OTF

Bullard out for Hull, requiring knee surgery. So glad that we did not pony up for him. 30 year old sicknote on big wages. We've already got Viduka, at least he cost us nothing to buy. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...and&cc=3436 Likely to be out for the season.

Owen can still score his fair share of goals, however there's been several times where Michael Owen has missed goals that a striker the calibre of Michael Owen should have scored . Beye is definitely quality. Very good positionally and rarely goes to ground without making the tackle. We've really missed him this season with his injuries, he was clearly our best player last season. Jonas (Honas) is his first name, and that's the name he likes to be called by because he likes his first name: "I like my my name" . He's a good tricky player who works hard in getting up and down the pitch. He's started to develop a good relationship playing down the left with Jose Enrique, a young Spanish full-back who has threatened to be our best left back in years, but as yet hasn't fully delivered on his potential (he's quick, strong, and has a good left foot). A relatively unknown French defender Sebastian Bassong has been our best defender this season. He only got a run in the side when Steven Taylor was injured, but he has rightfully held onto the spot ever since (excluding when he picked up a Red card in an incident that is best left undiscussed).

According to Joe Kinnear he's lost more money than he was ever reported to have. Some say he never intended to put significant amounts of money into the club. Some say he did, but has lost interest and money as a result of the credit crisis. The figures we get about Ashley's spending differs vastly despending upon who is saying it and what their agenda is. Basically noone knows for certain how much Mike Ahsley has put into the club, how much he is 'worth' or how much he is planning in investing in the future. Clearly though they are attempting to clean out our higher-than-our-performances wage bill. I see this as a good thing, so long as it is done sensibly.

I agree with what you're saying. The A-League in Australia is better than any Football/Soccer league that we have had in the past, but is still basically shite. No comparison between it and the premierleague. Nonetheless I support my local team Sydney FC, despite them having several unlikeable players, and previously an even less likeable manager. My true passion though is for Newcastle United, even though I've never been to Newcastle (I will get to St James' one day). By virtue of the internet I'm able to communicate with Newcastle fans the world over, and truth be told I've probably seen more Newcastle games over the last 3 seasons than season ticket holders in Newcastle (have watched every game as we have an interactive option to watch all bar one match across the season - the others I have watched through internet streams). Whilst it's crucially important to maintain and grow the home base of support in Newcastle, progressing the profile of the club the world over will be key to growing NUFC in the future. Unfortunately investment in home talent is not sufficient at the moment in the premierleague, so the future will see many players come from the all around the world to play for NUFC. The bigger the international profile of the club, the more likely these players will be to come. It's great to see players like this Vuckic lad talk about the size of Newcastle United, as it bodes well for our international image (which frankly should probably be in tatters at the moment).

Get your arse over to Aussiemags.net Good forum there, and there is occassionally meet ups to watch matches as well.

You're right, it is a shame. Ashley is going nowhere in the immediate future. There's no market to sell the club, particularly when taking into account the price Ashley has put on it. We should still be an attractive prospect as we are still in the Top 20 Clubs in the World in terms of revenue generated (ticket sales, merchandise sales etc), so it's clear that there is a very good foundation of support to build upon. Unfortunately Ashley has proceeded to alienate and upset just about all of the supporters despite having them more or less fully behind him when he first took over. Can't help but admire the way that Villa have gone about things this season. Will be interesting to see whether they can hang onto a Top 4 spot (hopefully it doesn't hinge on the final match of the season), and even more interesting to see whether they can back this season up next season.

He was able to hold us to ransom because he left Boro on a free. Almost 4 million pounds over a season is ridiculous, but if we had bought a 4 million pound striker (eg. Harewood) then his wages go on top of the 4 million, and Viduka is miles better than Harewood. Having said that, he's only better if he's playing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. A pay when you play, with some healthy goal/assist bonuses would be handy. He is keen to go to South Africa, so he'll want to be playing as much football as possible. If we don't resign him on that basis hopefully we can get some value out of him before the season is out. Australia still has a number of qualifiers that he may be keen to participate in, so he'll be working hard to get on the pitch as much as possible for NUFC.

Also reserving judgement on Nolan. Butt is well and truly on the decline, but we could do worse than to have his experience around the club. In all reality I would have him behind Nolan, Barton and Guthrie in the stakes for a centre mid-position if all are fit. The problem with these three players is that they are in many ways quite similar. None of them are particularly good on the ball, and none are particularly impressive passers of the ball. These are two things we've been lacking in our midfield: (i) Ability to hold onto the ball (ii) Ability to create goals through quality passing Hopefully this will improve once we're able to play two players together for a decent length of time. As it is they have not really had the chance to form any sort of partnership.

