acrossthepond

Class win. We struggled a lot in the first half and I thought our defence was suspect all game. Simpson was having a tough time against Bale and Santon was beat all ends up by Lennon - in fact, Santon was pretty awful throughout. Nevertheless we had the superior attacking quality and the win was deserved. Ben Arfa looked incredibly sharp. Steven Taylor's grounded header was a bit of brilliance - had forgotten what a loon he is Now with Pieters seemingly signing our defence will be shored up a bit, so that's good. Plenty to build on here.

Assange has made some incredibly poor decisions and if he is involved in any sort of sex offense he must stand trial for it. But it seems that the only reason Sweden wanted him was to turn him over to the USA, which absolutely should not happen. It's clear to everyone why America wants him tbh and it's not to discuss flower arrangements.

Well pleased with this signing. I think the plan is to play him in midfield - we're going to have a lot of games this season and will need to rotate, not to mention Tiote's ACN absence, so he'll probably get games there when one of Cabaye or Tiote is out - or, if we use the 4-3-3, probably in place of Jonas in CM. But his versatility (if he has in fact played full-back for Ajax and that isn't just preemptive bullshit) seems to be the key reason why we made this signing. Pardew is all about the utility men.

Like many have already said, I think I'd be more than happy with top 8 and some decent cup runs, especially in the Europa League. I have concerns about our squad depth if we're going to compete on three fronts (could go up to 4 if we have a long run in the league cup) and I think a lot hinges on the next few days of the transfer window. We're going to need to lose no-one and acquire at least 3 more players if we want to have a go at replicating last season's achievements.

This (the Pools game) will be a first-team friendly, not reserves, right? I'll be in the Toon next week so I'll probably get along to this.

Because journalism used to mean something other than "giving your opinion in poorly written and researched, grammatically incorrect blogs." Also because he is a self-important wanker who thinks he's got the inside track and nobody else does, and because journalism jobs have so dried up around the world that it pains people to think that a fraud like him has got a job when many other qualified journos haven't.

Never had to put LM on ignore - his infamous rant posts are easy to spot and just scroll past - but the ignore function does work wonders. Had CT on ignore for more than a year now and trust me, my Toontastic viewing experience has been greatly enhanced. I don't think the ban was necessary but I'm not exactly shedding tears over here. Although if LM driving off posters is a good reason to ban him, there's another obvious candidate on this board who has cost us Jimbo and Billy Castell, both of whom were better crack than he will ever be, so when is Stevie going to get the same treatment?

Only time his name was mentioned was when he came on. Not even sure he got 5 touches. I think that Douglao would make a good signing for any Premier League team...except us.

Yeah, please boot him off our feed. I don't use twitter but I do like to look at that live feed on the main page, and seeing that Liverpool-loving fraud of a footballer on there never fails to turn my stomach.

That sounds pretty unsubstantiated. Any English journos have anything to say about it?

Shouldn't have let that in, sort of spoils an otherwise enjoyable game. More match experience against a good side, pleased with how the young players performed (except Vuckic who was generally crap.)

Believe me when I say Shearer and Lawro sound like Confucian sages compared to the gang of idiots that can be found commentating/doing "punditry" on American TV. Alexi Lalas, Kasey Keller, Brian McBride...I just want to shrivel up and die. Getting 100+ caps for the shitty '90s USA side doesn't mean you are in any way shape or form qualified to comment on football. ESPN occasionally has Ballack on so it isn't a total disaster, but for every informed foreigner they have 2-3 Yank morons spouting off about "turnovers" - and they ain't fucking talking about pastries.

Yes, it's definitely a process, as you describe. It doesn't happen overnight. But how do you think each generation becomes more tolerant? Some magical dust falls on them every 30 years and they become a little less racist? No. It's a general effort by individuals, lawmakers and society in general to leave behind some of the baggage of the past and become more open-minded, and I think this trial comprises a very small part of that effort. I didn't mean that Terry being prosecuted for calling Ferdinand a black cunt would suddenly mean people all over Britain would start saying to themselves, 'You know, racism really isn't OK after all' and it would vanish from their minds. But I do think it is part of a general movement toward intolerance of intolerance and that can only be a good thing.

And one more thing - I agree that the public money spent on this trial is really disproportionate to the crime and can be called something of a waste of money. But it happened in public, on live television broadcast all over the world. Terry had a chance to put it to bed in private, but he didn't, and that means it has to play out in public as well. Surely it's better this way than trying to pretend it didn't happen in the name of saving taxpayer money and letting millions of children worldwide see it's ok to call your opponent racist name?

