TheMoog

True, I can also relate to him calling it a living nightmare - as a fan that's exactly how I feel about supporting our club right now.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - if Mike Ashley got rid of Llambias in favour of a more honest, forthright chairman and surrounded himself with people who have actual football knowledge* I could probably forgive him some of his past indiscretions against the club. As it is he seems to want to be hated and have a small group of equally hated people around him, regardless of how much they upset the fans of the club. I'm sure Mike on his own had good intentions for the club initially but it all got tainted by bad decisions of bringing in arseholes like Llambias and Wise and has simply never recovered from the bad PR and dishonesty they brought with them. *By 'People with football knowledge' I don't mean horrible little knobends like Dennis Wise, I mean at board level, people used to running football clubs.

Yes... and no. I can see that him removing the loans from banks or anyone else that would come knocking on the door for the money plus interest is good, in the short term. It doesn't stop him being the vampire sitting at the door, who doesn't put anything extra in to the club. He's balanced the books by personally loaning the club a sufficient amount to do so, but at the same time any profit made by the club is the only real money made available to use on ambition. He's a businessman, not a football man and it shows in that the club is being run like a business - partially to the good I suppose but as a fan it makes things boring as hell because we'll forever be in a state of limbo apart from the occasional season where we will likely punch above or below our weight. With a club the size of ours, with the fanbase we have and the overall potential we could have been easily in the top four clubs of the country if managed right but the initial push would take us having to be in a certain amount of debt - sadly the only clubs able to do this and write it off have been either the ones already established there (Like Man Utd and Arsenal) or the ones with uber-rich owners who spunk money as they like (like Man City and Chelski). Yeah, there's the also-rans like Tottenham and Liverpool but again they've been building for a while as we should have been. It's going to take us a long time of being a mediocre, mid-table selling club to make enough profit to pay Ashley off and truly break even, if it ever happens and no matter what Ashley will always want his money back when the ride stops. In that respect I can't see things ending up much different than when he bought the club unless someone richer than him buys it off him. One thing I'm glad of is that I enjoyed our most recent golden eras of Keegan and Robson, I can't see anything like them happening again anytime soon and I feel sorry for all the kids who weren't around at the time and have only the shit that's followed to reflect on.

Evil intentions? No, I just think he's a cunt.

I thought they said he's classing how much he paid for us as well as any other money he's put in as personal loans? Could of sworn I read it amounted to about £250m

Denied: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/newcastle-deny-rumour-yohan-cabaye-is-in-monaco-for-medical-8659998.html For £23m I'd sell him though.

That's what worries me, is his heart really going to be in it? Every time he makes the slightest mistake now he'll get jumped on.

By that I assume you're not counting the £250m (ish) that the club 'owes' Mike Ashley in personal loans? Pretty sure he hasn't written any of that off. Don't doubt for a minute that if we were ever to be sold he'd want that back, so essentially we're still in a vast amount of debt, just to a different lender. I do agree with you though that if someone comes in for a player with a ridiculous offer we should snap it up. Ambition is sometimes about taking risks and we simply don't do that anymore, add Pardew's incompetence and we're going nowhere soon - just another 'also-ran', mid-table club that might occasionally get a break to sit with the real players for a season.

Imo this is a load of old bollocks to be honest, I'm fed up with hearing about how bad Wonga are - yes, their morals may be questionable in that they have crazy rates but nobody is forced to use them and those that do are aware of the penalties if they can't manage their budget or plan the repayments properly. Regardless of the commercial side of what these banks or lenders do the Muslim law behind forbidding their use is down to interest and profit from the act of money lending from what I can tell and all lenders do it, whether they're banks or specialised lenders, hence Muslims have their special accounts. Northern Rock, Virgin Money and Wonga are no different from each other in respect of making a profit so the whole debate is ridiculous - if Cissé wants to use it as an excuse to leave the club then so be it, though we'll have to start getting a decent strike force together a bit sharpish or we'll be left with Shola's arse to score the goals.

Had a brief scan through an article earlier about Jozy Altidore, I must admit I thought he was older than 23 but going by his goal stats in the Dutch league he looks quite good. Altidore and Bony upfront would be awesome imo, seeing as I can't see us signing Carroll back any time soon Found the article btw: http://www.cominghomenewcastle.com/2013/6/11/4417386/Jozy-Altidore-Newcastle-United-NUFC-A-Z-Alkmaar-transfer-rumor?

Of course, but I reckon we'd actually go for him if the price was right. Besides, If you were Carroll would you really want to play for West Ham?

Let's face it, as much as we hate it and denounce it in others, players have the power - they hold all the cards. If Carroll wanted to force a move to Newcastle he could. He's got what, three years left on his Liverpool contract? Are they really going to want to let him rot in their reserves picking up the sort of wages they're paying him? Or would they bite the bullet and take the hit if we said we'd pay them £10m-£12m. If Carroll really wants to come back to the Toon all he needs to do is refuse to move anywhere else and Liverpool will be forced to bend to his will. All depends on what Carroll really wants tbh. On a side note, I'd love to have him back and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

http://www.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/other/Premier-League-released-player-list-2012-13.pdf Any bargains to be had?

That they've given up on Carroll?

Bloody vagrants, sleeping on the pavement! Pffft.

Didn't Robert get top assists in the league or second to Beckham two years running? Or did I dream that? More importantly though, Alan Shearer was the best goal scorer this club has ever had, was still better than several other players in the team and certainly more dedicated right up to his retirement. We sorely miss someone of his calibre now and I'm 99% sure we'll never see his like again at our club. Not because the game has moved on but because there just aren't players like him around anymore with that sort of ability or football brain as well as loyalty to their hometown club. Alan had some faults towards the end bu tthey were far outweighed by what he brought to team at the time and what we had available, actually or potentially. I just don't understand any Toon fans that think otherwise (just my opinion), the same as any Toon fans that slate Kevin Keegan's ability as our manager. Getting back to Bellamy, he was quick and entertaining to watch when he was arguing with other team's defences but in general he was poisonous. His disrespect of Sir Bobby and other senior figures at the club will never sit well with me - personally I wouldn't believe a word he says, he's shown time and again that he's a prick on and off the pitch with nothing to say other than giving it the 'Billy Big Bollocks' without backing it up.

Pards is claiming we have the best team outside the top six... shame we have a manager that can't utilise them properly isn't it

What does he mean by 'our land'? His accent sounded British to me.

That's a good way to look at it actually, kind of like we've loaned him out for a few years for a £20m fee.

My head says we could get better for cheaper but my heart says if we don't match West Ham's offer and bring him home we'll be missing out.

Colo was pap when he first played for us, didn't settle in for the first season and a half. I reckon Mbiwa will fine once he's got to grips with the language, got used to the league and is an established player for us. I think we need to concentrate more on a top end striker, a 20 goal a season machine, then some wingers for the service in. If Colo goes we could do with a replacement but with a bit of confidence our defence should get back to some semblance of what it was last season hopefully - mind it's all dependant on someone in the team grabbing the reigns out on the pitch from the player's side of things.

Jebus that was a rollercoaster - still not safe though.

How many of these matches become a tactical exercise on giving and taking points to put other teams in the most precarious position for going down?

Fucking hell, you just know it's all conspiring to send us down.