Scottish Mag

Being serious if both Owen and Rooney miss the World Cup, who do you think you will take?? Crouch, Defoe, Bent....and who James Beattie? Andy Johnson? Dean Ashton? Shola Ameobi?

Shola for England...

GREAT!

Great first post...

Talksport reckon he is going to Villa..

Looks like hes going somewhere, i just hope its England rather than here..

1-0 to Chelsea already. Gallas

Arsenal are casting their envious eyes in the direction of Newcastle United's young Frenchman Charles N'Zogbia. But Glenn Roeder, who is aware of the interest from Highbury, will fight tooth and nail to hold on to the 19-year-old midfielder. However, Arsenal's French connection from manager Arsene Wenger to players like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Matthieu Flamini, Gael Clichy and Pascal Cygan will set the alarm bells ringing at St James' Park. N'Zogbia is still some way short of reaching his potential but Wenger, the manager Roeder perhaps admires most in the Premiership, has the knack of bringing on young players like that. Fortunately, N'Zogbia is under contract at St James' Park, and when Roeder decides on who is staying and who he would like to go, the man signed from French club Le Havre is most definitely in the former category. However, one worry is that Jean Alain Boumsong is likely to be on the move and N'Zogbia will not only lose a French colleague but also the player who has taken him under his wing and been his mentor since he arrived at St James' Park in 2004. Sir Bobby Robson and his chief scout Charlie Woods made some bad buys at United, but ironically one of their last signings, N'Zogbia, looks like being a big hit. Roeder saw the French midfielder perform the "Roeder shuffle" in his first game in charge against Portsmouth at the beginning of February. He says: "Charles is one of our quiet men who trains hard and well and then goes home. "Obviously, the World Cup in Germany in the summer will come a bit too early for him but he should be now thinking about getting into the French Under-21 set-up." Meanwhile, United will be hoping that Spurs beat Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane tomorrow to increase their chances of qualifying for Europe. Bolton are a threat to United's hopes and nobody will be expecting Middlesbrough to do much against them at the Reebok Stadium on Wednesday night, with the Teessiders now having a UEFA Cup final date with Sevilla in Eindhoven on May 10.

Papa hates Arsenal and Wenger as much as he does Souness, as soon as i seen there was a post relating to the gunners i knew he would be in here ripping into them...

We have a rival....Aberdeens very own Budzbar

Fulham have announced the signing of Wigan Athletic midfielder Jimmy Bullard in a £2.5 million deal. In a surprise move Bullard has put pen-to-paper on a four-year deal at Craven Cottage, after Wigan's Premiership rivals triggered a clause in the player's contract by offering a fee in the region of £2.5 million. Wigan boss Paul Jewell stated earlier on Friday that he was eager to keep Bullard in the North West but also conceded that he was powerless to prevent the player from moving on. Bullard has proven an instrumental player in the club's meteoric rise, establishing himself as a driving force as Wigan swapped League One for The Premiership under Jewell's tutelage. The combative midfielder has been so impressive in his debut campaign in the top flight that there has even been talk of international recognition, with Bullard eligible to represent Germany. However, for now, Bullard will be concentrating his efforts on proving his credentials at a new employers, having left Wigan for Fulham, despite the club's hugely successful campaign - that also included a trip to Cardiff for the Carling Cup final. Fulham will secure Bullard's registration on May 8 when the transfer window reopens.

"Baldwin for England..."

Been following this for a while now. Very clever and innovative idea in my opinion. Much like the milliondoallerwebpage, by milking the power of the media and getting much press coverage this has been very succesful.

Newcastle have indicated that they are prepared to sell starlet James Milner, according to Aston Villa boss David O'Leary. Milner has been one of the few bright spots in a disappointing campaign for Villa and O'Leary has made no secret of his desire to retain the services of the all-action winger. O'Leary believes Milner wants to stay in the Second City and is hopeful of thrashing out a deal with Newcastle inside the next fortnight. "I can say the club want to buy him and we have started negotiations with Newcastle on that," O'Leary said on Sky Sports News. "Newcastle have given us a price and hopefully we can secure that. "We have £1.5 million off the Nobby Solano deal waiting to be put down on it. I want to keep him because he is here. "We believe he is an Aston Villa player, even though we don't own him, because he is here. We don't want to lose him and I think he will be a good player for the future of the football club. "I hope in the next couple of weeks a permanent deal can be done. James wants to stay, he wants to play for me and I hope over the next couple of weeks we can secure a deal which keeps James here for the long term." O'Leary claims that should Villa secure Milner's signature, it will end his summer spending spree unless he can move players on. "That is the budget, that will be it," he added. "Any other money to bring players in will have to be done on the back of any players we sell." Milner arrived at Newcastle in the summer of 2004 from Leeds and it comes as a surprise that the club would opt to sell a player viewed by many as the ready-made replacement for Nolberto Solano.

