OTF

Lovenkrands didn't do too badly. Perhaps overran the play when Duff was played into the box by Enrique (but Duff's ball was poor anyway). Didn't get much of a chance, so didn't really get to see him much. Certainly didn't do anything to make me think he is hopeless. Geremi did touch the ball, but it was usually only to turn it straight over. He had a pathetically woeful first half, but improved ever so slightly in the second. The only way he could have done worse that his first half would have been if he suddenly turned around and started playing for them.

Will this mean more money for transfers?* * - No, of course it bloody won't. If we lose on the weekend, wow, just wow.

Less than 4 days till we can confirm that our owner is a tight-wad with an inability to gauge the seriousness of the situation we find ourselves in. And what do we have to show for it?... A Danish guy who was cut from a German club where he played 44 games across 3 years. We've been left high and dry during previous transfer windows but never with the same shadow of relegation hanging over us.

Fiorentina are sitting on the edge of qualifying for Europe in Serie A, and playing in the Champions League group stages this season. If they're willing to let him go mid-season then you'd have to say that he can't exactly be the bees kness. On the flipside however, he's played an important role in a team that is doing well in Serie A, and made the Champions League so he's more than likely better than the riff-raff and rable that we have now. He can't possibly be worse than Nicky Butt has been this season? Some clown has appended a comment onto his goal tally in wikipedia - "(3 Don't Judge me)"

Get in, whoever you are.

If Enrique has been rubbish, then Barton is but a flea on a speck of shit on a pile of rubbish. Seriously, Enrique has given much more to Newcastle than Barton has. He's either been injured, or crap, has probably turned in 2 or 3 decent performances for us. We can't afford to let him go unfortunately, and there is a chance he will return to his former 'glory' (on the field, not fighting his teammates, burning people with cigars, or beating up kids).

We currently have no players who are available to play right back who can actually play it well. I get your point though, but we need cover there for the rest of the season. It doesn't matter how good Beye is, if he's out injured he's not going to help us avoid relegation. He's also getting on in years, so it's only logical that we have some forward thinking there. We're horribly short on for fullbacks, who knows, maybe this bloke can also play on the left.

That bit seems true at least.

..Also worth noting that it would not be in the bank's interest for us to go into Administration, and so even if Ashley was not around I doubt that would have been the case - they would have just given a different reason for an 'exemption'.

When you think about it, it does make sense. We've been one of the clubs paying the highest wages to our players over the past 5 or so season. In addition our league position etc during that period has been nowhere near other clubs with similar outlays. The extra tickets sold compared to some clubs would equate to a pittance in comparison with multiple wages upwards of 40 or 50 thousand pounds a week. During that time we've still been spending comparatively large figures on buying new players as compared to clubs that finish in similar areas of the table. Effectively it's similar to Leeds back in the day, all we were waiting on is the relegation.... the fact that the Global Financial Crisis has hit now means that we're in some ways lucky that Ashley came in when he did. Of course, we can all appreciate that the numbers being put out will have been fudged in Ashley's favour to give him a more favourable appearance to supporters. If the Club was still listed on the Stock Exchange I have no doubt that the 'official' numbers would have represented a much rosier picture!!

As much fun as it can be to theorise about what could have been, it's all in the past and so there is no point in doing so. I'm personally glad that Allardyce is gone, though it sickens me to think that for his troubles he walked away with a large chunk of 4.7 million pounds.

