brummiemag1

Yes exceptional times and an exceptional man, an absolute legend of the club and my ultimate sporting hero. I would have him back here as manager in an instant. He was aware of the great potential of the club and he had the ambition and the backing to realise that potential The way he was treated by Ashley was unforgiveable

Most important game of the season to date as far as I'm concerned so would like to see us play the strongest possible team available. No trying out youngsters or resting our top players, lets actually try and progress in this competition for a change. Its our only possible chance of a trophy and if we continue to play weakened teams in the cup competitions then we are never going to compete for anything ever again. The kick off time is an absolute disgrace and says everything about what the FA and the club think of the travelling supporters.

Even if we spend £20m in January, (which is less than we should have spent in the summer), then I think anyone who supports him still deserves to be criticised. Surely no one still supports him?

Yes but last season in my opinion we made a number of really good purchases for a relatively small outlay and we were fortunate with injuries which resulted in a much better than expected season. It was always going to be unsustainable without further significant investment and so instead of building on what we had achieved we have gone backwards thanks to Ashley's lack of ambition. We can't expect to challenge for a top 4 place or become a top 5 or 6 club when we have one of the lowest net spends of any Premier League club in the last 5 years, it just won't happen. As far as I'm aware Pardew has said very little and that why he was appointed - he's prepared to go along with the policy

Pardew was appointed as a yes man by Ashley and he never seems to protest about the chronic lack of investment and ambition shown by the owner. This complete lack of ambition demonstrated by one of the lowest net spends of any premier league club over the last 5 years has taken us from the brink of challenging for a top 4 place (which is the least a club with the size of our support should expect) to mid table mediocrity at best and Pardew has said nothing - which is why he was appointed in the first place

12.30 kick off - Nice of ITV and the FA to consider the travelling supporters.

Agree with you 100%. We have one of the largest away supports in the country or at least we did have until Ashley started taking reduced allocations. Our away support is one of the things that makes me proud to be a Newcastle fan and we are respected nationally for the size of our away following, its often one of the first talking points, or it used to be. All this is being destroyed by Ashley. It makes me sick to see some medium sized clubs getting bigger allocations at certain away grounds than we do. I've even heard taunts from fans about not selling all our tickets etc (by Man City fans last season which is laughable when they can't even sell all their home tickets). Its another example of the complete contempt Ashley has for Newcastle fans

Because sadly the Premier League is the only thing that seems to matter and we need to concentrate on qualifying for the Europa League next season

He's done a decent enough job so far, but giving him an 8 year contract seems ludicrous to me. He's not Wenger or Fergurson for god's sake and I'm not aware of any other manager on such a long term contract. However he is a yes man and he's prepared to work on a shoe string budget - exactly what Ashley wants He's also competent enough to keep us in the Premier League for the next 8 years, nothing more - and sadly thats the sum total of Ashley's ambition for Newcastle United

Very sad to see we are playing a much weakened team yet again for a cup game. We will never win a trophy again with this approach and attitude. Its also a disgrace that tickets are £45 for what is in effect not much more than a reserve game. Its only a few years ago that Arsenal charged £10 against us in an equivalent round of the League Cup and got a 60,000 crowd

Trophy and strongest possible team every time for me Nothing beats the excitement of a big cup game

I would like us to play our strongest possible team for this game. I would love to win the League cup. Its ok people saying it doesn't matter - but it does - try getting hold of a ticket if we get to Wembley - demand would be massive. Who cares whether we finish 6th or 12th in the premier league - who will remember that in 10 years time. It used to be brilliant travelling away in the League and FA Cup, taking thousands of fans with us, more exciting than the league and sadly its starting to disappear Silverware is what its about and and its about time we started taking the cups seriously

I understand the points that are being made but I suspect that even if we get through the group stage and into the knockout stages the club will still see the Premier League as the priority and will still not play full strength teams, which is wrong in my opinion. With that approach we will never win a trophy again. I would much rather concentrate on the cups and if we slip a few places in the league as a consequence then so what. Its not like we have a chance of winning the league or finishing in the top 4 and I don't think we will go down so lets prioritise the cups and try and win some silverware - we have a team good enough to do it

Gutted. Made the effort to get back to watch this match. Empty stadium, reserve team, poor game, very few Newcastle fans (and who can blame them). Its not what dreams are made of is it I would rather we were not in the competiton - if the club can't take it seriously why should we? I hope the club will apologise to the 100 or so fans who paid £400+ to watch the reserves Still, we must concentrate on trying to finish 6th in the league so that we can qualify for the Europa League next season

Twat I would rather win a trophy than challenge for 4th in the league and qualify for a competition we have no chance of winning