For Those who Said last season we needed defenders

[johnnypd]

what people must accept is that Smith has been brought here to play as a midfielder, and refusing to assess him as one is burying your head in the sand. i agree that he is a nothing player in midfield but this is where he will play 95% of the time so we have to judge him on that. as for being a striker, he doesn't exactly score many, the last time he reached double figures in one season was 6/7 years ago.

 

 

Can't take seriously people who judge footballers by stats instead of their brain.

 

that is tautological, i'm not judging him by stats, i'm using stats as a means to back-up an argument. nice cop out tho. as it is, stikers are often judged on goals, ideally both your strikers in a 4-4-2 should be getting into double figures, if they aren't regular goalscorers then they better be bringing something else to the team, something exceptional, like Bergkamp with his world-class creativity and link play. Smith is mediocre in every aspect.

[Howaythelads]

what people must accept is that Smith has been brought here to play as a midfielder, and refusing to assess him as one is burying your head in the sand. i agree that he is a nothing player in midfield but this is where he will play 95% of the time so we have to judge him on that. as for being a striker, he doesn't exactly score many, the last time he reached double figures in one season was 6/7 years ago.

 

 

Can't take seriously people who judge footballers by stats instead of their brain.

 

that is tautological, i'm not judging him by stats, i'm using stats as a means to back-up an argument. nice cop out tho. as it is, stikers are often judged on goals, ideally both your strikers in a 4-4-2 should be getting into double figures, if they aren't regular goalscorers then they better be bringing something else to the team, something exceptional, like Bergkamp with his world-class creativity and link play. Smith is mediocre in every aspect.

 

Ameobi's a great player, you know. Look at how many goals he's scored in Europe. A "cop out" is using stats instead of using your brain.

 

Smith has the attributes to be a striker imo. At Newcastle I think he'd do well playing alongside Owen. You may not agree with that and that's fine, it's about opinions.  However, you're unable to see those attributes or you just ignore them, instead you prefer stats by counting how many goals he's scored while being used as a utility player. That tells me you're pretty much unable to judge a footballer's contribution to the team properly.

 

Tell me, are you one of the crowd who insisted Parker was superb because statistics showed a high number of tackles and "completed passes?" You may not be, but I hope you get my drift....

[TRon]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

[NE5]

 

well, its completely up to him to either say if its a mistype, or a deliberate American spelling.

 

Can't see what you are laughing at, unless you are just attempting to draw attention away from the fact you've been made a monkey of again with your inconsistent and illogical "opinions" about the merits of the boards, current and old, at NUFC

 

I bumped a post for you earlier that you missed.

 

 

 

I can understand people getting confused with American spellings as we see so many of them these days, not that it matters anyway, I couldn't care less about people getting spellings wrong I just find it funny that you have a go and follow it up with such a howler.

 

As for my "inconsistent and illogical opinions," mine are consistent, I think two boards have financially screwed us, you think one has and the other hasn't even though both situations virtually mirror each other.  You still haven't explained the difference between two financially poor positions left by two previous board of directors.  One was said to be close to the club going out of business the other was that the club was close to folding like a pack of cards.

 

What post did you bump?

 

You think a board which qualified for europe more than any club bar 4 in a decade, is the same as a board who qualified for europe 4 times in 30 years.

 

You can't get more inconsistent and agenda driven than that.

 

IF you really supported this club for all those years, then you would have given your teeth to qualify for europe more than any club bar 4, buy major internationals instead of selling them and reaching a couple of FA Cup Finals instead of being ritually dumped out of it by teams from the 3rd or 4th divisions.

 

On the other hand, you've ignored this before, so why change the habits of a lifetime.

 

 

[NE5]

Be quality if one day one of them managed to argue his point succesfully to the point the other just said

 

"... You know what, you're spot on. Can't believe I could be so wrong for so long. Cheers M8!! "

 

I doubt he'd say that.   

 

if you were right, I would.

