The Prophet

I think the result today has obviously put him back under the spot light but he's been poor for a while now. His major problem isn't his reading of the game or his challenging for the ball, it's his distribution. It amazes me how many times he wins the ball of the opposition, looks up, gives it back to them and then gives away a foul. It makes me wonder why it takes a derby defeat before people start realising he's a poor football player.

Just a few thoughts from the game: Thought overall the mackems probably deserved their win. Typical blood and thunder derby in the first half, they dominated at first, got their goal, we dominated and got our goal. What pissed me off about the match was our complete lack of fight in the second half. The game was their to be won and we just sat back and let it pass us by. What has impressed me a lot about Kinnear is the way we've come out after the break firing from all cylinders but today it wasn't there. Sunderland weren't anything amazing it was more our pedestrian approach to the half that cost us in the end. Oh and the pitch invasion, please. They want to be seen as a big club? That really isn't the way to go about it

"I'm no crazy fool, I've got nuts" *Laughs* "Fuck off Nile, who's the one with the straight bannana now" *Laughs* "Cuff my nuts? It's Shola for fuck's sake"

Took Chelsea, Barcelona, Bremen and Athletico at 12-1 Then a bit of silliness, Athletico to win 2-0 and Forlan to grab the first 40-1

Robinho conducted himself like a cunt all night to be honest. I was particularly annoyed when he grabbed the ball thinking it was a foul and when Styles played on he failed to book him for intentional hand ball. Don't suppose anybody else saw the cosy little chat they were having at half time?

Then wouldn't those thoughts be based on a knee-jerk reaction?

Their short passing game seemed decent but as soon as they attempted any kind of pass which involved moving the ball more than five yards the radar went to pot. No better than us in terms of passing tonight. Thought they missed both Elano and Petrov ennormously tonight. Ireland had a good game but I still don't think he can match Elano's vision and creativity. He bossed the game at Eastlands last year. Bit like Petrov really, who's pace and delivery ripped us apart. The biggest disappointment in the City team for me was SWP. Bassong wasn't at his best and he failed to exploit this. He seemd more intrested in taking pointless pot-shots than actually running at the fullback.

Why not? I ask this question not because I'm a Kinnear fan, but more for the sake of debate. Ask why you don't want Kinnear installed, because he's not a big enough name? He isn't good enough? He's been out of the game for too long? He's only a caretaker? He's a joke? He doesn't push your eruption button? Well, you get the picture. Now it's impossible to tell how well Kinnear is going to do, but I think people should at least consider the case for Kinnear. He's been brought out of the cold to go about attempting a job no body else had the bollocks to do. The bloke has nothing to lose. He isn't a big name, his reputation is lesser known that most, and he's desperate to show the footballing world what he's made of. The bloke will graft, he's hungry, every fucker has written him off before he's even started and he's determined to prove them all wrong. That's a fantastic attitude to have in my opinion. Just look at Ramos at Spurs. His children are homesick and he looks like a man who's more interested in packing his bags than sticking around for the long haul, and how many of you would have welcomed him with open arms this time last year? Now I know that's hindsight-tastic but the point is a manager shouldn't be judged by his reputation alone. If Kinnear is hungry enough to start getting results why should we deny him the opportunity of a full time job because we don't like the sound of his name? This determined attitude seems to be rubbing off on the players. It's along time since I've seen a Newcastle side go out with such a good spirit for two games on the spin. Don't get me wrong there's a lot to work on but in these troubled times it's nice to see qualities we haven't seen of our teams in the past. A bit of fight and grit, as well as the odd bit of quality. If Kinnear can get the team to play and continue to install this never say die attitude he may be on to a winner. Of Course we've seen this before with Glenn Roeder. However I think the major difference between the two is Kinnear isn't afraid to upset people. Roeder wanted to be everyone's friend, you can't imagine him giving a player a good rollicking after a poor performance. Kinnear (as we've seen) isn't afraid to speak his mind, he tells it like it is. If you listen to his press conferences he talks absolute sense. He's an old fashioned manager who's been around the block, he won't take shit from the modern day footballer or from the blood-craving media.any Now if the man doesn't get the results then so be it, but if was to go on a half-decent run why not? We've had our the big names, the samller name, the utter dross and of course Kevin Keegan (again) so why not give someone different a chance? Surely it would be a small minded fan who wouldn't even spare the man a modicum of consideration.

It was just a bad decisions on so many levels it was hard to believe. Beye got the ball we all know that, but pundits and referees a like seem to be buying into this ridiculous idea that any kind of contact in the box must result in a penalty, it's just getting beyond a joke. At the end of the day Styles couldn't wait to get his red card out, he didn't even stop to think about it. If he'd of taken a second or two he'd of realised the ball went in the direction of Beye's challange rather than Robinho's run. He may also of noted it probably wasn't a goal scoring oppertunity as Given was bearing down. If he was still unsure he could of gone and asked his linesman. This incident has just really shown how trigger happy referees and in particular Styles himself have become.

Is it really worth risking Beye and Martins if they're not match fit? Seems a bit pointless to me. Not only do you put them at risk of another injury but they'll be lacking match sharpness.

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. true, but surely ashley trying to sell the club would be very receptive. I just think that ashley trying to sell to make a quick buck is against everything we've seen so far, and the pronouncement that nobody makes money from football, there are easier ways to make money. If we are to believe what these buisness analysists claim on SSN Ashley wants £300-£400 million for the club. I wouldn't exactly call that "receptive" especially when you consider Man City was snapped up for around the £200 million mark. It also suggests Ashley isn't looking for a quick buck and is willing to wait it out for the right price. I don't think Ashley bought the club with the intention to instantly sell it either. I think he's bought the club with the intention to enjoy himself and due to his inexperience in football executed his plans in a fashion where he ended up with two opposing parties trying to take the it in the right direction. As a result one party lost out, the fans over-rected and this made Ashley's position untenable.

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.