...and he also sold plenty of good players too.

Michael Owen is champing at the bit to return to action and is in no doubt that he will be at full tilt by the time the World Cup finals kick-off. The fleet-footed forward has been sidelined since breaking a bone in his foot during Newcastle's clash with Tottenham on New Year's Eve. Newcastle have refused to take any risks with Owen and the patient approach is set to be rewarded, with the striker poised to face Birmingham on Saturday. Owen is unlikely to be firing on all cylinders at St Andrews, but he feels it will take little time to find his true form. "It has been a long four-and-a-half months since I have played, so I am very keen to get back into the thick of the action," Owen said on Sky Sports News. "I have trained for quite a while and been in that gym for too many months and it is nice to have been out with the players on the pitch, training and doing a lot of work with the physios. "Now I am looking forward to getting on the proper pitch. "I want to play well for Newcastle, that is the priority at the minute, and the World Cup is a long way away at the moment, probably six weeks away, so I have no doubts I will be fit. "We are not 30 years ago, we keep ourselves fit even when we are injured and in terms of fitness I have plenty of time to sharpen up and I will be disappointed if it will take six weeks to get my sharpness. I feel it will take about six days." Owen appeared unfazed over the talk surrounding Sven Goran Eriksson's successor. "There has been plenty of people talked about in terms of the England job in the last few weeks and to be honest, as players, we will be concentrating on the World Cup. "My main priority is Newcastle. We have two games to go and I need to play well for Newcastle. There have been plenty of fans who wanted to see me more often and I wanted to play more often. "For the players, you don't often get a chance to play in more than one World Cup so the priority is that and what happens after the World Cup can be left until then. "The people you are talking about have great credentials and I am sure The FA will make the right decision. "The players are paid to play and not make the decision about the manager. "As far as I am aware there has been no decision made and we will jut wait on that, as we will as well about the Newcastle job."

TURKISH midfield ace Emre hopes the experience he has picked up from his first campaign in English football will stand him in good stead for next season. Emre moved to Tyneside from Inter Milan last summer, and despite having more than his fair share on injury problems over the course of the season, he has become a firm favourite with the fans after some eye-catching displays. And Emre, who copuld return from injury to face Birmingham tomorrow, has dismissed claims he could be on the move in the summer by insisting he is looking forward to next season at St. James' Park. He told Newcastle World TV: "I am happy here, with the supporters and the city. "English football is different, but I have learned a lot this season. I think my second season will be much, much better. "I am looking forward to pre-season with the team, and I think next season will be a good one for both myself and the team."

BSkyB has won three of six packages giving it the right to broadcast English Premier League football games. The winners of the six different match packages will be able to show games for three years starting in 2007. BSkyB currently has exclusive rights, but a deal between the Premier League and the EU means other broadcasters get access to live Premiership coverage. The remaining TV rights will now go to a second round of bidding. Setanta, an Irish broadcaster, has said it may bid. Cable broadcaster NTL, BT Group and ITV have also been named as prospective bidders for the remaining three packages. A second round of bidding for the final three TV rights packages will take place in due course, the Premier League said, adding that it would not comment any further. BSkyB will not be allowed to win all six of the packages after the European Commission decided it had too strong a grip on the TV rights. In terms of consumer behaviour, you're going to go where you can get the most games The Commission had threatened to take legal action against the Premier League if it failed to give other broadcasters a slice of live TV coverage of matches. Each package is divided into 23 games. The Commission has insisted that at least two broadcasters must have a "viable and meaningful" share of football TV rights in England to ensure viewers have more choice. Analysts said that the most likely outcome of the bidding process was that BSkyB would win either four or five packages, with the remainder going to one of its rivals. Exane BNP Paribas analyst Philip Guest said that it would be difficult for a rival of Sky to win all three of the outstanding TV packages. "Sky could put all its remaining money on one package and have a majority of the games," he explained. "In terms of consumer behaviour, you're going to go where you can get the most games." More than a decade The Premier League is expected to earn about £1.1bn from the sale of TV rights, about 10% more than the last time they were on offer. BSkyB owns the current packages of live matches running until 2007, under a £1.024bn ($1.77bn) deal agreed with the Premier League in 2003. The satellite broadcaster has held the live rights to Premiership football in England since 1992, a position which has helped it become Britain's leading pay TV service. Other rights, including mobile rights, television highlights packages, and overseas rights, will be determined separately

That was if they had got to the FA cup final too.

I propose that we have a match where it is - Non Geordies and Exiles V The Geordies....

At least Gemmill would teach them to wash their hands after going to the toilet..

Sorry why the fuck would I get involved? I find the constant bitchfights as boring as most of the other people on here..

Whilst I do not want involved in the bitchfight, in fairness he never...