NUFC Forum

Here's a blank cheque for those who think we should keep Souness.

It's a dead easy question, try to make me and a few others believe we're wrong.  I think we all want the club to do well and play good winning football, convince me he can and will turn things around.

Please doubters, let them say what they want without getting into them because I’m really interested in knowing what I’m missing.

Why should we keep him? 

i am not saying he can.

i am saying that he hasnt had the chance. if solano, emre, dyer and luque return, things could improve.

i dont think souness should be judged on the midfield he has been putting out earlier. wait until the 'big' midfielders return

He isn't the man to bring us to the top level, obviously.

We will not get a manager who is anything but British, much as we may need one.

Who would you replace him with?

Heres a few reasons why we should keep him

Hes a proper manager, with proper players who play proper football on a proper pitch in front of proper fans in a proper city with a proper river which leads into a proper sea with proper fish and proper boats with proper fishermen with proper nets...........................................

Sack the proper turd

think alternatives,also think what he's got shot of and what hes replaced them with.personally happy with the personnel change but waiting to see if it works.

https://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=6300.0

Seen the thread, voted and all.

Hitzfeld and Le Guen I'd take, but we won't be getting them.

Wouldn't want any of the others.

This was meant to be a short post - can you tell I'm avoiding writing an assignment? :)

---

I am not a fan of Souness by any stretch of the imagination, and when I first heard that he was appointed as our new manager my heart sank.  All I ever want to do is watch Newcastle play entertaining football and maybe win at least something worth shouting about - to me Souness seemed to personify the antithesis of what I believe a successful and respected manager should be.  Souness’ history and reputation, both as a player and a manager, went before him and it did not sit well with me whatsoever.  I was hoping for a Mourinho-esque manager with charisma, tactical ability, unparalleled player-management skills and a gift of gab that could persuade even the most sceptical player of donning the famous black-and-white shirt with pride.  Sure, under Bobby we had an awful start to last season, but when he was sacked it left a decidedly sour taste in my mouth.

For the first time in memory I genuinely wanted us to do badly so that Souness would be ejected from the club as quickly as he was rushed in.  That is what I was willing to put up with in the blind hope that our next manager would be of a higher calibre.

However, as much as it pains me to say it, since Souness has taken over I firmly believe that the club has started to change for the better.  Before his critics decide to decapitate me, let me explain.  Position-wise, we are no better than we were under Robson, that is true – but where Souness has inexplicably come into his own has been with his recent purchases and the apparent change in team spirit.  I think that the majority of Toon fans will admit, if with a little resistance, that sales of the mercenary that was Bernard, the lazy happy-to-pick-up-an-over-inflated-weekly-paycheque-slash-con-artist otherwise known as Kluivert and the disruptive influences of Bellamy and Robert was a demonstration of pure balls for the want of a better phrase.  All managers have ‘problem children’ in their team and are happy to put up with them if they play well.  Well, we had a lot of problem children on our team and week-in week-out they failed to produce the goods.  By shedding the dead-weights above Souness showed that a) he has no time for disruption in his dressing room and b) no-one’s place in the squad is guaranteed (ok, Ameobi’s seems to be, somewhat inexplicably).

His further sales of Ambrose, O’Brien, Jenas and the loaning out of Butt again demonstrated Souness’ desire to start HIS squad from scratch, rather than iron the creases out of an inherited team with embarrassingly well-documented issues.  Since he has taken over there have been no incidents off-pitch that have made me ashamed to be a Toon fan.  No front page headlines, no negative press.  The incident between Dyer and Bowyer was not the fault of Souness, it was solely the fault of the hothead Bowyer and his tendency to see red.  The press conference that followed was a tad nauseous, with the pair shaking hands and smiling cheesily like they were the best of buddies, but since Bowyer has put in some cracking performances and has always given 100% - despite rumours that he is no longer wanted at the club.  As such, the attitude of each player seems to have improved ten-fold over the last year, with Boumsong in particular, who admittedly has started this season noticeably less confident than he did last year, being an exemplary professional both on and off the pitch.

Souness’ purchases have largely been positive moves, with Emre, Luque, Owen and Solano in particular being worthy additions to any Premiership team with aspirations of European qualification.  Many people slate Boumsong, but I for one rate him as one of our strongest and dedicated players and believe that he and Taylor will provide the base to build a solid defence around during the course of the next year or two.  Krul looks like he might be a shrewd buy given his ever-increasing under-21 international experience and Clark, despite his age, has shown that he has still got the legs and desire to prove himself in the top-flight.  As for Parker, what can I say, if he is not an England regular by the World Cup it will beggar belief.  He has the potential to be our Gerrard, Lampard or Keane given that he keeps performing like he has been.  In regards to Babayaro and Faye, they are both players of quality yet they have failed to perform since coming to St. James’.  That is not Souness’ fault – out of the players that he has purchased these are the two duds.

Sure, we have a small squad compared to the likes of, well, everyone really, but headway IS being made.  We do not have the financial ability of Chelsea to buy an entire squad pre-season, so we will have to make do with what we have until the transfer window in January.  At the end of the day, it is not Souness’ fault that his players are getting injured, for if he is to be believed it looks as if the training ground is largely responsible for our wide-scale hamstring problem.  If that is the case, there is very little that he can do.  He is hardly going to demand the building of a new training ground.  He IS, however, making the right decision in not rushing Emre, Luque, Dyer et al back – they need time to recover in order to make the impact that we are all hoping they can on the squad.

I will concede that at the moment we are not playing particularly attractive football, and Souness’ tactics leave a lot to be desired.  But, what we have started doing over the past few games, albeit against weaker opposition, is grind out results.  Today’s result was poor, but we still managed to get a point with a large number of our first team missing.  Christ, even our opener against Arsenal was ours for the taking until Jenas’ unfair dismissal.  The signs are there that we could turn the season around.  At the moment, taking injuries into consideration, our first eleven is a mid-table squad - which is exactly where we are sitting at the moment.

Ultimately, I am never going to be a fan of Souness ‘the man’, but as a manager he has not been as terrible as I imagined he would be.  What I am asking of everyone is to judge him on a full season in charge.  Another confidence-shattering dismissal is not what we need at the moment.  We need cohesion and self-belief.  If and when our squad returns to what I would call strength we remain mid-table - then we can talk about looking for a new manager over the summer.  Until that day we should support our manager, our players and our team until the final whistle of the season.  I do not want to spend the season complaining when I can be cheering the lads on at the weekend.  There is a time and a place for complaining twenty-fours hours a day, and I am not ready for marriage just yet... ;) 

i was just about to say that  :wink: :wink:

good post mate. i agree 100%!

A truly excellent post.

I don't think many people are enjoying our performances of late, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and they didn't have to clean up a mess before they started building there either.

Top post, well finished with humour. I don't agree about the Dyer-Bowyer fight. II don't blame Bowyer FULLY nor do I blame Dyer FULLY. Both involved. Dyer was lacklustre that day and was not showing the commitment he should. TOP POST. Keep Souness!

i know someone who used to play for liverpool and galatasary under souness and says that he's a terrible manager.

