Scottish Mag

1-0 down... Bramble falls on his arse again...

DANNY MURPHY is ready to quit Charlton, with Manchester City and Newcastle battling for his £3million signature. The England World Cup hopeful is unsettled at The Valley and has not been seeing eye-to-eye with boss Alan Curbishley. Newcastle chief Graeme Souness is ready to offer former Charlton star Lee Bowyer and possibly Amdy Faye in a swap deal. City boss Stuart Pearce is also a big fan of the player and could switch his focus to Murphy as his pursuit of Fulham's Steed Malbranque looks doomed. Pearce will look to chairman John Wardle to fund the deal which should not be a problem as City have major finances available after the £21m summer sale of Shaun Wright-Phillips to Chelsea. However, Newcastle appear to be in pole position with Curbishley keen on a deal for Bowyer who wants to return to London. Curbishley said: "It is no secret Bowyer wants to come back to London if he can. I think he will look at us in that respect. "At the moment we have made no bid for Bowyer and Newcastle have got Parker doubtful and Emre out. "Once the window opens, we will see."

JERMAINE Jenas and former boss Graeme Souness were last night at odds over why the mid fielder qui t Newcastle. The England star says he needed a "breath of fresh air" to reinvigorate himself, and make sure he kept progressing. Jenas made the £7million switch to White Hart Lane on the same day Newcastle signed Michael Owen. But Toon boss Souness has disputed the player's reasons for leaving Tyneside and says he joined Spurs to be closer to his friends. The Newcastle chief insisted there is no way he could have kept Jenas at St James' Park, despite wanting to pair him with Scott Parker in central midfield. Jenas, who is close pals with Spurs stars Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe, said: "It was something I thought would be for the best, both for my career and for myself. "There was nothing to it other than I felt my career would progress if I moved on. "During certain times in a career I think it is best to get a breath of fresh air at a different place and I certainly think the move has furthered my game. "I think I am now improving as a footballer and that is what it is all about. I learnt so much under Sir Bobby Robson when I first moved there and I feel the club developed my game so much. "But a change is sometimes needed and that is why I asked for a move. "I had some absolutely amazing times at Newcastle and the fans were fantastic to me. I would be the first to cheer them if they won anything." Souey says he wanted to keep the young star, but Jenas was adamant he wanted out of Tyneside to further his career in London. Souness said: "We didn't want to sell him. But he was determined to leave. "Several of his mates are at Tottenham, which was always going be attractive for him. We were a reluctant seller. We bought Scott Parker to play with JJ. He is a young man who will only get better, he is on the fringes of the England team. "He is someone who made it very difficult for us to keep him. There had been murmurs before hand that he wanted to go. "He has the potential to be an England regular but there is strong competition. He will get better. It's how much better he gets. He has done all right since I has been there." Jenas has certainly made progress in Martin Jol's revitalised Spurs, with a Champions League place back on the agenda, while Newcastle need a run of wins to rekindle their hopes of European football. The 22-year-old has scored three goals in 16 games for Spurs and has hit a consistent vein of form recently. "I am enjoying my football and I have settled in very quickly at Spurs," Jenas added. "We are doing well this season but it is still very early days. Success breeds expectation and the expectation at Spurs is that we should be playing in Europe next season."

Newcastle boss Graeme Souness feels Kieron Dyer is a month away from returning to action, while Emre will not be rushed back. Dyer has been plagued by injury problems for the last couple of seasons and suffered a fresh setback recently, while Turkish star Emre damaged his hamstring once again in December and is struggling for fitness. Souness feels there is light at the end of the tunnel for Dyer, but does not expect him to be gracing the Newcastle engine room for another month. "I got a call from someone who knows him saying he's feeling great, because I gave him a week off and he's been in Ipswich," said Souness. "But Kieron, I would imagine, is a month away. If everything went to plan, Kieron would be somewhere in the region of three to four weeks away before you would see him in a strip." Turkish international Emre has returned to his native land to seek out a cure for his injury and is not due back on Tyneside until next week. "He went to Turkey to see a specialist that he has great faith in and Emre will be back here on Monday," added the Scottish tactician. "With lots of foreigners, you know that when they come to this country and pick up an injury they have had before they will look to be treated by someone who has treated them before. "It's not a unique situation in football."

Who is showing face before Boro then?

Jean-Alain Boumsong is being linked with a move to Marseille as reports in the North East claim Graeme Souness would like to re-sign Jonathan Woodgate. Newcastle United will no doubt be involved in the January sales and Real Madrid stopper Woodgate, who has been severely hampered by injuries in the Spanish capital, is reportedly an ambitious target for the Tyneside outfit. It has been suggested that Woodgate and Albert Luque could swap clubs in a loan arrangement between the two clubs, who enjoy a very good working relationship. Woodgate has always maintained his determination to prove himself at El Santiago Bernabeu, while Souness and chairman Freddy Shepherd have insisted Luque is staying put. Boumsong, meanwhile, is rumoured to be unsettled in the North East and his mother, who also manages his interests, has been spotted at Marseille recently, sparking talk in the French media that a move could be on the cards. L'OM would surely not be able to afford the former Rangers defender's wages and Liverpool have already complained about the Stade Velodrome side's apparent attempts to line up a move for Djibril Cisse. Marseille are always busy in the transfer market and have taken Benoit Angbwa, Jerome Bonnissel and Hamdi Harbaoui on trial. Coach Jean Fernandez will wait to see who he will be working with once the January transfer window slams shut but any switch for Boumsong would appear to represent a difficult avenue to go down.