I'm feeling of late that a key problem (apart from our inept management team) is the fact that we're paying way too much in wages in comparison to our position and our performances. The wages we're paying now are prohibitive of any new established players coming in, and so instead they're signing young players on low wages, or washed-up / out of sorts players also on relatively low wages. Once they clear the deadwood out (Smith, Geremi, Viduka, Duff etc) they'll be in a more competitive position to spend money on players. As a result of their high wages (and ages), noone will be interested in buying these players so that avenue for getting rid of them is gone. Likewise we can't just sack them because they would still have to pay out the wages. So basically we find ourselves with a high-wage yet low-performance team with a very low saleable playing roster. If Ashley isn't prepared to take an even greater financial hit for the next 2-3 seasons (allowing them to clear out some of the deadwood) then as we all know we could be relegated. Financially you could argue that what he is doing is relatively sound when taking into acount our current predicament, however if we do get relegated it will all fall down in a massive screaming heap. The risk as far as I see it is great, too great in my opinion to take the chance. Nonetheless it seems they're reluctant to spend the cash to bring in player who could essentially turn out to be additional high-wage low-performance handicaps. Just think - if we did end up signing Woodgate and Modric for example. Both of them were highly touted, both of them would have been on massive wages for us, yet both of them are sitting even lower on the table than we are. If we had signed them (or either of them) Ashley would be even more reluctant to spend money now. The other problem we have is our apparent inability to sign players - and again this is understandable. We're in a shite position and all of the news coming out of Newcastle for the past 6 months has been negative - not exactly a gerat environment to go to, is it? I'm not making excuses, or defedning Ashley here, just trying to understand how it can outwardly appear as though the club is going to shit (/has gone to shit) and nothing is being done to prevent it.

That might have been an option if anyone was actually interested in the sulky underperforming whinger.

Did everyone miss the fact that this bloke is not even in the first team for Nancy? (based on what he says).

Yep. We finished in 12th last season, and our squad is getting smaller. It should be no surprise really that we'll be in a relegation scrap. Our players and our club have been living off past glories for too long. We're shite, but we refuse to accept that we are.

We haven't heard about them because they effectively don't exist (I'm sure the players actually do, but they were never going to come to the club). Just another instance of Kinnear the puppet spouting the shite that he gets told.

Agree. At the moment I think Guthrie would make an excellent substitute midfielder - though his efforts are probably hard to judge properly given he is playing alongside Nicky Butt (who quite frankly has been hopeless of late and just plain does not help out in defense - doesn't run when the opposition are counter attacking). Hard to judge Joey Barton, except to know that he's likely to have a brain explosion at any time; at an opposing player, the ref, or even his own teammate. Is his footballing ability enough to take that sucker punch? At the moment from what we have seen of him, no it's not. Martins coming back will be a big help. Owen is not slow, but he never seems to back himself to be able to beat a defender anymore. More likely to back off, then look for a ball into the box. Would be good to see more of a killer instinct from him.

Agree, it's insane to offer him a lengthy extension. But by the same token it would be equally insane to sack him/end his time here in the state that the club is in. He really does talk some complete and utter shite though.

Barton has done buckley's for us. Granted he's always been coming back from injuries, so hasn't really enjoyed a lengthy run in the team - but the injuries are obviously part of the package. He has no pace, and makes brash challenges. He's earned himself a reputation worse than Lee Bowyer, so he's always going to get a hard time off the referees. Nicky Butt is well passed it, and Danny Guthrie isn't going to get us goals (or really stop us from conceding them either) so bringing in a more physically dominating midfielder will be good for us. Someone with size as well as pace. If that's what M'bia is, then spend the cash and get him in. You're right that our left and right fullback positions are cause for concern, with basically no evident cover for either Beye or Enrique so we also need to strengthen and add depth there. If we can stop other teams from scoring so freely against us (like we did in the first half against Blackburn) then we'll go a long way to ensuring our top flight survival. If we keep shipping goals like we have been of late I don't have the faith in our midfield or front line to be able to create/score enough goals to get us the points that we need.

Never before have I felt so much like not watching another game of football in my life.

NUFC - Investing in YOUR Future Champions

That's their way of trying to convince the fans that the lack of action now is because they're planning a big summer.

Tad optimistic there don't you think?

Agree. He's a good player. But if he is injured at the moment there would be no point in signing him considering he'd be brought in only to cover for Beye.

17 years old, 6'2" Striker apparently.