buzz

The same person who told me Steve McClaren had already agreed to be the next NUFC manager 3 months before he got the job. Stuck £100 on him @ 12/1. Happy days. Wait he agreed to take the job 3 months before he did, yet turned it down for the last 3 games of the season a month and a half before he finally took the job? Aye nae bother A few of us won a lot of money from information we were given about McClaren! Let's see what happens here now. It'll be out in the open by the weekend. It was pretty much public knowledge we wanted McClaren as early as Jan 2015. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30655825 Wouldn't exactly take a genius to suggest we would go back in for him after the end of the season.

Pardew above Rafa? I accept we finished 5th under him one season, but in view of his whole tenure I'm surprised you remain so positive. We played good football for only really one season, and only in spells. The beginning of 13/14 we got some good results, but I can't remember it being exactly good to watch. He oversaw some of the bleakest days in the club's modern history. Roeder was OK I think. Did really well salvaging what he inherited from Souness in 2006 and finishing 7th was miraculous - played some good football near the end too. Didn't receive the same kind of financial backing Souness was afforded once made permanent manager (Duff always seemed to me a Shepherd signing, and one who only curtailed N'Zogbia's development) and had to rely on loans and freebies, Rossi, Sibierski, Olivier Bernard's return lol. Considering our back four in 06/07 was some combination of Stephen Carr, Peter Ramage, Paul Huntington, David Edgar, Craig Moore and Celestine Babayaro I'd say he did well to even keep us up that year, especially with the injuries.

It's over if that's the case.

Predictable.

I doubt Kluivert was bought to drop Shearer. Provide an alternative would probably be a better way of looking at it. Newcastle's problem was over-reliance on Shearer, his best days were probably when he could share the load with another striker like Ferdinand or big Dunc. Wasn't Sir Bobby ready to let Shearer go to Liverpool at one point around the time of Kluivert? Or am I misremembering that? There were rumours to that effect, also that Bobby felt Shearer was trying to dictate team matters, no idea of the truth behind it. Shearer and Souness got on very well after Bobby left though. It seems pretty clear Bobby wanted to go one way and Shearer wanted to be the main man ad infinitum - and Shearer had Shepherd's ear, which meant Bobby got the arse and his mate Souness came in Although I always assumed Shepherd's ultimate plan was for Shearer to be the next manager after SBR and they were both set to retire in sync in 2005. SBR leaving prematurely obviously scuppered that. Such a plan would've depended on the state of Shearer's coaching badges (can't remember if he had them at that point), and also the temptation of extending as he did under Souness in 2005 to beat the Milburn goal record.

Yep. Tell me this isn't BZG all over again