Dr Gloom

fortress. absolute shocker of an 80s sci-fi with christopher lambert. so bad it's good.

aye. we should have signed him instead of smith. he's better up front and unlike smith he can actually play in midfield.

Who's judging him in this thread? Ooh, get you! Mr. Defensive I take it that no one is then. i am. he did well to sort out the defence because that was the priority but it was a good window, not a great one, because he didn't find adequate replacements for dyer or solano. smith is NOT a replacement for either player. i think he should be used solely as a striker and we should bring in two creative midfielders during the next window. You rate Emre, don't you? How often has he played under Allardyce? What about Barton? I take your points but I still maintain it's too early to judge and by recent standards it was a fantastic transfer window. Perhaps that isn't saying much. i think emre has potential to be a good creative player for us if he gets over his injury problems and puts in a run of games but he doesn't give us an option on the right side like solano or dyer. those players weren't replaced in that respect. we've only milner who can offer much on the right now, unless you were to play duff on the right (another sicknote) agree that the transfer window was one of the best in recent times - it was just a couple of signings short from being close to perfect. defensively we're looking better than we have in years but our midfield is unbalanced. too many battlers and not enough "door openers".

and yet still better in that position than the likes of carr, ramage, huntingdon and all the other knackers who played there for us last season.

Who's judging him in this thread? Ooh, get you! Mr. Defensive I take it that no one is then. i am. he did well to sort out the defence because that was the priority but it was a good window, not a great one, because he didn't find adequate replacements for dyer or solano. smith is NOT a replacement for either player. i think he should be used solely as a striker and we should bring in two creative midfielders during the next window.

Fucking hell the short term memory we seem to suffer from. The problem with dyer and solano is one had the pace and the other had the vision and they were both fighting for the same position! hardly. dyer's prefered position is central midfield or up front and nobby played most of last season at right back. anyway, it's irrelevant. my point is that two attacking players that could make things happen haven't been placed.

next summer isn't going to be much craic but at least it saves us from the inevitable humilation under maclaren at the finals. gives us a chance to get in a proper manager and build for the world cup.

Considering both Dyer and Solano wanted to leave, and not many clubs wanted them, I don't see Allardyce had much choice. Using your preferred method of selling before buying makes it even harder. And I seem to remember Dyer even saying he was up for working with Allardyce when he arrived. you have to look at the players he replaced them with though. i'm glad he sorted the defence but dyer and solano haven't really been replaced in terms of what they brought to the team. maybe barton will go some way to improving our creativity but we're still short on pace and vision in midfield now those two have gone.

great finish for the first and nice composure for the second. hopefully will give him a bit more confidence when he returns for us.

Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce says striker Michael Owen will need to prove his long-term fitness before he is offered a new contract by the club. Owen has played just a handful of games since joining the Magpies from Real Madrid in 2005 because of injury. The 27-year-old has less than two years left on his current deal, but Allardyce is in no hurry to tie him down. "I'd like to see him play for the next 20 games on the trot or more and then enter into a new contract," he said. "The most important thing is that he's available for selection every week and we can control it." "Whether that means we lose him at the end of the day or not is non-negotiable because if it happens it happens but we want to see him fit, playing and scoring on a regular basis. "When Michael is fit and scoring every week all managers would want him in their side," said Allardyce, whose comments were reported in several newspapers. Owen has been sidelined with knee, foot and groin injuries since agreeing a £17m move to Newcastle in August 2005. He is a number of games short yet and still trying to catch up on match practice Allardyce on Barton The former Liverpool frontman has been linked with a move away from Tyneside, with Manchester City a possible destination. But Newcastle do not have to sell and have revealed Owen no longer has a get-out clause in his contract. "There was a clause in Michael's contract which allowed him to leave for a certain fee during the last transfer window and the summer before that as well, but that sort of clause does not exist any longer," said Magpies chairman Chris Mort. Meanwhile, Joey Barton may have to wait a little longer for his first start for Newcastle. The 25-year-old midfielder, a £5.8m summer signing from Manchester City, has yet to play a competitive game for the club after fracturing a metatarsal at Carlisle in pre-season. He had hoped to force his way into contention for Monday Premier League visit of Spurs, but Allardyce says he will be no more than a substitute. "Joey has got a slight chance of being in the squad at the very best," said the Magpies boss. "He is a number of games short yet and still trying to catch up on match practice, but he is working very, very hard"

granted there are some rough estates in peckham but it's nowhere near as bad as people make out. hpeckham rye is actually really nice. i'd much rather live in peckham than somewhere like croydon or boro

and replace him with who? shola ameobi?

it's a tough one. the prospect of owen for a season or £6m in the bank. it's be sod's law that if we did sell him, he'd be injury free and firing for whoever he signed for.

"He loves the area - his family's here and his kids are at school." is that true? i thought he'd been commuting by chopper from the north west. looked that way from the documentary on him the other week.

aye. basically, a win against russia will see us through. a draw and we'll probably have to beat croatia at home to be certain

Got T-2 on dvd today, £3.99 in HMV sale. Breathtaking at the time, still pretty awesome now. A classic. Next Terminator film set for 2009 Production on the fourth instalment in the Terminator film series will begin next year ahead of a 2009 release. Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be the first in a proposed trilogy of films reinventing the cyborg saga. Derek Anderson, of production company Halycon, has told industry newspaper Variety the film will be "set in the future" during "a full-scale war". The Terminator brand is currently being revived on US television with the Sarah Connor Chronicles series. Lena Headey stars in the title role, previously played by Linda Hamilton in the first two Terminator films directed by James Cameron. 'Fresh new world' Former actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California, last played the series' robotic protagonist in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. According to Variety, however, it is unclear whether he will appear in the new film. "We've left it open for him to maybe do a cameo," said producer Moritz Borman. "The final decision will be based on his desire and availability." Warner Brothers have acquired North American distribution rights to the fourth Terminator film, which it plans to release in summer 2009. "The intention is to present a fresh new world and have this be the first of a trilogy," said Borman. this has got turkey written all over it. as soon as they lost james cameron, they lost the franchise imo

.. that's not the daftest amount of money to pay for a player who's pretty much pulled the strings for his club for a the past season or two... I'd be quite happy to see him marauding down the right flank for us instead of our current choices. absolutely. the lad is a touch of class in a workman like everton side. easily better than most of our midfielders

£6m? ouch

panic in the streets of blaydon

Might even be the same person. nah, he's more similar to accrossthepond i reckon. that last post his was blaydon-esque to the last

nobby was a legend and a bit of a cult hero. shearer and given. can't think of too many others in recent times

aye. it's been a decent start. derby has been the only real stinker of a result so far, although going out of the carling cup so early again was bloody annoying

wouldn't be that arsed if we sold him

any old school posters think of blaydon after reading this?