bealios

TO be honest FFS hasn't said anything bad on Sky, hasn't made an arse of himself yet. That reporter is a tosser though "DO you think Kevin got a bit emotional over the transfer window" - what a twat

IF KK is on his way, my best guess on this, avoiding the media based crap is: KK: Mike, you've made me look like a twat, we got 2 players yesterday and I was told we would have 4 or 5 through the door. We're short on numbers and clearly this recruitment policy isn't working. I need more control. I can't manage without having input on how recruitment works - evidence is mate that your policy is basically bollocks. MA: Ok, fuck off then.

I was thinking this myself. There's a growing dissatisfaction about football amongst fans, a combination of overpaid underperforming players, a league where billionairre owners run the game. Previously the mantra was that money couldn't guarantee success, and examples like Jack Hayward at Wolves were rolled out. However, when you have an Abramovich or a Dubai consortium, the amounts available to spend are unprecedented, and it WILL GUARANTEE success. Man City getting Robinho shows that if you throw enough money at a player, they will sign. Do that with 20 players and you have the best squad in the league. If the Dubai consortium spend like they seem to have started, there fill very quickly become a fixed top 2 - the Glaziers and Hicks won't be able to keep up, and Arsenal will very quickly fall away. They will be replaced by the next team to get a billionairre owner - possibly us, or quite equally Fulham, Portsmouth. QPR will be up there in 5 years. The league table will represent a list of the richest owners. Even if it is us, I won't change my view - football as we know it is over, and the only solution I see is as the previous poster said, to have an overall squad salary cap.

I'm surprised that City can go for this. The takeover deal is by no means confirmed - they have signed a memorandum of understanding, which is generally a non-binding statement of intent - it is subject to due diligence i.e. complete investigation of City finances, and also Premier League sign off. If the buyers want it that desparately and they can satisfy "fit and proper person" test, and it seems the latter is easy enough, then it will probably go through eventually. But a but surprised that they're going for Berbatov before its actually confirmed (or that Berba would go if its not definite).

Owen won't go anywhere IMO. At best we're going to get £4/5m for him, and I'm pretty sure that at that price, Keegan values Owen for the rest of the season more than the £5m transfer fee. I also don't see any of the teams that could afford his wages being desperate enough to swoop when they could get him for nothing at the end of the season. However Owen leaving at the end of the season for nothing is a more realistic prospect...

If only they had gone out of the CL on Wednesday.....

Never had a problem, although I'm normally in at least 15 mins before kick off at the latest.

Why don't you go to the ground today, and get a paper ticket? We've did this on Wednesday, although tickets did turn up on Thursday.

Good luck to the lad. He gets an unwarranted amount of stick from a lot of fans. He's far from being the worst striker we've had, and he's scored some pretty important goals, and played through serious injuries due to a lack of other forwards in the squad. If he does sign it should also be noted that he could have sat round until January and agreed a huge signing on fee with a new club. Without a transfer fee its also pretty likely that another PL team would have taken a punt. He's dropped down a league to get some regular football, and doesn't seem to be solely motivated by getting as much cash as possible.

Zenit are clearly pooing themselves now as most of the top teams have settled their squads for the year and they're going to be stuck with a player who doesn't want to be there. In January when the post-Euro 2008 hysteria calms down and his contract is a few months nearer the end, his value is going to be a hell of a lot lower. They've fucked this up quite a bit. Now they're stuck with Spurs as probably the only team showing a public interest who could afford him. Spurs know that, so they'll try and fuck Zenit over with a £15m take it or leave it bid. Fair play to them, it will serve the greedy bastards right! Perfect opportunity to come in with a £17m bid!

He's a total arsehole. After Martins scored there was total silence. Martin Tyler kept saying "This wasn't in the script". Well f*** you and your script. I didn't realise we were supposed to just lie down and lose. I wish the option to listen to the match without having to hear the commentators was still available. Wonderfully demonstrated by that dick end Martin Tyler. Apparently Keegan only finds out about which players he's getting when Dennis Wise delivers them. f*** off Tyler. All their 'facts' are taken from the Daily s****. How thick are they that they assumed the Kevin Keegan Newcastle United would be just as s*** as the Sam Allardyce Newcastle United? I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that it was Gray who initially said that, then about 15 mins later Tyler brought it up again saying "I'm sure that Keegan has the final say", or words to that effect. Was wondering at the time whether someone from the club had complained about it during the broadcast and that was some sort of retraction. It was exactly that, and I thought the same thing - looked like they had had a stack of complaints from fans or someone from the club mentioned that they were spouting a load of regurgitated shite from an excuse for a newspaper.

Although its a jokey thread, there is an element of seriousness about this. Travelling back after the Bolton game last year all the talk was about how we were going to crack the top 4 this year. Whatever happens in the next 4 games (I think we will get at least 7 points!) I still think we need to be realistic and think that our aim this year is to be happy with a top 7/8 finish, not lose any more of our players (except 1 or 2 of the expensive hangers on) and then give Keegan a proper crack at Europe next year. I thought Duff played well today btw - out of position against Man Utd at Old Trafford and did a great job. N'Zogbia not a left back though, although half decent going forward.