Don't think you'd need to talk to anyone to see that personally.

Jesus Christ! Think what you like but don't make up such shite. And if it was a player it was probably a yourth player.

Top Post Guinness, Best Post ive read in a long long time on here, IMO we dont have the money to get a new Manager yet, Because the new manager will want his own team etc etc. The bit where you said you heart sank was exactly how i felt, I can still remember where i was when i heard it, On my way home from work..lol... But Souness has done some good, He has got Bramble playing 10x better, When Dyer is fit he has got Dyer playing his best football. Whats impressed me the most about Souness is his Transfers, He is transforming our team, With a few more transfers like Aldo Duscher we will look a much better team.

People have to be happier that we dont get bad press any more, I used to be very embaressed going to work knowing i was gonna get a grilling by other fans down there because of something Bellamy done or something Robert said. The fact is we needed a big shake up and Souness seems to be getting somewhere.

IMO his buys have been great, Parker,Emre,Luque,Owen,Solano,Boumsong,Faye and Babayaro. Faye and Babayaro are So-So. But he got Faye because Butt was meant to
be KOed for the rest of the season, But with us apparently having talks with Aldo Duscher seems to suggest that we are looking to off load Faye and with us interested in Bridge it looks like Babayaro is goin to be back up.

Injuries happen to every club, Souness cant predict the future and is able to stop Owen running into Taylor. Its just bad luck that it happens to be our top players out. It maybe our £9m training ground?

IMHO i think Souness should be given time to get his team fit, IF we are still grinding out a draw at pompey with a full squad then it will be time for Souness to go.

****s sake,same old shit,we dont win and everyone starts questioning why souness is in charge and then everyone chants his name when we win  blueupset.gif

judge the man when we get a squad of our players,getting another manager at this stage would be a disaster!

Keep him this season. Arrange the succession for the end of the season if results aren't good enough. At Christmas, if relegation threatens.

But sacking him right now would be the act of a gibbering moron.

If it's the "same old shit" Where's your reasons for keeping him?

How is he going to turn the club around from what we have now and have had for 12 months?

Why would getting a new manager at this stage be a disaster?

They are simple questions, try answering them.  Don't complain at the questions being asked just because you don't appear to be able to answer them.

If you like him so much, defend him.  I think getting rid of him ASAP would be the best thing for the club, short and long term, what makes you feel different?

1. He has better players than 12 months ago (when all fit).

2. There are none who haven't turned us down already, are any better, or who will get anywhere near Freddie's list.

he may not be a longterm option as manger of nufc, but with the squad hes collected this season, we are capable of a top 5 finish.

his tactics maybe naiive, but with a fully fit squad, our players could beat 70% of the league.

Personally id settle for uefa cup next season.......tbh i am disillusioned with european footy anyway, time and time again the refs penalise british teams, and are succored into the cheating tactics of continental teams.  Its pathetic and discouraging;  the refs are actually WORSE than our home grawn refs, which is unbelievable!!
eg deportivo, maked me sick to watch the bast`ds  roll about.

Think we got souness for rest of the season, so grin and bare it :)

Great post that!
I think what souness needs to make his team a little bit less brittle is another striker, even a mediocre striker would be better than what we have when owen's injured. Can't complain too much...third clean sheet and a point away from home!

Because the choice of new manager you'd have mid-season (as we've discovered before) is not great. I also think that the best managers in the Prem (Mourinho excepted) are the ones who have been at their clubs the longest and been allowed to develop a team and style of play; Ferguson, Wenger, Cubishley, Allardyce.

I am not sure if Souness is the right man, but I've got no major gripes so far with his signings or his attempts to clean up the image of the club. Bearing in mind we are only eight games into his first full season and he didn't really get his new players in until after the first four of them (not entirely his fault) I think it is just too early to be calling for his head.

Yes, we're not exactly setting the world alight atm, but I'll wait a bit longer for some of our first choice to come back. We've taken eight points from the last four games (a decent average of 2 a game, with three clean sheets), got a two week break to get some players back, a couple more winnable games coming up before Chelsea, and sacking another manager without giving him a 'proper' chance at this stage will make us a laughing stock and make it even more dificult to attract anyone decent after him.

Guiness,
mate a reasonable and intelligent argument for giving Souness the rest of the season. Now go and finish your homework cos your lecturer won't be giving you any extra time.  :tongue3:

Our 'Robson' squad was never going to win silverware. Souness was unwise when he came here saying the squad was excellent because he made a rod for his own back. Since then of course he has dismantelled the squad..

                           Bellamy (Owen) Shearer
Robert (Lugue)   Bowyer (Emre)   Jenas (Parker) Dyer (Solano)
Bernard (Babbs) Bramble              Obrien (Boum) Carr
                                       Given

Out of the starting 11 there are 7 new faces that would be in the starting team.
In my opinion the new faces seem 'proper charachters' and seem very talented. I believe there is the possibility of this team having a good combination of talent and charachter. But we haven't seen this new team play. What I have seen of Emre tells me he is a 'proper player' Lugue also looks good. Owen is class and Solano will return width and balance to the team for the first time since he was pushed out.

We need another striker, and two full backs, and if we can get Bridge that will be brilliant. So the team potentially is better than Robsons. Moreover, I have been impressed with Souness' ability in the transfer market, Faye is a dud, but Babbs has improved, and the rest look good, Boum hasn't quite convinced me but Emre looks class, Parker appears to be an absolute steal, and Luque also looks promsing. However, I'll concede Souness' tactical awareness seems average, but all things considred, the only thing that makes sense (given he has built his new team) is to give him time.

In my opinion when this team gets out on the pitch it will be a team far superior to Robson's team, and the only way to prove or disprove this is to sit tight for the rest of the season and let's watch. I'm confident we'll be in Euorope next year. Keep Souness.

Cheers
Darren

Absolute legend. Top post.  This should be put on a plack and labeled post of the century agreed whole-heartedly.!

I've said this before but I think Souness had to say that...he couldn't really come in and say, 'what a load of shit I've inherited here...'. Needed to get the players onside and it's the best way to do it. Always defend 'em in public no matter what you say to them behind closed doors.

Some people think Souness has to speak with 100% honesty everytime he steps in front of the cameras and if he doesn't (sometimes for completely operational reasons, no different to Ferguson, Wenger or any other manager) they use it as a stick to beat him with.

It looks as if you are condoning a liar, I can't think of any excuse for a football manager to tell lies.

If he's asked an awkward question he could easily refuse to answer it. 

I can. If he hadn't answered it, it wouldn't have taken a genius to work out why he was dodging the question. It's not a big lie...it's a throw away comment in the middle of an interview to defend his current players whom he needed to get performances out of when we were in a hole after Robson got the boot. I've got no problem with it and I can't see why people keep dredging it up. I was worried when he said that, that he wouldn't get rid of the shit and I'm happy that he's gone against this since and proved that he knew who wasn't good enough.

o ye i just got bored so thought i'd pretend to know someone who used to play for liverpool.  he was always first team or bench and now plays for liverpool in the masters and he still always talks about how sh1t he is but i could of told you that myself.

