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Spurs: Give The Kids A Chance
Just a quick couple of points on the Tottenham situation.
Firstly, there is a lot of talk about the foreign players not feeling the pain and not pulling their weight and similar comments. What about the English players? I have to say that if Ramos continues to play Jermaine Jenas and Michael Dawson, we will be relegated, simple as that.
How on earth anybody, whether they are fans, managers or pundits can actually think that Jenas is a footballer of any standing is so far beyond me it is making me question my own sanity. He gets caught in possession so often it is not even funny anymore. His passing is woeful, he panics in regular situations, he can't tackle and what makes all this worse is that he actually thinks he is good and spouts off about it all the time. Shut up and go and play at your level at Millwall or somewhere (no disrespect to Millwall, I wouldn't wish this player on Arsenal! Oh, yes I would).
Our u18 side is currently top of the Youth League and boasts players such as Bostock (picked up cheaply from Palace), Parrett (picked up cheaply from QPR), Rose (picked up cheaply from Leeds) and a home-grown player called Andros Townsend who is a regular England youth international, to name but a few. They have lost one game in 23 and play, apparently, a really flowing and dynamic style of play under a quality young coach in Alex Inglethorpe. Surely Bostock can't do worse than Jenas and who knows? This may prove a masterstroke. I can see people saying that the lack of confidence in the team and the atrocious play at the moment may not be a great time to blood youngsters but I say it's the perfect time. Get some fearless young energy in there. Let Jenas know that if you're rubbish you will be replaced by a 17 year old. One thing is for sure, they can't do worse and may bring a little something which is missing. Fabregas, Rooney, Owen etc.. have all flourished at 17 and it may be said have never been better than their early years.
Why can Arsenal blood kids if they are from Spain or Mexico but our English kids have to wait until they are 20 and have lost that impetus? I appreciate that the importance of the Carling Cup to Tottenham is far greater than it is for Arsenal and therefore this affords Arsenal the luxury of being able to blood these players in a 'no-lose' situation but nevertheless these 'kids' still annihilated a team of fully-grown burly men from the Championship, not non-league.
I'm at my lowest ebb in 25 years of supporting Spurs and I think the only thing that can rejuvenate me is to be inspired by some young talent who care and are trying to forge a career rather than picking up a hefty pay packet whilst loafing through a game that means so much to so many people. Take Fraizer Campbell - whenever he has come on, he is like a jack in the box, he's everywhere, busting a gut. This effort is appreciated by the fans in a sorry time. What is not appreciated is waltzing about blaming others.
One last point, I think that Pavlyuchenko has shown me that he can be quality but at the moment he looks totally lost and as if he has no idea of his role, which is probably right. You've got a language barrier as well as the fact that he is coming into a team which changes formation like the wind. I say he will come good, Bent will not and this is one decision that Ramos has got right in putting Pav in front of Bent. This makes it very difficult to judge him and I hope no one gets on his back, which I'm sure they won't from Spurs.
We will keep the faith, in spite of Ramos' bizarre decisions, we don't really have any choice.
Stephen Marshall, THFC
Venables: What A Tool
This story maybe should put the minds of some Geordies at ease for having lost, for whatever reason, Terry Venables as a candidate for the Tyneside managerial position. Hopefully the quotes are taken out of context, because the story seems to be saying that Mr TV is of the mind that it is Berbatov's fault that the Spurs' board made a right mess of the transfer strategy, which has now landed them on the basement floor.
And, if they needed to keep the striker until they had lined up Arshavin, how could it be the player's fault that he was granted the transfer before the board had put the finishing touches on the back-to-back? I hope that this is just irresponsible journalism because, if it is not, it displays some rather naive behaviour on the part of some very senior people in a highly-respected club. But if the story has its facts straight, just imagine what comments like this would do in a team like Newcastle. Unbridled statements like this by their team manager would be enough for St James' to explode. Wow!
Alan Critchley
Sticking Up For Toon Fans
Mr Paul McDevitt, you sir, are a fool. You are entitled to your opinion but yours quite frankly is ludicrous.
'The true reason for NUFC's misfortunes are the arrogant overexpectations of their fans'. Erm excuse me but are you trying to say that Newcastle fans should be expecting to be in a relegation battle every season? And anything better is over-expectant?
