Howaythetoon

I'm hearing that Liverpool have pulled out the deal, that a statement could be issued soon where they say they have no desire to sign Michael Owen. Could be bull but I'm not ruling it out.

Aye, LM< but you were wrong on Bellamy Actually I think we all were. I know I was. I was wrong an lots of players, Kluivert, Jenas and Ameobi. I thought Kluivert would turn out to be a great signing, he didn't. I thought Shola could make it given a run in the side, he hasn't and although I still believe JJ has potential, I hope he does move now because he clearly does not want to be here if his nothing performance on Sunday is to go by. I think you are being harsh on Luque because Robert, for large spells of his United career, didn't give a fuck and there is no denying that. Cast you mind back to the Marseille and Wolves home games where the vitriol on the stands and on the old HTT and Toon-Chat boards was something else. I atually thought Luque showed plenty of heart in his willingness to close space even though all was lost, he was running on empty but he still put his hand up for Parker's ball at the end, where he outfoxed Ferdinand with that sublime piece of control. I liked what I saw but of course it's too early to tell. I remember watching Bellamy in the InterToto after he signed and thought we'd wasted 6m on a player not even good enough to play in the Premiership. I remember his performance at SJP for Coventry, he was awful, missed lots of sitters, kept getting cought off-side, and his control was shocking. He turned out to be alright (as a player anyway).

I think Bayern are like Man Utd in that sense, i.e. they are a very well run club so whoever comes in, it's all seamless, they fit like a glove. Or a bit like Ajax's system. One top youngster moves on, another comes in and replaces them. If Man Utd hired a top manager to replace Fergie, I think the success would continue because everything else is in place. I guess the for the likes of Dortmund and even ourselves, we aren't geared up for continuity so it's hard to instill that into a club. Look what KK did, all undone by one man in less than 12 months. What we need is for someone to come in and transfor the mentality of the club first and foremost and then standards increase and everything else would all fall into place thereafter. Isegrim, in your honest opinion, would Hitzfeld, backed with money, backed by the board, would he get Newcastle seriously challenging for Premiership and European success? I've always rated him and he was my No.1 choice to replace Sir Bobby and would be my No.1 choice to replace Souness if he was to get the boot. I remember he didn't have the greatest of budgets at Bayern, especially compared to the likes of Man Utd and Real yet his sides would do great in the CL, winning it in fact. He also did it with Dortmun and while some said they were boring to watch, I'd say they were great in defence and efficient in attack. A bit like Chelsea. Anyway, could Hitzfeld do it in the Premiership?

And what the hell has he done? So he's had a good start to his career. Sorry but that doesn't make him a good manager. If we are to take that type of gamble, we may as well give the job to Shearer. 21646[/snapback] Well he's no more ridiculous than some of the suggestions on here, he's already got premiership experience and he's spent fuck all. I think he has the look of a determined manager and he wouldn't be asking the mega bucks that other candidates might be. Just remember, for every Arsene Wenger, there's a Christian Gross. 21650[/snapback] As if he would come anyway. He's at a club who back him and the fans love him. Not to mention a team who play for him. Why would he give up that job for Newcastle? Because he once played for us? All those who mention the likes of Pearce, Newell, Dowie et al, we may as well keep Souness. Like someone said, just because they may be better than Souness, means feck all. Lets sign Horsefield to replace Shearer, same type of player but Horsefield is more mobile and younger. 21657[/snapback] Also for Pearce, read john Gregory. The John Gregory who won his first 8 games a as manager at Villa, then .............. ??? He might be a good manager, but at the moment he is simply a potential one who took over Keegans players, and Keegan has left a good set of players and a good club everywhere he has been. The real test for Pearce will be when he starts buying and selling seriously. 21689[/snapback] Couldn't agree more, and with your other post above too. The bit about buying and selling is what often separates the good managers from the bad. Look at Gregory, probably not a bad manager but look at some of the tat he bought at Villa and then later on for Derby. Look at the tat Taylor bought at Leiciester, yet he's an excellent coach. Moyes, good coach, crap in the transfer market. That's why he'll never manage a top club. International football is his best bet where there is no need for buying or selling. You also highlight something everyone seems to have missed about Pearce, he took over a settled squad, KK left a good team in a good position, they were just in a comfort zone and Pearce has came in and give the place a bit more urgency that is all. Lets see how he does season in season out, the same with Moyes et al. And you are quite right about spending all that money. Other clubs place a great deal of money on their managers heads, we did it with KK offering him a 10 year contract. Bolton have done it too with Big Sam because the manager is worth far more than any player.

