bealios

I think we need a lot more than £15m - £20m. The problem is that our defence looks fairly sound, and we don't need a new keeper urgently, as we have decent back up as well. So our main requirements are in midfield and Premier League class striker. That tends to be more expensive than any other part of the team, but it could be the difference between staying up and going down. Bent at Sunderland being the classic example. Robbie Keane would be my shout for that sort of player.

A lot of people on this forum have commented that it is too soon to judge whether things have improved at board level, and the test will be this summer when we find out what funds are made available to strengthen the team. Assuming we go up and dont have any big player sales, what do you thing would be an acceptable transfer budget for Ashley to make available to achieve next seasons goals (which surely must be at best to aim for a mid table finish and move on from there)? I reckon £15m - £20m would give us a good chance of finishing above 7 or 8 of the lesser teams in the Premier League.

yes......................and no. an obituary is ok, especially when it's a player we are aware of. its not good when people throw in a 'RIP' to show they care when really they don't know squat about the person. putting that 'RIP' in is as tacky as those who had their 6 yr olds sign Robsons condolence book. I didn't know Jackie Milburn, or see him play, but I read enough about Newcastle United's history to know that he was a legend, on and off the pitch. I hope to god that my kids end up supporting NUFC, and if we never hit the heights we've hit in recent years I'll make sure I tell them about the time when we used to be good, and the world's greatest players actually used to play for us, and if they sign books of condolence for Shearer, Beardsley or anyone else then I don't think its tacky, more a case of giving them a proper football education. i took my kids to see the robson memorial tribute. i signed the book. they wanted to, i wouldnt let them as, to me, it wouldn't have been honest, But if you let them, and part of doing that involved you taking them home and spending the rest of the night telling them what he had achieved, and threw a few DVD's in to boot, then it might have been worth it. Not that I'm telling you how to bring up your kids or anything they know about him but at aged 6 and 10 can they honestly say "thanks" or "RIP".....no Maybe not, but in my experience kids choose the team they follow for life from the ages of 6 - 10, and if letting them get involved with something the grown ups are doing that they might not completely understand but are interested in, and that means they end up supporting NUFC and not one of the Sky 4 then I would drop my principled stand! how many people do you think went along, some with kids, some without, to sign that book and give the most lovely platitudes even though it really mattered little to them ? Dont know mate, sadly probably quite a few. There did seemed to be a slight element of Princess Diana syndrome, although I wasnt in the north east at the time so cant really say. Point I was getting that though was more that a genuine SBR fan who knew his career and what he had done, might not necessarly be being tacky by getting a young kid to sign a book of condolense or something similar

yes......................and no. an obituary is ok, especially when it's a player we are aware of. its not good when people throw in a 'RIP' to show they care when really they don't know squat about the person. putting that 'RIP' in is as tacky as those who had their 6 yr olds sign Robsons condolence book. I didn't know Jackie Milburn, or see him play, but I read enough about Newcastle United's history to know that he was a legend, on and off the pitch. I hope to god that my kids end up supporting NUFC, and if we never hit the heights we've hit in recent years I'll make sure I tell them about the time when we used to be good, and the world's greatest players actually used to play for us, and if they sign books of condolence for Shearer, Beardsley or anyone else then I don't think its tacky, more a case of giving them a proper football education. i took my kids to see the robson memorial tribute. i signed the book. they wanted to, i wouldnt let them as, to me, it wouldn't have been honest, But if you let them, and part of doing that involved you taking them home and spending the rest of the night telling them what he had achieved, and threw a few DVD's in to boot, then it might have been worth it. Not that I'm telling you how to bring up your kids or anything they know about him but at aged 6 and 10 can they honestly say "thanks" or "RIP".....no Maybe not, but in my experience kids choose the team they follow for life from the ages of 6 - 10, and if letting them get involved with something the grown ups are doing that they might not completely understand but are interested in, and that means they end up supporting NUFC and not one of the Sky 4 then I would drop my principled stand!

