The Prophet

Ordinarily, if stories are not linked, I would probably agree. In this case though, this is just 1 huge f***ed up mess and my guess would be that if they have part of the story apparently correct, they have the whole lot. For me, the length of that statement convinced me the sale of the club has been an intention for some time - at best since Keegan walked out. Otherwise, Ashley has made a very quick and very rash decision - which is equally as annoying as I would have hoped for better from him. but why would he reject the arab consortium if he was trying to sell the club? He didn't reject the arab consortium. The consortium claimed Man City were simply "more receptive" when approached.

We don't know if Wise has done anything wrong. We just like to assume he has because he was a wanker in the first place.

I'd go: Given Geremi Cacapa Taylor Bassong Gonzales Butt Coloccini N'Zogbia Owen Xisco The defence looks very fragile, but I think if we can have someone like Taylor doing a man marking job on Ashton it scuppers one of their attacking pivots. The strength in the centre of midfielder should be enough to overcome the creativity of Faubert and Co. That's providing the gap between Butt, Coloccini and the back four doesn't become too great. You'd need one of those two (Colo and Butt) to sit in front of the back four and one to play defensively further up the park. If we can stay solid at the back and retain posession in midfield West Ham are there to be had. If we can then get the ball wide to Gonzales or N'Zogbia and have a run at their fragile defence I think we can create chances for the forwards. It's too early for Gonzales to be playing in the centre of the park away from in my opinion, we don't know enough about him and his capabilities. Now I'm not naive enough to think: "ah we'll go with this system and it'll all run like clock work" because there are some massive factors to consider. One of the reasons I'd go with two defensive midfielders is because of the situation at West Ham. It's Zola's first game, their lot will really want to get out the traps and prove themselves. The crowd will be behind them and if we can do a stifling job they may just start to get a bit frustrated and hopefully that will allow us to create some chances of our own. Now the most important factor here is the attitude of Newcastle United. Are the players going to come out like they did against Hull? Yes, we're on a big low but it'd about time these players stood up for themselves and proved they're worth what we're paying them. I know it will be hard to muster team spirit in these difficult times, but these lads are professionals. They need to take a long look at themselves in the mirror and produce bit of fight during times of adversity, they need to show us the fans that our season isn't over. Similarly the fans need to get behind the lads. The atmophere at West Ham is going to be electric so we need to put in a good shift too. No more protesting, the board have got your message, the lads need a lift and we need to provide it. Whatever tactics you want to employ this match at West Ham is there to be won but it depends on us. No more feeling sorry for ourselves and no more revolting, lets have some togetherness. This is going to be tough given the circumstance, the last thing we want is for this to be another Hull, lets go down to London and show a bit of pride and dignity for a change, lets go there UNITED.

We were shown just how important spirit, confidence, belief, trust, faith and leadership is to a group of players regardless of their ability and just how fickle talent can be on its own without any back-up. I absolve the players of any blame. To me they worked hard and tried their best while not being at their best and I can accept that and pardon it in the circumstances. Aye, hope they sleep well having cashed their £50,000 cheque. At the end of the day the qualities you listed are very important when it comes to instilling team spirit, but there was enough talent on that park to beat Hull City. Just look at Xisco, that's the type of performance we needed. A fighting individual display which very nearly got us back in the game. We didn't need them to play as a team we just needed to do a job, a job which they're paid to do and they failed. I've said I can understand their mindset and some what sympathise with them, but the players have to accept some blame for the defeat.

Think it's for the best in the long term. Always thought he had the best intrests of this club at heart and this confirms it for me. Feel his mistakes simply boiled down to footballing inexperience.

The managerial crisis didn't help the team, the fans didn't help the team and injuries didn't help the team, but yet I'm still find there display a complete let down. The players that were put on the park were good enough to beat a Hull side missing it's two better players. They weren't too old, they weren't lacking quality, they just weren't good enough and that's down to them and there complete lack of professionalism.

Still not as good as Merson pronouncing it as "Sicko", he really is as thick as mince. Made me laugh anyway.

Keegan asked for 3 players then lost 2 first team regulars so replacing them would take it to 5 first teamers, assuming the three he mentioned were for the first team of course. That still wouldn't have addressed all the issues with our squad.

We're obviuosly short on midfielders but people talk as if one transfer window can rid you of all your flaws and limits. Regardless you rate the recruitment system we have or not we have addressed some key issues during the transfer window. We added some quality depth to the central defence, brought in some cutting edge in the attacking areas midfield and brought in a young target man type striker, now you may beg to differ but that is a fairly solid transfer window in my eyes which hints at progress. Now I'm aware we lack depth in lack back and a bit of quality in the middle of the park, but you can't really address all your issues in one transfer window. If you remember a while back Keegan actually stated he only wanted two or three players anyway that would really improve the team, I seriously doubt they were three central midfielders. Like the current structure or not I'm happy with the job they did during the transfer window. I don't condone Wise and Co's actions in terms of the impact it had on Keegan's managerial position, but I think some people are simply trying to jump on the work they did because of the consequences that occured afterwards.

