Murrr

Read the last paragraph. Legend.

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Think the bloke sounds like an irritating little cockmuncher tbh.

6-0, Europe here we come!

Remember folks, it's need not greed!

Magpies swoop for Strachan - done deal!

Sky Sports | Football | Transfer Centre | Done Deal | Magpies swoop for Strachan

Christ you almost had me there...

Although apparently we're making an approach for Harry Redknapp tomorrow. A massive sidestep if ever there was one.

Busy day today!

Steve Paterson just got sacked from Peterheid, with Neale Cooper taking over!

Pele for the Toon!

Newcastle crack me up. Why can't their fans see that this is their level? They are not a top team, and haven't been for a mighty long time. Allardyce was the best available man for the job, and now what are they going to do? Hire Shearer? McLaren? Harry Redknapp has built a good squad at Pompey, so I can't see him taking a sideways step. Give Gary Megson a call!

Sammy Lee tbh.

Urby just doesn't look the part for me, Chimbonda is better. I think there are better right backs out there that would be more useful than him to be honest.

I think we need an experienced centre back and left back and a good young left winger with a bit of pace. A natural left footer would be much more appealing as all we have at the mo is Malbranque who only seems capable of cutting into the centre, though he is a good player.

I don't think we need another central midfielder really, freeing up Malbranque from the wing would add him as another option for midfield and we've already got a glut of young solid midfielders. And we don't need another goalkeeper, Robinson just needs to have a little bit more faith in his ability again as he certainly is the part on his best days in goal.

I think we should ditch bent and promote a youngster from the reserves to act as cover for Defoe, Berbatov and Keane. Tomas Pekhart would be the obvious choice, but i'm sure Simon Dawkins or Andy Barcham are more than capable too given the chance to shine.

Fair enough; I rate Chimbonda pretty highly, thought he and Emanuelson played on opposite sides through (Chimbonda at RB, Emanuelson at LB)? Could be wrong.

I think I'm actually one of the few non-Spurs fans around that actually still rates Robinson; after the Croatia game his confidence just looks totally shot. I think a spell on the sidelines could do him well and give him the kick up the arse he clearly needs, because I do think he is a top class keeper on his day.

Pekhart is the big Czech lad, right? Not bad in FM

What do you reckon of Jenas, how's he doing for your lot? He was pretty poor in his last couple of seasons for us, Gary Speed was carrying him in the centre, but I imagine he's improved a bit since then?

Yes. Yes yes yes.

And, Matthew, I don't think Hutton looked too clever for Italy's first goal and his "great block" from Di Natale was actually him getting hit in the back after getting caught ball watching.

I really hate the trend towards "full-backs" who are just failed wingers, or wingers in a team that doesn't use them. If they can be converted into balanced, defensively adept players (Gianluca Zambrotta is a perfect example of this) then I'm all for it, because obviously I can see the benefit of attacking full backs to stretch the game beyond a packed central midfield. Otherwise, though, I think the cost in terms of defensive instability is generally far greater than the attacking gain from players who, like Hutton, are rarely anything special going forward. The drooling over mere willingness to get forward is very, very irritating.

The following are, in my opinion, ridiculously overrated: Dani Alves, Massimo Oddo, Ashley Cole, Fabio Grosso, Wayne Bridge.

If you're talking over-rated fullbacks here, you might as well throw in the Grand Daddy of them all: John Arne Riise.

Why we are consistently pursuing sub-par players like Woodgate, Elmander, Hutton, Emanuelson, Maniche etc is beyond me. They are not going to bring anything to the team that we don't already have in abundance. We do, granted, need a good, solid left back because Bale will take a while to settle in and Lee just isn't good enough.

To be honest, of all the players you've listed there I'd say Elmander and Hutton (does the management not like Chimbonda or something? I think he's a canny player) are the only ones who wouldn't improve the Spurs team. I don't think Woodgate is as good as King but I do think that on his day he's top class; a clean tackler, good leader and a cool head, pretty similar to Ledley in fact. Of course his injury record is pretty abysmal, but he did manage to stay fit for the vast majority of last season anyway. I still rate him highly after his Newcastle spell; he managed to turn around a defence that included Andy O'Brien, Titus Bramble and Olivier Bernard, that's gotta be worth something.

Out of curiosity, why do you think Urby Emanuelson is sub-par? Every time I've seen him he's been absolute class, especially going forward, and he's only 21. If you had him and Bale I think you guys would be sorted at leftback for the next 10+ years.

I was talking to a Spurs fan the other day and he reckoned you guys needed a goalkeeper, leftback, centreback, central midfielder and a left winger, what do you reckon of that assessment? Sounds about right to me, but obviously I'm not a Spurs fan *shrugs*.

You've got a great manager in though, I'm sure Tottenham will be at least sniffing around the UEFA cup places this season.

aren't a lot of the fans wanting shearer?? usually when a former player returns as manager its a disaster and shearer has proved to be a terrible pundit so lord knows how bad he would be as a manager!!! i'm sure hanson has persuaded him that his future lies on the MOTD couch.

but this new owner bloke likes hanging around with the toon army doesn't he? capello is the man for the job i think but sadly he's taken! it needs a capello or lippi to sort out the mess that is newcastle fc. it needs someone who can get the best out of the squad - on paper they should be in a european place but as we all know paper means jack shit!!!

A lot of our, how do I put this, "less mentally sophisticated" fans want Shearer in charge at the moment. Don't get me wrong, there is nobody I'd rather see leading us towards a trophey than Alan but employing someone with no managerial experience is a stupid idea given our current situation. It worked for Sunderland in the Championship fair enough, but I'd rather see him learning how to do things at a lower level first.

