The Newcastle United Blog

50 responses so far ↓

• 1 roscoe // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:13

  Best Team: PLEASE PLAY THEM AGAINST MANURE KEV!!!!

  Owen Martins
  Nzog Emre Geremi Milner
  Enrique Faye Tayls Beye
  Harper

  UP THE TOON!!!!

  PS. I don’t care who posts first! Please can we get over this childish game!

• 2 roscoe // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:15

  oh and ED he definitely didn’t take over in 2004 thats for sure!!!

• 3 Chicken // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:21

  Worse single thing that has ever happened at NUFC in my lifetime - getting rid of Robson. Dunno how that fat pig shephard sleeps at night.

  Roscoe - good team that. Mine is pretty similar - only change is Cacapa in for Taylor, but that’s a whole new kettle of fish.

• 4 millepede // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:23

  good call with geremi i say

• 5 ObaFan2 // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:24

  After BSA’s comments recently and then we think of the great SBR.

  The worst thing about Sir Bobby was we got him too late but he respected the clubs and the contracts he’d had.
  He is one of the last of “the old school” , unique imo and respected throughout the world. A great GREAT man and manager.

  KK will turn it around and wait with baited breath for the summer and some new faces.

• 6 Punk Skunk // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:31

  Respect to the legend that is Bobby Robson!..
  …Totally agree with obafan2, pity we got him so late in his career!..
  …..Harper
  Beye-Faye-Taylor-Enrique
  Milner-Emre-Zog-Duff
  Owen-Martins/Viduka

  …i guess KK may wanna try out Martins…
  …Howay the Lads!..

• 7 Kash2 // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:32

  Definitely one of the best managers we had. He had a long term vision and his signings were indicative of that. If he had carried on, albeit in good health, then I think we would have been in the top 4 by now. What a waste!!!!!

• 8 Punk Skunk // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:33

  Here, here!..Kash2…Ya’ damn right!..

• 9 nightfall // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:35

  we’ll see if martins gets a chance this weekend… KK was praising emre last week and then didn’t start with him…so…

• 10 daiv // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:35

  Ed,
  Bobby was a great manager for NUFC and the way and timing of his sacking was a disgrace. However, he was getting too old and he should have been eased out at the end of the season. He could not control the yobs. The problem was not his removal, but the succession of idiots who replaced him

• 11 benoz // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:37

  quote from punk skunk:
  Beye-Faye-Taylor-Enrique
  Milner-Emre-Zog-Duff
  Owen-Martins/Viduka
  that is one very, very good line up, love to see it.

• 12 Wilsiak // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:39

  The fact that emre who in my opinion is our most creative and talented midfielder didn’t get on against villa til late on in the match is a joke. I would love to see bartons passing stats for the game cause he was completely ineffectual and had no idea where he was.

  Emre when he did come on immediatly looked like he wanted the ball and acted as a crucial link between shaky defense and a frustrated michael owen. I agree with roscoe in the sense that emre and milner must play together, but i absolutely hate enrique and would love if Zoggers would agree to play left back with duff in left mid. That would create a formidable attack down the left with the ability to put balls into 6 yard box for owen who does all his best work inside the box. When he had to come out of the box to look for ball on sat against villa he had no support and Alan smith is nothing more than a thug who has no idea where the goal is anymore.

  I think Martins is a waster of the ball and would love to have had him shipped out in january for Defoe but thats life. Viduka when motivated is a much smarter player who can actually play thru balls and can hold ball up as well. I think emre through the middle is essential as he has the much needed vision to ping passes to owens feets and slip the Fat Aussie now and again.

  Completely unsure of centre backs however??? All i know is that everytime taylor goes to ground too early and nearly f**ks everythin up he starts to smile which displeases me.

  What a gud rant.

• 13 EL // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:42

  OWEN/MARTINS
  DUFF MILNER
  ZOG EMRE
  BARTON
  ENRIQUE TAYLOR FAYE BEYE
  HARPER

• 14 Punk Skunk // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:43

  On Martins…KK’s just met him, so, i’m pretty sure he won’t wanna make him feel like SA did?..
  …& i reckon even manure won’t fancy his pace & shooting ability…He could help to keep to keep ‘em on the back foot!..

• 15 gloryhunter // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:48

  In Bobby’s book, he said that:

  Shepherd wouldn’t give him details of players’ contracts and transfer negotiations.

  Shepherd and Douglarse Hall neglected the training ground (even Souness said this), youth development and talent scouts.

  Did that situation continue after Bobby said “farewell”?

  KK has to pick up this stuff where Bobby left it - but in the longer term.

• 16 Kash2 // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:53

  @ Wilsiak - After reading your thesis, you said you hate Enrique and would rather play N’Zogbia at LB. Are you MAD? N’Zogbia is a liability at LB, HE CAN’T DEFEND, never mind trying to mark Ronaldo. Enrique is the only recognised LB, play him and see how he does!!!!!!

