Nobby calls for Toon investment

[Scottish Mag 3]

Nolberto Solano feels Newcastle are approaching a pivotal period in their history.

 

The Magpies were title challengers in the late 1990s, but their star has dimmed in recent years and they have been stuck in the bottom half of the table for the last couple of seasons.

 

The ship is currently without a captain, as Glenn Roeder is in caretaker charge following the sacking of Graeme Souness, and the Peruvian winger is calling on the club to make the right appointment.

 

Solano also feels the squad needs an overhaul and is urging chairman Freddy Shepherd to dip his hand deep into his pocket.

 

"The people who might manage this club will be looking at us and deciding how competitive we can really be," he said in an interview with The Independent. "Can we get back to a level where we are fighting with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United like we were in my first spell with the club?

 

"I know our squad isn't strong enough yet. But we have to take risks this summer and try to get back to where we were. The top clubs are always taking risks whether they have been successful or not.

 

"The chairman and the board must decide where they want this club to be and then appoint the manager they think can take us there.

 

"It's so sad for the fans that this season has ended in this way. I feel bad for them, bad for Alan Shearer and bad for the club. The new manager has a big job but it could be a great job."

[TheInspiration 1]

That's why they're so disorganised - because we don't have a captain... always wondered what Shearer does.

 

Anyway, there's so many ares that need improvement, we can't possibly do something like ship out £30 million on Torres. We need to look for bargains and cheap, but reliable buys.

[Scottish Mag 3]

The full article -

 

Nolberto Solano: Master blaster

 

When not scoring with his trademark free-kicks, Newcastle's Nolberto Solano loves to play his trumpet, and is also a man of forthright opinions. In a remarkably frank interview, the Peruvian talks to Simon Rushworth about life on Tyneside, his friendship with Diego Maradona and why he wishes the English had colonised his country rather than Spain

 

Published: 08 April 2006

 

It is little wonder Nolberto Solano strolls into work every morning sporting a smile as wide as the River Tyne. Where once he climbed aboard a rickety school bus for the painful 40-minute journey to his junior football club, he now drives an air-conditioned German saloon the short distance from his leafy suburban home to Newcastle United's training ground.

 

Where, as the youngest child of seven raised in an unforgiving Lima favela, he was often forced to kick a tin can into a cardboard box, Solano now lines up a row of seven brand new leather footballs before dispatching each one over an imaginary wall and into the back of an empty net.

 

Where, as a 10-year-old with only his treasured trumpet for company, he once dreamed of playing football for a living, he now faces the reality of everyday life alongside Alan Shearer, Michael Owen and Shay Given. "I am very, very lucky," smiles the man they call Peru's David Beckham.

 

In an era when too many impressionable young Premiership footballers take their privileged lifestyle for granted, it is incredibly refreshing to discover that the English game is not entirely overrun by greed, self-promotion and immorality. Sure, Solano enjoys his nights out on Newcastle's Quayside and was even the subject of one particularly salacious tabloid sting last summer. However, nobody could seriously accuse the shy and retiring South American of bringing his profession into disrepute. "I owe football everything," he added. "I would never throw this away."

 

It is impossible to imagine this eloquent, well dressed, ambitious 31-year-old, who commands respect far beyond Newcastle's dressing-room, as a nervous teenager braced for a life of hardship as a result of poor education. If Solano's life now, compared to then, has been transformed beyond belief then his music remains the one constant.

 

"When I was at Boca Juniors my flatmate bought me a trumpet," explained Maradona's former midfield partner at the famous Buenos Aires club. "I told my friend I liked to play and he just turned up with it one day.

 

"I was in a band at school but I left when I was 14. Eight years later I signed for Boca and picked up a trumpet again. But I couldn't find a teacher in Argentina and I didn't push myself.

 

"When I moved to England I had the time to learn the instrument properly again. But I was inspired by my first neighbours in Newcastle. They had three children and all three played instruments. I was always hearing the flute or the saxophone through my walls.

 

"I asked the mother if she knew where I could get trumpet lessons. It turned out that the lady who taught her kids was married to a trumpet player. It started from there. At first I couldn't understand the trumpet teacher and a Spanish guy called Roberto translated. We became very good friends."

 

Solano has the ability to play music, as well as football, professionally but accepts he cannot excel at both, simultaneously. For now his beloved trumpet is a serious hobby. "I enjoy playing music," he added. "And I love listening to it. I have always felt fortunate playing football for Newcastle United and living in such a beautiful city. But on the bad days my music lifts my soul.

