Well to say the least this has been an interesting season for me beloved Magpies and I feel like going on a rant so here goes.

First of all I am sick of hearing that we should play for fourth. It is fine if that is what Liverpool wants to do but playing for fourth has hurt the team more than helped. Instead of going thinking that max points are needed Newcastle has made a habit of letting teams grab a point out of the games that should be won because there is no pressure on them to win. They are already conceding defeat in the league so what does this game have to do with anything is an attitude that has been prevlent alot this season. You know maybe the league is out of reach but who knows that is why you play the games. If you think back at all the games that we have given up points we should easily be in fourth place and possibly challenging Chelsea at the moment. Instead the team goes out gives the clumsy performances and right now isn't in a mindset of winning. What is really tearing me up is the good for nothing borning Smoggies have a chance to win a cup this year. It is only the league cup but if the Teesiders win they will have won more silverwear this season than Newcastle has won in close to 60 years. I believe the last time we won anything was 1957. The team this year has this cavalier attuitde that they will win because last year they won and that is not the case. The only people who really are Gary Speed and Alan Shearer but it is clear they cannot carry this team alone.

Second SBR needs to retire after this season. He is a great manager and a legend but this team needs someone else to lead them to glory. You may laugh at my solution but Steve Bruce would be the perfect fit for Toon. The players have way too much control of that team. What better way to end that then by bringing Steve Bruce. He may not be the most appealing name for the job and he certainly isn't easy on the eye but he is a Geordie and is what this team needs. If you have watched Brimingham this season you see what makes him a great manager. He gets his squad to play as one. Honestly the blues have no bussiness being in the top 10 in the EPL but he has gotten that team to work hard. They are a blue collar team. Newcastle needs some grittiness in them they need to be tougher. I know there is a reputation for attacking football from Newcastle but I haven't seen it lately. I just see Shola Ameobi tripping over himself and Jermaine Jenas looking lost. This teams needs to be tougher and Steve Bruce could help with that.

Third Either Kieron Dyer needs to be sold or he needs to start playing better every game. It seems to me that Dyer only bothers showing up for every 1 out of 3 games. He is a huge talent and when he is on he is nearly unstoppable but someone who is only playing good 33% of the time is useless. Right now if some offered me this situation of you could sell Solano for 1.5mil and keep Dyer or you could sell Dyer for 20mil(that is what the rumor was when Chelsea tried to get him) and keep Solano I would have chose the latter. Atleast you know what you are getting from Solano. Dyer is wil card for most games. It seems Dyer will dissapear for a year score three or four goals and go back into hiding.

Fourth Something needs to be done about Johnathan Woodgate's health. This is getting out of hand. What good is a world class defender if he is always hurt. There was a rumor that some of the injuries are coming because he is not strecthing and warming properly. I know Woody is a class professional but if that is even remotely true then a trainer should be following hime around everywhere he goes before a match.

Fifth Mackems are gay and stupid. That is all.

Finally alot has been said about Huggie Viana as of late. As much I wasn't to see Viana succed he can't try and force his way into the line up when he has no cards. Newcastle pays him Portugal doesn't. If Viana wants to give up his wages to play for us then that is great we get all the money he was or will be payed and he can play as much as he wants where ever he wants. If wants to get payed then I suggest just waiting for his chance. Also everyone makes it out to seem he hasn't been playing football for the past six months. He gets to play in the reserves. I mean he is still playing it is not like SBR is preventing him playing soccer at all. Viana will get his chance in due time and until then he should prepare for it because it could come anytime.


Anyway that is all I got. I just felt like talking about a little toon for all of us four other Newcastle fans. And no I don't want to hear another argument on why Viana should play.

good little rant my friend lol.

I've said it before and say it again. Even if we do get to 4th spot ... our season will have been a failure.

And what hurt us, well me especially, was the Partizan game. All summer the club was getting ready and goign on about how they were becoming a big club... Our whole season was to revolve around our "certain" CL games and the money we would get and the experience players would get from playing in that comp again etc...
And of course we blew it big time.

I think the whole staff must put their hands up and say they got it wrong. The board deciding that we didn't need any new players at all... However I do think that Robson is still he main man for the job.

We have to hope that in the end we do get 4th, and therfore limit "the broken pots" (lol that's a french expression).