yes......................and no. an obituary is ok, especially when it's a player we are aware of. its not good when people throw in a 'RIP' to show they care when really they don't know squat about the person. putting that 'RIP' in is as tacky as those who had their 6 yr olds sign Robsons condolence book. I didn't know Jackie Milburn, or see him play, but I read enough about Newcastle United's history to know that he was a legend, on and off the pitch. I hope to god that my kids end up supporting NUFC, and if we never hit the heights we've hit in recent years I'll make sure I tell them about the time when we used to be good, and the world's greatest players actually used to play for us, and if they sign books of condolence for Shearer, Beardsley or anyone else then I don't think its tacky, more a case of giving them a proper football education. i took my kids to see the robson memorial tribute. i signed the book. they wanted to, i wouldnt let them as, to me, it wouldn't have been honest, But if you let them, and part of doing that involved you taking them home and spending the rest of the night telling them what he had achieved, and threw a few DVD's in to boot, then it might have been worth it. Not that I'm telling you how to bring up your kids or anything

yes......................and no. an obituary is ok, especially when it's a player we are aware of. its not good when people throw in a 'RIP' to show they care when really they don't know squat about the person. putting that 'RIP' in is as tacky as those who had their 6 yr olds sign Robsons condolence book. I didn't know Jackie Milburn, or see him play, but I read enough about Newcastle United's history to know that he was a legend, on and off the pitch. I hope to god that my kids end up supporting NUFC, and if we never hit the heights we've hit in recent years I'll make sure I tell them about the time when we used to be good, and the world's greatest players actually used to play for us, and if they sign books of condolence for Shearer, Beardsley or anyone else then I don't think its tacky, more a case of giving them a proper football education.

I'm no fan of Shepherd, honestly. But he can't be blaimed for our relegation as Ashley had plenty of chances to turn things around. I think it's probably more accurate to say that because of Shepherd (and a little bad luck if truth be told) we were transformed to a lower md table side who were only a couple of poor football decisions at board level away from being relegated. Enter stage right Mike Ashley. If Ashley had bought us in 2003/2004 I doubt he would have had us relegated in 2 seasons.

There we go again, saying the debt has been paid off. If i do a transfer balance from one credit card to another I suppose I could tell the wife that Ive paid the credit card off It doesnt mean that I am now debt free. How can we be better off financially if we now owe more and are earning less? Is it just because theyve said we have a financial plan in place? a plan that we dont really know about and wont untill next season. and yes the past is history, but we judge people on there past actions and Ashley's past actions havent exactly been deserving of our trust has it?. as for your last sentence.....twat OK, you're right, the debt at the moment still exists. However, the difference with your credit card example is that no interest is being paid, so in financial terms the monthly club outgoings are the same as if the £110m debt did not exist. The problems evident at Man Utd and Liverpool at the moment are not the sheer size of the debt as such, its the fact that such large debt needs servicing with interest payments, and that for both clubs, a couple of years outside the CL places and they would be absolutely fucked as they couldn't afford the interest. NUFC do not have that to worry about. If the club was sold, it would have been effectively sold debt free (save for Barclays as I've said). I'm certainly not going to put on an internet message board how I know that, and if you don't want to believe me I'm not too bothered, but do you really think that this summer Ashley was trying to sell NUFC for £200M + and he actually had some interested parties (including Shepherd at one stage)? Keeping on topic, the original question is a bit daft. Of course the club is heading in the right direction this season, as we are top of the league. Is the club heading in the right direction, assessed over Ashley's entire reign? Of course not, we're a league lower. How long will it take NUFC to get back to the point we were at before he took over? We'll find out next season. My own view is that squad wise we were a lower middle table club, and had really been that way since Robson left, bar an overperforming run in under Roeder and some fortunate results elsewhere.

To use the Everton blueprint you need a highly skilled and talented manager. I genuinely rate Moyses alongside Wenger in terms of what he has done at Everton. As much as I like him, Hughton isn't of that standard, and I'm not sure we could convince anyone of that standard to come (at the moment).

The price for the club was £100m in the summer, and this would have been for a debt free club, apart from the Barclays overdraft facility. THere would have been no money owed to Ashley. The price dropped to £80m at the last minute, but nobody had the cash. I thought everyone had accepted this? THe idea that Ashley was trying to sell the club for £100m and after the sale the new owner would still owe Ashley £100m is nonsense. And your source for this is? The horses mouth.

The price for the club was £100m in the summer, and this would have been for a debt free club, apart from the Barclays overdraft facility. THere would have been no money owed to Ashley. The price dropped to £80m at the last minute, but nobody had the cash. I thought everyone had accepted this? THe idea that Ashley was trying to sell the club for £100m and after the sale the new owner would still owe Ashley £100m is nonsense.