So your happy from under Robson we were playing good football and finished in the top 5. Compared to now where we are playing crap football and last season finished 14th under Souness?

Souness will always be one game away from the sack while Newcastle manager, it's been that way since he was appointed.

"So your happy from under Robson we were playing good football and finished in the top 5. Compared to now where we are playing crap football and last season finished 14th under Souness?"


were we playing good football when we lost 4-1 to villa?  sorry sunny ur living in dream land.  The football was shite towards the end of robsons reign.

souness has done the needed reconstruction work.  its far from finished but it looks promising so far.

Aye promising results against sides like West Ham, Pompey, Bolton & Fulham.

4-1 to Villa was the worse game under Robson - we have played far worse than that under Souness and he has still kept his job. Why?

He cant handle the players - when they dont agree with him, he goes crying to the press (he was still right to sell Bellamy btw).

He has no knowledge of tactics what so ever.

And his training methods leave something to be desired by the amount of injuries we have had.

Aye, reconstruction is going well to becoming a mid-table side.

Howay i have to disagree, Souness job was safe when we were in the Quaters of the Uefa Cup and Semi's of the Fa Cup, Injuries have been bad. I dont care what anyone says but Injuries are to blame, We have a small squad which doesnt help and im very confident that Souness will get the right players in over the next 12 months. Sacking will mean we have to let the new manager get his own team etc etc, We dont have the money for that, Let Souness do his job

A well deserved proper smiley for you Sir

:D

What's so promising about finishing 14th in the league last year and currently languishing in 12th position now?

I thought we lost 2-4 to Villa?  It's also quite funny that you should chose a Villa game to say we were crap, at least we didn't have two of our players sent off for fighting on the pitch.  We lost by two goals away which is better than a 3 goal defeat at home.  The third goal for Villa away was while we were down to 9 men, Kluivert and Bernard were both injured, the game should have been stopped before they got the crucial goal.

Are you Souness in disguise?

Injuries my arse - every team in the land has injuries. Why do you think we get injuries? Maybe someone has cursed the training ground? Its because him and his 'coaches' dont have a clue what they are doing.

Toonarmy1810 - Well said

:D

Mick so your blaming Souness for Bowyer and Dyer fighting?

it was only winning a few cup games that kept him in it. With hindsight, although not to some of us, if it had been up to me I would have kicked him out last September, if he hadn't won those cup ties he would be gone now so winning those few cup games worked out for the worse as we would have someone else here now

Not directly, he doesn't set a very good example himself though does he?

Why doesnt he? So you think he wanted Bowyer and Dyer to fight?

Grabbing Bellamy round the next - not setting a good example if you ask me.

Theres no proof of Souness gripping Bellamy, Its funny how people call Souness a liar etc etc, Yet they believe everything Bellamy says, Was'nt it Bellamy that faked an injury? Basically Bellamy lied.

I think there may an element of a dressing room being infiltrated and encouraged to show a confrontational attitude in there.

That certainly wouldn't have happened in a dressing room with a good spirit where the manager spreads good companionship and togetherness, concentrating on the football. It would be interesting to see what a psychologist thought of it.

this has done the death, Basically, its true. Bellamy wanted to speak to Shepherd about his unhappiness and found that, because he was unhappy and unable to focus on training. So he went to see Shepherd.

To me, it means the manager is unapproachable. Unacceptable. But not surprising, as it was all part of Souness strategy to make Bellamy unpopular and give him a reason to get rid of him. Bellamy did play right into his hands though, but that doesn't make him a liar.

However, the stories of Souness trying to break Dwight Yorkes leg, his own player, at Blackburn, are also true. Nice man eh ? Good manager as well eh ?

Bowyer is a known thug, Its funny how people hate Souness so much they will make up theory of whats happening behind the scenes just so they can sleep at night, I can imagine you now lying in bed with your eyes wide open saying "It has to be Souness fault, It has to be Souness fault", Personally i think its Childish, Why would a manager want to come here when a lot of you are moaning buggers, Who never let a manager get on with his job!!!

NE5 your very funny, Do you still believe in the tooth fairy? Your very closed minded, You believe every bad thing thats wrote about Souness and when something nice is wrote you dont believe a word of it, Why would Souness want to break Yorke's leg? Your very gullible

https://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;?xml=/sport/2004/10/21/sfnnew21.xml&sSheet=/sport/2004/10/21/ixfooty.html


The Newcastle manager, Graeme Souness, last night sought to deflect attention away from his well-publicised skirmish with Craig Bellamy which has over-shadowed and undermined his preparations for tonight's UEFA Cup tie with Panionios here.


Souness has decided not to answer questions about his training ground fracas with Bellamy which resulted in the Scotsman grabbing the forward by the throat after he had verbally abused his manager for the second time in three days on Tuesday.

"I am not here to talk about what happened yesterday, I am here to talk about what should be a very interesting and, judging by the pitch, a difficult game, so don't waste your breath asking me about it," said Souness.

It has, though, become apparent that Bellamy, who swore at Souness when being substituted at Charlton last Sunday, has been severely admonished by his manager, who had earlier warned that such misconduct would not be tolerated in the future.

"Bellamy was told in no uncertain terms that he had stepped out of line," a club source said. "It was the mother of all rollickings."

Who was that aimed at?

Yea he got a bollocking, Just cuz Souness didnt wanna talk about a stupid Rumour didnt make it real, If a journalist asked Souness if he is having an affair with Britney Spears and he says "I dont wanna talk about this",then does that make it real? No its just Souness not getting dragged into the media lies who are out to sell papers.

Are you really that gullible?  Brittney Spears is married and just had a kid, why whould she have an affair with Souness?

First hand information from a Blackburn player matey. Because Souness had subbed him, which resulted in a row.

How many times have you seen Newcastle play? And whats a "quarterback" ? Now, thats what I call funny ....

Did SBR not more or less confirm that he had been told by one of his former squad that Bellamy had been assaulted by Souness?

Quater back is what they described it on T.v because he gets the ball deep and sprays it wide to players, A bit like a quaterback does, If you have ever watched American football you'd know that the Quaterback get the ball and picks out a player. So your saying Souness wanted to risk his job and the risk of a court case because he had a little spat with Yorke? Why not put him in the reserves? Put him in the reserves then sell him? Break his leg and his value goes down and he's on the side lines for months picking up wages, Come on NE5 a little bit of Comman sense wouldnt hurt you

wouldn't watch the shite if you paid me


And - read the post. I'm not telling you anything, I'm telling you what a Blackburn player said, which confirmed a report that was in the press.

Telling the world that your players are trouble and lazy also devalues them, it didn't stop Souness did it?

Souness was even stupid enough to say Shola was a better goal scorer than Bellamy, how daft is that?

That Villa game - but for a disgusting decision by Mike Riley, as per, we'd probably have won that game, or at least got something out of it.

Didn't see us looking too close to getting anything 3-0 at home.

https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/3518648.stm

fao of the yank expert, as it obviously didn't appear in USA Today

I think you'll need photographic evidence before he'll believe you; it'll be lies from the BBC.

