PaddockLad

Are there many managers who have much more control? I doubt there are many premiership managers with less say. imo we have a contintental system, which was the original idea when Ashely came on board, where the manager coaches/picks the team and the transfers/infrastructure issues are handled by a director of football. Our director of football used to be Wise and is now Derek Llambias. In reality I expect Pardew has an input on what's needed but not much more than that. I expect Graham Carr has a major say but I suspect it's the brains trust of Llambias and Ashley that's shaping the squad and our transfer policy. This is all purely conjecture on my part of course but I just get the feeling about Pardew that he's a bullshitter. He always seems to be catching up on the news - Carroll, Barton, Enrique, Nolan etc - as though he's had no real involvement in decisions. Nailed by Kitman. Thought this when he jumped into Hughton's grave, think it now, seen nothing to make me think otherwise. Re. the continental system , I agree Kitman, the truly worrying thing is that it does appear that the Toxic Twins are acting DOF's. My blood runs cold. Agree almost entirely with you both but for me Graham Carr is now the DoF....in charge of recruitment, which was I think Dennis Wise's title, or at least part of it. Carr is now the most important figure on the football side of the club. He seems to have a good eye for a player, and he'll scout them and perhaps even make the "official" first move for a player, probably by having a word with the player's agent. If the response is positive, I imagine lambchop then tries to sort a deal with the player's club. Whether Pardew has issued a "I want a player for this posistion or who can do this or that for the team" list is pretty much unknowable. I tend to agree though Pardew seems to be dealing with the hand he is being dealt and being a diplomat in return for a shot at the biggest job of his career. Think back to his press conference when he joined to see how much support he enjoys from the upper echelons of the club, even at the start of his tenure here. A puppet in all but name. The system works well on the continent in certain cases, it is the system thet made Lyon go from a nothing 2nd division club in 1989 to being one of the top sides in Europe for almost a decade,from a relatively "poor" league too. And it is undoubtedly the case that rich owners want more control over expenditure. Steve Kean is in a similar positon if you ask me, but Steve Bruce would walk if he couldnt choose his own players and it undoutedly contributed to Alex McLeish leaving Birmingham. I doubt if Grant had much say in who came in last January at West Ham, according to the non-bearded dildo seller's comments on relegation anyway.At West Ham and Blackburn it would appear that the board go straight to the agents and say "who can you get me?" and look at where West Ham ended up and listen to Blackburn's fans fears for the coming season. It appears to be a road we may be heading down too....the only possible saving grace is Graham Carr is a "football man" (so was Kevin Keen at West Ham mind) but it doesn't alter the fact that if we're bottom of the league at xmas Pardew will in all likelyhood be given his cards and he'll not have had much of a say in who is in the team he's picking each week. But he's made his own bed so I guess he and us will all have to fuckin lie in it

Theres 10s of thousands of reasons every week why not...far too many for Ashley anyway. Any chance that Bridge's agent is planting 'come and get me' stories in the press?

Weve approached his club but theres muffin to suggest hes on his way...

Lord of the flies ring any bells?.. And the internet is supposed to be about freedom of expression...not who the cool kids think is ok. It is a bit like schoolyard bullying at times tbh.

I was born where I live now, in Poole, Dorset. Why I support Newcastle United is a long and mostly very dull story

After Sholas goal at Leverkusen in the champs lge a few years back the camera pans across the crowd and I can clearly be seen bouncing across the screen from right to left...which was a bit of a result as thanks to the MP's belonging to the British Army of the Rhine who were 'policing' the away turnstiles we had missed Lua's opening goal. After the game we had one of the best post game piss ups its been my pleasure to attend at Cologne's only gay/lesbian/trans gender club which opens on a Tuesday night, which culminated in around 100 completely arseholed Mags on the dancefloor singing with the house band as they played 'hey jude' :-D

Martin Samuel is a well known West Ham United fan. End of thread.

err...thought you might be looking for some mags down south to go to games with never mind if not. Shame you'll miss Wyclef though

Thats fuck all, Wyclef Jean is gone till November If your looking for idiots on the south coast who favour NUFC, I may be able to help...

Obviously the complete waste of money on Gosling (so far...) and Ireland hasnt deterred our recruitment team...false economy getting rid of Nolan and more than likely Barton and then signing apparently more players with either current or dubious histories when it comes to injuries. Too many players without premier league experiance to blend in too if you ask me. Another huge gamble from fat Mike, which is par for the course with him I suppose.

We payed his agents 2mill seemingly just to get to speak to him. Maybe thats why Everton didnt get involved...? Oh aye, I can see Ashley falling for that one. Not Well the Daily Mirror aren't above reporting 'internet rumours' so make of this what you will but they said on wednesday that we were paying his people 2mill to make sure he joins us. Seeing as there is no fee involved to West Ham then it looks like whoever payed the agents the most got to speak to the player. Thought it was a bit strange at the time when I read it like...the club has to say how much agents fees are each season doesnt it? Any idea when?..

We payed his agents 2mill seemingly just to get to speak to him. Maybe thats why Everton didnt get involved...?

Ok so you're using Sunderland as an example, yet its in a different area completely and is again a one club city. I see what you are trying to say, but at the end of the day your point isnt exactly a fair comparison. Manchester would be one that you could compare Liverpool too as this is also a true 2 club city.... Tyne & Wear aint. Anyway this is all getting rather tiresome... Its the same old shite debate, you love your club, I love mine, lets just move on from it as no-one gives a shit... we'll pick up the debate again in the future no doubt, mainly when we finish above you yet again next season or when Ba's knee implodes in the 1st minute of the 1st match of the season I'll keep any info I get regarding your club to myself in future... you're all very defensive and even if I had a video of the negotiations in which Ba gets a £70k a week contract you would still all get up in arms about some Toffee on here daring to tell you something that's not from a geordie lol! It would be nice to share info without hostility, but I guess there's no such thing as a perfect world eh? You mentioned the 'one club city' thing and I was just illustrating that if you look at population (and if you want to, trophies won in the last 40 odd years..and lets face it, you do) that there should be far more people watching football on Merseyside. You can offer an opinion why if you want, but no worries if you don't. Just wanted to make the point. And try not to beleive uncheckable sources on the internet. It does make you appear rather foolish in this thread, and,it has to be said,suffering from a nasty case of sour grapes. ps....you may want to consider how much we payed the player's agent/s if you want to get to the real reason why he came here.

