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Whilst I agree with this to a degree, I also think that your mate would happily have 'lost out' on that £150 if his team stays in the Premier League.

Gerraway man. I seriously doubt I was the only one to refer to Richard Offiong as 'The South Shields Drogba'

the french leagues official site has it on saturday so bewares. http://football.uk.reuters.com/ligue1/news/LDE62N2CN.php

kk didn't have to make many tough decisions. kelly wasn't good enough and peacock left on compassion. Not one Newcastle fan thought Kelly wasn't good enough to at least be given a chance in the PL, the lad had just banged in 28 goals or something, including a hattrick in his last appearance. That was a brave and tough decision by KK. The line we got from the club was that Peacock was sold because of some birth defect with his new born, not sure that was the real reason, doesn't seem too much logic in it, why the need to move to London ? Both he and his wife were grown adults and had no need to be around their family for support, it's not as if his wife would have had to work to make ends meet. He was sold for football reasons, and again a brave decision as Peacock had been one of our best players but the signing of Cole had signalled his departure. KK also got rid of the likes of Sheedy, Killer and Micky Quinn, all whom had seen their better days but he was ruthless in jetisoning them. There are many clubs that are happy to reward the bulk of their playing staff who got them up with the chance to prove they can perform at the top level, KK did not take any passengers with him as he brought the club up. We have to do the same again. Great post - I mentioned this about Kelly a few days ago when saying that I wouldn't have Lovenkrands in the side if we got promoted to the Prem. As you say afar, most fans were shocked when KK let Kelly go - even SJH, although backing KKs decision, personally assured Kelly he would always be welcome at SJP, and thanked him for his great contribution over 2 seasons(his goal against Pompey kept us up in '92). I made the point that Kelly was a better player than Lovenkrands, both in his goals scored and all round team contribution - AND he was 3 years younger... KK had seen how ruthless Shankly could be at Liverpool, when he got rid of the likes of St.John and Yeats when he thought they were past it - even though they had helped him bring Liverpool from being a run-of-the-mill Div 2 side to one of the best in England ; Keegan was right to do what he did and that is exactly what we will need to do if promoted because there are several players who are just not good enough for the top league. Whether this happens or not depends on either Ashley being prepared to fork out the funds to replace them, or his replacement as owner(in the unlikely event of him selling)doing the same. There is also the question of the manager's backbone too....! kelly and loven are different style players in vastly differing teams so it's diffiuilt to say who was better. (i'd like to know how many loven would have got in that team) kk didn't get rid of killer till 2004 when he was well past it as was sheedy when he left. we did keep players who seemingly werent up to it and only got rid when we could (killer,scott,o'brien) 1994

Can't wait for this game. Reckon we'll score early on, then just before half time and in the second half score a third on or around the 70 minute mark. Can't see them troubling us mind.

and the right thing is winning football matches whilst in charge of newcastle, which will lead us to being promoted, and so on. the 'right thing' for all you know could have been to play carroll, because 99% of the players are on his side, because taylor's an arsehole and was winding him up about money and/or his mrs. pure speculation, but that's all you've got as well. your leon best comment may be a joke, but if you acknowledge it as such, then it seems you're saying you'd rather the manager dropped his best players if they have behaved in a way that you suspect may be unacceptable but have no real knowledge of and we don't win as opposed to seeing us actually win a match? that's some strange thinking. and besides, carroll's a bit of a livewire who's punched someone. he's not jack the ripper. Aye, if Carroll hadn't behaved in a way that I suspect to be unacceptable (punching Taylor regardless of any provocation) then I would assume the club would have said something along those lines. Carroll punched a fellow player, it's not acceptable at any football club. I did acknowledge the Best comment as a joke, aye. Would I have rather had Best up front in place of Carroll? Not a chance. I'm f***ing delighted Carroll played, and scored. I just don't think he should have.