 

"When I am driving into training in the middle of December, and it is dark and cold outside, I play loud salsa music in my car. It makes me happy. It makes me want to train. It makes me want to score great goals in a black and white shirt."

 

Solano has specialised in scoring a number of truly great goals this season, following his much heralded return from Aston Villa on transfer deadline day last summer. His audacious right-footed effort against Everton at St James' Park was the Match of the Day goal of the month for February. Few players would have attempted to execute a curling shot from 18 yards with the outside of the boot. Even fewer would have succeeded.

 

That sublime touch, like so many of Solano's more artistic moments, was reminiscent of a young Maradona in his prime. The pair became close friends during their season together at Boca and they still talk today. "Maradona used to say I was his favourite player at the time," Solano said. "Imagine how that made me feel! When I moved to Boca, Maradona decided to return home and play football again in Argentina. He had had problems at the World Cup in 1994 and then went to work with Ben Johnson in Canada.

 

"In 1995 he decided to come out of retirement and he signed for Boca. I was very proud to play alongside him. It was an honour. I was so happy. We played for five or six months together and some days he was brilliant, some days he was not. But you never lose your talent and your skill. The biggest lesson I learnt from Maradona was to remain positive and be a winner. He was determined to win at everything he did.

 

"He was a big presence in the dressing-room. He got everyone going and he was happy to accept responsibility.

 

"He made you feel like the best player in the world. I thought my only chance of being on the same pitch as him would be if I played for Peru against Argentina but suddenly I had this wonderful opportunity."

 

Solano makes the most of his opportunities. However, it saddens one of Peru's rare sporting success stories that his fellow countrymen do not share his determination, ambition and desire to explore new horizons.

 

"When I was 10 or 11 I played with a lot of talented kids," he said. "When I was in the Under-14s we won everything. But I am the only one who made it out of Lima. That's the tragedy of Peru. We have quality but no organisation and that goes for everything, not just football.

 

"The mentality of Peruvian people means that too many players fall away. In Brazil and Argentina people are strong-minded and ambitious. In Peru it is the opposite. Uruguay is a country of three or four million people. We have 25 million. But just compare our records in the World Cup or our economies.

 

"Nobody believes they can make it to the top and nobody sets targets. It's like learning English at school. Nobody does it because they don't ever imagine they will need it. This lack of ambition is part of our culture. My people need to get out of Peru to truly appreciate what they have there and what opportunities are available to them."

 

Solano got out but he intends to go back. His immediate dream is to manage his boyhood favourites in Peruvian football's top division but he talks as if he has a far wider social agenda. His English teacher often tells him that he must learn to speak like a diplomat and, despite his protestations to the contrary, a move into the political arena cannot be ruled out.

 

"I talk to my friends about Peru's past and how we allowed the Spanish to colonise us so easily without gaining any of their expertise," he added. "Three or four hundred years ago the Spanish invaded Peru without any problem. They might have had horses and guns but we had 10,000 Incas against their few hundred invaders. How was it allowed to happen?

 

"Our problem, and it is no different now, is that we are a country of traitors. We stab each other in the back, we don't work together and we don't see the bigger picture. There are a lot of factions within the country. It's sad to say that. But Peru could be a great nation. Our land is rich, the seas around us are well stocked and we have a big population of working age. But there is corruption and in-fighting everywhere you look.

 

"We wish we had been colonised by the English. We look at the Commonwealth countries - places like South Africa and Australia - and see how successful they have become. We learnt nothing but our language from the Spanish. We have everything we need to live well but our people need to learn from the past to enjoy a good future."

 

Newcastle United would do well to do the same. With strong personalities such as Solano, Shearer and Given playing prominent roles in recent seasons it is one of football's great enigmas that the Magpies have lurched from one painful failure to the next. Another campaign mired in mid-table mediocrity has driven supporters to breaking point and the club appear no nearer to appointing Graeme Souness's permanent successor. Solano, working with his fifth Newcastle manager ahead of tomorrow's Tees-Tyne derby against Middlesbrough, is still confident North-east football's sleeping giant can stir again.

 

"The people who might manage this club will be looking at us and deciding how competitive we can really be," he added. "Can we get back to a level where we are fighting with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United like we were in my first spell with the club? I know our squad isn't strong enough yet. But we have to take risks this summer and try to get back to where we were. The top clubs are always taking risks whether they have been successful or not.

