Giraffidae

I don’t think he’s ready for International level yet*, but England are desperate and need to look to the future now. *having said that Heskey’s on 62 caps!!!!!!!!!!! — WTF!

brilliant stuff. their keeper was shocking for the goal.

yep, there’s a lot of hatred towards Barton from Arsenal players. His cameo in the League cup didn’t do anything to help!

Simon Bird’s article today about the sports shop owner and the casino manager’s philosophy: Revealed: Why Newcastle have still not rewarded Chris Hughton with a new contract To understand why Chris Hughton is being left in managerial limbo, you have to understand how Newcastle United is being run these days. Owner Mike Ashley and MD Derek Llambias have a ruthless streak when it comes to striking deals. Every pound the club spends is being fought over. For instance, gone are cosy deals with agents who have found it too easy to cream off their 10 per cent, or more, in fees for the entire multi-million value of a contract. In has come hard, aggressive bargaining, with negotiations completed on Newcastle's terms, and fees slashed to a minimum. Most fans, I believe, would agree with their club's cash being saved in such a way, even if it rubs some people up in football the wrong way. Ashley and Llambias are trying to apply methods from the cut-throat, cost conscious world of retailing, into football. The books are looking better for it and one day soon the club might break even, even if plenty in the game say: But that's not the way we have always done it. The contractual situation Hughton finds himself is unfortunate. His two year deal expires in June. An initial offer (let us assume it was hardly generous compared to other Premier League managers' pay) was made earlier in the season, rejected by the manager, and withdrawn by the club. And so now he finds himself in a sort of managerial limbo with precious little security, and underpaid considering value he's added to United's balance sheet. The club, as is now their policy, are playing hardball and not just with Hughton. It's also led to rows with players over their bonus system this season, and to contract negotiations with players breaking down in acrimony - notably the public spat, and transfer listing of defender Steven Taylor over his alleged wage demands. MirrorSport revealed a fortnight ago Hughton was "on trial", a fact backed up by last week's statement that United would only look to renegotiate Hughton's contract in the New Year. On the face of it is seems a sensible approach. Newcastle's owner wants to see if Hughton can cut it in the Premier League - not just to survive but to finish mid-table - before committing the club to a further two year deal worth £1 million plus. Ashley, who has been putting in £25 million a year to keep the club ticking over, has been stung on managerial pay off's before. Remember Sam Allardyce walked away with £3 million-plus and now has a lovely villa in Spain named Casa St James'. The argument from the club is: why hand Hughton an enhanced new deal now, when it might all have gone wrong by the end of the season, which would inevitably lead to a managerial switch and an expensive pay off. United probably think they have a very strong hand. Hughton is cheap to sack, won't get a bigger job than this if he moves on (although he might get a better paid offer), and has just lost his No2 Colin Calderwood. He is also such a decent bloke that he will keep any frustrations private, towing the party line in public, rather than rocking the boat like other managers would do faced with the challenges of holding Newcastle's fragile coalition together. Maybe Ashley and Llambias also enjoy the tension, keeping their manager on his toes and left guessing whether he has a future? Maybe they think they need a more glitzy, high profile boss to catch the eye of the Sky TV executives who dish out £500,000 per live match? But there are problems too with Ashley and Llambias's current approach. Nurturing a club means backing your boss and creating a supportive, stable environment for manager, players and potential new recruits. It means showing there is a long plan, and the personnel in place to execute it. By keeping Hughton dangling Newcastle have none of that. Hughton, even before the magnificent derby win over Sunderland, is hugely popular among the fans. Sacking him now, or even before the end of the season, would cause a backlash. Last week's betting frenzy, predicting he was going to be sacked, seemed bizarre given that not one supporter has called for his head this season. Contrary to the old myth, Newcastle fans are patient, understanding and supportive of Hughton. They give him credit for last season's promotion, admire his understated, modest "we're all in it as a team" ethos (having seen plenty of egos pass through unsuccessfully), and simply want to survive in the top flight this season. They admire the way his collegiate approach, always willing to talk to players, (while not afraid to dish out a rollicking when needed) that has built an atmosphere of togetherness in the dressing room. Hughton is also an expert politician, tip-toeing through the minefield that is dealing with tough owners who like any fan, fancy they know plenty about football and want to share it. Could any other boss have put up with the issues on and off the pitch that Hughton has had to deal with in the last 16 months? Ashley and Llambias will have to backtrack if Hughton's contractual situation is to be stabilised quickly. I doubt that will happen. But I also doubt there is a strong appetite to sack him either. If they did there would be uproar from the terraces. The best outcome will be continued good form on the pitch. That will mean that come February, Hughton, hopefully bolstered by a new No2 chosen by him, and with Premier League safety on the horizon, will be able to negotiate from a position of strength, as a proven top flight boss. However it turns out, no one should forget that it was Chris Hughton's managerial expertise, with backing from his players, that glued together a broken club. He saved Newcastle from oblivion last season, and made/saved Ashley millions in income by gaining promotion. It would be only fair to hope that somewhere along the line Hughton gets his rewards. link to mirror page

an ideal choice if it’s him, highly respected coach. is he still on the West Ham payroll though? I bet he was on a lot more than what Hughton’s on now. And he’ll quite rightly expect a contract for a few years — longer than Hughton’s contract has got to run. Ashley’s only employed the cheap and desperate coaches since Keegan left.

