Hughesy

Same here.

We can definitely get at them - I am still not convinced they are that good at the back.

Apologies - misread your post. I thought you meant we had had a keeper who did that recently - didn't realise you were referring to FF as I didn't he'd really played enough to be missed!

Who did we have before who did that? Not having a go, just interested as your description doesn't seem to fit any keeper we have had.

I love the idea of a 'song book'. I mean.. Does anyone really say that? Sounds incredibly camp.

I think working on defensive positioning and team shape is one of the most important things for a new manager to do and paid dividends last season. If he could now just work a bit more on the creative side, I would be happier. And to be honest, the creative side is just as 'structured' as the defensive side so there is no reason, hopefully, why he can't begin to work on this and improve us in this regard.

Part of the Guardian's "10 things we learned": Unlike some peers, Newcastle United's manager is what the continentals call a "field coach", devoting countless training ground hours to improving, among many other things, the positioning of individual players. He cares deeply about the job and, after landing from Lisbon on Friday afternoon following Thursday night's Europa League 3-1 quarter-final first-leg defeat at Benfica Pardew seemed unusually anxious about Fulham's potential line-up. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/apr/08/premier-league-talking-points Just thought it was vaguely interesting.

1 exceptionally good season, 1 exceptionally bad season - give him another one and see what happens is my view.

It's usually a 15 min walk (downhill..). So I reckon a 7-9 min run is doable. Going to be bloody tight though.

In a how short a time do you reckon you could run from the station to the ground? 7-9 mins?

The ball went a fair bit over his head... not sure it would have made any difference.

What team does he put out for Benfica now?

Get in!!!!!!!!!!!!

Out of the 25 odd years I remember watching Newcastle, I can probably count about 6 or 7 of 'good' football. Just saying..

What can Pardew do about that? I mean he does them in training but what can he do if the players simply don't score from them/defend them properly in a match? What can he do? How about his job I was being sarcastic Just using the ridiculous line of reasoning that Pardews lovers use to excuse a whole manner of his failings to show how absurd it is. pardew gets an insane amount of leeway from some people like, 3 points off relegation 7 games to go At the same time, people have quickly written off the fact he took us to the last game of the season away from a Champions League spot. One great season, one s*** season. I'm in the camp where I think he has earned the chance to put it right. If we're still struggling come October or November next season, he deserves to be sacked. If we're back challenging the top 6, we were right to stand by him. Spot on. I think the thread should be closed on that post.

I really hope this is true - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2303426/Taribo-West-accused-lying-28-40.html

The main reason (other than the fascism thing..) I have disliked di canio is that he is the scorer of the most overrated goal in premiership history.

The rest wouldn't be there if we were sold, it would be eliminated at the point of sale. I do love how they bang on about the change of control on the secured loan. Aside from the fact anyone buying a company assumes all debt has to be repaid, it was even in the public domain (was mentioned in the Chronicle a couple of times). I don't understand why a change of control clause in any financing of any kind would have come as a shock to a businessman.

Agreed.

I think the point is that Given and Harper were pretty much level at one point and then Given got the nod. He went in and raised his game and cemented the spot as his. I suppose the question is whether, had Harper got the chance, he would have gone on to be as good as Given. Harper would almost certainly have improved to a degree, you would think. I always thought he commanded his box better than Given, but didn't have the shot stopping ability that Given had.

Is that actually real or is that a parody?

They might keep him on in a coaching capacity, wouldn't be surprised seeing as that's probably been happening for some time anyway. Hope so. Remember getting his autograph at the training ground probably 17 years along with Pedro, Howey, Bracewell et all f***ing unbelievable he's still here. Fair play to the lad. It's been said over and over, but he could have forged a pretty good Prem career elsewhere. There were times when you could argue there was little difference between Harper and Given. If he'd been number 1 at a club for 10 years poor lad may have played for England. Feel like we've cheated him a little. Bloody appreciate his loyalty though. Cheers Steve Don't get me wrong I think he's been a great servant for the club, but how can we know this given how little he actually played? It's one of those kind of folklore myths that he was as good a Shay and because it can't be disproved everyone seems to have gone along with it. Given was one of the best in the league for a fair period - it's difficult to conclude that someone who has barely played 200 games in nearly 20 years was on a comparable level. He said "there were times". I certainly think around ~1999, particularly, it was difficult to choose and as I recall he was preferred for some periods - e.g. 1999 cup final. Spot on - there was a time when he looked better than Given and really looked like he would kick on.

Would people even put him in their list of the best 10 Premiership strikers? I am not sure I would to be honest.

Really happy for him. Hopefully he gets some game time.