David Kelly

Well speaking only for myself I am a season ticket holder and i voted for Nolan. Goals have been crucial and he has been a proper leader and as the squad stands should be made captain in my opinion. Its part sad / part amusing that a few people on this thread just can't handle a contrary opinion! Sure Nolan's form dipped at various points but somewhere on this thread someone says (can't be bothered to track back) that he turned in the most inept performance he 'd ever seen. Now I suppose it depends how far you go back (early 70's for me) but we have had any number of poorer players / performances than Kevin Nolan at his worst!Actually as exhibit "A" I'd go back no further than post Christmas Micky Owen on that one! There is of course a case for Collo, Jose, Jonas to be player of the season (for as much as it actually matters like!) but certainly for his goals Nolan has to be a contender and on that basis so has Andy Carroll. And had his contribution (obviously due to terrible personal circumstances) not been so "half a season" then Lovenkrands would have been a contender also. To repeat from my first post Champions have lots of contenders and therefore opinions will vary! Just relax everyone! Fair point I wouldn't argue with any of this.

Well Percy goes to all the home games, I do as well, don't know about anyone else? Does all of the people who put Jose top of the pops go to the matches? Who knows? Am I right in thinking that as someone doesn't agree with your opinion then in your mind they mustn't go to the games? Because thats how your post looks to me. For me Jose's looked our best player but Nolan's been the most important, the goals which have turned one point into three like Preston away, the goals which have turned games like Sheff Wed or getting last minute winners against Doncaster, they are the games that get points on the board and points make prizes! Would Smithy have scored any of those chances? Would any of our midfielders? Nolan did. Yes he struggled at times, yes he might get the runaround next year, but for all the reasons explained he gets my vote. And thats no slight on Jose either, he's been top notch and his goal will probably be most peoples favourite goal this season. Put me in the ST camp who voted for Nolan. I agree entirely with this post, it comes across as a pretty patronising argument to suggest that people who value Nolan's contribution most either don't go to matches, don't appreciate a good defence, only rememeber the last two months, and/or only remember goals. Enrique's won the poll anyway ffs and there are still accusations people are 'following the masses' by selecting Nolan. I wasn't being patronising I was asking a serious question because as I said I hadn't come across a single person at the match who would have said Nolan. I don't think it's an unreasonable point to make that people who had only seen highlights or read match reports would more likey pick Nolan because they would have seen and heard much more of him than Jose. It would be perfectly understandable to me. And I do appreciate the point about the importance of Nolans goals, personally I don't agree that it's been a more important contribution than Ricky's but it's certainly right up there. More than anything else I am just surprised by the level of support Nolan has had because I can't remember seeing a great deal of praise for him on here all season. If anything it's seemed the opposite to me.

So does Shola but that means nowt. Aye fair point

Good luck to Preston. He's fucking horrendous now.

Am I right in thinking that quite a large number of the people voting for Nolan aren't season ticket holders? Which would make sense since his goals would stand out to them more than Ricky's more quietly excellent performances all season. I can honestly say that i've never spoken to anyone who regularly goes to the match who would pick anyone but Ricky and in fact most of them are quite scathing about Nolan. I think if this poll had been run two months ago Nolan wouldn't even be in the running. It's also interesting to note that Ricky, Colo, Jonas and Lovenkrands all have songs sung about them but I've never heard anyone sing for Nolan.

This is definitely a decent point and may well be true. But I'm sure the same thing could be said about any fullback in any team in the world. Their contribution is a lot less easily quantifyable than an attacker or a keeper but that doesn't make it any less valid. Like I said earlier I wouldn't argue about the inportance of Nolan's contribution (that goes for off the field as well where he seems to be a very important member of the team) but I think his strong finish has clouded people's memory of some absolutely gash performances earlier this year. And to me Enrique's stood out head and shoulders above every other player in the league in terms of performances.

Nolan also had a spell when he was fucking horrendous and did nowt for five or six games and even lost his place. Ricky's barely put a foot wrong all season let alone had a run of bad games.

And they need to be fast and able to pick out a pass.

The bit in bold is bollocks like. I wouldn't possibly try and argue about the importance of Nolans goals but his general plodding doesn't even come close to the performances that Ricky has put in every game. Jose is comfortably the best player in this league from what I've seen.

Whilst I agree he has some attributes that could have made him a good centre half I think the negatives that Alex mentions far outweigh them. Personally I would rate both Coloccini and Taylor higher than him and Williamson whilst not looking anywhere near as talented, seems to be a much more consistant player (yes I realise this is a different league and he's only been here for a short time). I don't think his form has been anywhere near as good this season as it was under Bruce btw. Either way he's certainly no loss to the club.