Leazes Mag is definitely TIMT.

Rooney’s not been the same since March when he done his ankle in. He didn’t rest it properly at the time so it would seem his ankle is the issue in his drop in form rather than the ‘ageing before his time’ theory. Today he was stretchered off the training pitch with an ankle injury so maybe now they can deal with it properly. He told them he wanted to leave August 14th which was well before his latest prostitute scandal appeared, so that rules out that angle too. Somethings turned his head — the Man City getting him on the cheap next summer story on mega-bucks looks more likely to me.

the Man Utd fans I’ve spoken to over the last few months seem resigned to a demise in their stature. Losing Ronaldo and Tevez was the start, but seeing how City have been spending and what the Glazers have done has made them wind their necks in a lot. Hilarious watching them though.

if it’s true that Man City will pay him £500k a week including his image rights — that’s £26m on a 5 year contract, that’s EACH year = £130m contract — wow! to put it into context they’re already paying Yaya Toure £200k per week and it’s into the realms of US sport stars earnings.

sounds like a well reasoned and sensible idea to me. We should probably attack the US while we're at it. After all they just executed a woman with a mental age of 13. Utterly barbaric tbh Serious question HF. What exactly do you have against the west ? Your serious questions could do with some work. If you think holding political leaders accountable for their actions makes me anti-west you've completely understood the ideals of western democracy. How about you? What would you say the west has done wrong fighting the whole war on terror? Anything? I'm on the side of the west mate. I think we should get rid of all these barbaric cunts, terrorists who blow up innocent civilians in the name of their God, all of them. Radical Islam is not compatible with the west. If they want to live in an Islam state, fuck off to one, because this is not one although their doctrine is growing, and those who try to tell people like me I should "show tolerance" are accelerating it. They are laughing at those doing this for being so stupid. I've said this before, you can spout fancy theories and hark back to the days of the British Empire to somehow excuse their actions and attitudes, but the simple fact is that there is no back-slapping, tolerance and shaking hands with this lot, you don't understand their mindset. They want you worshipping Allah 5 times a day like they do. You do realise the title of this thread is a reference to the one you started about the black man being escorted away from the site of 9/11 don't you ? I suppose you think that comparing the 2 "shocking" incidents are similar .... so the Iraq war was a mistake — oops! Carpet bombing Iraq (including tens of thousands of “innocent civilians”) with cluster bombs and napalm — oops! not all that historical is it — oh so where’s the moral high ground gone — oops! you can highlight and comment on the rest of the post if you like meaning I’m evasive??!!!!!

Steve Clarke would be ideal and as he’s out of work at the mo’.

sounds like a well reasoned and sensible idea to me. We should probably attack the US while we're at it. After all they just executed a woman with a mental age of 13. Utterly barbaric tbh Serious question HF. What exactly do you have against the west ? Your serious questions could do with some work. If you think holding political leaders accountable for their actions makes me anti-west you've completely understood the ideals of western democracy. How about you? What would you say the west has done wrong fighting the whole war on terror? Anything? I'm on the side of the west mate. I think we should get rid of all these barbaric cunts, terrorists who blow up innocent civilians in the name of their God, all of them. Radical Islam is not compatible with the west. If they want to live in an Islam state, fuck off to one, because this is not one although their doctrine is growing, and those who try to tell people like me I should "show tolerance" are accelerating it. They are laughing at those doing this for being so stupid. I've said this before, you can spout fancy theories and hark back to the days of the British Empire to somehow excuse their actions and attitudes, but the simple fact is that there is no back-slapping, tolerance and shaking hands with this lot, you don't understand their mindset. They want you worshipping Allah 5 times a day like they do. You do realise the title of this thread is a reference to the one you started about the black man being escorted away from the site of 9/11 don't you ? I suppose you think that comparing the 2 "shocking" incidents are similar .... so the Iraq war was a mistake — oops! Carpet bombing Iraq (including tens of thousands of “innocent civilians”) with cluster bombs and napalm — oops! not all that historical is it — oh so where’s the moral high ground gone — oops!