Graveson will end up at Man United IMO...

Admit it, you love her "crazy antics"....

I would take Graveson in a minute... We go on about having to many midfielders but for me we only have two central midfielders of any quality in Parker and Emre. And what with Emres poor injury record continuing in his Toon career i would snap Graveson up. Whilst i feel Luque is a fantastic talent (as seen in La Liga) if the money was put to good use it could actually be a very good move.

Our following matches have been selected by Sky for live broadcast: Everton (H) Saturday 25th February 2006 Kick off changes to 5.15pm Premier Plus (PPV) Man Utd (A) Moved from Saturday 11th to Sunday 12th March 2006 Kick off - 1.30pm Sky Sports Liverpool (H) Moved from Saturday 18th to Sunday 19th March 2006 Kick off - 1.30 pm Sky Sports

I was back in Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but i am now off until the 10th.

West Ham manager Alan Pardew has launched an angry broadside at his opposite number Graeme Souness following comments attributed to the Scot in the aftermath of Newcastle's 3-2 win at Upton Park earlier this month. Souness's assertion that some of The Hammers side were scared at the prospect of facing striker Michael Owen left Pardew incredulous. And Pardew has even gone as far as to offer a few words of advice to Souness regarding the Scot's future conduct. "The one thing I hate about other managers is waffle that is nowhere near the truth," said Pardew. "I would never conduct myself like that. My honest assessment of the Newcastle game is that we were great and, but for a few errors that were clinically punished by Michael Owen, we would have won with a bit to spare. "Standing on the side watching our team outplay and out-manoeuvre Newcastle, and listening to the comments coming from their bench and the frustration of how the game was unfolding, it was ironic to hear Graeme Souness say afterwards that our two centre halves were scared. "I thought that was complete nonsense." The sides have already played each other twice this season following August's goalless draw at St James' Park and barring the clubs being paired together in the FA Cup an imminent reunion is out of the question. But Pardew believes Souness's comments will ultimately backfire on the Scot whether it is this season or next. "He should have known better than to criticise players on the opposite team," added Pardew. "We will make sure we remember that when we play them again."

Well i`m glad i never booked into a hotel tonight what a waste of a trip that would have been...

It said p-p on the bar along the bottom five minutes ago...

His staff are all useless. 71488[/snapback] Were the medical staff not already employed by the club and not actually part of the "old boys" group?

Who makes the decision to sign £8 million donkeys? 71487[/snapback] We have physios that cost 8 million pound?

The club employs physios and a medical team whose expertise decide who is fit and who isn't. Managers make decisions on the fitness of players based on the assessments of this team. They must be held responsible for players being rushed back if they tell the manager that they are fit enough. But then its all to easy to lay all the blame on Souness..

Or if you are a student, like you are GF, it does not matter what age you are..

It is arguable that Graeme Souness's most striking achievement in his 16 months as manager of Newcastle United was persuading Alan Shearer to postpone his retirement and play on this season. Now Souness has hinted he may repeat the trick for 2006-07. "Last year I said I do not see a player on the training ground who is ready to pack in and there's nothing that's happened in the last six months to suggest that," said Souness yesterday. "We'll see what happens over the next six months but I certainly wouldn't close any doors. It would have to come from him but, if he's still playing like he has in recent weeks, he still has an enormous part to play." Shearer, 35 and one goal away from equalling Jackie Milburn's club record of 200, has appeared revitalised in the last two weeks, a development that has occurred after a hernia operation. He was magnificent in the 1-0 defeat of Arsenal and scored in Newcastle's 4-2 victory at West Ham United on Saturday. Souness said: "Since his operation he looks to have found another yard from somewhere and that, coupled with the fact he's playing with Michael [Owen], he really enjoys that. They have an understanding which goes back to when they played together with England. Only he [shearer] knows how much that [hernia] was holding him back; certainly it was having an effect on him, because it does." Shearer is yet to respond but is expected to retire in May and take up a role as a BBC pundit. But Souness's charm offensive has started. "In my opinion Alan Shearer is the greatest English centre-forward there has ever been - without a shadow of a doubt," he added. "If you were a player playing with him I think you would realise how good he is. You can bounce the ball off him all day. He makes average balls into great balls. He is the scorer of every type of goal going. He plays the centre-forward role in the hardest fashion where he has generally got his back against where he wants to be going and against men who are generally a lot bigger than him. He is not the biggest and people would be surprised if they met him in the street at the size of him." Shearer and Newcastle go to Liverpool on Boxing Day, the first of four Premiership matches in eight days - a schedule that Souness yesterday criticised. "Whoever makes the decisions to play the games as close together as they are does not understand football," he said.

Will not be making Charlton, but will be showing face pre match for the Boro game.

I had just read about that -