firstly, other than the fact they had a fight, everything else is rumour, hot air and bullshit. if taylor has been a complete arsehole and carroll has snapped, that's a big difference to someone just attacking someone out of the blue. secondly, hughton's job is to get results for us. he could have got on his moral highhorse, banned carroll, and we'd not have beaten doncaster. or he could have played him as he's in red hot form, and watched him score the winner. which he did. good management. They represent the football club and are in a privelidged position, let's be honest, it's not the first time Carroll has spoken with his fists eh? Granted, Taylor might have been a prick but it doesn't mean Carroll had the right to chin him. It's nothing to do with Hughton getting on his 'moral highhorse', it's about him doing the right thing, you can't have the players scrapping with each other, whether it's off the pitch or not and getting away with it. I mean, the win at Donny was absolutely HUGE and I'm glad Carroll started, but he shouldn't have done given what had allegedly gone on. Besides, if he hadn't got the winner Leon Best would have. When Bobby was in charge did you think he should have been sacked because of ill-discipline within the camp? Plenty of that when Bellamy, Dyer et al were at the club. I was more than happy with the way he dealt with it behind the scenes and without the fuss. Alternatively there's the hard man Souness method. Remind me how that worked out for us again... I'm not saying I want a disciplinarian in charge, not that Souness was one of them mind, he just sold off the 'trouble-makers'. And no, I didn't think Bobby should have been sacked, but I also don't think Chris Hughton should be sacked, merely moved down to what was once a preferred coaching role, and certainly not solely for the reason of instilling discipline.

firstly, other than the fact they had a fight, everything else is rumour, hot air and bullshit. if taylor has been a complete arsehole and carroll has snapped, that's a big difference to someone just attacking someone out of the blue. secondly, hughton's job is to get results for us. he could have got on his moral highhorse, banned carroll, and we'd not have beaten doncaster. or he could have played him as he's in red hot form, and watched him score the winner. which he did. good management. They represent the football club and are in a privelidged position, let's be honest, it's not the first time Carroll has spoken with his fists eh? Granted, Taylor might have been a prick but it doesn't mean Carroll had the right to chin him. It's nothing to do with Hughton getting on his 'moral highhorse', it's about him doing the right thing, you can't have the players scrapping with each other, whether it's off the pitch or not and getting away with it. I mean, the win at Donny was absolutely HUGE and I'm glad Carroll started, but he shouldn't have done given what had allegedly gone on. Besides, if he hadn't got the winner Leon Best would have.

survival at the very least. player for player we're as good if not better than a host of lower half premiership teams. f***ing hell, at least one of hull, wolves, burnley and wigan are staying up for god's sake. if we were there this season, and didn't have the ludicrous managerial changes of last year, do you honestly think we'd not do as well as burnley and hull? really? I think we COULD do better than Hull, Burnley, Wolves, Wigan probably but against the lesser mid-table fodder of Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Stoke, even West Ham we'd struggle. The gap between the Championship and the Premiership is vast. Christ, look at Shola at the start of the season. I do agree that confidence plays a massive part in football, as has shown this season. How about discipline though with Hughton? I can't help but wonder how many other clubs/managers would have tolderated the Carroll/Taylor issue. Granted, Carroll is in top form right now but to chin another player and keep your place in the starting line up is pretty shoddy.

Well then what would you think, seriously, this group of players with Hughton in charge are capable of achieving in the Premiership? Genuinely interested to find out. I think we'd get our arse handed to us home and away by the majority.

What is wrong with you? To not have faith in Hughton is one thing, but to suggest Mowbray as a better option is absolutely insane. His teams are never defensively sound and that will always be a major issue. Hell no! And at what point over the last 15 years has our team been defensively sound? Err, we've just kept our 19th clean sheet of the season and have the best defensive record in the league, with 2 of our defenders the top picks for fan's player of the year... So, this year? Come on. Obviously this season, in a lower division, has been a success. However, the whole point of this discussion regarding Hughton/Mowbray is based on our manager in the top flight. We come up against the likes of Billy Sharp, Michael Chopra, Dexter Blackstock, Darius Henderson, Rob Earnshaw week in week out in this league. I'm sure don't need to mention there is a significant increase in class in the top flight.