Tremendous scences but, and maybe it's just me, I can't compare them to what we saw at Blundell Park, Grimsby back in 1993. That was something oh so different.... I felt the same. Great appreciation for what they've achieved and very happy, but the night at Grimbsy and that season was in a different league to this. Where we'd been for years, Keegan, the football we played, the genuine optimism at where we were going etc. will never be repeated, but as i say the players and staff have put the effort in for us this year and it was well deserved. Likewise. Respect to the players and manager for what they've achieved, but it doesn't get the blood pumping like '93 did. Can only echo this. Maybe it's because I was only a kid but I think it's more likely the fact that we had been going absolutely no where after years of missmanagement under investment. This time it just feels like we have put right some of the cock ups from last year. But fair play to players and coaching staff who have made an excellent start of trying to come back from Ashley's fuck ups.

True. With some players (Ginola springs to mind) you can get away with a ropey attitude but Zog's not one of those like. I would honestly rather have Jonas as overall I think he provides us with more.

Dear John. I was surprised that it wasn't as completely awful as I expected but it was still the usual chick flick shite.

Never liked Zog's attitude and Bramble is shite like, Wigan have an awful defensive record this season.

quite refreshing to see people starting to agree with what I have been saying for years. Nowt personal DK I'm talking about the general opposition I used to get when I used to say this all the time. I'm actually a bit concerned at how much I agree with you on this now LM The lack of ambition of some and the way the press seems to be ramming it down our throats that we've made mistakes in the past and should apparently be over the moon just to be back in the top flight is really starting to piss me off. I remember back in 80's when this seemed to be general attitude of the fans and board. That lead to us signing players like George Rilley, Pat Heard and Billy Whitehurst and ultimately almost led to us in the third league of English football for the first time in our history. Personally I don't want to see those days ever again but Ashley seems to think he can run the club like he runs his shops. If that's what he wants then he should have bought a smaller club that could deliver on the fans expectations under those constraints. We should never accept him dragging us down to that level! We should be aiming to compete for a European spot (the financial muscle of the top four might make the champions league impossible without one of them suffering serious financial meltdown or us getting some rich arab) but a wafa cup spot cannot be dismissed. We won't get there next season but have to aim for it! Is exactly what virtually everyone has said Wrong. People like your good self have been suggesting that we should be looking to stay up this season and be happy if we finish 17. I am saying we should be aiming for the top seven and I would be happy finishing mid table. It's the ambition I'm talking about. You seem to be happy with the way Ashley is wanting to play it! But its not a case of not having ambition, its just simply not realistic to aim to finish 7th next year. I will remind you that the current top 7 looks like this.... Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Man City Tottenham Liverpool Aston Villa How on earth you think its realistic to aim for seventh spot and dislodge Villa or Liverpool in our first season back with a limited talent pool of players and a probable limited budget. This is a weaker team than the one that got relegated. Most of those teams that were better than us then have strengthened while we've been away so simply surviving our first year back will be a great achievement, regardless of our name, reputation or past efforts. I don't expect to finish in the top seven at all with Ashley in charge. I expect that we will go along with your plan and aim to just survive. I beleive a club of our size should however be able to compete with all but the top four (who because of finances are currently out of our reach) and I beleive we should be aiming to do so. I still wouldn't expect that we would be able to achieve a European spot next season though without a massive spend on players. But by aiming that bit higher I think we would push ourselves more and be able to attract better players. This would allow us compete around the top ten places and give us a much better platform for attacking Europe the next season (which I admit would still be a very difficult ask given the start the teams above us have. See if you read what I have said you should be able to understand that I don't expect to finish in Europe next year or even the top ten. I only expect us to make that our goal. I don't personally see why out performing Stoke, Fulham, Birmingham or the makems should be that difficult a prospect.

quite refreshing to see people starting to agree with what I have been saying for years. Nowt personal DK I'm talking about the general opposition I used to get when I used to say this all the time. I'm actually a bit concerned at how much I agree with you on this now LM The lack of ambition of some and the way the press seems to be ramming it down our throats that we've made mistakes in the past and should apparently be over the moon just to be back in the top flight is really starting to piss me off. I remember back in 80's when this seemed to be general attitude of the fans and board. That lead to us signing players like George Rilley, Pat Heard and Billy Whitehurst and ultimately almost led to us in the third league of English football for the first time in our history. Personally I don't want to see those days ever again but Ashley seems to think he can run the club like he runs his shops. If that's what he wants then he should have bought a smaller club that could deliver on the fans expectations under those constraints. We should never accept him dragging us down to that level! We should be aiming to compete for a European spot (the financial muscle of the top four might make the champions league impossible without one of them suffering serious financial meltdown or us getting some rich arab) but a wafa cup spot cannot be dismissed. We won't get there next season but have to aim for it! Is exactly what virtually everyone has said Wrong. People like your good self have been suggesting that we should be looking to stay up this season and be happy if we finish 17. I am saying we should be aiming for the top seven and I would be happy finishing mid table. It's the ambition I'm talking about. You seem to be happy with the way Ashley is wanting to play it!