 

But you're not.

 

[NE5]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

......... because we bought defenders instead of the 2 quality forwards that City bought, the best 2 players on the pitch yesterday.

 

Well done.

 

 

[Howaythelads]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

Aye, which puts the defenders under pressure no matter who they are.

 

I said last season that we needed forward players and more creativity to be a better team and I stand by that now. I also said last season that even with better defenders we would still concede goals if we do not have the ability to dictate games and if we do not have the creativity and strikers to offer a serious threat to the opposition. A lot of people didn't agree and probably still don't, but we have better defenders now and we are still looking dodgy.

 

It's a team game and yes, we needed better defenders but we must have the ability to hurt the opposition, for them to know you can hurt them because that will be a factor in how they set out their own game plan. If you do not have that it will give them more freedom to have a go at us and that puts your defenders under pressure. No matter who those defenders are you will leak goals and look dodgy under this kind of pressure.

 

We need to dictate the game more and take that pressure off the back four. We need better players in midfield and up front, we also need better tactics to get the most from those players. We needed that last season and we still need it now.

[Cajun]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

......... because we bought defenders instead of the 2 quality forwards that City bought, the best 2 players on the pitch yesterday.

 

Well done.

 

 

 

Well we did buy Barton and our best winger is currently playing at the back while the regular left back is being eased in.

[NE5]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

......... because we bought defenders instead of the 2 quality forwards that City bought, the best 2 players on the pitch yesterday.

 

Well done.

 

 

 

Well we did buy Barton and our best winger is currently playing at the back while the regular left back is being eased in.

 

This is true. But injuries shouldn't be an excuse. My gripe is that somebody somewhere has decided players such as Ameobi are worth taking into account. He isn't. We should also be looking to put together a team without Owen too, because he is either going to leave the club or is always going to be injured. And Emre is a homer, and also not good enough. This leaves us short on quality AND numbers.

 

 

 

 

[Mick]

 

You think a board which qualified for europe more than any club bar 4 in a decade, is the same as a board who qualified for europe 4 times in 30 years.

 

You can't get more inconsistent and agenda driven than that.

 

IF you really supported this club for all those years, then you would have given your teeth to qualify for europe more than any club bar 4, buy major internationals instead of selling them and reaching a couple of FA Cup Finals instead of being ritually dumped out of it by teams from the 3rd or 4th divisions.

 

On the other hand, you've ignored this before, so why change the habits of a lifetime.

 

 

 

I have answered this before, I've also ignored it because I don't like saying the same thing all of the time.  I would have been over the moon to have qualified more for Europe and would have preferred to have kept Gazza and Beardsley.  I think Shepherd was handed a legacy and for too long wasted what he was handed on a plate.  I don't think he made the most of the situation which was the club being as strong as it possibly ever had been in our history, certainly the best in recent history, I don't think he made the most of it.

 

You keep banging on about McKeag, I don't think he did a good job, I just don't think he's any worse than Shepherd, McKeag was handed a poor club and made a poor job of it, I think Shepherd would have been as bad if he'd been in that same position.  Either way, I can't prove that and you can't prove I'm wrong so arguing the case is a bit pointless.

 

Shepherd was handed the 2nd best club in the Premiership and left it the 13th best, Shepherd was handed the 2nd richest club in the Premiership, he left the club with probably the 2nd highest debt, a debt which was probably unmanageable under his regime, Hall took over a club in danger of going out of business, Shepherd left the club in the same position, a position which is miles away from the club he took over.

 

Yes, the Hall's had a hand in that, if only in allowing him to do it, Shepherd as Chairman was the man who made the decisions, he had the casting vote in a board of directors which was evenly split between two families.  If Shepherd was the puppet you make him out to be by doing the Hall’s dirty work then he’s as much an idiot as I think he is because he could have pushed things through and took a stand.  He either didn’t have to and made his own decisions or jumped when asked to, either way he was a poor Chairman who got things right when appointing Sir Bobby, he got it terribly wrong when he sacked him.  All of his other appointments have been failures except for the last appointment who will now be lucky enough to work under a better Chairman than the one who appointed him.

