JawD

Pardew has fuck all say it seems to me. Every time he says he is trying to hang on to players, you get up the next day and we've told them. Carroll first. Now watch out for Enrique and Colo.

You assume Birmingham's plan will be hatched then.

I'll keep this nice n clear. I dont think the club under the ownership of Ashley will achieve what the club did under Halls & Shepherd. At the time I wanted Fred out and saw him as a drain on the club, he was not without his own PR disasters. Financially I didnt even consider what the club was like, who did? Football itself wasn't under the same kind of financial scrutiny. I didnt want Fred out because of the success under KK or SBR, it was more the apparent decline as we slipped from one bad manager to the next. Each time Fred backed his manager which is what you have to do. Unfortunately they failed him (people like Souness in particular). When Ashley came in, my view wasnt "anyone is better than Fred". I was more cautious and was saying "the grass isnt always greener". But it felt good when it initially happened. But just as Fred has his PR disasters so Ashley started to have his. Then I think he realised that the club wasnt quite on the sound financial footing he had hoped (his fault) and it was kind of down hill from there. So now, we have ourselves in a position where I think we are being ran like a business, where risk is being kept to a minimum and I think the bottom line is that he wants the club to be an attractive prospect for any would be buyer. Until that happens I dont think we will be at risk so much and they are trying to be sensible in their approach. A little too sensible though as you need to have risk and take gambles in football to move forward. I dont think he will necessarily sell our best assets at any given chance, as than lessens the value of the club, unless we get a good deal (Carroll). Equally it would be easier to sell the club if in 5 years time you could see the club wasnt going to be stuck with old players in expensive contracts (Nolan). In my opinion, its all about being able to sell the club if a buyer came along. In the meantime we'll be ran cleanly and yes, on the cheap. We wont reach the heights we did under the Halls etc. It's harder to do so now, it takes more money and the competition is harder. Ashley wont make that kind of investment. Europe though maybe via Europa. I've said before but while I understand some are pro-Ashley or Pro-Shepherd, I dont see how you have to be 100% for one and 0% for the other. Surely you can take a balanced view and see the pro's and con's of both?

Id rather keep Jonas in a squad to compete with players. Wasnt the whole problem that our squad was too small? Im all for revamping the squad but I agree with Alex that we need to be careful who dont try and change too much at once. Keep saying it but cant really judge until we see the whole picture at the end of the window and I know they have said the formation is likely to change. But, if thats the case then why bring a winger in? Jonas is canny, good at beating a man and getting into the box but crossing aint great and can run into a lot of dead ends. Still need competition for places though. Oh, and that ITK you all keep mentioning, Cwarr07 or whatever it is, fucking hell

My point was more about being sympathetic. The person who kills themselves I think is selfish but I'm sympathetic as to do that you have to be in a pretty dark place. The drink driver I think is as I say fucking stupid. For the sake of enjoying a few drinks is it really worth risking your life and someone elses? But, I'm still sympathetic. This lad has killed himself (and someone else in the car) so I'm more sympathetic than I would be say if he had ploughed into a crowd of kids, when I'd have none at all. 3am with no other cars involved and Im not sure they know who was driving? Idiot, shame he died though.

Just for debate, would you have sympathy for someone who committed suicide?

Especially as in that article it's not mentioned anywhere how much he drank and there is a picture of him with what looks like a pint, so for all we know he could have just had one. Highly possible that he had more though but no one deserves to be burnt alive at the age of 34. If he drank and drove then he was fucking stupid but didnt deserve to die. As said he may have had one beer, maybe 10 who knows. Still doesn't mean he deserved to go like that.

West Ham have nowhere near the potential of Newcastle but sadly it looks like they may now have more ambition And yes it would make Spurs a selling club - Redknapp was spot on yesterday when asked about Modric he basically said he wants to keep him at all costs and stated that if you want to be a top club then you dont sell your best players and that if you want to keep your top players then you have to show them that you have the ambition. Can you imagine Pardew saying that? far too simplistic for the brainwashed fools. Trouble is, it would mean they would have to admit that "Fred" had the right idea Jaysouthernmag has still to tell us how long he has actually supported the club mind Of course you have to hang on to your best players, no brainer really. But sometimes with the best will in the world, you can't. Did Man Utd want to sell Ronaldo? Did we want to sell Domi under SBR or Ginola or Ferdinand (well, actually we did but thats a different arguement. I wont blame Fred for that at all, but KD). What about Jenas? If a players wants to leave what can you do? What if they dont want to leave though right? Carroll? Depends who you believe but I'd still say each player has a price and that was more than his. Nolan? Again depends who you believe but if he wanted to stay that badly why didnt he just refuse to go? 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other as they say. Money talks. I dont think it's black and white if you are a selling club or not, I think there's a sliding scale of how likely you are to sell your players. I think we will try our best to hold on to those that fit the mould "young and talented" but once they get to 29 I can see us being more willing to sell.

