Carr is the 'higher ups', and he seems one of two men who get away with it. He's suffered absolutely no consequences, for a lot of bad signings.

Can actually imagine, Pardew asking for Charlie Austin last summer, and Charnley and Carr telling him that he wasn't cosmopolitan enough, and signing Riviere and Ferrerya instead.

Carr's first options last summer were Aubameyang, Lacazette, Gomis and Remy - only when Charnley/Ashley decided they weren't cheap enough we settled on the former two, so hardly fair to blame Carr for that.

He's consistently identified good players that were interested that we haven't bothered making a good enough offer/pay their wages for, Grenier, Douglas, Lacazette, Gomis to be just 4. All 4 are vast improvements on what we have here, to go alongside players we've signed such as Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Tiote, Santon, Mbiwa - all could and should be regulars at teams in the Europa League at least. If we were managed correctly, our team could look like this:

Krul

Janmaat Coloccini Douglas Santon (with people like Haidara and Steven Taylor for backup)

Tiote (with people like Colback as backup)

Cabaye Grenier (with people like Sissoko and Anita as backup)

Aubamayang Lacazette Remy (with people like Perez and Cisse as backup)

Carr is not to blame.

Maybe selling Cabaye was a good option - replace him with Grenier then and move Sissoko into a starting spot. Instead we signed somebody not suited to the role (Cabella/De Jong) 6 months later.

#268470 Transfer Rumours 2015/16

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

12 Jun 2015 15:19:47

By bmg033 | On 12 June 2015 - 15:27 PM

So Falcao has gone back to Monaco and it wouldn't surprise me if van Persie left Man Utd as well. That leaves just Rooney and Wilson, so will Javier Hernandez be there next season is he going to be off permanently?

After Harry Kane though aren't you?

#268421 Copa America 2015

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

12 Jun 2015 11:52:47

Jean Bausejour still gets a game for Chile? haha

#268418 Transfer Rumours 2015/16

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

12 Jun 2015 11:09:25

Would be absolutely buzzing with Austin and Berahino as our front 2 next year, can't see both though.

#268407 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

12 Jun 2015 10:16:36

He's under huge pressure from higher up though, he's consistently identified good players that we just haven't bothered chasing properly.

Hopefully things have changed anyway, the Mirror reporting that Austin is a done deal and Berahino is next.

That'd be a superb start. Still need two wingers and a centre back though if we're intent on 4-4-2.

#268347 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

11 Jun 2015 19:06:01

Charnley and Carr maybe are learning from past mistakes in allowing McClaren to bring his own staff in rather than being cunts?

Not sure what our chief scout has to do with it either.

#268325 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

11 Jun 2015 16:13:27

By Splash The Cash On Matt Le Tiss | On 11 June 2015 - 17:09 PM

Dunno, there was plenty of anti-Pardew sentiment, before it turned out that he was making a shite team look slightly bad and Carver demonstrated how bad the team could play. Hopefully the knowledge that Shteve has a shite team that needs rebuilding will buy him a bit of time.

Pardew was part of the problem though, he was dancing to Ashley's tune and wasn't co-operating with some of the better players that Graham Carr was finding for him (fall outs with Cabaye, Mbiwa, Ben Arfa etc.)

Pardew also went on record several times when he was here saying our squad was strong enough and that Ashley didn't have to invest as much as the fans wanted him to - then immediately after leaving he was on Goals on Sunday saying he needed more investment.

Plus the football was absolutely dire, and the man was a complete cunt.

#268321 Copa America 2015 - A Series

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

11 Jun 2015 15:36:56

COPA AMERICA 2015

South America’s premier national competition comes to us live this year from Chile, and promises to be entirely spectacular – with several big names such as Neymar, Messi, Aguero and James Rodriguez taking part. Even though Luis Suarez’ dietary escapades in the 2014 World Cup sees him suspended, there’s still plenty to be excited about this time around.

It is often an overlooked tournament in Football Manager – so throughout these series of articles I’m going to play through the Copa America with my favourite South American team – Argentina. After that, we’re going to take a look at some of the key players to look out for in this years tournament, both in real life and hopefully we’ll unearth some bargains for you to have a look at in your own personal Football Manager save. Let’s get started!
I’ve loaded all 6 available South American nations to start my game off, and I will holiday until the squad selection date, which is 13th May 2015 if my memory serves correct. I have been messing around lately with an asymmetrical 4-4-2 formation recently, however it may need some small adjustments and an injection of some flair to work in a coherent manner throughout the tournament – which of course I am aiming to win. A country with such rich footballing heritage such as Argentina should always be looking to win these competitions in my opinion, and we certainly have the players to do it – with the firepower of Messi and Aguero and defensive solidity of Javier Mascherano we can be confident of being responsible at the back whilst inflicting damage on our opposition.

Looking at the Argentina squad – I think a 4-3-3 formation would be more advisable than a 4-4-2, as a distinct lack of quality wingers coupled with a generous portion of attacking talent means we will not be able to keep our key players happy, and won’t be able to inflict as much damage on the opposition as we’d like to. First and foremost I appoint my captain – Javier Mascherano. Roy Hodgson’s pick as the best player in the world last time around – but I’d be more confident giving that accolade to his team mate – Lionel Messi. We only have 2 warm up friendlies against Zambia and Chile booked in – so we must be confident in our tactical approach and team selection going into the tournament. Judging on the players we have and the style of play I wish to implement – this is the starting XI and formation that I will be running with for the majority of the tournament – injuries, performance and suspension will obviously change some of the participants but the majority of our backup players are like for like with our first team players (Tevez for Aguero, Banega for Biglia, Peruzzi for Zabaleta). We will obviously be relying on Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero to provide our main goalscoring threats, with Di Maria and Pastore offering creative outlets in order to pull our oppositions defensive line around, and allowing enough space for our main attacking talent to do the damage that we know they are capable of.

