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He plays feckin awful football and if his scouting network was so good how the hell did he sign Cisse, Cheyrou, Traore et al?! I would rather have Hughes than Houllier.

I think we could have got Hiddink had Russia not qualified for Euro 08 but there is no way he'll walk out on them prior to the Euro Championships and i don't really want Pearson in charge for the rest of the season, so i don't really see how it would work?

Where's all this shortlist info coming from? Something in the papers i've missed?! As for the British thing, SSN all of a sudden dropped it from their list of requirements then tried to peddle out some bollocks about how we had changed our criteria since Redknapp turned us down / went public...

First season with Man City he took them up with a record breaking points total and scored 125 (125!) goals in the process. The next season he took them to 9th in the Premiership. If someone did that now who wasn't Kevin Keegan, the media would be jizzing all over him. I must of missed the Steve Coppell wankfest then as he broke Keegan's record points total and took Reading to 8th in his first season in the Premiership with them. There kind of was actually, was he not heavily touted for / receive manager of the year? The problem with Coppell was that he couldn't handle the pressure when he got a big job like Man Ci... oh...

Of course. Everyone apart from most of the posters on this thread think he was our MOTM on Saturday and that he is one of the very best prem keepers but hey, what do they know. We must have the very best fans in the world for knocking confidence out of players and eventually driving them out of the club into another team where they are supported and hence perform better (Parker and Jenas the latest examples). Given pulled off an awesome save from Ronaldo in the first half. Tell me about the other wonderful things he did on Saturday. Once again i'll repeat, i really rate given as a keeper, i just don't understand how people can be so blinkered.

I now realise why we play in black and white… it’s the only way half our fans are capable of thinking if this thread is anything to go by…

I've established that you are a miserable man and/or your sole purpose on this forum is to bring everyone down to the level you are on with your negativity. People must get really bored of you. The fact people complain about Given astonishes me. He was our best or second best player against Man Utd. He has been with us for what 10 years? He's rejected advances from other clubs to remain loyal to us. We always expect players to be proud of the shirt they are playing in and to pay us back with what we put into our club. Given does this. Enrique and Taylor were, in my view, without doubt the best two players for us on Saturday. Given had a mare. I sometimes think that we don't deserve the loyalty Given has shown us. Dude, i'm saying he had a bad game... Just because he's been loyal makes him completely immune to any criticism whatsoever?! You'll see earlier in the thread i'm not advocating selling him, i just don't think he's had the best of seasons - by his own high standards especially. I would also question the whole 'amazingly loyal servant' label served up, after all as soon as he was out the team he spat the dummy and handed in a transfer request, not exactly loyalty personified. But again, my position is thus - harper had the jersey due to injury to given earlier in the season, harper did absolutely nothing to deserve to have it taken away, in fact he was in nets for some of our best performances this season. As given came back, our form has gradually declined (starting with Man City away), i'm certainly not saying it's all (or even mainly) his fault, i just think if you look back over the season there are a few instances where he has to be held culpable for goals conceded. All the rest of the defence take an absolute hiding on here (beye fairly excluded thus far) so i think it's only fair a modicum of blame falls with Shay if his performances aren't up to it. I'm not questioning his place at the club, just his place in the team for parts of this season (the same as I would with Owen).

Not self-depreciation, just realism i'm afraid. We have a goalkeeper who makes Paul Robinson look competent, a comical defence, a midfield that can't string two passes together and a striker who scores every solar eclipse. But you beat Derby... something we couldn't achieve!

I'm bringing my dad up for the match this weekend, he hasn't been to a game for a few years, he's just had the worst year of his life, lost both his parents and split with his missus and i'm taking him to this... I think this match might actually be more painful...

I've established that you are a miserable man and/or your sole purpose on this forum is to bring everyone down to the level you are on with your negativity. People must get really bored of you. The fact people complain about Given astonishes me. He was our best or second best player against Man Utd. He has been with us for what 10 years? He's rejected advances from other clubs to remain loyal to us. We always expect players to be proud of the shirt they are playing in and to pay us back with what we put into our club. Given does this. Enrique and Taylor were, in my view, without doubt the best two players for us on Saturday. Given had a mare.

Aren’t those quotes they keep using saying he’s happy just recycled from last week when everyone thought Redknapp was going to get the job? He has been far less keen to state he wants to stay since that fell through, as far as I’m aware.

Would be up there as one of my top choices but seems to get strangely ignored... Plays the type of football we'd want to see and the Valencia board did what our board did to Robson, sacking him after just a few games of a new season. Isn't working at the moment as well. Can't see it happening though.

