is essentially to replace him or usurp him, changing the structure and clearly making him look and feel like he isn't trusted to do the job. He's the manager, he's chosen his assistant and coaching staff, so with your suggestion Ashley goes in over his head and says 'sorry Chris, we know better than you and don't think you're upto this, so we're bringing in x to work with you / monitor you'. Exactly what part of that sounds like a reasonable plan that wouldn't cause a massive amount of disharmony throughout the club?