It was Robson, as I recall, who publicised the story of the 'throat grabbing' incident. I don't believe for one single second that if SBR had made this accusation falsely that the club would not have jumped all over it and had him for it. As it was, there wasn't even a denial.

Im Welsh not American, And it doesnt say Souness tried to break Yorke's leg, Its chinese whisper with a lot of people in here. SBR is very bitter about his sacking and could of easily make up a story.

And have the club not so much as deny it?

Howay man.

Maybe they dont wanna get dragged into a media war with SBR saying one thing and Newcastle the other, How does SBR know? Was he there?

I think he knows one or two of the people at the club. Might be wrong, like.

No but John Carver was and he's told me that the incident happened. I presume he may have spoken to SBR about it too.

Next.

Yea Bellamy probably told him

well, I obviously can't say the name of the player in question like, but it's true, whether you believe it or not !

Carver was a coach at the time and watched it happen, you clueless knacker.

I find it funny how some-body always know some-one who knows a player or coach, Its like my friends friend. The only reliable source of info on this board so far has been Lovejoy, No offence NE5 but i dont believe a word you say

The club have taken every opportunity they could to have a go at Sir Bob, why would they pass up a chance?

Was'nt Carver a youth coach or something when that happend? When was this Bellamy thing meant to of happend? I cant imagine Bellamy gettin gripped by the throat and not fighting back

No you prefer to believe every bit of propaganda Souness or the club puts out.

Not at all Mick, Im just open minded, If i get solid evidence that Souness gripped Bellamy then i will believe it, Until then i'm just looking at it as a possiblity, When someone who hates Souness and will do anything to have his name tarnished saying stuff about him with no evidence then him not gonna believe it.

It happened in training, last October.

OK then. You support Souness, right ? Do you believe the "evidence" of results last season, and so far this season ?

Im still undecided if Souness is the right man, He is sorting out the dressing room but his tactics are questionable, I would like to see what he's is like when most Injuries are back, Im happy with the press we are getting later or i should say lack of Press. The end of the day i support Newcastle and i always will, We get a good result and some how we were lucky, We get a bad result and its all Souness fault, TBH its really starting to get on my nerves

Open minded, I don't think so.

You do not believe anything that goes against Souness, that's not open minded it's being bloody minded.

No Mick i'm not gonna believe people on here that hate Souness with Passion, Ofcourse you gonna try a slate him cuz you hate him, I've taken all that into account and until i get some proof im gonna put it in the maybe pile, Im not Gullible and aint gonna believe everything people say on here

I don't hate Souness at all, I just don't want him as our manager, and he’s not up to it.  I'll only try to slate him when he deserves it, I don't make things up about him.  Everything I have said is well documented apart from when I've expressed an opinion, I base my opinion on what I see read and hear.

Funny that, as watching utter dross and then having to listen the Clueless Jock's excuses has been getting on my nerves for some time now. About a year actually.

Mick you hate Souness, Its blatenly obvious, Thats fair enough that you dont want Souness as our Manager but you should blame him for every  problem that Newcastle have, Like Injuries, He couldnt stop Owen from running into Taylor and the Bowyer v Dyer crap, Souness didnt tell them to fight, The problem on this Board people are far to quick to blame Souness, IMO the players should take some of the flak aswell

For Souness' supposed throat grabbing I'll raise ya; Bellamy's chair throwing at Carver?

Where does it end?

Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm over the whole Bellamy thing now - he's gone and won't ever return. If we weren't talking about this, we'd be talking about how we are sick of him always being out injured. Long-term I think we'll save ourselves a lot of heartache over this player because we all know, he'll retire from the game at an early age and he'll always miss upwards of 20 games a season or more in one shape or another.

He should never have went on TV, he should never have spat the dummy out in the first place. He should have acted with some intelligence and stuck it out, played for the team and not himself, put his own interests second and he'd still be here and who knows, maybe we would have had a better finish to last season than we did.

Anyway it's all by the by now, he's gone and for good. This will be my last ever post on the whole subject, I'm bored of it now.

I've said I don't hate Souness, if I hated him I'd say I did.  I don’t have a problem admitting my feelings, I would think I know how I feel better than your analysis.

I don't blame anybody for Owen clashing with Taylor it was an accident, accidents happen.  Just because that one wasn't his fault doesn't get away from the fact that Dyer and Emre were brought back too soon after injury, as least one admitted he was under pressure to play.

As far as this board goes, I think it's a reasonable reflection of general opinion, possibly more pro Souness than reality.

Good post Howay, I agree about the Bellamy bit, Personally i dont know if the throwing the chair bit was 100% true but i remember reading something that SBR said a few days after when asked about and he said something along the lines of "There was an incident and we are dealing with it", Im not saying the Souness gripping Bellamy by the throat is false im just saying i having had read or seen credible evidence

Dyer and Emre will be inder pressure to player, They are now. Dyer is under more pressure cuz he knows his Career is hanging in the balance and Emre wants to hurry up and get fit cuz he wants to prove to us Newcastle fans that he is a good player. Luque will be the same. When we are down to our bare bones there will always be pressure on players to play

I told you what was true, and that is the POINTS we gained last season and so far this season, yet you continue to ignore it.

Clueless.

Reffer to Jackie Broon's avatar for his answer on that question.

souey blatantly did grab bellas by the throat, the club would have sued the arse off bobby if he hadnt.

it is worth noting that carver (at a talk in) confired that disciplne under bobby was non existant.

so im not sure sir bobby was the best person to comment, given the players ran riot under him

I dont know whats true and what isnt but it seems like the rumours of Souness falling out with players or doing his best to drive them out of the club have followed him his whole career, like i say i dont know the whole truth about these sitautions but i do know that alot of the time theres no smoke without fire and there seems to be alot of smoke emminating from Souness.

But lets be fair, like i say these rumours could all just be pie in the sky. So heres some proper reasons for Souness to be sacked:

Finished 14th in the premiership last season, unacceptable for a club of Newcastle Uniteds size and potential. Despite spending somewhere in the region of £45 million on new players of his choice during the close season we've started this season looking worse than what we did last season. If FFS can justify sacking a manager of Sir Bobbys pedigree so early into the season last year why cant he give Souness, a man whos managerial pedigree can be upstaged by a tin of pedigree chum the boot aswell.

Maybe rumours of discontent at the club arent a good enough reason to sack him but surely his managerial stats while in charge of Newcastle are.

There's little doubt in my mind that Souness is strong on discipline and that is important for the wellbeing of any club.

There's no doubt whatsoever that the signings of Owen, Luque and Parker are all excellent, not very good, excellent.  With the exception of Chelsea, they would improve any squad in the land.  But being a strong disciplinarian and having the ability to identify good players does not make Souness a good manager.

While those two qualities are important, where are his motivational skills, his tactical skills?  These are lacking and are far more important than Souness's first two  qualities.  I want to see a manager with the ability to get the best out the players who are fit and available to him, to have them playing in a style the players understand and are comfortable with.  I want the manager to identify the faults that the players may have in their game and then coach them out of them.  That may take time but Souness has had enough to have started having an impact, so that the supporter can see what he's trying to achieve.

