Consortium of one

Makes sense to me. We're kind of short on bodies and bringing in another guy for the back line may mean that Keegan wants to commit to Zogs as a midfielder. If Diatta makes an impact, well that's just gravy, isn't it? Otherwise he's just a bit of depth which we need anyways.

Keegan's in a tough spot to be sure. He knows the team is hurting confidence-wise and to say that he'll need to bring in ~10 players will probably hurt confidence even more. On the other hand, he wants to show that there is some light at the end of the tunnel for next year. He can't be trying to pump up the team and prevent a relegation free fall out of one side of his mouth and be trying to tell fans he'll be active in the summer transfer market out of the other side of his mouth. Rock and a hard place for sure.

eh, I think it came out the wrong way. I don't think he understood how a fan comes to be a fan without being born into it. I can relate to that because I didn't quite understand it either until I became an NUFC fan. IMO, measuring the quality of other people's fandom is a waste of time. I always figured fans should look for ways to unite rather than seperate.

Well then I haven't raised them right have I?

No, not yet. You're talking 1 year vs. 38 so it can't be as deep. It may never be as deep because I grew up with the Mets and the Jets. Those teams helped define my childhood. How I feel about Newcastle can never be how a Tyneside native could feel just as you can never feel how I feel about the Mets and Jets if you became a fan. That doesn't mean that it still won't become strong/rewarding/deep just not as, simply because of time and yes, distance. Two things will make the connection deeper: paying dues as a fan for few years and living with the ups and the downs is one. The other would be to take in a tie at SJP. I think only time will make the connection deeper. Hopefully, I have plenty of that left

I understand exactly what you are saying. In fact, you could be talking about me in particular. Let me give you a little back story. I've been a New York Mets and New York Jets fan for nearly 40 years. Both have broken my heart. The Mets last year experienced one the most epic of collapses a baseball team has ever experienced. The Jets last appeared in a Super Bowl in 1969. My support has been undaunted. I was born and raise in Connecticut and NYC is about an hour away. They are naturals for me to root for because they are close. They're my teams and I live and die with them. I've been rooting for the UConn Huskies men's college basketball team for nearly 30 years. I started when the Big East Conference was formed. For 10 years they sucked. They were the doormats and everyones punching bag. For the last twenty years they have been great, making the postseason just about every year and winning two national championships. Rooting for them and standing by them made the winning SO MUCH more sweeter. I love the underdogs. And I hate the darlings. I hate the Yankees. I hate the Dallas Cowboys. I hated the LA Lakers. I hated the Chicago Bulls. I naturally hate the teams that other fans flock too. So anyways, I've been watching the EPL for a couple of years now. I played soccer in High School. Every Saturday morning on a local TV station they'd have an English "game of the week". I remember Nott Forest and Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield United and some of the teams that used to be in the top tier. After watching for a couple of seasons I knew I couldn't continue without picking one team to root for. This is where for the first time I had to SELECT a team to root for, so I know what Northern Monkey is questioning. I honestly didn't know how to do it. Some teams were easy to eliminate. f*** the Big Four, especially ManU. ManU is too much like the Yankees and the rest are too good. It's hard for me to root for a prepackaged winner. The bottom tier was unappealing. It would be just my luck to root for a team and have it be relegated and I'd never get to see them again. I focused on two or three mid table teams. I chose Newcastle because it was a team that never realizes it's potential (much like the Jets and Mets) but had the potential to put it all together and legitamately become a top team. I want to be able to ride with a team to the top, I guess. I also believe I have ancestral ties to the North East so that kind of clinches it for me. So yeah, I kind of picked a team instead of being born with them and THAT IS kind of weird for me but I want to assure you of something: once I become a fan, there is no turning back. One would think that a fan of a team for less than a year, upon surveying the mess that is currently Newcastle United could walk away and perhaps choose another team to root for. I thought about doing just that. I can't do it. Once that decision is made, as cold and antiseptic as the original decision was, once I've cast my lot, I'm in for good. I don't miss a single game that is available in the states. I watch an hour of Sky Sports news every night that I can. I caught KK's interview on BBC Tyneside a couple of weeks ago. I have just as many Newcastle links as I have Mets, Jets and Huskies links. I would suspect that most foreign fans are just like me. We emotionally invest in our teams. I don't think there's any other way to be. I will say this: the teams I root for don't really experience much success. They are heart breakers. They knock me down but I always get up and root more. As Newcastle has fallen on hard times, I can't help but think that the fact I have started to root for them has contributed to their lack of success. My teams have a way of breaking hearts. Sorry for that, you're stuck with me

