Howaythelads

What's that supposed to mean? Just answer a question, it's pretty easy. Who identifies the players to bring to the club in order to build a team? 76120[/snapback] The scouts! OK, pedency apart, it's Souness, but then I've never disputed that! Answer this simple one then in return: Who has the final say-so by slapping his signature on the cheque and has the power to say "not on your life am I buying that piece of shit!"? 76361[/snapback] This is something a manager would say should a club have a Chairman who is involved in team affairs when he shouldn't be.

Renton. I know you didn't say my PMs were abusive, mate, that insinuation was made by someone else, I'm surprised you didn't understand that, as it seems pretty obvious by reading the posts. Also, given what you said to me in your PM I just thought my latest point to you was worth making. I've nowt against your posts in any case. I wasn't aware there was an argument, actually. As I've said (again), I've nowt against you or your posts. Quite like your posts actually. No problem with that at all.

You know that's different, look at their pedigree, the same reason we can't blame him for Dalglish. I was looking at the comments made on the backup board last week from when Souness came in and a quote from a Blackburn forum had been posted, it was basically word for word what Souness has done to us. He could have got the same info from any number of club's supporters, you for example. I support Freddie but it was his job to know what Souness was. 76132[/snapback] Aye, and FS made a mistake which has been acknowledged by everybody. Having appointed a manager the role of FS is to support the manager, he has to allow any manager to actually manage. Nobody should want a Chairman to interfere with decisions regarding who is brought in and who leaves the club, that's the role of the manager. When Souness is eventually sacked ( too late, which is another FS mistake ) he will fall back on excuse after excuse, interference from a Chairman would be a good one if he could use it. He won't be able to though, because the team and personnel decisions have all been his own.

I haven't come across anybody, anywhere, who hasn't acknowledged the mistake by FS in the appointment of Souness. Craig, why do you keep banging on as though nobody is admitting this? The responsiblity for team affairs belongs with the manager. It is the manager who either gets it right or gets it wrong. Souness has got it wrong all on his own, the responsibility is his. As said above, FS fcuked up by appointing him. So what now, Craig? Why does this make FS responsible for all of the duff decisions made by the manager? How would people react if FS appointed a manager, but then it became known he stuck his nose into everything going on, and wouldn't allow the manager to actually manage? That would make him a really shit Chairman in my eyes. Q. Have we ever had a decent team with FS as Chairman?

What's that supposed to mean? Just answer a question, it's pretty easy. Who identifies the players to bring to the club in order to build a team?

If only....... I won't explain what was in the PM, as Craig says, they shouldn't overflow into the forum, but that's not my fault. Believe me, there were no threats of any kind in any PM I sent to Renton. I've had PM's from you that are more threatening than anything I sent to Renton. BTW I've also seen many posts from others that include threats. Never see you banging on about those other posters. Do you fancy me, or something?

Who me? Nah, not me. I could show you the PMs, but as you know, I wouldn't do that.

Shit, I hadn't thought of that, I thought I was the most unpopular person on the forum! Maybe you're right, perhaps he's being stalked by someone? Maybe someone sent him 2 PM's yesterday and it's really pissed him off? That pink screen, what a pain in the arse, eh? No, it must be me. I don't believe in coincidences.

so you are saying that we should have gone on into the season with Shearer as our only forward/striker ? [that would have been down to Souness] 75766[/snapback] That doesn't appear to be what he's saying tbh. 75770[/snapback] do i really need to put the first line on bold - my whole post is addressing the desperate situation we were in before the deadline, thanks to Souness' ego and behaving like a complete amateur 75773[/snapback] You've just outlined precisely what I've known you've thought all along Leazes... We make a good signing, you praise Shepherd. We make a poor signing, you blame Souness... I'm not defending Souness, but my point is that Shepherd is ultimately responsible for the signings of Babayaro, Boumsong & Faye as well as those of Owen, Parker, Emre and Solano. 76023[/snapback] Souness decides who to buy and usually who to sell, he is responsible. The person who actually does the donkey work and the negotiation is not responsible for who the individuals players are. Only cases where it won't apply will be if a buying club makes an offer so large the Board accept it against the managers wishes. But as for buying, that should always be driven by the manager.

