Holden McGroin

Moving jobs?

You can only go upwards from that. Granted.

Teams like Man U rarely get beat twice on the bounce.

Thats terrible.

FYP. Its not even banter. He has talked absolute shit tonight. I suspect he has been drinking.

Why is he not playing? I've seen pictures of him training for about a month now. Something fishy going on there. I wonder if we just dont want to play him to save money.

Ketsbaia has this cult following but he was generally poor. He looks good on You Tube but wasn't good enough for us at the time. He'd probably get in the current team though.

So why are you getting him Christened then? Pleb.

Has Ranger actually done anything wrong outside of football since he has been here?

Why do you keep saying this? read the thread. I have but I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Is it a freedom of speech angle?

Wall street 2 - 6/10 Carey Mulligan just isn't hot either.

I should have known as soon as I lumped on Bolton... FFS.

Why do you keep saying this?

Samba seems to have some beef with Salgado as well. Stupid sacking to be fair. Can't say I wasn't happy about it though.

I think Blackburn will escape - just. Now that Fat-head isn't there anymore my hatred for Blackburn has lifted. I bet he'd love it if you guys go down as well.

Sunday Sun AS Michael Owen prepares for the possibility of a rocky return to St James’ Park, the man who brokered the club-record deal to bring him to Newcastle admits the dream signing he toasted six years ago turned into a “nightmare”. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Sun to mark Owen’s comeback, former Magpies chairman Freddy Shepherd confesses signing the England striker was the “worst” transfer of his Toon tenure. While hitting back at the wise-after-the-event merchants who might contend that the deal was doomed from the start, Shepherd admits Newcastle didn’t get value for money for the mega deal to bring him home from an unhappy spell in Spain. And he argues that the striker should have done more in the community to justify his £5million-a-year wages. A candid Shepherd said: “It was probably the worst deal I did at Newcastle. “That is just being frank. We paid £16million and we didn’t get £16million worth of value out of him. “It was a nightmare from an injury perspective. “And there was no added value off the pitch . . . the added value was nil off the pitch. “I’m not having a go at the kid as he was fine when he got on the pitch.” Toon fans’ views of Owen have been coloured by his catastrophic injury record which meant that United only saw the best of him in fits and starts – just 58 of them in the Premier League to be precise. An up-and-down four years, which bore 26 top-flight goals, concluded at Villa Park with a feeble relegation under the tutelage of Alan Shearer – the man he had been signed to partner in a tilt at the title. Shepherd recalls: “He came with great hopes, and people have subsequently said it wasn’t such a good deal. “But hindsight is a great management tool. “There were 25,000 people in St James’ Park who thought it was a good deal at the time and so did the media, from the coverage we got. Everybody at the beginning thought it was a good deal. “Without a doubt we bought a top, top player. He was the man for England. The No 1 striker. We recognised that when we signed him for £16million. “Alan Shearer was over the moon. We asked his advice and he said: ‘Sign him – he’s a great player’. “He thought it was a great idea. Everyone at the time thought it was the way to go. I think Souness said ‘Our season starts here’. People couldn’t believe we had got him. “And he was never injured at Madrid! But as soon as he came to Newcastle he got those problems. “Within five months he got injured and after that it was downhill injury-wise. “On reflection, maybe I think he would have preferred to go somewhere else. In his heart of hearts I believe that he didn’t want to come to Newcastle, but we were the only game in town.” The subsequent criticism of Owen was that he didn’t embrace the region or the unspoken responsibilities of being a marquee name like others have. While other big-money signings – David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, Tino Asprilla and Rob Lee to name but four – happily integrated, Owen did not. That will be reflected in the crowd’s reaction to him if he plays a part on Tuesday. Shepherd admits he found the striker a “detached” personality. He said: “His problems were his injuries – which happen in football – and that he never involved himself with the Newcastle fans. “As a player I couldn’t complain about his professionalism but, as a person, I don’t think he did what he could have done for the club with the wages he was paid. “He could have done a lot more in the community. “He could have done a lot more than he did do, which was very, very little. I never got close to him as a player. He was semi-detached, I’ll put it that way. “He didn’t communicate with the fans in the way he should have, being paid the money he was. “You’ve got to give something back in life and I don’t think he did on that side. “On the field, when I was there, when he played – he was fantastic. “But look at someone like Les Ferdinand. A big signing, he got into the spirit of the club – Michael never did. He didn’t integrate himself into the community. “His injuries – that is life. But he didn’t help himself on the other front.” Of course it was the injuries that trained the focus on his contribution off the field. Shepherd admits: “I think if he would have been scoring goals, the community thing might not have mattered. But because of his injuries . . . ” Moving on from Owen, United are a vastly different proposition from the club that signed the England striker back in 2005. Of the club’s current situation, Shepherd nurses no fears that Newcastle will slide back into the Championship. And he has backed the decision to sell Andy Carroll to Liverpool, despite harbouring a deeply-held belief that the striker will go on to play No 9 for England for the next decade. “Relegated? Not a chance. There are worse performing clubs than Newcastle. I would back them 100% to stay up,” he said. “Selling Carroll has left the club weaker but, on that decision, I would have done the same. “The reason I say that is the player had been given a contract five weeks earlier – all he had to say was ‘I’m going nowhere’. “He had been given a good contract from what I hear. “People might not agree with me, but it’s a point of view. If he was so loyal, why did he leave? “I’m not knocking him. Personally, I think he’ll be the next Alan Shearer. He’ll be England’s No 9 for the next 10 years. “I signed him originally as a kid and you could see there he had something. “He used to boss centre-halves – you could tell there was something there from the start – and I wish him luck.”

