Hatem Ben Arfa (still a free agent)

[geordiedean]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

We came 3rd in 2003, that's not that long ago for us.

 

15 years ago, though. Did you overachieve to get 3rd or was 3rd just about right and something to build upon?

 

I would have said those mid 90's teams were the last time the club was in the conversation for a title.

 

It was about right. We genuinely challenged that season and the season before when we were top quite a lot until Bellamy's injury. The '90s was the last time we were very close right until the end, but under SBR we were contenders at the start of each season and in the conversation usually until the new year. In 01-02 though I think we were within a point or a couple of points from the top right up until the start of March when Arsenal beat us.

 

Was one point we were top in March then lost a few on the spin and tailed off

[Guest firetotheworks]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

 

That defence has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese, no wonder we shipped goals for fun its crap

 

Williamson aside this is utter nonsense like. '08-'12 Coloccini and '08-'11 Enrique were outstanding and we had holes in our defence because Alan fucking Pardew was our manager for 4 fucking years.

[TheHoob]

i lov u hatem

[Paully]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

We came 3rd in 2003, that's not that long ago for us.

 

15 years ago, though. Did you overachieve to get 3rd or was 3rd just about right and something to build upon?

 

I would have said those mid 90's teams were the last time the club was in the conversation for a title.

 

I'm sure Fergie said he expected us to win it in 01-02 when we were top at Christmas - Bellamy's injured knacked us! We were right up there in 02-03 until the ref robbed us at Everton and then Man Utd humped us up here the week after! The Boro postponement was a disgrace too! Cheating pigs!

[geordiedean]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

 

That defence has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese, no wonder we shipped goals for fun its crap

 

Williamson aside this is utter nonsense like. '08-'12 Coloccini and '08-'11 Enrique were outstanding.

 

I think your perception and mine of outstanding differs a fair bit, you are talking of a time period there where we were relegated and in that season both were shite

[Guest firetotheworks]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

 

That defence has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese, no wonder we shipped goals for fun its crap

 

Williamson aside this is utter nonsense like. '08-'12 Coloccini and '08-'11 Enrique were outstanding.

 

I think your perception and mine of outstanding differs a fair bit, you are talking of a time period there where we were relegated and in that season both were shite

 

So you're cherry picking that one season in which they were shite, both in their first seasons, both with Damien Duff, Nicky Butt, and Alan Smith protecting them, both with 4 different managers that season and the club in turmoil in a season when every single player was shite, over the 2-3 seasons in which they were outstanding? Okay then.

 

And my perception of 'outstanding' includes both the Keegan and SBR eras, so yeah, both were outstanding imo. Enrique especially would be in my all time Newcastle XI.

[geordiedean]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

 

That defence has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese, no wonder we shipped goals for fun its crap

 

Williamson aside this is utter nonsense like. '08-'12 Coloccini and '08-'11 Enrique were outstanding.

 

I think your perception and mine of outstanding differs a fair bit, you are talking of a time period there where we were relegated and in that season both were shite

 

So you're cherry picking that one season in which they were shite, both in their first seasons, both with Damien Duff, Nicky Butt, and Alan Smith protecting them, both with 4 different managers that season and the club in turmoil in a season when every single player was shite, over the 2-3 seasons in which they were outstanding? Okay then.

 

And my perception of 'outstanding' includes both the Keegan and SBR eras, so yeah, both were outstanding imo. Enrique especially would be in my all time Newcastle XI.

 

Enrique was not even in the same league a left back as John Beresford was in the mid 90s and as I said Colocinni was in my opinion never outstanding, Woodgate was outstanding, Phillipe Albert was outstanding and even Steve Howey was head and shoulders above anything Colocinni ever was

[Guest firetotheworks]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

 

That defence has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese, no wonder we shipped goals for fun its crap

 

Williamson aside this is utter nonsense like. '08-'12 Coloccini and '08-'11 Enrique were outstanding.

 

I think your perception and mine of outstanding differs a fair bit, you are talking of a time period there where we were relegated and in that season both were shite

 

So you're cherry picking that one season in which they were shite, both in their first seasons, both with Damien Duff, Nicky Butt, and Alan Smith protecting them, both with 4 different managers that season and the club in turmoil in a season when every single player was shite, over the 2-3 seasons in which they were outstanding? Okay then.

 

And my perception of 'outstanding' includes both the Keegan and SBR eras, so yeah, both were outstanding imo. Enrique especially would be in my all time Newcastle XI.

 

Enrique was not even in the same league a left back as John Beresford was in the mid 90s and as I said Colocinni was in my opinion never outstanding, Woodgate was outstanding, Phillipe Albert was outstanding and even Steve Howey was head and shoulders above anything Colocinni ever was

 

I'm not sure what you want me to say? That I suddenly agree with you and think that you're right? Because I don't, like I said, I've seen all of the Keegan and SBR era so it's not like I've missed any players in that time.

[Gallowgate Toon]

Coloccini's first 2 seasons back in the Prem after Ashley relegation #1 were sublime, like. He was genuinely one of the best defenders in the league. It all ended badly and he was a shadow of his former self before he left, but those 2 years (and his season in the Champ, tbf) were really, really good. He matched players physically and his reading of the game was masterful, along with his play on the ball.