It's funny coz we have Alan with 16 EPLgoals up there as usual, Robert putting in great performances, we've had Woodgate being praised by all at some point this season... I think we've also got one of the best hom records defensively... yet something just doesn't feel right. It's hard to explain.

Or maybe it's just that the last two season we've been on a nice and easy ride.

i'll stop writing now ... coz im starting to get lost in what i'm trying to say :p anyway we just have to make things happen for ourselves. Shearer's got the rattle that net again Robson must win the fans over again, we must finish 4th, bring in 2 or 3 new players, inc one exciting name... and see how next season goes.

You hit it right on the money. If you think about the last two season we have the same basic team and seemed to play well it seems we have just played so poorly durning a handful of games that you forget about the good games. I can even understand the board not buying new players I mean we splashed a ton of money before and had a team that could compete with almost anyone. It just seems the team has become malcontent and needs a shake up only by getting rid of Solano they went about it all wrong. Cort, LuaLua, Caldwell were all good to get rid of but Solano had been one of the most reliable players on the team.Oh I forgot something on my rant.


Seventh We need more Chopra. When he comes back from Forrest he should play more.

Originally posted by pennington10
Seventh We need more Chopra. When he comes back from Forrest he should play more.
yeah I was surprised we shipped him out in the 1st place.

But all of a sudden we had more strikers then we could handle: Shearer, Ameobi, Cort, LuaLua, Bellamy, Chopra, Bridges
so some of them ahve gone on loan.

I don't know if you've been reading the NUFC.com match reports lately but they've been talking about Chopra. Basicaly saying that if he was really our future hero he would be playing by now not going ou t on loan when we need strikeforce. and that from being the next Shearer he's turning out to be the next Paul Robinson, or Paul Dalglish...

Simple fact is that Newcastle have become the fourth best team because of Chelsea's overnight spending power. Newcastle's season became a failure when they got knocked out of the Champions League qualifying stage.

i like Newcastle, but like Matt said, that Partizan game screwed you guys big, because i think in the champions league you guys would of had more competition which would boost you in the premiership... ;)

btw, how are castle doing in the cup?

They lost to Liverpool in the F.A. Cup and they lost to West Bromwich Albion in the league cup so I would say not so good.

Meh it's the same thing. Wait for a chance. And then it's back to you haven't proven yourself. :crazyboy:

Aren't you a tad biased on anything to do with Hugo. I mean it could never ever be that the fact is Hugo doesn't deserve his spot in the line up.

Interesting read there Pennington. I agree that Steve Bruce is the man for the job when Robson retires. He strives on having a solid, disciplined defence, something we need.

Over the last 2 seasons i think expectations from the fans has been to high. When we were mid-table strugglers i would of given anything for 4th place. If we achieve 4th place i will definetaly regard this season as a success.

We've still got the UEFA cup to look foward to and who knows this could be the silverware we're long due.

Bellamy is back and looked sharp against Blackburn. It's a shame cheating c*nts like Lucas Neil have to go around trying to inflict injury's on players. It's a miracle that Craigs knee seems to be ok.

The mid-field is only performing half to what it can. Robert and Speed have been excellent but Jenas seems to be out of place. Hopefully his goal the other week will kick start him so to speak. Dyer is way to inconsistant. He floats around and hasn't really found a position which he is comfortable with yet.

The defence looks much better with O'brien but Woodgate getting injured again! I hope the rumours of him not warming up before games are not true. I'm sure the staff wouldn't allow this. It so annoying that since the year hes been at St James' he's spent most of it injured!

I think we have to be a favorite to win the UEFA Cup but we have to play good teams to do it. The one thing about this seasons squad is that they cannot win the games they should win easily. The have to make them exciting for some reason. It was good to see them knockout Leceister City with ease but smaller teams scare me more than bigger clubs. This years squad is very upset prone.

I agree it is great to see Bellamy back at full strength. I hope his knees can hold up as he works so good Shearer. I think we take Bellamy for granted when you take a look at our record when he plays and when he doesn't play. He is the heart of this team.

yeah.
remember our 01-02 campaign...
Bellamy got injured and our title challenge vanished.

Yes I remember. I think what works so well with Bellamy and Shearer their styles are so different and contrasting they fit together perfectly. Sure Bellamy can be foolish at times but he is a hell of a player.