I don't know if those are comparable. Wenger already had a big reputation before he went to Arsenal. He was seriously considered by Bayern in 1994 or 95 IIRC. Gross had a bit of success in the Swiss league. But I totally agree with HTT. The aim of the club should be hiring top personal, not only when it comes to players but also when it comes to the managment job. The whole system should come under scrutiny and it needs someone who is bringing professionalism to the squad on all levels - be it nutrition or tactics. 21668[/snapback] Exactly, we need a new culture at the club from winning games, playing football, to medicine, to diet, to coaching, training and basically everything else. With Gullit, he wasn't that type of manager, he changed the coaching set up and wanted to fill the team with so-called technically gifted foreigners. He never had a plan as such and that is one of the reasons why he was replaced at Chelsea. He was like Souness, a day to day manager. As for Wenger, he wasn't a gamble, not a big one anyway. Arsenal did their homework on him. They found out that his man management skills were excellent, he could produce sides that played good football and they also found out that he could spot talent and nurture talent. Remember, at the time ourselves, Man Utd and Liverpool were the big hitters in the transfer market, they couldn't compete and they knew the limited capacity of Highbury would hinder that further so they needed a certain type of manager. Because he was good at footballing levels, he would pick up our game easily as he has proved so it wasn't such a huge risk. Rafa Benitez wasn't a risk either. Some say but he's never managed in the Premiership. He doesn't need to. People forget, football is unerversal. If you can coach a group of players, organise them, nurture talent, man manager egos, you will win football games, no matter what League you're in. That's why Sir Bobby was so successful because he had all that in his locker. If we are to replace Souness we have to look foreign because British managers, even our so-called good ones or bright young things, are average. People mention Curbishley, well his equivalent, Paul Le Guen, look what he has done for Lyon? People mention Moyes, his equivalent Deshamps, look at what he has done at Monaco? Our managers are average because they can't think outside the box and if they want to, their Chairman won't let them. If we were to sack Souness, I'd fly to Germany, give Hitzfeld 5m a year and say you build a club that can win the Premiership and Champions League. That's what Liverpool did with Rafa. He's already delivered old big ears. Yes while we were finishing 14th under a manager they sacked years ago, a legend of theirs no less, they were winning the biggest club competition in the game. Just a year after they finished 2 points ahead of us in 4th place.

A new low for the so-called mighty 'Toon Army'. Is that all players get now, just one game? Fucking hell.

Owen will sign for Newcastle. That's my hunch.

And what the hell has he done? So he's had a good start to his career. Sorry but that doesn't make him a good manager. If we are to take that type of gamble, we may as well give the job to Shearer. 21646[/snapback] Well he's no more ridiculous than some of the suggestions on here, he's already got premiership experience and he's spent fuck all. I think he has the look of a determined manager and he wouldn't be asking the mega bucks that other candidates might be. Just remember, for every Arsene Wenger, there's a Christian Gross. 21650[/snapback] As if he would come anyway. He's at a club who back him and the fans love him. Not to mention a team who play for him. Why would he give up that job for Newcastle? Because he once played for us? All those who mention the likes of Pearce, Newell, Dowie et al, we may as well keep Souness. Like someone said, just because they may be better than Souness, means feck all. Lets sign Horsefield to replace Shearer, same type of player but Horsefield is more mobile and younger.

Better than Shearer tbh. 21635[/snapback] Purple patch, all players have them. His goals will dry up. How many did he score in the top-flight last season, or the previous seasons to that? BTW Dickov isn't a bad player, he's an OK Premiership striker, similar to a Marcus Bent. Not exactly brilliant but good enough to do a job if called on.

And what the hell has he done? So he's had a good start to his career. Sorry but that doesn't make him a good manager. If we are to take that type of gamble, we may as well give the job to Shearer.

Then we are as fucked as we are now.

