Park Life

Excellent way to dodge the question. Do you just want to have a silly argument? I don't. If you are suggesting that there wasn't good footballing reasons to buy Diarra (whoever selected him) then I'd disagree with you. If you are saying due to the change of manager it became problematic to buy him then fair enough...But we still should have and the club woulnd't have approached hm unless they felt he was a good shout. Not sure why you're taking such umbridge at this. How much was he anyway?? Behave.

I'm sure the approach for Diarra was made solely on footballing grounds, perhaps SA wanted him or the other 'fixers' who have continued to purchase players through the changeover. Good player by all accounts.

Pay them enough and they'll come With the obscene wages players are getting anyway in modern football other factors are becoming more important nowadays imho. This doesn't meant that a move can't be "sold" to these players, it's just becoming more difficult. As for the original question: What were people expecting? Keegan to be infallible and turning water into wine ... or the likes of Smith, Butt, Carr into decent footballers? Keegan wept. Of course the results against Bolton and Boro were disappointing. But the team is currently just a huge mess, imbalanced and totally out of confidence. Also looking at the repeating second half collapsing it raises concerns about the fitness level. Though, I think nothing of all this comes unexpected at club being in constant turmoil for about three years now. I'd hoped Keegan to have an immidiate effect in putting believe into the players and make them perform better and a result against Bolton would probably have had this effect. So all I hope for now is that we will successfully see the season off by getting some much needed results against the bottom half teams and then will see what Keegan can do next season with players who suit his philosophy and whose morale isn't rock bottom. Good post. Overall the new owner is lacking vision. Is he? I think this is utter nonsense. You can't get any more vision than sacking a manager whose ego made it impossible to adapt to the club and hiring someone who suits the club. Also I wouldn't call the attempt to give the club a more professional setup "lacking vision". The lack of vision is the smallest problem of the club at the moment if you ask me. I'm prepared to give Wisey and the other assorted 'hangers on' time and hope to god they have a big impact. I don't know if you're honest enough to admit that mates of Kemsley and MA who have questionable (someone will no doubt mention the Real link) pedigree shows that the club has suddenly developed 'a vision'. It is a move in the right direction and no doubt Mort is managing the admin and collective organisation side much better than in the past...But I have yet to see names that I can hand on heart believe in. I'm being honest.

Checking the run-ins, you should be OK if you can muster up a defence and scrape some draws. Derby & Fulham are doomed, with a scrap between the five above. Stay up - its a good weekend away you know what son, coming on here as a Blackburn fan is bad enough, then harping on about big clubs is even worse especially when I was at your shithole ground 3 times in the 1980's when we had more fans than you in there, but worst of all you choose the biggest and most stupid fuckin username I've ever seen. How old are you ? Blue fucking Peter ?? Is that your best shot you fucking retard? Are you that desperate to feel better that you have a go at my username...get a grip on reality you loser. You should keep your gob shut about attendances in the eighties - check your own home attendances first - cant see any 50,000 there 'son' You are not a big club - big clubs are big because they are successful. You are a well supported club that has won fuck all. Theres a difference. How well do you support your team? Why are you posting on this site when you should be on your way home from Villa? Consoling yourself that you had a lot of supporters at our ground in the eighties is a very good measure of how shit life must be supporting the barcodes. Go back to propping the bar up and maybe visit sid james's park once more when your new messiah arrives. you're a fuckin cretin if you think your poxy little club will ever be as big as Newcastle. YOu need to learn to distinguish the difference between big and successful. Were Notts Forest the biggest club in europe when they won the European Cup ? Were they bollocks. What about Wimbledon when they won the FA Cup ? did that make them bigger than the team they beat in the Final ? Did it bollocks. Our attendances in the 1980's were quite good for a badly run club, but that was the case at Newcastle for years. Like I said, I was at your shitty litle ground before your sugar daddy came in, and we had more supporters than you in your own wooden stadium. I don't need to prove to anybody how much I support Newcastle, I've watched the club since 1964 and saw hundreds of away games. You lot are so shite you booed the bloke who won you the title almost single handed. What utter crap. Blue fucking Peter.

