leffe186

Haven't been able to watch this at all. Honestly, was the Hart booking right or a Home decision?

This. The Premiership teams always pillage the lower leagues in June. Can we start a Championship transfers thread, as all this Premier ship talk is depressing me. Agreed - will be an opportunity to evaluate the other teams in the Championship.

Fair enough, my image of him is still rooted in last year I think. I still have a fantasy he may become a sort of latter-day Micky Quinn goal-hanger.

Understandable given the state of his finances and his legs.

What he said. That was the first thing I thought - might actually be a great move if he can put together more than 5 games on the trot.

Which is just a mild form of what I had said. I have never known such spite and glorying in the misfortune of a club (and yes, fans) NOT your local rivals. Everton were by far the worst. They even sang songs against us in their last game away for God's sake. I gather one or two others did it, and you had to listen to the likes of 606 and Talk Spurts phone-ins to believe the attitudes against us. I do believe it's what has happened because of a concerted attempt by the national rags against us over the years, which I believe started when Shearer signed for us and not their beloved Man U. But to take that to its logical conclusion, if Man U went down in the same circumstances you're telling me the reaction wouldn't be as virulent. Or Liverpool. Or Spurs for that matter. I don't believe that for a second. The spite and glorying in the misfortune of a club is because that club is a big club and a competitor. Personal reasons might vary, but that's the gist. Sure, some people might buy into a media perception of Newcastle fans as insanely deluded, just as they do with Spurs fans among others - but to say it's uniquely aimed at Newcastle is absurd. The flipside of that is that when you're doing well, the media is on your side (Keegan etc) and that means you get loads of floating fans from outside. Them's the breaks. That's how bandwagons work. I remember having an argument with a Liverpool fan who said that "we're different, we're the best of all fans, it means more to be a Liverpool fan etc etc". I cannot believe that if Liverpool were about to go down and if their board and management was in such a mess, there wouldn't be songs about it at SJP. Or WHL.

Perhaps. But when Given left we only had 27 points from 25 games (two thirds of the way through the season), so it was hardly a massive drop off. Actually Dave, I don't think that's the best defence! That means 7 points from the last 13 games. That IS a massive drop off.

Is it though? He needs to go somewhere that he will play everyweek (doubtful at Chelsea) im sure other clubs would have wanted him in the Premiership who could play him week in week out. Didn't he have absolutely ridiculous wage demands though? Even City wouldn't pay them. Surely nobody is though? Chelsea certainly won't be, maybe they plan on loaning him out, could see him at a club like Everton tbh where he would get plenty of games at a good level. He was asking for £60-70k a week. Imagine him walking in the dressing room and being a higher earner than the likes of Arteta, Jags & Cahill? Or going somewhere like Villa and pulling in more than Young or Petrov? Jumped up little t***. If being an t*** (Such a rubbish word) makes you 60-70 thousand pounds per week, then most people would do it. Bottom line is that if there is someone out there willing to pay him that much, than he is worth it. So, Michael Owen then......

Will be interesting to see if clubs try to increase their prices for Newcastle visits. I have a vague memory of legislation being introduced to prevent this - can anyone enlighten me?

What's a good storm? Is that one with really cool lightning?

Nice try, but I disagree! Look at the bigger picture. Club stays up, club does well second half of season and gets out of a massive hole. Keane played a big part in that. The shambles was the position we were in before Redknapp arrived. What matters is the long term and (a) God only knows what will happen to Spurs next year but (b) it's better to stay in the Premiership (apologies to the hosts here) and © what happens to the club matters more than machinations over one player.

I cant believe that about Keane What an absolute f***ing shambles that will be on Spurs' part if that happens. He did the job he was brought back for - to knit us together and keep us up. Particularly after Defoe got injured. There's talk of him being unhappy and he certainly didn't play at all well in the last few games, so I wouldn't call it a shambles - just a short-term decision that paid off. I wouldn't have been unhappy to see him leave in the first place for that insane amount of money, if we had had any cover left.

I actually like it, but I can hear a million chants with the word "piss" in already.