We go down a gear in the 2nd half, if you hadn't noticed? Looking at goal distribution, we give up more goals in the 45-50 minute area (5) and the 50-55 (7) minute area (except for the end of the game) . I'm not sure how tired legs would be the issue if it occurs just after half unless it takes old legs longer to loosen up. Anyways, my thought was that if the team comes out flat to start the 2nd half, a switch to a more aggressive style will hopefully energize them. If the opposition comes out feeling too comfortable (because they know we'll play passive) the switch to a more aggressive style will throw them off stride.

Play defensive in the 1st half then switch gears and go all out on offense in the 2nd half. The team has played well in the 1st half and maybe chaging tactics will alleviate the 2nd half collapse and catch ManU off guard. If we can play to a draw in the 1st maybe we can knock them on their heels and keep them off balance in the 2nd.

Think they used to bounce (or stott) the bread off the floor to test if it was ready. I honestly heard/read that somewhere even though it sounds made up. Thanks. This may not be the best place for this but is the word "stott" specific to the North East? The reason I ask is one of my hobbies is geneology and I've hit a bit of a road block in tracing my ancestry. A Mr. Stott who a deceased family member refers to as a scotchman and fought under Wolfe in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, was granted land and settled in LaColle Quebec. I can trace everything from his son to me but that Mr.Stott's first name or where he came from is a mystery. I have verified that he wasn't a member of any of the Highlander Regiments that fought in that war so any clue I can find I try to follow up on. Anyways, if the word "stott" is area specific, it gives me a little something to pursue. My apologies if this isn't the proper place to discuss it though.

Oddly enough, "stottie bread" and my last name "Stott" must be related in some fashion. Does anyone know the origins of that name?

I'd assume it's a fitness issue with some old legs issues as well. There could also be some mental issues coming into play as well. Once there is a breakdown in the 2nd half, many on the team may be expecting the roof to cave in and of course, with that attitude, it does. I haven't been a fan as long as any of you so this is easier for me to say but the rest of this year is kind of thrown away already. The only thing KK should be concentrating on is staying out of relegation and evaluating all of the players so he can begin to renovate the team over this summer. It's a tall order. If the players aren't fit, why? Is it the players, is it the staff? What players can play his style and how can he evaluate them if they aren't fit enough to play his style? It's a tough nut and I don't envy KK's position. The team looks a mess right now and it's probably hard for him to even figure out where to start.

Anyways on a more serious note, here in the States, everyone is saying that the quality of officiating is getting much worse, too. I think the advances in technology are making the officials look worse. It would make sense to take advantage of the technology as long as it didn't take to long to get the correct call. Watching a replay challenge in American football can take an awfully long time.

Last night I had to rip the thermostat off the wall. Those guys in the black pajamas were using it to spy on me. Two weeks ago a dozen of those bastards came for me and I was barely able to fight them off. I don't know if I could do it again... So yeah, I'm with you. Neither of us is paranoid btw. They really are watching me and now they are watching you too. Be careful.

I agree with this. First off, Keegan has to see who can play his style of football. He has a half season to seperate the wheat from the chaff. I think the team will get a boost when the ANC players come back and the team will edge into the top half of the table and stay there rather than risk falling towards relegation. Owen looks to be coming on and that can only help Martins by taking some pressure off him. I think Martins is one of the key players for the balance of the season, he has to regain some confidence.

When I watched him on the left to start the season, I couldn't wait to see him play on the right. But now that he's on the right, he looks worse. Milner looks like a lot of the players do right now: they are thinking TOO much rather than just playing naturally and trusting their instincts more.

THis run of bad form is the lag off Allerdyce, the Arsenal fixrtures came at an unfortunate time. Nobody can be that bad for this long. It has to end. The team was tentative, lacked conviction and looked a step slow. I don't think there is a single player out there who has any confidence at all. Big Sam's Newcastle legacy >