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer. Really?The season was already over. Giving your new manager a head start of six months to have a look at the squad and the things he wants to change is much better than to try to do it with limited time in the summer. But it's not though, I might agree with you if we were sitting on 40-odd points but there's still games to win and I can't see us winning any at the minute. Of course it's not over in respect of the relegation battle, but it was in concern of any top half finish. Would we be in a different scenario if we had stuck with Allardyce? I doubt it. Of course we might have got a result in one of the recent games. Though looking at the form in the games preceding his sacking this is questionable. Of course, if the club gets relegated the "plan" went tits up. But at the moment we are on 28 points, having a couple of home games against other relegation candidates. Ending up on 37+ points should be enough to be safe in the end. From the two scenarios of sticking with Allardyce for the remainder of the season or hiring Keegan with the outlook for the next season, I'd always chose the latter. The development of events some might say points to the fact that the SA sacking wasn't planned. MA is on record as saying that Mort 'called him' to say that SA needed sacking/he had a problem with SA. Of course this doesn't support the theory many have cuddled upto cause they want to believe there was some grand plan (there might not have been). I am told...this was followed by a video conference (involving the three) with MA still in the far east where events took a turn for the worst and it was at this point MA sacked SA. (I'm guessing over transfer funds). Although they had doubts about SA and it seems some parties 'waiting in the wings' a lot of factors point to the idea that perhaps the sacking wasn't as planned as some believe. The consequent flirting with 'Arry (Rumoured Kemsley's idea) also tends to support this. Pixies and the voices in your head don't count tbh. Anyway, I didn't want to say that the sacking was "planned" as I just don't know. I was rather on about the hiring of Keegan. Well if it wasn't planned how can you say it was done at the right time? Because I think the "vision" that was put in place instead is the better option for the future - especially with a head start for the next season. The 'fixer' the 'mixer' and the trickster? There is no vision. MA imo hasn't engaged with the club properly yet and was generally clueless to the point he bought back KK. If there is a vision that might save us it will IMO come solely from KK and he will need backing or he'll walk. So far I agree with Alex and other that money 'has been promised'. There is nothing KK need know about this squad that Terry Mac couldn't have told him in 5 minutes. So all that 'looking at the players' stuff is guff really. I'm still mildly confident but not signing Diarra when we had a chance was a mistake.

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer. Really?The season was already over. Giving your new manager a head start of six months to have a look at the squad and the things he wants to change is much better than to try to do it with limited time in the summer. But it's not though, I might agree with you if we were sitting on 40-odd points but there's still games to win and I can't see us winning any at the minute. Of course it's not over in respect of the relegation battle, but it was in concern of any top half finish. Would we be in a different scenario if we had stuck with Allardyce? I doubt it. Of course we might have got a result in one of the recent games. Though looking at the form in the games preceding his sacking this is questionable. Of course, if the club gets relegated the "plan" went tits up. But at the moment we are on 28 points, having a couple of home games against other relegation candidates. Ending up on 37+ points should be enough to be safe in the end. From the two scenarios of sticking with Allardyce for the remainder of the season or hiring Keegan with the outlook for the next season, I'd always chose the latter. The development of events some might say points to the fact that the SA sacking wasn't planned. MA is on record as saying that Mort 'called him' to say that SA needed sacking/he had a problem with SA. Of course this doesn't support the theory many have cuddled upto cause they want to believe there was some grand plan (there might not have been). I am told...this was followed by a video conference (involving the three) with MA still in the far east where events took a turn for the worst and it was at this point MA sacked SA. (I'm guessing over transfer funds). Although they had doubts about SA and it seems some parties 'waiting in the wings' a lot of factors point to the idea that perhaps the sacking wasn't as planned as some believe. The consequent flirting with 'Arry (Rumoured Kemsley's idea) also tends to support this. Pixies and the voices in your head don't count tbh. Anyway, I didn't want to say that the sacking was "planned" as I just don't know. I was rather on about the hiring of Keegan. Well if it wasn't planned how can you say it was done at the right time?

