Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[britneyspearsisgod]

Regardless of relegation or safety, Newcastle just need to get this season over with. Take a break, relax and recharge. Then, when July 1st comes around, return to work. Sit down, have a long hard think. They need to clean house and rebuild. Remove dead weight, both on the coaching staff and the playing staff. They don't build a strong youth team - even that needs to be looked at. Everything needs re-evaluating. Inspect even the blades of grass on the pitch. And from there, bring in new blood. Players eager for the chance to play at whatever level. Most of all, don't get too ambitious. If they stay up, simply look to consolidate their Premiership status next season. If they start next season in the Championship, aim for the play-offs. Build afresh and new. A complete overhaul isn's necessarily what is being asked here, but a complete and intensive look at the entire club is something they need to watch.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Looking at their squad it is full of players who are either just not good enough or just can't be bothered or have potential that has been lost at Newcastle (like Duff).

Fortunately they have a great golie who won't go anywhere.

Edited May 4, 2009 by SexyHamster

[Adam]

If Newcastle do go down I really hope Leeds don't come up. I'd rather not have TWO sets of fans bleating on about how they're far too big for the division despite failing to win at Plymouth the previous week.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I know that everyone says that it's really bad for Newcastle to go down in terms of the huge chunk of Premier League cash, but face it, we'd probably find a way of wasting it anyway.

We've essentially got a glorified Championship team, I can't think of a single person who we've got that has any quality whatsoever. We've got a solid goalkeeper, but ultimately every club thinks that they do. Coloccini has been one of the biggest wastes we've ever had, we're only playing him because he cost £10m, Owen is non-existant and if we'd chosen to play a guy like Carroll religiously every week we'd probably get the same goal turnout. Jonas has became "that guy who runs... and runs", and it's great to see we've got his predecessor too with Lovenkrauds. Our midfield has gone from being relatively stable, to be horrible, the one person keeping us safe last year (Butt) has declined so much in the past year he's unrecognisable, the rest of our midfield resemble his current form >_<

The one thing that separates us from ending up like Leeds is that despite having a horrible team, we're still technically in the black, and any players sold would go straight into the transfer kitty instead of towards debt repayment. Then again we'd probably end up wasting that too, considering the entire Newcastle united team is probably worth less than 10m now >_<

[The Quasi Juice]

I know that everyone says that it's really bad for Newcastle to go down in terms of the huge chunk of Premier League cash, but face it, we'd probably find a way of wasting it anyway.

We've essentially got a glorified Championship team, I can't think of a single person who we've got that has any quality whatsoever. We've got a solid goalkeeper, but ultimately every club thinks that they do. Coloccini has been one of the biggest wastes we've ever had, we're only playing him because he cost £10m, Owen is non-existant and if we'd chosen to play a guy like Carroll religiously every week we'd probably get the same goal turnout. Jonas has became "that guy who runs... and runs", and it's great to see we've got his predecessor too with Lovenkrauds. Our midfield has gone from being relatively stable, to be horrible, the one person keeping us safe last year (Butt) has declined so much in the past year he's unrecognisable, the rest of our midfield resemble his current form >_<

The one thing that separates us from ending up like Leeds is that despite having a horrible team, we're still technically in the black, and any players sold would go straight into the transfer kitty instead of towards debt repayment. Then again we'd probably end up wasting that too, considering the entire Newcastle united team is probably worth less than 10m now >_<

You can say all you want about Martins, but the guy is a speed demon and surely Premiership quality.

[Zaz]

Would love to see Leeds back in the Premiership within the next five years.

[therockbox]

I know that everyone says that it's really bad for Newcastle to go down in terms of the huge chunk of Premier League cash, but face it, we'd probably find a way of wasting it anyway.

