Craig

Something which is making me chuckle is that those who are having a bit of a pop are attacking from two angles. 1) Our squad is reduced 2) Not enough money is available The squad has been reduced because we've got rid of some of the dead wood (Bernard, Bramble, Srnicek, Sibierski, etc) who, if they were still here, would be ensuring that even less money was available. We have a month to bring in new faces. and that's not taking into account the speed at which things move in the window towards the end of August. If we're still in the same position in a month's time then they've got some questions to answer. There's too much panic and too much belief that we're going to do what we did under Shepherd. As has been said, we need to exercise some patience. We also need to remember that buying players isn't as simple as walking into the supermarket for your weekly shop!

Because he's a fucking businessman and despite the fact that he's got more cash than there is water at Kielder, he'll still want to make sure things are done right - it's all part and parcel of being a successful businessman. Dan, your comment about consolidating since Bobby left is right - but that's totally indicative of the shit way we were being run! Actually I'd go so far as to say we were declining, not consolidating. It's not like flicking a switch, the whole bloody mess needs sorting!!

Your first quote here contradicts what I've said and the second one supports what I've said - so which is to be? If you are conducting a strategic review, EVERY process needs to analysed otherwsie the whole process will become disjointed and be a complete waste of time and money. It's no use saying that we'll forget about looking into how the transfer process is carried out for now as we'll only end up in the same shitty mess again. Then you're probably looking at yet another year of consolidation on top! Ashley and Mort seem to be doing things methodically and carefully. I'd rather we took time and get it right than rush it and it all be fucked up again. How many of them are in the same position that we're in?? None of them! The only other club in the Premiership that is going through this at the moment is Man City and they're hardly running amok in the market. Allardyce is making noises to the press in the same way he did at Bolton - it's his way of communicating. He must wonder what the fuck he's come to as the bloke who employed him has now gone.

I thought you were off to Lourdes?

Oh fucking hell......she's gonna be more pissed than ever... Happy Birthday Simone..

I am assuming that would be me ? Nope - you need to think of the character, not the actress!

Has anyone at the club suggested that signing Smith would be at the expense of a LB?? Or are we jumping to massive conclusions again?

Fucking hell the pessimism is getting ridiculous... We need to build a squad, not justa first team. I'd rather we had the likes of Alan Smith at our disposal than someone like Amady Faye. And as for the comments about why would he rather warm our bench than Man Utd's, I don't think it's a case of that - I think he'll see he's got more of a chance to play regularly here than he would there.

Fucking hell Dan, they only took over the club less than 2 weeks ago. It's not like they just hand over a dirty great big cheque book to Allardyce and say "off you go son, spend it well". As has been suggested they're undertaking a strategic review of the way the whole club is run and given the obviously shitty mess we are in, it's going to be a little bit more involved than appointing new faces and letting them get about things their own way. Every process within the club needs analysing and streamlining from top to bottom and that is definitely NOT an overnight thing. You might argue that this was not the right time to carry this out, well when was? We've all been baying for the removal of Shepherd for some time now and we've got it. We all said that we should change personnel at the end of a season. We've done it!! Whenever this strategic review took place it was going to take time - and the sooner the better. I also think people's perceptions of the coming season are WAY too high as well. I expect us to consolidate our position, perhaps improve to just inside the top 10 and maybe have a decent run in one of the cups. Anything more than that will be a bonus IMO. This time next season I'd hope that we're in a much stronger position in the transfer market. As for this summer, well Viduka, Rozenhal, Barton & Geremi have all come in and I expect we'll see more activity before the end of the window. This time last year we'd brought in Duff and that was it. On top of that we had Martins to come and that was about it!! (Sibierski, Bernard, Srnicek and Rossi on loan, I don't count). We're taking steps forward IMO, and alright, they might not be as big as some people would hope, but it's something we haven't done for many years...

I'm with Alex, Gemmill, Wacky & Sima on this one - it's fucking bullshit of the highest order! Sure there's going to be some surprises, but you're not trying to tell me that a successful businessman is going to chuck in the towel only 2 weeks after acquiring the club?? Fuck off!!! Press are biting him because he won't talk - personally I'm fucking glad we don't have a loose-lipped chairman anymore.

