Isegrim

I'm not representing them cunts. I'll could bring over a set of shirts for them...

I have only seen a couple of games from them. Arveladze and Koevermans are good up front and the main thread with Arveladze coming a lot from the wings.

With Alkmaar playing a typical Dutch attacking wing play I can't see us keeping a clean sheet, especially left back will probably be the key today.

Inter broke the Serie A record for most consecutive wins this season IIRC (17) they're also unbeaten in the league so far, at this moment in time Inter are superior in nearly every position on the pitch than Milan. They are still utter twats though...

Good post, but I am not sure that you really can consider Bierhoff as a flop there. Of course he was no van Basten or Gullit, but he came there, scored 20 goals in his first season and was seen as the main factor for winning the title again after some poor seasons.

Formula 1 makes Cricket an exciting sport to watch. That's how awful it is.

I am not very optimistic. A draw at best.

Not really. I fail to see how most of it is really related to what I said. Only that my "assumption" or "rather confused wanderings" was that we had another 10m next to the 10m (10.14m if you want to be pedantic) for Martins. 10 + 10 = 20. We did sign Martins. Fact. We did sign Duff. Fact. And Roeder (as well as Huth) said himself that he made a last ditch attempt to praise Huth away from Boro. So to me this very much looks like a fact for having another 5-6m to his disposal. http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcast...-name_page.html http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0200spo...-name_page.html Considering this, I wonder what is the bigger assumption.That Roeder had a transfer kitty of 20m or that he didn't have one? My original point still stands. The money wasn't spent wisely. And by wisely I actually mean decent players for decent fees.

So what would we do with them then? Keep them? Pay off their contract? Well we'll see when they do well for 2 years on the trot and do well in Europe too, mostly those clubs have 1 good year and then 1 dire year etc. etc. and haven't done well in Europe if they've got there. That's not to say they don't have good managers, but equally I couldn't see any of those managers turning NUFC back into a genuine Champions League likelihood (we are still a possibility) without a LOT of money. Throw enough money at them, yes. But see the wages point above. Also price isn't always a gaurentee of quality (at least not when playing for NUFC), look at Luque, look at the rather huge list of players that we've paid a fair wack for and have been nothing special. 25 million to spend? Maybe but unlikely I think, and that's a big assumption. But even IF they dumped another 10 million on a really decent player, we'd need another 50 million to spend to cover all the holes in the current squad. Last time I looked we aren’t Chelski and even they want to turn a profit sometime soon. 10 + 10 = 25? 10 + 5 + 10 = 25 (last time I checked) Only proves that you calculating skills are better than your reading skills.

So what would we do with them then? Keep them? Pay off their contract? Well we'll see when they do well for 2 years on the trot and do well in Europe too, mostly those clubs have 1 good year and then 1 dire year etc. etc. and haven't done well in Europe if they've got there. That's not to say they don't have good managers, but equally I couldn't see any of those managers turning NUFC back into a genuine Champions League likelihood (we are still a possibility) without a LOT of money. Throw enough money at them, yes. But see the wages point above. Also price isn't always a gaurentee of quality (at least not when playing for NUFC), look at Luque, look at the rather huge list of players that we've paid a fair wack for and have been nothing special. 25 million to spend? Maybe but unlikely I think, and that's a big assumption. But even IF they dumped another 10 million on a really decent player, we'd need another 50 million to spend to cover all the holes in the current squad. Last time I looked we aren’t Chelski and even they want to turn a profit sometime soon. 10 + 10 = 25?

Yes, but that was 1945 when you were celebrating victory...

Yes, I guess that's how 99% of the fans feel...

to about everything in this article...

they're on a par with liverpool fans tbh To a degree, you're correct. They are beginning to believe a bit of the 'special atmosphere' rubbish at Parkhead. Two examples spring to mind immediately: versus Blackburn and Manure, you could hear a pin drop during both games as Celtic were played off the park. The same bollocks is spouted about a lot of clubs (Newcastle fans the most passionate/fanatical in the world etc.) but I have to say the atmosphere in the first half seemed to be electric against Milan, didn't see the second half so can't comment on that. I have to admit it was one of the best atmospheres I have seen for quite some time and they deserve praise for that. Don't tell Mad-about-cocks though...

The number of gloryhunting wankers supporting Chelsea or Arsenal is also increasing though... From the teams left in the competition I only want PSV or Celtic to win it, both obviously very unlikely. And I want both, Inter and Valencia, getting banned for a long time. Couldn't happen to bigger wankers of players... No chance at all of that happening, no chance, if it was and English team on the other hand.... Like Rotterdam?

The number of gloryhunting wankers supporting Chelsea or Arsenal is also increasing though... From the teams left in the competition I only want PSV or Celtic to win it, both obviously very unlikely. And I want both, Inter and Valencia, getting banned for a long time. Couldn't happen to bigger wankers of players...

I love Germany. I love it too, it doesn't have a real night life culture though. I like the English pub culture, just a shame about the beer. And Frankfurt is a shit place anyway.

in horto! As for micktoon's question: Both are dog latin and I would go for neither, even though the latter looks slightly more "intellectual". If you really want a latin phrase I rather would go for some well known (or even less well known) quote from some philosopher, could spare you some embarrassment.