You relate everything to these delusions you have about 'scumbags' living in Britain and putting a stop to whatever you consider to be ye olde British way of life. I don't see what Terry and Abu Hamza have to do with each other, except that they're both lowlives who should be punished by law. And if you didn't notice, Abu Hamza is in jail and has been for the last 8 years. The issue at hand is racism, not immigrants coming in and 'ruining' Britain. Terry made a racist attack on Ferdinand. You don't appear to deny this. How is the trial a waste of time, then? How better to show young people that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. Because it isn't as important (to you, anyway) as the aforementioned 'scumbags', so it just doesn't matter? It's all very well to say shake hands and move on, but that comes after an apology. If Terry had been a man and a role model, he would've gone to Ferdinand after the game and apologised for saying what he said in the heat of the moment (if it really was.) He tried to deny it ever happened instead. So no, I wouldn't shake hands over that. As for the Queen, she did a brave and difficult thing by shaking hands with someone whose organisation was responsible for killing her cousin, but she is the head of state of the United Kingdom and had to do it for the good of her country. I know I wouldn't be able to.

No, I can't think of many more serious things than proving to Britain that racial prejudice is no longer tolerated in the 21st century. That doesn't sound like a waste of taxpayer money to me at all. As for 'acting like men', I know I wouldn't shake the hand of, or be seen at a press conference with, someone who had abused me because of my skin colour. I doubt you would either, if racial abuse of white people were something common enough for you to have ever faced it in your life. @PL: Not even worth discussing the topic with someone who thinks Terry might not be guilty.

Can't believe some of the pure shite posted in this thread. The bottom line is that one Englishman, who was the captain of England and a role model to children across the nation (and possibly other nations considering the Premier League's worldwide audience) called another Englishman a fucking black cunt. If he'd stopped at fucking cunt, we wouldn't be discussing this right now. But he brought colour into it and that's just not fucking acceptable in the 21st century. Some say Terry is an idiot (true) and it was the heat of the moment (true) so he said something he shouldn't have (true) and we should let it go at that (not true.) It was the heat of the moment and Terry was wound up and wanted to insult Ferdinand. Fine. But there he was, angered and stung, and one of the possible insults he came up with was that Ferdinand was black. Why was that even on the menu? How was "black" even being considered as an insult or a name to call someone? Maybe, if Terry gets done for this (to the fullest extent of the law, as he undoubtedly should be), it will send a message that racism is not tolerated in British society and that skin colour is simply not something one can abuse another person over, and twenty years from now it won't even cross the mind of the next idiot to get angry and spit out a bit of bile. Anyone who disagrees belongs in the Stone Age with Terry, Stevie, and Leazes.

My 92-year-old grandmother from Berwick says, "He/she went up in a blue light and came down in a pink one." Another fun game to play is UK words that mean something else in US english. The three I get pulled up on most often are lush, canny, and tramp. Lush means an alcoholic over here, canny means cunning but in a mean-spirited way, and tramp means a slut, almost exclusively female (the homeless are called bums over here, or hobos.) You can play the game backwards too, "fanny" being the most egregious offender.

Desperate attempt to make it sound like Steve Kean is anything but an astonishingly shit manager and Venky's anything but delusional idiots who have no idea what to do with a football club. They make Ashley look like a safe choice, and Kean makes Tony Adams, Ian Rush and Paul Ince look like solid appointments.

Great value on that deal like. Good luck to him, never good enough but put the effort in. I hope to see that 3m re-invested.

About time somebody stuck the boot in regarding the breathtakingly arrogant demands by Dekka for appreciation of Mike. We owe him absolutely nothing, tbh, and one great year (during which Fat Mike tried to rename a piece of Newcastle history, not only meaningful to the club but also to the city) does not wipe out the previous four years of piss-taking, insults, and abysmal treatment of club legends and club history. Actually, it doesn't even come close. The best he can hope for is the current state of ambivalence towards him. Maybe in time, if he continues on this relatively improved course of spending money and not rampantly taking the piss, he might get the fans on his side. Certainly he won't do it by ordering us to love him.

"Maghedia"?? Is this Game of Thrones or something?

Then eat something.

Good win, although defensively we were somewhat suspect. Young and Milner were shit all game. Cole was poor as well. Gerrard faded badly at the end (and also probably snatched a goal from AOC.) Sweden were much dirtier than I remember them being, and 'Ibra' is a grade A wanker. Bye-bye, you scruffy pinhead. Yet another major tournament at which he's done nothing to justify his hype. Plenty to build on for next game, good job lads.

Good riddance. One of the most instantly dislikeable people in English football. Wonder where he'll end up - most likely he'll pack it in and stick to television appearances.