Next season - my views, expectations etc. (chip in with yours)

[Martin Lol]

I think the difference between Berbatov and Owen is that Berbatov wanted to come to the Premiership, agreed the move with Spurs and then snubbed Man Utd when they came in late.  With Owen there is the belief that he never really wanted to join Newcastle.

 

If he "didn't really want to join Newcastle" he would of stayed at that small club Real Madrid.

 

 

 

He wasn't playing much for Real Madrid, he wanted to play matches in readiness for the World Cup, preferably in the premiership.  Maybe I should have said I believe he would have preferred the option to move to one of the Big 4.

 

The fact is he had a option of staying with Real Madrid or going to Newcastle United and he picked to come to Newcastle.

 

That does not constitute to this Myth "he didn't really want to join Newcastle United"

 

 

IIRC his choice was to stay with Real Madrid and play sometimes from the bench or move to the premiership with Newcastle and regularly start.  The latter was better for him as SGE had already expressed concern about the little playing time he was getting in Madrid.  Of those two options, Newcastle was the better for him and he took it.

 

I still believe, however, that a permanent move to Newcastle was not Owen's preferred option, hence his comment that he would only move on a year's loan.  IMO it was the absence of other options which forced Owen to move to Newcastle.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/4196760.stm

[Cronky]

I still believe, however, that a permanent move to Newcastle was not Owen's preferred option, hence his comment that he would only move on a year's loan.  IMO it was the absence of other options which forced Owen to move to Newcastle.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/4196760.stm

 

I'm not sure why you say you 'believe' that Newcastle wasn't his preferred option. Owen made it absolutely clear in words of one syllable in a statement to the press that we were not his preferred option, the week before he signed. 'Belief' doesn't come into it.

 

Freddie then boxed the player into a corner by outbidding Liverpool by a vast amount, making it impossible for Madrid to agree to his going to Merseyside. We took advantage of the fact that he was desperate to leave Madrid and get regular football in a World Cup year. Even then we had to sugar the pill for Owen by paying him a ridiculous amount of money and inserting a very generous escape clause in his contract.

 

Freddie probably thought he was being very clever, but the whole thing was totally insane, and yes I did say so at the time.

[Guest Geordie_krispy]

"He [Allardyce] has got my blessing to implement the same sort of system he had at Bolton. That's the whole idea. It would take an idiot not to realise the problems we've had with injuries this season. The stats are something like 340 player days lost to injury at Newcastle; at Bolton it was something like 72. We lost five to one to Bolton in terms of injuries. We've got the Premiership record for injuries, which isn't the best one to have. So of course he's going to bring his medical staff in. They're going to look at me first.

 

Does this mean we might see a trim and fit Freddie in the next few years  mackems.gif

 

Anyway,  I personally think that Sam will get the money and green light to start putting in the backroom staff that's needed at a top level club, i say top level as in premiership, not "big" (let's not get into that tired old argument again) as in newcastle are probably in the top tier of clubs in europe, alongside spurs, villa, celtic etc, all be it with more frequent and more recent european football than some of the teams alongside us.

 

My main fear is that give him 1 or 2 years, we're hovering around 4/5/6th place in the premiership, we've not won a cup, and freddy get's that itchy feeling and starts to meddle and gets rid.  It might not be a total loss, if he lets who ever he brings in after sam to keep the set-up behind the scene's.  I doubt it'll be as big as Bolton's but it should be just as good.

 

Overall, i reckon top 6 place next season, or just missing out on it, hopefully a cup run or 2 to quater finals at least, we've already got rid of some deadwood, the easy ones mind you, now if only he can sell some of the others, and get in replacements/improvements, to make the players have to work for their place in the squad.  I remember Rob Lee saying that the players hoped the didn't get injured, otherwise it was a uphill battle to get back in the team the squad was that good under Keegan

[Ericz]

I really hope that Big Sam only plays long ball tactics in Bolton due to financial constraints.

 

Is there any slight possibility that Big Sam will play attractive football next season?

 

I really hope so.

 

 

Regards,

Ericz

[Guest Sniffer]

A lot depends on AS's mentality. I'm willing to bet that we can scrape a decent transfer budget together but will he spend big on the right players or scrape around for bargain basement cast offs like he did at Bolton.

 

Can he manage the 10mill plus players and blend them into a team that also has the workhorses? If he can, and as we have the basis of a good team then I'm looking at 5th. We'll be better than than the rest but it'll take 5 new faces who can all contribute and a kick in the arse for some of the ones already here.

[Guest Knightrider]

So long as Big Sam applies the same criteria to each identified target such as character profiling, fitness and injury record, mentality checks and speaking to persons who know these players and everything else he uses  to confirm or deny the suitability of a player, it doesn't matter whether that player costs 10m or 2m 9 times out of 10 we'll sign the right player, of that I am confident of.

[Taylor Swift]

Bringing this thread back seeing as we're all quite frustrated with what's going on atm. Many people, me included, need to realize that it's going to take time for us to move forward. So much has changed since last year, just look at this thread! This was still a time when Shepherd was still our chairman and there was a shitload of deadwood at the club at the time. This year will be a year of transition, and Allardyce deserves at least a season after this to show that he can change the club around. Nothing will happen overnight and all of us needs to accept this and show some fucking patience.

[Parky]

Bringing this thread back seeing as we're all quite frustrated with what's going on atm. Many people, me included, need to realize that it's going to take time for us to move forward. So much has changed since last year, just look at this thread! This was still a time when Shepherd was still our chairman and there was a shitload of deadwood at the club at the time. This year will be a year of transition, and Allardyce deserves at least a season after this to show that he can change the club around. Nothing will happen overnight and all of us needs to accept this and show some fucking patience.

 

Here here. Pompey and Everton both flirted with relegation and look where they are now. Continuity is the key for us.

[Guest alex]

Bringing this thread back seeing as we're all quite frustrated with what's going on atm. Many people, me included, need to realize that it's going to take time for us to move forward. So much has changed since last year, just look at this thread! This was still a time when Shepherd was still our chairman and there was a shitload of deadwood at the club at the time. This year will be a year of transition, and Allardyce deserves at least a season after this to show that he can change the club around. Nothing will happen overnight and all of us needs to accept this and show some fucking patience.

 

Here here. Pompey and Everton both flirted with relegation and look where they are now. Continuity is the key for us.

It's 'hear hear' man. How many times do I have to tell you that?

I agree though.

[Parky]

Bringing this thread back seeing as we're all quite frustrated with what's going on atm. Many people, me included, need to realize that it's going to take time for us to move forward. So much has changed since last year, just look at this thread! This was still a time when Shepherd was still our chairman and there was a shitload of deadwood at the club at the time. This year will be a year of transition, and Allardyce deserves at least a season after this to show that he can change the club around. Nothing will happen overnight and all of us needs to accept this and show some fucking patience.

 

Here here. Pompey and Everton both flirted with relegation and look where they are now. Continuity is the key for us.

It's 'hear hear' man. How many times do I have to tell you that?

I agree though.

 

My fingers are too fast for me brain.

[Dave]

They don't call him Eric for nothing.