PRL

Hopefully he will realise that, get Ebondo, up the big for M'Bia and find a striker from somewhere! I love the optimism... pretty blind though... I hope i'm proved wrong but other than a few scrambled loan signings i can't see us bringing anyone at all in

Not sure if this is elsewhere but fucking hell, he needs to be gagged, we be signing NO ONE after this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jan/29/michael-owen-joey-barton-injured-joe-kinnear-newcastle-united-crisis

Sport's a free rag given out in London on a Friday... Actually a reasonable read and always has a hot bird in the back with some kind of relevance to one sport or another... Would trust their gossip as much as i trust , mind

He was at Newcastle and Man City for 10 years collectively where he faced many tough times, especially in his earlier days at St. James' Park where for a while he was paying Terry Mac out of his own pockets that's how tough things were. Its a myth that KK walks when the going gets tough as his stints at SJP and Man City especially prove. When he left Newcastle back in '97 we were 2nd in the League, still in the FA Cup and had just beaten Spurs 7-1 - yeah, that was a tough old time. He had actually agreed to stay on at Man City until the end of the season but their board felt it would be better if he went sooner so he did. At Fulham he was head hunted by the FA and had the nation begging for him to say yes to the England job which Fulham dully allowed him to take. He has only ever walked away from a job in tough circumstances twice, England and recently Newcastle. In both instances however he had/has good justification for "walking" especially if the latter "tough going" meant being undermined. Of course KK has used the "I quit" card a few times without actually walking which many could say paints him out to be a bit of a drama queen. I won't hold that against him however as it probably saved our club the first time he used it. All I know is that when he was here in the 90s he put everything and more into the challenge of first saving this club and then turning into genuine title challenges. Some of the things he did for this club as manager went beyond the call of employee or manager, like paying Terry Macs wages out of his own pockets, like supplying academy lads with new kit and boots, like fixing up players with boot deals to boost their earnings without eating into club coffers, like threating to quit to get the 50K he was promised by SJH in order to buy that leader for the back that would help us stay up, like lying to Rob Lee that London was closer from Newcastle than Middlesbrough, like lying to SJH that sunderland would snap up Beardsley if we didn't and that he was 30 and not 32, like coming onto the steps of SJP to talk to fans, like opening up training to thousands of fans every day and so much more to the point it clearly took its toll on his mental health. I mean he turned grey over night He has/had his faults of course, he can be far too emotional and petulant, his mood swings are legendary too and yes he can just quit like that on an emotional whim or whatever as he did with England. In September however I believe he was being undermined and therefore well within his rights to walk, not many managers would put up with such things. It pains me to read the character and history assassination of the man by so-called fans on here though it really does. I love the man but I am aware he has his faults and yes he wasn't the greatest of managers in terms of all-round ability but he has been our best manager in modern history and by some margin, his record and feats here prove that. Its sad that some are prepared to jump all over that to point score, put the man down or to make others look better. Judge people independently. You can defend Ashley without putting KK down. You can defend KK without putting Ashley down. Now that months have past I won't lie, I am disappointed with KK in some respects and do think he himself isn't blameless in all of this, however I know the man and know what he's like, I accepted him for what he is a long time ago so I'm not going to criticise him now or get angry over it. If anything it just highlights the folly in hiring such a man, not the folly in KK himself, and indeed how much NUFC has changed since they were last a union where as KK really hasn't. In a way that's a great shame because while NUFC has changed, the core culture of the club hasn't and probably never will and there is no man more qualified to marry that culture if you will than KK. But he's history now and we all need to move on regardless of where you sit on all of this. You do get some grief on here for some of the posts you make, but the above is, in my view, a great post... Sums up how i feel completely.

Jumping the gun a bit aren't we? Isn't this just a one-liner off the Italian equivalent of nufcblog? I can't find anything anywhere else saying he's left?

Such quotes make me laugh. How do they know we haven't been negotiating with Toulouse since December? I think what we have to realise is that when it comes to getting the best possible deal, which is what our current ownership is all about, it is always going to go down to the wire. I'm pretty sure we will get players in as it is very clear now that we are indeed looking to do so. I remember this same kind of thing happening with Beye, Rozenhal and even Coloccini. Seemed to take forever. You'd imagine, being a representative of Ebondo, they would have known before now had we been negotiating with Toulouse, surely?

Now, i'm not saying he is / isn't the same, not seen anywhere near enough of the player to judge personally... Does seem a bit mental to suggest you think he is very similar to Viana which means we should be after him... Do you not remember Viana?! He was lacking more than a bit more physicality...

