Baggio

Knee jerk diagnosis tbh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrmOVu1YWpw

That Martin Jol twat from N-O

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/find_a_hotel/h...ewcastleCentral Not sure if they'll take a group of lads though, you'll have to give them a ring.

Happy Birthday

Crouch still tops Toon list By MARTIN BLACKBURN January 05, 2007 NEWCASTLE are convinced they can lure Liverpool striker Peter Crouch to St James’ Park. The England ace scored for the Reds against Bolton at Anfield on Monday and insisted he was happy at Merseyside. But the Toon are not ready to take No for an answer — and Liverpool’s interest in Mark Viduka has raised hopes. Reds boss Rafa Benitez has also been keeping tabs on Spanish hitman David Villa. Crouch remains top of Glenn Roeder’s January wish-list and the Toon boss is prepared to bide his time. The big forward has indicated he would be happy on Tyneside if it turns out he has no long-term future at Liverpool. The Toon have a crippling injury-list but Roeder insists he is generally looking for loans rather than permanent signings. He said: “There are not a lot of quality players out there but this does not mean we cannot find two or three who will suit our needs. “We have had Giuseppe Rossi on loan from Manchester United but can still take another couple in this transfer window and that’s what we may have to do. “What I do not want to do is to sign players who we will be lumbered with for the next 3½ years.” Meanwhile, American consortium Polygon have ended their interest in buying out Newcastle. A statement read: “St James’ Park Group Limited confirms it is no longer in discussions regarding such a possible offer and has no intention of making an offer for Newcastle United PLC at this time.”

I think it's more likely that N'Zogbia will leave if SWP signs for us, Milner can cover down the left and right.

Toon Track Faty Wednesday 3 January, 2007 Newcastle United manager Glenn Roeder will fly out to Rome next week to watch Roma's young rock, Ricardo Faty, when Roma face Parma. The 21-year old moved to Roma from Strasbourg for 350,000 EUROS on a five-year contract last summer after the Italian side lost star Olivier Dacourt to Inter Milan. Faty has only made 4 appearances for Roma this season, One being made in his Champion's League debut against Olympiacos at the Karaiskákis Stadium. Where he was given the job to man mark Rivaldo and Roma won the match 1-0 and Faty caught the eye of many. The French Schemer is understood to be happy at Roma, but would welcome a move which offered more first team chances and with Newcastle struggling to string a starting 11 together this season with decamating injuries, It seems Ricardo Faty would be a good addition to a somewhat depleted Newcastle backline.

EXCLUSIVE Hammers to land £9.8m SWP By IAN McGARRY and SHAUN CUSTIS January 04, 2007 WEST HAM believe they have landed Shaun Wright-Phillips in a £9.8million deal. The Upton Park club have agreed the fee with Chelsea. SunSport can reveal Hammers chief Alan Curbishley is confident of signing Wright-Phillips, 24, and is just awaiting permission to finalise the player’s personal terms. West Ham’s new owner Eggert Magnusson and Chelsea have ironed out the transfer. But Blues boss Jose Mourinho has yet to give his permission for the sale. He is wary of losing another player when Joe Cole could miss the rest of the season through injury and Dutch star Arjen Robben is out with a muscle tear. Mourinho wants to bring in a top-quality replacement before saying ‘Yes’ to Wright-Phillips going. Porto’s Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma is a Mourinho target. But he is ineligible to play in the Champions League, as he is cup-tied. West Ham are desperate to add the flying Wright-Phillips to their struggling squad in a bid to stave off relegation. Maugnusson believes investing such a huge sum would be a clear sign of the club’s faith in Curbishley, despite Monday’s six-goal thrashing at Reading. Wright-Phillips, keen to remain in London, has another option if the Hammers move breaks down. Newcastle have made a late attempt to scupper it by trying to get the player on loan. The Geordies would be happy to take him for six months while he weighs up his options and, in the meantime, allow him the chance to prove his worth as a Premiership player. Toon boss Glenn Roeder has made his interest clear and is awaiting a reply from Chelsea. Wright-Phillips has already let it be known he is cool on any possible return to former club Manchester City. Newcastle are also keen to net Manchester United’s England defender Wes Brown, while Everton’s James Beattie could also become a target if they fail to capture Liverpool’s Peter Crouch.

