Newcastle Thread

Ben Arfa out for the season. That's annoying.

Had he even come back?

He played the first leg against Anzhi

Did you rush him back or is it an unrelated injury?

We didn't rush him back, was in 1st team training for about a month before he played against Anjhi but he still appears to have had a recurrence which is really annoying. He's having surgery to sort it out now though so he should be back and firing on all cylinders next season.

He's the type of player that would be the difference between us winning the Europa League and not winning it.

http://zeesrants.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/the-problem-with-michael-owen/

As much as he could have scored that one goal that would have kept us up. So could any other player on the squad, he isn't the sole reason we were relegated ultimately.

That article goes on about his price tag as well. By his last season at Newcastle I think everyone can agree that all the injuries meant he just wasn't the same player we signed anymore. Even if his contract hadn't expired we'd have got £16 million back for him.

As much as it was a shame we could recoup any of our investment in Owen, if I was him (i.e. at a club I had no particular ties to) I wouldn't have stuck around with Man Utd knocking at the door. It's as much the clubs fault for letting his contract run down so far that he could leave on a free, he's fulfilled his obligations to us.

I think we should all be over it by now, all in all there's a lot to be happy about at the club nowadays

There are times I do wonder what would have happened if, in 2009, someone, anyone, got a goal that would've kept us in the Premier League. Where would the Toon be now?

I don't hate Owen for leaving us - I wouldn't have wanted him to stay on 120k a week or whatever he was on when we got relegated.

Relegated the next season?

Shearer would probably be hailed as Newcastle's managerial Messiah, only for him to display his true 'ability' as a manager and get you guys relegated anyway.

I reckon we may have stayed in the Prem in 09/10 but we'd probably be down there and there's no way we'd have wound up with a team anywhere near being capable of last season's performances.

At the least we would have been lumped with Owen on an extended contract at still-stupid wages, despite him being pretty useless for the half of 08/09 he was actually needed. I mean, £120K a week is more than most League One clubs wage bills. In the Championship a player on such a pay packet would be financial suicide.

With hindsight getting relegated was one of the best things to happen to us.

Think its pretty poor how we're not offering Steve Harper some sort of coaching/ambassador role.

He's been with us since 1993.

Isn't he carrying on playing after he leaves?

Twitter rumour we're going to replace Pardew with Benitez.

I don't buy it.

That'd be fucking stupid.

Benitez is such much more accomplished as a manager than Pardew that it's ridiculous, but surely longevity is the key? I thought Pardew was 'bezzie mates' with the board members.

Ryan Taylor's reinjured/done more damage to his cruciate ligament. Likely to miss the majority if not all of next season

He's shit anyway.

Apart from free kicks.

Taylor is okay, he's the sort of player along with Guthrie and Best who we've missed this season, hardly players who set the world alight but really handy in those injury ravaged spells where we need more experienced backup.

I would rather have Ryan Taylor at LB than Santon.

I wouldn't.

Santon is pretty useless though, hopefully some big Italian club comes in with a stupid bid for him.

This injury curse is fucking excessive.

Ryan Taylor can actually defend sometimes

I'm not sure about over Santon, but I'd certainly have him at LB over Gutierrez. Plus he can play plenty of other positions, he's a great player to have on the bench. We could have used him the past few weeks.

So, for tomorrow we have no Krul, Santon, R. Taylor, Coloccini, Tiote, Marveaux and Vuckic, not to mention all the out-of-form players... anybody else worried Lukaku's gonna tear us a new one?

Is it too late for us to call off the Falcao deal?

We could sign this Lewandowski kid, seems a half-decent, up and coming striker

Lewandowski has already agreed to join Bayern Munich.
So no use in speculating about him coming to England.
Though Newcastle would be a wonderful option ...

Nah, it's a running joke in these parts.