 

You seem to think that our failures are down to the managers yet you think the Chairman has no hand in that, you have even defended the appointment of Souness because of his CV, youu defended the appointment of Roeder because he had a shite CV, you thought that it was logical to appoint a shite CV because good CV's had failed, all of these good CV's failed, most of them for the first time ever, do you not think that might explain something?  People fail for a reason, Dalglish had never failed before he came here, he'd won things at two different clubs yet he failed under the leadership of Shepherd, Gullit also failed for the first time, he also did that under Shepherd, Souness and Roeder were serial failures yet the man you support thought both were good enough for us, Souness was the man to improve on those European qualifications you repeatedly mention.  The only common denominator in all of these failures is Freddy Shepherd, the man all of these "Top Managers" had to work with.  If I keep buying perfectly good cars and crashing them then I think I'd start to suspect that my driving was the problem, not the cars, you would probably blame the cars.

 

Take the record of Sir Bobby out of Shepherd’s time and he would look as bad as most of our poor chairman, poor chairman who didn’t get 10 years to get something right.

 

[NE5]

 

You think a board which qualified for europe more than any club bar 4 in a decade, is the same as a board who qualified for europe 4 times in 30 years.

 

You can't get more inconsistent and agenda driven than that.

 

IF you really supported this club for all those years, then you would have given your teeth to qualify for europe more than any club bar 4, buy major internationals instead of selling them and reaching a couple of FA Cup Finals instead of being ritually dumped out of it by teams from the 3rd or 4th divisions.

 

On the other hand, you've ignored this before, so why change the habits of a lifetime.

 

 

 

I have answered this before, I've also ignored it because I don't like saying the same thing all of the time.  I would have been over the moon to have qualified more for Europe and would have preferred to have kept Gazza and Beardsley.  I think Shepherd was handed a legacy and for too long wasted what he was handed on a plate.  I don't think he made the most of the situation which was the club being as strong as it possibly ever had been in our history, certainly the best in recent history, I don't think he made the most of it.

 

You keep banging on about McKeag, I don't think he did a good job, I just don't think he's any worse than Shepherd, McKeag was handed a poor club and made a poor job of it, I think Shepherd would have been as bad if he'd been in that same position.  Either way, I can't prove that and you can't prove I'm wrong so arguing the case is a bit pointless.

 

Shepherd was handed the 2nd best club in the Premiership and left it the 13th best, Shepherd was handed the 2nd richest club in the Premiership, he left the club with probably the 2nd highest debt, a debt which was probably unmanageable under his regime, Hall took over a club in danger of going out of business, Shepherd left the club in the same position, a position which is miles away from the club he took over.

 

Yes, the Hall's had a hand in that, if only in allowing him to do it, Shepherd as Chairman was the man who made the decisions, he had the casting vote in a board of directors which was evenly split between two families.  If Shepherd was the puppet you make him out to be by doing the Hall’s dirty work then he’s as much an idiot as I think he is because he could have pushed things through and took a stand.  He either didn’t have to and made his own decisions or jumped when asked to, either way he was a poor Chairman who got things right when appointing Sir Bobby, he got it terribly wrong when he sacked him.  All of his other appointments have been failures except for the last appointment who will now be lucky enough to work under a better Chairman than the one who appointed him.

