Howaythetoon

That's hilarious. Backstreet boys eat your heart out.

I'd give it to Samuel Eto'o.

Hoy, I'm still around you know. How's everyone doing BTW? This place looks busy, I've just had a bash on that snowboard game, cracking feature fellas.

That's better. Off with Fat Fred's head. Knee cap the bastard. Smash his face in. Booo. Hiss.

He's pulled the wool over your eyes then. Shepherd still has to go. This is the man that also appointed Souness, that takes 5m a year out the club for fuck all, that has got us into this mess in the first place. He, the Halls and Souness all have to go otherwise we'll never fulfill our true potential.

The Shearer signing was always going to be special. I grew up in a poor area and money was tight in my house. Many of my family had to move away to earn a better living and it was always Geordies leaving Newcastle to make good of their lives in my area. Fathers were always away Doon South to earnm a wage packet. I was almost brainwashed from an early age with the mantra that I'd have to move away from Newcastle if I wanted to make good of my life. So Shearer, a Geordie who had left Newcastle to make good of his life, returninging home to better himself, well the club and City had come full circle. I think that's why it captured the imagination of everyone in the City, even those not really interested in football. I remember being on the bus the following day and two old biddies were discussing it and saying things like "eeh, isn't it smashing for the lad coming home after all these years, eeh I hope he does well and his family get looked after". The sheer buzz was crazy. I was only a teenager at the time and I was running about the street screaming my head off. Everyone was out (very hot day) just talking about it. I guess I'll start shitting my kegs when he scores against Fulham or tomorrow when he's actualy being paraded. I hope so anyway.

It is, it's a huge signing, probably in footballing terms, bigger than the Shearer one. But I'm just not as worked up about this as I should be or would like to be.

I've always rated Owen, he for me is a world-class goalscorer and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would sign such a player, especially in our current climate. When the news broke that he had signed, a huge smile broke across my face and I shouted "yes" a few times and then I just settled down as if it was any other day. I was more excited by the prospect of our forum going live again, to be honest. I'm happy, don't get me wrong, but when I think back to how I was when we signed Shearer, well it doesn't even register. I think I was more excited when we signed Kluivert last season in fact, maybe that's because I was following it from midnight through to the actual press conference, reporting on it for the old Howaythetoon site. Anyone else feel like me? Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet. Usually I'd be phoning everyone I know, rushing to the shops to buy all the papers, e-mailing everyone I know, watching SSN all day. I watched it this morning for 10 minutes and then an hour ago for another 10 or so minutes while the adverts were on Revisita La Liga or whatever it's called. Maybe our current plight hasn't helped. I just feel I should be more excited than I am. It was the same with the Luque, Emre and Parker deals too. Pleased they happened and thankful we could then move onto other targets, but nothing approaching excitement. Yet Boumsong excited me, I was over the moon when we signed him for some reason.

The "12m clause" is bull from what I gather but there is a one, i.e. if the two parties aren't happy after the first 12 months they can look at it and explore different options. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not. If the club want to keep Owen, they have to win things or sign players of equal quality to play alongside him. If that's what it takes, I'm happy. I'm also hearing there are CL bonuses as well as 20 goals bonuses. If Owen's goals help us get into the CL he gest an extra few quid, if he scores 20 goals or more he gets an extra few quid. SFX driven clauses. I wouldn't worry, it's quite natural on the continent between the likes of AC Milan, Real, Barca etc. For those who think they can take him off our hands for 12m or what we paid for him, as if FS would agree to that. Nah it's just little incentives on both parts. The 12 month thing will be an option of 2 further years to the deal or a year off the 4 year contract I'd imagine.

Certainly looks like it. 23772[/snapback] It was http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index....c=83638.new#new Another one, this time with FS who is wearing exactly what he was on all those clips on SSN from that Northumberland retreat.

Taken yesterday???

The thing is, Shearer is past it now so don't expect miracles from the Owen and Shearer partnership. It didn't work for England when both had more pace.

Bellamy. Not as productive as the Sir Les combo but KK's side was so compact and so fluid, they weren't really partners, they operated all over the forward line, right left and centre and they also had some top quality supplying the bullets. As I remember, Sir Les and Big Al didn't link up as such or work off one another, not like Bellamy and Shearer did. So I say Bellamy. That was a fearsome partnership and one that had it's mutual benefits which is what a partnership is all about. Neither could fully operate without the other where as Sir Les and Shearer didn't really need each other. Bellamy was Shearer's legs and movement and Shearer was Bellamy's shield, he'd draw defenders away, shield the ball for him, play him in and feed on knock-downs. A mutual partnership. BTW Shearer has played alongside Ameobi more times than any other striker in his time at Newcastle. How many goals would he have scored if he has Sir Les, Beardsley and Ginola alongside him for 9 years? I think he'd be looking for 6 goals to reach 300 never mind 200.

