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Guest Jangles

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Guest Jangles

A quick look at the club from the top down

 

Freddie Shephard:

Makes himself, the club and everyone in the northeast look like idiots everytime he opens his gob. He's spent a shitload of the clubs money (its money we've put into the club not his own dosh though) but he doesnt seem to get the players the manager wants (Bobby got Carr and Butt instead of Miguel and Carrick, Souness got Luque instead of Boa Morte). And when a manager fails despite 'being backed with funds' then they get axed and only then does Freddie think about a replacement.

Verdict - go

 

Glenn Roeder:

The Roeder/Shearer/Craig team turned things around last season, got us playing good football and we snuck into europe. Whilst not ecstatic about Roeder getting the job I thought it could be worse (Steve Bruce anyone?). However it seems Shearer and Craig did a lot more than I realised as Roeder seems to be the ultimate yes man - keeping fans happy with tales of searching for great players, keeping shephard happy by not kicking up a stink about lack of transfers, keeping 'senior' players happy by playing them no matter how gash they are, praising the youngsters even when they've not been that good. To be a top class manager you need to be a bit of a bastard (Ferguson, Mourinho, etc)

Verdict - go

 

Players:

Give/Harper/Krul: 3 Class keepers

Verdict- Keep

 

Babayaro/Carr/Duff/Luque: They've done feck all since they arrived except pick up their rather large salary

Verdict - shoot

 

Bernard/Moore: They've done feck all since they arrived except pick up their rather large salary, but at least they had the decency to lie on the treatment table rather than wander around the pitch doing feck all.

Verdict - shoot

 

Shola/Owen:

We know what owen can do when fit (all to rare) and shola seemed to be sticking in more consistance performances

Verdict - keep

 

Ramage/Pattison/O'Brien: They put in a lot of effort but unfortunately I dont think any of them are good enough

Verdict - sell to the championship (or whatever its called today)

 

Taylor/Huntingdon/Edgar: A lot of potential but they need to be handled correctly so they can learn their trade properly

Verdict - keep

 

Bramble: All the attributes of a class defender but an accident waiting to happen, cant help thinking good management could make him great but is that going to happen here...........?

Verdict - keep

 

Butt/Parker/Nobby: A good mix of ability and experience

Verdict - keep

 

Emre/Dyer/Martins: All good with the ball to feet, all crap with our favoured hoof it from defence tactic

Verdict - keep

 

Zoggy: Take one the best players from last season - destroy his confidence by dropping him for unfit/uninterested Duff. Needed a decent run so he can continue to improve

Verdict - keep

 

Milner: Got pissed around in the pre-season, full credit to the lad for getting his head down and working his knads off. Still a bit to learn but probably our player of the season so far.

Verdict - keep

 

Sibierski: A bit lacking but will work himself into the ground

Verdict - keep (for the bench)

 

I think we've the core of a good team but we need a chairman and manager capable of taking this core and building a team around it

 

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I agree we have the core of a decent side, what I would add is, in order of priority:

 

A FECKING LEFT BACK! - With the Cole injury it seems increasingly unlikely that we will ever see Bridge in the black and white, so some serious scouting will have to be done to come up with someone of real quality. Unless Heinze is available of course, in which case we should go all out for him.

 

A Striker who can hold up the ball and link the play - I don't want to see us turn into a long ball team, but someone who can make the ball stick up front and bring others into play. Hopefully Martins and Owen will be our first choices, so I don't think we need to break the bank on this one.

 

A right back - less of a priority than LB, but we still don't really have anyone to do this job well. Our lack of attacking threat from fullback positions has been a major problem this season.

 

Beyond that I'm not sure  ???

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We have the resources to be a top 4 club again - since 2004 we've spent more than Arsenal, Man Utd or Liverpool, but we need a good manager to turn transfer budget into success.  I blame Shepherd.  From the last six managers we've had, only two have been up to the job..  It's the manager's job to get the club winning, but it's also the chairman's job to appoint the right manager.  Roeder's done ok, but some of his decisions baffle me and I don't see him as the man to bring the club back to the level it should be at.

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A quick look at the club from the top down

 

Freddie Shephard:

Makes himself, the club and everyone in the northeast look like idiots everytime he opens his gob. He's spent a shitload of the clubs money (its money we've put into the club not his own dosh though) but he doesnt seem to get the players the manager wants (Bobby got Carr and Butt instead of Miguel and Carrick, Souness got Luque instead of Boa Morte). And when a manager fails despite 'being backed with funds' then they get axed and only then does Freddie think about a replacement.

Verdict - go

 

Glenn Roeder:

The Roeder/Shearer/Craig team turned things around last season, got us playing good football and we snuck into europe. Whilst not ecstatic about Roeder getting the job I thought it could be worse (Steve Bruce anyone?). However it seems Shearer and Craig did a lot more than I realised as Roeder seems to be the ultimate yes man - keeping fans happy with tales of searching for great players, keeping shephard happy by not kicking up a stink about lack of transfers, keeping 'senior' players happy by playing them no matter how gash they are, praising the youngsters even when they've not been that good. To be a top class manager you need to be a bit of a b****** (Ferguson, Mourinho, etc)

Verdict - go

 

Players:

Give/Harper/Krul: 3 Class keepers

Verdict- Keep

 

Babayaro/Carr/Duff/Luque: They've done feck all since they arrived except pick up their rather large salary

Verdict - shoot

 

Bernard/Moore: They've done feck all since they arrived except pick up their rather large salary, but at least they had the decency to lie on the treatment table rather than wander around the pitch doing feck all.