Krul, Perch, Williamson, Coloccini, Enrique; Barton, Guthrie, Tiote, Gutierrez; Carroll, Lovenkrands Nolan not even on bench!!

they’ll have to sell a couple of players just to pay the legal bills!

that’s just a re-write of the nufc.co.uk story: Chris Hughton won't be looking to add to his squad in January, insisting that his team is "completed" despite the recent long-term injury to Hatem Ben Arfa. The Magpies boss is adamant that he won't be entering the transfer market when the window for new signings re-opens in January, because he's already happy with the roster he's assembled over the past year. And while the double-leg break suffered by Ben Arfa at Man City is a blow to Hughton, he won't be bringing in any new players. "I'm disappointed to have lost a player of Hatem's quality - but we'll not overreact to one injury in what is a very strong squad," he told www.nufc.co.uk "We won't be adding to the squad in January; I feel we have a lot of strength in depth with the players we have already and there's no need to add to it. "We completed our squad before the last transfer window and I'm extremely pleased with the players we brought in. Mike Ashley and the board were financially very supportive and, together, we did some very good business in the summer." = I’m complacent and Mike Ashley needs me to kiss arse.

whenever I see a back pass to the goalkeeper (not being able to pick the ball up) it reminds me of the demise of LFC. It was that rule change along with the 3 points for a win that changed football for the better and broke their years of success. Their style of play wasn’t route one but the drawing for the title and keeping the ball via the goalkeeper tactics was very successful, it was also extremely tedious. The rules changed and the ‘Liverpool way’ was gone and football changed for the better. Try as they have to do it differently, they haven’t succeeded. ...and the ball’s been passed back to Reina.... hahaha cry into your pan of scouse.

oh dear! patient bunch aren’t they — imagine if they’d got Allardyce instead of Woy.

RED SOX OWNER FULFILLS BOYHOOD PASSION FOR WHINGEING THIEVES - linkdink

hahaha classic, that’s the mental picture I’ve got!!! I remember Frederick Street as been particularly grim, full of second hand shops, et al. it’s rarely that I’ve the need to go there, but it’s always been much of the same. I found the nightclubs better than in Newcastle when I was younger, more relaxed. (In my late teens I was going out with a sandancer who showed me the places to go). I seemed to be a fanny magnet there, which was a shock, but then again you only had to look at the mass of mutant blokes to know why.

it was Stanton Street in Fenham where I saw him iirc.

c1986, after a few, me and a few mates were heading off to a match at St James’ Park, I saw Norman Wisdom on the other side of the road — my mates thought I was seeing things — anyway, after trying to get his attention he disappeared around the corner, only to come back with his hat on sideways, doing his mad dance/stagger and wave, then he was off again. Absolutely hilarious and surreal — we didn’t know at that time he came up here regularly to watch NUFC. as a kid I loved watching his films, amazing bloke, RIP.

more likely he’s still got an iffy ankle, or his court case is getting too close.

When, just out of interest? Wondering how current the stats are. fair point. When?

It's what Stevie does for a bite, isn't it? Veer as close to blatent racism as he can get away with without getting an outright ban. In the last few weeks we've had this, his comment whether a negligent doctor was 'English' or not, his remark that all he could see in a nightclub was his black mate's teeth, and of course the hilarious claim the other day that he is one of the least racist people on here. Then of course we had his comments a few months back about Raoul Moat's girl friend being a disgusting slag. Oh aye, and his constant abuse at anyone who disagree with him about virtually anything. And all this is done without any censure at all it seems. I'm canny interested in whether other people - especially the mods and admin - think all this is alright or not to be honest. spot on there Renton. There was clearly no reason for Stevies post other than to incite racism. Clear agenda, again. Fuck off you stupid cunt. There's no racism involved at all, I'm just asking a question and you could make a toy shop out of the rattles on the floor. Fuckin pathetic. and now the keyboard bully, again, oh dear.

Would be interesting to see the rape figures broken down per head of population by ethnicity. Agreed, would make very interesting reading I bet. Do you think me asking a question about figures regarding the ethnicity of people who commit rape is racist Wacky? You can't even discuss it these days, absolutely disgusting without slanderous remarks in todays society, totally disgusting. why by ehnicity? why not by academic achievement, or household income when growing up, socio-economic background? asking for ethnicity implies an agenda which you wish to push. By ethnicity because it would be interesting to see, if there's a pattern there may not be. However, figures released last year indicated that 92% of all gang rapes (which this appears to have been) were committed by non-white people. Now when you think non-white people make up 15% of the population max? If you work that out the actual ratio is staggering. 92% committed by 15% of the population. I presume you consider what I have put to be racist. I haven't got a racist bone in my body, I've even got a black footballer in my avatar for fuck sake, but I think it would be interesting to see the overall figures that's all I'm saying. what a surprise you already had figures available. Was wandering why you had changed your avatar, maybe you can get away anything racist now?