Jimbo

In a nutshell. Excellent!!! I can't escape the images of Bobby Robson admiring the walnut doors after Shepherd's refit!!! "look at the quality of the architraves"

Daily Mail: MANAGER: Sam Allardyce (Appointed May 2007) LAST SEASON: 13th MAIN ARRIVALS: Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough, free); Joey Barton (Man City, £5.8m); David Rozenhal (Paris Saint-Germain, £2.9m); Alan Smith (Man United, £6m); Geremi (Chelsea, free); Cacapa (Lyon, free). MAIN DEPARTURES: Scott Parker, (West Ham, £7m); Antoine Sibierski (Wigan, free); Titus Bramble (Wigan, free); Alan O'Brien (Hibernian, free). CAPTAIN: To be confirmed. TOP SCORER: Obafemi Martins 11. FANS' PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR: James Milner. LAST MAJOR TROPHY: 1969 Fairs Cup (now UEFA Cup). DID YOU KNOW? Newcastle owner Mike Ashley started out by running the 'Mike Ashley Sports' shop in Maidenhead. TICKETS: £26-62 (children £11); 0191 261 1571, nufc.co.uk CLUB MASCOT: Monty Magpie. LADBROKES FLUTTER: To win a major trophy — 6/1 VERDICT: An improvement in quality but not in depth. Joey Barton, Mark Viduka were welcome. More welcome still might be the re-emergence of a fit Michael Owen. THIS SEASON: 9th. SKY Sports: Over in the North East, there seems to be no front-runner for who will steal bragging rights, but all eyes will be on how Roy Keane adapts to managing in the top flight, after stealing all plaudits last season in the Championship. Sam Allardyce will soon realise the pressure at Newcastle is a whole different kettle of fish to that which he experienced at Bolton but the signing of Mark Viduka looks shrewd, and providing he manages to fend off any interest in Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen, St James' Park should become a fortress once more. League table 1 Man Utd 2 Chelsea 3 Liverpool 4 Arsenal 5 Tottenham 6 Everton 7 Portsmouth 8 Newcastle 9 Blackburn 10 Man City 11 West Ham 12 Aston Villa 13 Bolton 14 Middlesbrough 15 Reading 16 Fulham 17 Birmingham 18 Sunderland 19 Wigan 20 Derby BBC: The Times: Newcastle 2006-7 record: League 13th FA Cup 3rd round Carling Cup Quarter-finals Uefa Cup Last 16 Manager: Sam Allardyce Chop rating: 1/5 Having outgrown Bolton, former Sunderland stopper Sam Allardyce takes on the task of his managerial life. He needs time, but having waited more than half a century for a major trophy, the faithful may be inclined to initial patience. Mike Ashley’s billions and the Gallowgate’s goodwill are a good start and even Albert Luque scored preseason. Rumours Allardyce and the new regime have had a ‘clear the air’ meeting sound ominous In an ideal world An end to the chaos, a proper challenge for a Uefa Cup spot and some silverware (even the Carling Cup would be nice). A massive clear-out In the real world Tyneside’s tendency to be ludicrously overoptimistic may rear up once more and Allardyce will need all his customary man-management skills and tactical nous to fashion Newcastle into contenders. Peace, quiet and a cup run may have to suffice If they were a pop star they would be... Whitney Houston Huge fanbase, but haven’t done anything of note for years Joe Lovejoy’s prediction 6th Enter Big Sam, exit chairman Freddy Shepherd, cue a ‘Where’s the money?’ crisis. But cometh the hour . . . Title odds 100-1

Chairman In Training Ground Vow By Craig Hope NEWCASTLE United chairman Chris Mort hopes that investment in the Club's training ground facilities will help to reduce the amount of time players spend on the treatment table. The Magpies chief has already given his backing to Sam Allardyce in the transfer market this summer, and wants to give the black and white stars the best possible environment to prepare for matches day-in-day-out. Indeed, Toon boss Sam Allardyce also stated his desire to make improvements to the Club's Benton-based training ground after joining United in May. And Mr Mort has now given his backing to those ideas as he told Black 'n' White matchday programme. "In addition to the Academy and the first-team squad, another area in which we have been looking to make improvements is at the training ground. "We are refurbishing the training ground facility and bringing in additional staff with specialist expertise. "This is intended to raise the overall fitness level of players - to increase their competitiveness on the pitch, reduce the chances of injury and reduce the recovery times of players when they do get injured. "These investments should help to ensure that players are available for selection more often, and hopefully have to spend less time on the treatment table."

Wow not THE Oliver Fowler !!!

yeah ? well fuck me, also there was this patronising prick who called himself Patrokles.....

Didn't realise it has all been done in CGI, looks very impressive though. http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/beowulf/

keep going.....

From my experience, wanking and typing is never a good combination.

Hypothetically speaking, he should have used a 9 iron instead of a 5.......

...what's the most ridiculous bit of copy you can remember reading from the ronnie gill's chief football writer over the years? post your favourite bits below so we can all have a good laugh at his expense. hhmmm someone's been fibbing it seems...... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6896760.stm Last Updated: Thursday, 12 July 2007, 21:48 GMT 22:48 UK Blair gets to grips with mobiles Tony Blair has been talking about getting to grips with life after Downing St by finally learning to text. The former prime minister told a Labour Party fundraising event he had learnt how to use text messages, only to receive one back asking: "Who are you?" Stopping when traffic lights were on red was also a new experience - as PM his driver used to go straight through. Also at the event, attended by Gordon Brown, were singer Mick Hucknall and Manchester Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson. Mr Blair bought his first mobile phone last October, but appears to have failed to find time to learn to use it before he stepped down as prime minister last month. He has long been seen as a technophobe, being described by former colleagues as "a pen and paper person". New Labour's former media chief, Alastair Campbell, last year said of Mr Blair: "He tries - he's got a computer screen on his desk... it's pretty idle." Last year it was revealed he had finally got his own e-mail account and he has admitted getting his daughter Kathryn to load songs on to his iPod.

sp. x 15 You're an odd boy. You're the one who can't use grammar to KS2 level. and people accuse this place of being too snobby......

Its the usual pre-season optimism, we'll all be kicking the cat come Saturday at 5pm.

Cheers dude

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Welcome !

The only place this thread is going to is the Gold section

I think it’s fair to acknowledge the club's youth policy, but the so called "breakthrough" of talent in the recent matches have been pure and simply due to the lack of strength of the first team squad rather than the unmistakable merits of the youngsters.

Deal done ! Baines signs for Everton, £5m.

Talksport are claiming that West Ham are confident the deal can be reserected.

agreed, ok for socks but they make a crap spunk-mop.