Super7

No 7 - have fun.

There is a huge advert for part season tickets on the official website - final nail in the coffin of the waiting list myth! Is it just us and our poor performances or as was suggested on the 3 legends tonight a general downturn in atendances in the Premiership - 3 Premiership crowds this weekend under 20,000? Suggested reasons ranged from Christmas to diving, overpaid Premiership players.

I think it has something to do with the possible takeover and we won't see much business at the club until that is sorted out.

Beth Tweddle should definately win it - first British Gymnast ever to win a world championship gold medal. It will probably be Darren Clarke or Zara Phillips though as the media seem to be behind them.

We pay £60 a month in total for gas and electric for a 3 bedroomed house with EDF so unless you live in a sauna or are using a lot of UV lamps it seems a lot to me!

Gazza when he was first breaking into the Newcastle team was amazing. As far as Defenders go I have never seen anyone at Newcastle as good as Woodgate. From other teams Ryan Giggs and Kenny Dagleish. I like pacy wingers too and my Dad says his favourite Newcastle player was Tony Green who I would really like to save seen from the descriptions I have heard.

We not need a fat, disinterested and past it Ozzie who isn't exactlty knocking in the goals this seson for Boro. Why do we always have to try and go for the obvious targets instead of signing the likes of Ashton when he was at Crewe rather than West Ham when the value has gone up millions? When did our scouts last spot a good signing not someone touted in the media for millions? N'Zogbia is the last player I can think of.

Let's just hope Sky don't hold back on their criticism if we are as bad as last season. Souness might be the studio pundit so that could be interesting!

Douglas Hall and his fellow board member sister Alison seem to get off very lighty in all of this. At least Shepherd does something other than sit on his backside in Gibralter for his wages and dividends which is more than can be said for them. I am not saying he doesn't deserve the stick but surely they deserve even more?

Can you elaborate on that? probably the usual tricks delay the paperwork, keep asking you for more and more paperwork, details etc, "writing to the other party", only use a garage THEY approve which is bloody miles from your home, come up with a really low valuation on your car............................................ Those things along with trying to avoid paying completely by saying you have failed to fulfill conditions precedent of the policy e.g. you fitted a stereo which is a modification and haven't told them so they will void this , have changed occupation or address and not told them and while they are visiting you to tell you this putting pressure on you to sign a form saying you will take the matter no further and implying they will report you for fraud if you do. At the moment insurers can void policies if you fail to fulfill such a conditon but Quinn Direct have much more conditions than other companies. The government are currently looking at this kind of action and changing the regulations.

Quinn Direct have some unusual tactics to avoid or minimise the payment if you ever actually have to make a claim off them. Direct Line or Tesco are the best for customer service and use UK call centres. You might pay a couple of pounds more but it is worth it if you ever have to claim.

The real must watch is the first episode of the final series of Dream Team.

According to AO there is no despondency or discontent in any event (above our usual high expectations) and we were just unlucky. And we didn't need Sol Campbell because we want players whose best years are in front of us. Mike Parry has more of a clue than that idiot - why do they give him newspaper space or airtime?

I was there too and didn't hear any booing until after the final whistle except for the referee who the bloke in front of me blames for us losing every match. I am off to listen to the rubbish Alan Oliver has to say on Talk Sport.

I agree that we shouldn't be advocating getting rid of Shepherd at all costs and there are worse Chairman e.g. Romanov at Hearts but his handling of managerial appointments and recent financial management are not the way a successful football club and multi million pound business should be run. There are people who could run the club better but who knows if they would be interested or have the money. If Shepherd doesn't want to go then he should at least appoint a Chief Executive or Board members who can assist him to run the club properly and allow them to do their job.

I think the Championships have been changed to Summer 2007 so they don't clash with the Senior competition and get more TV coverage etc

He should miss the match against us then.

By longterm plans I meant largely for young players - bringing them through as Ferguson has consistently done or even buying very promising young players like Wenger which will be imortant if the rules are changed so that players who have been with the Academy are classed as home grown. I think Bobby Robson was trying to do this particularly when Alan Irvine was at the club, although of course not all of them worked out. I am concerned now that our managerial structure of Roeder, Terry Mac and Lee Clark will be unable to attract and develop top class youngsters which could have a long term detrimental impact.

I feel deja vue re: 1986 - the unambitious appointments of Roeder and McFaul but at least then we had decent players to lose unlike now and if nothing else you could enjoy their football even if you knew that they would soon leave. I don't regard any of our current players as world class and the only ones other clubs might even want would be Given, Parker and Duff (probably here because no-one else would go near their Chelsea wages), N'zogbia (probably off soon) and Milner (who we have treated appalllingly).

I agree that Man Utd and Arsenal have gone backwards over the last couple of years but the difference is they both have decent managers and you can see some sort of rebuilding in place which is not the case at Newcastle. Manchester United fans were very fearful of the takeover but the board seem to stayed in the background and have backed Ferguson financially e.g. with Carrick - overpriced in my opinion but a bargain compared to some of the money we have wasted e.g. on Luque and Boumsong. We appear to have no longterm plan or direction whatsoever on the field although I agree that Shepherd has moved the club forward as a business - Christmas parties, Shearers, the museum, tours, Goal, The Match etc. To me though it is on the field that matters and you can't change the fact that 3 of the last 4 managerial appointments have been appalling and the Manager is the most important person at the club. Shepherd's failure to get that right means he is a failure as Chairman of the club. I was perpared to give him a 2nd and even 3rd chance to appoint the right man as I genuinely believe he is a Newcastle supporter but with the appointment of Roeder I have had enough and am starting to think we need a change at the top to go forward.

They were selling them for about £8 in that Sports Soccer shop in Eldon Square.

Most expensive player in the world per inch - FACT. Not sure about that - Michael Owen was only a few inches bigger for an extra 8 million not to mention his wages & Martins has probably played more games for us already although I guess Owen has more goals!

I'm confused - which of Souness and Roeder has a good track record, or does Roeder not count? I would say 2/2 out of our last managers have a shit track record. If you want to go back to when Shepherd has been our chairman, I would say only 2/5, i.e. less than half, had an impressive track record (Dalglish and Robson). A tiny bit of research into Gullit would have revealed him for what he was, and as for Souness, I would say this was the worst premiership appointment in history. I don't think its fair to judge Roeder, any manager was taking over a difficult position, under the circumstances I can see choosing someone with coaching ability and a feel for the club having its merits, although he wasn't my number 1 choice or yours. I had doubts about Gullit, but plenty of people backed him, especially when we got to Wembley, so to suggest otherwise now is simply hindsight. I am not doubting that any board can only make so many appointments that don't work out, however people suggest we don't appoint top managers when Robson and Dalglish were among the most respected and successful managers in the game. Fact is also, even Dalglish and Gullit were both only 90 minutes from making history, such is the thin line between success and failure. On both those occasions the team didn;t turn up. You can't blame anyone other than the players, and maybe the managers, for that. I think you can judge Roeder on his managerial record at previous clubs and it is anything but world class. Shepherd's last two managerial appointments have been awful in my view at a time when the right appointment could have really moved the club forward. Setting out to "contain" Man Utd for goodness sake and thinking only conceding 2 goals is a job well done - you would not hear Mouriniho, Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez, O'Neill etc etc saying this

I think Kieron Dyer is a bit short of super human healing powers!

Talking of Freddy Shepherd I noticed today he has another new car - a large black Bentley. Nice to see all the share dividends going to good use.