  And you would rather have Defoe than Martins, are you MAD again?????? Defoe is far worse than Martins and a total greedy player. At least martins works for the team, while Defoe expects the team to work for him. We got rid of playboys and we certainly don’t need another one!!!!!

• 17 Wilsiak // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:54

  Yeh martins reminds me of dijbrill cisse in a way. I think he has raw pace and ability to drill a left foot shot but he has not much else in my book. Sure his electric pace is will scare defenders but i dont feel him and owen complement each other. I would deffo like to see him at some stage at the weekend because everyone deserves a shot at the moment and hopefully he will prove me wrong! If i see him throw his arms up in the air like a child and not hassle defenders i will not be pleased.

• 18 paul p // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:56

  punk skunk - i go with you on that line up. infact not just for man u, for the rest of the season until we have accumalated the points we need, then we can make changes. You no what I would like to see, ad like to see milner playing whether he wants, like give him a free role like he does for the u21’s. problem there we would have is we have no one for the right side. although the 3 of them duff, nzogbia and milner could all swap around.

• 19 Ian // Feb 13, 2008 at 13:59

  Wilsiac Djibril Cisse is for sale in the Summer, Man City are after him, we should sign him, he is fast like Martins but bigger and stronger, an ideal player to partner Martins with.

  The other side would only see a black and white blurrr!!

• 20 Wilsiak // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:00

  Martins works for the team………….. r u havin a laugh… Defoe is an ambitiuos and young and i imagine he will bag countless goals at pompey and yes i would much rather have a goalscorer then an olympic sprinter!

  Enrique “the bull” should be playing for the newcastle falcons instead as he has little to no touch or vision and has the uncanny ability to ruin any offside trap we play. Ronaldo will absolutely ruin him at the weekend as maloney and young would have done at Villa. Zoggers in left back would have more pace to cover ronaldo and has the necessary footwork not to land on his ass when ronaldo pulls a stepover! Plus ronaldo not trackin back equals massive counterattack with duff and zoggers. If you play enrique no point in playin duff as will be isolated u may aswell play nicky butt there!

• 21 Ian // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:03

  I remember other Newcastle fans saying he didnt have control of the dressing room!!!!!!

  Stuff the dressing room control of the table is what we want.

  Bobby is like Kevin Keegan brilliant blokes and brilliant managers, all they deserve off anyone is respect.

  The next great move was getting rid of our top scorer Bellamy!! Only at Newcastle!!

• 22 Kash2 // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:04

  I guess you were leaving to beat the traffic at the point where N’Zogbia decided he was a CM and Striker in the Arsenal gameand started pressing the ball regardless of position, and then Duff had to fill in at LB??????

• 23 Punk Skunk // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:28

  PaulP/benoz, yes , i’d go with that team from now on!..I feel it would offer more up front (we ain’t scoring enough)…& i reckon Faye at the back would pull the defense together better…Zog & Emre in the middle is sooooooooooo much more creative…Surely!..

• 24 Wilsiak // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:30

  Well im not the coach and cant bark orders at him and i am also not the captain who should have been able to sort that one out also so it is out of my hands.

• 25 stjames // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:30

  Ed: I see some of your pupils are not interested in history at all. Well, - I am.

  Bobby was a great manager but never had full backing from Freddy and co. From the first day he was mistrusted as was clear by the contract he got. The contract was always only for one year at a time. We never will know what could have been if the club had backed him 100%.

  Another manager that in my book is hugely underestimated is Roeder. In his first half season in 2006 he was barely shy of miraculous. Some credit goes allegedly to Shearer. I have no idea how much.

  But next season, his only full season, was not much worse. From the start Freddy was against him and was reluctant to make him manager. He didn’t get any money to strengthen the squad and had to deal with catastrophic injuries. At times our starting team consisted of 4-5 reserve players and the bench was filled with babies.

  I think Freddy has been our worst enemy since Keegan’s first term realy. Now it’s time to look forward.

• 26 CRAIGG // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:48

  ST James i totally agree about Glenn Roeder he was a fantastic servant to our club ten years as a player helping us to promotion, Did a great job at the academy with a lot of our youngsters Taylor, Krul, Edgar, Ramage etc. and then as manager got us back into europe and won the intertoto he also walked away last season instead of going the souness and big sam route of ripping off the club and taking a huge pay off Glenn is a really top Bloke

• 27 Elliott // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:49

  We should have invested after finishing 3rd. The only signing we made, Bowyer, had a negative impact on the team.

  We overtook Liverpool and just stood still. What did we expect would happen?

  Look what happened to Liverpool and us afterwards, it makes you sick.

  If only eh……….

  Still the seasons under Bobby were exciting, we played some great stuff, had some thrilling games in the CL and looked like challenging for the league.