 

You seem to think that our failures are down to the managers yet you think the Chairman has no hand in that, you have even defended the appointment of Souness because of his CV, youu defended the appointment of Roeder because he had a shite CV, you thought that it was logical to appoint a shite CV because good CV's had failed, all of these good CV's failed, most of them for the first time ever, do you not think that might explain something?  People fail for a reason, Dalglish had never failed before he came here, he'd won things at two different clubs yet he failed under the leadership of Shepherd, Gullit also failed for the first time, he also did that under Shepherd, Souness and Roeder were serial failures yet the man you support thought both were good enough for us, Souness was the man to improve on those European qualifications you repeatedly mention.  The only common denominator in all of these failures is Freddy Shepherd, the man all of these "Top Managers" had to work with.  If I keep buying perfectly good cars and crashing them then I think I'd start to suspect that my driving was the problem, not the cars, you would probably blame the cars.

 

Take the record of Sir Bobby out of Shepherd’s time and he would look as bad as most of our poor chairman, poor chairman who didn’t get 10 years to get something right.

 

 

the 3 bold bits are all utter bollocks, and it is such things which make this sort of discussion with you pointless.

 

Why take Bobby Robson out of Shepherds time, why not take Souness out and then it becomes a pretty good decade ?

 

Don't bother spouting any rubbish about him landing on the doorstep as he was a geordie, he'd been a Geordie for the previous 60-odd years of his life and didn't fall onto the doorstep then. The simple fact is, he came to Newcastle because it was the first time the club was decent enough for him.

 

[2sheds]

NE5

Why take Bobby Robson out of Shepherds time, why not take Souness out and then it becomes a pretty good decade ?

Who sacked Bobby then gave Souness £50million to piss away?

 

Don't bother spouting any rubbish about him landing on the doorstep as he was a geordie, he'd been a Geordie for the previous 60-odd years of his life and didn't fall onto the doorstep then. The simple fact is, he came to Newcastle because it was the first time the club was decent enough for him.

 

Thats a lie.

 

Robson was approached when Keegan bottled it but he honoured his contract to Barcelona then.

 

He wasn't approached after Daglish departed because of this refusal.

 

The club finally decided to approach him again after Gullit left

 

 

[Parky]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

Aye, which puts the defenders under pressure no matter who they are.

 

I said last season that we needed forward players and more creativity to be a better team and I stand by that now. I also said last season that even with better defenders we would still concede goals if we do not have the ability to dictate games and if we do not have the creativity and strikers to offer a serious threat to the opposition. A lot of people didn't agree and probably still don't, but we have better defenders now and we are still looking dodgy.

 

It's a team game and yes, we needed better defenders but we must have the ability to hurt the opposition, for them to know you can hurt them because that will be a factor in how they set out their own game plan. If you do not have that it will give them more freedom to have a go at us and that puts your defenders under pressure. No matter who those defenders are you will leak goals and look dodgy under this kind of pressure.

 

We need to dictate the game more and take that pressure off the back four. We need better players in midfield and up front, we also need better tactics to get the most from those players. We needed that last season and we still need it now.

 

Some still fail to understand the linkage between the three components of the team and how the failings of our ability to dictate or even keep the ball meaningfully puts pressure on the defence. Excellent post.

 

 

Next week HTL's masterclass on tempo.

[Thespence]

Well we did buy Barton

 

I wonder if Man City fans are missing the creative Barton? I doubt it but compared to the 3 we have playing in midfield at the moment & the TURKey some class as creative he will look like Mardonna or at least our own Elano when he does play.

[Parky]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

 

.....I remember people on here only a few weeks ago saying we didn't really need a creative midfielder as we created a bucket load of chances against Wigan.. mackems.gif

 

 

YOu know who you are...

[NE5]

NE5

Why take Bobby Robson out of Shepherds time, why not take Souness out and then it becomes a pretty good decade ?

Who sacked Bobby then gave Souness £50million to piss away?

 

Don't bother spouting any rubbish about him landing on the doorstep as he was a geordie, he'd been a Geordie for the previous 60-odd years of his life and didn't fall onto the doorstep then. The simple fact is, he came to Newcastle because it was the first time the club was decent enough for him.

 

Thats a lie.

 

Robson was approached when Keegan bottled it but he honoured his contract to Barcelona then.