We've essentially got a glorified Championship team, I can't think of a single person who we've got that has any quality whatsoever. We've got a solid goalkeeper, but ultimately every club thinks that they do. Coloccini has been one of the biggest wastes we've ever had, we're only playing him because he cost £10m, Owen is non-existant and if we'd chosen to play a guy like Carroll religiously every week we'd probably get the same goal turnout. Jonas has became "that guy who runs... and runs", and it's great to see we've got his predecessor too with Lovenkrauds. Our midfield has gone from being relatively stable, to be horrible, the one person keeping us safe last year (Butt) has declined so much in the past year he's unrecognisable, the rest of our midfield resemble his current form >_<

The one thing that separates us from ending up like Leeds is that despite having a horrible team, we're still technically in the black, and any players sold would go straight into the transfer kitty instead of towards debt repayment. Then again we'd probably end up wasting that too, considering the entire Newcastle united team is probably worth less than 10m now >_<

You can say all you want about Martins, but the guy is a speed demon and surely Premiership quality.

Speed alone doesn't make you a good player. The problem with Martins is that every now and again he does something that is so good you can't help but think he's a quality player. Against us last season at Anfield he took the ball from a throw-in, and in one movement turned and smashed a volley against the crossbar from about 35 yards. But that sort of thing is too few and far between, and most of the time he's not even a danger.

[EddieG]

Why are we still talking about Newcastle? This is the premiership thread

[Crybaby Bunting]

Martins strikes me as a guy bought simply because he was from Inter and looked vaguely good. Seems very much like the reasoning that Spurs bought Dos Santos from Barce, it doesn't matter how reputable the club is that you bought them from, or how much potential they look to have... what matters is the question why they sold them in the first place.

Because a player like Martins was never going to improve much more once he hit 21, no matter how much you train him.

[IAceI]

Martins is comical. He has flashes of brilliance in between his seeming constant injuries, he's fast but tries to hit everything harder and more spectacular than Gerrard and doesn't seem to have any real concept of off the ball play.

As far as I'm concerned he's a bottom half Premiership striker but I wouldn't rely on him to be a top goalscorer. But he will pitch in with a few beauties now and again, he's lucky in that a lot of fans are simple and a poor performance can be made right by a 100mph bullet in the top corner every 3 months or so.

Decent player, but nothing spectacular.

[Ben E.]

Martins on his day is worth what Newcastle paid for him. Trouble is, his day doesn't come anywhere near often enough, and a lot of the time he just looks disinterested.

You could go through the whole team and say why they aren't good enough. Thing is, it doesn't matter how many quality players a team has, if they don't have confidence, interest and a half decent manager, they're not going to win games.

Keegan, for all his faults, was a good motivator and got the team playing pretty well. Not 'European football' good, as all the clueless fans on Sky Sports News would tell you, but not as bad as the team is now.

[TMM]

I remember watching the Man Utd/Newcastle game from opening day of the season. Watching it I thought Newcastle might be in with a decent chance of European football this season. Jonas looked fantastic and Coloccini looked like the player he seemed to be on FM (IE; amazing) and they could easily have won at Old Trafford.

Remembering that game then looking at Newcastle now, on the verge of relegation, it just seems wrong. They deserve to go down, no two ways about it but from the opening day I couldn't see it at all.

[Turbo Yannis]

Let me tell you this turbo. When I was in Perth last week I thought "Oh my goodness I didn't mean to get a train to a poverty stricken third world hellhole."

TRUE STORY.

We were all having a joke and you had to make it personal.

Ballbag

Oh, and we're a third world hellhole...now with SPL football

Edited May 4, 2009 by Turbo Yannis

[therockbox]

Sami's gone

[9 to 5]

I will have similar feelings come the home game with WBA and seeing Tugay playing for the last time.

[Matt]

Newcastle fans really don't realise how crippling the drop to the Championship is for teams that aren't yo-yo teams like West Brom and Birmingham. I'll love it when it all goes tits up for them, love it.

[IAceI]

I will have similar feelings come the home game with WBA and seeing Tugay playing for the last time.

I'll be there, I'll give him a standing ovation, do you want me to do one for you as well?

[Pesci]

Sami's gone

I think I need to be placed on suicide watch

[9 to 5]

I will have similar feelings come the home game with WBA and seeing Tugay playing for the last time.

I'll be there, I'll give him a standing ovation, do you want me to do one for you as well?

Yes, you can do one for me.

The guy really deserves it.

[IAceI]

Any idea who he's going to go to? If he drops to the Championship level he'll be a great asset for whoever picks him up assuming he keeps playing, he runs the show and everytime he gets the ball it seems like he has days to pick out his pass.