Jackie Broon

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.

We're in a catch 22, the players of top 4 quality wont sign for us, partly because of geography but mostly because we're not in the top 4. We can't get in the top 4 because we haven't got enough players of that quality. So we need to build towards qualifying for Europe first, then maybe we can attract the players to get to the next level. Imo to really push for Europe we need: Richard Dunn - 4m? A left back of Beye-ish quality - 7m? A defensive midfielder who can pass - 7m? An attacking midfielder who will create and get goals - 10-15m? A pacy right winger who can cross - 10-15m? A big, powerful, pacy striker who can hold the ball up - 15-20m? So that's say £70m-ish to get us challenging for fifth. To move from there to the next level? Well we might get lucky and find the players we have are good enough or we might have to spend double or triple that again.

So we've only got £20m to spend but were wiling to blow £18m of it on one player? Doesn't ring true to me. Even if they have got the info from a genuine 'insider' I just think we're being a bit canny to stop clubs inflating their players' values because they think we have loads to spend. As probably happened last summer.

Aye, it was only formed in the 70s, it's basically just a franchise.

Gianluigi Lentini - Went to Milan for a then world record fee of £13m in 1992. Injured in a car crash in 1993 and barely played again for Milan. Left in 97 for £2m.

The fact that he's not on any of those lists just highlights how bad a signing he was. He's been so bad that everyone outside of Newcastle has forgotten that he exists.

Even among our own. Heard a Chinese couple getting all sorts of abuse from a pair of Stone Island wearing twats while leaving Milburn Level 7 a couple of seasons back. As for funny. Saw an unsuspecting photographer get clobbered by an avalanche of snow falling from the top of the roof on the Leazes end

The problem with South American youngsters is getting work permits. By the time they're in a position to get a UK work permit they've typically already been snapped up by clubs in other European countries that don't have such strict requirements.

Thomas Gravesen, Olivier Bernard. What goes around comes around.

I think there's a good chance of that now. Spurs have signed Modric, so they're not going to want to splash out £7m+ on another left winger. I can't see Arsenal being interested at the money we would want either. That leaves who in London, West Ham? Well their money seems to have dried-up so probably not. Certainly not Fulham and Chelsea wouldn't be interested. So it looks like he'll struggle to get his move down to London.

I doubt that's true. Tbh, if I were a top player, with no connection to Newcastle, the club would have to do some selling to get me to come here rather than London.

Lots of people have been bigging it up but I do have my concerns about our new structure and the lack of involvement of Keegan in transfer dealings. With his passion and enthusiasm for Newcastle United he could sell the club to anyone. But Wise and Jimenez? They have no connection to the club or the region. They live in London and I'm sure if they were required to move up here they would resign rather than leave the big smoke for a 'northern backwater' like Newcastle. How are they meant to sell Newcastle United to top players?

Oh right. So that's why Chelsea won 2 titles then... Playing 451. Our 433 is completely different. Ours isn't really a 433 it's more of a 442 diamond with a Owen at the tip of the diamond, Viduka up front and Martins free to drift around and provide width.

French woman,,objected and got it stopped,. think she has now departed, god rest her soul... its too late now tho,, its st james forever It would've been contrary to the city development plan, as the area is designated as a conservation area. So it would've gone to a public enquiry whatever, which gives the final say to the secretary of state. A few people protesting against it wouldn't have made one bit of difference. There are objectors to virtually every major planning application, if they had the power to stop things nothing would ever get built. When planning applications are refused it is for planning (and sometimes political) reasons, not because of individuals protesting. But the application for Castle Leazes wasn't refused. For whatever reason John Hall pulled the plans before the process had really started. Who knows what the final decision of the secretary of state would've been, Liverpool's stadium on Stanley park was approved at public enquiry, despite local residents objecting to it. Tbh, I think it was probably pulled for financial reasons more than anything, when it became clear there was no money in the 'sporting club' idea. As for other sites. Well, the area of moorland over the road from the BBC isn't designated as part of the town moor.

They finance themselves, the money they spend they generate, they have a strict pay structure and they don't spend more then they generate. 3/4 New kits EVERY season generates a lot of money, add that to their sponsorship deals. We make roughly double what Spurs do from merchandising. Anyway, merchandising and sponsorship are only a small proportion of a club's revenue, the majority comes from match-day revenue and TV money. Because they charge London prices they make a bit more from match-day revenue, but not much. Yes but we pay out over half our income on wages they don't. They don't, yet. That'll change if they carry on as they are.

Can I change my vote to Diego?

They finance themselves, the money they spend they generate, they have a strict pay structure and they don't spend more then they generate. 3/4 New kits EVERY season generates a lot of money, add that to their sponsorship deals. We make roughly double what Spurs do from merchandising. Anyway, merchandising and sponsorship are only a small proportion of a club's revenue, the majority comes from match-day revenue and TV money. Because they charge London prices they make a bit more from match-day revenue, but not much.