Ken

This post for me sums up why signing KK was a mistake. We dont have aspirations or hope anymore its merely blind faith in a man who once, many years ago took us up there. Nothing based on concrete reasoning just the whole nostalgiatastic scenario of the messiah. Thats not knocking you AP or even KK its merely the worry I had from the start, we will blindly follow the man like lemmings regardless of what he does, refusing to give criticism because hes the messiah. I see your point of view PP, but KK will get criticism sometimes. Yesterday he made a mistake not playing Faye [but I'm sure he's learned now]. The only thing that matters now is staying up, and making the board understand that the way forward in football doesn't come cheap. I really don't think they will spend that much. I'll be happily surprised if we spend more than £30m net. I would agree with this comment only for the fact that I doubt KK would have returned to the club if he wasn't promised a decent transfer kitty to play with. I think KK will spend, and spend more than £30m net but only if we stay in the Premiership. The thing with KK as you may well know is that he hasn't gone to a club that hasn't promised and delivered him a decent transfer kitty. And by today's standards £30m is chicken feed.

I expected us to lose against Arsenal like everyone else, and was disappointed we couldn't get 3 points against Bolton and the Smoggies. After all they are battling to avoid relegation and were expected to put up a fight, and we can expect more of that from the other relegation battlers in the coming weeks. But yesterday's performance really, really concerned me. The first half was OK, without being dominant. The second half we looked like shit, and I don't use the word shit loosely. As I said in my post in the game day thread, Ashley and Mort have timed this badly. I won't critisise KK at all, but his input at the club at this time of the season was always going to be limited. You can only talk up the players so much before reality sets in and they fail because they aren't good enough. Where can KK go from here to motivate the players? That's why I'll always view the sacking of Allardyce as a huge mistake by Ashley and Mort. They couldn't have got the timing anymore wrong imo. If it leads us to relegation (and obviously I hope it doesn't!) then these two will go down as the biggest failures in the club's history (of which the most recent of it is unenviable to say the least).

This is what worried me from day 1 though. Allardyce didnt turn us into a nothing team, he did nowt I agree but he didnt dismantle a squad of creative flair players and bring in knackers. Yet already we're planning to move any blame, should the unthinkable happen, firmly away from KK. Allardyce didnt pick that team today, Allardyce didnt give the team talk at half time and Allardyce sure as fuck didnt sit there on the bench nattering to Terry Mac while we were torn apart. Which brings me to my original argument back when Allardyce got the sack. Mike Ashley and Chris Mort are clueless in regards to football. There hearts might be in it, and Ashley has the cash and paid off the debt, but to rid Allardyce like they did was suicide. To bring in a bloke (who may be able to turn us around a bit next season) that had no connections to the modern game and expected him to do any better was just stupid. He doesn't know that the players that once could play can't do it anymore. Carr, Smith, Barton, Butt. Bloody hell, next week he'll start Ameobi. He obviously doesn't rate Viduka. We are too close to a relegation fight for KK to "acclimatise" to where we are at as a football club and the players who aren't up to it. He should never had been made manager until at least a couple of games before the end of the season when we were safe. I'm just looking at the fixture list now, and I don't see too many victories coming our way. We are a joke of a club. People want to bang on about the club being victimised by southerners but it is playing out exactly how they predicted. Do you think the club has any credibility? I think we have none, and with that comes the hardships of a relegation fight, and decent players we'd want to target for next season looking at us and thinking we should be avoided like the fucking plague. Avoiding relegation this season should be met with the same enthusiasm as if we had won the treble. It will be a magnificent effort.

Is Football so different here these days. In many ways NO! tbh.