Mike Ashley loves a bit of sitting with the fans which is admirable but I think it may have contributed towards Sam's downfall. Ashley admits himself that he doesn't know a great deal about the game, so imagine what effect sitting around a bunch of mad Geordies chanting "You're getting sacked in the morning" and "We're shite and we're sick of it" might have had on him.

I would absolutely LOVE Marcello Lippi, that would be a phenomenal appointment, Capello would have been brilliant too, but I don't think it's going to happen. I get the impression we're going to end up with Redknapp or someone of that ilk.

not suprised but the timing is a wee bit odd - allerdyce was talking to sky sports news this afternoon!! he looked really under pressure mind. thats 8 premiership managers have gone this season all ready!

so who next for the toon gig? i think it might tempt a foreigner, the last three appointments have proved disastrous. i'll laugh me socks off if shearer gets it

Sky Sports are reporting that it's going to be someone British. If that's the case I think it'll be little more than a sidestep for the club, and Christ, if Steve McClaren gets it I'm going to wring someone's neck. There was some mong on SSN saying "Mike Ashley should take the job with Gazza as his assistant"... laugh? I almost pissed myself.

Shearer would be a terrible appointment.

PS: nae Shearer!

Ta.

Sam Allardyce is no longer at Newcastle. Not sure what has happened.

"Mutual agreement," apparently. Can't say I'm happy about this, although if we can somehow convince Marcello Lippi to manage a mediocre mid-table EPL side with ridiculous fans then I won't complain...

The pantomime that is Newcastle United rolls on!

And probably end up sitting on the bench, as, in my opinion, none of them are anywhere near Premiership quality.

Saw it last night and thought it was an utter load of pish, especially the ridiculous Hollywood ending. "Oh look, there's the colony LOL!"

So Michael Hart would rather play against Barnsley, Scunthorpe and Colchester than Bayern Munich? Good to see a bit of ambition in our players

Seriously though, I can see his point... if I was (allegedly) getting paid less than Jamie Winter was I'd want to leave too.

Aberdeen FC have called a press conference for tomorrow. Which, to me, indicates only one thing: Calderwood is resigning.

I think the four contract "rebels" will be offski too. The club is in a bit of a state right now.

Yeah, was just about to post this.

Lets be honest, you don't call a press coference to announce if some players are staying at the club or not; I think JC's a goner. Could be wrong tho.

i think the problem at newcastle is that the weight of expectation from the toon army must affect the players and the management. its a bit like man poo in the 80's when bar a couple of FA cups they won fuck all. on paper newcastle have a decent side but for quite some time havent delivered on the pitch. i think they should stick with big sam for now its gonna take time to turn it around and as newcastle have proved changing your managers as regularly as your underwear doesn't guarentee success.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Big Sam is right when he says it is a 3-5 year job but he needs to stop playing people in ridiculous positions (Martins on the wing, N'Zogbia at LB, Smith at CM) and switch from the 4-3-3 system he's been using. I do have faith in him getting it right, unfortunately too many of our fans are impatient imbeciles who think we should be top six every year .

I actually know people who want Sam to be sacked and Shearer to be installed. Jesus fucking wept.

We were fucking ghastly, thought Stevie T and Faye were the best two players on the pitch though. Michael Owen was about a mile off the pace, David Rozehnal is a fucking bombscare and by Christ do we need some creativity in the centre... Kazenga LuaLua made more forward runs in 15 minutes than Smith and Butt did in 90.

We're shite and we're sick of it!

But I don't think most Dons fans would be too concerned if Clark did move on... Apparently Diamond has made noises that there will be changes afoot...

I'll be well gutted if Hart, Zander and Barry Nic leave, Clark can fuck right off though. Their deadline's tomorrow, isn't it?

Newcastle vs. Stoke today, could be Big Sam's last stand if we don't win. I suppose the one positive of a manager change is that a new manager probably wouldn't want to sign Kevin Nolan.

I really rate Nolan, can you tell?

Testament - "The Gathering"

The Fountain OST

Thrice - "The Alchemy Index Vol. I & II"

Raging Speedhorn - "Before The Sea Was Built"

Throttlerod - "Hell & High Water"

And after a the post-rock thread:-

Mogwai - "Mr. Beast"

Explosions In The Sky - "Those Who Tell The Truth"

Godspeed You Black Emperor - "F# A# Oo"

This Will Destroy You - "Young Mountain"

Mono - "You Are There"

Actually, I'm quite looking forward to the new Metallica for the fact that it could be a good laugh if nothing else

i've always liked nolan think he would be a decent addition to most squads in the premiership

I think he's a pretty shoddy grafter and I fail to see what he'd bring to the team; I know a Bolton fan, even he hates him. Each to their own I guess.

Going pretty fucking dreadfully for the Toon at the moment. Rumours today suggesting that Big Sam is about to punt Emre for Steve Sidwell or Kevin Nolan (who are nothing players, in my opinion) .

I like Big Sam and I think he should be given at least until the end of the season to prove himself, but he seems hell bent on replacing every creative/flair player we have in the squad with some bloody hopeless grafter. Not saying that Emre is some kind of midfield genius or anything, but he's a heck of a lot more exciting to watch than Butt, Geremi, Smith and Barton, and he does try to drag us away from the disgusting long ball crap we've been playing this season. Not only that but he's dug us out of the shite a couple of times this year too.

Can you imagine a midfield of Nolan - Butt - Barton in Big Sam's beloved 4-3-3 formation? Jesus wept.

All graft and no flair makes me very sad

Seem to remember a Scotsport argument where Andy Wanker said as soon as you get contact in the box you should fall to the ground, and Graham Spiers retorted "Would you throw yourself to the ground if you bumped into someone on the street?"

I'd imagine Lee Miller avoids Union Street at all costs; just think of all those prams and old ladies that could bump into him!? He could fly under a bus!

That's a corker.