  Great memories.

• 28 Wilsiak // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:52

  Distant memories…

• 29 valle // Feb 13, 2008 at 14:56

  harper
  Beye…Cacapa…Taylor…Enrique
  Milner..Emre…Faye…Duff
  Dukes…Owen

• 30 Sweardoon // Feb 13, 2008 at 15:04

  SBR had lost control of the Brat Pack that was to begin the destructive period to come, plus his own health problems made it impossible for him to continue. What should’ve occurred is his being moved into a Director of Football or similar position (all show, but he certainly deserved not to be dismissed in the fashion he was). Whether he would have accepted it or not is debatable, but the offer should’ve been made. Which it was not. From then on the problems can be attributed to, almost solely, one man. Fat Fred Shepherd/Byker’s ‘Hardest’ Man/Greggs Best Customer. I keep posting here just to see what bollocks you’ll come up with next and you never ever disappoint.

  Whatever happens this year, be it relegation, change of owner, manager, etc, it doesn’t matter. There will always be Newcastle fans and therefore we’ll always have a team. Even if it is a splintered off FC United deal. The bottom line is, anyone who does not want in can f*ck off: N’Zogbia, Pearson (miserable git), glory seeking fans, whomever. Newcastle will outlive all of our lifespans, world events permitting, and nowt any hack journalist, money grubbing ’starlet’ or glorified blogger will change that.

  Here’s to the motto:

  Fortify, Defend and Triumph. The rest is irrelevant.

  P.S. Let’s not forget Cordone, Fumaka, et al. Not everything Robson did was out of this world.

• 31 paul p // Feb 13, 2008 at 15:15

  i have to agree. if we had bought after that season when we finished 3rd, am sure with the players who we could have possibly signed at start of the 03-04 season, the youth players we may have brought in am sure we would still be in the top 5 at least like. Bobby was the best manager since KK, now KK is back. History is repeating itself again. We are going to stay up by the skin of our teeth this season and then take off just like the last time. . Its there for everyone to see aint it to be fair. talk about players not wanting to come to our club just because we are not in europe next season is just non sense. After all, we are newcastle united. One of the biggest clubs in europe although on the field we have not shown it recently. 3rd biggest crowd in the premiership, 5th biggest team in the premiership since it began. if you look at our record of finishes in the league its better than everyone apart from man u, arsenal, liverpool. chelsea are just above us. I saw this the other week and I could not believe it after the poor season’s we had last year and this year. So we are a big club everyone, which means we will get the players in no doubt. lets get the job in hand which is get the points required, then we will just sit back and watch it go.

• 32 nitro // Feb 13, 2008 at 15:18

  anyone remember this team?
  —-given—-
  –hughes/griffin—o’brien—-woodgate—-bernard/hughes
  –solano—speed—-dyer—-robert—
  —-bellamy————-shearer(c)—–

  those were the days..

• 33 Mr T // Feb 13, 2008 at 16:05

  Two managers who deserved to be treated a lot better by us were Robson and Roeder. Both did positive for the club, Roeder on many levels and really is a good man many people say, glad he got a job at Norwich, and glad he’s doing the business with Clarkie and Pattison.

  I have some faith in Keegan, but lets be honest, it’s the transfer window that’s done us over…. well that and Allardyce. Robson was a truly inspirational man though, I think he should be brought in as Keegans #2 if he’d ever come back?!?! That is a bit of a dream team mind…….

• 34 Rich // Feb 13, 2008 at 16:43

  Nitro i remember it all to well, Solano was immense !

• 35 Callum // Feb 13, 2008 at 16:48

  I would say sacking Robson was Sheppherds worst ever decision but then he better’d that by hiring Souness

• 36 CRAIGG // Feb 13, 2008 at 16:50

  I was disgusted when walking away from SJP after our last home match of last season against blackburn when a hundred or so idiots were singing taxi for Roeder despite the fact that we had at one point 14 players out injured no wonder the cockney press crucify us.
  I was aways happier with someone like Glenn a great servant to our club over numerous years than a twat like allardyce who made loads of snide comments about us while he was at bolton. I am so happy Glenns doing well at Norwich while fat man twiddles his thumbs waiting for a “club that lives up to his ambitions” WHAT A C**T!!!!!!!!!!!

• 37 nightfall // Feb 13, 2008 at 17:02

  Wilsiak - interesting nickname…borrowed it from south park? episode “free willzyx”?

• 38 chuck // Feb 13, 2008 at 17:06

  How about this line up for Sat.
  Simpson
  Harvey McMichael
  Scoular Brennan Crowe
  Walker Robledo Millburn Hannah Mitchel

• 39 Leo* // Feb 13, 2008 at 17:11

  upsets me to think what the club did to our living legend bobby. he is a great man and was a great manager.