Ken, are you one of us in disguise? Culina had a good game last night by the way. Nah mate. I is English, but am an adopted Southerner (London). I've been to Australia a few times though and know Sydney pretty well. I brought Jason Culina up as I believe he is the perfect man to replace the useless Nicky Butt. I watch the Dutch league with interest and he's done well for PSV. I know his contract is up this season so he'd cost nothing. I remember him from the World Cup also. His passing both long and short is second to none, and he protects the two centre halves well, he used to be an attacking player too so I think he's the perfect KK type player. As for Bresciano, I think he'd do well in the PL myself. IIRC Sven had him at Man City this season but his Italian club pulled the plug at the last minute because they couldn't get someone to replace him. Great freekicks, great eye for a pass, loves to get in the box. He has qualities that none of our current squad have. We missed out on Elano, so we should get straight in and get Bresciano imo. Direct replacement for Emre. Culina yes, Bresciano no. Culina yes, yes. Bresciano yes. Both players would prosper imo.

Ken, are you one of us in disguise? Culina had a good game last night by the way. Nah mate. I is English, but am an adopted Southerner (London). I've been to Australia a few times though and know Sydney pretty well. I brought Jason Culina up as I believe he is the perfect man to replace the useless Nicky Butt. I watch the Dutch league with interest and he's done well for PSV. I know his contract is up this season so he'd cost nothing. I remember him from the World Cup also. His passing both long and short is second to none, and he protects the two centre halves well, he used to be an attacking player too so I think he's the perfect KK type player. As for Bresciano, I think he'd do well in the PL myself. IIRC Sven had him at Man City this season but his Italian club pulled the plug at the last minute because they couldn't get someone to replace him. Great freekicks, great eye for a pass, loves to get in the box. He has qualities that none of our current squad have. We missed out on Elano, so we should get straight in and get Bresciano imo. Direct replacement for Emre. Ken, I knew you were english from our various conversations but thought maybe you were living here, mind you after your quip at me over sacking Allardyce it's lucky you're not because I would of sent my mum 'round! Culina would be a great shout, especially on a free and as much as he's a twat I'd rather see us in for Cahill than Marco. I'd also like to know what the hell is going on with Troisi because the games I've seen him play (for Australia) he's been outstanding. The only problem I see with having to many Australians is the long and drawn out world cup qualifying process. I'd hate for two of our first choice midfielders to be knackers every game after an international round and I'd hate to see them not available for our country because they have club responsibilities. I'm usually pretty reserved in the worst of times, but things did look pear-shaped for a while there and my passion and concern got the better of me. My apologies friend, and tell your mum there's no need to roll up her sleeves. Thankfully now things have settled a bit and there is a bit of direction about the place. Tim Cahill would be a superb buy, but the fact is he wouldn't leave Everton for us. That's not to say that the players I named would leave their respective clubs for Newcastle, but Cahill has something good going on at Everton and he'd be foolish to move. His predatory skills would be invaluable though. He guarantees 12-15 goals a season every season from midfield. Is he better than Bresciano?...yes probably, the way the game is played in the PL. I rate Bresciano as probably the most technically gifted Aussie, but Cahill has the spark and scoring ability as a midfielder and he's proven himself. I'd have Bresciano at the club regardless though. Better than Emre, and has more skill than the whole of our current midfield combined. Sven wanted him at Man City, and that's good enough for me. KK will need to target unproven quality in the summer and Bresciano fits the bill. Have a look at Joe Cole and tell me if he's too small for the PL. In fact he's one of the better Englishmen playing football so size means bugger all if you have the quality in certain cases.

Ken, are you one of us in disguise? Culina had a good game last night by the way. Nah mate. I is English, but am an adopted Southerner (London). I've been to Australia a few times though and know Sydney pretty well. I brought Jason Culina up as I believe he is the perfect man to replace the useless Nicky Butt. I watch the Dutch league with interest and he's done well for PSV. I know his contract is up this season so he'd cost nothing. I remember him from the World Cup also. His passing both long and short is second to none, and he protects the two centre halves well, he used to be an attacking player too so I think he's the perfect KK type player. As for Bresciano, I think he'd do well in the PL myself. IIRC Sven had him at Man City this season but his Italian club pulled the plug at the last minute because they couldn't get someone to replace him. Great freekicks, great eye for a pass, loves to get in the box. He has qualities that none of our current squad have. We missed out on Elano, so we should get straight in and get Bresciano imo. Direct replacement for Emre.