quite refreshing to see people starting to agree with what I have been saying for years. Nowt personal DK I'm talking about the general opposition I used to get when I used to say this all the time. I'm actually a bit concerned at how much I agree with you on this now LM The lack of ambition of some and the way the press seems to be ramming it down our throats that we've made mistakes in the past and should apparently be over the moon just to be back in the top flight is really starting to piss me off. I remember back in 80's when this seemed to be general attitude of the fans and board. That lead to us signing players like George Rilley, Pat Heard and Billy Whitehurst and ultimately almost led to us in the third league of English football for the first time in our history. Personally I don't want to see those days ever again but Ashley seems to think he can run the club like he runs his shops. If that's what he wants then he should have bought a smaller club that could deliver on the fans expectations under those constraints. We should never accept him dragging us down to that level! We should be aiming to compete for a European spot (the financial muscle of the top four might make the champions league impossible without one of them suffering serious financial meltdown or us getting some rich arab) but a wafa cup spot cannot be dismissed. We won't get there next season but have to aim for it!

God man, how often does that cliche get trotted out? It's the other fucking way round. The managers who do well get to perform over a longer period of time. It's not rocket science. If Ossie Ardilles was still here presumably we'd have won about 10 trophies then? What a crock of shit. That comment and the one about thanking Ashley for keeping us going this season (erm is that the same Ashely who cost us our premiership status in the first place Brian?) shows exactly what this fuckwit knows about football. Wanker!

I would say making a decent amount of money available for transfers and wages to sign some quality players, and the club making the right noises about the direction we are heading. And just as importantly holding on to our better players rather than selling them for decent money and replacing them with inferior cheaper options. I realise that nothing has happened to the opposite of this yet but I for one feel it's just a matter of time.

People need to understand the difference between what we expect of Ashley and what we believe Newcastle United should be going for. I expect that that Ashley will make an arse of things again and show no ambition. I believe though that this is not acceptable for a club of our size. We should be looking to get back into the top ten and beyond. If we don't manage it and we finish fourteenth or whatever fine then fine but it should not be because of a belief that we can't be better than the likes of Stoke or Birmingham (two much smaller clubs who have managed to be mid to top half of the premier league in their first season in the top flight). Finishing just above the bottom three should be the ambitions of clubs the size of Burnley, Hull, Watford, Barnsley etc who don't have our stature or revenue streams and only make it into the top division once every god knows how many years. There can be no guarantees of success and there is no expectation that we will be able to acheive a European finish (or even a top ten) but a lack of ambition to even try for that is a crime just as bad as forcing Keegan to sign players he didn't want to appease some foreign agent or appointing Joe Kinnear as his replacement. We should expect more and with the money we put into the club we deserve more. If you don't believe that, there are plenty of other clubs you could go and support who have no other ambition than to just survive in whatever division they are in!

I expect a club of our size to beleive it can do better than clubs like Stoke, Birmingham, Fulham, Blackburn etc. I don't think it will all come straight away and I don't think we can expect a top half finish next season. But I don't expect us to aim for mediocraty! With regards to your earlier point about lower expectations getting the fans behind the team, I think it will do the exact opposite. For my money there was a hell of a lot of apathy at the begining of this season which only lifted because we won games straight away and went straight up to the top of the league. That happened because this league is so poor and we had superior players. We won't get those sort of results against premiership teams (especially if we have based our recruitment on trying to finish just above the relegation places). Our fans don't think of us the same way as Burnley fans think of their club so a relegation battle won't get anyone behind the team!

He's looked shakey a few times recently

Was wondering who Goodison was

Goodison

We may not be the most succesfull of clubs in England but we are one of the biggest (fans make clubs and we are and have always been,behind very few clubs on that score). As such we shouldn't be looking to compete with Wolves, West Brom, Blackburn et al, we should be looking to get into Europe. I realise that due to the fuck ups towards the end of the previous regime and during the whole tenure so far of the current mob we have a lot of ground to make up but that is certainly what we should be aiming for. Staying in the top division was our aim before Hall bought the club and look where that got us. Personally I'm not expecting much from Ashley and as such, much more than staying up will be unlikely but personally finishing 17th will be a disapointment.