brummiemag1

At least West Brom try and play decent football. Sadly we won't even have that as a consolation

I accept he will improve the team but it comes down to pride in my opinion. I don't think Newcastle should be helping to develop Man U players. I would rather not have him and suffer the consequences. As I said in another thread it just shows how Ashley has effectively lowered expectations to such an extent that we are happy to develop young players for more ambitious clubs in the knowledge that if they turn out to be any good we won't hang onto them for very long.

Wrong thread I know I should start a new one but I find it incredible and depressing that anyone can have any optimism with the current owner. The fact that people are pleased that we are helping Man U by developing one of their youngsters shows how Ashley has been so utterly effective at lowering and managing peoples expectations - many will now be happy to scrape 17th position by any means possible. Whats even more depressing (and I have been ridiculed by 90% of people on NO for saying this and no doubt it will be the same with majority on here) is that we are prepared to consider anti football measures like narrowing the pitch, targeting games and playing dull negative football to survive. I would rather play in the 4th division with my head held high than resort to that sort of shit. The sad thing is if we do survive it will be the same the season after and the season after that, because Ashley has no ambition whatsoever. If we are very lucky we could be a Stoke City or a Blackburn in 3 years time. So depressing when you consider we are the the 3rd biggest supported club in England and the 14th richest club in the World.

Sadly, under Ashley thats the sort of club we have now become - bigger clubs with more ambition can loan us their up and coming young players for a bit of development and experience

What rose coloured glasses was Houghton watching the World Cup through? 4 or 5 half decent games out of 64 does not make it an enjoyable tournament The World Cup was for the most part a complete bore from start to finish. I know a lot of people who did not enjoy it, myself included.

True, but Birmingham spent quite a lot of money on a number of players and continue to do so. Unless we spend and invest in quality players we will not progress, only survive at best and I'm not just talking about next season

We may scrape lower mid table, we may do far worse, I just don't know. The problem is that even if we do scrape survival or slightly better, it will be the same the year after and the same the year after that, in fact I cannot see it changing while Ashley is in charge. Scraping along year after year with no ambition, trying to do a Bolton or a Stoke is the best we can hope for I'm afraid. Its absolutely criminal for such a well supported club

For me Holland have been very disappointing compared to their teams of old and its sad to see such dull, unadventurous football rewarded. I never thought I would say this but Germany have been the one breath of fresh air in this desperately disappointing tournament - attacking, creative and when they take the lead instead of sitting back like the other teams, they actually continue playing attacking football and I'm glad that approach has been rewarded. I just hope that tomorrow we get a decent game of football for a change, something worthy of a World Cup semi final. It would also be good to see a full stadium for once

I think we should stick with Capello, at least until then next Euros. He has made some mistakes but the man has a superb track record - 9 league championships in 16 years - thats why he was appointed The fact is that the media have vilified every England Manager in the last 20 years, including Keegan and Robson. They can't all be bad The bottom line is he can only be as good as the resources at his disposal and unfortunately the resources he had available were well over rated and way off anything that was ever going to challenge for the world cup.

To be honest its been a desparately disappointing world cup - 50+ games and out of those I would say only 3 or 4 have been decent and even they were not classics. Sadly I have had the misfortune to watch the vast majority. Even teams like Holland and Portugal seem cautious, negative and defensive. Its such a shame that a potentially great sporting event, in fact the best world sporting event in my opinion, is so dull. I really hope that the quarter finals particularly Germany v Argentina and Holland v Brazil turn out to be attacking entertaining games , if not then I honestly believe that football as a sport has a major problem and is failing to realise its full potential

Sadly I read on this forum that Houghton said that he sees Stoke and Wolves as role models - Fantastic

I agree. I also think its down to the way football is coached at youth level. Ive watched under 11 to under 14 football at both the villla acadamy and at local team level and its all about winning, power, booting the ball away from danger, not taking risks. Kids are not encouraged to express themselves. Thats why so few England players look comfortable on the ball and even fewer can beat or even try to beat a man. (Chris Waddle summed this up perfectly the other night on Radio 5 in fact he speaks more sense then the rest of them put together) We are years behind Holland, most of Southern Europe and South America. We can keep blaming the Manager's like we have done for the last 20 years or more but at the end of the day they can only work with meagre resources they have available.