 

"The chairman and the board must decide where they want this club to be and then appoint the manager they think can take us there. It's so sad for the fans that this season has ended in this way. I feel bad for them, bad for Alan Shearer and bad for the club. The new manager has a big job but it could be a great job."

 

Of course Solano knows all about great jobs. In his eyes he has the greatest of them all. Premiership football has provided him with wealth beyond his wildest dreams but money is only the half of it.

 

"When I first arrived in Newcastle I didn't speak a word of English," he explained. "Nothing. It was very strange. In Peru if you don't go to a private school then learning a foreign language isn't an option.

 

"Nobody pushes you to speak English and nobody believes they will need English. People don't ever expect to leave the poorer parts of Peru and so they think Spanish is all they need. But I know how important it is. English is the first language of the world.

 

"When I moved here I saw it as a great opportunity to learn another language. It was important for me to be able to express my thanks when people helped me - just simple things like that made life a lot easier. Now I find Geordie easy. It was really difficult when I lived in Birmingham for 18 months - that accent is impossible to understand. Geordie is far simpler.

 

"You never know when a skill like English will be useful. After I retire as a player I want to be a coach and a manager. These days all the top clubs have players from all over the world but if I can speak Spanish and English that will give me an advantage over some others. One of my targets is to manage in Europe one day."

 

For Solano football, as in life, is all about setting and attaining new targets. If Maradona nurtured his friend's latent ambition, then his own father sowed the seeds more than 20 years ago. "My dad had different targets in life," added Solano.

 

"His only ambition was to provide food for his family every day and he did that. He joined the Navy to make sure we had a good wage coming in. It wasn't an easy life but he wanted more for his family. My father couldn't afford to buy me many toys. I was the youngest of seven children. It was difficult for him.

 

"Now kids have remote control cars, planes, PlayStations and all from a very young age. Football doesn't come into it unless it's on a video game.

 

"For me football was everything. The best thing me and my friends could find was a proper football and we played with it until it burst or was lost. I never stopped kicking a ball.

 

"My four-year-old son Mattias isn't impressed by football that much. He gets a lot of new toys which are more exciting than an old football.

 

"That's the difference between me and my son - we come from different backgrounds, different economic situations and different times," Solano said. "But I hope, one day, we will share the same values."

 

Beautiful game, beautiful music: Football's instrumentalists

 

* PELE & GARRINCHA (Former Brazilian strikers) Garrincha played the Brazilian cavaquinho guitar and taught Pele to play during the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.

 

* ANTON FERDINAND (West Ham defender) A drummer, singer and aspiring pianist, he could have been Peckham's answer to Ray Charles had he not become a West Ham regular.

 

* GIANFRANCO ZOLA (Former Chelsea striker) While Frank Lampard and co spent their afternoons in Ladbrokes, Zola simply went home and played the piano.

 

* ALEXI LALAS (Former US defender) Guitarist. Recorded three albums with The Gypsies and opened for Hootie and the Blowfish on tour.

 

* JOHN WELSH (Hull City midfielder) A violinist at school, Welsh could have been the next Nigel Kennedy, never mind the next Steven Gerrard.

 

* DION DUBLIN (Celtic defender) A fine saxophonist - with Nolberto Solano on trumpet, the Aston Villa side of 2003 had a mean brass section.

 

* FRANK CLARK (Former Nott'm Forest manager) The banjo and guitar playing gaffer famously binned Brian Clough's Sinatra collection after replacing him at Forest.

 

* GARY SPEED (Current Bolton midfielder) A talented guitarist, Solano's former team-mate has become the football equivalent to the road-weary Bob Dylan.

 

[LeazesMag 0]

Understand what he says, but he really should be more understanding of how much money we spent last year, and the summer before.

 

He's just came from a big city club with a REALLY shit chairman and board too, so should know better

[Ugly Mackems 133]

A good investment would be to sell a £6m striker for £3.5m and then watch him outscore our 3 strikers (individually slaughtered, collectively matched bar 2/3 goals) while firing a nonentity of a Premier League team to just about certain UEFA Cup qualification and a chance of Champions League with his 2 pearlers today taking his tally to 16.

 

I fucking hope Souness meets a painful end!

[LeazesMag 0]

A good investment would be to sell a £6m striker for £3.5m and then watch him outscore our 3 strikers (individually slaughtered, collectively matched bar 2/3 goals) while firing a nonentity of a Premier League team to just about certain UEFA Cup qualification and a chance of Champions League with his 2 pearlers today taking his tally to 16.

