rogerbarton

When you've got record signings being brought in under your nose, who the owner says you have to play, the manager really doesn't have much control to be judged on. Top bloke though, is Ancelotti.

Anyone who thinks Krul is better than Harper must be having a bubble. Harper, for my money, is one of the best keepers in the league. I can recall one mistake from him all season, against Stoke. As for Krul, I like him and he has potential, but he's shown some naivety when he's been in the team this season. He's not ready for our first team yet by any stretch. We should farm him out on loan somewhere where he can get regular first team football next season and have Forster on the bench behind Harps. At Stevie's age, as has been shown this year, he will pick up injuries and that'll provide us with a chance to see how good Forster is. To be fair, he's been playing in a pressure cooker this season at Celtic Park.

Has anyone seen Louise Taylor fingering herself silly over Shola Ameobi here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/ma...ewcastle-united "Spinning defenders has been second nature to Shola during a season when many erstwhile critics have been confounded by his numerous stellar performances. A highly skilful, often unorthodox striker willing to attempt things others leave behind on the training ground, he is cherished by Pardew. Conscious of his bravery in playing with a fractured cheekbone protected by a bespoke face mask, Newcastle's manager has the team's No23 to thank for ensuring that Andy Carroll's £35m January transfer to Liverpool did not prove to be quite as damaging as initially feared. Like the enviably well-read Shola..." Not sure of the figures, but I'm pretty sure more goals since Carroll's departure have actually come from Leon Best, who's been injured for weeks on end...

PS. Fully agree that the most pleasing aspect of that article is the news that we've dropped any interest in Carlton Cole. Would be a disaster. A mate of mine suggested that DJ Campbell might be a good shout though...

Well I think he's a very good footballer, but I hope noone's forgotten how he'd pop up every five minutes telling us how he wanted to leave the club and a whole host of Europe's elite were in for him. Was delighted to see him end up at Wigan. Hope he plays as they go down on Sunday. The question re. a return would be whether we'd have the same old crap from him, or if he'd put in some decent shifts. Not sure if he's been coming up with the same antics at Wigan, but we don't need any nonsense here - got a good bunch of lads in the team at the moment.

Don't really understand the negativity about Steven Taylor. I've never met him so I don't know if he's a top bloke personally, but I do know that he loves our football club and has put in some very good performances for us over the years. Granted, he's had a few off form games this season in particular and he certainly has injury problems too, but he's a solid centre back and he's always been someone who can pop up with a goal at the other end.

Mathematically safe now. Decent result, should have won by a greater margin though: 20 attempts on goal and their goal was a nonsense. Now we need Ashley to splash the cash in the summer and bring in a top quality striker!

Yet another limp away performance. Since Birmingham we have been absolutely woeful on the road. It's relegation form at the moment, and hardly a surprise considering we don't even have a vaguely imaginably capable forward. That said, we're too far clear to be relegated this season. Desperately need a new striker in the summer, mind.

Yeah, look at how we ended the season in 07/08 and started off in 08/09 under Keegan. There was no way relegation would ever have been a possibility had KK not been forced out, and if the owners had supported Keegan, we could have been challenging for Europe in our relegation season. The form at the end of the last season was indicative of this, but the owners paid no attention to KK and ended up selling one of our best players (although I must admit even I thought £12m was an OK deal for Milner at the time) and bringing in, on the whole, rubbish. If we'd allowed Keegan to make more signings like Jonas and Bassong, which I'm led to believe he was involved in, instead of going through the Xisco and Gonzales fiasco, we'd have been fine. The buck has to stop with the owner for that.

Shola can be infuriating at times, but there's no doubt that whenever he's had a run out in the first team he's banged in a few goals. Ranger is a player with a lot of promise. He's quick and strong and has shown that he can find the net at a lower level. Granted, he's been very naive at times when it's come to finishing this season, but I think he just needs that first goal to boost his confidence and everybody else's confidence in him. Definitely someone with great potential, along with Ferguson.

Can't argue against Barton or Tiote, but I've gone for Nolan. Inspirational captain, helped us get off the floor from the Championship last season and has continued brilliantly this year, leading by example. His technique is second to none too. Top scoring Premier League midfielder says it all. PS. He's scored more than Carroll now ;D

In all seriousness, I'm sure that St. James' Park could easily be expanded to 60 000+. There were plans afoot towards the end of the Shepherd administration for this. Of course we'd be better off focussing on moving up the league again first

He'll be a good presence around the club even when his best on field days are behind him. In any case, his technique is outstanding. 4 years would be fine.

Disappointing. Probably our worst effort since Pardew took over. The experiment with the starting XI was the wrong decision and made us look very shabby defensively. Throughout the game Everton carried more threat, especially on the break, apart from the few minutes between our goal and their equaliser, frustratingly. Of course we wouldn't have needed to have been faffing about with the likes of Danny Simpson on the right wing had we not offloaded Routledge for no valid reason. Could really have done with him in several games where we've been throwing away leads. We took just 1 point out of two eminently winnable home games and now we see ourselves looking over our shoulders again. I do believe that the returns of Barton, Ben Arfa and Ireland will be pivotal but it does seem we are a very different team without Joey. Next up are Stoke, another game where we must be looking to get something. Should be safe with the players coming back but it would have been much nicer to have been looking at the higher reaches of the table as we went into the final straight.

How the f*ck can you be "almost late"? Jesus Christ.

Truly are some of the worst fans in the world. I know a few Celtic fans and think they're much better. I remember when they went to the UEFA Cup final in Sevilla and were widely praised for their behaviour, whereas we all know what happened when Rangers went to manchester for their UEFA final.

Hey man, where did you end up come the end of the season? Just wondering whether I should put a bet on us making it into Europe this season.

This is bait for a bite, surely? Has to be. All the rest of the post made good sense until the last sentence

You don't notice the keeper as much when your back 4 is shit hot. We've had some very dodgy back fours over the years when Harper's filled in, or had an extended run, in the past. Think Boumsong and Bramble.

lol deadman... Future's not looking too rosy for the Mackems at the mo, especially when the likes of Bent are jumping ship to a club like Villa. The attendance stats for this season are staggering, but I wonder what effect our 5-1 thrashing of them had on attendance?

This man encapsulates everything that a professional footballer should be about. Magnificent club captain. Love him to bits.

Can't really remember Harper making any mistakes this season. Or even whenever he would fill in for Given. Very good 'keeper.

Good result today, lads. Three winnable games coming up and we're virtually safe already.

As far as I'm concerned, we have three very good 'keepers. For years now it's been our best position. Don't get why anyone's having a go at Harper, he's been unlucky to have been given's understudy for much of his career and now he's putting in impressive displays. Will be interesting to see how it develops with Forster (who incidentally Celtic fans I know have been raving about) when he returns next season.

Brilliant post. Sums up an absolutely crazy season.