Bolton in talks to sign Veloso... That would be quite the coup http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_4855458,00.html

Surely we can do both? Certainly, we can work on building the academy structure in the background, but right now it really does seem to be taking up resources that could be doing a more effective job improving the first team. It appears pretty obvious that Wise is involved in more than just the youth set up, in which case during any transfer window he should be focussing on the first team. We can bring in youth players at any time during the season (or at least sign them up on pre-contracts, gentlemen's agreements, etc), so why the sudden spate of activity now? Have this going on behind the scenes all season, sort the first team now, surely? I still think that it is a LOT harder to establish and build up a successful academy whilst the first team are in the shit. If you want to use Ipswich and Southampton as examples of good academies at clubs with rubbish first teams feel free, but i'm not particularly keen to use either of those clubs as examples... So, to answer your question, you would have thought so, but i don't see much evidence of it from those in charge of the club. Surely the obvious answer for why we're not throwing money around on the first team is we have little money, so until bids are accepted there isn't much we can do, what does seem to be happening is that the youth players we are chasing most have spent some time at the club on a trial so I don't really see this as taking us too much of our time through the window. There's no point in using either Ipswich or Southampton as examples as to my knowledge neither have gone abroad in search of youth players and have focused on either local talent or players from this country. What I see happening with this club now that we've seen the financial results is that the big earners will need to be moved on before we can progress unless Ashley is going to finance a spending spree which is unlikely, until then I don't see the harm in pushing on with improving our youth set up or our scouting network and I would be chuffed if we produced a quarter of the talent Arsenal has. But the financials gives all the more reason to make a calculated gamble now. Look at Ashley's track record, he is if anything a reckless gambler, which has come back and fucked him up the ass on more than one occasion if various voices in the city are to be believed. Of all people, he must see that if he makes a gamble of somewhere between 20-30m now, he could stand a lot more chance of saving himself the 250m he's spunked on us in the first place. Yes, he didn't realise the state we were in, yes he has lost a lot of money in the last few months due to the economic downturn and probably had his hands burned, but then this surely makes an outlay of this amount far less significant in the grand scheme of his overall losses whilst allowing him to stand a far greater chance to maintain what could become his single biggest asset if sports direct shares carry on ebbing away. If we get relegated we will go into administration if he doesn't spunk immense amounts of cash on us each and every year we are down there, possibly even more than he's spent on us already.

Surely we can do both? Certainly, we can work on building the academy structure in the background, but right now it really does seem to be taking up resources that could be doing a more effective job improving the first team. It appears pretty obvious that Wise is involved in more than just the youth set up, in which case during any transfer window he should be focussing on the first team. We can bring in youth players at any time during the season (or at least sign them up on pre-contracts, gentlemen's agreements, etc), so why the sudden spate of activity now? Have this going on behind the scenes all season, sort the first team now, surely? I still think that it is a LOT harder to establish and build up a successful academy whilst the first team are in the shit. If you want to use Ipswich and Southampton as examples of good academies at clubs with rubbish first teams feel free, but i'm not particularly keen to use either of those clubs as examples... So, to answer your question, you would have thought so, but i don't see much evidence of it from those in charge of the club.

A few years? How long has it taken Wenger to be able to do that? But Tooj, if you imagine Wenger built that from the ground up, he built there academy, worked on their methods, what was best, what worked, what didn't. We learn from his mistakes. A good academy takes 3-5 years to apply I would say. When you consider we already have some talent in the shape of Baheng, Kadar, Soderberg, Zamblera, as well as Vukic. We are not at the bottom of the ladder. He also had quite a good first team as well btw. Then it's not just that, it's building a culture as well, having good coaches, players not being afraid to make the step up. As well as all this, we go through the same thing each year with how amazing the Arsenal youth set up is, has been occurring for a good few years now, but lets actually look at their current first team (if fit), off the top of my head: Almunia (bought), Sagna (bought), Gallas (bought), Toure (bought) / Silvestre (bought), Clichy (youth), Fabregas (youth), Nasri (bought), Rosicky (bought), Walcott (bought), Van Persie (bought), Adebayor (bought). Whilst Fabregas and Clichy are fucking class, they came through 3 years ago... Despite the current crop being showered with praise, as the teams in previous years were, loads of these players are not making the step up. The likes of Diaby, Senderos, Song, Denilson, Eboue and Bendtner have all looked far from world beaters when they have been used. This is the top current academy that has been operating its policy since Wenger came in over ten years ago. We are a club in crisis, where (from the outside) we appear to have no idea who is running what at the club, a manager who most of us assumed dead prior to his appointment and an owner / chairman / director of football despised by the majority, with a very precarious league position. Us signing a load of promising young players will more than likely end just the same way as when we signed the star players, with their careers being pretty fucked as a result, it will just be cheaper. The club needs to be fixed from the top down, with a structure that is clear and a first team squad the priority, then we can start building on the youth side of things extensively. What we are doing is ass about face. The double winning Arsenal side in 1998 wasn't exactly full of local / youth players brought in by Wenger, it was a quality team full of fucking great players, this gave them the platform to attract the best youth in the world and build the academy they have. We have very little chance of competing whilst the first team is a shambles. They may not be world beaters but they are excellent finacial supplemnts should the club need it, lookinga those 6 players its fair to say that should they not make it at Arsenal, they'd make it somewhere else, they'd also cost a fair bit my guess would be £30-40m for that lot. Theres the real value in youth, its win win. But that was my point, they were the players produced at the best academy in the Prem, which has been set up for years and had the backing of a premiership winning first team... We do not have the draw they do and i would say it was very naive to say, after a year and a bit of the Ashley regime (and less than a year of wise and co) that we have a better scouting network, our coaching is not of the same standard and we are generally inferior in so many other aspects it's untrue... It stands to reason that what we produce will be far less talented than what they do, unless we put ourselves in the position, through our management, structure, ownership and league position, to do so. We have to fix the immediate problems before providing a long term solution.