 

I fucking hope Souness meets a painful end!

117789[/snapback]

 

not good enough even for a fuckwit

[toongirlsrule*mackemsdont 0]

Bellamy imo is work just as much as Owen.

[Guest CrimsonFault]

Bellamy imo is work just as much as Owen.

117814[/snapback]

 

More.

 

Owen will never be able to match Bellamy's work rate and determination, or his goal tally this season.

[LeazesMag 0]

Bellamy imo is work just as much as Owen.

117814[/snapback]

 

More.

 

Owen will never be able to match Bellamy's work rate and determination, or his goal tally this season.

117858[/snapback]

 

and people like me who said how good he was a few years ago were scoffed at !!!

 

I agree. I would rather have Bellamy than Owen. Bellamy is one of the best forwards NUFC have had in the last 40 years or so I've been saying it since we signed him.

[Matt 0]

What I would like to see from the board is not simply megabucks to be spent on players.

 

For one reason or another we have seen very little back on the £25m spent on Owen and Luque.

 

We should be looking at how some of the 'lesser lights' of this league have seen better return on their investment. We seem to think it as a slight on how the club is perceived to sign a player for peanuts when a more glamourous opportunity arises.

 

We always try to sign players who could potentially play for us for 5 or more years. It's a lovely idea but football changes so quickly that such plans are optimistic at the best. There are a lot of decent pros available who could do a job for a couple of seasons. If we can blend these steady heads with younger players and a 'spine' of top quality players, then we will see more success on the pitch than we have in the last couple of seasons.

[Brock Manson 0]

Looking at the clubs facing relegation, I think it would be wise to purchase a few of their star players.

 

Whilst the teams may be shite, there are some good players in the bottom half of the leage; off the top of my head: David Dunn (bit injury-prone though), Julio Arca (seen him play a few times and always immpressed), Curtis Davies (I think that's his name, the highly-rated West Brom CB), Mathew Upson etc etc

 

Decent enough premiership players who wont cost too much and wont be expensive risks ala Luque.

[sammya 0]

I don't think you need investment half as much as you need the right manager. You've got good players. If that lad taylor ever comes back and can avoid that sniper in the villa crowd that's half of your most troublesome position sorted. You could do with another striker I spose even if Owen stays.

[LeazesMag 0]

I don't think you need investment half as much as you need the right manager. You've got good players. If that lad taylor ever comes back and can avoid that sniper in the villa crowd that's half of your most troublesome position sorted. You could do with another striker I spose even if Owen stays.

117918[/snapback]

 

Looking at the last few posts, I think its a mixture of not realising how big and good the club is, because of the Halls and Shepherd, and what we want to be and the reality of how difficult.

 

The fact that Aston Villa are one of a number of a huge big city clubs, just like us, who are nowhere near us in terms of turnover, support and achivement in the last decade is inidicative of how much we have superceded them and grown more than clubs like this, especially when you take into account for many many years they WERE much bigger than us, and have not just won more trophies than us since we did, in Villas case, have won the league title and the biggest of all the European Cup, as well as the League Cup.

 

What I'm saying is that for those who think that Shepherd is doing a crap job, well they are talking absolute bollocks, and the rise and fall and the way clubs like Villa are run is a classic example of how easy it is to fall, which I have pointed out before yet is ignored by those I presume to be naive of how the football world can so quickly change. Would you swap him for Doug Ellis, or the other dozen or so chairman running clubs who have also been more successful than us over the years, when we were really shit, and are plainly not interested in having the ambition to succeed now? Would you fuck.

 

In short, I agree with what the last poster says.

 

Newcastle United is a very well run club, a superbly run club in fact with an ambitious board who back the manager with more than enough money to succeed, unfortunately as there are only 2 [or 3] trophies are there to be won every year, then these managers who can do this are pretty thin on the ground. Not having one of them is hardly failure, but having the wrong one means you are pissing in the wind.

 

I now expect to be slaughtered by the skyboys, keegan bandwagon jumpers, those who use hindsight to form opinions, and those who think we have a divine right to find the 1-2% of managers that win trophies, the very opinion expressed that they slag off the chairman for saying the same sentiment that is scorned by the journalists who they latch onto themselves and ironically repeat .......