Chelsea & ManU have shared five of the last six. We've got no fucking chance. Thats why I would be delighted if we won it. Better to try and fail than surrender before we even start

What makes it worse is the fact that after tonight's games one of USA, Uruguay, South Korea or Ghana will definitely be in the semi-finals. Now had we won the softest group.... Still, it's not like we have any history with Germany and Argentina. Oh, wait.... What a great opportunity we have missed - I reckon USA could make the semis It means we may have to beat Germany, Argentina, Spain and Brazil to win the World Cup

Would be fucking delighted if we won the Carling Cup, or even came close, its the best chance we have of winning a trophy in the next 5 years. Lets hope we take it a bit more seriously than last year. Sadly survival will be the priority and we will play the reserves and we will be doing the same for years and years to come because under Ashley the club are going nowhere

Its winnable because Germany are nothing special, but neither are we. Could go either way this one

How many have you watched Kev? Cause they never start to simmer till the second week. Judging by the England game last night and this dreadful dull affair between Holland and Japan I would say no. Its been a shocking world cup so far, the worst I can remember In my opinion its the same with football in general - whether its World Cup, Newcastle or the Premier League generally, far too many games are boring and dull. Its such a shame because a great game of football beats anything but I reckon only one in 20 games I watch would be described as a good or great game and thats far too small a percentage. Football as a sport does not realise its potential in my opinion, just imagine if 75% of games were exciting and full of attacking football. I honestly think the time has come for FIFA to experiment with incentives to increase attacking football and that should involve some of sort of reward in the form of bonus points for scoring goals. What do other people think?

The problem is that too many of our players just don't look comfortable on the ball - they lack the level of skill and ball control required at the highest level - very few of our players are capable of beating a man and not only that but some of them seem over eager to rid of the ball at the first opportunity - maybe through fear of getting caught on the ball and making a mistake. Even Algeria looked more skilful and comfortable on the ball than England. Not sure of the reasons, maybe its to do with coaching the skill out of players at an early age rather than encouraging youngsters to enjoy the game and take players on rather than passing and hoofing the ball at the first opportunity.

Agreed. Surely Birmingham would be a better comparison? Or are the gutter press suggesting that's a bridge to far for us? Hughton quotes Birmingham, Wolves and Stoke as role models. Of course forgetting that as I said Wolves were shit and also that they and Brum spent a good £20m each. Wolves and Stoke as role models - we can look forward to some great football next season then.

Do I win anything for getting that bit right? I had a fiver on all 8 favourites to win the groups and also 8 £3 sevenfolds using the same teams. Would have paid £700 - £800 if they had all come in - France let me down in 2006 as well.

Desperately disappointing World Cup so far for me, dull, negative and generally devoid of incident. Not one really good game out of the nine played so far and Ive had the misfortune to watch all of them Its such a shame when the pinnacle of world football is such a let down - there really should be a bigger proportion games that have exciting attacking football. Do people agree with me and is going to get any better?

I think we are favourites but the USA are not a bad team and surely they represent good value at 5 or even 6 to 1 for the win?