The board have forced out the man who got them playing as a team, who instilled belief and confidence back into them, who set them up to have a more positive season as evidenced by the positive start. They obviously enjoyed working for him as a coach and liked him as a man, of course losing him will have a massive impact. Especially when there is no sign of anyone credible coming in and added unrest on the stands. I guarantee several will be eying January for a quick exit while others will fall into the same trap as fans, apathy towards the club and season resulting in piss poor performances and going through the motions. I f***ing knew we'd lose today and I couldn't understand any predictions of a win or a decent performance, fan protests or no fan protests. Oh and fans did get behind their team, there is only so much we can do. Don't be one of those cocks that blames the fans. Did you actually read my post? I clearly didn't try to make the fans the sole reason for our loss, that would be idiotic. They didn't really help though did they? You got a section who went to support the team, a section who boycotted and a section who were marching round the ground with banners. Now no matter what your opinion on the issue at hand is you can't seriously tell me the latter two helped the team? Regarding the intial part of your post I agree, Keegan was an inspirational icon. I can fully understand them being on a low they are being payed to play football. The average fan on the street would put their heart and soul into playing for their club, board room crisis or not. There were fans paying to watch them, so I expect at least some level of professionalism as a post to the "fuck it, we're a goal down" attitude. If they're thinking about leaving drop them, we can't afford that attitude on the pitch. What we needed today was 100% commitment from the fans and the players if we wanted any form of result and we got it from neither. I'm not saying I blame them because I fully understand why, but to say I wasn't disappointed with them would be a blatent lie.

Some of the posts are laughable at times. The board has broken the players, fuck off man. Of course they'll have been affected by the massive low the club everyone has, but it is there duty to go out and at least attempt to entertain us, they're paid professionals for fucks sake. I had a feeling this would be a problem and felt the crowd really needed to get behind them, obviously this was not the case. Let down by both parties on this occassion.

Sigh, edited. It's true, if you really want to be breaking into that top half you should be beating teams that will be finish bottom half come the end of the season. However the result doesn't suprise me in the slightest. It was always going to be an uphill battle given the current situation and I doubt even a win wouldn't of been pretty. As I've already said I didn't have the best commentary of the game but it sounds like our heads went down when Hull put the penalty away. That really isn't good enough for me. Don't get me wrong I understand why it happened, it's simple psychology, but where was the fight? The character? The bravery? The commitment? I understand the attitude but they're paid professionals for Christ's sake. The fans didn't help either, too busy with their futile protests. What happened to supporting the lads? We're the innocent parties in all of this. The table doesn't bother me at this stage, never does until October-November time, but we really won't know damage of this result until the season is over. It's really hard to tell the significance of it given our current plight. So a home banker? I don't think so, not when put in context. The injuries and lack of manager always meant our backs would be against the wall. It's very hard to pull positives out the match, glad for the lad Xisco, a goal will do his confidence the world of good and he sounds like a real fighter. Chin up lads, we just have to pull together and hope this mess is cleaned up sooner rather than later. It's not the end of the world, there's stll another 34 games to go and almost an entire season to play for.

Now for the inevitable back lash. Didn't have a good commentary of the game, Merson is a f***ing mug, kept changing his view of the game all the way through. It sounds like we had a decent first half and missed a host of chances to take the lead. Once the penalty went in I got the impression our heads went down and we didn't really rally until Xisco hit the back of the net. Absolutely shocking professionalism summed up beautifully by Guthrie losing his head late on, mind you the fans didn't help.

Were you born yesterday? I suspect you were with idiotic comments like the one above. Who knows what the future hold, want it easy? Go and support another team, we're better off without you. What can I say it's just one large mess, from the board, to Keegan, to the players and to the fans, all of them have contributed. Sick of it? Well me too, but I manage to keep my knee-jerk and frankly foolish comments to myself.

Was in a bar last night watching the match. Went to the bar for a drink and some guy started talking to me: Him: "Got me tickets!" Me: "Oh aye, what for?" Him: "The Newcastle match, don't support them like, I'm a Liverpool fan" Me: "So how come your going to see Newcastle then?" Him: "For the bother mate, its going to be unreal, can't wait" Fucking idiot

If we're talking over-rated players: Anton Ferdinand Gary Neville Phil Neville Nicky Butt David Beckham Scott Parker Jermaine Jenas James Milner Alan Smith Peter Crouch That's just a few English players off the top of my head.

What's meant by a footballing fraud? Are we talking over-reated players or an Ali Dia type scenario?

