Groo

We (Swans) found we did very well against teams that wanted to play football against us but suffered against clogging hoofers. Hence our good results against Burnley and bad against Sheff Utd. We had no answer to the cloggers hoofing the ball up the field whose only purpose it appears was to stop us playing.

He plays for Espanyol, though. If Espanyol were relegated, it was expected they would keep him as they would be looking to reduce the wage bill by losing some first teamers. They are safe now so its likely they will sell for 1.5 to 3 mill.

free transfer as well as he has been released by reading. From what I've heard - steer clear.

Gomez is a quality player and it looks like we've given up on getting him permanent. He scored 14 goals from midfield, exceptional first touch, great eye for movement and pin point passing. He was held back initially last year as Martinez wanted to slowly get him used to British football (I personally think he didn't want to let the secret out too soon either, with a view to keeping the price down). He only played regular after Bodde got injured in November, both he and rising star Joe Allen profited from Bodde's injury.

Cardiff will play in a new stadium next season, donated by lego we believe. Swansea have now played 3 years in theirs.

It was a disappointing year for us (Swansea), we expected much larger away support once we were promoted to the Championship. This is the 'visitor' list we had this year: Visitors to the Liberty: Forest - 1,016 Sheffield Wed - 1,318 Derby County - 516 Burnley - 622 Wolves - 2,470 QPR - 473 Southampton - 1,089 Watford - 601 Birmingham - 705 Cardiff City - 1,630 Barnsley - 113 Sheffield Utd - 782 Coventry City - 721 Reading - 891 Preston - 271 Ipswich - 639 Doncaster - 488 Charlton - 616 Plymouth - 469 Crystal Palace - 633 Norwich - 692 Bristol City - 453 Blackpool - 477 We took away: AWAY TRAVEL: Charlton 3,300 Plymouth 559 Palace 1,667 Reading 2,874 PNE 315 Ipswich 403 Wolves 1,485 Donny 488 Norwich 475 Coventry 821 Bristol City 969 Blackpool 339 Birmingham 2,141 Burnley 260 Southampton 2,781 Watford 894 Derby 462 Forest 875 QPR 850 Sheffield Wed 795 Cardiff 1650 Barnsley 499 Sheffield Utd 1198 Expect a fair few to make their way to St.James's, something about a night out keeps getting mentioned Look after them though, a friendly bunch

Trouble maker, would think Newcastle would want to steer clear of those for awhile.

Your in for a shock!! Talking of reserves, where will the reserves play, there are no Championship reserve leagues?

I'm not 100% confident of Shearer's managerial ability, if he stays I hope he proves me wrong.

The problem next season is the fact that every other team will lift their game against Newcastle. It doesn't matter if the team playing (for Newcastle) is a crap team, they will still want the scalp, so unless the right players are brought in then the team will struggle, badly. The Championship is nowhere near the level as the top of the Prem but then again neither is the middle of the Prem, at the same time it is full of decent teams that will gladly (and easily) grab the scalp of Newcastle unless the structure is right.

Here's a site I sometimes use to find other teams forums: FANBASE - Click Here Also our swans site has drop down menu: Swansea Forum with drop downs Mind you, the Swansea one links to Newcastle's rivals site (remember that lol).

Wigan were probably safe, Hull may have something still to fight for.

lol, I put that here as I could not start a thread. It wasn't until after I posted I read the thread

I was talking to a mate about the Hull v Man U game, the fact that by that game Man U could already be champions and will have a champions league final coming up. What's the betting they put out a weakened side against Hull !! I was going to raise this question as a new post, but I cannot see the new thread button anywhere? A win against Fulham maybe needed!!

In Work -- In Canada -- Not allowed live video streaming Anyone know of a live audio stream? I know, its going to be squeaky time, not sure if I can stand to listen, but updating BBC every 5 mins is going to be no better...

Rumour on our (Swansea City) board that Chris Houghton was at our game at Barnsley to watch Jordi Gomez. <==CLICK Anyone heard anything your end or are there too many rumours for this one to register? A lot of people questioned Martinez's decision in the summer to splash out 250K just borrow him for a year from Espanyol, up to a few years ago that was just short of our record fee paid for a player. Took a short time to get used to the British game, but since then he's been a revelation. He's a creative midfield player with an eye for goal, one of the best players most of our fans have seen in our colours. We've been hoping he'll sign permanently and apparently a fees pre-agreed and we were hoping to see him and Bodde next season playing together, but most have now accepted that he's virtually out of our reach.