The one I posted? You got problems viewing imageshack images???

Anyone wanna hazard a guess?

You work in Sheerwater?? I sometimes frequent our office just down the road from you in West Byfleet

Agreed. No quotes at all. Pretty pathetic from a supposedly 'quality' newspaper. In total agreement with you both. They've seen a 'billionaire' take over and automatically assumed that when the takeover completed, we'd start pissing out the money in the same way that Chelsea did. The fact that we haven't has led them to the conclusion that Sam's obviously been told to sell before he can buy. Pretty wild assumption IMO and not backed up by a single comment from either Ashley, Mort or Allardyce. The only thing that has been echoed is that Dyer can leave if he wants on the grounds of 'personal reasons'. Absolutely nothing to do with finance at all! Pathetic journalism IMO.

Terrible to hear HF - can only begin to imagine the hell he's going through On the flip side that's terrific news SLP - hope she continues to be on the mend

From where I was sitting, it was a bit of six and two threes. It was outside the box so Buffon naturally attacked the ball with his feet not with his hands, but while they were rather high, I thought Carroll was stooping a bit low. What I did chuckle at was I was sat just to left of the directors box and when the challenge happened, I saw Sam get up and move down to the dugout followed by some fucking huge bouncer!

I'm off out to play bingo with the people from work! I shit you not. Jesus fucking wept, didn't you get a better offer??? This is the second time I've had to go with the people from work. I even had to join the bloody bingo hall last time to get in, but I've no idea where the card is. So far from being able to sneak in relatively unnoticed, I have to stand in a queue of grannys and announce proudly "Yes, I AM a member, but I seem to have misplaced my card. Would you be so kind as to check your records and furnish me with a replacement?" Goes to Erasure gigs and loves 'grab a granny' bingo so much that he's going back for a second go.... Your rights to take the piss out of anyone else on this forum have officially been revoked!

I'm off out to play bingo with the people from work! I shit you not. Jesus fucking wept, didn't you get a better offer??? We've got some 'how to work better' workshop on tomorrow morning. Part of management's exercise is finding out what we (the minions) honestly think of the way things are and believe that if they take us for a meal and ply us with alcohol, we might not be as reserved at telling them what we really think. Having worked here for 7 years now, I thought they'd have known by now that I don't need a drink inside me to tell them how shit things are! :baby:

Not normally but is does depend the levels of alcohol we're talking about. If you're talking about a 'full session' on the lash then I generally get to the point where I fall asleep somewhere and you'll have a job making me up, never mind him down there!

Some nostalic 80s adverts but the genius of this clip is the second to last ad where a certain Robert Maxwell is selling some 'million pound giveaway' competition that the Mirror is doing and he actually uses the line: "I guarantee you will all get a fair and equal chance to play and win one of our millions" Shame about all those people's pensions though, eh Robert???

Mine starts early afternoon tomorrow. That said, I'm off out on the piss with work tonight too! Bonus

I don't know the ins and outs of a company returning from public ownership back into private hands, but doesn't the announcement last Wednesday that we were de-listing from the stock exchange and that trading in our shares had ceased effectively mean that Newcastle United PLC is no more? Or do we have to wait until Ashley officially has the last 5% of the shares? Was just surprised that the press release stated ..."Newcastle United PLC announces today that Chris Mort has replaced Freddy Shepherd as Chairman of the Company."... Should it not have been 'Newcastle United Football Club'??

Off to the pub tonight - and i've got something else to celebrate now....

Bastard!!!

Mio Modo is hardly the type of establishment to offer anything as gauche as an "All You Can Eat Buffet", this isn't Dinah's Diner now is it? :coffee: Least if it was, you'd be able to get your hands on that cup of :coffee:. He's given up asking me to add the smiley - obviously just going to keep posting :coffee: in the belief that one day I will add it....... How long do you think I should leave it before I tell him I added it ages ago as 'cuppa' with the semi-colons around it?