On corners, good observation. I think we should leave thje quickest attacker up top plus a wide man as those two areas of the field are going to be the areas the ball will go to if cleared in that way. Spot on, we could also work on throw-ins too. In fact set pieces in general, at both ends. That's been a weakness of ours since Dalglish's days. As for the pace of Owen and Bellamy, a frightening thought. I backed the club over Bellamy and still do but I do wonder what he's thinking right now because I'm sure he would have loved to play alongside the quality of Emre, Luque, Parker and Owen and it would have been a treat for us lot too. Ah well.

The "double post" hit squad would be loading their rifles on wor board. I hope for your sake Peasepud is more lenient.

Fooking hell, nearly as bad us we are

Pointless thread tbh. FACT.

LM, good point regarding Shearer and Sir Les. I guess it's like Owen and Defoe. I think with Owen and Bellamy, we'd have to play great football on the deck to get the best out of both, ala the way Arsenal play, because they aren't going to plant headers from crosses or deliver knock downs to runners. Mind, Owen is quite good in the air and Bellamy scored a few canny goals with his bonce. We'll never know. One thing that does concern me about Owen, he's not one of those strikers you can pair with anyone, if you look through his career, all his managers have struggled to find him the right partner. I always thought he looked great with Litmanen in the side and an Owen/Kluivert partnership could work. But he's gone now. Anelka and him looked a decent pair when they were at Liverpool.

miserable bugger 23551[/snapback] I'm reet though

I run my own business too, and I wouldn't let FS look after the tuck shop money never mind owt else.

Injuries. There is always an excuse. 23508[/snapback] Not for me now, Liverpool won the Champions League on the back of an awful injury crisis.

Today is a good day for Newcastle United. Regardless of where you stand on this, whether you think 17m is too much, whether you would have rather we bought a few players with that money first (that would be me), there is no getting away from the fact that we have signed a genuine world-class goalscorer here. I won't say player because he isn't, he's actually an average player, but there are not many better in World football at putting the ball into the back of the net. However, lets not get too carried away here or lose sight of the bigger picture. Freddy Shepherd and Co. are still incompetent, and highly suspect guardians of Newcastle. We are still way short in quality in vital areas of the field and our squad is paper thin. Graeme Souness is still a crap manager. We are still second bottom, with no wins or no goals. We are still searching for our second win in 14 games. Owen alone will not solve all our problems, not even a third of them. Without service he will not score the goals we all know he can. The team are still underperforming in all areas and the fitness and spirit within the camp is questionable at best. So, reflect in today's glory and lets restore hostilities tomorrow eh? Souness out, Sack the board, Dyer is cnut, Shearer is finished, Luque has no heart and Boumsong is a waste of money and all that...

I think today's events will say positive things about the club to the outside world so you could well be right. If we can sign a player like Owen and make mugs of the European Champions in the way we have, literally forcing them out of the market, we should be able to bring in a top-class manager should Souness get the sack. The Scot has no excuses now that he has his team and his centre-forward. The board have no excuses should they give him the boot to appoint anyone other than a man with the right credentials. Time will tell.

Neither did I or I suspect, anyone. Shame we haven't got Bellamy and Owen together, because Owen is certainly one of the few players with the standing and ability to replace Shearer. We couldn't do any better than this. Anyway, the season starts now. It's been a great day and we should all be very pleased, but I can't help feeling any success we have now, and better results will still be in spite of Souness rather than because of him. I obviously hope he proves me wrong ....... Now if we could only swap Jenas for Carrick, and get what we paid for Viana to offset todays spending.... 23435[/snapback] Could Bellamy and Owen play in the same team? I'm unsure. I echo your sentiments RE Souness. I know I have been very patient with him but he now has his team and his centre-forward and he has now been backed by FS. No more excuses now. Top 5 is the bare minimum we should accept now, given the crap and the excuses we have had to put up with. Can he deliver? Stranger things have happened. I think with a bit of luck and given how rank the rest of the League are the top 4 aside, I don't see why not. He has 5 games to pick up as many points as he can, if he can't do that, sack him because the up coming games are very much winable, especially given the new additions. 12 points from 5 games will be acceptable to me. Anything under and it will not.