Christmas Tree

From the journal JOEY Barton took a step closer to returning to Newcastle United's first team last night insisting he is a better player than when he signed for the club three years ago. The midfielder missed a penalty on his return for the reserves at Hartlepool but it was a solid 75-minute run-out for the man United paid £5.8million for in 2007. Barton has declared himself available for Saturday's trip to Bristol City if selected - the first step on a comeback that he hopes will re-establish him as one of the country's premier midfielders. A focused Barton is conscious that he must prove his claims on the pitch but he has lost none of his belief during a six-month spell on the sidelines with a broken foot. And the former England international says his motivation for returning is to repay supporters who have surprised him by sticking with him during a largely turbulent three-year spell. 'Since I've been at Newcastle I've had three broken feet and a torn medial ligament in two and a bit years - plus a well-documented spell in the clink and numerous other problems,' he said. 'But I'm someone who will bounce back. If there's another penalty I'll put myself forward for it. That is what gets me going. 'Hopefully I can just get a sustained run. I'm confident in my own ability - it's not going to be easy for me but I believe in myself greatly. At one stage I was in the top echelon of midfielders in this country. 'There's certainly none of my ability lost - I actually feel I'm a better player now. But I've got to stay fit to prove it. It's all well and good talking about it but I've got to prove it and that starts, hopefully if I'm selected, on Saturday.' Speaking after the 2-0 reserve defeat at Victoria Park, Barton was enthusiastic about his third return in Newcastle colours. Saying he has learned from the mistakes made during a tough three years, he knows it will tough to muscle his way into a midfield engine patrolled with efficiency by Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith and Danny Guthrie this season. 'Of course it's going to be tough getting into the team,' he said. 'But as you know, I'm a big believer in my own ability - when fit. What I want to do is get fit, get a sustained run in the team and show the Newcastle fans why the club have invested a lot of money in me. I know it's said at times about how much they paid for me and it's rumoured about how much I am paid a week. But I just want to play football - I love football. 'The Newcastle fans I have met in the street have been fantastic with me and I just want to be a part of a team that can bring some smiles back to the Geordie nation. 'I came here because I believed it was possible. We've had a lot of downs and we're getting some ups now under the current regime and I just want to be part of it. 'If it means I play five minutes between now and the end of the season - if that's what the manager wants, that's what I'll do. I just want to help this football club get back to where I want to be.' Hughton certainly believes Barton can be an asset to the club, and insisted yesterday that he has a part to play in United's long-term future. 'Do I see him playing for us next season? Yes,' he said. 'Joey is a player who is contracted to this club, I think he's got another couple of years left. 'I've no doubt that if Joey had been fit this season, he would certainly have played a bigger part than what he has done. I see nothing different to that in the future.'

I'm also remembering the shit result down in scunny and sometimes these things stick in the players minds negatively. That said I'm going for 8-0

No problem with SJH or the article. He came into NUFC for the right reasons and I have no problem with the money he made when he decided to get out. Always thought of him as a decent bloke.

football is largely reactionary, you simply can't tell when you will have a bad run of results or something happens that tells you that you need to change. It's the choice of manager that counts, not the timing, but very few are winners in this game, and all the clubs are chasing them. And that Dear Leazes is the problem.

I will, as soon as the odds on first manager to get the sack in Premier League are made available. i would agree that he'll be the favourite for the chop but what else can you do as a supporter but get behind him? i think it's an unplayable situation. what do you do? sack the manager that takes us up or give him a chance and get behind him even though you don't fancy him to do a decent job? given that he will almost certainly still be in charge if we are promoted and ashley still our owner i don't see what we can do other than get behind him. He's the new Martin Oneil and nailed on for Augusts manager of the month. Get your money on that.

Someone keeps adding soil to my allotment overnight. It's an absolute mystery as to why though. The plot thickens...

We are definitely in a period of unappealling leaders. None of them have any charisma whatsoever.