Souness has some of the qualities needed but not the ones that are most important.  Where were the goals coming from before Owen was signed?  Where would the goals come from if Owen (heaven forbid) picked up a long term injury?  I don't know and I suspect that Souness doesn't know either.  That's why I think it's time for him to go.

I'm now waiting for somebody to pull your post to bits, it's spot on.

Jol i actually agree with most of what you say, But IMO Souness is done a bit more than just a few good buys and his discipline, Bramble and Dyer (When Fit) have progessed under Souness, I used to hate Bramble, Call him every name under the sun but now i feel Bramble is a key player. I feel when we were under SBR the club was rotting from the inside out, Souness has come in and IMHO the club's bad press has stopped and the dressing room seems to be a lot happier, Our injuries were bad under SBR and its still bad now. I feel that Souness has his good points and bad points but he deserves a fair shot, When he has a few players back hopefully in 2 weeks then he should be judged.

I couldnt have put it better myself mate. I think when Shephard employed him he was looking for an Alex Ferguson type of manager. A good tactically minded manager who is respected by his players and wouldnt take any shit. Unfortunately the only one of those 3 qualities which Souness possesses is that he wont take any shit and he even goes overboard with that.
To be honest i think one of the main reasons Souness still has a job is because FFS wont admitt he made the wrong choice in appointing him.

If the club was rotting under SBR whats happening now?

Souness has the respect of the players, How can Souness expect to be tactical when he has only had a small group of players? When we have more players fit then he can change things around, If it proves he still cant get it right then he has to go

jol, you have probably made me realise what i hadnt realised before.

souness has done very very well indeed to bring in some of th epeople he has done, he has also made us a healthier club than what we were off the pitch (notice we are never referred to as the brat pack in the press etc. which is a bonus), and i have allowed these qualities to cloud my vision of his managerial skills and ability to take the club forward.

soueys tactical and motivational abilities do have massive question marks over them however, and this will hinder our progress massively.

when do we sack him though?? now?? what for exactly? as much as its boring to hear, he hasnt had a chance to field anything like his best side, do we sack him in a few weeks?? what happens if we win the next 5 games and we are sitting in the top six in november??

what then???

Sack him then because you can bet your bottom dollar that he will somehow manage to **** it up.

There was unrest in the dressing room, Players were running riot. Bad press most weeks.

Ok dragon, time to own up. We know its you Graeme!!! bluebigrazz.gif

Players were almost rioting on the pitch under Souness, those players are still here and are referred to as "proper players."

Mick all that was down to 1 players, Bowyer who shouldnt be at Newcastle, Souness cant be blamed for that

hoo... Taffy....if you say you only take notice of "evidence" what about the "evidence" of points total and league position

aye. More "evidence"...

oops sorry, it didn't happen it was all camera tricks ....

So 1 stupid player attacked another player and suddenly the players are rioting on the pitch?

and a stupid manager has assaulted 2 of his players - that we know of - and neither was his fault.

You want my opinion? I think we are all just living in a dream which Souness is having just now because only in his dreams could he ever get the Newcastle job and only in his dreams could he be doing so badly at it and still have the job. Someone please pinch him so we can all return to the real world and if we all so happen to disapear when he wakes up, so be it. VBecause not existing has got to be far better than living in his warped and weird imagination.

I'll give you a quote from Souness after the fight:

"I can envisage both of them playing for Newcastle again. Players like them do not come along every day and they are class players."

Mick read my post again!!! I didnt say Souness dont want Bowyer, Its my Opinion he should be sold

You mentioned "riot", that's the closest I've seen to a riot.

Obviously Mick you've never seen a Riot before

We should have seen it coming, The Kaiser Chiefs did.

Sorry if I misread it, I picked out "Bowyer who shouldnt be at Newcastle, Souness cant be blamed for that."

Yeah and they're sh*te too.

Souness doesnt deal with the transfers that FS, If we couldnt find a buyer thats not Souness fault, Brummies would of had him but the Fans didnt want him

lol. I totally agree mate.

Well everyone always does!

They don't

I agree that he hasn't had an opportunity to field his best side, or anything like it, but you're not devoid of decent players.  With the players available, you still had enough ability to beat Portsmouth, yet you were lucky to out of it with a draw and but for one wonderful display from Given, you probably would have lost at least 3-0.  The midfielders still available to you should still have ensured the back 4 were well protected.  The fact that they weren't is, in my mind, a failure in the tactics.

You ask when he should be sacked, assuming of course he is.  The next 5 premiership games (you'll beat Grimsby, no-one could play as bad as Spurs again!) ought to be games where you should get a minimum of 10 pts, but I reckon you'll get only 5 :

Wigan(A) - doing a lot better than most people expected - L
Mackems(H) - Doing better but still relegation fodder - W
WBA(A) - Needing to scrap for points - D
Brum(H) - Difficult to break down, unlucky against the scum - D
Chelsea(A) - Nuff said - (L)

If I was right (not saying I will be mind), you'd be getting near to December with 14 pts from 13 games, which is relegation form.  That would be the time, if I was Fat Fred, to would say enough is enough.  What's more, most of the December matches don't look to be in the 'easy win' category either.

The away match at Blackburn I think was a 'must win' game for Souness, but I think he will be looking at similar game(s) this month as well.  Excluding Fergie, Souness is the least qualified manager in the premiership, even less qulaified than some of his players, and in my opinion, it shows.

Jesus wept.

To me, and i think alot of others, KEEPING the current manager is a massive disaster.

Agree totally mate.  Souness found his level when he was with Blackburn.  There must a better manager out there somewhere who wants to manage a big club in the premiership.  The longer Fat Fred waits, the more likelihood that the prospect of Europe will become just a dream.

MJ..keep the good posts coming mate, shame some fans of our own club can't see the reality of our situation as clearly as you that supports another club.

I have it on good authority that Martin Jol's real name is in fact Mick McCarthy!  :tongue3:

Hurts me almost as much as you when things aren't right at SJP.  Can't say the same about McCarthy!  He's a better manager than Souness mind. :wink:

Those people who say "you can't get rid now, yadda yadda", i think are mentals. I can't think why ANY manager coming into the club wouldn't be happy to have the likes of Given, Parker, Emre, Solano and Owen, and players like Taylor and The Zog coming through. And i can't see why most decent managers wouldn't make a damned better fist of it than Souness is, purely because his tactical and man-management skills are so dreadful.

We won't go down, but the best we're going to get under Souness is making mid table our own. I only pray to God that he doesn't get any more money to spend, cos a proper manager, when we finally get one, will be needing that to fix Souness' mistakes.

Don't honestly think there's a cat in hell's chance of that, the squad is simply far too good.

and yet you  congratulate him on the Owen, Luque, Emre, Parker, Solano signings?

I've read all this thread and there are some really good posts, Guinness and MJol in particular, but there has been a lot of shite as well.

a lot of it coming from Dragon5555444545454 or whatever his bloody name is.