Our manager at Swansea (Martinez) insists that all players sign a 'performance related' contract. God knows what that means, but I presume it means if we went down so would their wages. I can't believe its not a norm in any case, to have a contract based on what division you are in, no matter which division you are currently playing. Its a main reasn for the financial problems of relegated clubs.

As a Newcastle fan from Port Talbot I can understand, in my time most other schoolfriend's supported Man Utd, Chelsea, Leeds, Everton, Liverpool or spurs (late 60's early 70's so mainly the same culprits), I can't understand why Swansea are not your first club to be honest, it would be like a Geordie supporting Real Madrid rather than his home team (the tragedy being Newcastle can be as big). Each to his own I suppose. My old step dad used to support whoever was top it would change through the season, Liverpool, Man Utd.... he even briefly supported Swansea in 1981 Not sure your right there, most I knew were crying for him to be playing, although he was slowing his head was still there. The problem was as club captain he had a disagreement with Jacket on how we should be playing. Martinez wanted us to play as we do know and Jacket believed in big physical players with a strong engine and getting the ball to the front guys as quick as possible. The fateful day in most people's eyes was an away game against promotion competitors Southend just before Xmas, we were in the top 3 and had been playing well and Jacket dropped Martinez and played Owain Tudur Jones, we played the Jacket way and won the match 2-1. After that martinez rarely got a look in, even though after Xmas our fortune turned and we dropped out of the race for auto's (we managed to cling onto a play-off place which we lost to Barnsley). In the summer Martinez was gone. The following season we did a similar job to the previous year where we played well but started dropping, this time earlier, by the time Jacket decided to leave (pushed or jumped) we were in 11th/12th in free-fall. Then the board made the brave decision to bring in Martinez, who in a short time turned us around again but not quick enough to get into that last play-off place, we needed to beat Blackpool at home in the last game by something like a 5 goal margin, we went all out attack but lost 6-3 to Blackpool in what everyone talked about as the best defeat they had seen, Blackpool who were promoted that year were just too good for that tactic. (We lost the first game next season at Oldham 1-2, where like usual we outplayed them. The purist may say so we have lost 2 league games on the trot, we did win friendlies in between ). What he has done in a short time is fantastic, he has a gift of getting the best out of any player and he does not hold grudges, an example being Tate, who was punished for returning in the summer overweight (a capital sin gto Martinez), he was axed from the team but has improved significantly on his return in an out of position left back place. Its also significant that whenever we lose an important player, he finds someone to come in and we don't miss the other player (Bodde and Pratley would be an immence loss to any team in this league, as well as Painter). Anyway, hope Newcastle recover from this period quickly and keep away from Martinez for the time being at least The worrying thing at the moment is the fact that Ashley's fortune could be dwindling in this current climate, I hear JBB are suffering terribly as well, so Wigan must be suffering... Hate to think a 'Leeds' could happen in Newcastle..

Makes me gush, not used to so much publicity for a Swansea manager, two articles on him today that give a bit of an insight into his thoughts and character. CLICK for Guardian CLICK for Daily Mail As a follower of Newcastle as a 'favourite first division team', as it was, since 1969, I've always wanted the best for Newcastle and if he leaves, which he will one day, I hope it is to you lot. I remember some years ago being convinced that Mourinho would be the next Newcastle manager, after Bobby, due to his links with Bobby. He looked as if he was going to be a great manager, then the git went and won the European Cup with Porto and everyone suddenly wanted him.. oh well, if only. I believe Martinez can enjoy the same success if he wants it..

