Scottish Mag

NEWCASTLE UNITED coach Lee Clark has paid tribute to Joey Barton ahead of his comeback game for the second string tonight at his old club Manchester City. United’s reserve team will feature Barton, Spanish full-back Jose Enrique, Turkish ace Emre and Senegal international Abdoulaye Faye, who are all short of match practice. Barton’s last slice of action came at Brunton Park back in July when the player fractured his metatarsal during the 1-1 draw with Carlisle United. Since then Barton has been steadily working his way back to fitness and, despite the fact he hasn’t been on the field, his commitment to the black-and-white cause has been second to none. For Barton has not only travelled to the majority of United’s away trips this season but has also been present at reserve team games to encourage the club’s youngsters, and he even returned to Carlisle on a scouting mission with Geordie favourite Clark and Terry McDermott. Clark told the Chronicle: “I’ve got no qualms about Joey – he is one of the most driven and motivated members of the squad. “Sometimes in reserve team football, managers have a problem getting senior players to give their best in the reserves, but that isn’t the case for me tonight, and I have no worries that the group I have will do the job for me and set a good example. “With Joey it is important to get him through the game because it is such an important stage for him after injury. “He has progressed so quickly and the reserves is the last stop before making his return to the first team, so this is huge for him.” United reserves went down 2-0 in their last game against a strong Middlesbrough side which featured several senior players. And even though Newcastle tasted defeat on the night, Clark was still happy with the commitment and desire from his Toon kids. Tonight, though, is different. Clark said: “We have a few senior players in the side and the last time that happened was at Boro last season. “That night we won 5-1 so I would be delighted with the same type of performance and result against Man City tonight. “I know that the senior players don’t really want to be in the reserves, they want to be in the first team. But I know that with the group we have travelling tonight, they will set a good example to our youngsters.” City’s second string could feature Ousmane Dabo, who was involved in an alleged training-ground bust-up with Barton last season, with the Citizens expected to name an otherwise young team. The match kicks off at 7pm at Sport City, which is in the shadow of the City of Manchester Stadium at the Eastlands complex. Newcastle’s next home game will be next Monday at Kingston Park against Wigan (7pm). UNITED: Forster, Bertram, Enrique, Faye, Edgar, Emre, Pattison, Barton, Troisi, Godsmark, Danquah. Subs: Cook, Lough, Morris, LuaLua, Doninger.

Nah I am doing the Great North Run next year instead. I reckon we should enter a Toontastic Team into that.

I am meant to be going to a Halloween Party on October 3rd but I am of course at the match that day. Will just need to meet the other half there and get a taxi to it as soon as my train arrives back in Jockland. Any ideas of a half decent costume I could wear that would not take long to get ready in? As I would rather quickly change into something than spend the day at St James Park in fancy dress...

Burberry caps

Click to receive a hot-off-the-press Daily Mail story

With so many "styles" and looks kicking about these days, which hideous clothing that people are wearing today should just not be allowed?

SHAY Given has admitted Newcastle United’s new stars will have to learn quickly how to deal with the unique pressure that comes with playing football on Tyneside. While every club has supporters who demand success, Given knows that satisfying the Magpies’ passionate following can be difficult, particularly following performances and results like the one at Manchester City last weekend. And the Irishman, who was delighted to be selected ahead of Steve Harper at the City of Manchester Stadium after a magnificent performance in the Carling Cup against Arsenal, knows the new arrivals will have to develop broad shoulders and a thick skin to deal with the ferocity of football feeling in Newcastle. However, Given, who is United’s second-longest serving player behind Harper, has urged supporters to be more patient with a side which is barely recognisable from last season. “I’m used to the reaction to defeats on Tyneside but some of the new players probably aren’t,” said Given, who insisted he sympathised with Harper’s irritation at being dropped. “They knew they were coming to a big club and expectation levels are high with a massive fanbase, but it can be difficult for some to get used to. If they weren’t prepared for it they’ve had to get used to it pretty sharply because the fans demand success and a certain standard of performance. “There isn’t much patience up here, but perhaps there needs to be because it is a new manager, with new coaching staff and a new squad with new ideas. It takes a while for those ideas to be put into practice and it also takes players some time to settle into a new club. “There have been so many changes at the club, but it’s all about results. We’ve just got to look forward to the game at home to Everton and put Saturday behind us. The good thing with football is there is always another game to put things right, but we know we have to get it right against Everton because the fans aren’t happy with the result at Manchester City.” Harper is still struggling to come to terms with Given’s recall and was deeply upset when he was told on Friday night he was not playing. But the Easington-born stopper has not complained in public about manager Sam Allardyce’s decision. And although Given was equally irritated by his failure to come straight back into the side following his recovery from a groin injury at the start of the season, he admitted Allardyce had a thankless task in trying to keep them both happy. No club in the Premier League boasts two better keepers than United and Given conceded that his close friend had been unfortunate to miss out. He explained: “Steve wasn’t happy at all. I wasn’t particularly happy when I wasn’t playing either. It’s very difficult and it’s very frustrating not to be playing. He feels the same as I do about not playing, it’s not pleasant. “The manager had a difficult decision to make and only one of us can play. It was a tough decision and Steve probably didn’t deserve to be dropped on the way he was playing. It could have been either one of us. “There wasn’t much I could say to him about it really. He was obviously pretty unhappy about it, just as I was unhappy when he was in the team and I wasn’t. He’s just got to keep his head up, he’s done really well and it’s not down to a loss of form or anything. It was the manager’s decision and he felt it was right at the time.” Given added: “Personally, I was just delighted to be back playing again. I was really excited when I found out, I was really looking forward to the game and I’d missed that the last few weeks. I was buzzing to be on the pitch again, to be honest.” Meanwhile, Joey Barton will play for Newcastle’s reserves against his former club Manchester City tonight as he pushes to be involved against Everton at the weekend. Although Allardyce has suggested the midfielder is still three or four weeks away from playing for the first team, Barton hopes to be on the bench against the club he supported as a boy on Sunday.