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer. Really?The season was already over. Giving your new manager a head start of six months to have a look at the squad and the things he wants to change is much better than to try to do it with limited time in the summer. But it's not though, I might agree with you if we were sitting on 40-odd points but there's still games to win and I can't see us winning any at the minute. Of course it's not over in respect of the relegation battle, but it was in concern of any top half finish. Would we be in a different scenario if we had stuck with Allardyce? I doubt it. Of course we might have got a result in one of the recent games. Though looking at the form in the games preceding his sacking this is questionable. Of course, if the club gets relegated the "plan" went tits up. But at the moment we are on 28 points, having a couple of home games against other relegation candidates. Ending up on 37+ points should be enough to be safe in the end. From the two scenarios of sticking with Allardyce for the remainder of the season or hiring Keegan with the outlook for the next season, I'd always chose the latter. The development of events some might say points to the fact that the SA sacking wasn't planned. MA is on record as saying that Mort 'called him' to say that SA needed sacking/he had a problem with SA. Of course this doesn't support the theory many have cuddled upto cause they want to believe there was some grand plan (there might not have been). I am told...this was followed by a video conference (involving the three) with MA still in the far east where events took a turn for the worst and it was at this point MA sacked SA. (I'm guessing over transfer funds). Although they had doubts about SA and it seems some parties 'waiting in the wings' a lot of factors point to the idea that perhaps the sacking wasn't as planned as some believe. The consequent flirting with 'Arry (Rumoured Kemsley's idea) also tends to support this.

Pay them enough and they'll come With the obscene wages players are getting anyway in modern football other factors are becoming more important nowadays imho. This doesn't meant that a move can't be "sold" to these players, it's just becoming more difficult. As for the original question: What were people expecting? Keegan to be infallible and turning water into wine ... or the likes of Smith, Butt, Carr into decent footballers? Keegan wept. Of course the results against Bolton and Boro were disappointing. But the team is currently just a huge mess, imbalanced and totally out of confidence. Also looking at the repeating second half collapsing it raises concerns about the fitness level. Though, I think nothing of all this comes unexpected at club being in constant turmoil for about three years now. I'd hoped Keegan to have an immidiate effect in putting believe into the players and make them perform better and a result against Bolton would probably have had this effect. So all I hope for now is that we will successfully see the season off by getting some much needed results against the bottom half teams and then will see what Keegan can do next season with players who suit his philosophy and whose morale isn't rock bottom. Good post. Overall the new owner is lacking vision.

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer. Really?The season was already over. Giving your new manager a head start of six months to have a look at the squad and the things he wants to change is much better than to try to do it with limited time in the summer. But it's not though, I might agree with you if we were sitting on 40-odd points but there's still games to win and I can't see us winning any at the minute. My trap for Isegrim lay down another path Sima. Agree with the above btw.

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer. Really? The season was already over. Giving your new manager a head start of six months to have a look at the squad and the things he wants to change is much better than to try to do it with limited time in the summer. Were you in that ill fated last meeting?

This post for me sums up why signing KK was a mistake. We dont have aspirations or hope anymore its merely blind faith in a man who once, many years ago took us up there. Nothing based on concrete reasoning just the whole nostalgiatastic scenario of the messiah. Thats not knocking you AP or even KK its merely the worry I had from the start, we will blindly follow the man like lemmings regardless of what he does, refusing to give criticism because hes the messiah. I see your point of view PP, but KK will get criticism sometimes. Yesterday he made a mistake not playing Faye [but I'm sure he's learned now]. The only thing that matters now is staying up, and making the board understand that the way forward in football doesn't come cheap. I really don't think they will spend that much. I'll be happily surprised if we spend more than £30m net. Knowing that your predictions are mostly wide of the mark, we'll probably see a new spending record now.

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer.

This post for me sums up why signing KK was a mistake. We dont have aspirations or hope anymore its merely blind faith in a man who once, many years ago took us up there. Nothing based on concrete reasoning just the whole nostalgiatastic scenario of the messiah. Thats not knocking you AP or even KK its merely the worry I had from the start, we will blindly follow the man like lemmings regardless of what he does, refusing to give criticism because hes the messiah. I see your point of view PP, but KK will get criticism sometimes. Yesterday he made a mistake not playing Faye [but I'm sure he's learned now]. The only thing that matters now is staying up, and making the board understand that the way forward in football doesn't come cheap. I really don't think they will spend that much. I'll be happily surprised if we spend more than £30m net.

