Super7

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

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.

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.

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.

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.