Not at all. The thread is about whether or not clubs should sign African players in the knowledge that they will lose them to the ACN every other January. The thread can continue but I'm of the opinion that no matter how much one twists and whinges, the ACN in January are here to stay so they should be accepted and embraced. Nothing more. Hmmm.... i'd completely forgot what the first post said, apologies!

So you believe this thread should be closed and this convo shouldn't take place then?

Excellent article. You think if the second tier managers achieved great success they wouldn't move to a top, top club? Wouldn't mind if he pissed off to Manure because that would mean we were successful. I'm an idealist, i hope our success will include us no longer being classed as second tier

You're getting far too upset over this. This is the way Africa have organised their football calender. No matter how much you twist and whine, they won't change it. Do you hear African football fans complain because the winter Premiership fixtures interfere with the build-up to the ACN? Thought not. Hehe, i'm not getting upset about the ACN schedule, i honestly don't care, i'm sat around on the sofa at home and thought it was a vaguely interesting convo, what irritated me was you preaching to me about the matter, re-iterating things i already know and trying to make out that i'm proposing sweeping reforms of the African game! I just expressed a couple of ideas! Grief, are you on all the other threads telling people their opinions are irrelevant as they're not actually going to make a difference at the end of the day "however much they twist and whine" or have you just chosen to on this one because you mistakenly believe your soap box stance makes you seem more politically conscious?! Aye, that's it... So, go on, why then? Because you appear to think you should be able to change the entire football calender of an entire continent so it doesn't have any adverse affect on NUFC. Or, if I'm mistaken, why are you against the ACN being held right now? Ok, this is what i've said (to answer your question, i've no objection to it taking place, i was just interested to see if another time would be more suitable for all parties): All my other comments are either repeating what i've already said or badly attempting to be funny. C'mon, it's not like i'm really having a go, i'm just voicing (very mildly i might add!) a view that it might be an idea to change something, whether that be the prem / europe / africa

You're getting far too upset over this. This is the way Africa have organised their football calender. No matter how much you twist and whine, they won't change it. Do you hear African football fans complain because the winter Premiership fixtures interfere with the build-up to the ACN? Thought not. Hehe, i'm not getting upset about the ACN schedule, i honestly don't care, i'm sat around on the sofa at home and thought it was a vaguely interesting convo, what irritated me was you preaching to me about the matter, re-iterating things i already know and trying to make out that i'm proposing sweeping reforms of the African game! I just expressed a couple of ideas! Grief, are you on all the other threads telling people their opinions are irrelevant as they're not actually going to make a difference at the end of the day "however much they twist and whine" or have you just chosen to on this one because you mistakenly believe your soap box stance makes you seem more politically conscious?! African needs might become more powerful as thier players become more and more key in the Euro game. Just a thought. Totally agree... In fact i agree most opinions in this thread are pretty reasonable conversation points on a massively contentious issue - you can see why there has been no change as there are groundswells of opinion to support all arguments and counter arguments. It would be good if they could sort something (another IDEA, and very unlikely i realise, would be something like having World Cup every 4 yrs and then Copa America, Euro Champs and ACN the summers in between - that way, players would get the odd summer off which they constantly whinge about never having in Europe, all tournaments would get sole exposure on their summer and the world cup would remain as is).

You're getting far too upset over this. This is the way Africa have organised their football calender. No matter how much you twist and whine, they won't change it. Do you hear African football fans complain because the winter Premiership fixtures interfere with the build-up to the ACN? Thought not. Hehe, i'm not getting upset about the ACN schedule, i honestly don't care, i'm sat around on the sofa at home and thought it was a vaguely interesting convo, what irritated me was you preaching to me about the matter, re-iterating things i already know and trying to make out that i'm proposing sweeping reforms of the African game! I just expressed a couple of ideas! Grief, are you on all the other threads telling people their opinions are irrelevant as they're not actually going to make a difference at the end of the day "however much they twist and whine" or have you just chosen to on this one because you mistakenly believe your soap box stance makes you seem more politically conscious?! Aye, that's it... So, go on, why then?

You're getting far too upset over this. This is the way Africa have organised their football calender. No matter how much you twist and whine, they won't change it. Do you hear African football fans complain because the winter Premiership fixtures interfere with the build-up to the ACN? Thought not. Hehe, i'm not getting upset about the ACN schedule, i honestly don't care, i'm sat around on the sofa at home and thought it was a vaguely interesting convo, what irritated me was you preaching to me about the matter, re-iterating things i already know and trying to make out that i'm proposing sweeping reforms of the African game! I just expressed a couple of ideas! Grief, are you on all the other threads telling people their opinions are irrelevant as they're not actually going to make a difference at the end of the day "however much they twist and whine" or have you just chosen to on this one because you mistakenly believe your soap box stance makes you seem more politically conscious?!