If we are to sack Souness, we MUST go out of our way to bring in the RIGHT man once and for all because we can not chop and change willy nilly, it's becoming ridiculous and seriously effecting the long-term stability of the club on so many levels it is bad for business (so to speak). That means no unknowns, or half-chances, that means actually going out there and bringing in a top-class coach of renowned ability to build winning teams at home and abroad. We can not afford to try an unknown like Newell, it's ridiculous to even suggest because after 4 defeats or something, all those who wanted him, would want him out. We need the real deal and if Souness is to get the sack, the board must go all out to find that man, the right man. If we can blow 18m on a striker, we can spend that on a manager. If it would cost 5m a year to bring in a Hitzfeld or a Cappello or a Wenger et al, then that is what the club must do and they must entrust the entire club into their hands and back them all the way. BTW I'm not saying we could get those managers but they are the type of sophisticated, experienced, knowledgeable managers with proven track records at all levels that a club like Newcastle need. Liverpool sacked Houllier who had won 6 trophies and replaced him with Spain's top coach, a man who had won La Liga and the UEFA Cup on the budget of a Villa or a Spurs. We sacked Sir Bobby and replaced him with Souness. Two steps back. We must look forward, beyond a season, beyond 2 and do what Arsenal, Liverpool, man Utd and Chelsea have done, clubs we should be competing with. They brought in men for the now and the future. If we, for example chased Hitzfeld as hard as we are chasing Owen, if we sold the club to him in a positive way, if we said look, you get all of this, you get this budget and this in wages, build a team to win the Premiership and Champions League, I'm sure he would take more than a passing interest in the job. He'd be a fool not to and he doesn't strike me as a fool. He strikes me as a calculated, intelligent, deep thinking, forward looking coach. But... While FS is in control, that won't happen so we are fucked. The likes of Souness, or O'Leary, or Bruce, is our lot. If we replaced Souness with O'Leary, I'd be gutted, I'd be sickened to my stomach. Souness isn't good enough, neither are Moyes, O'Leary, Bruce etc. Would Liverpool hire those? Would they hell. It's about time we stopped settling for second, 3rd, 4th and 5th best and did what we did under KK - aim high, aim for the best, aim for the top. Do that and we may well reach the top.

Johnny, it's actually not that bad in Opera, a few alignment problems and the Div tags are a bit messed up but it's certainly manageable. You don't want to use Microsoft Front Page to build sites, you have tons of code that just isn't needed. All those empty <p> tags and what have you. You don't even need to use <p> tags. Horrible messy things. If you're building a site it should work in all browsers. Opera, Netscape, Fire Fox, they are all popular browsers and growing all the time. You should really use some white in there too and you need a header/logo to round it off but it looks good. Get yourself Dreamweaver or hand code, it's time consuming but you'll learn a great deal and you'll cut out a ton of crap. But Dreamweaver is worth the few hundred quid it costs as you can set it up where it strips out all of it's own uneeded code. It's a great workstation type of app and I'd be lost without it. Get that and you'll be building fantastic sites in no time and there are tons of tutorial sites out there to help you get used to what is quite an expanisve piece of software. You may also want to download a CSS editor and visit these sites: http://www.webmasterworld.com/ http://www.w3c.org/ Looking good so far though.

The weekend folks. Should be canny, some sun, some beer and a Toon win.

SBR deserves his money, he's earned the club millions, made those in charge fortunes and because of him the players also got richer too. As did we as fans. The night in Feyenoord alone was priceless enough. SBR = legend!

Kamarra has pace and power, he's a bigger player basically and links up better with the midfield, he spins off defenders where as Earnshaw runs into channels and is one of those players who is a box player more than a link up man because he has poor control and leading the line awareness. Some managers just take a dislike to certain players style. Robbo just doesn't rate him or sees him as a player he wants in his system. Earnshaw is also one of those players that is hard to fit in, that's why he makes more of an impact in the latter stages of matches or from the bench when there is no pattern or system to the game. Plus, Robbo is no great spotter of talent, remember he signed Hamilton Ricard for Boro and thought Andy Campbell would make the England squad one day.

Don't the SMB have a presenter on Sky who posts on there o reads it? I know a Mackem presents SSN sometimes and once mentioned in some SMB fanzine that he knows a few on the SMB. Could be wrong.

Mourinho has stated hismelf that he was asked to join us as Bobby's number two but that he himself turned it down because he knew Bobby would never quit nd hand over thr reigns to him when the time came, because he loves football management too much. And Jose was right, but it had nothign to do with Shepherd. 18883[/snapback] Aye but it sounds better if Shepherd said no, the bastard Nah, I stand corrected. Let you off FS. He's still 8-1 down though.

