Howaythetoon

Oh aye, No more excuses now. Top 5 a bare minumum.

Bellamy is a better footballer than Owen in my opinion, contributes more, works harder, has more facets to his game, but as a goalscorer... Two very very different players though and unfair to compare I'd say. I will say this though, I did not think we would replace Bellamy with Owen.

I have been very impressed by the conduct of all involved and the military style planning of the Owen swoop. We have shown a huge degree of foresight, intelligence, balls and have played Liverpool for mugs. This is the type of business we were conducting under Keegan, we targeted a player, and went all out to sign that player. What gets me though is why couldn't the powers that be do this when we needed a Michael Owen type managerial appointment? Imagine if we went after, I don't know, a Hitzfeld, in the manner we went after Owen? I hope the club learn from this and realise if you put your mind to something, you can acheieve anything. PS Shearer - what a star. I'm in no doubt, had Shearer not intervened or been at this club, we would not have signed Owen.

Aye, Souness and Shepherd could feck off

If we can bring in Nobby, get 5m plus Keane for JJ, and sign a left-back, I will be astounded.

How many do you reckon will turn up? 15-20,000 turned up for Shearer. I think Owen would shite himself if that number turned up.

Me if I can find the time. I'll be the one chanting "sack the board" PS if anyone takes pics, we want them for our gallery. *excuse the shameless plug*

Aye that's what it is. The DNS needs updated. A new record needs added to the new server for our domain name or something like that.

Nah I'm using BT Broadband, tried it in every Browser, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape, Fire Fox, IE, still same old message "can't locate remote server". I know the site is being moved and for that to happen the DNS (domain name server) has to point to the new server which is probably like moving an arial, sometimes you'll get a good picture, sometimes you'll not get one at all. That seems to be the case for me and others as I can't even FTP to the site let alone access it. This is good in a way as it means by tomorrow, the site will be on a new server.

Just got the Chronicle and saw that, awful. I hope they find the bastards and rip their heads off. What's wrong with people? And the Owen story dominates the headlines... I think this story should, maybe help the polis to catch the scum.

Same here yet Phil's just told me he can access it so can others who I've asked. I think the name servers are being changed so the DNS is messing things up for people woth certain IPS or something.

I cant believe you chose us instead of N-O 23295[/snapback] Fuck off, keep them away from us man. Here visit this site, they'll love you: Skunkers.net

I don't get you? 22087[/snapback] nah just your constant back and forth copy & pasting on both boards bud 22088[/snapback] Oh, aye. Long live the copy and paste function

I don't get you?

My take on this: I'll start with Liverpool. Based on reading a few Liverpool forums and reading various quotes from Rafa, Parry et al and seeking the opinions of one or two mates who support Liverpool, the Reds will not give Real Madrid 10m profit on a player who they sold for 8m, a player who they brought through the youth team. That's problem number 1. Rafa I believe isn't so keen on Owen, he wants a centre-back and a right winger first and foremost and sees these as his main priorities. Any manager, if money was no object, would have Owen at their club, so would Rafa, more options for him, but not at the expense of other areas. That's problem number 2. It would appear, to finance the Owen deal and to give Rafa the funds to buy a defender and a winger, they have to sell someone. Cisse is the obvious and most saleable asset after Baros who if reports are to be believed, funded the Crouch deal so that money has gone. LFC if reports are to be believed have touted Cisse around Europe but they want at least 10m for him having paid 14m. Trouble is no-one is willing to even come close to that and secondly, Rafa rates Cisse and tried to sign him for Valencia but was pipped by Liverpool. This has also upset Cisse and cause unrest in the camp. That's problem number 3. Now, do the board undermine Rafa by spending the money they have earmarked for a defender and a right winger by spending it on Owen? Do they risk upsetting the man who won them their 5th European Cup? They won't do that. So what do they do? Well they try and get Real to lower their price, they ask for Owen on loan until January which will give them time to find a buyer for Cisse or to come up with extra funds. Real, with a 16-18m bid from Newcastle just waiting to be signed, sealed and delivered will not agree to that. So that has been ruled out. What next for Liverpool? This is where it gets complicated, they know Newcastle are desperate for a striker so they will wait and wait and hope we drop out of it and take our money away from Madrid's eyes meaning they either accept Liverpool's money for Owen, or keep someone who won't play much and who wants out. They are quite prepared to do that and are doing that. Trouble is, Newcastle aren't going anywhere, we are pushing them right to the wire and calling theirs and Owen's bluff. Owen has had to speak to us, he has no other options. So he has arrived on Tyneside and he's listened to what we have had to say, I don't care what anyone says, but you do not sit and talk to people for over 5 hours (and that's what we know of) if your answer is to be a straight no. I think Owen is hoping the images being reported by Sky will force Liverpool's hand further. I believe he would have agreed terms and such with Newcastle today and the deal will be, if Liverpool and Madrid can not reach an agreement by tomorrow lunchtime/evening, then he'll sign for us. He'll have no other option. Now as I see it, LFC have to agree something with Real wich will allow them to sign Owen, while also keeping in with Rafa's wishes and commitment to other areas of the team. As I see it the ball is firmly in their court and they, it would appear, need to convince Real to ignore our 16-18m bid and accept a much lower one. Call me stupid, but they would be pretty damn stupid do that. I wonder if they've learned from their Woodgate experience...