Agree with most of that apart from the Taylor/Williamson thing. How did you come to that conclusion? Willo has been in the starting XI almost every time over Taylor.

Maybe just confirm that you have worked in a factory all your life and have never been outside of the uk.

Meireles is pretty good to be fair. Johnson is so bad at defending i'd i have to think who to choose between him and Simpson.

Agree with J20. If you can get to te grand canyon then do it. If not at least go to the hoover dam which is only an hour or 2 out of Vegas.

Aye, airport shuttle was about $7. Taxi was about about $35 for me to the vdara (back of Bellagio) Grand Canyon chopper flight is well worth it but if they havent booked it pre-hand it may be booked out The Venetian is very nice. Not sure about getting on the Gondola though. I did try the oxygen bar in the venetian though. Not sure it did much to be honest but its supposed to help with jet lag.

3-4 days is about enough as well really. I was almost physically dragged from the blackjack table for the flight and im not even a big gambler. I've never put a bet on in a Casino in this country.

Average is 15% isn't it? Cheers for info pal I dont think the hookers are hispanic dwarves. They just do the leaflet distribution. I'd like to think so anyway ! Penn & Teller was about $50 - I think. We booked them in advance to get 40% off. Vegas Shows website I'd definitely recommend going to Penn & Teller. They wait outside after the show as well and you can meet them and get your pic taken with them. I got a shot with Teller. He is taller than he looks on TV as Penn is apparently 6 foot 7 (height and width!) MGM is nice. That was my second choice this time around. You have real lions next to the check in. Classic. I tip between 10-15%. You sometimes get cheeky waitresses that write down in pen 15, 18, 20% values of your meal on the bill. cheeky fuckers. They get 10%. Vegas is amazing mate. You'll have a great time. Are you flying direct? The flight from London to Vegas is the only flight that has ever given me jet lag. It has taken me 2-3 days to "get on clock" twice now. Just walking around all the casinos during the day will take up most of your time. And its a must do. The scale of the place is incredible. Its really is an adults playground.

Quality read that Meenz.

Any suggestions? Whats your reason for visiting? 1] Strippers. We didnt visit them this time but I was in Vegas about 7 months ago for a stag party and Spearmint Rhino seemed to be the main one. Watch out for the extra charge when getting a private dance. You have to give the bouncer extra money on top of the girl as well. Jokes. 2) Gambling. Every casino is more or less excellent. The drinks are free when gambling so just slip the waitress a buck each time. The quickest serving waitresses seemed to be Paris this time around. I spent most of my time in Bellagio. I like Mandalay Bay as well. I mainly just played blackjack or roulette. 3) Hookers. Never shagged a working girl but you'll see loads of borderline hispanic dwarves on the strip giving you leaflets & catalogues for prossies. They aren't allowed to speak to you (some loophole in the law) but will whack the flyers off there hands and make clicking noises. They even try to give them to blokes who have wives and relatives in tow. A mild annoyance. 4) Food. The all you can eat buffets are sublime. On one plate (In Harrahs) I had corn bread, the most amazing turkey breast ever, with gravy, marshmallows on top of yams, mussels and fried chicken thigh. Mental. The Rio does and amazing seafood buffet if thats your thing and the Bellagio's is well renowned. 5) Shows. I went to see Penn & Teller. Absolute class and one of the highlights. They dont sell out so you can get tickets easily for them. They perform at the Rio. 6) Hotels. Without doubt the best hotel I have ever stayed in is the Vdara. They were originally built as Condos but when the recession hit they turned it into a hotel. It doesn't have a Casino but its joined to Bellagio. Basically about 7 mins walk from hotel to Casino. Tipping and taxes fuck me off. You look at a menu & think "thats reasonable". Where are you staying? Let me know if you need any more info mate.