"Money talks...and bullshit walks!"

In: David Bentley RW - £15mil Jason Culina DM - Free Marco Bresciano AM - £8mil Shaun Wright Phillips RW/AM- £18mil Nicky Shorey LB - £6mil Jan Klaus Huntelaar ST - £15mil Wes Brown CB/RB - Free Fred ST - £12mil Total Expenditure: £74mil Out... Ameobi - £250K Carr - Free Milner - £3mil Rozenhal - £3mil Butt - £1mil Geremi - £2mil Smith - £4mil Emre - £4mil Total Income: £17.25mil Grand Total:£56.75mil Gunning for the top 4!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with this. Taylor is too young and brash to be considered an automatic selection, so therefore we do need a commanding centreback. Nicky Butt cannot pass a ball. In fact he's part of the reason why we are so shit now that the team is attempting to play with passing movement. He needs to be replaced. A door opener is definately needed in the middle. RW is a concern. Milner tries his best, but his final delivery is atrocious. I'd keep Milner as a sqaud player though, but we need someone with a bit more technique to play RW. I'd keep Viduka, but he needs to play with players with pace to make use of his skills. But we are missing a strong, athletic type of striker who can actually get decent shots on target. Saying we need one is easy. Finding someone with those types of attributes is another. Oh and there is the little problem of finding a player who can deliver a decent free kick. Emre is the only one we have atm, but he's only available to play 1 in every 4 games. He's not the type of player you can really rely on. As For Charles N'Zogbia...he is too lightweight to play in the centre. He is at his best with a bit of room to move. He'd be constantly bumped off the ball in the middle, and he'd lose possession too easily. I'd keep Emre in the centre for now and see if KK can get some consistency out of him until the summer where hopefully KK can get some better players in.

Did we really need another small striker. I would have been all for it meself, had we let one of either Martins or Owen go. And anyway, we lack creativity and Defoe wouldn't have fixed that up...

Good post. IMO we should have gone the extra mile to sign both these players Don't suppose it will change some "opinions" that the clubs current transfer policy of bringing in 17 year old kids and hoping to gain success on the cheap is the way to go instead. Mind boggling. Still, Alex Ferguson has spent a lot of money, as have the other trophy winning clubs, but I'm sure those who agree that buying cheap shite is the way forward Worst post and the poorest attempt of trying to make a point I've witnessed in quite a while.

nor mine. Can't understand it as there was no swearing in it, just slagging off the lack of professionalism, the lack of knowledge, and that I wouldn't read there shite anymore even if they paid me. Not that offensive I would've thought.

We can start fresh without the need to getting relegated. It would be utter disaster especially with the TV money or lack of it if we did get relegated. I'm backing KK to overhaul the squad in the summer. He'll know we have a squad that is lacking in class with the exception of 4 or 5 players. Many fans have overstated the quality of our squad in the past, but the reality is finally sinking in. It's a good thing that we are struggling now in a way, so long as we don't get relegated, but KK will know we have too many grafters in the squad. Players who shouldn't even be in the squad, or present first teamers who are only squad players to be called on when there's an injury crisis. The infrastructure has finally been put in place now with Wise, Vetere and Jiminez to work with KK. We're getting some young talent into the squad who could turn out to be peaches in 3-4 years time, and I suspect that'll continue to happen. Phase 2 begins in the summer with some culling of mediocre players and bringing in some decent signings. All this can be done without the need of being relegated.

I just posted a very constructive comment. Doubt it will be published...if you know what I mean.

I rather have nobody come to the club than quick fixes like that Brazilian bloke from Levante. I wouldn't have been elated had that turned out. This season is a write-off. So long as we don't get relegated I'm quite happy that we didn't get any mercenaries or pretenders to the club. Come the summer, and I think we'll be one of the most active clubs in the transfer market. Both in terms of acquiring new talent and pushing out the rubbish.