And what's more upsetting is i tried to edit to put one at the end of mine and in my rush couldn't find the correct fecking smiley. dammit. Oh, and touche by the way.

I'd just drawn up a petition to get you guys to sign as well... You've blown my entire scheme out the water. It's like my life's work, down the drain Righto. K, apologies for the sarcasm, i just think saying that i was telling an entire continent when they should play football is a bit extreme, i was merely suggesting it in light of the current problems that have arisen. I mean, your argument states of a need for more exposure but then you state it is arrogance to have the whole thing organised around the major leagues in the world. Surely if that's who the exposure is for then it would make sense to arrange around this? Now, i'm not saying they should / should not move the tournament, I am just saying that a lot of people, including the players, think there may be a better solution. As a bystander, i was solely offering a suggestion as to what might help, not demanding changes, i thought the concept of such discussions was to offer such alternatives? I realise my view is of no influence whatsoever, otherwise i wouldn't be on here bandying it about! I fully respect each and every continent / FA / team / player's right to their own view and to do things how they wish - doesn't necessarily mean i have to agree with them! I'm not trying to say English / European needs are greater, far from it, i'm just suggesting it might be right trying to work out a compromise - that would be good both for European and African football If the ACN were to be held in June/July then it would lead to several problems. One is the climate/geography of Africa. Another is the fact that the ACN would inevitably be competing with either the European or S. American Championships or the World Cup for viewers, sponsorship and attention from the rest of the world. Any club worth it's salt is going to have a squad of scouts in Ghana in the next few weeks. Watching games and looking at potential players. Not sure that would be possible if it clashed with Euro 2008 this summer. Africa can hold their tournament/qualifiers whenever it likes no matter how many European fans complain about it. Deal with it. In fact, why don't you guys just shut this forum down? Ashley and Mort will choose their own manager after all, so there's no point discussing it, we should just deal with it, the players will play however they play, there's no point discussing it, just deal with it, etc. etc. Get off your pedestal man, i'm just hypothosising a view. Read further up i quite clearly said it would probably be too warm to move the tournament, i said that having a winter break in the prem would be a good idea. Your view appears to be 'this is the way it is, it should not / will not change, stop discussing it'... And then stick a patronising little smiley on the end, nice work.

I'd just drawn up a petition to get you guys to sign as well... You've blown my entire scheme out the water. It's like my life's work, down the drain Righto. K, apologies for the sarcasm, i just think saying that i was telling an entire continent when they should play football is a bit extreme, i was merely suggesting it in light of the current problems that have arisen. I mean, your argument states of a need for more exposure but then you state it is arrogance to have the whole thing organised around the major leagues in the world. Surely if that's who the exposure is for then it would make sense to arrange around this? Now, i'm not saying they should / should not move the tournament, I am just saying that a lot of people, including the players, think there may be a better solution. As a bystander, i was solely offering a suggestion as to what might help, not demanding changes, i thought the concept of such discussions was to offer such alternatives? I realise my view is of no influence whatsoever, otherwise i wouldn't be on here bandying it about! I fully respect each and every continent / FA / team / player's right to their own view and to do things how they wish - doesn't necessarily mean i have to agree with them! I'm not trying to say English / European needs are greater, far from it, i'm just suggesting it might be right trying to work out a compromise - that would be good both for European and African football

I'd just drawn up a petition to get you guys to sign as well... You've blown my entire scheme out the water. It's like my life's work, down the drain

Perhaps?? But that's a different argument. African Internationals benefit from having every single June and July off, year in - year out. The fact that a handful of European clubs have to make do without a few players from it's squad's for about a month isn't reason enough to alter the African football calender imo. To assume the world football calender should be organised to accommodate the Premiership, Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga is beyond arrogance. So african teams don't play in the world cup now?! Apart from 4 African nations who play in the World Cup every 4th Summer for a month... As well as: African countries will have to play their first four qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup on successive weekends, FIFA said last Friday. The first group phase of the qualifiers begin at the end of May and conclude in September. :parky: If you hadn't have told me, I'd have never have known..... Hence my earlier assertion that African football needs more exposure. So should they move the qualifiers to Jan / Feb sort of time? Get them all away from the Euro championship, like!?

Perhaps?? But that's a different argument. African Internationals benefit from having every single June and July off, year in - year out. The fact that a handful of European clubs have to make do without a few players from it's squad's for about a month isn't reason enough to alter the African football calender imo. To assume the world football calender should be organised to accommodate the Premiership, Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga is beyond arrogance. So african teams don't play in the world cup now?! Apart from 4 African nations who play in the World Cup every 4th Summer for a month... As well as: African countries will have to play their first four qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup on successive weekends, FIFA said last Friday. The first group phase of the qualifiers begin at the end of May and conclude in September. :parky: