Super7

I think Harper has put a curse on Shay Given as I heard an interview with him yesterday before the match saying he had a feeling when he signed the extension to his contract that he would get some games in the near future!

The Holiday Inn Express on St James Boulevard is fairly new and central. You can usually get reasonable offers for their hotels on the holiday inn express website. I haven't stayed in that one but have stayed in the ones in Edinburgh and Liverpool and they have been quite good for the money.

I think it is called "The People's Kitchen" and the menu isn't just limited to soup. M&S used to donate food that was going out of date that day but apparently aren't allowed to anymore for Health and Safety reasons.

Same height as Bellamy Bob, ye daft old get. Bellamy is 5'9. According to the NUFC website Martins is 5'7 but he looked smaller to me so there might be the same doubts as about his age!

I no longer expect us to beat anyone and haven't done since Souness was appointed. As Marcoti said on Talksport yesterday would anyone have asked for Robson to be sacked if they had known the next 2 appointments would be Souness and Roeder? Shepherd has shown himself to be truly incompetent. The problem is it is not that easy to get rid of a Chairman and get someone in with enough money to take over and as far as managers go as any properly run club sorts out a decent appointment in the Summer there aren't many decent available candidates even when Shepherd inevitably decides to replace Roeder. I did used to enjoy football even when we weren't in with a chance of winning anything but that was largely due to the atmosphere which really isn't there anymore. To enjoy football this season I think I will just have to look out for an exciting prospect or a bit of skilfull play (probably from the opposition).

Agreed. It is early days, but there are serious causes for concern. Plus the transfer windows shut, so there is little we can do to strengthen the team until the new year. I reckon we are seriously going to regret not getting a proven manager in. I know I sound like a stuck record, and again it is early days, but look how Villa have improved with largely the same players.

I have been saying for a while that our team are too short. Last season we looked like midgets alongside Arsenal and Bolton and without Shearer the only reasonably tall players we have are Shola (who isn't very good in the air) and Bramble. Incidentally I think Spurs have also found this a problem this season and this is why they were so keen to sign Mido. Do you think a front pair of Owen and Martins (assuming Owen is fit to play again) with N'Zogbia, Parker, Emre and Dyer/Duff are going to win much in the air or have enough strength to get past decent Defenders?

i think we will get atleast 3 points out of our next 4 games. we always play better against big teams. i think we will get a point against west ham, and i think we can get a draw or a win against liverpool and Everton. Liverpool havent hit form so far, but no doubt they will hit there peak against us. We haven't got a hope in hell against the "big teams". A few lucky wins against Chelsea or Arsenal aside, history has shown they tend to muder us.

No. I think Shepherd is stubborn and after going against the Premier League to appoint a manager without the appropriate coaching qualifications he won't want to admit he has made another mistake with his managerial appointment. He prematurely sacks the managers who should be given more time and sticks by those who shouldn't.

I wouldn't disagree that a lot of the younger fans are there for the football. As I said, a lot of the more recent fans do know about the game. However, there are plenty of people who are in their 30's or 40's who would never have gone to a match in the 80's and despite being season ticket holders seem to know very little about what is going on and anything they claim to know comes from Alan Oliver. They seem to regard the purchase of a season ticket as something which makes them "working class" or one of the poeple in the same way that all celebrities now claim to be fans. The pretending not to be prawn sandwich brigade.

Sorry I have to disagree there. Those of us that supported the club in the pre Keegan era with the crowds that Man City always slag us off for can comment based upon that length of experience. There are a lot of fans who only appeared later whether it was because of football becoming more popular, Keegan or the expansion of the stadium. Some of those fans know a great deal about the game, the club and its history but many of them (including a lot I work with) haven't got a clue and simply seem to go because it sounds trendy to say they have a season ticket when they would never have been seen dead at a match with nasty hooligans (not that I saw many of them either home or away) in the 80's.

I don't think you can judge Shepherd's reign as a Chairman by how other Directors managed in the past. The whole football landscape has changed entirely from the old gentleman of the FA to being a multi million pound industry requiring appropriate management from its Chairman. In any other business Shepherd would have been sacked. Leazes Mag seems to forget that in the 1970s we were disappointed to have not won either the FA or League cup after reaching 2 finals, in the eighties we had world class players like Gazza, Waddle, Keegan and Beardsley but the lack of success ultimately resulted in the Hall takeover. Most of what we regard as Newcastle's almost success was under John hall's leadership and we have gone largely backwards since Shepherd took over. We were on the verge of breaking into the top group and with the right leadership from the Chairman would still be there now instead we are such a non threat that the top clubs are happy to loan or offload players knowing we are no competition. I seriously fear that the gap is growing bigger by the day and soon will be unsurmountable. I only hope that Mourinhio really has fallen out with Chelsea, wants to leave at the end of the season and we are the only club willing to pay his wages! Incidentally I saw John hall and his wife drinking at the outside bit of Shearers last - I wonder if it is because they were after free drinks or something to do with a possible takeover?

They still have a long way to go before they reach anywhere near the price those of us who naively believed we were buying a bit of the club paid for them!

Apparently he is playing at Swindon now where Dennis Wise is Manager - I think he might be the Assistant Manager.

No sign of mine yet but I did hand the renewal in on the last day - any more supposed incentives such as vouchers for Shearers etc this year?

I usaully go to some of the pre-season friendlies (prefer away ones) but I am not going this season unless we sign some decent players as if the crowds are low this might prompt the club into making some signings.

It is the fact that Newcastle have "moved aside" to allow Liverpool to buy Kuyt that is the most ridiculous part of his article - I mean I am sure he wouldn't consider signing for a team in the Champions League and challenging for the title as opposed to a team struggling to qualify for the UEFA cup if we hadn't moved aside!

It is not really the same squad as last season when we have lost Shearer (from the pitch and as assistant manager), Owen is out until goodness knows when and much as I didn't like him Bowyer who was one of our better midfielders has gone. Then you also have to take into account other teams around us e.g. Spurs, Everton etc improving. Unless Freddy Shepherd amazes me with his signings in the next few weeks I believe we will finish in the bottom half of the table. The better teams try and tie up the signings at the start of the close season so that the new players can start pre-season with the squad. We are back in training without any new faces. We are either completely skint as the Luque needs a chance quotes suggest or will probably end up with panic buys (I have no faith in either Roeder or Shepherd's history of signings) Anyone who thinks we will finish in a Champions League spot is deluded. As NUFC.com say Sky clearly don't see us as a top team anymore because they aren't televising any of our matches with Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea etc

But it was quite clear which one of them the Chairman was backing and Gullit has since publicly said so. (Incidentally his previous club also backed the players over Gullit which should perhaps have been considered before his appointment).

Backing a player over the manager didn't seem to be a problem when it was Shearer over Ruud Gullit.

I disagree that you have to back a manager who lies to the press and actively seeks confrontation. In any event backing the manager did not mean Bellamy had to be sold. Shepherd could have sent him out on loan and then brought him back saying he had learnt his lesson (especially if he had got rid of Souness at the end of last season before he had a chance to do any more damage to the club).

Why? Because if he didn't it would make him look even more incompetent for appointing Souness?

Shepherd might be completely incompetent but I think at least he is a Newcastle fan. It is my understanding that if the Hall's shares are sold Shepherd will still have overall control, just. Depending upon whether him or the hedge fund start to try and buy up any of the smaller share holdings. Perhaps having another influence on the board could be a good thing to improve the running of the club?

I still don't know why Shepherd sanctioned the sale of Bellamy instead of getting rid of Souness thereby necessitating the signing of Owen which of course means we have no money to spend now. Had we kept Bellamy we could have used the 12 million difference between him and Owen towards a top class replacement for Shearer. Liverpool were our rivals 2 years ago but instead of changing our manager at the right time and scouring Europe for a top class replacement we left it too late and ended up with Souness. A Champions League, FA Cup and close 3rd finish later I don't think Liverpool would regard us as rivals and most people who were at the Liverpool home match last season would agree that we are no longer in the same class. Micky Quinn thinks that unless we really splash out this Summer the gap with Newcastle and the top clubs will be continue to grow consigning us to years of mediocrity. Personally I am worried that appointing Roeder as manager has already done this even if we somehow find the money for some top quality players.

According to the official website existing season ticket holders only have until Monday 19th June to renew. It seems they have extended the deadline for 2 weeks without actually telling anyone until today - I guess that means season tickets sales aren't going that well and more time is needed to try and tempt people with transfer rumours.