A few years? How long has it taken Wenger to be able to do that? But Tooj, if you imagine Wenger built that from the ground up, he built there academy, worked on their methods, what was best, what worked, what didn't. We learn from his mistakes. A good academy takes 3-5 years to apply I would say. When you consider we already have some talent in the shape of Baheng, Kadar, Soderberg, Zamblera, as well as Vukic. We are not at the bottom of the ladder. He also had quite a good first team as well btw. Then it's not just that, it's building a culture as well, having good coaches, players not being afraid to make the step up. As well as all this, we go through the same thing each year with how amazing the Arsenal youth set up is, has been occurring for a good few years now, but lets actually look at their current first team (if fit), off the top of my head: Almunia (bought), Sagna (bought), Gallas (bought), Toure (bought) / Silvestre (bought), Clichy (youth), Fabregas (youth), Nasri (bought), Rosicky (bought), Walcott (bought), Van Persie (bought), Adebayor (bought). Whilst Fabregas and Clichy are fucking class, they came through 3 years ago... Despite the current crop being showered with praise, as the teams in previous years were, loads of these players are not making the step up. The likes of Diaby, Senderos, Song, Denilson, Eboue and Bendtner have all looked far from world beaters when they have been used. This is the top current academy that has been operating its policy since Wenger came in over ten years ago. We are a club in crisis, where (from the outside) we appear to have no idea who is running what at the club, a manager who most of us assumed dead prior to his appointment and an owner / chairman / director of football despised by the majority, with a very precarious league position. Us signing a load of promising young players will more than likely end just the same way as when we signed the star players, with their careers being pretty fucked as a result, it will just be cheaper. The club needs to be fixed from the top down, with a structure that is clear and a first team squad the priority, then we can start building on the youth side of things extensively. What we are doing is ass about face. The double winning Arsenal side in 1998 wasn't exactly full of local / youth players brought in by Wenger, it was a quality team full of fucking great players, this gave them the platform to attract the best youth in the world and build the academy they have. We have very little chance of competing whilst the first team is a shambles.

Dirt cheap compared to Brucey's valuation of him. In today's market that's a terribly low price. Is he out of contract in June? I can't see why else he's been allowed to leave for so little. Yeah, he's out of contract. But I'm sure Bruce said it'd take double figures to get him. It would appear, contrary to popular belief, Bruce's price is not right... Sorry, slow day...

You must have left a year or three before i started... Always used to hear various not so nice stories about her. Nasser Hussain was another who always attracted his share of vitriol from various college members... 92-95, we were always on the lookout for her as basically she was posh / famous fanny. You didnt see much of that growing up in Whitley. Hmmm... make that a year or 10 before I was there! How old is Yorath anyhow?! Thought she was only early 30s, but obv. not if at uni then

You must have left a year or three before i started... Always used to hear various not so nice stories about her. Nasser Hussain was another who always attracted his share of vitriol from various college members...

Window doesn't shut until 2nd of Feb, but wouldn't actually surprise me if those in charge of our transfer policy even knew that.

Not sure if it's posted elsewhere, but get the feeling we could be one of the teams the agent is talking about here re Inler: http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_4796835,00.html

I may be wrong, but going into things half hearted always seems to be a far easier way of getting an injury than going in 100%. Owen wouldn't have scored the opener against Portsmouth had he been shirking 50/50s, if a decision has been made for him to now stop going for them, then we just should not be playing him. The whole idea of being a goal poacher, which is in my view what he now is, is to stick your head / boot into places to try and nick a goal, if he is taking this away from his game, there ain't too much left? That said, i'm going on what has been said on this thread and what was said on the radio last night, i couldn't bring myself to watch the highlights. Also, in some ways, if he gets injured then we may be the only team willing to offer him anything like what he wants and this might lead to us standing more chance of keeping him long term. I certainly don't think Kinnear would have told him to avoid 50/50s though.

Grab as many as you can... http://www.kodak.com/US/images/en/corp/1000words/jennyc/joelStraws.jpg

FYP

Good news and all, but not sure of impact on Owen's contract? well surely if Owen's watching it'll put things into perspective. He'll think, ah bollocks to it, what's an extra 20k. Not sure whether "bollocks to it" would be quite the correct sentiment

Good news and all, but not sure of impact on Owen's contract?

Was in a pub full of mackems in Durham for this game... Remember as the winner went in i went mental, sadly didn't realise the pub also had rather low ceilings so as i jumped skywards i smashed back to the floor with a massive cut in my head. Safe to say i soldiered on into the earlier hours, the one time in my life i can say i was literally soaked in blood, sweat and tears. Up there with the best nights i've had as a toon fan but probably don't top Grimsby away...

Answer is, err, yes!

Not sure if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but amusing read. Why i love f365 http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8751_4582643,00.html