OTF

I'm trying to get away from the blame game here and just look at the interests of the club (irrespective of the owner). We can't rely on Ashley for anything.

I know this isn't the main point of your post but personally I don't subscribe to this statement. The main reason we went down was our esteemed owner gambled on the existing squad and temporary management being good enough throughout the majoirty of the season, and he only tried to do something about it when it was way way too late. It's true we were only one point short, but I don't think a general lack of support was the reason we didn't get that extra point. I would put the owner, club/team management and players well ahead of the supporters in that sense. We still would have been shit, that's for sure. But would we have lost at home to a pathetic Hull side? (just to name one match that was VASTLY influenced by the turmoil and unrest at the club). I know it's pointless to speculate but I truly think that if there wasn't so much hatred, blame and finger pointing then the general improved atmosphere at the club would have translated to better performances on the field, and may also have meant that Ashley and his cronies didn't go into hiding, whilst taking virtually no action to stop the rot.

Boycotts have clearly worked a charm thus far. Club's spend money on players when they can afford to. Ultimately it's a business. If one of the primary revenue streams is severely reduced the amount of money that the club can afford to spend is likewise reduced. When potential buyers are looking at the books before determining whether to buy the club the figures that are plainly apparent before their eyes will be the influencing factors on their decision. The reasons behind any perceived reduced numbers will be FAR less important that the actual numbers themselves. If the opposite effect happened and the numbers in the books were more healthy then it's more likely that prospective buyers will go the next step. There's a difference between wanting to inflict further personal financial ruin on Mike Ashley and wanting the club to be sold. It's unchartered territory for all involved. Thinking that increasing the losses that Ashley is already suffering will result in a faster sale of the club is to look at it from only one angle. Sure, Ashley may become more keen to sell but at the same time buyers will be less keen to buy.

That was quality, and fully deserved.

Board representation would be great, noone could really argue against that. To have a voice (or at the very least an ear) of the supporters involved in the happenings within the club would put to an end much of the mystery and smoke-screening that has been a key factor in the unease amongst the supporters during Ashley's tenure (and indeed previous owners as well). I honestly think that the difficulty in gaining members is owing the disconnect between the outwards intentions of NUSC and those of the majority of supporters. It seems that too much is wanted in too little time, that trust is implicit rather than earned and that the actions of 'demanding' changes and expressing anger and discontent will bring about positive results and a better future. Personally I think all of the unrest and anger resulting from the Kevin Keegan incident has had a vastly negative effect on all facets of the club. The media has of course played a large part in overplaying this, but NUSC has contributed to the unrest as well. The owner and his cohorts were shocked further into their shells. Even though it clearly pains to do so, sometimes the best action is to throw your support behind the club instead of cause further unrest. I plainly believe that if the reaction of the supporters had been to do as their name suggests and support that we would have remained in the Premier League. It wouldn't have been pretty, but we would still be in the top league in the country and the club would be vastly more economically viable. I couldn't understand the motives behind calling for boycotts of games and merchandice/food on one hand whilst calling for money to be spent on improving the playing roster from the other. At the same time the clear unrest serves to make the club a less attractive proposition for potential buyers, who won't want to find themselves potentially in the same situation down the track. Whilst we sit here hoping for an end to the misery of the Ashley era we have to accept that some of the blame for the situation lies with us. Or we can continue to point the finger of blame and carry on and keep going the same way that we are now.

I for the life of me cannot figure our why we ever bought this kid. When the £5.7million was shelled out for the then 22 year old we had the following strikers on our books: Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins, Mark Viduka, Shola Ameobi, Andy Carroll and potentially Alan Smith and Damien Duff (not to mention some of the younger players coming throught the reserves and youth sides). With that roster, even taking into account their penchant for injuries it was hard to envision Xisco getting any sort of playing time - and yet the money was paid (along with the reported to be excessive wages). With the highest profile three of these players having left the club this season you would think that suddenly this Spanish U21 striker would be in with a chance of playing? Not so it seems, with Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi preferred for starting roles. Even still, you'd expect that he may be given a run off the bench? - Nope we'll leave that to the last minute and bestow that upon Nile Ranger (granted Ranger is a promising young player, with plenty of raw talent). Even Nolan I would say is a preferred option over Xisco up front (probably Alan Smith and Damien Duff too). I'm guessing he would be sold in a heartbeat if any sort of offer was forthcoming for him. Even though he has said that he loves the city and the people I'm sure Xisco himself would love to be at a club where he gets a fair chance at playing. Noone could realistically expect him to adapt to the differences in the English game when he's not actually playing. At the opposite end of the spectrum you have Fabricio Coloccini, an Argentine international of apparent great experience. His time at Newcastle has been an unmitigated disaster. Despite his repeated failings and frailties he just about can't get himself out of the team (spare for the period where Shearer was in charge). He's been given more than 35 games to adapt to the English game and as yet has shown no signs of doing so. Still, I expect we'll see his name sour our team sheet this weekend. I guess I can't really expect any sort of explanation for the shambolic approach to the development of this kid, largely because there is numerous other nonsensical happenings at the club that demand more attention. Even still the mind boggles.