Have you ever seen a grown man naked Rip

Nice posts Leazes

Lose = worst team in the world Draw = Hughton out Win = We'll get hammered in PL I tend to not even bother reading these threads when we lose. Not much optimism going around.. So true.

I always find it funny how some people don't read the thread before posting. This is what Leazes said with regard to the "big" club. "The sooner people stop thinking of NUFC as being one of the biggest clubs in the country, the better. They have grown up to think of the club in these terms - correctly - but it is the ex board/owners who created this expectation , whatever faults they had." quite different context to the simplistic definition that you give or the "potential top 5" club that rentboy refers too.

a good manager, a great academy, potentially great footballers, an Arab owner...... These things suggest potential, not simply a large ground and big crowd.

Really, really, lemon squeally. Who is bigger in your opinion then ? Wigan, having sold one of our best players to them ? leauge tables leazes, it's all about those damn league tables. Not crowd size, not misty eyed memories, not nothing but league tables. I'm sure teams like European double champions forest have old timers who still consider forest a big club. Ask yourself which fans, Wigan or us are watching the better teams / better football week in week out. you are talking successful here, not the size of the club. Did that make Wimbledon one of the biggest clubs in the country when they won the FA Cup ? Don't talk tosh man. I agree comletely with LM on this. We are a top 5 club in terms of potential, that fact HAS to be recognise by any person that owns us. Are Sunderland 'bigger' than us because they are in a higher league? Are they bollocks, they are just currently more successful at this present moment. Left to CT's management, we'd be the best run club in the conference. Mad as hatters the pair of you, father and son I guess. Potential <_< Because we have a big ground and 40 - 50 thousand fans???? Means fuck all these days in the world of TV. And......If we are such great potential, why arnt they queuing up to buy us :D Mad as hatters and the sort of fans that give us the name deluded.

Really, really, lemon squeally. Who is bigger in your opinion then ? Wigan, having sold one of our best players to them ? leauge tables leazes, it's all about those damn league tables. Not crowd size, not misty eyed memories, not nothing but league tables. I'm sure teams like European double champions forest have old timers who still consider forest a big club. Ask yourself which fans, Wigan or us are watching the better teams / better football week in week out. you are talking successful here, not the size of the club. Did that make Wimbledon one of the biggest clubs in the country when they won the FA Cup ? Don't talk tosh man. Give me success than some mad idea of big any day of the week.

Really, really, lemon squeally. Who is bigger in your opinion then ? Wigan, having sold one of our best players to them ? leauge tables leazes, it's all about those damn league tables. Not crowd size, not misty eyed memories, not nothing but league tables. I'm sure teams like European double champions forest have old timers who still consider forest a big club. Ask yourself which fans, Wigan or us are watching the better teams / better football week in week out.

Really, really, lemon squeally.

Really.

Renton, tim but dim, my point is that it's easy to say let's get a "real" manager but a lot harder to actually do as our track record shows. Surely even you can understand that bit. Then being realistic any manager working under our owner is going to have to rely on other things than big money signings. As a lot of the so called big managers get succesful by splashing cash around, it is quite obvious quite a few like the rednapps etc wouldn't want to risk their reputation at our club. Still getting it. Then there's the bit about we are not a "big" club anymore so the cream ain't going to throw themselves at our door. Still understanding that then leaves a choice between hughton or a small group of has beens that have no guarantee of success such as the olearys, curbishleys etc so do we throw away a good coach who has managed better this season than all expectations to go with another kinnear or the ilk. Not for me. And as for CEO remark i was a marketing director you pompous liitle prick! Anyway you keep fannying on with your little plastic job while the mrs does the real work. Incredible, truly incredible.

