Billionaire Buys Newcastle

Parks lives wrote:That midfield Kimbo, Bentley, Parker and Milner is fine but surely N'Zogbia is off. That team is very young and experienced as well.


Bentley -- Parker -- CM -- Milner

With some quality and experince in the CM role would be you're best bet.

If Roeder had stayed he would be leaving, Sam will probably want to keep him though.

My point was that defensively Faye is much better than Parker. Parker all round is the better player but IMO you need a player that is a dedicated sitter in front of the defence.

Allardyce is a fan of dedicated DMs.

Duff I agree is $h!t but I have a feeling that Allardcyce may be able to get the best out of him.

In truth, you should sell Owen - you'd get a decent fee and his fitness isn't guaranteed and use the money to buy someone like Viduka - or maybe someone younger like Bianchi (who is damn good, though Juve are interested).

Then you have a choice of Martins, Sib, Viduka(Bianchi) and Ameobi

And if you can wait a couple of seasons for Bolton to get relegated you can pick up Anelka and Diouf for a song.

------------------ Given

Solano ----- Taylor --- ??? ----- ???

??? ---------- Parker -- ??? ----- Milner

--------------- ??? ------ Martins


Basically fill in the blanks. May need some better cover as well as short of Butt, Dyer, Duff & Owen it's pretty low.

I still think a fit N'zogbia is good enough. He seems to get too much stick on here - under a decent manager I could see him becoming a very good player.

Its difficult to see Sam wanting to basically change half of the first team.

The priorities lie at left back and finding a partner for Parker - maybe worth breaking the bank a bit for Parker's partner and getting someone of real quality (like Bentley)

Guys like Faye and Sissoko are only worth having if you play a 4-5-1 IMO, if you play a 4-4-2 then your midfielders need to be better with the ball. And i'm not convinced Faye is better than Parker defensively, Parker made more tackles this season than any other player in the league, despite only playing 29 games.

Tweedle wrote:

Roger Hunt wrote:Martins> Owen.

Not sure if a Martins-Owen partnership works though.

It doesn't.

Martins is very inconsistent - at his best he is better than owen but he went about ten games without scoring or contributing much towards the end of the season. A fit Owen could get you 25 goals in all comps, a fit Martins would get you aobut 20 IMO and I could see an Owen - Viduka partnership working much better.

Martins would be a more than capable partner though and Allardyce could rotate them

They've hardly even played together

I personally think it will work, but we'll have to wait and see.

2 reasonably selfish pace merchants? Really can't see it, and if can't see it, Allardyce certainly won't

It'll be like Owen and Defoe we're for England.

kas wrote:

Tweedle wrote:

Roger Hunt wrote:Martins> Owen.

Not sure if a Martins-Owen partnership works though.

It doesn't.

Martins is very inconsistent - at his best he is better than owen but he went about ten games without scoring or contributing much towards the end of the season. A fit Owen could get you 25 goals in all comps, a fit Martins would get you aobut 20 IMO and I could see an Owen - Viduka partnership working much better.

Martins would be a more than capable partner though and Allardyce could rotate them

They've hardly even played together

I personally think it will work, but we'll have to wait and see.

I think it could work aswell, people seem to think that a strike partnership is having a big man and a small man. That's not the case, it's about having 2 players with different styles, and Owen and Martins have very different styles. Owen is a 6 yard box player that spends the whole game on the shoulder of the last defender - Martins on the other hand likes to drop deep, work the channels, and chase balls.

Parks lives wrote:It'll be like Owen and Defoe we're for England.

Martins>>>>Defoe

But Owen needs to play with a player that'll feed the balls across the box or beyond the last defencer - Martins is pretty selfish - Owen would effectively become obsolete

Tweedle wrote:But Owen needs to play with a player that'll feed the balls across the box or beyond the last defencer - Martins is pretty selfish - Owen would effectively become obsolete

As long as we get a good creative midfielder it would work.

You don't atm though

And really good creative midfielders are hard to come by. Lucho Gonzales might be realistic though

Tweedle wrote:2 reasonably selfish pace merchants? Really can't see it, and if can't see it, Allardyce certainly won't

All they have to do is make different runs, and I think they're both intelligent enough to do that. The complication arises from Allardyce's preference to "keep it simple" (ie. hit it long ) so in that case for some games someone like Viduka will be needed. Still, he played a front 3 at Bolton, so I can see Martins doing the Diouf role, playing slightly wide of centre up front.