Correct.

Seems to me they lowered the weekly wage, and stuck the 1 million bonus on there to make up for it. Of course Joe will have done his best to keep us up at whatever length, but this way he would have agreed to a lower weekly wage. Therefore if we do actually go down they will have saved themselves some money, and if we stay up they will have spent slightly more than they would have if they kept him on his original weekly wage. Seems like perfectly acceptable business to me. The fact that Kinnear is our manager in the first place is what we should really be worried about. At any length Kinnear has seemingly slotted perfectly into the NUFC way of life - getting paid immense amounts of cash while sitting out injured/sick.

Broken toe is not the worst news. Should still be able to maintain fitness over this period. I'm hopeful that he sees some first team action for us before the end of the season, so that he can settle in some more. Then a good off-season, and with the strikers departing there should be an important role for him to play next season. The worst thing we can do for his development, and for our investmest would be to continue to let him rot away the way that we have been thus far.

Ask Chuck N'Zogbia about that Not that we can really believe either of them to be honest. As others have said, they're basically putting Joe out there as the 'figurehead' while the important decisions are made behind the scenes.

The fastest way to get rid of Wise would be to give him the managers job.

Apparently some encouraging news out of the Netherlands, Glenn and the scouting team are interested in a curly-haired Dutch Forward/Winger. The only concern at this stage is that he may not be able to adjust to the pace of the premiership. Roeder added "We're just about ready to consider the option of suggesting to the board that they think about maybe tabling an offer for the lad".

Here's the full list: Rank. Club, Revenue (£ million), Country 1. Real Madrid, 289.6, Spain 2. Manchester Utd, 257.1, England 3. Barcelona, 244.4, Spain 4. Bayern Munich, 233.8, Germany 5. Chelsea, 212.9, England 6. Arsenal, 209.3, England 7. Liverpool, 167.0, England 8. AC Milan, 165.8, Italy 9. Roma, 138.9, Italy 10. Inter, 136.9, Italy 11. Juventus, 132.6, Italy 12. Lyon, 123.3, France 13. Schalke 04, 117.5, Germany 14. Tottenham, 114.8, England 15. Hamburg, 101.3, Germany 16. Marseille, 100.4, France 17. Newcastle, 99.4, England 18. Stuttgart, 88.3, Germany 19. Fenerbahçe, 88.1, Turkey 20. Manchester City, 82.3, England England 7 Germany 4 Italy 4 France 2 Spain 2 Turkey 1

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/105/main...ub-in-the-world Yet more confirmation that we are horribly run. No Aston Villa on the list, yet we're the ones who are trying to be like them. No doubt our stadium and attendances stand us in very good stead. I wonder where we would rank in a list of best Football sides in the world. Scrape into the Top 50 MAYBE.

And he's been sat on the bench for us behind the likes of Duff. Is Colo completely out of the reckoning for Argentina's National Team now?

Was set to come in and say this.

I'm choosing to read the 8 million pounds part as they have 8 million pounds left from this window that they will be spending in the summer in addition to the money that they had already planned to spend then. Yes, I am delusional.

tbh I havent found anywhere yet, I dont want it to be some big charity that wont notice it, will chase it today and dins somewhere. Bushfire Victims in Melbourne, Australia TBH. http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_em...appeal-2009.htm All of the money given will be used, none will go to administrative costs etc. "Red Cross will not deduct any funds from this appeal for administration costs. All funds received will be kept in a Trust Fund set up by the Victorian Government." The death toll is expected to climb over 200 soon, some believe the final toll will be more than 300. Almost 1,000 houses lost.

Noones comparing Ameobi to LuaLua. If they were though, they would have noted that LuaLua is 18 years old, Shola Ameobi is 27. Kazenga LuaLua is a midfield player, Ameobi a striker. LuaLua is yet to get a proper chance in the first team, where-as Ameobi has had several. What I'm assuming most of us are upset about is when we see the likes of Cacapa or Coloccini (or even Butt) deployed in midfield, when the likes of LuaLua seem to be completely overlooked.

Good to hear that Xisco's play had some merit. Agree that I'd like to see LuaLua feature for the first team, he's been consistently performing for the reserves but has never had a real chance to shine in the first team.

...and good to see Xisco scoring as well. With the forwards that we'll have leaving at the end of the season (Owen and Viduka) he could be handy to have next season. Hopefully he can get some more first team experience before the end of the season. haven't written him off yet.

That'll do me, like. Sibierski with pace, relative youth and a full head of hair. If this weekend was anything to go off, we should offer him a 3 year contract. To keep him motivated make it two years with the option for a third. Getting ahead of myself here.

Yeah good game from him and seemed to be running right until he went off.