Agree with this, although I think the teams who grind out the results on the way to being promoted tend to do better than the teams who play more attractive football on the way up like West Brom, maybe because surviving in the Premier League in the first season up involves defending well and grinding out results. Newly promoted teams are not going to be able to "out-football" a lot of premier league teams in the first season.

That doesn't make any sense at all. I don't want to hear about promotion plans until we are mathematically sure. Baba - if we beat Forest will you accept we're up? Forget about the maths. Mathematically we can win the Premier League next year, but I bet we won't.

I think going back to 92/93 the average points to take you up (in second place) is 86 points. I don't think that it is going to be too different this year (i.e. 3rd place gets 85 or less).

The "lets not celebrate" stuff is bollocks. Before the West Brom game at the start of the season I would have not been surprised if someone had looked into their crystal ball and told me that at the end of the season we would have dropped another league like Leeds, and be stuck down there for years. Many people, both fans and commentators were of the same view. It was seen as just as likely as bouncing straight back, moreso after Leyton Orient. We're now pretty much guaranteed promotion, and have a shot at going up as champions. We also don't have that bad a squad for next year, certainly something to work on. Not sure about the pitch invasion at home though, definitely think it will happen away.

The difference was that at the end of last season the Championship was seen as Armageddon, unthinkable, horrific, something that would make us sink without trace. Part of the fear of relegation was fear of the unknown. The reality is that it has been an enjoyable season, get to visit some "proper" football grounds, away from the overhyped overpaid Premier League. Maybe next year the fact that it isn't the end of the world will stop the fear seeping from the terraces and getting to the players. Maybe not. Maybe we will be calling for Hughton's head at the end of the transfer window because we've only taken 10 points from 8 games or something (which is survival form incidentally).

Careful. I'm basing it more on the last few games rather than today. But I thought over the whole 90 minutes today this wasn't the best performance, but they turned it round in the end. We're going to need a lot of players next year who don't give up when we're two goals down, because, lets face it, its going to happen a lot.

To be honest I thought it was another gimmick, but I was dragged to watch ALice in Wonderland 3D last week and they showed a clip of Sky Sports in 3D. Have to admit, it was very impressive. Wouldn't make me go out and buy a new TV, but next time I need to, I will probably make sure it can do 3D.

In real terms we can't be caught by anyone below Leicester.

Second half today affirms that Jonas, Enrique, Carroll, Guthrie, Colo have improved as players, and are definitely top 6 - 10 players next year. With Barton and Taylor that's a fairly decent spine to work around.

GET THE FUCK IN!!!!!!

I'm afraid I might have cursed us this week. I only need Newcastle to win today for my 6 game accummulator to come in. I never win.

They still have a decent size membership, so they do what they should have been doing all along. Aim to get bigger, be properly representative, and focus on things which benefit fans such as the absurd decision to move the Plymouth game etc...

I don't think at all that it was inevitable that if we had stayed with Halls and Shepherds we would have went into administration. However, what is likely is that we would endured at least 3 years of Allardyce, as the pot dwindled, and the risk that the £70m banking facility that we had with Northern Rock was about to fall payable, and nobody was around to refinance it. I don't think this would have led to administration, as if we had kept Allardyce we would be about as good as Blackburn are now, so would have kept the Premier League cash. But around about the start of the 2010/2011 season we would have been in a dire financial position, one relegation away from doing a Portsmouth, with roughly the same quality squad that we have now (with perhaps less younger players and more seasoned pros playing in the Allardyce way). Mystic Meg eat your heart out.

Who would have thought you would have that view with your avatar! Seriously though, you could argue that the league as it is, is equally a mockery, as essentially 2nd to 4th place mean the same thing. I'm sure Villa's willingness to finish 4th instead of 7th with a play off system would be just as strong as Liverpool's incentive to finish 3rd instead of 4th in the current system. You could also incentivise the play offs by giving the 4th and 5th placed teams the away tie first for instance. I accept that the only way this whole thing will work though is if you cut the league down to 18 team. There is no way you're going to get 16 clubs voting for play offs AND a reduction in the league numbers, too much self interest.