I'm not sure. Against the top teams, who will leave some space at the back, it could be OK. Against bottom-half sides who will be happy to park the bus neither Owen nor Martins will find much space.

Viduka is a must really.

Do you really think he's good enough? I know his stats for this season were good but he's not a top 4 striker imo.

But Newcastle aren't a top 4 club either yet. He'd be excellent for a couple of seasons.

His stats don't tell half the story either.

The only draw back is once signed he may turn into the lazy c.unt he can be from time to time.

Roger Hunt wrote:Do you really think he's good enough? I know his stats for this season were good but he's not a top 4 striker imo.

Are we a top 4 club? He's certainly good enough for a season or two, then we can get someone better. Anyway i rate him higher than Smith, Saha, Kuyt, Crouch, Bellamy, and Adebayour.

Viduka could easily do a job for a top 4 side, maybe not as a regular.

He fits the allardyce style perfectly as well. Crouch would also be great but doubt Pool would let him go

Well earlier in the the thread we were talking about challenging for the top 4. Viduka would be a stepping stone, get you into a UEFA Cup place first.

And after last night - definitely don't want to sell Crouch.

Is it just me or are the Newcaslte people suspecious about this new buyer?

It seems Shepard is facing this with a stick in his hand, with his words seeming a little brash.

Big Sam seems to not know what to think and he's perhaps wondering if he still has a future at the club.

How could all of this have happened without the very people at the club not knowing (I mean Shepard, Sam had no way of knowing)?

Luso wrote:Is it just me or are the Newcaslte people suspecious about this new buyer?

It seems Shepard is facing this with a stick in his hand, with his words seeming a little brash.

Big Sam seems to not know what to think and he's perhaps wondering if he still has a future at the club.

How could all of this have happened without the very people at the club not knowing (I mean Shepard, Sam had no way of knowing)?

Shepherd is merely trying to get as much money out of this as possible, and i doubt Big Sam is worried as Ashley has said he's looking forward to the next season with the new manager.

My guess is that Sir John Hall has kept this quiet on purpose so that Shepherd couldn't get in the way, like he has with Belgravia etc.

As long as Newcastle do not play Liverpool style footy and try and stick to there traditional game and strengthen the backline I cannot see the fans worrying to much.

Just thought I'd post this article on Freddie Shepherd's role at the club:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6686737.stm

Kimbo wrote:Shepherd is merely trying to get as much money out of this as possible, and i doubt Big Sam is worried as Ashley has said he's looking forward to the next season with the new manager.

My guess is that Sir John Hall has kept this quiet on purpose so that Shepherd couldn't get in the way, like he has with Belgravia etc.

Yes, you've mentioned this before. I'm guessing Sam was origninally taken back though. I mean, he joined the club and a couple days later a new buyer comes in and he's known nothing of even the possibility of this happening.

New buyer or not however, Sam seems like a good choice so I don't see why Ashley would want to change. I don't see people in panic so I guess the idea is to build a strong Newcastle; keeping Sam is merely part of a larger project.

I dont think Sam will be too worried - its clear this Ashley guy is behind him and, especially if its true that Allardyce left Bolton due to lack of funds, such a takeover may well have him rubbing all hands with glee, though he seems to get on pretty well with Shepherd.

Just reading one or two rumours this morning, suggesting Ashley intends to complete a takeover by the start of the season, leaves me a little worried that this could actually damage our transfer plans this summer. If there is a battle for ownership going on, Shepherd obviously isnt going to release any funds, whilst Ashley perhaps wont be able to whilst not being in full control.

Bashmachkin wrote:I dont think Sam will be too worried - its clear this Ashley guy is behind him and, especially if its true that Allardyce left Bolton due to lack of funds, such a takeover may well have him rubbing all hands with glee, though he seems to get on pretty well with Shepherd.

Just reading one or two rumours this morning, suggesting Ashley intends to complete a takeover by the start of the season, leaves me a little worried that this could actually damage our transfer plans this summer. If there is a battle for ownership going on, Shepherd obviously isnt going to release any funds, whilst Ashley perhaps wont be able to whilst not being in full control.

you'll be like us last summer. although big sam will have much longer than o'neill so he'll have time to get in some freebies, if nothing else.

To be fair with a minimum of 3 defenders, the side will be good enough to compete at least till Jan. It's going to take a while anyway for Big Sam's new training regime to set in regardless of how many people are signed.