We're playing Fulham in the Cup, live on Sentana Saturday, midday kick-off Chance to see the style.. hopefully another win. A little known fact outside 'Swansworld', Martinez is yet to be on the end of 2 successive defeats We play 4-5-1, but with 2 wingers and central midfielders who like to attack, so 4-5-1 quickly turns to 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 and we end up pulling defences all over the place. Oh.... You can't have him

show us a list of fixtures were we are not f***ed Saturday, 04 October 2008 Coca-Cola Football League One Peterborough v Newcastle United, 12:00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, 08 October 2008 Johnstone's Paint Trophy Rotherham v Newcastle United, N2, 19:45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, 11 October 2008 Coca-Cola Football League One Newcastle United v Brighton, 15:00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, 18 October 2008 Coca-Cola Football League One Millwall v Newcastle United, 15:00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 21 October 2008 Coca-Cola Football League One Newcastle United v Leyton Orient, 19:45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, 25 October 2008 Coca-Cola Football League One Newcastle United v Walsall, 15:00 I was about to do the same thing doesn't bare thinking about does it

The ONLY way football will improve is for the football authorities to stamp some authority on the game. That unfortunately will never happen as the 'bigger' clubs will never let it happen. The only way to save football is for rules and regulations to be made as law, that means intervention by the governments (this will never happen) a self government has proven not to work. I'm talking of course of money, since the 80's, the shift in money towards the bigger clubs, through, less be honest, pure greed, has totally destroyed football as we all know it. It started by Man Utd's campaign to reserve all gate receipts (when gate receipts still mattered) for the home team. They wanted all the gate money as they had big crowds, the old rules of sharing gates 50% meant that their bigger gates guaranteed them more money over the course of the season, the 50% rule was a means of not letting teams go too far ahead. The formation of the Premiership, based entirely on Sky's money and the pulling out of the football league was then the second killer step. The football league wanted to continue sharing the money more evenly, whereas the 'top' clubs wanted all the money, so here perversely the pie grew tenfold and the greedy 'top' clubs did not just enjoy the benefit of a larger pot, they took the pot! Then the final nail in the coffin, the European cup, with the ironically named Champions league , they enforced changes through pressure to ensure that the top 4 teams could enter the 'Champions League', thus giving them an each way bet each year for further money. With the new agreements in place and the Sky pot getting even bigger, what does this mean?? How much money per week does a player warrant, all that money seeping out of football!! Only a small handful of clubs that can compete and these buying up all the top talent, in some cases not to play but to ensure they don't play against them (Chelsea in particular). The only way to improve football is to start regressing, enforcing teams to have limits, in wages, in players. Share the money more evenly top to bottom. Football in Europe is going the way of 'Football' in the states, where only super clubs exist, the rest amateur local. At least in American Football they do have a lot of controls and I would love these controls to come part of our football.. Wage Caps, Money sharing, Owner vetting, etc..... The fact is, now Man City have this billionaire, then that makes 5 teams who could get those top 4, if Man Utd, Arsenal or Liverpool fail to make the Champions League, then they could face serious financial problems, such as Leeds. I'm wondering will it take a few top name clubs to fold to highlight the folly of the current system. Right now I prefer the lower leagues, as they have real football teams, real fans and real competition on the pitch (although the Championship could change over the next few years). Football will not self heal, as greed has taken over, legislation is the only thing that could enforce them temper the current conditions, and sadly, that will never happen.

Swansea City

I wonder who, if anybody, has applied. Continental managers are different in their outlooks though, which is why they are commonly called coach I would presume. Someone used to working on the team and leaving signings to others would probably accept what's here. Providing the players targeted are the player type the coach asks for. I would presume the coach would be given options and he would have a say on who was brought in, selling players from under you is another thing though. Anyway, as Newcastle are officially my 2nd team, I just want to say keep away from 'El Presidente' Martinez for the time being.. He will be a top manager one day for a top club (hopefully Newcastle) but not for a few years yet

You off your tits or summat? Not really...just saying i can see the board turning to him. He definately wouldn't be my choice. You do know why he quit West Ham, yeah? Because fans were on his back and he wanted to keep some pride as he was goin to get sacked imo. No, he left because he was being undermined in terms of transfers. Whether he was undermined or not...the fact of the matter was that he was doing a s*** job and would of got sacked anyway... Wow... That's Curbiushley sold on me then. He's the man for the job ? Try reading my other comments before you reply to them... This is the West Ham enjoying their best start in god knows how many years we're talking about now isn't it? and it is that Curbishley that's responsible for that, whom we are talking about here? Just making sure like.