Graema Souness is a bad manager. <---- see that? it's a full stop that means it's the end of the debate. He's a bad football manager because he's tactically naive, he's incapable of assuming blame for the defeats, it's forvever the fault of the referee, the linesman etc.

He is to blame for Dyer and Bowyer's spat, as someone else mentioned if the dressing room was chipper you wouldn't have a fight with your team-mate now would you? but what's that you say, Souness got rid of the troublesome players?

It's true that the team we watch now is stronger than that which Robson left us, but again I'd argue that those excellent transfers are more the responsibility of Shepherd and dare I say Shearer.

We've got to keep Souness until Christmas because to sack him now would be of little use. We won't necessarily improve the morale of the side, we won't necessarily improve the form on the pitch and it certainly won't improve public opinion of the club.

He's gobby, he's inept, but he's all we've got at the moment.

I'll never sing his name, and I'll never respect his managerial career, but I cannot see benefit in his dismissal at the moment.

Again it's no real coup for Souness to have a stronger side than the one Robson left us. It's not like he's picked up a Vieira from Milan's reserves. I'm not saying Robson wasn't backed, he was, but he was certainly never given £50m to spend in one year. Give me £50m, I'll sign a few canny players. It's not who you sign, it's what you get out of them.

My fear, though is that if he lasts till Christmas, and beyond, and we drag ourselves into the top 10, he'll blame injuries, Shepherd may buy it, and he'll get another year.

By the end of that, we have to start again, cos Nobby will be too old, Owen won't have hung around, etc etc.......

I'm scared, i really am.

Giving him a chance is not an option in my opinion and never has been. So he'll go without a fair throw of the dice? So ****, we're not a charity case for any bugger to try his luck at.

until Christmas?

I'd give him til christmas, not because he could change things round, but because it'll give Shepherd time to orgainse his succesor and for once we could have a smooth transition.

Aye well I wouldn't say I wouldn't do that, but I wouldn't 'give him a chance' for the sake of it, which is all we've heard in his defence from day one. Staggering to think this could have been so easily avoided last May as well.

on the birght side, whoever comes in, inherits a wealth of talent in midfield and isn't lumbered with the task of replacing Shearer.

Actually, I still think we have that problem, Bellamy has been replaced with a better player, but I think we still are looking for a replacement for Shearer.

Right now we only have one decent striker.

we all know for a fact we will end up with o'dreary, bruce or shearer

"I'm scared, i really am"


your also paranoid and gay but hey hoy lonyy dong dong!

that was constructive...

and funny...

and not at all a waste of time

<sigh>

You're right, of course.

Its going to be Shearer, isn't it. Which means out goes Souness' mates like Saunders, and in comes Shearers mates like Rob Lee.

And the cult of personality continues - "the dressing room is better now Bellamy is gone" actually means "only Shearer didn't like Bellamy", and thats only going to continue.

The only way we should get rid of Souness is if we are going to replace him with the calibre of manager that can take us a lot further. O leary, Bruce, Allardice...etc are two bob managers and are really not any better or worse than what we have.
I would certainly replace Souness at any point in the future but only if we were to bring in the calibre of the likes of: Hitzfield, Hiddink and....(can't think of anyone at moment).
I don't think it's relevant whether we replace him before or after christmas, the manager who comes in has a huge amount of talent at his disposal.

He did when Souness got the Newcastle job.

I rate Allardyce as he has the ability to get more out of the players that he's got than he should.  He's working on a shoestring budget and could be a big success with a good squad and money at his disposal.  Having said that, I'd still prefer a foreign manager, Le Guen, Hiddink, Hitzfeld.  Would they turn down the opportunity to take on a big club in the premiership?  I honestly don't think so.

I dont want to finish 14th again this season thanks!  :tongue3:

Amazing there are still people on here who say wait until Dyer is fit. He wont ever be fit.
As for Souness's record on buying. How can anyone say his buys have been great and then quote Luque - already injured and looked way off the pace when he did appear, Emre- injured,
Babayaro - defensively mediocre and another injury liability, Boumsong - Seem to remember him making plenty of mistakes recently, Faye - poor, Solano - yet to feature. Owen - excellent, Parker - good buy.
Its far too early to say he has made great purchases, and the whole point is how they perform together.
I cannot remember one outstanding performance by a Souness Newcastle side and I cannot believe he handed Dyer a new contract with his injury record.

The sad thing is that he's had 12 months of trying to get his team to perform at an acceptable level and we rarely have.

The other sad thing is that some of our fellow supporters are happy with the shambolic displays that are being served up as entertainment.

the one match we've been great in is Olympiakos at home was it? Can't remember but we battered them 4-0 and were outstanding. Other than that, **** all

Yes that was a really good game, much better than I expected.

Completely agree. They would see it as a golden opportunity.

Fact is, the managers who turned us down last year are pygmies, and it's better we found out then rather than later. Forget them.

Yes, but against opposition of much lower standard, who had already been properly demoralized from losing 3-1 and having two players sent off at home.

But to be fair, I thought we looked good against Arsenal before Jenas was sent off. Not excellent, but better than I've come to expect.

Where are Olympiakos now ?

As for Arsenal, good try but if you think putting 9 men behind the ball and making it difficult for the opposition is "playing welll .........."

Shades of wembley 98 I think

Utter complete shite performance, on both occasions

Played Real Madrid last wednesday in the Champions League...

Yep, that's exactly why I don't want to see the club plunged back into yet another "transitional" phase.

yep........but I meant it the other way round......

And its why i don't want to keep Souness - THAT is a ticket to 14th place.

Absolutely spot on.  I don't think anyone can argue with that statement!

Some will want to, the damned crazy fools.

Well, apart from the fact that it parades a prediction as if it was a fact.

Here's a fact for you: Souness is NOT a manager who will get a club consistently in the top half of the premiership, never mind a European place. Oh, and another one: of his signings, almost half have been worse than players we already have/recently let go.

No, sorry, you still haven't figured out what a fact is.

Feel free to keep trying.

This may help: https://www.m-w.com/

OK, here's an opinion for you.  Souness is NOT a manager who will get a club consistently in the top half of the premiership, never mind a European place.  The word is different, the sentiment is the same! :tongue3:

Olympiakos recently lost at home to a Norwegian team in relegation battle (RBK), but yes, they are still in the Champions League. Then they went on to lose against Real Madrid. But apparently, they do well in the league. It's not that much of a league, though. It's a team we should beat easily.

The good things I saw against Arsenal were 1) that the midfield worked hard, and 2) that they worked together. As I said, before Jenas was sent off, and then we had 10 men behind the ball. Defensive? Yes, but it's the first coherent midfield performance I've seen from the Toon since ... perhaps against Chelski, april 2004.

Come to think of it, when a midfield consisting of Robert, Viana, Speed and Ambrose could do well against Chelsea, then why the **** does Souness need all his best players fit to even play moderatly well?

I'm happy with my interpretation of the word "fact", and that the statements i made above ARE facts, as i see them.