If people actually listened to the MAJORITY of the NUFC fans they would know that they would have easily settled for 10th place, top half. At least we would know we were heading in the right direction. Or is 10th place unrealistic?? I suppose it is, I mean it's not like we were in the Champions League five years ago is it? Or that we finished 7th just two years ago? No that never happened at all.
And we don't hate cockneys, did you hear anyone complain when 'Cockney Mike' came and took over Newcastle from 'Geordie King Freddie'. No you didn't because we didn't care that he was a cockney, just as long as he got rid of that fat bumbling t**t Shepherd, who was gonna do a Leeds with us, with his over-spending. And it was the media that associated Kinnear with the 'cockney mafia', not the fans. But as always, nobody looks at the facts.
Coz (Are NUFC the 5th-most-hated club in England now or more hated?)
...What a terribly bitter little ball of malevolence you are, Paul McDevitt. I fear your boiling blood has affected the clarity of your thoughts because your mail, while full of anger, is weak in substance, and your sweeping generalisations demonstrate little more than an inability to compile a forceful argument.
'The true reason for NUFC's misfortunes are the arrogant over expectations of their fans', you say. The internal politics at SJP, the club being run form London, incoming transfer policy, selling Milner, Keegan walking out, a lightweight squad with a terrible injury list, low team morale etc are all just satellite factors revolving around the main issue of Geordie over-expectation then, eh? Yeah, right (or aye, reet, if you prefer the dialect).
'If an owner or manager can't deliver to what they think should be accustomed, they must go' you ramble. Again this is wildly inaccurate. Freddie Shepherd was at the club long after the team stopped delivering and he said some pretty darn cruel things about the club and its supporters. Like most Newcastle fans I'd settle for a team that puts in enough effort to keep my season alive beyond January.
'How pathetic was their protest, how stupid to call Kinnear a cockney, how predictable that NUFC are in this trouble', you whine. Wow, a hat- trick of points, each one about as well made as Tracey Emin's bed. The protests were made by a tiny minority of fans, like many people I am well aware that Joe Kinnear is not a cockney, and if the plight of Newcastle United was so predictable, then why didn't you earn some real kudos by coming in here and predicting it?
Your parting shot, 'Just as NUFC fans now hate and despise all cockneys can we ask to ban all geordies from this mailbox?' is as hilarious as it is pathetic. I suggest you sit down for a while and chill then, if you can get your pulse rate down into double figures, try and put together some sort of cohesive argument instead of bounding into the mailbox spouting a barrage of drivel that shows us all what an utter tool you are.
I hope that generalisation was sweeping enough for you.
Joe Young
...Apparently getting frustrated with the club being run poorly should be punishable with relegation. I don't think Paul knows anything about what it is like to support Newcastle United so I don't think he should make such negative generalisations about those who do. Apparently we all sit shirtless drinking newcastle brown ale outside St James' Park day and night demanding champagne football played with a team of Geordies slapping our fat bellies singing fog on the tyne...THIS IS NOT TRUE.
All football clubs have their idiots and we are no exception but most Newcastle fans just want competency from the team and the board. I want us to avoid relegation, play with passion and some semblance of creativity and give a competent manager time to build a squad. Does this mean I deserve relegation?
James (I know this won't be posted but I typed it anyway) NUFC
Newcastle: In Relegation Trouble
So are Toon fans thinking that they are in a temporary blip, which will right itself when the new owners arrive in October? If so, then they don't realise how much trouble they're in.
I was browsing a website which compares teams' results from this season to the corresponding fixtures last season (obviously replacing Reading, Brum and Derby with WBA, Stoke and Hull respectively). Newcastle are already seven points down on the same fixtures last season. So even if they get no worse under Kinnear, and even if all their remaining matches go the same way as last season, they'll end up with 36 points (instead of last season's 43). This is enough to be relegated most seasons, and a season in which the promoted clubs have had a fairly good start is likely to be no exception.
I will feel a bit sorry for them if they go down. But maybe they could do with a bit of a wake up call after the disrespect they showed to the managerial records of Dalglish, Robson and Allardyce. Perhaps it's about time they remembered that their job is to support the team and help them stay up, not to decry the players and coaches for failing to match the achievements of an era before 99.9% of their fans were born.