To be fair I thought Sky were taking the piss with the whole "Keegan just the coach and not involved at all in the players coming in" thing. But then in that interview they just said "You've got to be happy with the players Wise etc have just brought in" and he didn't counter

N'Zogbia is no left back, but when you've made a couple of mistakes pre-season Old Trafford is no place to go. If Enrique had played and fucked something up today (and likely to have been punished with their players), there would have been a lot of pressure on him after just one game. Would still like to see a dedicated sold left back come in.

Absolutely fantastic today. Not quite a Robert going forward (if this is who we're comparing him to), but in a game like today was absolutely immense. Put me neck on the line and say he will without a doubt be this board's player of the season this year - got a bit of Beye about him!

I was actually talking about young Christine.

Would take Paul Scholes 3/4 years ago over Ronaldo now.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it will happen. BUT - if Xavi fancies a big money move to set him up for life, the obvious choice is the Premier League. Regardless of your view of Chelsea etc. the top three teams can only have 11 players on the pitch. Man Utd want a striker and thats it for this season. Chelsea have Ballack and Lampard and Essien to fit into the midfield. I don't think Arsenal are looking for a big money midfield signing. Having said that, wouldn't want him anyway, he's shite. I wouldn't want to unsettle the Geremi/Butt/Guthrie combination which is just starting to gell.

Hahahaha that is very interesting. To be honest, I am not that old and could be about the same age as the majority of the members here. However, my area of studies and occassional attachments opened my eyes to the harsher realities of the world. Henceforth, for my often pragmatic (blunt/harsh) perspectives. In any case, there would be no value added if I were to approve to all the moral-based, sympathy-based arguments etc that is on here. ... as supporters by definition we have a common goal of Newcastle United Football Club performing well. If our manager deems it fitting to put said Alan on the pitch, then Newcastle United Football Club will not perform better by booing. Indeed, by definition, we do have a common goal of Newcastle United Football Club performing well. But who is to say that Newcastle United Football Club will fare worse from the booing? And who is to say that fans have no rights to booing? Even when we read the news, occasionally, managers have spoken out that fans is correct to feel disappointed and correct in booing. Additionally, there is no explicit law or directions from the world governing body or the various managements stating that booing is not allowed. Love it or hate it, booing has been a growing trend for the decade and is part of the modern game. Big successful clubs have it too (Real Madrid, Barcelona etc) but they do eventually reward their supporters with success. Is that not a very good precedent? Ericz, as a regular attender of home games and away games, I can say with absolute certainty that I have never been in a situation where the fans turning on a player or the team has resulted in the team lifting itself and putting on a performance. My personal experience is that when game is going badly, often you will find that it take some random perceived injustive like a bad referee decision to the the crowd behind the team. When they get behind the team, there can be a definite improvement in performance.

On a different subject, Paul Scholes in my view is one of the best players the Premier League has ever seen. The fact that he was stayed at the same club all of his career without a big money move probably accounts for the fact that he isn't up there with the big names like Ronaldinho, Messi, Ronaldo etc, but imagine what he would have fetched in the transfer market if Madrid for example thought he was available.

Slightly tongue in cheek I admit. Point is that sometimes timing and circumstance combine to make a player end up at a club, when his ability would suggest he would never have even considered them. Tevez etc.

Xavi for Newcastle. You're having laugh. About as likely as Michael Owen leaving Real Madrid to sign for a team who just finished in the bottom half of the Premier League when his home town club are interested.

Hahahaha that is very interesting. To be honest, I am not that old and could be about the same age as the majority of the members here. However, my area of studies and occassional attachments opened my eyes to the harsher realities of the world. Henceforth, for my often pragmatic (blunt/harsh) perspectives. In any case, there would be no value added if I were to approve to all the moral-based, sympathy-based arguments etc that is on here. Jesus you talk some shit. I'm sure most of the posters on this board realise its "a hard world", but thank you for communicating that to those who don't. I think you might find that the all of our "moral based sympath based arguments" are not because we are worried that poor Alan might feel bad, but because as supporters by definition we have a common goal of Newcastle United Football Club performing well. If our manager deems it fitting to put said Alan on the pitch, then Newcastle United Football Club will not perform better by booing.

At first I thought it was a wind up. But apparently there are some people who actually believe that if you boo a player, the rest of the team will turn against him! Un - fucking - believable! IT has happened so many times with NUFC and other clubs, if a player is having a rough time and the crowd is on his back, if he manages to get a goal the rest of the team rally round him. If the unthinkable happens and Smith gets a goal, just watch the reaction of the rest of the team.

You absolute cretin. Nobody is offended by booing. The point is that some people realise that booing a player causes a negative atmosphere at a home game, even if you are not the player concerned. It therefore affects the team as a whole in a BAD way. Joey Barton got slammed last season for coming out and saying that the stick that Allardyce got last year affected the team as a whole. Allardyce was being booed, but it created a hostile, unsupportive atmosphere, and in that atmosphere it affects confidence and you might be less inclined to try and pick out and attacking pass, choosing instead to pick the safe option and pass it sideways. Its just human nature.