Christmas Tree

As I was up early and had a few hours to kill I thought I'd do a couple of hours taxi'ing and get a few more beer tokens. First Job, Elmohammedy to Sunderlands training ground Put a brave face on and just got on with it because after all, money is money, however as I dropped him off and the other players were milling about I kept thinking if only I worked in Newcastle. It could be Cabaye sitting next to me and Ben-Arfa giving me a nod in the car park. :'( Taxi parked up!

Normally I am when the baby wakes me up after 5 hours sleep......but match day I'm Cant wait to get up there for the atmosphere. Think it will be a bit special today.

Might as well unburden my filthy little Mike Ashley habit in here..... I feel a tad sorry for him He is the owner and the buck stops with him and he will forever have to carry the responsibility for the last 4 years. However he is also the man who has turned this club around and put in place the "business plan / Model" that has got us where we are today; Financial Stability A manager who is doing well and is liked by the players A decent back room staff A scouting set up that is sourcing proper talent A host of excellent youth prospects A first team that is showing potential of challenging for Europe A return to exciting players Excellent training facilities And a bore hole. Okay, so Im joking about the bore hole, but make no mistake how important the underground heating will be come the winter when our players are still able to train outside on grass without the risk of serious injury. To most this is probably a little thing, but it indicates that Ashley is listening, taking advice and willing to invest in behind the scenes stuff that WILL make a big difference. Sure mistakes are still being made. Not getting a striker "over the line" was criminal but we still brought in 6 or 7 very good additions to the squad and hopefully future windows will bring in even more additions. The bottom line is I think we are in a much better position now than we were in 2007 and have a lot to look forward too over the coming season. Ashley is not ideal, but very few owners are. At least he has faced up to the stupidity of throwing mega millions away on journeymen and instead has found a way to bring in quality footballers that we can afford. Tomorrow apparently is his first game of the new season. While I don't expect a rousing reception, it would be nice if the hostilities would die down and we could just get on with re-building our club / team. As demonstrated with the singing corner he certainly has a ruthless side to him and I would much rather he was "on board" than simply trying to flog us to the first fly by night that came along (see Portsmouth). My two penneth anyway.

Quality work :lol:

Totally agree and the added threat of Cabaye and Ben Arfa marauding around the box should give our wingers even more time and space on the ball.

Lucky git. I'm taxi'ing til about 2 or 3 so today feels as though it's in slow mo :-(

What big gap? Since the last home game, feels like months. Especially so soon after the summer break as well.

What big gap? Home game? yup

After such a big gap I really cant wait for this game. Hoping Pardew has the Cahonas to send out his best team, get the game won and then worry about tired legs when we are a few goals to the good. Bets going to be 4-1 Would love to see Cabaye get on the score sheet.

I hate the wisdom that has the likes of Ben Arfa on the bench to be introduced after 60 minutes. Much prefer we play him from the start, sow the game up and then sub him if need be.

Leaner, meaner and proving the doubters wrong - Mike Ashley's Newcastle United have done it his way I trust if this has already been posted or is in the wrong place a mod can move / delete it.

Should be like most other entertainment where you have a warm up act on first to get the crowd in the right mood. Maybe a sing-a-long or something

Agree with all of that second post Magpie99.

Be nice in everyone could just draw a line over the mistakes of the past and concentrate on the excellent things now happening on and off the pitch. We are in a much better position all round compared to 2007 and while we wont be kicking in the back doors of the top four any time soon, we are looking like having a team very capable of breaking Europe, (Particularly if those upstairs get their act together on a striker) and a team and manager that wants to play football the right way. Surely it should be possible to not like some of the stuff that's gone on over the last few years but not let that taint everything going forward.

Excellent post.

Boils down to whether you think defending is the priority or sign up to the belief that attack is the best form of defence. Cant quite see Pardew dropping Taylor for Ferguson.

Aye, you've got to feel a tad sorry for a keeper who comes up against Cabaye, Ben-Arfa and Marveaux all hitting form at the same time. tbh though, keepers love having long range shots at them cause most of the time they will save them and it gives them confidence in games, worst thing is when youve had nowt for 89 minutes then someone gets a freekick right on the edge of the box. Possibly, but I guess keepers like having long range crap shots to deal with. The sort of babies Cabaye was sending in would have got him a hat-trick against a lot of other keepers.

Aye, you've got to feel a tad sorry for a keeper who comes up against Cabaye, Ben-Arfa and Marveaux all hitting form at the same time.

Plus 1 I'll happily avoid all the nasty stuff til Wembley and take our chances on the day.

Other than complete guesswork what do you know of 'modern day scouting'? As you have all the answers, you tell me what you know and I'll keep you right.

Tiote, Cabaye, Marveaux, Ben-Arfa, Santone, Abeid..... Havent these all arrived under his watch and probably a few others who slip my mind? what are we actually saying about these signings? french league winning captain well known french ligue 1 winger bound for liverpool 5 times (?) ligue 1 winner and all round famous frenchie ex-wonderkid italian u21 international and 'new maldini' as much as carr, unless it falls under his remit, the people who are sniffing out the deals and finalising them deserve massive amounts of credit imo I agree and assumed it was Carr doing the sniffing. Aye nobody had heard of people like Hatem Ben Arfa of Davide Santon before Carr found them. Modern day scouting not just about unearthing raw talent. Those are the rarities. Im sure lots of people might have known how good Cabaye, Ben-Arfa, and co are but the bottom line is we got them.

If Pardew isn't getting the credit and Carr isn't getting the credit then we must have some football genius at work upstairs. What cant be taken away from Pardew is that the players all speak very well of him, even those who have left such as Joey.

Stats is stats

2 assists last night And? Jonas has had two assists in a game before. That makes them equals then, right? Actually, no. Jonas has more assists for us than Obertan, so he's actually far better. In conclusion; stop talking shite, you plum. If you take your Jonas glasses off you might notice my reply was in relation to the fact he said he hadnt seen any "end product" from Obertan. Surely pointing out such recent "end product" is acceptable, non

Tiote, Cabaye, Marveaux, Ben-Arfa, Santone, Abeid..... Havent these all arrived under his watch and probably a few others who slip my mind? what are we actually saying about these signings? french league winning captain well known french ligue 1 winger bound for liverpool 5 times (?) ligue 1 winner and all round famous frenchie ex-wonderkid italian u21 international and 'new maldini' as much as carr, unless it falls under his remit, the people who are sniffing out the deals and finalising them deserve massive amounts of credit imo I agree and assumed it was Carr doing the sniffing.