Alan (Dalglish won four English titles in just nine complete seasons as manager; not good enough for Toon though) Critchley
There's A Link...
I am not sure if this was mentioned before, but is it not ironic that the two men who were recently involved with Leeds (Poyet and Wise) are now involved with the two worst performing clubs in the Premiership?
Hans Athmaram, Manc in South Africa
Kinnear: Too Good For Toon
The fact is Joe Kinnear has a good managerial track record and, as he says, he is 'no mug'. If anyone can give the Newcastle players a kick up the arse, it's him (good example: their second half display v Blackburn). It wouldn't surprise me at all if Toon start winning now that Joe is there and, frankly, they could do (and have actually done) a lot worse than having him in charge.
Paul Carbonaro, Arse fan, Dayton, Ohio, U,S.
Styles Doing The Rest Of Us A Favour
Whilst Manchester United's penalty on Saturday was a gross misjudgment on Mr Styles' part it is safe to say that it helps catalyse Bolton's demise. And thank God...
After last season's near miss it will be a travesty if Bolton do not drop down to the Championship where their hideous brand of football can fester away along with their inept bunch of bruisers and tw*ts. Having claimed to be the bogey team to many of the top tier's high flyers they now find themselves unable to recreate their thuggish nature which managed to keep their club away from relegation in seasons past. Whilst teams like Blackburn and Wigan have proved their critics wrong by engaging in attacking football and showing some ambition and desire to play...well football, Bolton have seemed to have gone backwards from the Allardyce era and now with their current eye-sore, Gary Megson, continue to rely on the odd set-piece along with the odd flailing arm to get them through games.
A Bolton fan (Jim) wrote in the mailbox lambasting cretinous United fans for claiming that the right result was reached by pointing to the fact that those who may have made such a claim weren't present at the game. Aside from the fact that match reports (written by neutrals who were AT the game) referred to united as '...superior in every department...' or Bolton's two shots on target (not to mention Muamba's embarassing attempt at a shot on target) I'm sure he may have a point as certain United fans are renowned for their short-sightedness coupled with their red-tinted view on life. But the fact remains that United deserved the victory.
And to take it further, so did the Premier League; Bolton's approach to football should not be encouraged nor emulated as it is a poor representation of what we claim to be the greatest league in the world. It's refreshing to see teams like Hull and West Brom come in as promoted teams (and favourites for relegation) and try to play genuine football.
Hopefully this is the season that Bolton are removed from the Premier League like a benign wart because frankly it would be long overdue; it's just a shame they couldn't take El Hadji Diouf with them....
Vish
Video Won't Kill The Bad Decisions
I read in the mailbox this morning a chap who hinted that referees are being sh*te on purpose so that someone will put the hammer down and finally go with goal-line technology and video refs. Even if this technology is brought in there is a flaw, its still managed by humans.
How many times have you being watching a slow-motion clip of a contentious decision where it's obviously clear cut, yet someone like Jamie Rednapp says something like "well there was contact so he was entitled to go down" and then another idiot beside him saying "yes but it wasn't enough contact for a penalty".
Do you see my point. Even with Ultra High Definition Widescreen Super Multi Slow Motion Capture, you still get two idiots who can't agree. Are we to believe that video refs will be like boxing - three judges and if two of them hit the button it's a decision? No, it will probably be one ex ref/footballer who even with the most advanced technology in the world will get decisions wrong.
Baz, Dublin
Nationalise The Premier League
Obviously the way to solve all of the Prem's current problems, what with all the silly outside money from dubious sources, and players getting paid ridiculous wads, is to nationalise it. Put someone of character like Bobby Robson in charge, appoint local directors, set good but not unsustainable wage caps, so money-grubbing Johnny Foreigner won't want to come, just the solid kind that join Wigan and Bolton, and home-grown stars don't get into the '...but he's getting more than me...' price wars. Ticket prices are dropped and more local academy boys get a chance. Then only those with true pride in their skills and passion for a team would play here. You can't tell me that shirt-kissers like Ballack really give a toss about Chelsea.
True, it would probably play more like the Championship than the few glittering teams of today, but I personally think that would be good for the long-term future of the game, and the national team, too. No takers, eh?
Mark Trotsky