For whatever reason (possibly blind ignorance, possibly to be difficult, possibly becuase you like to be a WUM for other reasons) you choose to ignore these facts, and thats up to you.

At the end of the day, all of the banal replies you can muster aren't going to make us a top 4 team under SOuness, because nothing is. But keep up the good work, you make the board so much more interesting.

I'm sure you are. But don't confuse the language you are speaking with English.

Better than poor would have been an improvement on how we played against the mighty Fulham.

Says the person who doesn't know the difference between result and performance.

I'll give you 2 facts.

1. We finished in our lowest ever position in the premiership under Souness
2. Liverpool finished in their lowest postion since the 1950;s under Souness.

Are they facts in our universe or his?

I'm sure there must be some people out there that are still inclined to defend Souness... BUT, every game that we let go by with him as manager regardless of the results being poor and the performances being terrible is another game nearer the end of the season when we WILL lose Owen and probably several other good key players due to them wanting to be at a club where they have a chance of winning things and playing in Europe. Trophies would be nothing short of a miracle and the way things are going with the way we're playing so would a European place at the end of the season. Souness looks the part of a manager, he fights his team's corner, he stands on the touchline and shouts at the players and he gives endless reasons for us not winning matches (which is nothing to do with him by his accounts). What he doesn't do is effective man-management, motivation or have any tactical knowledge, which are sadly the more important parts of being a manager. It might get him through lower leagues but not the Premiership, if he doesn't go soon we will be Blackburn Rovers equivalent... at best.  bluesigh.gif

I agree with all of that, every game with him gives us less chance of doing anything this season and will knock on to next season.

Does anybody want to go and edit an old post?

bump...again

well no one has edited any yet !

It's always the same with the Souness lovers. They only come out of the woodwork when we get a run of a few draws together. Some people just haven't got a clue about football but still try and persuade us that they know Souness will come good. What on earth they can base that on is beyond me.

Oh and 40 points from 38 games. Thats what he has got us.

Who's  still trying to claim he'll come good exactly?

Taylor 27 probably.

I could name quite a few actually, but in doing that i'd be starting a witchhunt.

Is that serious?  Is that what he's achieved in his time at SJP?  And some people still doubt that he should go! Geez........... :roll:

Yep and before his backers ask SBR achieved 56 points from his last 38 games in charge. But of course Souness has improved the squad since then.

STILL no posts from Ozzie and the rest of the "Souness must be given time" crowd .....

Wonder why ?

They are probably picking a new name for the forum.

Is it because recent events have made it blindingly obvious that they were wrong, and they don't want to admit it? Or am i being too cynical?

Let's not turn this into an US vs. THEM forum. It's obvious to EVERYONE now that Souness must go. Let's focus our collective energy on making sure that happens, rather than waste it on each other.

There'll still be a few who won't accept it, they'll just be trying to think of ways to twist the stats to fit their arguments.

Well yes that may be true. But who gives a ****? it's not like they'd stand in our way of getting our voices heard. Those fans who still believe in Souness mean nothing in the sense that there are thousands more who want the **** booted out.

I think Einstein would be hard pressed to argue that 40 pts from 38 games leads to the Champions League.  I'd love to think Souness would stay to the end of the year (Spurs v. Newcastle on 31st Dec).  The reality is Souness's day of reckoning is very near, if he was a dog he would have been put down by now to put him out of his misery.

I worry that shepard does not have the balls to sack him!

Come on NM, surely he deserves more time, its our injuries, no sorry, its the ref's fault, its sod's law, no sorry, it's the fans fault for doubting him, no sorry.......GET RID!!!!

what souness has done right is in gettin the right players out and into the club, i dont think anyone will disagree with that.

But hes a crap manager, tactically shite, no motivation skills, poor man managment skills. In all honesty the players we had for the wigan game still shud have dun the job in my opinion (even with wigans recent good form)

Now lets compare the managment skills of Souness and Mourinho for the last game:

Both had their teams down 1-0 at half time to bolton and wigan. Mourinho obviously changed tactics and must have given a very inspiring half time team talk to his players and they came out and scored 5 winning 5-1 (albeit playing at home)

Souness on the other hand did nowt judging by the way we played second half, no tactics accept to bring on Emre which was a no brainer.

Now there lies your problem (along with the entire coaching staff coz im sorry blaming the pitch for not warming up and down in training sessions just does not sit with me), even once we have our full team back (but who knows when that will be) how is souness goin to be able to motivate. He has been quoted as saying when he took over the job that he doesnt really believe in tactics, he belives in getting his best team out and they SHUD do the job.......absolute bullshit even Mourinho knows that and look at the squad hes got.

In conclusion lets thank souness for the way he has built our squad but he is incapable of doin anything with it. And altho maybe sackin souness now would not neccassarily be the best move judging by who is available to take over the sackin shud be made by the latest June 2006 for the appointment of one Mr Otmar Hitzfeld in July 2006 (thats when he wants to make his managerial return!).... Actually screw it il take Ranieri Now!! bluebiggrin.gif

p.s. this will NEVER happen as Freddy knows nowt about running a football club just knows how to take his cheque book out and thinks that'l do. Sorry boss but it wont. 

When emre was about to come onto the pitch did you all notice that him and souness look genuinely good mates. TBH i think most of the players like him. Straight talking guy from what clarky said on golas on sunday. I don't think clarky would lie.

SOME of the right players out, SOME of the wrong ones. SOME of the right players in, SOME of the wrong ones.

Certainly one of the more positive sides of his mangement.

He has brung in some cracking players TBH. I wasn't sad to see any1 leave apart from hughes but that was just a little bit.

I was sad to see Bellmay go, because he left due to a situation manufactured by Souness. I was also sad to see Hughes go, especially as he was replaced by no-one.

Of the players he's brough in, just over half are excellent/good/HOPEFULLY good. Teh rest are bollox. And there are questions over to what extent he is actually involved in transfers, which also clouds the issue.

those who want Souness out are obviously short of real football knowledge, we have always been an average team just kept up by a certain Shearer who can no longer do it for us now.  Souness has to totally rebuild an average team and with the injuries mounting it is not helping. stop this Souness Out shit, if Souness has a full team still playing like this, then we should and entitled to call for his head. Def not now..

Well done. You have restored my faith in human stupidity.

Those of you that want to keep souness obviously are happy with being a mid table team. That wont do for me with the stadium, players and most of all fans we have. We need to be challenging for a top 4/5 finish but it WILL NOT happen with Souness.

So why keep him???

I don't like to be derogatory to others on the board for their opinions or beliefs, but I think your an idiot who clearly hasn't watched any games over the last 12 months.

Agreed...