What if he appoints another Souness? And how long will any success last until the mismanagement kicks in again, if for example we got a half decent manager? I understand what you're saying and it's good you highlighting his good points because it adds a bit of balance to the debate and objectivity but when I look at Liverpool, man Utd, Arsenal et all, every single season their aim is to win the League. That should be our aim. But it's not nor ever has been Freddy Shepherd's and this is one of the reason's why it will never happen under his reign. For one, no manager will ever get complete control. Look at all the challenging club's, the manager has complete control on everything. The business people look after the business side of things and the manager looks after the footballing side. FS doesn't like working like that. You just have to read bits of Sir Bobby's book or read a few books about KK. Once the club went PLC Shepherd and Co. got really hands on, and their grip is tight. You can have a bit of room, but take up too much and you get the boot. Sir Bobby wanted Mouringho in, but FS wouldn't sanction it. He also wanted to sell Shearer to Liverpool but FS wouldn't sanction it. Right or wrong, you have to give the manager complete control on such managers otherwise as a partnership, it will breakdown, it will never work. Shepherd would never appoint a foreign manager because a foreign manager wants complete control, the better ones anyway. His decision making has been shown up to be very very poor over the last few years. No intelligent football Chairman at a club like Newcastle would appoint Souness, arguably one of the worst manager's in the League. It would be like handing over your Jaguar to a back alleyway mechanic, you just know it's gonna come back fucked. His timing of his decisions are awful, showing no foresight or planning whatsoever. His comments to the press do not inspire or lead either. He has no leadershio qualities. None of the fans respect or admire him. I doubt the players care a great deal so long as they get paid and the football community see him as a big oaf who can't keep his trap shut. Basically he is a very very poor Chairman on all levels. If he was manager of the team, we'd be wanting him out. The day he and the rest of the board go is the day we can move forward as a club and start to fulfil our promise. In the meantime we will continue with these cycles we spin in. Good form, poor form, crisis to crisis.

It even turned sour a few times and got dragged out in the press if I remember right. He got 1.2m in compo I think. Not bad for someone who got sacked and did a crap job.

Dalglish was sacked, quite correct even if that wasn't the official line. Some kind of deal so Dalglish's CV wasn't stained. That's why he got compensation. Gullit walked but would have been sacked anyway. At least to his credit, he held his hands up and turned down any money owed to him. For all his bad press in these parts, even Shearer says he was a canny bloke. Just shit at man management and two-faced at times but he was pleasent and well liked apparently.

Divent say that man, FFS.

What is there to admit to being wrong about Souness Leazes? From day one I have always said and maintained that he is a crap manager, that I do not rate him, that I think it will all end in tears. Just like you. Unlike you however, I have said I'll back him. There is a difference between backing someone and rating them or wanting them in the job. This is where I get unfair stick because I have never ever claimed Souness is the right man for the job or that I wouldn't swap him for a better manager. At least I don't change my opinions from one week to the next which should count for something. I know there will come a time where I will join in with the Souness out fans, because there will be a time where he has to go. You think it should be now, aye in an ideal world I'd agree. But for the time being I'm backing him. Bo, make that I'm supporting him but please don't take that as me rating him or wanting him at the club. I'll back Shola when he's out on the pitch but if we sold him tomorrow for a better player I'd be smiling. And this isn't a Souness against Shepherd thing. Both are bad for the club, I know that. In an ideal world, get shot of the pair of them. They are as bad as each other in many respects but if I had a choice between one or the other, I'd pick Souness to stay and Shepherd to go. Because results will determine whether Souness stays or go, regardless of who is Chairman. Who fires Shepherd though? Are you Leazes Mag, happy with FS and all this mismanagement?

We need players Leazes, though I see where you're coming from. I just think people are delerious that we seem to be signing someone. Must say, he looks a quality player but I have my concerns whether he will adapt, whether he will perform, whether the manager can get the best out of him etc. And as much as I would like to see the back of FS and Co. one thing I am certain of, they wouldn't put the club at risk financially. There is no reason to suggest they would, given their half-decent management of finances since taking over.

I can only imagine you mean Robert Earnshaw?? You serious??? 18759[/snapback] And why not? 2m he would be a great signing. I don't get the snobbery of some fans me. I bet half those who sneer at the likes of Earnshaw haven't even seen him play or would cream themselves if we were linked with some Serie C Italian Under-21 international. He's very quick, very good in the air, 22 so can improve, has a goals to games ratio as good as anyone, now at all levels of the game bar Europe (club level) and the Conference. Every step he has had to make, he's adapated. So he has poor control and isn't the best at leading the line. You would be hard pressed to find a natuarl goalscorer with lightning pace at 2m who has proved he can make it in the Premiership. The reason he's not wanted at WBA is because Robson doesn't like the small, pacey striker, he likes his target men, big powerful forwards. They paid 2.5m but after a number of games and goals it rises to 3.5. They'd take 2m and he'd crawl to Newcastle on broken glass. He's score more goals than Bellamy did. I'd be delighted if we announced his signing tomorrow even for 3m. 18767[/snapback] Fuck me HTT, it's not snobbery: I just don't think that is the kind of player we should be getting that's all. It's just my opinion. I don't know anything about Luque, so can't give an opinion one way or the other. 18777[/snapback] OK, I'll let you off this time.