One things that really bothers me about Roeder. On one hand he is speaking about his admiration for Wenger'sskills to unearth young gems and how he has to look for the club's money himself. On the other hand he deems most players of not being good enough and only going for expensive big names and young, vastly overpriced English players. Roeder had a hell of an amount of money to spend (probably something 87 other English clubs would be long for...), I don't think he spent it wisely. I dunno, if he hadn't bought Martins we'd be relegated now IMO. And Duff I'm far from sure was really a Roeder buy (although I expected much more from Duff even with injury - 5 million is looking shockingly expensive for him from what I'd seen of him this season). Plus the table is strange this season, I think a lot of the clubs above us would yoyo next season anyway.... although maybe not. Next to the money for Duff, he also had the money for Huth (6m) to his disposal. In that respect he was chasing a lost cause by trying to snap up a player who already had opted to play for Boro at a point of time we didn't even had started to make up our mind about targets and entering the market. And I still think that Hasselbaink for one year on a free would have been a far better option than Sibierski. And going into the season with only one (dodgy) injury-prone left back cannot get excused at all imho. You're expecting 6 million (assuming it WAS there) to go a long way to get a left back, central defender (although not going for Campbell was a huge mistake) and another forward (which still leaves right back and midfield creativity woefully short even without much of an injury list). The other issue is that we're in trouble with wages as it stands (which is worrying as we have a small squad anyway – not so very long ago NUFC had almost 50 professionals on the books), so it's not just signing fees (although obviously that too), but that we have to be able to afford to pay them as well. Which I must admit can be an issue with more established players, sometimes to the point where a fee (or even lack of) isn't the major financial consideration. As I said reality is what is needed in a lot of peoples views. I have quite often pointed to the wage issue myself, especially that Newcastle can't afford having so many second rate players on huge wages, i.e. Carr, Babayaro etc. (I also listed Butt in the summer). But the thing is that if you want depth into you squad you can't only buy established big names as Roeder is trying to do. Getting cover for 3-4 positions would have been totally possible with 10m to the disposal (Roeder himself admitted going for Huth, so the money must have been there, as well as for Vidkuka and with only Milner bringing money in). A balanced squad would have eased some of the self-made injury problems and put us in a far better position for fighting for a top 6 finish, something that was (is) the target nevertheless. So everything else is failure. That is realism in my opinion. With current prices you're not going to get much quality for 4 players with just 10 million to spend and you might end up only mildy further forward if you've got to get rid or 2-3 to afford it. But you're not only assuming the cash is there, but players would happily go and that players would come too. For example say they got rid of Carr and Babayaro (a good idea IMO), would anyone buy them? Would anyone match their wages here? And who would we get to replace them (that are much better and of the "aceptable" quality) assuming we could afford them and they would come here? Having said that I don't think Roeder is great in transfers at all, and our scouting network seems non-existant these days. But equally there's a lot fewer players in the squad now that I think "yeah got to keep him" in a money no object senario than there was a few years ago, in that context barring a handful almost the whole team could be shown the door. No, Carr and Babayaro are unsellable and big name players will want at least the same wages. I really wonder how the likes of Bolton, Blackburn, Everton, Reading at al are coping with no players being available for decent prices and possible to attract... Sorry, but the "we couldn't get anyone, nobody good wants to join us" stance is just bullshit. As for assuming of cash being available: We did sign Duff and the manager did admit he went in for Huth. That are enough facts for me proving that Roeder had another 10m cash to his disposal - even after spending 10m on Martins. The lack of transfer funds wasn't the problem last summer, but incompetency in the transfer market.

Just so Lennon's aware of it. That's 19. Assuming a 10% drop out rate, we need 3 more for 4 teams. Can we get some girls to play? Ask SLP...

One things that really bothers me about Roeder. On one hand he is speaking about his admiration for Wenger'sskills to unearth young gems and how he has to look for the club's money himself. On the other hand he deems most players of not being good enough and only going for expensive big names and young, vastly overpriced English players. Roeder had a hell of an amount of money to spend (probably something 87 other English clubs would be long for...), I don't think he spent it wisely. I dunno, if he hadn't bought Martins we'd be relegated now IMO. And Duff I'm far from sure was really a Roeder buy (although I expected much more from Duff even with injury - 5 million is looking shockingly expensive for him from what I'd seen of him this season). Plus the table is strange this season, I think a lot of the clubs above us would yoyo next season anyway.... although maybe not. Next to the money for Duff, he also had the money for Huth (6m) to his disposal. In that respect he was chasing a lost cause by trying to snap up a player who already had opted to play for Boro at a point of time we didn't even had started to make up our mind about targets and entering the market. And I still think that Hasselbaink for one year on a free would have been a far better option than Sibierski. And going into the season with only one (dodgy) injury-prone left back cannot get excused at all imho. You're expecting 6 million (assuming it WAS there) to go a long way to get a left back, central defender (although not going for Campbell was a huge mistake) and another forward (which still leaves right back and midfield creativity woefully short even without much of an injury list). The other issue is that we're in trouble with wages as it stands (which is worrying as we have a small squad anyway – not so very long ago NUFC had almost 50 professionals on the books), so it's not just signing fees (although obviously that too), but that we have to be able to afford to pay them as well. Which I must admit can be an issue with more established players, sometimes to the point where a fee (or even lack of) isn't the major financial consideration. As I said reality is what is needed in a lot of peoples views. I have quite often pointed to the wage issue myself, especially that Newcastle can't afford having so many second rate players on huge wages, i.e. Carr, Babayaro etc. (I also listed Butt in the summer). But the thing is that if you want depth into you squad you can't only buy established big names as Roeder is trying to do. Getting cover for 3-4 positions would have been totally possible with 10m to the disposal (Roeder himself admitted going for Huth, so the money must have been there, as well as for Vidkuka and with only Milner bringing money in). A balanced squad would have eased some of the self-made injury problems and put us in a far better position for fighting for a top 6 finish, something that was (is) the target nevertheless. So everything else is failure. That is realism in my opinion.

Germany.

*ponders* I think if we were setting up a 11-a-side game half of the über-fit players would drop out, leaving us with a 5-a-side again (which is fun on a large pitch...)

My interview will be on the 27th, so I'll try to get a cheap flight now...