you mean like Kieron Dyer, Laurent Robert, Craig Bellamy, James Milner, Charles N'Zogbia, Obafemi Martins, Scott Parker for starters.......remind yourself too that the specific player you mention, Damien Duff, left us for Fulham, yes Fulham, and has just played in a european Final while we have played in the 2nd division. Your "opinion" is trounced by facts mate. Boro got to that same European final Martins? The wages such an average player were earning were laughable. Scott Parker? You mean the player that got sold to accommodate Alan Smith by a man appointed by Shepherd? Dyer, paid thousands for 2 games a season? The other players you mentioned were signed by Bobby Robson, the only manager appointed whilst Shepherd was chairman that enjoyed any kind of success. Why talk about a small number of success stories that were clearly an expection to the rule? Sadly, one person owning less than 30% of shares doesn't run a football club on his own and make managerial appointments on his own either. Also unfortunately, no manager appointed by Mike Ashley will get anywhere near the success that Bobby Robson achieved, as did all the managers appointed by the predecessors to the Halls and Shepherd since the 1950's to put things into their correct perspective. Why do you talk about a small number of relative failures during the time of the Halls and Shepherd that were clearly an exception to the rule ? At the end of the day, we were the 5th most successful side during their time owning the club, with the 5th highest average league position, the 5th most qualified team for europe, converted a club that could not be sold for 2.5m quid into one that had the 14th biggest turnover in world football, transformed the stadium into one of the best in the country and filled it every home game, signed world class footballers including breaking the world transfer record, and attracted managers like Bobby Robson to the club in the first place when they were not interested previously preferring to spend his career at a club like Ipswich. All of that from having one foot in the 3rd division when they found it. If you seriously think you can undermine and undervalue all of this, look again at what has happened since they were bought out. But they managed to do all that and then fuck it all up though That's the point you're missing. We got the dizzy heights (without any trophies to show for it) but at the end of his reign we had just finished bottom half of the table, had an extortionate wage bill and are, because of their reign, debt ridden. The fact is they did all of those things by taking big financial risks that didn't pay off. The only thing that they can be credited for is ambition, but even then, they had their own motives at heart throughout. so you would rather not attempt it then ? Don't mock ambition, the current owner has none, just like most other clubs, which is what we are back to being, as we were pre-1992. Shame you don't see it. I wouldn't call playing regularly in europe, signing top players that we did, expanding and filling the stadium, "not paying off" but if you do, thats up to you. As for motives, doesn't everybody have their own motives in life, including you ? Are we pre-1992 because of the current owners lack of ambition or because of the previous owners wreckless ambition? A combination of both. Ashley is fucking terrible, but to use that fact to paint Shepherd in a good light is just bollocks Leazes, and you know it. The terrifying thing? He doesn't! under 30% of shares doesn't own the club. 5th most qualified team for europe, 5th highest average league position, 14th biggest turnover, expaned stadium filled to capacity, attracting top players and managers to the club. Can't argue with facts, if that is terrible, what is now and what is the 87 clubs who would have swapped places with us. A fair few of those 87 clubs could have swapped places with us had they chose to go shit-or-bust with future revenue. They had more responsible owners, however. rubbish. You have a "responsible owner" now. I hope you are happy with what has happened on the pitch under his ownership, the resulting fall in revenue, the lack of "trophy players" [laughable] and selling all our best players to smaller clubs than Newcastle United, the 3rd biggest supported club in the country. Newcastle Online is where you should be posting such shite, its full of tossers who also support the balance sheet instead of the football team. And the alternative was to continue to spend money that we didn't have and continue to get into more and more debt. Is that what you would prefer from a current owner, Leazes? you really ought to have a word with the trophy winning clubs, and tell them how they are getting it all wrong. And you should have a word with Portsmouth and tell them how they got it spot on! why are you cherry picking out one example from all the clubs in history that have had to spend big money to succeed. Incidentally, you should have also told Portsmouth fans not to celebrate winning the FA Cup because they were on a path to disaster. I'm sure it would have put a real dampener on an experience they had waited decades for and possibly will never see again. Wasn't a big part with Pompey's downfall due to clauses in a lot of their players contracts stating that if they won any silverware that a bonus was to be paid to the teams that they were bought from? Something that they did not forsee happening? I think I read something like this, was it not bonuses to the players ? Daft thing to do anyway I suppose, but so far as supporters of the club are concerned, you support your team in the hope they will be successful on the pitch. I don't think any football fan anywhere would give a thought to the financial position a few years down the road if the club is successful. How many NUFC fans gave a thought to the future financial side of things when we were playing in the Champions League. Many supporters of the club, on here too, supported the backing of Souness, and the signings of players like Owen, so to turn around now and criticise the club for doing it is a huge u-turn and the biggest hypocrisy imagineable. Even more mind boggling is the fact that they appear to be settling for regular relegation battles in the fight to stop the club going into debt. Do you want to support a football club, living up to being the 3rd best supported in the country, attempting to punch their weight and win trophies and play in europe or do you want to support them living with financial restraints and operating in the same financial leagues as teams such as Bolton, Burnley and Wigan ? it was the drive and ambition of the last board that transformed NUFC from being a club on the way to bankruptcy and the 3rd division into one with the 14th biggest turnover in world football, and some people are criticising the way they approached their running of the club. It defies belief Couldnt agree more - the lack of ambition shown by the current owner is mind boggling and the fact that so many people seem to accept it and be satisfied with survival and mid table mediocrity at best for the forseeable future is even more staggering

The lack of ambition shown by Ashley, a billionaire, for such a well supported club, the 20th most valuable club in the world, is fucking unbelievable. He has managed to persuade a lot of fans to think survival playing shit football is acceptable for next season - and the season after and the season after that - cunt

No, its probably set us back by a decade or more