Fergie is making sense from what I can tell. Nothing inappropriate at all. He didn't say all managers coming back for a second spell are doomed to failure. Let's hope KK fits into that category.

Things can only get better come June.

Yeah, the majority of them. Y'know I'm guessing the majority of them haven't been, hence why there have only been about 5 suggested, unless there hasn't been any more than 9 Italians in the PL. There haven't been that many, no. It's also really ridiculous to say 'this guy's <nationality> ergo he's shit because I can't personally remember very many good players of <nationality> in the Premier League.' Let's forget for a second that you were wrong about the Italian success rate. How many dutchmen have been successful in the Premiership? I'd still have taken Bergkamp in his prime. Portuguese? Few successful ones, but I'd take Ronaldo. Argentines? Often unsuccessful. Tevez, though? Yes please. Etc. Bollocks, what I'm saying is that the best Italians seem to stay in Italy or don't adapt to English football. I'll ask another question then, how many good Italians have been developed in England? I'm guessing very, very few because most of them who are worth their salt stay in Italy. Saying that I really hope I'm proved wrong. Flamini ? french Oui massuer! Seeing how Chris Mort was true to his word and the club has only bought young up-and-comers this January, this Italian lad at least looks tall and strong, from the one or two still frames that I've seen of him (not much eh?). He is at least young enough to get a grounding on what is required in the PL. That goes for the other three we've got as well. Our youth system is pathetic atm, so at least these continental players bring something different and not-seen before at the club. Players of the future...or so we hope.

I'm reserving my opinion on this for 1 1/2 to 2 years down the track. I had wanted a restructuring of the club for ages like many, and we've finally got it. But will the said new employees do the job?...we have to wait and see. I am one of those who doesn't give a shit what Wise has done in the past. He is not a player any more. Let's see what he can do on the administrative side of things...

Agreed, wisey's been shite for us as well He won't measure up, mark my words. Your words have been marked and when you are wrong once again you will reminded with a vigour reserved only for Stevie and the Baines experience! Maybe you should see if his blog/site/whatever the fuck it is will publish them. Keep on it Sammy! Back to topic I hope this little rumour is true. Shola is shite, put us all out of our misery and piss off to the Championship.

Nee problem with him reading websites imo. If he starts buying players/managing the team based on what he reads though... unless it's something I've suggested obviously. PS. Keegan, get rid of Shola, Smith, Geremi and Carr would ya, there's a good fellow. Buy adriano, ronaldo (brazilian) and quaresma aswel. This is the reason why I hope there isn't any ounce of truth behind the story... ronaldos just one of the greatest forwards of all time adriano has the potential to be one of the best forwards in the world quaresma is the nearest we can get to an cronaldo type of player all reasonalbly cheap. but we wouldnt want them Queresma I can't argue with...he is class. But Ronaldo and Adriano?..I don't think so! Ronaldo is only a shadow of himself, but with an ego the size of the USA. He'd be another Kluivert, and one would question why he'd come here if he did. Adriano is worse. The last time he had a decent game would be about 6 years ago. Bloated like an ankle with gout, and is more interested in having competitions with his mates on who can stay out the longest and party the hardest. He's trouble and seeing Julio Baptista ruin his reputation playing in the PL, Adriano would be even worse than that, but on bigger wages. You talk of players of the past my friend...

The only thing you should be depressed about is what genuine, good, quality players want to come to our club. I'm not just talking about this transfer window, but the past the present and the future despite the Keegan-factor. That is reality... If the likes of Pompey can attract good players we shouldn't have a problem. Obviously I hope you're right. But as KK has said, he won't bring in players for the sake of it, and kudos to that, but world class players in the north where we are??? Hasn't happened for a long, long time.

The only thing you should be depressed about is what genuine, good, quality players want to come to our club. I'm not just talking about this transfer window, but the past the present and the future despite the Keegan-factor. That is reality...

Toon insider??? Bollocks to that shite. Woodgate is not worthy anyhow. Fucking shadow of himself and the spudz will have two crock CB's in Woodgate and King. Thank heavens we didn't get him.