According to Booby Moncur (at the game) it was the players that didnt turn up, in particular Jonas. You're a parody of yourself tbh. You can just make your point without being such a tedious little schoolgirl Let me spell it out for you. It is evident to anyone who watches him play that Nicky Butt is finished. Chris Hughton put Butt on for no apparent reason. Butt came on and gifted the opposing team a needless free-kick from which they scored. What else is left to say? That's even before talking about how he decided to put Simpson on the wrong side when we had a perfectly good left-back on the bench and brought on the absolutely worthless Leon Best (and let's not forget it was Hughton who bought the plodder in the first place) just when we needed urgency. Already lads in this thread who were at the match say Best made a big difference when he came on He doesn't know what he is doing. Hughton is not a good manager and it is only by virtue of us having a significantly better squad than the rest of the dross in this division that we are top. A bag of rocks could do his job at this point. He will be caught out in truly monumental fashion when we return to the PL (just as he was when he was "managing" the squad in Kinnear's absence) and he will be out of a job by December when we are getting humped week in and week out, and the fans begin to turn on Fat Mike again and he needs another sacrificial lamb. I don't need a crystal ball to see this and neither do you. Hughton is no good. Diasagree and time will tell We need to add a real manager Real??? A Souness, Daglish, Allardyce etc etc another big money manager who will piss more big money on more big flops to our wish list of "midfielders who can actually pass, strikers who can actually score, an owner who actually knows how to run a club." p.s. Jonas was one of our best players on the night and had a class assist to put us ahead. Take off your blinders man. They were not my blinkers, they were Bobby Moncurs blinkers, as I stated in my opening line but dont let that get in the way of a good sulk. It may have escaped your notice CT, but Kenny Dalglish was one of the top 2 achieving managers in this country when he was appointed. I never cease to be amazed by the amount of people who slate this appointment, then moan on about the club "failing to attract top managers" This may be the case now, but it certainly was not the case then, when the club was backing their managers, bringing top players to the club and playing regularly in europe Thats exactly my point Leazes. People call for "real" / "top" managers but that doesnt mean they bring success. Whereas you really believe that someone like Hughton is the answer? Incredible. Well, since Keegans first stint Ive seen countless big names try and fail and fail and fail. But here go, the thick delusional geordies once again calling for another "real" manager to drain away any money we have left. Once again setting ourselves up as a laughing stock before we are even promoted. Who do you want this time Renton....Strachan, Bruce, Allardyce........ Incredible.

According to Booby Moncur (at the game) it was the players that didnt turn up, in particular Jonas. You're a parody of yourself tbh. You can just make your point without being such a tedious little schoolgirl Let me spell it out for you. It is evident to anyone who watches him play that Nicky Butt is finished. Chris Hughton put Butt on for no apparent reason. Butt came on and gifted the opposing team a needless free-kick from which they scored. What else is left to say? That's even before talking about how he decided to put Simpson on the wrong side when we had a perfectly good left-back on the bench and brought on the absolutely worthless Leon Best (and let's not forget it was Hughton who bought the plodder in the first place) just when we needed urgency. Already lads in this thread who were at the match say Best made a big difference when he came on He doesn't know what he is doing. Hughton is not a good manager and it is only by virtue of us having a significantly better squad than the rest of the dross in this division that we are top. A bag of rocks could do his job at this point. He will be caught out in truly monumental fashion when we return to the PL (just as he was when he was "managing" the squad in Kinnear's absence) and he will be out of a job by December when we are getting humped week in and week out, and the fans begin to turn on Fat Mike again and he needs another sacrificial lamb. I don't need a crystal ball to see this and neither do you. Hughton is no good. Diasagree and time will tell We need to add a real manager Real??? A Souness, Daglish, Allardyce etc etc another big money manager who will piss more big money on more big flops to our wish list of "midfielders who can actually pass, strikers who can actually score, an owner who actually knows how to run a club." p.s. Jonas was one of our best players on the night and had a class assist to put us ahead. Take off your blinders man. They were not my blinkers, they were Bobby Moncurs blinkers, as I stated in my opening line but dont let that get in the way of a good sulk. It may have escaped your notice CT, but Kenny Dalglish was one of the top 2 achieving managers in this country when he was appointed. I never cease to be amazed by the amount of people who slate this appointment, then moan on about the club "failing to attract top managers" This may be the case now, but it certainly was not the case then, when the club was backing their managers, bringing top players to the club and playing regularly in europe Thats exactly my point Leazes. People call for "real" / "top" managers but that doesnt mean they bring success.