The only way I can see Tiote leaving anytime soon is if we got a Carroll like offer. Much as most teams would. Players have been leaving this club for pastures new and better deals for as long as I can remember.

I agree with that to a point, but not completely. With an excellent manager and good players you can do it. SBR done it not that long ago. Spurs are having a go now and they dont have the resources of Man Utd, Chelsea or City do. Thats not to say we can just stroll in there and join the party. This is what I was saying to LM recently. I think with slowly building (as opposed to trying to invest huge amounts too quick) you can get top 7. It is harder now to get into the CL than when SBR was here and that was harden than when KK was here. Why? Money. First it was Chelsea then it was City. Unless you find a similarly wealthy owner you cant compete with those. Even then without the right manager you struggle (City). I dont think anyone (apart from LM) can have a go at Ashley for that, he may have money but not that much. Doesnt stop him being a twat like (Ashley, not LM ) For me, if we start being ran properly and actually build each year to improve of the previous, we can hope for a top 6-7 side. I can live with that. Just a shame it cant be done with the owner and fans on side. Even if we do make that, I can still see him pissing us off fucking stupid idea's. though I often wonder how many of those idea's are his and how many DL's.

Works on mine like?

Were you "Matt" on there? As previous that was my first forum as well. Canny craic. then we all came here with Phil.

A what? LOL

Seems one of my images was used by the Journal recently as well: http://rothbury.journallive.co.uk/ This was the image.

Eee you've hard;y changed. B ar new specs.

Now's also a good moment to link this Lest we forget Even that was a temp board

NO's server was originally being sponsored by Toon-Ale and I think Toon-Chat may have. This was the link to NUFC.com and while they had been against pushing one forum, they were asked to come into the whole thing but they quickly backed off as people associated forums being offline with them and would ask them questions etc. something like that.

WT absolute F

Well, I know I lived in Forest Hall when you posted here and that was my first house. I lived there from something like '98 for 3-4 years.

Was someone with him, cant tell who as car was burned out after the crash.

Well. I used to post on the old newsgroups before there was any real NUFC forums around. The first place I started posting was called Soccer24-7 which had a sub forum for the main premiership teams. Phillip Craig ran both the newsgroup and I think was mod for the 24-7 forum. Anyway, he set up the original TT and I followed him here. so this was my first NUFC only forum. This grew and eventually Phil "meglomaniac" Craig was part of the idea to merge a few NUFC forums into one larger forum that would become Newcastle-Online. I like everyone went over to NO but it was apparent early on that the merger wasn't as clear cut as the different sets of posters had very different styles/tolerances/views etc. The main thing that was missing was the craic from TT. Pud and a few others broke back off from NO and brought this place back to life. Then there was even less on NO for me and eventually I stopped posting there all together and found my way back here. Now I'm just locked away like an old piece of furniture that you dont want to hoy away in case it's ever worth owt. AND! This was my first ever avatar here, fuck knows why:

Aye he came back with 2 games to go but wasnt selected as it was preferred just to let him get fit for the new season.

Pace is crucial in the modern game imo. Also arguably better to watch. Fantastic at times watching us with the above team. Then equally annoying when you know the player had pace to beat someone and didnt bother. The team we had built by Fat Sam was based more on strength than speed. Bringing in players like Smith, Viduka and Geremi but all slow as hell. Good to hear us slowly changing back to a side with some pace but keeping strength in places where its needed (Tiote). Still need some strength up front like.

Dont mind putting my head on the block and saying UI think Shola gets too much stick. Sure he's no Shearer but he's been consistent, was very important to us getting back up and has scored some crucial goals in Europe for us. He gets a load of stick and you never see bad press about him or contract demands etc. Frustrating as hell to watch at times, but handy squad player.