 

He wasn't approached after Daglish departed because of this refusal.

 

The club finally decided to approach him again after Gullit left

 

 

you're infatuated with people telling "lies" aren't you.

 

In fact, the world didn't begin in 1997.

 

So you are telling lies if you say it did.

 

Thank you and goodbye

 

EDit: to make one comment re your statemtent that "Keegan bottled it".

 

That man showed more courage to take on the Newcastle Job when he did, than anyone else had ever done before at Newcastle in all my 40+ years supporting this club.

 

I'll let you work out the rest, and where Bobby Robson really comes in, for yourself

 

[TRon]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

Aye, which puts the defenders under pressure no matter who they are.

 

I said last season that we needed forward players and more creativity to be a better team and I stand by that now. I also said last season that even with better defenders we would still concede goals if we do not have the ability to dictate games and if we do not have the creativity and strikers to offer a serious threat to the opposition. A lot of people didn't agree and probably still don't, but we have better defenders now and we are still looking dodgy.

 

It's a team game and yes, we needed better defenders but we must have the ability to hurt the opposition, for them to know you can hurt them because that will be a factor in how they set out their own game plan. If you do not have that it will give them more freedom to have a go at us and that puts your defenders under pressure. No matter who those defenders are you will leak goals and look dodgy under this kind of pressure.

 

We need to dictate the game more and take that pressure off the back four. We need better players in midfield and up front, we also need better tactics to get the most from those players. We needed that last season and we still need it now.

 

We sold Dyer and Solano which were fair enough decisions, but others have pointed out that we now lack pace (Dyer) and invention (Solano) in those areas. Joey Barton isn't going to give us those attributes whatever his qualities. N'Zogbia moved to the left wing will help, but Milner slows the game down on the right. That's where we might struggle to stretch teams until January when we can put that right.

 

And for god's sake stop playing Geremi and Butt in the same team.

[NE5]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

Aye, which puts the defenders under pressure no matter who they are.

 

I said last season that we needed forward players and more creativity to be a better team and I stand by that now. I also said last season that even with better defenders we would still concede goals if we do not have the ability to dictate games and if we do not have the creativity and strikers to offer a serious threat to the opposition. A lot of people didn't agree and probably still don't, but we have better defenders now and we are still looking dodgy.

 

It's a team game and yes, we needed better defenders but we must have the ability to hurt the opposition, for them to know you can hurt them because that will be a factor in how they set out their own game plan. If you do not have that it will give them more freedom to have a go at us and that puts your defenders under pressure. No matter who those defenders are you will leak goals and look dodgy under this kind of pressure.

 

We need to dictate the game more and take that pressure off the back four. We need better players in midfield and up front, we also need better tactics to get the most from those players. We needed that last season and we still need it now.

 

Some still fail to understand the linkage between the three components of the team and how the failings of our ability to dictate or even keep the ball meaningfully puts pressure on the defence. Excellent post.

 

 

Next week HTL's masterclass on tempo.

 

he's wasting his time though, a few others have said the same thing before, and the same people completely fail to understand it.

 

 

[Parky]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

Aye, which puts the defenders under pressure no matter who they are.

 

I said last season that we needed forward players and more creativity to be a better team and I stand by that now. I also said last season that even with better defenders we would still concede goals if we do not have the ability to dictate games and if we do not have the creativity and strikers to offer a serious threat to the opposition. A lot of people didn't agree and probably still don't, but we have better defenders now and we are still looking dodgy.

 

It's a team game and yes, we needed better defenders but we must have the ability to hurt the opposition, for them to know you can hurt them because that will be a factor in how they set out their own game plan. If you do not have that it will give them more freedom to have a go at us and that puts your defenders under pressure. No matter who those defenders are you will leak goals and look dodgy under this kind of pressure.

 

We need to dictate the game more and take that pressure off the back four. We need better players in midfield and up front, we also need better tactics to get the most from those players. We needed that last season and we still need it now.