Choke, cough, splutter, gargle..... That should say 'Tyne and Wear' but the point remains...posting on my phone etc etc :$

Andy there are more supporters going through the turnstiles throughout each month of the season on Tyneside than there is on Merseyside. Each area has 2 premier league clubs but Merseyside has a population of around 500k to 750k more than Tyne and Wear. And Merseyside has one club with a much vaunted 'world wide fanbase'...not that it helps them fill their place that often either....;-)

Are you familiar with the saying "a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing" (Oscar Wilde) No? Thats 3 of you including fat Mike and Dekka then Forget his age,ability,recent record,influence in the changing room/around the club,legs,length of contract, inside leg measurement or his nightime drinking habits..its all fuckin irrelevent to what sort of message this sends to his (former) teamates and other clubs who may be circling them. Pardew comes out of this looking like Ashley has his hand up his arse and is fuckin operating him. Someone said a lot of managers would walk over this and thats spot on. Not this one though, who knew he'd never get the chance to manage a club as big as Newcastle United in his career ever again when he was offered the job and will spout mealy mouthed bullshit to cover for these fuckers as a result. Until we're in the bottom 3 at christmas when they'll sack him. How will you feel then Alan?....team matters taken out of your hands by the footballing genius who seemingly rated Alan Smith so much as a player he the useless twats name printed on his shirt. A really great captain if you ask me. One of the best I've seen at any club.

? Didnt we have him on trial when Gullit was manager?...think he warmed the bench at Bolton after that......played for Milan but injuries cut his career short I think. Anyway, thats the leading local sunday paper making two appalling mistakes in one article....I wouldnt sack Mark Douglas, I'd sack his editor for letting it go to print.

As long as theyre free that seems to be ok for them....Gosling and Ireland's fitness didn't seem to matter, and it looks like Ba's troubles in that department are seemingly unimportant too....he'll do well to play in 25 games iyam, which means we need at least one more striker in, to avoid probably half the campaign being played with Best and a mostly half fit Shola

Yeah but I went to school over the border....where there are probably half a dozen different accents all along it too...I am probably more than half English though...mums a Manc! Hawick folk speak a different language to the rest of Britain and its only 20 minutes away from Kelso where I went to school...and then Berwick and all that is only 20 minutes in the other direction where they too speak something pretty alien to most ears.I speak with a pretty typical Border's "lilt" but it's changing there even now though...my sister's kids in Kelso speak like they're from fuckin Edinburgh

If you go to the game you'll have to ritually trash the pub in Seahouses thats a shrine to safc on the way home...its tradition apparently! The accent is a strange one...what you've got to remember is that Berwick has been a frontier garrison town for 800 years and in the middle ages a major port...my old man did his national service in the Kings Own Scottish Borderers and the regimental HQ was in Berwick. He says that evil bastards who were on the run from either Edinburgh or Newcastle had settled there over the years and mixed with those who had jumped ship from all over Europe, hard nut ex squaddies and a large local gypsy population.All of which had resulted in, in his opinion, a sort of "Liverpool" of the north, where the mix of blood is bad news. And all that must have contributed to the accent, which is porridge thick and neither one thing nor the other.

Paul Smith - Sunday Mirror He says the same here....and about Nolan...the "derisory" offer was 1.5 million....and it looks like "player of the year" Scotty cant get a move because he's 31 and on a squillion quid a week no doubt....peaks and troughs Scott, peaks and troughs... http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/transfer-...ers-future-lies

that was my immediate thought! how about "we're gonna wreck your fuckin toon,we drink ex and newcastle broon" in the under 16 section as well

Berwick upon Tweed is indeed one of the best kept secrets in the British Isles Was home last weekend and the old man picked me up at the station...I had to go to the bank so we drove into town and eneded up going over the old bridge....fuckin glorious evening, I went a bit wobbly to be honest...hairs on the back of the head came up..think I'll end up back in the Borders at some point...maybe quite soon.I take you took that piccy from the new bridge?...great shot that like. Berwick used to engender different feelings on Saturday evenings after games...sometimes used to have fight our way off the train....I think mackems must have outnumbered mags in Berwick 3-1 in the 80s...probably different now like after KK and the 90s etc.. someone told me it was in some way a hangover from the days when Durham Cathedral ruled everything from North Yorkshire almost up to Edinburgh..dont know if thats true, but the Borough of Berwick itself didnt start till the middle arch of the old bridge up until the late 1800s, and the church basically ran the rest of North Northumberland...

Danny Simpson trying to gain Stevie's favour? http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#...761796&ap=1

Aye. Pulitzer in the post to Walkerville as we speak Used to know Jensen wen he first started doing/selling The Mag and he seemed a good lad.....not seen him years though and from what I've read on here about him and the supporters club/trust it seems its all gone tho his head a bit. Havent read any of them in years tbh, as CT says t'internet has in a way superceded the fanzines, which is a shame in a way as they were truly a huge breath of fresh air in the 80s when as you say coverage was a bit thin on the ground. One of the Mag's writers Billy Furious has written a couple of good books, the one about the 93 promotion season is excellent.