Happy New Year everyone!

I stopped reading at 'superkid' tbh

I've just had £16 on Martins to finish top scorer in the Premiership at odds of 31/1 on Betfair Unbelievable odds IMO.

Wallbangers

“If he was standing in front of me I’d punch him on the nose.” - Freddy on John Barnwell from the LMA

Well to start with Luque was never as good as some make out he was at Deportivo, he's also one of a small bunch of players who you know will never make it in the Premiership from the first few games you see them. Javier Mascherano is another. Interesting that BOTH Real Madrid and Barca went on record to say they wanted to sign Luque, but Depo refused to sell to a Spanish team. Don't let that get in your way of a good Luque slagging though. He's been shite since he arrived here though, which is all I'm arsed about. You're only hacked off because you tipped him for greatness tbh. I certainly did. I'm more hacked off that we've lost £9m because Souness wasn't allowed to pursue Boa Morte instead, but hey. me too, but Luque deserves the slagging off for his appalling attitude imo. Don't disagree with that. My post was in responce to being told that he was never any good. To be honest, I'd rather he wasn't, so that then we can blame whoever signed him, rather than himself. I didn't say he was never any good, I said he was never as good as some made out, people talked about him being the 3rd best player in Spain blah blah blah but in truth he wasn't anywhere near this standard, as far as strikers go in the Spanish league he wasn't even as good as Nihat. Interesting that BOTH AC Milan and Barcelona have gone on record to say they're interested in signing Lucas Neill, he must be class then.

Happy Birthday Mate

Don't pretend you weren't reading these kind of posts on N-O yourself. Well everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose, although I would have thought most people wouldn't get too drawn in by a few knee jerk opinions, similar to people over there who still try and defend Luque. Not really the sort of opinions you take much notice of.

Well perhaps the people who rate him as a quality footballer have seen more of him at previous clubs compared to people who have only got his performances in a Newcastle shirt to judge him on. I wonder what Scouser's make of fans who rave about how good Bellamy is supposed to be when more often than not he's dire for them, do they ignore the performances for previous clubs or do they go with the "he hasn't done fuck all in a Liverpool shirt so he can't be a quality footballer?" Similar with Chelsea fans and Sheva, Arsenal fans and Baptista, West Ham fans and Tevez etc. All quality footballers yet none have shown the form that earned them their reputation. Hic Rhodos, hic salta! tbh. I can understand that people say, that he will come good, based on his previous records. What I don't get is people pretending that he already ishowing this class. Who's saying that?

Well to start with Luque was never as good as some make out he was at Deportivo, he's also one of a small bunch of players who you know will never make it in the Premiership from the first few games you see them. Javier Mascherano is another.

Well perhaps the people who rate him as a quality footballer have seen more of him at previous clubs compared to people who have only got his performances in a Newcastle shirt to judge him on. I wonder what Scouser's make of fans who rave about how good Bellamy is supposed to be when more often than not he's dire for them, do they ignore the performances for previous clubs or do they go with the "he hasn't done fuck all in a Liverpool shirt so he can't be a quality footballer?" Similar with Chelsea fans and Sheva, Arsenal fans and Baptista, West Ham fans and Tevez etc. All quality footballers yet none have shown the form that earned them their reputation.

That's likely to be down to not having any sort of understanding between him and the team that was fielded last night, but these things take time and the more they play together the better that understanding will be. People expected Martins to hit the ground running and be an instant success, which in reality was never going to happen. BTW has anyone seen the Youtube video of his goals at Inter Milan? It's not quite as good as Luque's but it's still got some pretty impressive efforts on it. Martins Youtube video

Audley Harrison