OTF

That's it. With or without Newcastle United the competition is 'broken'. With or without Ashley Newcastle United is a football club because of the supporters. If you choose to not watch because the competition is fundamentally flawed or because of a rightful distaste for Ashley then you're really only hurting yourself. But if you can't summon up the anticipation before a match or the optimistic enthusiasm when the whistle sounds then you're probably just not interested. That's fair enough, but in reality I'd say that has more to do with yourself than it does the state of the club or the league, so you're really not hurting yourself.

First 90 odd minutes of this will be critical, if we can hold out for that I reckon we're in with a shot at a point.

The earlier seasons of weeds were the strongest, like some of Doug's work in particular. Orange is the New Black was enjoyable, though the breast count and quality diminished as the season progressed.

Whilst our squad is reasonably strong in comparison to the past there can be absolutely no doubt that the standard of players in the lower tier of teams in the premier league has come along in leaps and bounds over the past three or four seasons. The easier matches against the weak smaller teams are no more and it really is true that you need to move forward just to stand still. With all this in mind it's particularly worrying as there is not a lot of room for allowing others to move past us before we're relegated. On the face of it it feels like our team has far too much quality to be relegated, but with last season fresh in our minds we know that this is no longer necessarily true. If we have an unsettled start and don't pick up points in the early part of the season in some easier matches then the wheels could quickly come off and the ghosts of 2008/09 could return.

Historically the reaction to missing out on a target has not been to switch attentions elsewhere, but rather the equivalent of uttering "oh well, we'll get 'em next time".

If we play with one striker against them I'd say Shola would be more effective than Cisse. Cisse on his own against a mob where we're virtually guaranteed of having little possession is somewhat wasted. That said I hope we don't start the match with one up top unless they're also flanked by two wingers.

There's no need to apologise... CT has got the attention he craves and Stevie's got the drama he seeks. Stevie and Ant please spare us all the overreactions and the escalating responses to to those. Nobody wins and nobody is impressed with people being called out for good natured mockery.

Are you saying drugs are the answer? Livestrong indeed...

I'm hanging on until the end of the window before I throw my stones.

I maintain that we still owe them a beating from the game where Beye was wrongfully sent off after making a superb tackle on Robinho. We didn't lose it despite playing most of the game with 10. Since that we've been pap against them and the chasm in class between our sides has been ever growing. First game of the season though, so anything can happen.

Yes, shocking picture that. Perhaps his podginess will work in our favour with defenders thinking he'll have lost some spark.

At this point it must be said that on the whole this has been an embarrassingly barren summer. The most newsworthy acquisition up to a week or so back was that of Kinnear, and the rightful focus of that was the absurdity of the appointment. With the season now starting within the week, on the back of a less than convincing set of pre-season matches our one saving grace may be that on the injury front we're doing well.

With the amount of injury problems he has it's not as though he's likely to play many games regardless of where he is.

Do the right thing CT and help the wee lad out with his grammar.

He is injured a lot it would seem.

The worse we go in these matches the better our chances of strengthening? More-so if we get trounced by Man City. Not that I want that to happen - but silver linings and all that...

Is that reduction in matchday revenue and commercial revenue at all common across other teams through this period? If there isn't any correlation then does anyone care to speculate as to how we could be so spectacularly moving backwards? Just plain negligence on Ashley's behalf?

The way it happened would be the reason. Majority of the blame obviously lies with QPR who sat back let us do the hard work then came in and offered ridiculous wages. There is some bitterness, though I'm more worried by his propensity for injury.

Interesting, though I don't really understand why they would bother with the announcement and appointment of Kinnear only for his actions to deteriorate the standing of NUFC in the eyes of just about everyone. If it was just to humour the old fool then surely they could have identified a more subtle way of doing it. On the decoy front whom exactly are Ty trying to mislead and to what means? How could that aid our sincere transfer dealings?

Agree that it was at its best early on. There are still some gloriously awkward vignettes to come, worth watching to the end IMO.

He'll get plenty of time on the pitch if he signs. From what I know of him he's quite different to Cisse. I can imagine the thought that they could play well together was one driving force behind Carr wanting to sign him. Was Carr involved in scouting him previously? ...I don't recall how long ago it was that we were last tracking him.

I wish I could say the same of you; but sadly your vigorous self importance and penchant for drama has denied me that.

I have. By the end of it I could not decide whether or not I liked Joe.

I don't like the comparisons to our 5th finishing team. That team overachieved in their position on the table in my opinion and a number of other teams also underachieved. Plus the league has moved on two season from then and the average strength of other sides (particularly the lower profile clubs) makes picking up points a lot more difficult.

..and in the very next post you talk about reflecting on conduct. Mature of mind but not of character, your underlying frailties cannot be hidden behind the gloss of your professed intellect.