Jackie Broon

he was paid to score goals and he hasn't for over 4 months, so he has to take a large proportion If it hadn't been for his performances towards the end of last season we would've been relegated a year earlier. It's not Owen's fault we were relegated, it's the fault of the hierarchy of the club for not heading the warning of that near miss and not signing players to fill the gaping hole of creativity in our midfield that has crippled every other part of the team for the past few seasons.

Well, before planing Spurs away we had to win three of our last six, minimum. I can't see that happening. We're down too!

Imo, the seeds were planted in the summer of 2002 when Sir Bobby, instead of strengthening the squad that faded into third, wasted millions on unproven, raw 'talents' who never lived up to their potential in Viana, Bramble and (to a lesser extent) Jenas. That, plus the purchase the one legged Woodgate, left nothing in the kitty for the summer of 2003. Which led to us signing Bowyer on a free and it has been down hill ever since.

Win-win-win for us tomorrow. If we lose or draw it'll dump the mackems into the relegation zone

Saw Tim Krul in the Sainsburys at Benton t'other day. Pulling along one of those girly shopping baskets on wheels, like a big (but, surprisingly, not that big) girl.

Just had a look as his wiki profile. He's twice as wealthy as Abramovich

It's not so much the looking for players. It is him being involved in pursuading them to come here. There is no one better qualified to do that than Kev, he should be involved in that process.

Wise will never be our manager. He would not move from London. Thank ****!

Wise is a glorified scout who lives in London and works part time. If there is a power struggle, it's got **** all to do with that poison dwarf.

They shouldn't be able to. There would be serious repercussions for any other club that did that but I bet they'll just get a slap on the wrists from the FA, at most.

OPEC countries will be making more money than ever due to the cost of oil, which they are keeping artificially high. The credit crunch only really affects people who need to borrow money from banks, they clearly don't.

Would be funny if they did. Man u would not be happy

He's very good, says he has Italian second nationality. If that's true he wouldn't need a work permit.

What are you on about? Hamstrings, groins and these sort of injuries often happen because something is not right with an athletes biomechanics. Eg. A wonky pelvis or lower back can increase strain on the hamstring and lead to tears. This sort of thing should be picked up at an EPL club and fixed before a player is cleared to play. I think the most disappointing aspect of FSA was that his much-heralded 'sports science' seems to have delivered nothing but less fit players. We really need to have a look at our physio department I think. Our injury rate seems horrendous. It was a few years back, but in that Sir Bobby documentary thing, and 'Goal!', it showed our gym, which was full of weight machines. Which surprised me a bit. Weight machines don't really hit supporting muscles and can lead to unbalances and weaknesses, which could lead to injuries when the muscles, tendons and joints are subject to 'real world' stresses. Really, athletes should be doing their strength training with free-weights and compound exercises. Maybe, if that's still the case, it could be one of the routes of our problems?

In a thread littered with madness and mayhem, this could be the sanest post thus far... The anti-Milner brigade have, in their indignation, thrust aside reason and poured derision on the young winger. Several times throughout this thread well-reasoned posts defending Milner's actions have been ignored - usually in favour of "I'm too lazy to read what others think, but Milner is a c***". Well, I'm with Milner, and I'd be happy to debate with anyone prepared to reason but I don't expect to... Week by week I'm more convinced that Mike Ashley just doesn't understand the nature of the business. And Skirge might be right - if Ashley sells Milner against Kegan's wishes, transfer request or not, then King Kev could very well walk. All of the signings made since the new scouting regime was put in place have looked top draw. We have signed four players in Jonas, Coloccini, Bassong and Guthrie who have all settled straight in, look to have good attitudes and are a massive improvement over those who have left. When was the last time we could say that about one new signing (other than Beye), let alone four?! The problem isn't a lack of funds, commitment and knowledge. It's that, as a club based in the North East, who have not qualified for Europe, who are not likely to challenge for honours, we just aren't an attractive proposition for the £10m+ players. If another club can offer a player European football, the potential to win things and/or a nearby Selfridges/Harvey Nick’s for their wife, they’re always going to pick them over us.

For years Carr was our best only RB...

I can't really see Gutierrez or, the reborn, Duff fitting into the 4-3-3. So I'd go for a 4-4-1-1, like we played under Keegan 1st time round, with Owen in the Beardsley role. Given Beye Coloccini Faye Enrique Gutierrez Guthrie Barton Duff Owen Martins

he actually done a good bit better than most He was ****in' diabolical until we started playing 433.

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4845/jonased3.jpg Good physical stats, not so good technical stats.

His problems are about more than just the people he had around him or who managed him. He's clearly got loads of deep-seated physiological problems, probably stemming back to seeing his friend killed when he was a kid. He probably would've ended up in the same boat whether he'd stayed at Newcastle, or even not made it as a professional footballer.

Everton have had a very good season, but I just don't think they have the financial muscle to make the step up to the top four. Aston Villa might if they are heavily backed by Learner, but he seems to be running them more like a business than a Chelski style money pit. Man City have the financial backing but with Shinawatra in charge they probably won't ever have the stability needed to crack the top four. Spurs are probably the most likely but, other than the League Cup, they didn't really look like top four contenders at any point last season. Really, the only way any club is going to consistently crack the top four is if one of the current top four fall apart. That's not going to happen to Arsenal, unlikely to happen to Man U. The most likely senarios are: Liverpool's infighting and debt forces them to sell their best players, although that's unlikely with super-rich DIC waiting in the wings. Something happens to Abramovich or he gets bored and decides Chelsea have to stop running at a loss. Otherwise I think we're stuck with the same top four for a long time to come.

Spot on. I'm sure there was more of a celebration after the semi-final. There was more life from us when we'd lost the final! Especially the first one. When the Arse collected the trophy all you could hear on the tv was us singing 'Geordie Boot Boys'.

Scott Parker is twice the player Alan Smith is. Parker can do spinning around AND falling over.

Where to? He's not good enough for the gooners or Chelsea, Spurs have signed two left sided attacking mids since they were interested and West Ham are broke.

Neither do I. Maybe £50m, max. But, that might be enough to get what we need.