I sent a PM to Renton the other day.. This followed a short exchange a couple of months ago. And I mean short. A question from me, a reply from him and a reply to that from me. Hardly a big deal. The one I sent him the other day was a simple reference back to something he mentioned in his PM to me. Renton. I've nowt against you man, but this thread in response to a couple of PM's shows that you are in fact more than a bt bit soft in the head. You don't need to fanny around like a lass putting on a filter, I've no intention of sending you further PM's and you weren't flooded with them anyway. I've said what I wanted to say and I knew you wouldn't reply, we both know there is no way you could reply in a way that makes sense.

How about every Newcastle supporter? BTW Good that you had your head out of Souness's arse long enough to realise we were crap today.

Overspending - Don't agree with the argument that drops this into the lap of FS. Are you suggesting that when Souness submits what you call a 'wish list', he has no idea of how much he's asking the club to stump up in support of his ego? The fact is he didn't need to sign as many players as he's signed, he eroded the value of certain players and left the club in a situation where FS had to agree to the fee demands from other clubs. If a manager leaves a club with nothing on the left flank, and no PL quality strikers, do you think selling clubs are going to offer FS bargains? Why did he sign the players he signed? Most are poor signings imo. When Souness was appointed I'd suggest that most people believed it was the defence that needed sorting out, plus we knew Shearer was near the end, he needed to retire and the club needed an adequate replacement for him. What we didn't need was a complete rebuild of the midfield. What has Souness done with this £50m? We still need a defence and we still need Shearer to retire and be replaced. The manager takes the credit if we do well, not FS. The manager takes the blame when it's fucked up. Simple as that. And it's fcuked up now. As for supporting Souness, ie giving him time. The point is that people like Gemmill ( and I assume yourself ) have taken TOO long to acknowledge Souness should go. In fact, do you think he should go? I didn't want Souness as manager, but once appointed I thought well ok, we have to support him. The thing is, it became absolutely crystal clear in a very short space of time ( a couple of months max ) that he puts his own self interest and ego ahead of the club. That was when he'd had enough time, yet many carried on rolling out the ridiculous line of giving him more time, wait until he's got his team and all that bullshit. They're still trying to justify it now. The result of that attitude is where we are now. What on earth is "enough time" anyway? Sometimes people need to get their heads out of the book that says, "a manager needs 2 years", and recognise the evidence. Moving on, I don't agree with you that what Bellamy did was unforgivable. It is certainly no worse than Dyer chucking the armband, and Bowyer and Dyer fighting on the pitch, is it? What is unforgivable is Souness putting his ego ahead of the team by abusing Craig Bellamy and Laurent Robert. The only thing these players did was suss the tosser out pretty quick and call him the wanker he is. It's sad that so many of you were prepared to so easily forget the 100% performances put in by Bellamy in particular, on the say so of Souness and his bunch of 'yes men'. This may not apply to Robert, but your comment about 10 men for 8 out of 10 matches is frankly, a bit daft mate. I'm not a stat man, but someone who created as much as he did was obviously doing something in more matches than that. However, I accept that you prefer workaholics to skillful players with flair. Mind you, I still don't see much support for the left back despite Robert having gone. Why's that, I wonder? I'm also mystified why you would belive the spirit in the dressing room is better on the basis Shearer and Given said so. What's so important about what these players say? I'd say that in fact they are both lying. Is that not worse than Bellamy telling the TRUTH on TV? The evidence of any improvement in team spirit (applies to every team in every sport) can always be seen in the team performances on the field of play. There has never been any evidence to suggest an improvement in team spirit, quite the opposite in fact.

As I said in my last post.

74186[/snapback] Can't read, I see.

Totally agree.

Don't agree, Spongebob 74248[/snapback] I would take Parker over Butt, Owen over Bellamy, Luque over the version of Robert that we were left with and Emre over Jenas every time. I would also take Boumsong for all his faults over OBrian or Hughes 74255[/snapback] It's a team ( and squad ) game mate. Owen is not a replacement for Bellamy, Luque looks to be an inadequate replacement for Robert and Hughes made less errors than any of our other defenders right now. The team and overall squad Souness took over was a better one, it had to be, it had just finished 5th in the league.

I agree with that especially the patronising first sentence.

