Matt

Aye always digging into his own pockets Fat Fred. It's just bad journalism. Most businesses need debt to expand- just as we did for the ground. They always make it sound like and angry man in a bowler hat is banging on our door asking where the hell his £87m is.

What service line you going for?

Watched the semis of the Poker Million. Now trying the Sklansky book and will try some free games as I go along.

I don't think many people would say a plan is 'perfect'. We had such a setup under Robson with all the promising young players and the wheels fell off very quickly. Spurs have planned to the extent they have more under 18s on their books than Kenton Comp but they too are finding it very hard to make that jump into the big hitters. But we are going nowhere if we stay on the path we're on. The beauty of a great 'plan' (perhaps strategy is a better word) is that it is more than just a piece of paper or boardroom diktat. It instills a mentality across all club employees about what the clubs goals are and how it wants to acheive them. Within that fundamental framework, you can build training policies, transfers, ticket prices, pretty much any function the club carries out. Within those sub-levels there are plans in place but prepared in a way that anticipates that in football your best player can be crocked in a second, managers can walk out, freak own goals can plunge a side towards the drop. This isn't about a step-by-step guide to success, no such thing exists. Rather it is an understanding and shared principles that can be applied to every action the club can take. Souness was rightly sacked and his squandering of cash on shit like Faye and Boumsong was a big part in that decision. To be honest, I see that as the least important part of the bid. As we all know, £20m can be spent on very little (Luque+Boumsong+Faye). It could save our season, it could just as well add to our wage bill with nothing to show on the field for it. More important than that is that the current regime looks to have run its course. A good job may well have been done then but this is a vastly different game to the fledgling Premier League. The Shepherds are reasonably successful local businessmen, the Halls to a greater extent becoming known nationally via the MetroCentre development. But this is now a global game, with big hitters than add a couple of zeros to the sort of figures talked about 10-15 years ago. Can we really compete and continue to grow with a board which is virtually down to family members and Russell Cushing? Where are the non-execs? Where are the specialists? I have grave concerns about the intentions of Polygon, Gillette Mach 3 and Belgravia but one thing's for certain they'd make sure that the people in positions of responsibility are the best they can get. Not someone with the right surname. Yes the club is in a (far) better state than the club was in 'pre-92' but we're not going any further than being mid-table floaters for the foreseeable future.

Christ I'm dangerously out of touch. I always seem to get albums waaay after they've been released to the extent that half of my albums I bought this year came out in 2005. I'll be immensely unoriginal and say Muse, although Kasabian, Liam Frost and The Sleepy Jackson have all had a fair bit of a play. Disappointed by The Long Blondes, while quirky fun awards to Squarepusher and CSS. That article on 'unintentionally funny' albums is unintentionally wrong. Do they really think Dragonforce take themselves seriously? Dear Lord. They're just having fun and putting together some of the fastest solos in the Wild West.

OK, this is purely on a business/footall level- No plan will guarantee success, but structure and forethought will increase the probability of it occuring. If a businessman went to a bank looking for a loan and had no plans in place, he'd be in the branch for little over a minute before being ushered out. Why would a bank do that? Simply because planning helps businesses either avoid problems or minimise the effects when they occur. Some teams can think that if they have a plan it will happen, history tells us this is not the case, but something we have fallen down on is a 'take each day as it comes' policy on transfers. The financial trends pointed out are facts, and there is a reasonable possibility that they are worse now than they were at the end of the last published accounting period. NUFC is not currently capable of providi ng the funds required to improve the squad into a regular UEFA/CL place without using debt to generate the cash. Equally, we don't generate enough revenue to to cover all expenses unless we're competing in Europe. Because transfer funds have been poorly managed, we do not have a great deal to show for the investments over the years. We still retain a number of highly-paid individuals who represent poor value for money, making our squad both inadequate and high-cost. It's not a great situation. We have a threadbare coaching set-up. Considering the millions poured into playing staff, this can only indicate that the coaching element is not seen as being particularly important and that top players will look after themselves. That attitude has got to change otherwise we're in danger of falling behind clubs who maybe don't have the gates or recent relative success we've had but still come out ahead of us on the field. We may well have finished 2nd in the mid and late 90s but it won't be happening under the current regime simply due to the financial numbers involved at the top end of the league. Fred's only hope would be unearthing a managerial gem like Wenger.

Casino? Season Ticket price-Hikes? I don't know how much the proposed casino would make, but it surely wouldn't justify the outlay for the club. They could probably buy 10 times the land and build a casino the size of Killingworth for that. As for ST prices, they'll know that supply is currently greater than demand, it will take something special on the pitch to fill the house at higher prices. Either that or they're going to be greeted by a lot of empty seats. There must be something that makes us worth all the effort. The big concern is that they can do a Glazer, and put the purchase vehicle's debt onto the acquired company, saddling us best part of a quarter of a billion of debt.

One for the board's financial experts- what are Polygon going to be looking for as a return- surely around 8-10%? On £200m+ that's going to take a lot of work. The numbers just don't add up for me. Hedge funds don't make many bad decisions so I wonder what it is they know that we don't.

Have a good remainder of birthday. I am sure you celebrated by not doing any work and spending all day on the net. Special occasion an' all.

I assume you can just buy the box but not the subscription as the HD box has full Sky+ capability. Having seen some screens in Currys it's looking like something 40-42" screen size, replacing the miniscule mono-speakered thing currently in use. I am pleading with the family to wait till January and get Godknowshowmuch more for the £££ than in the Christmas buildup.

I think this is one to be treated with caution. Belgravia have approached the deal having identified specific oppportunities related to Newcastle which they can harness to generate a return. Gillett seems to see us as an alternative to Liverpool. No ideas about how he financed the deal but any Glazer-esque debt loading should prompt us to run for the hills. It won't work.

Who's got Sky HD? We're getting a new HD TV and seeing as the video is also knackered, it seems the obvious choice to upgrade to the Sky HD box with the inbuilt HDD. My question is how much have people been able to negotiate Sky down on the install and box charges? I know they give a little over the phone, but it would be handy to know how far they'll go. We've got an existing subscription for normal Sky Digital and have done for years.

I'm quite liking Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family.

Legend. Just the fact he was called haddaway was enough (though I doubt the rest of the country got the joke). Became something of a reality TV star over in Germany.

Done!

My Mam had her mobile stolen while she was helping out at the kids' Christmas Disco at her school. What's worse is that it's actually my T610. It would be nice to think the twat responsible is now dead, but it's highly unlikely.

On the plus side, you don't have to worry so much about what to ask for this year.

Cheap alcopops give the worst hangover ever. Used to be the scourge of my tuesday mornings. Feels like your stomach will implode and fling you into an acidic pit of doom. It's not a great deal of use in this case, but I used to always try to stay up for a couple of hours once I was back home and sober up a bit. Bit of pricedrop.tv, cup of tea and some toast. Avoid posting on forums. Unless you're Toplass or Radgina.

We're badly lacking a flag for Trans-Dneister.

Next time you go in, look for the little push-counter they've got.

I've just re-done my BMI, an I'm back in the obese club by 0.02. Class. Appropriately calculated halfway between eating some tea and going to the gym.

Should get something, no idea what mind.

I think i'm still not technically obese, so may have a Chinese tonight to tip the scales, so to speak.

Isn't it STILL Fosters? Na, it's fizzy as owt.

I think he's a reasonable player but nothing amazing. Crucially I think he's held in a higher regard than his ability would suggest- making him a possible source of transfer funds.