Much as I love to say it, that's exactly what everyone was saying this time last year. And the year before. And the year before. Rinse and repeat. Sorry, I had to. Tbf, that last "year before" of yours, Spurs finished fifth. And the year before that! Too many variables this year for anyone to be confident. Man City, Villa, Everton, Portsmouth? Fulham? Anyhoo - where were we? Other team's transfers.... "2321 BST: Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is hoping to beat Hull to the signing of Manchester United striker Fraizer Campbell. Hull have already had a £6m bid for the striker accepted by United but England under-21 star Campbell is waiting until after the European Championships to decide his future." Looks like the death knell for a transfer to the Toon.

Egypt are pretty good and Italy are a bit better, but didn't get the breaks. The keeper made a stack of saves but he shouldn't have been given a sniff on a couple. This really makes me wish it was a World Cup summer.

Having a bit of a blinder tbf. How has Iaquinta not scored?

Good save. Come on Egypt.

Babatunde - got to take you up on that, that second St Etienne strip is just beautiful.

£6M would be an awful lot for Campbell. He played in fits and starts for us, worked really hard but looked like he needed another proper season playing consistently in the Championship. Some Spurs fans really, really didn't rate him at all.

Compared to Terry he is! I was just making a general point anyway, not neccesarily saying that was the ideal pairing I'd go for with the two first choices being out. 4/5-0 tonight I reckon, I hope we start poorly though because I like watching Capello bollock people from the sidelines. I'm with the man who said 7+. Its about time we obliterated someone, not because we deserve it but because it would be nice for me to actually enjoy an England game for once. The classy/clogger argument would suit Woodgate but I'd rather he didn't play for England - an injury waiting to happen.

Gunter is capable of playing either fullback and did some work for Forest at right midfield. I really like him, but he's not better than Hutton or Corluka right now. Give him a couple of years in the Championship. I'd rather have Gunter than Ryan Taylor tbh.

I went to that game. Zilina's fans were brilliant. Best fans I've seen in the last few years was when we (Spurs) went to Besiktas. Everything a support should be.

Good defence, but that midfield would leave them horrendously exposed. I know you're lacking creativity in the centre but that's a wild lurch in the other direction.

I still think it's going to be Boro, Hull & West Brom. You definitely don't need to be relegated to revamp the squad. During the 2003/04 season Spurs had an aging/ropey squad that finished 14th having been midtable all season. Apart from King & Keane, every position was revamped for the next season. In 2004 & 2005 we totally rebuilt the youth squad and blooded loads of youngsters, signed Cerny & Robinson in goal, Dawson, Edman, Naybet, Atouba and Pamarot in defence, Brown, Carrick, Sean Davis, Mendes & Reid in midfield and Defoe and Mido up front. It was bonkers. King, Redknapp and Defoe were the only players who lined up in the first match of 2004/05 who lined up in the last match of 2003/04. Most players were signed for relatively small fees (Defoe a notable exception at £6M). Great swathes of dead wood were cleared out. There has to be a change of ownership/attitude, a new managerial team (Shearer would still count as that) and some concrete investment. You already have a number of young players signed up and I understand that the youth development team has come on over the last couple of years. Losing players like Viduka, Owen etc will free up lots of money, Bassong, Beye, Barton would stay. I think you will and should stay up.

Definitely not the most hated club. Just imagine how much more virulent it would be if Liverpool, Man U or Chelsea were struggling. The motive is broadly the same just that in the case of Newcastle there is currently the opportunity as well. As others have said, if we (Spurs) were in the same position the general feeling would be the same, maybe worse with an anti-London/southern media mafia slant tacked on. I think you can look at any inter-club hatred coming from various angles - 1) local rivalry 2) tall poppy syndrome 3) rivalry between peers 4) personal resentments/jealousies. At the moment, Newcastle ticks a lot of the boxes. 1) Boro & Sunderland 2) smaller clubs 3) Man City/Spurs/Villa/Everton and I'd actually say some residual Big 4 rivalry (it wasn't that long ago) 4) any club with smaller attendances, less media spotlight, smaller wage bill - or who've got mates who are Newcastle fans and enjoy a bit of a laugh. When I was growing up in N London in the 70s/80s I hated Arsenal (1, 2, 3 & 4) and Liverpool (1, 3, 4 - so many bloody glory-hunters). I only knew one Man U fan and Chelsea weren't a threat so I've never hated them. It's schadenfreude. Most fans have the same delusions just some teams can live up to them more often than others.