A lot of things don't add up for me too. For example, he has now held two rounds of talks with wor lot. Now if he was signing for Liverpool, having met them today, why then has he spent the last 7 hours or so on Tyneside? Why was Souness and Shearer there? If you believe some sections of the press, he'll go back to Liverpool in the morning and sign for them. So again, why even talk to us? Doesn't make sense.

I think you've summed it up well. Liverpool as a club have a lot of friends or sympathisers in the press, not only in print but on the radio and on TV too. I remember how when LFC fans would phone up talkins claiming it was time for Houllier to go how they would be cut off or sneered at as ungrateful clowns. It was the same with Sunderland fans with Reid and us to some extent with Souness who too has a lot of friends in the media. Lets not forget Owen does too, he's very media friendly and is the golden boy of the press in some respects, SFX who represent him have been known to use the likes of the Telegraph, Mail and Times to put out some quotes. Ask a few Liverpool fans, they will tell you SFX have used the media brilliantly to twist Liverpool's arm somewhat. I must say, at first I thought we were crazy but we have been very clever in this too, very clever and if we do pull it off, well I'll certainly think differently of one or two people at the club because this is a very well planned bit of business. Anyway, I think we all need to understand that it's a game, each individual concerned is playing a game here. Madrid are, Owen certainly is, Liverpool are trying to and we are as well. It's now drawing to a close and thank fuck for that when it does. I personally think he will sign for Newcastle, I don't know why, call it a hunch. And if he doesn't, well I just hope we have a plan B.

Me too. I think a manager like Hitzfeld would instantly unite the fans and give us a clear indication that we are serious about winning top honours. As a result we would be very patient I feel because we can trust a manager like Hitzfeld because of his track record. Furthermore such an appointment would take away the pressure from the team and indeed the board. All they would have to do is back their man 100% and we would rally behind the whole club. But we all know that Shepherd and Co. wouldn't look to a manager like Hitzfeld which is so-so frustrating because he is the type of manager who would transform the club, the type we should be aiming for and going by Isegrim's comments who I respect as being an honest and somewhat unbiased poster who's knowledge of the German game is first-class, that Hitzfeld would consider the Toon job. So what are we waiting for? He is the type of manager we need and should go for should Souness get the sack which I believe he will do if results do not pick up drastically in the coming matches. The club should go for a top manager with everything they have and be prepared to pay top dollar and give such a man every resource he will need to turn the club into a contender. However if the best we can do is O'Leary or Bruce I say stick with Souness because although better, they are not the right managers nor never will be and for the marginal difference they would make, I don't see the point because a few years down the line, they too will leave with tears streaming down their face, that and a huge payoff. If we sack, we MUST go for the RIGHT man this time and leave no stone unturned or spare no expenses. Even if it meant waiting until the end of the season and bringing in a caretaker manager.

I like Graham Taylor, think he's a top bloke and his life was made hell because of his time as England manager, ruined him in fact. I'd have to agree, Arsenal can only play one way, stop them and they are bereft of ideas. Like Barca, they can only play one way. Man Utd too, mid 90s. They did change and they won it. Now they have to change again. I love KK but I doubt his great side could perform in Europe, I think we'd be picked off to a man and hit a brick wall. I think that side would do very well in the Premiership though.

Aye that's him.