• 40 stjames // Feb 13, 2008 at 17:32

  CRAIGG # 26 and Mr T #35.

  Glad to see that I’m not the only one that feels Roeder was treated badly. He didn’t deserve that. On the contrary. I also think maybe his personal low profile style didn’t hit it with some Toons.

• 41 ende // Feb 13, 2008 at 17:52

  Wilsiak:

  I don’t get it. What’s to hate about Enrique? He’s barely tested, and that which we’ve seen so far has been very promising.

  Zog is a HUGE waste at LB. No thank you.

• 42 ende // Feb 13, 2008 at 18:02

  What do people think of bringing back Bobby in some capacity at the club? Just as an adviser to the board or something?

• 43 Ant // Feb 13, 2008 at 19:43

  I liked Roeder…but his obsession with playing poor youngsters (Pattison in particular…the most nothing player I’ve ever seen) was obviously his downfall. Perhaps it was FFS’ fault for not investing in the youth at the club but I think he deserved the sack. BSA was a stupid replacement. Simple as that.

  And to clear up my opinion on some controversial players…Martins - our best striker
  Zog - Best left wing/hole player
  Milner - best right winger (possibly Duff against quicker opponents)
  Cacapa - 2nd best defender to Faye
  Enrique - future class act and current best lb
  Owen - coming into form (would play him with martins at manure. If we don’t have enough bring on the Duke with at east half an hour left)
  Emre - amazing..simply amazing
  Butt, Smith, Barton - Effing useless!!! (Keep Butt in the squad for teaching Barton to play dm…he’s been terrible lately)

  Team for Man U
  Harper
  Beye, Faye, Cacapa, Enrique
  Milner, Barton*, Emre, N’Zogbia
  Owen, Martins

  *if he’s crap bring him off at half time!!! Get Duff on stick him on the left…Stick Zog in the middle and basically say to Charlie and Emre “Score…because if you don’t score at least 3…we’re gonna lose”

  ESSAY!!

• 44 Ginola // Feb 14, 2008 at 0:54

  Bad management, that is all I can say…

• 45 Andreas // Feb 14, 2008 at 7:45

  Ant, pretty much agree 100% with your assesment.

• 46 jeff // Feb 14, 2008 at 11:28

  Sir Bobby Robson shouldve been moved upstairs instead of sacked….It was a disgrace the way Shephard treated him…Finishing Fifth was no disgrace…Only thing I thought at the time was little runts like Bellamy,Jenas and Dyer and a few more were starting to take the piss in more ways than one….But he shouldve definately still been at the club in a director of football roll..

• 47 magpie malaysia // Feb 14, 2008 at 13:40

  why on dat time robson must leave..1st he bring newcastle to 4th place..den 3rd place.after dat drop to 5th place..its good already for juz droping 5th place..at least not bottom rite..i really miss the keegan n robson time..n now keegan is back..he bvr turn things around..n please..undisiplinary players(barton) don play dem on the field..pls..

• 48 Tom // Feb 14, 2008 at 14:14

  If Robson was to go, he should have gone at the end of that season, or at the end of the previous season, giving us time to appoint a real talent as a manager, then again i’m sure that wouldn’t have made all that much difference with Shephard at the helm.
  My team for ManUtd:
  Given
  Beye Faye Cacapa Enrique
  Milner Emre N’zogbia Duff
  Martins Owen
  This i would say is our quickest 11, and also our most offensive, why not just attack Man Utd? I’d much rather see us go at them and get beat than see another Villa style collapse.

• 49 LongBeachToon // Feb 14, 2008 at 17:11

  Agreed. Robson was a great manager for NUFC and sorely needed after the Gullit era. What Robson did is all the more remarkable when you consider that he turned the team around in such a short period of time.

  How did he do it. Robson understood what it takes to win in the Northeast. He understood his players strengths and weaknesses and adjusted tactics accordingly. Ok, some of his signings were a bust, but that happens to any manager.

  Did he lose control of his players in the end, yes, but the behavior of some (Roberts and Bellamy, if I recall) went beyond unprofessional.

  There in lies Keegan’s biggest challenge, clubs succeed by convincing players that they can win and be successful. He has a massive job at getting the current crop of players to commit themselves mentally and physically to the task.

  If he can do this, the foundation for next year will be in place. If not, it will be one heck of a relegation fight.

• 50 Nobby's dad // Feb 14, 2008 at 21:54

  Bobby is a great man and was a fine manager …….but a bit of balance please. He also bought some rubbish - Carr / Bramble / O’Brian / Lua Lua / Vianna / Cort / Funica / Bassidas / Gavlan / Ambrose. He didn’t IMO leave his mark on the club in the way Dalglish did (and I was no fan of his) but he left Speed / Nobby and Given.

  However Bobby’s end came when Shepherd sold Woodgate at the end of the summer when we had no chance of finding a replacement.

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