Super_Steve_Howey

Lewis Hamilton leads the World Championship!!!!!

Shhh....

Don't expect to see Fat Sam in the stands, apparently he will be at Bolton saying goodbye to the fans

What's your point exactly? That he has every right to feel aggrieved. That combined with the fact he screwed Liverpool over, why would anyone be surprised if he left. Calling him a cernt amounts to spitting the dummy in my eyes, the blame lies with the club. I'd be more upset if Dyer and Bramble were still here next season than if Owen left.

A Ferrari sent away from the pits on fire A BMW sent away from the pits with the wheel gunner still doing up the nut

Are you having a laugh? Milner is a greedy mercenary, while Parker is a hero? Hmm. All I would say to that is, if you think Taylor is fit enough to wear it, then Parker is too. I would put them both on the same level regarding value to the club.

As it turns out, Fred and Sam both think they are going to win trophies: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ers/6650979.stm Silverware key to Allardyce exit Allardyce turned Bolton into an established Premiership club Former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce has revealed that he left the club because he wants to win silverware. Allardyce resigned on 29 April, with chairman Phil Gartside claiming he "wanted some time with his family and to reflect on his life". But Allardyce, who has held talks with Newcastle, said in the Mail on Sunday: "I have had praise for what I've done, but there's nothing at the end of it. "I want silverware. I'm determined to get it before my days are over." Leaving Bolton had nothing to do with any other club, in spite of all the speculation Sam Allardyce Allardyce is scheduled to appear at Bolton's final game of the season at home to Aston Villa on Sunday to say farewell to the club's supporters. A win for the Lancashire club will see them secure a Uefa Cup place for the second time in three seasons. But Allardyce has revealed that he had concerns about the direction in which the club was heading. "For me, the level we were at, what was happening, how we were going, I didn't feel comfortable with anymore," added Allardyce. "I needed a change. I started to think about me for the first time in eight years and said it's my time to go." Allardyce met Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd last week for talks about the vacant managerial position at the Magpies. But the 52-year-old insists he did not have another job lined up when he left the Trotters. "It had nothing to do with any other club, in spite of all the speculation," he said. "Of course I want to stay in football. It's left open now for whatever might turn up." Allardyce assembled a large backroom staff at Bolton - and would do so again if he took over at another club but believes it resulted in less money to spend on players at the Trotters. "Building the infrastructure was always the most important thing," Allardyce said. "It has taught me that, wherever I go, it becomes the essential thing to do, to organise a group who are qualified in what they do. "Building the staff meant we had no money for players."

Nolan should have been in the England team for the last 4 years according to Fat Sam

