David Kelly

I can't understand the fascination with Souness's hypocrisy in this thread. I don't think there is a single member of this forum who actually wants Souness here (no not even Gemmil) so to argue his weaknesses here is totally irrelevant. What is, is our need for a striker (and leftback, centreback, and god knows what else) and despite Anelka probably being no ones first choice he does seem like the most realistic decent option. Better than signing some Egyptian certainly!

Has anyone considered the unthinkable? What if FS thought people like Bellamy and Robert to be cancers? What if Fred agreed with the decisions of Souness in his shite treatment of these players? What if Fred brought Souness here specifically to do what he's been doing in terms of getting more time from Shearer? If this is what Fred believes, then the only other thing Fred has to beleve in order to NOT sack the wanker at all, is that injuries are causing the problem. I'm off for a glass of brandy while I ponder these horrendous thoughts. 80075[/snapback] TBH I've thought for quite some time that Fatty brought Souness here knowing he was never going to be a success and with the only notion of getting rid of the likes of Bellamy and Robert.

I'm not sure exactly how good O'Neil is but what I do know is that he's been successfull in all of his jobs. He got promotion with Wycombe, won a trophy with Leicester (as well as making them a reasonably secure Premiership side) and he pretty much dominated Scotland with Celtic and got them to the final of a European competition. Basically he's got a much better pedigree than any other manager I can ever remember us having barring Sir Bobby and he doesn't have his age against him.

Sums him up though, doesn't it? 80029[/snapback] I think it's a typical Souness reaction, yes. Bullys can't stand criticism, in the same way that cowards can't face the music when they've ballsed up. Again. 80032[/snapback] I seriously am at the point of believing FS has lost his marbles given his failure so far to sack this joker. I can accept a mistake in making the initial appointment, as bad as it was. However, the evidence of incompetence has been so strong for so long, I can only conclude ( and hope ) that FS really must have someone lined up who is not available until summer. The problem with waiting that long is that we might be relegated by keeping Souness. I'd like to see a caretaker manager installed at this point, the entire Souness crew booted out immediately. 80036[/snapback] I agree; the risk of relegation is too great to ignore under Souness. I don't know what Shepherd is thinking about right now; surely he doesn't need more time to appreciate what a mistake he has committed? Also, there's the fact that each league position is worth £500,000 to us, so sacking him now could pay for itself. Even a caretaker manager could give us the boost we need. 80044[/snapback] I have said for ages that due to the lack of an imminent replacement we should at least look at a caretaker. And I don't think it is the question of money. If Fat Fred doesn't want to pay the compensation at once, he should at least relieve Souness from his duties and hand the management of the first team over to Roeder who already is at Newcastle's payroll anyway. That would could nothing and only can improve Newcastle's position. I can't see how results and performances can get any worse. 80048[/snapback] I couldn't agree more. Roder might not be the top class manager we're after but I am seriously struggling to think of anyone worse than Souness at the moment. I'm wondering/hoping if we are looking to get O'Neil in once he's sorted out his personaly problems. To be honest he's the only bloke out there that I think might fit the bill in terms of having the ability to do the job and not being foreign so fat fred might actually go for him.

The whole game was played in something close to silence (from us at least). I know we don't consider it the derby that they do but we usually manage a bit more than we do than against the general bottom half of the table sides. The sad fact is that everyone went to the game expecting to see pretty much exactly what we did see and everyone is just plain bored of it!

This is the reason why there has been so little Souness out chanting or any form of real protest. He has destroyed the team so much that so many of us just feel so apathetic about the situation that we just sit there in near silence which you could see at the Smoggies game.

Cascarino is spot on bad buys and inadequate coaching is what has left us where we are (and considering the Smoggies are now only one place above the relegation spots we could end up falling further yet). I watched some of goals on Sunday yesterday and was yet again subject to the same excuse of the players we have missing. It made me think about who we did have playing in the midfield in particular (which is where we are struggling the most to provide any sort of entertainment). We had Solano who above all else is a ball player, Clarkie who is the same, Bowyer who was once considered good enough to play for England, and Nzogbia who always looks good when he has the ball. How come these players can't manage to string two passes together when yesterday I saw a West Brom midfield that consisted of Greeening, Wallwork, Inamoto and Darren Carter knocking the ball about very nicely. These are hardly world class players and taking their league position into account you would expect that they aren't exactly full of confidence yet the way they played made us look like a Sunday pub team (and a poor on at that). What Souness is doing to the team is nothing short of criminal and surely even putting Glenn Roder in charge until we can find the right replacement must be an improvement on where we are now. The financial issue doesn't really matter as Souness has made it clear he won't quit so we will have to pay him one way or the other (either wages or by paying off the rest of his contract) and at least by paying off now we might manage to get some more money in terms of league position and possible ticket sales for future cup games (because I certainly won't pay to see another game as long as he is in charge and I'm sure there are more than a few others who feel the same). The time has come I feel to make our feeling felt at the games but unfortunately there is such a sense of apathy around the place at the moment it seems most fans can't even be bothered to do that!