I hear Xisco is available. Seriously, give him a game. Can't be worse than the Donkey that played against West Brom. With Carroll, Ranger, Smith, Xisco and <cough> Ameobi, I think it's more important that we get some wingers and defenders in with it looking like Gutierrez is on his way with Coloccini (hopefully) following.

Enrique was average going forward, but very solid in defense I thought. Ryan Taylor was hopeless.

Can't afford to be as positionally bad as he is when you're also as slow and non-physical as he is. Has deteriorated since his arrival, which says that a large part of it is confidence. Even still he's not going to get much of a chance in the championship to regain any confidence when opposing teams will be matching him up with their quickest forward. The sad part is that in terms of numbers (forgetting wages for the moment) we really can't afford to let him go without bringing a replacement in. I think we should be playing Kadar in the meantime to give him the experience.

Deja vu... starting the season off with a 1-1 draw away from home against one of the sides fancied to win the league....

Afraid to say, let bygones be bygones. Noone is going to pay anything much for him, and we've already done (touch wood) the hard yards with him. May as well persist and try to get some value out of him on the pitch. I don't agree that he is one of our best players, however he does have the potential to be.

It'a amazing how UN-disgusting the shirts became after the first 15 mins of football. To normal folk, anyway. Yep, shirts have definitely grown on me.

Is he not out on loan until after the end of the transfer window?

Yeah FFS stay on your feet. When he actually did get clobbered in the head with an elbow the ref wanted nothing to do with it because he'd already been down more times than a $2 hooker. Smith actually played quite well. Upped his involvement in attack in the second half, and his timing on tackles was perfect (if it wasn't he would have seen yellow). Edit: Duff looked so much better when he acted quickly on the ball rather than slowing things down then trying to beat his man. Defenders will gobble him up if he keeps trying that.

Feel bad for Harper, but I'd have to say that he categorically would not have made the saves that Krul did. Clearly MOTM even though he only played one half.

Krul point for sure. Fantastic saves (If we had some decent defense he should not have had to make several of them). Heart was in my mouth when they took the free-kick. Great job by the linesman to make the correct call on the offside. We've had calls like that go against us too many times before, nice for them to get it right. That Nolan chance was a bloody tough header IMO. Even though he was in the clear it would have been bloody hard for him to keep that down and on target - needed someone with more height (or the ball to have been a little lower obviously). Happy with 1-1 though. As I'm sure all would be if they'd watched the match. I'm dying for someone to come in for Col O'Cheaney. So obviously not suited to fast paced games. He's going to have the fastest opposing striker giving him tremors all game every game.

He's made a couple of good passes in the box in all honesty. If our striker could have timed their runs better we should have had better chances created. Our best chance in the game came after he got behind the defender and cut it back to Carroll who layed it off nicely for Duff. At the same time he's wasted a number of other chances as well, but they've all been created by himself through beating his defender. On the other side you've got Duff who hasn;t looked like beating his defender and has created stuff all chances. Probably doesn't help that he's got Ryan taylor on his side, with Taylor seeming to really enjoy passing to players in black and white. Nolan missing. Smith is doing ok. Coloccini off the pace. Ameobi unpredictable (optimistic there). Carroll good, hard working good vision. Enrique wastful but doing his job. Raylor awful. Duff looking past it. Saylor solid. Jonas enterprising.

Glad he went to Villa instead of Hull. So far that's the highlight of my off-season.

I'd say: Harper R. Taylor S. Taylor Kadar Enrique Jonas Smith Barton Duff Nolan Shola (or Carroll) This is not what I want, but what I think we will see.

So it should be a decent upgrade then...

I love how they can be so picky as to be reluctant to sell to the plethora of made up buyers.

Surprised he is going to Hull to be honest. Could well find himself in the same position next year.

No.

At the very least it's good to know that he has a sophisticated security system.

What's Glenn Roeder up to nowadays?