The leagues full of them as you can include the likes of us, Pompey, West Ham etc to the list. One week can look a half decent side the next fecking awful.

Well wasn't this thread a fecking jinx!

Kaboul 4-4 Oh dear!

3-4 Keane (pen) Anyone think I should delete this thread now?

...and still half an hour to go!

Is that yours? Impressive stuff, how much did you raise?

Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton will be out of action for another month. The 25-year-old is yet to make his competitive debut for the club after fracturing a metatarsal in a pre-season friendly at Carlisle just weeks after his £5.8million move from Manchester City. Barton revealed last week he had set himself a target of being back for Sunday's visit of Everton and has travelled with the squad to their last three away games to add moral support. However, on the day England striker Michael Owen returned to the club's training headquarters to begin his rehabilitation from his double bout of surgery in Germany, manager Sam Allardyce wrote his summer signing out of his plans until well beyond the forthcoming international break. He said: "Joey Barton has got no chance for Everton on Sunday. It will be four or five weeks, or at least three or four reserve games."

NEWCASTLE are on the trail of French duo Etienne Capoue and Loic Remy as they step up their global search for young talent. Toulouse midfielder Capoue and Lyon striker Remy (pictured) are rated as two of the most promising youngsters produced by the French youth system in recent years. Capoue is yet to break into the Toulouse first team but was a star of France’s march to the European Under-19 Championship semi-finals in Austria this summer. Happiest in a defensive midfield role, the 19-year-old is also comfortable at centre-back, and Toulouse are pessimistic about their chances of persuading him to sign a senior contract with them. Meanwhile, Remy – a colleague of United winger Charles N’Zogbia in the France Under-21 squad – has made seven league appearances for Lyon. But though he is highly rated by coach Alain Perrin, it remains to be seen whether the 20-year-old believes he can win a regular place in the French champions’ star-studded forward line. Remy and Capoue share the same agent who brokered former Lyon skipper Cacapa’s summer move to St James’s Park.

STEVEN Taylor has admitted Newcastle United’s outfielders let Shay Given down on the day the Irishman reclaimed his spot as the Magpies’ first-choice keeper. The 31-year-old played in both United’s League Cup ties but had not made a league appearance until Saturday. He injured his groin in pre-season and was unable to win his place back from Steve Harper. Despite a number of good saves, Given conceded three times at Eastlands after being over-exposed. And Taylor said: “He put a good performance in against Arsenal (in Tuesday’s Carling Cup third-round defeat) and on Saturday he was unlucky with the goals. The last one he couldn’t do anything about. The lads are disappointed but we’ve just got to hold our hands up, forget about it and look to the future.” Newcastle led through Obafemi Martins but City hit back via Martin Petrov, Emile Mpenza and Elano. The first two goalscorers were unmarked, the latter hit an unstoppable free-kick. “Things didn’t go well for us all over the park,” said Taylor. “We had a couple of good chances. We want to improve our away form, it’s three defeats on the trot away and we’ve got to put that right. We didn’t pass the ball as well as we can. “They’re a good side but on our day we can match them. I believe we’re good enough to come to places like this and get a good result. Last season our away form wasn’t the best. It’s three (away defeats) on the bounce now and we’ve got put that right sooner rather than later.” Meanwhile, Turkish midfielder Emre, an 88th-minute substitute on Saturday, insists he has not asked to leave Newcastle, while Jussi Jaaskelainen’s agent says the Finnish goalkeeper would welcome a move to Tyneside. Jaaskalainen is out of contract with Bolton next summer and a proposed new deal has been withdrawn. “Jussi would be interested in joining a club like Newcastle, especially as Sam (Allardyce) was his best manager at Bolton,” said his representative, Peter Harrison.

He was playing his Xbox 360 yesterday as I seen him log into xbox live

I was looking for fancy dress costume ideas when I came across this.. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1719034/ Quality...

I gave up reading after that...