Could've been written by me New managerSame old problems?May 13 2007 By Neil Farrington, The Sunday Sun So Glenn Roeder was never the right man for Newcastle United, eh? The knock knees, pigeon toes, painfully self-conscious manner, bank manager appearance and unnerving obsession with Shola Ameobi . . . He just didn't fit, right? Well, if you honestly believe the problems at St James's Park boil down to one wrong man, it's your look-out. Me? I reckon that Newcastle United are wrong; that there won't be a Mr Right until the club itself changes. And that change won't be brought about by one manager - even the walking contradiction that is Big Sam - or even one chairman. All parties - board, team boss, backroom staff and even fans and Press - have a role to play in banishing the culture of complacency and delusion which has delivered Newcastle to this sorry pass. All parties other than most of their current players. Nothing embodies the air of complacency - not to mention contempt - at St James's like the performances and general conduct of all too many of United's gilded squad. Yet, amid the flak flying at the dug-out and the directors' box these last few weeks, those players have emerged all but unscathed. Oh, and emerged very, very rich. There are honourable exceptions to the roll of dressing-room dishonour, of course. The Givens, Harpers, Taylors, Parkers and Solanos of this world appreciate that wearing a Newcastle shirt is a privilege in itself - and are good enough to do it proud. But neither that fact nor an obscenely inflated pay packet are enough to prick the conscience of their average team-mate. And I'm not necessarily talking about Michael Owen here, despite his obvious wish to get away. If I had spent most of the last 10 months watching players put in less work on the pitch than I was in the treatment room, I'd be less than happy. And I'm not an 80-cap, 36-goal England international signed on promises of European football and silverware. I can appreciate Shepherd feeling fleeced if Owen does a bunk having played much less than one game a month for his £100,000-a-week wage. But if Owen lets Newcastle down, Newcastle will have let him down a lot earlier. As for most other players at United, whether they are youngsters who think they are better than they are, or veterans who think they are as good as they were, the net result is a team with ideas way, way, way above its station. But if that represents delusion, what about the transfer policy which created that team? And that a culture of complacency has developed surely says as much about the club's wage structure and disciplinary values as it does the players themselves. When they are not making "trophy" signings - often seemingly to satisfy a perceived appetite among Geordie fans for "big names" rather than fill a gap in their squad - Newcastle tend to buy wannabes and has-beens. St James's has thus become little more than a launchpad for absurdly-inflated egos, young and old. Egos emboldened by United's over-forgiving fans. That the likes of Titus Bramble and Kieron Dyer are still at St James's Park lends the lie to the ridiculous notion elsewhere in the country that those supporters are too demanding On that front, Roeder was the wrong man with the right ideas. The ideas that a club is best built from within; that youngsters found are a better bet than youngsters bought; and that players who are purchased are signed on form rather than on reputation. Whoever replaces Roeder must pursue that course. But to do so, they must be given carte blanche powers by the board on transfer policy, an area where the lines of responsibility have appeared blurred in recent years. Indeed, the time is long overdue for Newcastle's manager to keep his boss out of the headlines. Sam Allardyce may be the man to achieve all that, having built a mini-empire at Bolton from bare ruins - and wielded absolute power while at it. Given that Roeder struggled to pass for an authority figure in public, Roeder never stood a chance in the United dressing room. But Allardyce enjoyed the respect of a cosmopolitan and colourful squad at the Reebok, thanks in no small measure to people skills honed in his first managerial job, when he took to physically dragging his Limerick City players out of nightclubs. How Newcastle fans sick of blinged up under-achievers swanning around the city's Quayside would love Big Sam to reprise those disciplinary methods on Tyneside. Several things bother me about Allardyce, though his brand of football isn't really one of them. Even if Bolton's Route One approach wasn't a case of horses for courses but a firm ideology, it was a success. And that's a commodity worth much more to Newcastle than their footballing traditions. No, a greater concern is that Big Sam would arrive with a reputation still muddied by the insinuations made by Panorama's attempted "bung-busters" (and by his own son). Another is that he cannot seem to keep his mouth shut on matters that don't involve him. Roeder's appointment at Newcastle, a case in point. And as for United themselves, why - when they have finally given themselves time to cherry-pick a new manager - are they so keen to jump into bed with the first one available? But the biggest worry is none of those, nor Allardyce's ability to realise United's ambitions. It is his own ambition. Has it escaped people's attention that the current England coach is on borrowed time - and escaped their memory that Big Sam would crawl on hands, knees and broken glass for the country's top job? Yes, the Panorama affair may have turned the FA against him, but you can be sure Allardyce would still put himself up for the job of succeeding Steve McClaren. And what good would that unedifying sight do the prospect of a total overhaul of Newcastle United? For a total overhaul - not just a new manager - is what is needed.

We bought him with the promise of top flight football for a top flight player. We bought an England player then started threatening England. He is about to get his 3rd manager.

I'm sure he'll get over it

Silence. Not booing. Silence.