This is what worried me from day 1 though. Allardyce didnt turn us into a nothing team, he did nowt I agree but he didnt dismantle a squad of creative flair players and bring in knackers. Yet already we're planning to move any blame, should the unthinkable happen, firmly away from KK. Allardyce didnt pick that team today, Allardyce didnt give the team talk at half time and Allardyce sure as fuck didnt sit there on the bench nattering to Terry Mac while we were torn apart. Which brings me to my original argument back when Allardyce got the sack. Mike Ashley and Chris Mort are clueless in regards to football. There hearts might be in it, and Ashley has the cash and paid off the debt, but to rid Allardyce like they did was suicide. To bring in a bloke (who may be able to turn us around a bit next season) that had no connections to the modern game and expected him to do any better was just stupid. He doesn't know that the players that once could play can't do it anymore. Carr, Smith, Barton, Butt. Bloody hell, next week he'll start Ameobi. He obviously doesn't rate Viduka. We are too close to a relegation fight for KK to "acclimatise" to where we are at as a football club and the players who aren't up to it. He should never had been made manager until at least a couple of games before the end of the season when we were safe. I'm just looking at the fixture list now, and I don't see too many victories coming our way. We are a joke of a club. People want to bang on about the club being victimised by southerners but it is playing out exactly how they predicted. Do you think the club has any credibility? I think we have none, and with that comes the hardships of a relegation fight, and decent players we'd want to target for next season looking at us and thinking we should be avoided like the fucking plague. Avoiding relegation this season should be met with the same enthusiasm as if we had won the treble. It will be a magnificent effort. Sacking* at the start of the window was irrational agreed. If they had reservations about SA (they did almost from day one apparently) they should have waited till the summer. This was further compounded by bringing in a man who couldn't really deal in a vital transfer window, a window in which we needed some reinforcements as has become clear.

Simply put Villa had another gear.

There is a rumour* he don't really want to be here.

My main concern is Ashers not KK. It's clear he isn't engaging with the club correctly or in a sustained manner. The recent hirings are further proof that the heart is ruling the head.

Probably since about 2003 at the very least. Yup. We have no centrocampista, no fulcrum....only crumbs.

This is what worried me from day 1 though. Allardyce didnt turn us into a nothing team, he did nowt I agree but he didnt dismantle a squad of creative flair players and bring in knackers. Yet already we're planning to move any blame, should the unthinkable happen, firmly away from KK. Allardyce didnt pick that team today, Allardyce didnt give the team talk at half time and Allardyce sure as fuck didnt sit there on the bench nattering to Terry Mac while we were torn apart. This nattering is getting out of control. It looks like a total confidence meltdown as soon as the other side score.

It looks like it will come down to us, Reading and Brum for the last slot. And we have to play B'ham away and Reading at home.

I just think we have "holes" in the team, therefore even short term buys would have been a good thing. You don't have to think long term in everything you do. Football is always such that a player who improves the team is worth buying at the right price and at the right terms. You replace with better as you go. We have had a small squad, low on quality and numbers up front all season and have played a dangerous game. Now its all going tits up. We could be in a serious position here now. Agree with most of that. The flak I took for suggesting we should freshen the squad for the run-in (even one quality player gives the side a lift) was people locked into an imaginary mindset that there are perfect times to buy players and bad times. There is IMO never a bad time to buy a quality player. It won't be any easier in the summer either if we finish 4th bottom etc...

It all seemed a bit half hearted to me. But yes they did try. I reckon Gordon Ramsey should be in charge of negotioations yes? What's that based on though? Well the Barnes bid was paltry, we tried in KK's own words try and "hijack" the Woodgate deal and the e mail to the Spanish defender was from a lonely prison officer.

It all seemed a bit half hearted to me. But yes they did try. I reckon Gordon Ramsey should be in charge of negotioations yes?

Need to keep an eye on those ''panick buys'' apparently.