I thought it was a very un-Croatia like performance, obviously missing a couple of key players didn't help in the slightest, but even Billic didn't seem as up for it as he normally would, I usually look forward to his brutal honesty and random predictions in the pre-match press conference but it was very toned down. His tactics are usually spot on but he got it wrong tonight. Playing one forward against an under pressure England side was very odd indeed, especially as it was Olic who has never played that role amzingly. Petric looked lost out wide and Rakitic who is usually spot on for Schalke had a shocker. I repeat, a very good result for England tonight who showed the odd sign of promise, but the score line flatters to deceive and generally does have shades of Munich about it.

For me if we were going to judge England on this game as a one off there were notable differences. The main one for me was pace. It always baffles me why we've never bothered picking a couple of pacey attackers in the past, I remember Vassel being very successful from the bench a couple of years back. Very few teams on the continent can deal with it and if you watched carefully tonight a large majority of our attacks came down the right on Walcott's flank, of course it helped that they were a man down giving space for him to run in behind but pace has always frightened European teams. It would be intresting to see how threatening we would have been had Young been installed on the left flank. For me he's the best wide man in the country and it was a very strange decision indeed to leave him out. He's got pace, trickery and a good delivery with both feet, every full backs nightmare. Also a lot of credit has to go to Heskey. His hold up play was outstanding and helped the midfield link up with the forwards. I'd still love to see Ashton given that role, even in a daft friendly. He's a very talented footballer when he's fit, but tonight Heskey made the world of difference and surely deserves another crack of Capello's whip. It would be intresting to see how a 4-3-3 would work with the two wide forwards like Walcott and Young supporting a big strong forward like an Ashton or Heskey.

Just posted this in the match thread:

4-1 intresting stuff. Watched the action up until the third goal, for me this has been a very flattering result which will do nothing more than paper over the cracks. First thing's first congratulations to Theo Walcott, nice to see a new lad break into what has become a very stale set-up and ruffle some feathers. Now for me the red card ended the game as any kind of contest. England were able to exploit the space it created and it was evident from the second and third goals Croatia were unable to adapt at the back. However I'm not convinced it was a sending off. Either way it was a very poor decision, the ref clearly reacted to the injury rather than the challange. For me the lad lead with his arm and therefore deserved a card, but I didn't think it was malicious which made it a rather harsh dismissal. Before the incident, particularly in the first half England looked very shakey. They made a host of errors at the back including losing posession in key areas and giving away plenty of silly freekicks. Croatia failed to take advantage of this and looked very blunt as an attacking force. For me they still miss Eduardo, but they didn't exactly help themselves with their poor delivery from set pieces. A more potent attack force may just have capitalised. Bloody good result all the same, but I'm not getting carried away just yet. Thus far I'm yet to see any signs that suggest as an international outfit we're any better than we were under Mr. Eriksson.

Regardless of whether you trust him or not I'm unsure as to why he's taking so much stick from the fans. He's very inexperienced in footballing terms, he's been in the game how long now, a season or so? This shows the problem with trying to adjust from running a buisness to running a football club, it takes time. Unfortunately if he does need this time to settle in I think he's picked the wrong club to own. A club with an impatient fan-base, desperate for success who are sick to death of being let down by the regime. Now if you believe everything you read Ashley has always been keen to seek advice on all his decisions. He was advised to set up the board room structure for example. This further points to his inexperience, such a ruthless decision maker would not need to seek advice if he was certain what to do in his own mind. Now I think far too many fans are misinterpreting this inexperience as him being pure evil. It is still my beleif every decision Ashley has made he has had the best intrest of the club at heart. Now Ashley has made mistakes and it might just be good for him and the club if he sells up. However there is no need what-so-ever for the abuse he's getting when I'm sure he's fully aware he's made a mistake due to a simple lack of footballing experience.

well said, we cant let the sheep decide, we will run round in circles forever....oh look...the grass is greener over there...baahh I seriuosly question your constant and frankly disturbing refrence to sheep, you may find you need to seek help my friend. What's to say Poyet would be any more of a gamble than Laudrup, Rijkaard, or any other foreign coach? It's highly unlikey in the current system a British manager would want to come in. Some fans really need to let Keegan go, he gone, done, finished and this club needs to find a replacement. So you can continue your pathetic and frankly futile crusade while I get on with supporting my football club, enjoy.

James pretty much hit the nail on the head there. We all learnt with Roeder that the best coaches don't always go on to become the best managers, however no matter who we appoint here we're looking at a gamble. It's very important to remember we're a very unique, trophy-less, one-city club. Essentially a club which can make or break a young managers career. The pressure will be on a Zola or a Poyet from day one, but its important the fans give them a senisible error margain, they aren't going to get everything right in an instant. It's also important to remember just because they've joined the Ashley regime they're as much an innocent party as the fans and the players. Getting on their back simply because they're not Keegan would be nothing short of moronic. I have to admit Poyet would not be my first choice, but if he's appointed, he's appointed, What can we do about it? The sensible thing would be to get behind the bloke, hope he fits into our "system" and starts to get some early results. It would do him the world of good.