Fred didn't look at anyone else now or back then Speculation. Don't see what the problem is either, Freddy identified someone he thought was good enough when he sacked SBR, we havent been able to get him, he has got better during that time and has become available. That's the point. You honeslty think Fat Sam is the one to improve on 3rd? We shall see, he has certainly made a huge difference to Bolton in this time there and has shown an ability to build, plan and improve. No doubt if we dont finish in 2nd next season you will claim he has failed. He can have 20 years and he won't finish 2nd.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/05/...wcastle_bl.html 145,000 see 'German Newcastle' blow it Germany's most popular team, Schalke, may have blown the chance to end their 49-year title drought. Anna KesselMay 13, 2007 12:56 AM Imagine a football fan's utopia, where supporters decide ticket prices and who sits on the board; where players travel hundreds of miles to visit their fans and mingle with them at training; where supporters debate the finances of the club with the chairman and contribute to the design of their stadium. Such a club does exist. They are called Schalke 04 and they did not deserve to go through the agonies they suffered yesterday, on an afternoon of gut-wrenching, unbearable tension in the Bundesliga Schalke are the most popular club in Germany. Yesterday afternoon, their stadium in Gelsenkirchen was full with 61,780 fans - for an away game. Schalke played at nearby Dortmund, where 20,000 of the 83,000 full house were in the blue-and-white away end. Add the two crowds together and it is just short of the European record for a club game, 146,433, though they all packed into a single stadium, Hampden Park, for the 1937 Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Aberdeen. While the Premiership has been exciting this season, it has also been predictable: anyone could have named the top four before the big kick-off last August. Germany could not have provided a greater contrast. Bayern Munich, the Manchester United of the Bundesliga, cannot qualify for the Champions League and, going into yesterday's penultimate round of matches (Saturday-afternoon kick-offs, by the way), only Schalke, Stuttgart and Bremen could win it. The three German teams who have played Champions League finals in the past 10 years, Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen, are nowhere. This was something like Newcastle, Tottenham and Aston Villa battling it out for the championship and Schalke, the German Newcastle, were favourites. Until yesterday. Now, even if they win their last game, they are unlikely to overtake new leaders Stuttgart, who were twice behind, but won at Bochum. Bremen, beaten by Frankfurt, are out of it. What made it worse to bear was that, at one time, both Stuttgart and Bremen were losing, while Schalke were having the better of it against the local rivals they refuse to call by their real name, referring to them derogatively as Zecke (mosquito). They finished 2-0 losers and what might have been the biggest party in world football this season is on hold. While there is still a chance, Schalke fans will travel from all over Germany to watch the last game at home to Bielefeld. Gelsenkirchen is bracing itself for the invasion - all hotel rooms are booked and the fire brigade have been refused leave. If Schalke do win the championship - they must win handsomely and hope Stuttgart drop points - it will be the biggest celebration in the town since 1958, the last time they won the title. Forty-nine years and three stadiums later, they are still waiting. Two months ago, it had all looked so certain when Schalke were seven points clear. Then fans had brought the replica trophy plates to the training ground for autographs. But three defeats on the trot slashed their lead and now it is out of their hands. Schalke have been here before. In 2001, it took a goal in the fourth minute of injury time by Bayern Munich away to Hamburg to snatch the title from their grasp. The memory still hurts. That day, a TV interviewer informed them they had won and ecstatic players began to celebrate. The images were beamed across Germany. Seconds later, they learned of the Bayern goal. To this day, Schalke are mocked for those celebrations, the video loop repeated on the sports channels. Schalke, named after a district of Gelsenkirchen, a former coal-mining town, are often compared to Newcastle United. Twinned towns, they share an industrial history, a huge fanbase and are perennial underachievers. They also share a friendship of sorts. Back in 1999, a fan exchange took place. Schalke's representative, Dirk Martensen, set off for the Toon - knitted beer can holder around his neck, wrists decked in blue-and-white scarves - to meet Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd. The two discussed ticket prices: at that time Schalke charged about £3 for the cheapest ticket. 'Oh you won't win anything charging that,' said Shepherd. 'Our fans expect the best players.' Martensen smiled sagely and said, 'We won the Uefa Cup two years ago, what have you won?' Schalke are built on fan power, a working-class identity that dictates the ethos of the club - hard graft and low wages. Former manager Rudi Assauer used to say: 'How can we expect unemployed fans to pay high ticket prices to subsidise high-earning players?' With unemployment at 20 per cent locally, the club are the backbone of the community. Schalke membership gets every fan discounts in local supermarkets. The Dachverband (national supporters club) in the centre of town employs 25 staff to sell everything from bomber jackets to fair-trade coffee and concert tickets. Until last year's World Cup, they even ran the tourist office. Club secretary Peter Peters is hands-on with the fans. An earnest and passionate man, he spent more than 50 hours negotiating a rise in ticket prices for this season. Eventually €4 (£2.70) was agreed, but to be split over two seasons. Peters is philosophical when it comes to quibbling over euros. 'The fans say we only have success because they are here and they create this fantastic atmosphere. It's important. It's not like a jeans shop where people can just go somewhere else. Schalke is their life.' Some years ago, Peters tried raising prices in a small part of the stadium without consultation. 'It was only 700 seats, but we did not discuss it with the supporters and they boycotted the match. For them it wasn't the price, they just wanted to feel they can decide.' Schalke fan Stuart Dykes, originally from Mansfield, says he feels more at home in football here than he can in England. Dykes swapped the red of Manchester United for Royal Blue and has spent the past 20 years living in Germany and supporting Schalke. 'Here with Schalke, I feel I have a voice,' he says. Such is the power of the supporters they even make it into the dressing room. Last November, fans penned an open letter to the team calling for more passion on the pitch. With Schalke, it does not matter if you win or lose, you just have to try. Coach Mirko Slomka read the letter to his players. At the next home game, against Bayern Munich, as if to underline their point, the fans refused to cheer for the first 19 minutes and four seconds of the game (1904, the year Schalke started). Peter Lovenkrands put Schalke ahead and was met by silence. As the clock crept towards 19 minutes a slow clap began. Around the stadium it grew in volume. Just as the protest neared its end a roar began and Leban Kobiashvili took possession of the ball and lashed it into the top corner for a second goal. The stadium erupted. Schalke fans say they still get goosebumps thinking about it. At the players' request, the team appeared on the pitch holding a message for the fans. It read: 'We are Schalke, we are passion.' But there is fan culture and then there is cold hard cash. And this year Schalke came into an unprecedented amount of money. An estimated €125m, five-year sponsorship deal with Russian energy company Gazprom gave the club the biggest sponsorship deal in German football history. Auditing firm Deloitte lists Schalke fourteenth in the list of biggest football revenues in the world. Josef Schusenberg, who next month takes over as chairman and who masterminded the deal, says the cash will help Schalke extend internationally. 'It's very important for us. In Germany we cannot do like in England. Chelsea with Abramovich, Liverpool and the Americans, our club belongs to no one. We are like David and Goliath against them. First we go to Russia to install fan shops, then in 2008 we begin expanding to the Far East.' With a background in finance, Schnusenberg will be different to the outgoing chairman Gerhard Rehberg, who was a coalminer and former mayor of Gelsenkirchen. Schnusenberg says the fans love him - 'Sport is first, money is second' - but many supporters are worried about where Gazprom's influence might take the club. Gazprom attempted to smooth relations by distributing 10,000 free Schalke flags to fans, but at the next game the ultras unveiled a message for the company: 'Tradition cannot be bought'. Among the left-wing group that produces the official Schalke fanzine, Unser Vater, there is concern about the deal. 'Show me a large company that doesn't have dirty money,' says Dr Susanne Franke, chair of the Schalke Fan Initiative. 'We were more comfortable with brewery sponsors. Schalke is our religion, beer is our holy water.' Happy hour on match day begins at 10am. Plenty of fans agree. Markko, a taxi driver who is originally from Finland, has supported Schalke home and away for 35 years and wears his own T-shirts: 'Not all Schalke fans are psychopaths, but I am,' is a particular favourite. 'We don't know where this deal will take us,' says Markko. 'What will Gazprom expect from us? What happens when they leave? My great-grandmother used to say, "A Russian is a Russian even when you boil him in butter." She meant those in power, of course, not the man in the street.' For new players, all this fan culture is disorientating. Peter Lovenkrands signed from Rangers last summer and it has taken him time to settle in to the Schalke way of life. 'Here, everybody every day is Schalke. It's crazy,' he says. 'If we win the league they are estimating one million fans will come to Gelsenkirchen to celebrate.' The club have always been popular and film fans may recall that the crew in Das Boot, the classic film about a U-boat, were all Schalke fans. So was the previous Pope, John Paul II. Lovenkrands has had to get used to putting the fans first. Supporters attend training here and sit alongside players in their club restaurant. Every year, the players are sent out to visit fan groups across the country - there are 850 in total - and Lovenkrands was sent to Leipzig, four hours' drive away. 'I couldn't believe it, every player had to go somewhere, some went as far as Munich. We drove to Leipzig and met 100 fans who gave me the key to their town.' At the AGM, held in the stadium at the beginning of the season, Lovenkrands had another surprise. 'I thought they were having a wee party. But there was the board debating with the fans about the finances of the club. Then they gave out medals to long-standing supporters of 50 and 60 years, and had a minute's silence for the fans who had died that year. It's a very special club here.' Lovenkrands has been injured for the past eight weeks, forced to watch from the sidelines as his team let their lead slip. Even as a newcomer, he has a sense of how important this title challenge has been for Schalke. 'The kitmen and everyone here talk about how long it's been. The backroom staff and Gerald Asamoah, the only player remaining from that 2001 team, remember that game when they lost in the last minute. It haunts them still.' In truth, they never looked like champions yesterday. Now they look sure to have another late-season failure to haunt them.