What odds though? 74190[/snapback] Evens 74191[/snapback] Current odds from Billy Hill.... 20. Sunderland 1.00 19. Portsmouth 1.61 18. West Brom 1.66 17. Birmingham 2.20 16. Everton 5.50 15. Fulham 7.50 14. West Ham 8.50 13. Charlton 11.00 12. Nappy Rippers 17.00 11. Newcastle 41.00 So, Hills have us at 40/1 to go down, having us finishing in 11th place. Best odds for a bottom 6 finish from Hills is 13/2. Looking at that list from the experts, what odds are you offering on us finishing in the bottom 6, Alex? Anybody think this 40/1 from BH is huge given the circumstances?

Don't agree, Spongebob

If we'd all be worshiping Souness in those posts, you'd have been glad we'd dug it up! 74212[/snapback] Na na ni na na

I thought the first paragraph was well justified, mate.

that is all correct. Are we on the same side here Craig .... ? I say Keegan isn't a "quitter", unfortunately I understand the reasons he left, which were because he had integrity, he wasn't happy with the change of direction and losing out in the title ripped the heart out of him 74203[/snapback] Understanding that means people have to appreciate that those in the football world are human beings, subject to all the emotions everybody else in the world is subject to. Some don't understand that. To call Keegan a quitter because of the circumstances he left Newcastle shows that lack of understanding.

Could have been an interesting thread, but it's degenerated into childishness with the harping back to posts on an old forum. No surprise there, like. The fact is, a lot of people weren't happy with the appointment of Souness, most were stunned in fact. But people had to get over it and look for the positives. There weren't many positives, but people were looking hard, banging on about the worthless cup and such like. He'd sort out the dressing room, and all that guff. I believed that bit myself. Many people initially hoped that Souness would be able to sort out the awkward personalities, people like Bellamy and Robert were supposed to be those awkward personalities. In addition, the younger players were believed to have lost respect for Robson, plus Dyer was just an arsehole, having chucked away the armband. It was said that a 'strong' manager was needed to get these players back in line, so people turned that initial shock at the appointment into believing that Souness would be strong, and would do the business. Unfortunately Souenss isn't strong, he's a bully. The Souness idea of sorting players out meant bullying some players and booting them out, contrary to how a proper manager would have gone about it. This is where people began to differ in my view. The prejudice some have against certain players came to the fore. I remember how shocked I was driving home when I heard the news that Souness had been given the job. However, I was happy to give the bloke a chance once he was appointed, because that's what you have to do. But for me, he showed his incompetence fairly quickly, others didn't see it, opting to bury their head in the sand for a long time. Some sitll have their head buried even now. There is little point in banging on about old threads and old posts but people should admit to their errors of judgement though. It would be a better forum for such admissions. At the end of the day, Souness does not deserve the length of time he has so far been given, the signs were there ages ago that he would fcuk this club up. He needs to go and he needs to go now. Just my opinion.

Why 50%? Why not 30%, 40%, 75%? How is a feeling of concern measured? Who knows if we'll be relegated or not? Souness may be sacked tomorrow and FS appoints a manager able to get more from the players and we aren't relegated. Souness may not be sacked and we may stay up, or we may go down. Who knows? All folk can do look at is the form, the performances, over the time shithead has been manager, and if they are being sensible about it they will be worried that we may well be sucked into trouble. The fact is, from 4th, 3rd, 5th plus £50m outlay we shouldn't be even thinking about relegation, but it's what happens when a team stops scoring goals. A team stops scoring goals when their creative players are discarded and their forward play is fcuked up. I recall Arthur Cox saying this in the 80's, and he was right.

In his time here he scored and created more goals than the rest of the midfield combined. 74089[/snapback] Interesting stuff, but not really a response to the question I asked. 74097[/snapback] I'd like to say I was surprised by your reply, but I'm not. Anyway, it is interesting that you believe someone who produced as much as Robert is a layabout. 74117[/snapback] I find it just as interesting that you believe that someone who produced as little as Robert towards the end of his time here, through a distinct lack of effort on his part, is anything but a layabout. 74119[/snapback] {Edited} I'll play along, even though I shouldn't bother..... Some questions.... 1. Have you ever worked for a boss who treats you like shite? 2. Are you able to imagine how a person feels when they are undermined and treated like shite by their boss? 3. Do you believe such a person is still able to work to the best of their ability? 4. Do you believe the team performances improved when Souness finally went 4-4-2 and started selecting Robert, only to drop off again when he slated Robert in public for his first poor performance? You claim you go to matches, you should know about point number 4.