Mistle17

Funny you mention Gillingham, mate because I grew up near there in Tonbridge, Kent. When I first started following football I was about 5 or 6 and that was around 1996. The first player I ever saw play on the tele was Alan Shearer. I dont know why, but when I saw him in that black and white strip I was hooked on Newcastle United from then on. Nuts about them. Shearer was my idol and still is, really. You could say he was the reason I started supporting the Toon but I wouldnt classify that as 'gloryhunting'. I'd never heard of Gillingham before then so it was too late for my to start getting into them. My parents never influenced me to support any team so it was down to me (and look what I do...), I guess. Most of my mates in school supported Man Utd, Arsenal, West Ham or Millwall. I think there were a handful of Liverpool fans as well. But I've never met a Gills fan around Tonbridge.... I do feel a bit guilty from time to time about not supporting them, as I dont have any right to support Newcastle and should be supporting my local side.

I'll either get my 1st season ticket or give up on football completely, just depends who's leading the charge next season. If its JFK that's me done. That's what I was thinking.

Yes, its slowly setting in. NUFC is still dominating my mind and thoughts, even though I just dont want to give a shit anymore. I felt very down after the match yesterday and Im still feeling shit because of it. I hate it but no matter how hard I try to just forget it and not bother....I just cant. I dont think I'll ever get this club out of my system. They thought of relegation gives me a lump in my throat, but the thought of having Kinnear as permanent manager REALLY does make me not care anymore. I'm close to apathy, put it that way.

I just couldnt handle relegation if we are to suffer it. Dunno what I'd do....

How do we know Jonas uses Firefox?

To say Souness is an abysmal manager would be an understatement, but I actually think hes a good pundit. I dont mind listening to him on Sky.

In fairness I think he said something like Grimsby was his first team and Man Utd his second. not much harm in that but I get what you mean...

My favorite Italian side is Parma and in La Liga I support Deportivo/Betis/Villarreal. Seriously.

A load of my mates are Man Utd 'fans'. I was talking to a few of them about the game and got the answer of "I dont really care about it,anyway. I doubt I'll bother watching it." Sickening, like. And then of course Im there thinking to myself "What I would do to be in your shoes now." They have it so easy. As firetotheworks said, I'd probably know more about Man Utds history than they do. Pricks. I am not looking forward to another shitty monday morning. :-[

Why? Because you've just described 3 players who have been relegated before and 2 that were lucky to stay up OK, I get what you mean, but their (bar Smith) all good players. Good, experienced players who should have the bollocks to stand up and be counted.

Lovenkrands offered us no more than Duff does. Infact it'd be interesting to see who would be better- him of Duffer- I'd say Duff edges it. The chap didnt get one cross in today, but in fairness he was playing in a completely unnatural RM position. Imo, from now on, if we're gonna play him then we should play him upfront.

Totally agree. And, tbh, who could blame them? The club is a complete farce atm and quite an unattractive prospect for players and managers. Some players arent pulling their weight, though. If you think about it though, we've got a bit of experience with players facing relegation battles. You've got Viduka and Smith who both suffered at Leeds, then you've got Nicky Butt who went down with Birmingham, Harper (who although hasnt played in any has been around long enough to know what it takes), Ryan Taylor who stayed up on the last day of the season with Wigan, and Kevin Nolan who avoided the drop with Bolton by the skin of his teeth. That's not a good thing. Why? Would you want a team full of inexperienced players who are in the deep end an just cant perform under the mental strains of a relegation dogfight, or would you want experienced, steady-eddy type players who keep calm and grind results out? I know which one I'd have and on paper we have later, but on the pitch it looks like we have the former...

Man Utd and Chelsea (Arsenal at times) are able to keep the ball so much better than us, like we're lucky to string 4 passes together in a move. If we play our usual long ball against these teams we wont get near them, but there we have another problem- we dont have any creative passers of the ball. Plus, our players are static most of the time. Its ridiculous.

Totally agree. And, tbh, who could blame them? The club is a complete farce atm and quite an unattractive prospect for players and managers. Some players arent pulling their weight, though. If you think about it though, we've got a bit of experience with players facing relegation battles. You've got Viduka and Smith who both suffered at Leeds, then you've got Nicky Butt who went down with Birmingham, Harper (who although hasnt played in any has been around long enough to know what it takes), Ryan Taylor who stayed up on the last day of the season with Wigan, and Kevin Nolan who avoided the drop with Bolton by the skin of his teeth.

I hate teams like Arsenal having streams of 0-0 games just prior to meeting us. If any team needs to break a duck, just wait until the Toon come along - look at Bolton and their clean sheet record before today. Fulham is in no way an easy game the way they are playing. I know, that ALWAYS happens to us. Always. Its so annoying, like why do we have to recieve all the backlashes, like?

Yes its a good achievement winning ANOTHER trophy, but it just doesnt mean that much to them. Its just another trophy to the team and their fans. Could you imagine if that was us? Holy mother of mary the roof would off the stadium. It would look like we'd just won the Champions League or something like that...

This Kinnear story seems to have legs.

I admire your optimism, pete, but it going to be very, very tough to get anything from our next 3 home games. By the end of those, who knows where we could be. Yes, we've beaten Man Utd before but that was about 6 or 7 years ago when we had a team capable of finishing in the top 3 and one of the finest managers in football. True, if we organise right and fight like dogs we can give the big boys a run for their money.....but thats the problem: we dont have a proper manager (or coach in our case) who can make astute tactical changes, we dont have the players to do that, and we dont have the character in our side to fight and stand up and be counted. We're a spineless team. We've been missing (good) luck for the past 40 years, what makes you think we'll get it on Wednesday night, or in the coming weeks?

-----------Harper------------ --taylor---Colo---Bassong--Jose-- ----Jonas----Geremi---Smith--Duff-- -----------Martins----Carroll/Viduka--- That's what I'd go for But Shola will obviously file in ahead of Oba.

You'd still hear that the odd time in 2007!

We all know how Boro will play against us at St. James'. They'll stick 10 men behind the ball and frustrate us to fuck. They'll look to silence the crowd and, on a good day, try and hit us on the break. Its what they always do. Fulham is a more than winnable game for us in my eyes. Yes, they are a good team but they couldnt buy a win away from home. I'd say we'll knick 3 points. God knows about the Pompey game. They could be good or as bad as us and it'll turn into a game that one team wins simply because they made less mistakes than their opposition. Bar those 3 games, and maybe they Hull game, I cant see us winning any matches.

I feel a wee bit sorry for O'Hara.

That's crossing the line, imo. Yes he's f***ing useless but is it his fault the club offered him another 3 year deal? No. he's a t*** who doesn't deliver anything like acceptable performances, in terms of effort or effectiveness Seriously mate, I cant agree more with that. The guy is a lazy, thoughtless prick. But saying his career should be ended isnt right, if the club was managed properly he wouldnt even be here.

I cant believe this. Sick.....just sick.

I wish we tried/got good draws in this competition.