Who is that then? Viduka's getting on now aint he? plus he's fat,although that seems to be the trend at SJP these days. If your fat your in! 28 starts, 17 goals and 5+ assists this season. Yep we are too good for that shite! All that while agitating for a move. Top player.

If you think it's shit, how about you point out which bits I made up? I'll gladly delete the post if you can tell me that Sam and Fred are never going to have a disagreement, and that standing up to Fred has not been used as an excuse for appointing Sam. Also if you can tell me what Sam will do if he doesn't get his way, other than go to the likes of Blackburn. You could also tell me if he's likely to walk out on a £12m 5 year contract, or is he better off by getting the sack?

Vista Safe Mode = XP

He's a shoe in for the Carling Cup

Fred didn't look at anyone else now or back then Speculation. Don't see what the problem is either, Freddy identified someone he thought was good enough when he sacked SBR, we havent been able to get him, he has got better during that time and has become available. That's the point. You honeslty think Fat Sam is the one to improve on 3rd?

Well that's a given.

This isn't about Houlier, this is about the difference between Fred's reasons for wanting Sam and the fans. Fred honestly thinks Sam can win the Premiership, do you? Excusing Sam's appointment because of the clubs current position is an irrelevance, it would have been Sam whenever. We were never going to get a top flight manager. That is the point.

Fred wanted Sam after Robson Robson was fired for not improving on 3rd Fred didn't look at anyone else now or back then

Ginger twat obviously dreams about benches a lot

Aye but stop replying to him. The guy is an obvious piss-taker, just trying to rile us up with mindless shite, and answering what passes for his arguments only fuels the fire. Alternatively you could tell me what exactly is the pisstake here? What have I gotten wrong in the post? Usually a pisstake involves some sort of joke or lie, perhaps it means something different to you.