Excellent stuff Isegrim, I can understand your stance on the Hitzfeld to Toon speculation. Maybe it was something that just interested him, maybe he's the type who looks at many situations which don't really mean much. I.e. just because he's looking, doesn't mean he wants it. Interesting stuff nonetheless. No-one can deny the man obviously has something special about him because his track record is second to none and no manager, regardless of who they are, are 100% perfect in every way. What does concern me is that his one-time assistant, is now in a current job. I always think the role of the assistant or assistant coach is undervalued at clubs. I think O'Neill without his coaching team wouldn't be half the manager he is and that goes for a lot of managers but I guess with the likes of Hitzfeld they have enough about them to build different teams around them to the same levels of success as Fergie seems to have done with first Kidd, and then McClaren and now his current assistant who's name escapes me for some strange reason. (Eeh, what's his name... never mind) Do you think Hitzfeld would like to manage in the Premiership one day Isegrim? If we sack Souness, I'll champion Hitzfeld's cause. Not that it did me any good last time.

I think Wenger's Arsenal are very similar to KK's United. No real tactics, no real system designed to shut out or stop the opposition, just a group of highly talented and motivated players told to go out, expresse themselves and to win. I've noticed when Arsenal do play to a system or try to adopt tactics, they perform under par. Just like we used to. I imagine it's like boxing them in and telling them to climb walls that otherwise weren't there. That said, I think in Europe, you can't just send your team out and say right, you just play and beat the opposition. Barcelona came unstuck against Chelsea last season and Arsenal always come unstuck. Due in the main to tactics. Maybe the game is changing so fast, Arsenal will have to adapt or die? Look at Man Utd, they were a complete shadow of the side that used to come to SJP. What made yesterday hard to swallow for me is that I thought they were poor, average even. They we so slow and patient, they weren't even bothered about performing, they would have been happy with 1-0. They used to swamp sides and tear them to shreds. Interestingly, they tried that way in Europe and failed and I get the impression their European style has crept into the Premiership and overtaken their usual game entirely. Maybe Chelsea have influenced this. Could KK's side, perfom in the Premiership? Could KK's side perform in Europe?

source HTT? 21819[/snapback] A Liverpool supporting mate who kind of works in the media. Like I said could be bull, I'm just trying to stay up to date at that end and at our end but he could be winding me up. Or I could be making it out as if I know something. Just incase DotBum is reading Either way, it seems strange Owen meeting up, spending hours discussing "things", especially for a player who doesn't want to play for us. Is this not the second meeting now? Didn't Souness confirm just the other day that FS has met with Owen and his advisers? Maybe the footage on Sky is from that supposed meeting

LM, I'll give you that, I have made judgements on players based on just one game, sometimes you just know with certain players. Like Rooney for example, I just knew he was something extra special. Same with Cole, you just knew he would adapt to the top flight. But judging a player on just one game will nine times out of ten just make a fool of you, regardless as today, it's so hard to judge a player even with your own two eyes because for players to perform these days, they have to be fully fit, they have to be in the right frame of mind, they have to be playing in their correct position etc. Look at Bowyer, we knew he was a good player from his Leeds days but when he arrived here, stuck out wide on the right, he was awful, really poor. Sometimes I think they game has become too complicated what with all these systems, ideas and ways of playing. Look at KK's side of 93, new to the Premiership. They just went out and played. As a result, free flowing unhibited football. There was none of this can he make it can he not. As soon as Cole scored against Man Utd you just knew that was the first of many. RE Parker, you can tell he's going to be a great Toon player because he's hungry and talented with it. He knows exactly what he's doing. The last new Toon signing to impress me as much was Bellamy himself. Long may it continue.

Cheers Isegrim for that, you've just confirmed my belief that Hitzfeld is the kind of man we need or should be looking at. What in your opinion would he change at Newcastle, could you give me an insight into his methods, training, footballing philosophy etc. I know you have rubbished this in the past and I don't blame you but he did make enquiries about the NUFC job last August, or at least people claiming to be his representitives did but the club said they were only considering British candidates. Is Hitzfeld the type to take that as a clear snub and therefore if we did for example come calling, he'd tell us where to go? That would be a fear of mine. My hope, which I know is daft and very unlikely given the idiots at the club, is that if Souness does get the sack, someone at the club will say 'Hey remember that German guy who expressed an interest before we appointed Graeme, how about him, he's free'. I'd do cartwheels if we appointed Hitzfeld who for me is like Fergie but with a much better brain for tactics.