 

Lascelles and prime Colo would've been a mouthwatering pairing.

[joeyt]

Lascelles and prime Colo would've been a mouthwatering pairing.

 

Yeah both of them at their best would have been fun to watch.

 

Colo was one of my favourite players such a shame how it all ended. He was so good to watch in the Championship and for a couple of seasons after that. He posts quite regularly on Instagram of himself playing for us

[Raconteur]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

 

That defence has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese, no wonder we shipped goals for fun its crap

 

Williamson aside this is utter nonsense like. '08-'12 Coloccini and '08-'11 Enrique were outstanding.

 

I think your perception and mine of outstanding differs a fair bit, you are talking of a time period there where we were relegated and in that season both were shite

 

So you're cherry picking that one season in which they were shite, both in their first seasons, both with Damien Duff, Nicky Butt, and Alan Smith protecting them, both with 4 different managers that season and the club in turmoil in a season when every single player was shite, over the 2-3 seasons in which they were outstanding? Okay then.

 

And my perception of 'outstanding' includes both the Keegan and SBR eras, so yeah, both were outstanding imo. Enrique especially would be in my all time Newcastle XI.

 

Enrique was not even in the same league a left back as John Beresford was in the mid 90s and as I said Colocinni was in my opinion never outstanding, Woodgate was outstanding, Phillipe Albert was outstanding and even Steve Howey was head and shoulders above anything Colocinni ever was

 

Howey was probably my favourite player as a kid, but this is simply not true. It is beyond the realm of overstatement and well into "outright lie" territory.

[tinoasprilla]

If you put Colocini alongside the likes of Albert, Howey, Peacock, Robbie Elliot, Watson and Beresford you would have seen a much better player. I always thought he spent half his time bailing Williamson . Like a lot of players he played better in a better team

 

Messi was pants in the world cup for Argentina was that him or the team around him?  In Colocinis last season everyone looked garbage with Super Mac in charge 

[Kanj]

Coloccini's first 2 seasons back in the Prem after Ashley relegation #1 were sublime, like. He was genuinely one of the best defenders in the league. It all ended badly and he was a shadow of his former self before he left, but those 2 years (and his season in the Champ, tbf) were really, really good. He matched players physically and his reading of the game was masterful, along with his play on the ball.

 

Lascelles and prime Colo would've been a mouthwatering pairing.

 

Would be a hell of a partnership. May not go down well but I think Lejeune is better passer of the ball than Colo.

[Paully]

Karim Benzema reportedly tried to convince Real Madrid to sign former Newcastle star

 

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/karim-benzema-reportedly-tried-convince-15108913#ICID=ios_ChronicleNewsApp_AppShare_Click_Other

[Guest firetotheworks]

Karim Benzema reportedly tried to convince Real Madrid to sign former Newcastle star

 

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/karim-benzema-reportedly-tried-convince-15108913#ICID=ios_ChronicleNewsApp_AppShare_Click_Other

 

 

[joeyt]

 

Other clubs were Real Betis, Sevilla, Benfica, FC Porto, Eintracht Frankfurt and Tianjin Quanjian

[HaydnNUFC]

Lascelles and prime Colo would've been a mouthwatering pairing.

 

Yeah both of them at their best would have been fun to watch.

 

Colo was one of my favourite players such a shame how it all ended. He was so good to watch in the Championship and for a couple of seasons after that. He posts quite regularly on Instagram of himself playing for us

That first Championship season up until his injury in 2012/13 he was quality. After that injury he went way downhill.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

 

Other clubs were Real Betis, Sevilla, Benfica, FC Porto, Eintracht Frankfurt and Tianjin Quanjian

 

That list makes it sound like he had a huge choice of offers but we don't know what they were actually offering him. Maybe they had clauses in the contract Ben Arfa didn't want to agree to? He was available on a 'free' transfer because he comes with 'baggage'. The offers he rejected could have been heavily weighted in the clubs favour to cover themselves in case e.g. Ben Arfa had a falling out with the manager. The wages offered might have been 'low'.

[summerof69]

Would love to have sen him in la liga

[tgarve]

 

Other clubs were Real Betis, Sevilla, Benfica, FC Porto, Eintracht Frankfurt and Tianjin Quanjian

 

That list makes it sound like he had a huge choice of offers but we don't know what they were actually offering him. Maybe they had clauses in the contract Ben Arfa didn't want to agree to? He was available on a 'free' transfer because he comes with 'baggage'. The offers he rejected could have Beene heavily weighted in the clubs favour to cover themselves in case e.g. Ben Arfa had a falling out with the manager. The wages offered might have been 'low'.

 

‘Okay’

[loki679]

Tianjin would have been offering a buttload of cash.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

Tianjin would have been offering a buttload of cash.

 

More than likely. He probably rejected that offer as I doubt he fancied living in China.

[Newcastle Fan]

I'm thinking he will start tommorw in the Europa league.

[Wullie]

Get in, had him at 12/1 when he came on.

[Infinitely Content]

Hatem