I have used a lot of team instructions, in order to implement a short passing, possession based game that I believe these players are capable of playing – we will play a high defensive block due to the pace of our backline and the stamina of our full backs and midfielders in order to press the opposition into making a mistake and gifting the ball back to us. I believe in very little player instructions, especially with a team as talented as this as I believe it is important to allow the players to express their individual skill whilst remaining responsible. I have however told the full backs to stay wide and support the attack, and I have told the two central midfielders to ‘Close down much more’ and ‘Pass it shorter’ – hopefully this will recreate the high pressing, possession-orientated style of play I wish to implement.

Next up is our first warm up game vs Zambia.

#268301 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

11 Jun 2015 12:46:40

Normally wait for the fixtures to be released but what the hell.

I agree with Based Jorge though, although I think Bournemouth might stay up and depending on who we/Sunderland buy will be replaced by one of us.

#268283 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

11 Jun 2015 10:49:48

By Flash. | On 11 June 2015 - 01:19 AM

Luckily Newcastle have the option to extend his contract to 8 years.

It's like Rangers and Newcastle are competing to be the most fucked up club in the UK. Every time one does something that you think has won it, the other finds something else even worse.

Wonder which guy is/was on the board of both these clubs too

By bmg033 | On 11 June 2015 - 10:19 AM

I give it 10 or 15 games before they get out the "SackSteve.com" banners.

I can't see it tbh, I think the majority of Newcastle fans are fully aware the problem lies with the owner.

Even if he does spend about 40-50m on transfers, he needs to double it in order to be at where we were 3 years ago. We've went from Cabaye to Colback, Ba to Riviere, Ben Arfa to Cabella but the most worrying thing is our centre back situation is exactly the same one that got us promoted from the Championship.

#268251 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

10 Jun 2015 23:41:01

What a superb club I support.

#268191 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

10 Jun 2015 18:32:31

Fucking hate our club.

They literally do everything wrong.

#268132 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

10 Jun 2015 13:53:50

I think he was sacked in the proper way, he was in a meeting at the club.

Unsure why they couldn't extend the same professional courtesy to one of our most long serving players, but they will to the worst manager this club will ever have.

#268033 Transfer Rumours 2015/16

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

09 Jun 2015 18:32:51

Newcastle's version of overpayment probably means he wanted a wage of 3 quid a week and a mars bar, tbf.

#268025 Transfer Rumours 2015/16

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

09 Jun 2015 17:53:07

By bluemoon. | On 09 June 2015 - 15:18 PM

He was horrendously underrated, now he's coming close to being overrated. He can't be faulted for his work-ethic, that's virtually always good, but his end product can vary pretty wildly. He has spells of very good form and then spells of poor form that tend to be masked by the aforementioned work-rate.

Nearly all players go through good and bad form, it's a non starter as an argument as he's usually very consistent.

#267992 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

09 Jun 2015 14:42:05

Aye, confirmed now.

Great news - makes the managerial appointment seem a bit better now knowing he's bringing his own staff in.

Be extremely disappointed if we loan Bamford and Van Ginkel as two of our major 6 signings though. Loaning players isn't good enough. Unless theres a fee in the loan to buy, of course.

#267984 Transfer Rumours 2015/16

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

09 Jun 2015 13:31:19

Ayew is close to moving to Swansea. Another player lost to a rival through moving slowly to do anything.

#267974 Transfer Rumours 2015/16

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

09 Jun 2015 11:39:12

Milner is horrendously underrated, he's a really really good player. There's very few amount of people that put as much graft in as him - and virtually none as good as him on the ball when they get it. Great signing for Liverpool.

#267921 Transfer Rumours 2015/16

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

08 Jun 2015 23:52:07

Apparently we're trying to secure permanent deals for Bamford and Van Ginkel, as well as Austin.

Would be a good start to the summer!

#267897 The FIFA Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

08 Jun 2015 22:01:11

There's plenty countries that could - I'd say England could too, maybe France too.

#267624 The England National Team

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

07 Jun 2015 11:29:21

Depends where he's playing - Walcott is good through the middle but a waste of a player out wide.

#267616 The England National Team

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

07 Jun 2015 10:53:39

Wonder why we've opted not to play a right back when we have a right back on the bench.

#267550 Champions League 2014/15

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

06 Jun 2015 21:43:45

I have to admit I don't really notice his lack of positioning skills.

#267548 Champions League 2014/15

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

06 Jun 2015 21:34:56

Tactically stupid?

#267546 Champions League 2014/15

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

06 Jun 2015 21:28:55

Newcastle have beaten both of these CL finalists in competitive matches in my life time \o/

Love Barcelona though, love Neymar love Suarez love Messi love Xavi love Busquets love Iniesta

#267487 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

06 Jun 2015 14:06:06

Can anyone realistically see us signing these 6 first team players and appointing a manager before our tour of the USA in 5 weeks?

I'm still thinking we need more than 6 as we definitely won't sign 6 first team ready players.

#267388 Transfer Rumours 2014/15

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

05 Jun 2015 13:58:31

Yet Newcastle get McClaren

Brilliant.

#267348 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

04 Jun 2015 21:42:33

That's half of what we need though, which isn't enough.

If they just strengthened every window there wouldn't be a need for overhauls every 2-3 years.

Ayew is off to Roma, isn't he?

#267338 Newcastle Thread

Poe

20 years ago

1 week ago

3,676

04 Jun 2015 20:45:56

That'll be with backup players too though, we need 6 ready to start in the first team.

Then backup wingers, backup full backs etc.