 

We sold Dyer and Solano which were fair enough decisions, but others have pointed out that we now lack pace (Dyer) and invention (Solano) in those areas. Joey Barton isn't going to give us those attributes whatever his qualities. N'Zogbia moved to the left wing will help, but Milner slows the game down on the right. That's where we might struggle to stretch teams until January when we can put that right.

 

And for god's sake stop playing Geremi and Butt in the same team.

 

 

blueyes.gif

 

 

 

 

[Mick]

 

the 3 bold bits are all utter bollocks, and it is such things which make this sort of discussion with you pointless.

 

Why take Bobby Robson out of Shepherds time, why not take Souness out and then it becomes a pretty good decade ?

 

Don't bother spouting any rubbish about him landing on the doorstep as he was a geordie, he'd been a Geordie for the previous 60-odd years of his life and didn't fall onto the doorstep then. The simple fact is, he came to Newcastle because it was the first time the club was decent enough for him.

 

 

Sorry, I don't think Shepherd was any better than McKeag, I base that on the amount of time both men were in the job and the failures of the two.

 

Both had to fight off possible takeovers, Shepherd has complained that the speculation which was surrounding the club was having a negative effect on the way he was doing his job.  Shepherd had to contend with that for a small percentage of his time at the end so it had no bearing on how he performed at the start, as a Chairman McKeag had it constantly.

 

McKeag was Chairman for 2 years, Shepherds first 2 full years saw us drop from 2nd in the league to finish 13th twice while the club was financially stable.  McKeag was running a club that was financially struggling, they had debts which made sure that he had his hands tied behind his back, Shepherd took over a club that was cash rich and he still failed, he dropped us 11 places in the league.

 

McKeag didn’t do a good job, neither did Shepherd, 2 poor Chairman.

 

I can’t be bothered trolling through your posts to find where you said something along the lines that you could see why Souness was appointed, even if you didn’t want him but you did say it.

 

I said take Sir Bobby out of it and it's all failure, I didn't mean that Bobby's time should actually be taken out, 1 Success, the rest failure. 

[Mick]

 

you're infatuated with people telling "lies" aren't you.

 

In fact, the world didn't begin in 1997.

 

So you are telling lies if you say it did.

 

Thank you and goodbye

 

EDit: to make one comment re your statemtent that "Keegan bottled it".

 

That man showed more courage to take on the Newcastle Job when he did, than anyone else had ever done before at Newcastle in all my 40+ years supporting this club.

 

I'll let you work out the rest, and where Bobby Robson really comes in, for yourself

 

 

Where did he say the world began in 1997?

 

Here you go again putting words into people’s mouths which they haven't said and you have the cheek to use  . 

 

[Cajun]

Big Sam was absolutely right to get in the defenders that he did, this is something that has needed addressing for years now, I'm pretty sure that the investments will prove their worth given time. The point about stats though is close to home. Somethimes when I look at a side put out by Allardyce I wonder if he's putting someone in there because the numbers add up nicely. Geremi, Butt and Smith in theory must look impossible to play against for a creative player, but As Dr Spectrum put it so well, three defensive midfielders ended up chasing Elano's shadow all afternoon. City were slick and sharp, passing quickly and running at pace. We were plodding in comparison.

 

 

.....I remember people on here only a few weeks ago saying we didn't really need a creative midfielder as we created a bucket load of chances against Wigan.. mackems.gif

 

 

YOu know who you are...

 

I don't remember anyone saying that, not telling stories again are we Jack?

[2sheds]

NE5

Why take Bobby Robson out of Shepherds time, why not take Souness out and then it becomes a pretty good decade ?

Who sacked Bobby then gave Souness £50million to piss away?

 

Don't bother spouting any rubbish about him landing on the doorstep as he was a geordie, he'd been a Geordie for the previous 60-odd years of his life and didn't fall onto the doorstep then. The simple fact is, he came to Newcastle because it was the first time the club was decent enough for him.