[Matt 0]

I don't think you need investment half as much as you need the right manager. You've got good players. If that lad taylor ever comes back and can avoid that sniper in the villa crowd that's half of your most troublesome position sorted. You could do with another striker I spose even if Owen stays.

117918[/snapback]

 

Fullbacks surely also an area of priority.

 

But surely you'd admit we've lacked squad depth this season? We'll not just be looking for first-teamers next summer but trying to find the right backup players too (which will most likely either be hopeful youngsters looking to break through or the odd player who is capable in the occasional game but whose best days are maybe a couple of years behind him).

 

The relatively small squad will prove a bonus in the summer because we won't have the kind of problems with the colossal mediocrity-filled squads that Gullit or Dalglish left behind.

[sammya 0]

Looking at the last few posts, I think its a mixture of not realising how big and good the club is, because of the Halls and Shepherd, and what we want to be and the reality of how difficult.

 

The fact that Aston Villa are one of a number of a huge big city clubs, just like us, who are nowhere near us in terms of turnover, support and achivement in the last decade is inidicative of how much we have superceded them and grown more than clubs like this, especially when you take into account for many many years they WERE much bigger than us, and have not just won more trophies than us since we did, in Villas case, have won the league title and the biggest of all the European Cup, as well as the League Cup.

 

What I'm saying is that for those who think that Shepherd is doing a crap job, well they are talking absolute bollocks, and the rise and fall and the way clubs like Villa are run is a classic example of how easy it is to fall, which I have pointed out before yet is ignored by those I presume to be naive of how the football world can so quickly change. Would you swap him for Doug Ellis, or the other dozen or so chairman running clubs who have also been more successful than us over the years, when we were really shit, and are plainly not interested in having the ambition to succeed now? Would you fuck.

 

In short, I agree with what the last poster says.

 

Newcastle United is a very well run club, a superbly run club in fact with an ambitious board who back the manager with more than enough money to succeed, unfortunately as there are only 2 [or 3] trophies are there to be won every year, then these managers who can do this are pretty thin on the ground. Not having one of them is hardly failure, but having the wrong one means you are pissing in the wind.

 

I now expect to be slaughtered by the skyboys, keegan bandwagon jumpers, those who use hindsight to form opinions, and those who think we have a divine right to find the 1-2% of managers that win trophies, the very opinion expressed that they slag off the chairman for saying the same sentiment that is scorned by the journalists who they latch onto themselves and ironically repeat .......

117920[/snapback]

 

Looking from outside in I think Shepherd's failed you in the handling of managers. Why sack Dalglish and Robson about 2-3 games into a season. That's ridiculous on so many levels. Why appoint Souness?

 

He does always seem to find the money to back the managers though well he has recently anyway. One thing I've never understood though is why you only brought in Bowyer on a free in 2003 after you'd just finished third. i would have thought you would have consolidated. Obviously as a liverpool fan i'm glad you didn't as we were both so dreadful the next season but somehow we managed to finish 4th and you 5th

 

That's all by the by though. Basically i think you need a top manager before you start worrying about more cash to spend. Most of the teams above you haven't got the talent in the squad that you have.

[sammya 0]

Fullbacks surely also an area of priority.

 

But surely you'd admit we've lacked squad depth this season? We'll not just be looking for first-teamers next summer but trying to find the right backup players too (which will most likely either be hopeful youngsters looking to break through or the odd player who is capable in the occasional game but whose best days are maybe a couple of years behind him).

 

The relatively small squad will prove a bonus in the summer because we won't have the kind of problems with the colossal mediocrity-filled squads that Gullit or Dalglish left behind.

117921[/snapback]

 

Yeah i forgot how bad Babayaro is whenever i see him. Maybe i just catch the wrong games and he's good for you the rest of the time. Is that the case?

 

As for the rest of it, obviously you'd be better if you had better players, i'm not gonna disagree, I just think you've got a good enough base there to add a cb and a striker and be a good side. But before worrying about the money i'd worry about the manager that's all. It just seemed like Solano in that snippet was running away with himself

[Baggio 0]

Owen will never be able to match Bellamy's work rate and determination, or his goal tally this season.

117858[/snapback]

 

Aye, because he's never managed to score 17 in a season before

 

Bellamy is a top Premiership player but Owen is a World class talent and finisher.

Edited April 9, 2006 by Baggio

[LeazesMag 0]

Looking at the last few posts, I think its a mixture of not realising how big and good the club is, because of the Halls and Shepherd, and what we want to be and the reality of how difficult.