What is wrong with you? To not have faith in Hughton is one thing, but to suggest Mowbray as a better option is absolutely insane. His teams are never defensively sound and that will always be a major issue. Hell no! And at what point over the last 15 years has our team been defensively sound?

I just cannot help but think Hughton has been quite lucky this season, we've had a fantastic season in a weak league but I genuinely can't remember a moment when I've thought "Great decision, Chris" when it comes to making a change, picking a team, changing a game plan etc. If you don't do that in the top flight you'll get punished. I have a massive amount of admiration for the fella but I won't be overly confident if he's still our manager going into the new season. I'm not being unrealistic, I'm not saying that if we get promoted we should be aiming for anything above survival. I just think if we enter into a Premiership season, three or four new faces or not, with the same manager with his same ideas then we'll be straight back down again.

I don't really care about 'liking' the way a team play in the Premiership if it means that they are going to get relegated as a consequence. You admit that our players wouldn't be capable of playing the football he'd try and get them to play and even when he had his 'own' team in the Premier League he was unable to keep them there. That sounds like an awful plan. I think with the addition of a creative central midfielder and a goalscorer we could do a lot worse than try and play our way to survival, it's a nice thought anyway. Granted, I'd much rather avoid relegation playing dreadful football but as far as managers go, and realistic ones for us, Mowbray would certainly be preferable over Hughton for me, don't get me wrong, Hughton deserves a lot of credit for where he's got us this season but he's inept at Premiership level as he showed last season with arguably a better set of players.

Would you rather have Hughton in charge in the Premiership like? I liked the way West Brom played their football in the Premiership. Granted, we don't have the players capable of that at this point but I think Mowbray would have a lot more to offer us in the top flight than Hughton.

I thought Tony Mowbray was tailor-made for the Celtic job to be fair, how wrong was I? I think he could do a job for us in the Prem mind if we don't stick with Hughton.

Funnily enough I saw this fella earlier this morning, presumably driving to work, I'm not too hot on cars but it was definitely silver in colour.

Utterly ridiculous really. How can the FA justify this fine really? He's the manager of a football team for god sake, he's employed to do what he sees best for the good of the club surely? In realistic terms he's obviously accepted defeat before the match took place and rested his better players for their big games (i.e. against other relegation fodder), is this really the basis for a fine? All the players were registered to play for Wolves. What if they'd have gone on to win? I doubt the fine would have been imposed then. It's absolutely crazy.

http://i40.tinypic.com/4vqys0.jpg

Not keen on that collar mind. Nor the apparent spunk stains all down the front.

It's bound to happen man. Bound to.

I would say yes but nonetheless the wages would be unreasonable. Zaragoza does want to get rid. Google says he's on €2.2m a year. That's... around 35k a week in pounds? About £38k, not a big wage at all, but wether he's actually worth it or not I don't know, probably not? I think Jermaine Pennant is exactly the kind of player we should be avoiding to be honest. Pretty much a wasted talent, the likes of which we've spent far too much money on in recent years. I'd say Wayne Routledge is a very similar story. Raw talent as a youngster but lost his way, perhaps through transferring at the wrong time?

That SBR Foundation one is lush. Ordinarily I prefer our kits to be a tad more black than white, but the sleeves work well with that design.

Gone with the majority here, 13-17th. I'd be more than happy with 17th mind. With 3 or 4 top level players I think we could stay up relatively comfortably (by say 5 or 6 points) but it all depends who we can get in. I do believe this set of players would take us straight back down like, it worries me that over 4 attempts we haven't beaten West Brom this season, the only other team that looks like it could put up any kind of fight in the Prem.

I reckon we could pick off some players from the relegated teams. I know he's only a loanee at Pompey but a move for Frederic Piquionne could be good. Jamie O'Hara perhaps? I can see us going for the kind of player available for £2-3m. I can't see us spending £5m+ like.