 

Thats a lie.

 

Robson was approached when Keegan bottled it but he honoured his contract to Barcelona then.

 

He wasn't approached after Daglish departed because of this refusal.

 

The club finally decided to approach him again after Gullit left

 

 

you're infatuated with people telling "lies" aren't you.

 

In fact, the world didn't begin in 1997.

 

So you are telling lies if you say it did.

 

Thank you and goodbye

 

EDit: to make one comment re your statemtent that "Keegan bottled it".

 

That man showed more courage to take on the Newcastle Job when he did, than anyone else had ever done before at Newcastle in all my 40+ years supporting this club.

 

I'll let you work out the rest, and where Bobby Robson really comes in, for yourself

 

 

The BBC said:

Newcastle first tried to get Sir Bobby as manager after Keegan had resigned in 1997, but Sir Bobby honoured his contract with Barcelona and Newcastle settled for Dalglish instead.

 

Item 9 on this list http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/sport/2005/02/28/bobby_facts.shtml

 

Caught out again NE5, do you ever get tired of making a fool of yourself?

[Baggio]

what people must accept is that Smith has been brought here to play as a midfielder, and refusing to assess him as one is burying your head in the sand. i agree that he is a nothing player in midfield but this is where he will play 95% of the time so we have to judge him on that. as for being a striker, he doesn't exactly score many, the last time he reached double figures in one season was 6/7 years ago.

 

 

Can't take seriously people who judge footballers by stats instead of their brain.

 

that is tautological, i'm not judging him by stats, i'm using stats as a means to back-up an argument. nice cop out tho. as it is, stikers are often judged on goals, ideally both your strikers in a 4-4-2 should be getting into double figures, if they aren't regular goalscorers then they better be bringing something else to the team, something exceptional, like Bergkamp with his world-class creativity and link play. Smith is mediocre in every aspect.

 

Well said, Johnny.

[NE5]

NE5

Why take Bobby Robson out of Shepherds time, why not take Souness out and then it becomes a pretty good decade ?

Who sacked Bobby then gave Souness £50million to piss away?

 

Don't bother spouting any rubbish about him landing on the doorstep as he was a geordie, he'd been a Geordie for the previous 60-odd years of his life and didn't fall onto the doorstep then. The simple fact is, he came to Newcastle because it was the first time the club was decent enough for him.

 

Thats a lie.

 

Robson was approached when Keegan bottled it but he honoured his contract to Barcelona then.

 

He wasn't approached after Daglish departed because of this refusal.

 

The club finally decided to approach him again after Gullit left

 

 

you're infatuated with people telling "lies" aren't you.

 

In fact, the world didn't begin in 1997.

 

So you are telling lies if you say it did.

 

Thank you and goodbye

 

EDit: to make one comment re your statemtent that "Keegan bottled it".

 

That man showed more courage to take on the Newcastle Job when he did, than anyone else had ever done before at Newcastle in all my 40+ years supporting this club.

 

I'll let you work out the rest, and where Bobby Robson really comes in, for yourself

 

 

The BBC said:

Newcastle first tried to get Sir Bobby as manager after Keegan had resigned in 1997, but Sir Bobby honoured his contract with Barcelona and Newcastle settled for Dalglish instead.

 

Item 9 on this list http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/sport/2005/02/28/bobby_facts.shtml

 

Caught out again NE5, do you ever get tired of making a fool of yourself?

 

Like I said, the world and football didn't begin in 1997. I'll let you work it out, or carry on making a fool of yourself if you like. Do you think I'm not aware of the information contained in that link.

 

In fact, another person was in the frame for the job at that time, but he too already had a club. A big club. Bigger than us, or he may have took the job. Like Robson and Dalglish, he wasn't interested in the club when we had shite directors.

 

Your comment about Keegan is even more foolish, and shows even more your lack of perception and true knowledge of the club and its history