 

The fact that Aston Villa are one of a number of a huge big city clubs, just like us, who are nowhere near us in terms of turnover, support and achivement in the last decade is inidicative of how much we have superceded them and grown more than clubs like this, especially when you take into account for many many years they WERE much bigger than us, and have not just won more trophies than us since we did, in Villas case, have won the league title and the biggest of all the European Cup, as well as the League Cup.

 

What I'm saying is that for those who think that Shepherd is doing a crap job, well they are talking absolute bollocks, and the rise and fall and the way clubs like Villa are run is a classic example of how easy it is to fall, which I have pointed out before yet is ignored by those I presume to be naive of how the football world can so quickly change. Would you swap him for Doug Ellis, or the other dozen or so chairman running clubs who have also been more successful than us over the years, when we were really shit, and are plainly not interested in having the ambition to succeed now? Would you fuck.

 

In short, I agree with what the last poster says.

 

Newcastle United is a very well run club, a superbly run club in fact with an ambitious board who back the manager with more than enough money to succeed, unfortunately as there are only 2 [or 3] trophies are there to be won every year, then these managers who can do this are pretty thin on the ground. Not having one of them is hardly failure, but having the wrong one means you are pissing in the wind.

 

I now expect to be slaughtered by the skyboys, keegan bandwagon jumpers, those who use hindsight to form opinions, and those who think we have a divine right to find the 1-2% of managers that win trophies, the very opinion expressed that they slag off the chairman for saying the same sentiment that is scorned by the journalists who they latch onto themselves and ironically repeat .......

117920[/snapback]

 

Looking from outside in I think Shepherd's failed you in the handling of managers. Why sack Dalglish and Robson about 2-3 games into a season. That's ridiculous on so many levels. Why appoint Souness?

 

He does always seem to find the money to back the managers though well he has recently anyway. One thing I've never understood though is why you only brought in Bowyer on a free in 2003 after you'd just finished third. i would have thought you would have consolidated. Obviously as a liverpool fan i'm glad you didn't as we were both so dreadful the next season but somehow we managed to finish 4th and you 5th

 

That's all by the by though. Basically i think you need a top manager before you start worrying about more cash to spend. Most of the teams above you haven't got the talent in the squad that you have.

117925[/snapback]

 

I presume you are new to the board mate, it has been pointed out before that although we got Bowyer for free in the summer 2003, we did buy Woodgate for 9m in the January transfer window, rather than wait 6 months until someone else nicked him, the only major transfer during the window that year. People who just want to bash the directors though [although they didn't when we were in the CL only a short time ago] pick up on the same point as you, but ignore the Woodgate transfer, even when it is pointed out. We also spent over 40m quid on players in 2 years or so to get from a mid table place to being back in the Champions League/top places, I understand there comes a point where you cannot sustain this indefinitely, although this is also pointed out and totally ignored by those who don't.

 

The problem with Shepherd sacking managers, is that it is reactive, and actually wanted by the majority of supporters at the time, so to criticise is a bit out of order if they agree with it. It is hard to say if the timing is good or not. If the timing is bad, then should we have kept Gullit and not appointed Robson ? No, the real issue is simply getting the right man, if you do this the timing is irrelevant. Most supporters in question, especially before the sacking of Gullit and Robson, were quite optimistic at the start of the seasons in question, if they say differently with hindsight they are basically lying. The club had a bad start to the season so sacked the manager. Supporters who were slating the club for sacking Gullit and Robson at the start of the season were then slating the club for sticking with Souness....

 

We need a top manager right enough, but who ?

 

I'm glad it isn't my decision, because it seems that people want managers with good CV's but slag off Dalglish for being "shit" when he had an outstanding CV. Then they say we can't attract top managers when we have attracted Dalglish, Gullit, Robson, all trophy winning managers, 2 of whom had an impeccable backround.

 

The right manager for us may not necessarily be a trophy winner, but you can bet your arse if we appoint someone who hasn't got a winning CV you'll hear the moaning hundreds of miles away. Then if we do appont a trophy winning manager, for instance Houillier, you'll hear the same whinging. I stand by the view that everything is in place at the club, but at the moment we are at a crossroads like you were when your own directors got it wrong with Souness, Evans and the daft double act with Houillier, which just goes to show that not everyone gets it right.