Just for the record Saturday was the first time ever i turned a game off half way through, let alone a NUFC. It was part the absoulte shambles i was witnessing tactically and the players performance, not to mention within the space of a few minutes having a penalty turned down (  since been proved not to be), Shearers goal disallowed and Owen getting penalised for getting hacked down on the edge of there area.
For the Souness haters i argued with last week you will know if you look back since day one i have been 50/50 and yes i am finally being swung towards more like 80/20 get him out. The 20 percent of my opinion not wanting out is only born from the bad luck we seem to suffer EVERY week.
I think what we are seeing is an obvious highlight of just how good a manager SBR was and how he made us look so good for so long before he became stale.
The job handed to Souness i feel is now done, he has upgraded our first eleven at the expense of loosing our depth this is now transparent. The only thing that i feel can save us now is either another massive spending spree in january or another top manager that can get a team outperforming its own level. If we could get both then superb.

Souness needs to go. I have been a firm believer that the man would turn us around this year, but 15 months of this man in charge has turned us into midtable fodder, instead of pushing 4th place.

We need Hitzfield, we need a manager with tactical abilities, we need new coaching staff, new need new medical staff, we need more squad depth.

I saw more of a "You what?" kinda look come on Emre's face when Souness was giving him instructions. He probably said "don't try to do anything adventurous, just sit deep with Parker and defend".

Re: my argument on the second last page of the "No More Excuses" thread. It's an argument that bashes the "constant run of bad luck" excuse on the head imho - it might just overhaul that 20% worth of doubt that you still harbour when it comes to the contentious issue of getting Clueless out  bluewink.gif

As I've mentioned somewhere else as well, the injury situation isn't actually all that bad at the moment - if you look at the players we're likely to have available at the weekend, there's only probably Luque and possibly Babayaro who would definitely start - Man Utd turned the mackems over easily away from home despite missing 7 first-teamers.

we're a long way off the team that Man U are mate

not a chance of me agreeing with that



but I do agree with that

wot so u dont agree with these transfers overall:

in

Babayaro - Cover but get rid in Jan
Boum - Give him a chance
Parker - Quality
Emre - Quality
Luque - Quaility
Moore - Decent Cover
Clarke - Decent Cover
Owen - Quality
Solano - Quality
Faye - Cover but get rid in Jan

Out

Bernard - Gud player but ego problem
Bellamy - Gud player but defo prefer Owen
Kluivert - Not enuf passion
Hughes - Wud have kept 4 cover
O'brian - Absolute Wank
Robert - Inconsistant prefer Luque and Nzogbia
Ambrose - Decent Player but best he moved on
Viana - Never guna make it in the PL
Butt - Wank
Jenas - Overrated, gud business
Milner - Vital Experience and will have him back at the end of the season

It seems like quite a gud record of transfers but i do agree that better cover is needed in places. Overall thats the best thing hes done for the toon but his managment skills dont exist.

Babayaro - cover? For who exactly?

And what was Bernard's ego problem? Wanting parity with other first teamers?

Hate to say this, but there's nothing to suggest Luque is going to be a success here in the PL.  So where 'Quality' came from, I don't know.

Baba is awful but getting rid would be insane, leaving us with Elliot. 

Kluivert, Hughes and Ambrose should all have been kept.  How I'd love to have seen Owen and Kluivert together, no Shearer and Owen.

I'll put my football knowledge up against yours any day of the week.  I've predicted virtually the whole script with him and as yet waiting to be proven wrong on anything I've said about him.  It could happen, but lets face it, it's not going to happen now, that leopard will not change it's spots.

We were always an average team before Shearer arrived, of course we were .  Where were we in the league the season before he joined us?  Not decades before, just over 3 months before.  I'll give you a clue, Shearer made his dubut at Wembley.

I assume he meant Baba was cover til we could get someone better in.

Nothing to suggest Luque is going to be a success other than the years of good performances he's had for Spain and Deportivo. He's a risk alright, but one worth taking IMO. Certainly money better spent than on Viana for instance.

A spending spree in january is too late, even if it did work, a good new manager will gain more points than Souness ever will.

*cough* Morientes.

What a raving success.  But I know what you mean, but he has to prove it, he's not yet.  I know he hasn't had the chance, just pointing out we can't be 100% he is going to a success.

Fair point.

He's a big, physical player so he should be OK, but like you say we can't be 100% he'll produce the goods.

On a side note, who's the most succesful Spanish player ever in the Premiership? Can't remember a whole lot of them actually playing here.

Alonso - European Cup winner. Great player, one of the best ball playing midfielders in football and a joy to watch, never seems to have a bad game whenever I've watched him and the Liverpool fans love him. With good reason, he's a class player and unlike some foreign players, he enjoys a tackle and can get stuck in with the best of them.

Question for those who want rid of Souness...............

Having seen our performances so far this season do you think with our current squad,same injuries etc we would be in a better position under Jose Mourinho?

I am no Souness lover nor do i see the sense in those spouting such shite as "Sunday is a no lose for Nufc. We win then good, lose and Souness might be sacked"

This bollocks will do no-one any good.

Opinions gentlemen?

Do we really need another thread on this?

I'll be merging it with one of the others as it could easily go in there.

Easy question.  Without a shadow of a doubt, yes, Newcastle would be better.

Love him or loathe him (personally I loathe him), you can't deny his ability to motivate players (eg Joe Cole) into a lot better than they were and to change tactics with a purpose (eg v. Bolton on saturday).

Nothing else to say.

I think a few threads need merging, we also have a few which are going on about Hitzfeld and quite a bit is now being repeated.

Look Mourinho is not a god, but I (and many other people on the old HTT Board) wanted him even before he won the CL with Porto.

He won the CL and the UEFA Cup with a club from a third rate league on less than 5m pounds. He has studied under SBR and van Gaal and knows how to manage a team - he is absolutely positively better than Souness and would certainly have better results from this team even with injuries.

Babayaro - Cover but get rid in Jan talent but waste of space
Boum - Give him a chance alright but overpriced
Parker - Quality quality
Emre - Quality quality
Luque - Quaility not too impressed, proved nothing, especially for 9m quid
Moore - Decent Cover  bigger load of shite it is harder to imagine
Clarke - Decent Cover why ?
Owen - Quality yes, but could have got him for 3m less and bought a replacement for
Ameobi with the change.
Solano - Quality was good with Bellamy running into space to hit balls at, let's hope he still is
Faye - Cover but get rid in Jan see Moore

Out

Bernard - Gud player but ego problem compared to his replacement for more money ?
Bellamy - Gud player but defo prefer Owen top quality player who Owen hasn't replaced anyway and was the last player at the club that I would have sold.
Kluivert - Not enuf passion load of shit
Hughes - Wud have kept 4 cover great utility player and should still be here - sold because he was a friend and ally of Bellamy
O'brian - Absolute Wank not good, but hardly justifies replacing with Moore, I'd rather have
O'Brien
Robert - Inconsistant prefer Luque and Nzogbia he's still on loan
Ambrose - Decent Player but best he moved on unproven potential, should still be here
Viana - Never guna make it in the PL agreed but amazing how long it took people to see
Butt - Wank wierd how he was pretty good for manu and us until Souness walked in
Jenas - Overrated, gud business wasn't going to get better but have an awful feeling his career may prosper now with a proper manager etc
Milner - Vital Experience and will have him back at the end of the season no pace to be a winger but don't let him go just yet

All these changes, for 50m quid .