Verdict - shoot

 

Shola/Owen:

We know what owen can do when fit (all to rare) and shola seemed to be sticking in more consistance performances

Verdict - keep

 

Ramage/Pattison/O'Brien: They put in a lot of effort but unfortunately I dont think any of them are good enough

Verdict - sell to the championship (or whatever its called today)

 

Taylor/Huntingdon/Edgar: A lot of potential but they need to be handled correctly so they can learn their trade properly

Verdict - keep

 

Bramble: All the attributes of a class defender but an accident waiting to happen, cant help thinking good management could make him great but is that going to happen here...........?

Verdict - keep

 

Butt/Parker/Nobby: A good mix of ability and experience

Verdict - keep

 

Emre/Dyer/Martins: All good with the ball to feet, all crap with our favoured hoof it from defence tactic

Verdict - keep

 

Zoggy: Take one the best players from last season - destroy his confidence by dropping him for unfit/uninterested Duff. Needed a decent run so he can continue to improve

Verdict - keep

 

Milner: Got pissed around in the pre-season, full credit to the lad for getting his head down and working his knads off. Still a bit to learn but probably our player of the season so far.

Verdict - keep

 

Sibierski: A bit lacking but will work himself into the ground

Verdict - keep (for the bench)

 

I think we've the core of a good team but we need a chairman and manager capable of taking this core and building a team around it

 

 

Agree with most of what you've said except i'd give Duff and Ramage a bit longer to prove themselves personally (but admit their form of late is poor), Moore's going at the end of the season anyway (which is about right). Keep Bramble???? Now this is one guy that has proved himself.....a right bloody liability season in and season out for the past 5+ years!!! Why the hell should we keep him? He's is a walking blundering disaster waiting to happen every game, he has all the physical attributes,  yes, except one...... and that is his brain!! Its one that can't be fixed and we should have cut our losses a long, long time ago.

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It's becoming harder and harder to disagree with the "Bramble out" brigade on here because the lad quite simply does not seem like getting over his affliction for making incredible mistakes at terrible times. On Saturday there were at least two major occasions were he made major bloopers, one of which should have resulted in a straight red card. If we have any serious ambition and are planning to make a realistic run for top-six every season, then we cannot afford to have players with such terminal defects in our starting line-up.

 

A "big club" would not have persevered with Titus Bramble for as long as we have as his problem seems to be one that quite simply CANNOT be coached out of him. You cannot teach players to read the game well or to judge the flight of a ball, these are natural footballing instincts that Bramble seems to unfortunately lack to a suitable level. I do agree that no player is perfect and that a LOT of players make constant mistakes, but Titus is really the king of the "lapse" or the "error" and I'm not sure whether the stigma will ever leave him.

 

Having his name on the team-sheet is bad enough for me, personally, because it usually is a gaurantee that we will see at least ONE error in the following game. A lot of times it's something that doesn't get punished - his constant air-kicks/high-slices/losing his man on a set-play), but also there is a dangerously high number of occasions where we DO get punished because of his shortcomings.

 

It's not even as if he's fantastic when he isn't making mistakes, either. He rarely dominates in the air, his passing is erratic (to say the least) and he certainly doesn't seem to lead or to organise his team-mates. He can sometimes have very good games where he does the basics of defending very well but I can genuinely say that I can never see us winning something as long as Titus Bramble is getting a regular game here. It's amazing that 3 managers have now persevered with Titus Bramble, when the likes of Robert, Bellamy, Luque, Viana and others have fallen foul of them because of various issues.

 

It's not even like he's a model pro, either, the stories about the lad's off-field antics are there for all to hear and have been since he joined. Not to mention that he's incredibly injury-prone, as well.

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Guest Jangles

Im saying we should get rid of 5 defenders from a squad already stretched thin, while Bramble is undoubtably not what we need if we're ever going to seriously challenge Id rather play him than Ramage. Id also consider playing Bramble at left back, that way his mistakes would be less costly.

 

If a decent offer came in for Duff Id let him go as Zoggy is more than capable on the wing and we've other positions in need of strengthening

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Guest Jangles

Im saying we should get rid of 5 defenders from a squad already stretched thin, while Bramble is undoubtably not what we need if we're ever going to seriously challenge Id rather play him than Ramage. Id also consider playing Bramble at left back, that way his mistakes would be less costly.

 

If a decent offer came in for Duff Id let him go as Zoggy is more than capable on the wing and we've other positions in need of strengthening

 

I agree that Zog should be the starting LW, but to write off Duff would be very foolish in my opinion. He hasn't got going... it doesn't mean he won't get going. And even so, we need to keep him for cover.

 

 

In a perfect world I would keep him for cover, but when we need at least 3 defenders and a striker then I think having a £5m player on the bench is a luxary we cant really afford

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Guest Jangles

Until we get a really competent manager then the rest will never be put right.

 

I doubt the competent manager will arrive before a competent chairman

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