According to Booby Moncur (at the game) it was the players that didnt turn up, in particular Jonas. You're a parody of yourself tbh. Let me spell it out for you. It is evident to anyone who watches him play that Nicky Butt is finished. Chris Hughton put Butt on for no apparent reason. Butt came on and gifted the opposing team a needless free-kick from which they scored. What else is left to say? That's even before talking about how he decided to put Simpson on the wrong side when we had a perfectly good left-back on the bench and brought on the absolutely worthless Leon Best (and let's not forget it was Hughton who bought the plodder in the first place) just when we needed urgency. He doesn't know what he is doing. Hughton is not a good manager and it is only by virtue of us having a significantly better squad than the rest of the dross in this division that we are top. A bag of rocks could do his job at this point. He will be caught out in truly monumental fashion when we return to the PL (just as he was when he was "managing" the squad in Kinnear's absence) and he will be out of a job by December when we are getting humped week in and week out, and the fans begin to turn on Fat Mike again and he needs another sacrificial lamb. I don't need a crystal ball to see this and neither do you. Hughton is no good. We need to add a real manager to our wish list of "midfielders who can actually pass, strikers who can actually score, an owner who actually knows how to run a club." p.s. Jonas was one of our best players on the night and had a class assist to put us ahead. Take off your blinders man. I agree with pretty much of most what you say here. The sad thing, and i don't want to labour the point even though I'm sure some will accuese me of all sorts of shite that suits them,but we are - under Mike Ashley - back to how the club was run in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. The sooner people stop thinking of NUFC as being one of the biggest clubs in the country, the better. They have grown up to think of the club in these terms - correctly - but it is the ex board/owners who created this expectation , whatever faults they had. This is the thing Leazes, a lot of us dont.

According to Booby Moncur (at the game) it was the players that didnt turn up, in particular Jonas. You're a parody of yourself tbh. You can just make your point without being such a tedious little schoolgirl Let me spell it out for you. It is evident to anyone who watches him play that Nicky Butt is finished. Chris Hughton put Butt on for no apparent reason. Butt came on and gifted the opposing team a needless free-kick from which they scored. What else is left to say? That's even before talking about how he decided to put Simpson on the wrong side when we had a perfectly good left-back on the bench and brought on the absolutely worthless Leon Best (and let's not forget it was Hughton who bought the plodder in the first place) just when we needed urgency. Already lads in this thread who were at the match say Best made a big difference when he came on He doesn't know what he is doing. Hughton is not a good manager and it is only by virtue of us having a significantly better squad than the rest of the dross in this division that we are top. A bag of rocks could do his job at this point. He will be caught out in truly monumental fashion when we return to the PL (just as he was when he was "managing" the squad in Kinnear's absence) and he will be out of a job by December when we are getting humped week in and week out, and the fans begin to turn on Fat Mike again and he needs another sacrificial lamb. I don't need a crystal ball to see this and neither do you. Hughton is no good. Diasagree and time will tell We need to add a real manager Real??? A Souness, Daglish, Allardyce etc etc another big money manager who will piss more big money on more big flops to our wish list of "midfielders who can actually pass, strikers who can actually score, an owner who actually knows how to run a club." p.s. Jonas was one of our best players on the night and had a class assist to put us ahead. Take off your blinders man. They were not my blinkers, they were Bobby Moncurs blinkers, as I stated in my opening line but dont let that get in the way of a good sulk.

Canny shot Kenny. Is it fuck..... Can't see the wood for the trees! :-)