Leazes is gonna be all over this thread now.

Saw a survey the other week, interesting results.

70% of Scousers enjoy anal sex.
The other 30% haven't been to prison yet

I'm not proclaiming him the second coming or trying to justify his behaviour but i think it's perfectly fair to maintain there were mitigating circumstances. None of us will ever know the ins and outs and maybe i'm wrong but i just think when you look at where he's come from (look at his brother for example!) he could have done a lot worse - it's just that he's a football player and everything he does is under the microscope.

And on the playing front, I guess I'm mainly going off the recent times he's played against us for city where he has always ran the show and made our midfield look very ordinary (which in fairness it often was)

Hilarious btw, you really should be on Channel 4.

But the fact that Allardyce mentioned obviously means that it did register with him. I'm not having a go, truth be told I don't really care and I only come on here to pass the time but I still say that there IS such a thing as the fans having too much of a say.

There are loads of people who have season tickets these days who are clueless about football. You just have to listen to some of the comments you hear from the whoppers in the seats around you. No doubt it was these who booed Owen. However I reckon the same is true of a lot of top flight clubs and I am sure if the Owen situation (ie playing as much for England as us since signing and the media making a hoo hah about it) arose at any one of the clubs in our league, there would be a handful who'd boo him there as well. Look at what's been happening to Lampard the last few times he's played for England! I'd bet money that most of the England supporters who booed Lampard (ie at least 95%) are not from Newcastle and don't support Newcastle.

And I agree that those 'Liverpool Slums' and 'sign on' songs are totally embarrassing. Thats the way football has been going for the last 10 years though isn't it? At every top flight club you've got more and more supporters who don't know what its all about, and sadly Newcastle is no exception.



 

It's just from your previous comments you seemed to be suggesting Newcastle was a special case regarding their supporters and the influence we have etc. whereas the above suggests we're the same as everyone else. Still missing your point there mate. If you had one

'Liverpool slums' though - Jesus wept. 'Sign on' at least has a bit of humour to it, since it uses 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. Also, a season or two ago we sang 'Feed the Scousers' to Everton at home but it was a retort to their inevitable: 'You've never won f*** all' about 10 minutes in, so it was fair enough, banter etc. imo. Sometimes that sort of thing can be funny, sometimes not. You can bet a canny few of those singing 'Liverpool Slums' are tramps themselves. Which is quite amusing when you think about it.

I'm to busy lmao at that guy in your sig, I think I'd pay just to watch what he was going to do next.

Keane's on & off-field volatility - ie. where he did seek to end a player's career, in a premeditated act of revenge - never stopped him from being the sort of dominant captain others should aspire to be.

Barton shares a few of Keane's traits. He plays with drive & purpose and leads by example, and he expects others to follow suit. He'll lay harsh criticism if they don't, and like Keane he's seen as being 'politically incorrect' or too forward/straight talking in the media. Barton is a breath of fresh air in this sense, and to compliment the attributes already mentioned he's a good player.

And what's often not spoken about, and this is often forgotten about amidst his reputation for being a thug or as others have cited 'a complete ****ing mentalist', is that he's an intelligent player going forward - off the ball that is. Barton, during his career at City, put himself in too many scoring positions over the course of his journey there and as such he couldn't be labelled as a player that a hit a purple patch of form - ie. goals from midfield - ala Parker prior to moving to Chelsea. It's an indication that he reads the play well and anticipates when & where a '2nd chance opportunity' might arise in & around the box.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest if he lays the occasional headbutt, or any other act of aggression in the heat of the moment. Like Keane he's a passionate individual come matchday, and of course out on the training pitch as well. As such these mind-blanks, or flashpoints of craziness, are the by-product that comes hand-in-hand with this sort volatility. When the inevitable first flashpoint does arrive i hope he doesn't get shouted out of town - by the 'do-gooder' types who first jumped on the Anti-Bellamy bandwagon when the so-called Welsh dwarf by their own estimation publically embarassed the club when he justifiably called the manager a prick when substituted, when a match was there for the taking, for reasons that were not football related.;

I find your comment irrelevant when in it comes to the captain issue and this is based on Keane's aggressive/in-your-face leadership style, and i do think these type of dismissive/shallow remarks originate from a 'moral high ground' train of thought.

 

And what do we have here?


https://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_2825445,00.html

Bitter. As. Owt.

Or wishes he was still here. 

Still. There's always a job in a comedy waiting for him at then end of his career. Critique on Dressing Room spirit from Joey Barton. FFS.

Yep, the thing about Joey is he's so open with what he says. Sometimes it comes out intelligent, sometimes it's nonsense. That's the fun!