 

In fact, your ambition is to win the league again, but I must be honest I can't see Benitez doing that, Wenger is the only manager capable of toppling both manu and Chelsea while Abramovic is there.

 

If I could appoint any manager in the World for NUFC, it would be Wenger without a shadow of doubt.

[sammya 0]

I presume you are new to the board mate, it has been pointed out before that although we got Bowyer for free in the summer 2003, we did buy Woodgate for 9m in the January transfer window, rather than wait 6 months until someone else nicked him, the only major transfer during the window that year. People who just want to bash the directors though [although they didn't when we were in the CL only a short time ago] pick up on the same point as you, but ignore the Woodgate transfer, even when it is pointed out. We also spent over 40m quid on players in 2 years or so to get from a mid table place to being back in the Champions League/top places, I understand there comes a point where you cannot sustain this indefinitely, although this is also pointed out and totally ignored by those who don't.

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I'll give you that Woodgate transfer. I'd forgotten when it was. It was about 9mil wasn't it? With ridsale in charge you could have got him for about £2mill though He was an idiot.

 

But my initial point was that I think you do back your managers with cash. I don't think investment is the problem.

 

The problem with Shepherd sacking managers, is that it is reactive, and actually wanted by the majority of supporters at the time, so to criticise is a bit out of order if they agree with it.

 

But he's the chairman. He's the leader. It's his job to make the tough calls, he can't blame the fans.

 

It is hard to say if the timing is good or not. If the timing is bad, then should we have kept Gullit and not appointed Robson ? No, the real issue is simply getting the right man, if you do this the timing is irrelevant. Most supporters in question, especially before the sacking of Gullit and Robson, were quite optimistic at the start of the seasons in question, if they say differently with hindsight they are basically lying. The club had a bad start to the season so sacked the manager.

 

But if you sack the manager after a couple of games it means that season's budget has been spent and the manager hasn't had a pre-season to sort it out. It's also an admission you got the wrong guy in the first place. Either Shepherd appointed the wrong guy or got the sacking wrong. Either way you can hardly call it stunning leadership.

 

Supporters who were slating the club for sacking Gullit and Robson at the start of the season were then slating the club for sticking with Souness....

 

We need a top manager right enough, but who ?

 

I'm glad it isn't my decision, because it seems that people want managers with good CV's but slag off Dalglish for being "shit" when he had an outstanding CV. Then they say we can't attract top managers when we have attracted Dalglish, Gullit, Robson, all trophy winning managers, 2 of whom had an impeccable backround.

 

The right manager for us may not necessarily be a trophy winner, but you can bet your arse if we appoint someone who hasn't got a winning CV you'll hear the moaning hundreds of miles away. Then if we do  appont a trophy winning manager, for instance Houillier, you'll hear the same whinging.

 

I don't know who you should appoint but i know there are good managers out there. I don't know whether you went for Le Guen or not but it looks like Rangers for him. This Hitzfeld campaign is a bit funny because from what i can work out about 4 Newcastle supporters keep texing and emailing loads of different shows demanding him. I'm not too close to it though and I could be wrong so tell me if i am.

 

Personally I think if you get O'neill you'll get back to being a real force. Idon't know if you want him or he wants you. I can't see why you wouldn't be interested in each other though. You've got a base though a really good base. Mind you you did when you appointed Souness too.

 

And I don't know why on earth there would be a -ve reaction to Houllier who won lots at Liverpool and is running away with the french league and shouls have beaten AC milan to get into the semis. Each to their own though.

 

I stand by the view that everything is in place at the club, but at the moment we are at a crossroads like you were when your own directors got it wrong with Souness, Evans and the daft double act with Houillier, which just goes to show that not everyone gets it right.

 

You won't find me ever saying we got every decision correct. I wouldn't bother because it's patently untrue. There's no point sticking up for a failing regime. Always give credit where it's due and criticism where it's due, unless they're paying you.

 

In fact, your ambition is to win the league again, but I must be honest I can't see Benitez doing that, Wenger is the only manager capable of toppling both manu and Chelsea while Abramovic is there.

 

I think the guy who won two spanish titles against Barca, depor and Real Madrid, won the Uefa cup then the European Cup in his first year with a group of players not his own and is on course to get 80points in his second season may just do alright. Call it a hunch.

[Matt 0]

Shepherd should not be criticised for the timing of Robson's sacking, simply because it wasn't his decision.

 

Anyway, why are we going over old ground? The point in question is what where we need to improve the squad, given our likely transfer budget.