If your losing shearer wont you want luque as well as anelka 77323[/snapback] Fair point but then we would have to find a way to keep the three of them happy, something we have failed to do properly in the past. Although if you take Shearer's guaranteed starting position out of the mix then we might have a chance.

Aye, good point.

His bad temprament from his early years doesn't seem to have surfaced for quite a while now (although I'm sure Souness could remedy that) and if I remember correctly Keegan said he had no bother with him at all at Citeh. He is a quality player who knows where the net is and I think he could play with any of our other strikers. He could also bring the added bonus of being a bit of a target up top without being the physical presence of Al. This would surely force us to actually playing some football instead of useless long balls. If we did go for him it would raise some serious doubts about Luque's future. While he hasn't been fantastic anywhere he's certainly looked much more effective up top than on the wing. So what would we do with him if we signed Anelka?

Anyone is tricky for us while that clown is still in charge!

What we don't need is to see Shearer become a pathetic shadow of what he was. Before Owen came back into the team that was what he was looking like becoming. He has vastly improved the last couple of games but he's not capable of playing like that over a full season anymore. Aside from that I do think that the club may benefit now from Shearer stepping away for a while.

Yeah I think he came from PSV or someone like that.

Rob McDonald was awfull but it has to be Fumaca. If he's footballer I'm a brain surgeon. He has no business on the pitch of any team let alone one in the premier league. Pat Herd was possibly the worst to ever play in more than just a couple of games!

Regardless of the truth or otherwise of this 'story', what the hell is going on with him. The last two games he's never even got off the bench, and Shola seemed shite on Saturday. How's he ever going to get match fit if he's getting no time on the pitch?

From what I saw on TV. Owen (obviously) Shearer Parker

Parker Parker Parker He was absoutely awsome and if he doesn't make the England squad Sven wants a turnip inserted up his arse. Shearer Rammage

You're wrong but your prose makes up for it. 66114[/snapback] Silent Alarm is better than both FF albums but The Futureheads isn't. Decent Days and Nights is a hell of a song and Hounds Of Love isn't a terrible song (certainly not the song of the year as NME would have you believe) but it's not a great album and I found some of it rather embarassing. Haven't got round to listening to A Certain Trigger yet but it's on my to listen to list for this year along wilth Kate Bush and Kanye West.

Has anyone read the article in this mornings journal suggesting that we would be better off keeping Souness in order to allow him to finish what he has started (a one way ticket to the fizzy pop league as far as I can see) and have some stability. It suggests that we did better when Keegan and Robson were here because we allowed them time in the job. Perhaps if Souness had succeeded in any way shape or form then that might be the case but we have been awfull since he has been here so I can't see how that sort of continuity can help!

That's no loss, have you seen madrids defence this season when Woody's not playing. Nearly as bad as us tbh.

Parker Shola Shearer/Bramble No one played well but I think they were the nearest to it.

I can't think of too many managers who would be a step down from the tosser we have in charge. Especially as he thought we played well yesterday (mind you given how we've performed since he's been here I suppose that was playing well!).

Faye was really the only player who didn't play beneath the level I would expect from them. As the level I expect from his incredibly low he surpassed it. With regards to Chopra, I don't ever expect him to make it but it's a little bit unfair expecting him to perform when he comes in for an odd game here and there always at a time when the team have no confidence and are performing shite. No one else is looking good (and we're talking about proven internationals here) so how can he.

Aye, knowing how easily I can get over a shit match and focus on the fact that we've picked up the 3 points, I reckon I could cope with the ugly play. I can't remember the last time I came away from a match where we played well and got beaten with a smile on my face though. It's nice to be entertaining, but winning's what counts. 63797[/snapback] I can't remember the last time I came away from a match where we had played well!

The Faint - Your Retro Career Melted