Groo

I can't believe you have an office in the bog

Speed's been given permission to talk to Swansea as a possible replacement for Martinez. Shot in the dark prehaps?

That we knew, but his language has always indicated that he would stay for at least 4-5 years, it seems Swansea is a job half done. He may still stay but this waiting is painful.

As a Swansea fan, its like waiting at a loved ones deathbed at the moment.

Calderwood as a manager was not much cop, struggled to get Forest promoted over a few years even though his budget far exceeded others.

As a Swansea fan first (sorry Dave, my home team), can I just suggest you turn your eyes to Ross McCormack, marvelous player him , dead good at penalties too.

From newsnow I see newcastle are on the verge of buying Andrew Surman from Southampton for a million quid... doubt it very much, unless wise is back

So he's good ? Westamfan said he was s***, can't see I'd said anything more than the cup game against Fulham. He is good. Done really well with Swansea this season. Often inconsistent, but Martinez has got a lot out of him, would be a very good signing for anyone at this level, esp. for that price. From what i have seen quick and inconsistent is pretty fair judgement, by all accounts he can be very good though so £400k is hardly a gamble. Scored a cracker against Cardiff at the onion park and another against Portsmouth in the cup. Very quick but like a lot of wingers can go missing. We are also after Anderson from Liverpool, with both these players we could expect some very good times.

What makes laugh is the fact that for years and years we have laughed and poured scorn on the Scottish League as its a joke league with only 2 teams. Since the creation of the Premier League and the compound effects of the ironically named Champions League, the English league is now just the same as the Scottish league, except a bit bigger. The earlier years were spent with the top teams vying it out for the top 4 positions and now its complete and the top 4 cannot be budged without massive financial investment from outside sources. The English League is now the Scottish League we wants scoffed at.

Times are different now, in the 70's and 80's most of the big clubs were relegated at some time or other, usually as a direct result of investing on ground improvements which pulled cash away from player purchases. the bigger crowds then gave those teams an advantage to recover and push back up to the top of the (then) first division within a number of years, very few teams failed to recover fully, teams like Sheff Wed and Wolves come to mind. These days the money from the crowds are a bonus in the Premiership but not enough to dent the money gathered from Sky. The crowd will give Newcastle an advantage in the Championship, which the right management team is needed to take full advantage of (Sheff wed and Wolves again as examples of teams who did not get it right). History and a big crowd does not guarantee success, as can painfully be seen.

You may want to get the pay on the day data up front as well, for example at Swansea there has been no pay on the day since we moved to the Liberty, tickets must be bought up front.

A little taster for what to expect next year, a little 'Swansea City' video made featuring a number of goals, some pearler's by Bodde before his injury. Just to show not all teams are cloggers in the Championship. Brilliant choice of music too, theme from John Adams I believe. Here's hoping for a Swansea/Newcastle 1/2 next year <Snip. Football clips are not allowed on the forum, sorry.>

Honest, not serious.. was a breath of fresh air for us at the time but wouldn't make it in our team now.

50% of his goals have been penalties and yes he makes them himself, any defender within 5 paces and he drops like a lead balloon as if he's been shot with an elephant gun. Have to admit its a problem with Gomez as well, he falls too easy but he doesn't restrict himself to the penalty area.

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).