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"I haven't resigned, my mother hasn't got chicken pockets, I haven't bought a house, I haven't been offered a job with the national team, I haven't been offered a job in America, I'm still here, my wife is OK, my daughter is OK, the groundsman is OK, everybody at Newcastle is OK," was Gullit's wonderful response to questions about his future on Sky Tv last night. Today's game is vital, for if we don't win , the press will be on him like a ton of bricks and more turmoil will ensue. Howay everyone lets all get behind the manager and behind the team today. Sing loader than you have ever done today, they need our support. Any one going to the match today will easily recognise me, I will be the only one wearing chicken pockets.

Friday 21st August

It looks like Ferguson and Robinson will lead the Newcastle United attack againstWimbledon tomorrow. Ruud Gullit is likely to make 3 changes, bringing in Marcelino , Ferguson and Robinson. It is rumored that he will play with a back 3. with Barton and Domi trying to get forward as wing backs in an attempt to get all 3 points that are so desperately needed. The full expected line up is :- ...................................Karelse.............................. ................Hughes.........Marcelino..........Goma..... ..Barton........................Speed........................Domi .............Dyer......................................Solano.......... .....................Robinson.................Ferguson............. It's a must win situation for Ruud Gullit. he needs to get atleast one win out of the next two game. I think we all read the situation here. although 90% of us want Ruud Gullit to stay, and still believe that he will take us forward, it is plain for all to see that If we don't win tomorrow then his popularity will go down are there will be more discontented fans calling for him to go. The crucial date will be next Wednesday night, If we have 4 or more points then most of us will realise that he will be safe. If we are looking at 2 or less than the cloud will still hang over us. Nil points will mean Bye Bye Ruud and Hello Mr Robson. If it should happen though, does it need to be such an upheaval? is the manager not one small part of the club? When Keegan left did Dalglish need to sell half the team? Does Gullit really need to buy any more players? can't he work with what he has? Why do new managers feel it necessary to rip the old team apart and replace it with HIS players? need it be that way? Surely a good manager can work with most players, transform them into playing in the style that he wants. Inspire them to do what they are capable of. Does a new manager need to make such wholesale changes? To me a good manager can take the squad of 30 or so players and find 11 that can do the job on the pitch for 90 minutes and get a result. OK so one or two changes will be inevitable in time but do they really need to rip the team apart every time a new manager comes in? I don't think so, but I don't think it will come to that. We can beat Wimbledon if we all pull in the right direction. I am sure that the players, the manager and the fans will give 100% on Saturday and that we will win. Keep the faith.

Thursday 20th August

Not much happening in Newcastle today, Aaron Hughes played in N Ireland's game against France France narrowly won 1- 0 but Hughes was VERY impressive. Indeed if you see highlights then the potential own goal that he narrowly averted making, it was a wonderful bit of skill. Dabizas was also in action last night but was substituted in the second half, Greece won 3-1. Fans favorite, Silvio Maric wasn't playing for Croatia against Yugoslavia. It ended Goalless. I'm sure if "our Maric" was playing the score would have been different. Please don't leave Maric, We all love you s much. That's about it for today, not much new news to report, so how about one of those space filling lists. Things that annoy me ( in no particular order.) Journalist that twist the truth. (or get their facts wrong) Eg ."Newcastle have a £60 million transfer deficit after 2 years of turmoil" This statement is utter rubbish, I would hardly call the last 2 season turmoil but that's not what annoys me. A defect means the differance between what you buy and what you sell. In the last 2/12 years (the last two managers) have spent £70 million and recouped £58 Million, So there is a defect of £12 million. We also hear how Gullit has spent £17 million over the summer. That maybe the case, but he has 5 players for that amount and if you knock off the ,£6 million spent on Dyer, then the players sold are the same as those sold. Indeed Gullit has a transfer defect of £6 million, in his time at Newcastle. That's a fairly small amount for a club that is the second largest in England. 110% . There is no such thing. When managers / players say I / he gave 110% or 200 % it really grates on me. 100% is the maximum. so please stop using this silly expression. Trevor Francis. Match analyzer. I just don't like his voice. I bet there aren't any call centers in the part of the world where he comes from. Imagine getting that voice on the end of a line when you enquiring about your gas bill. Good players signing for other teams. When We need a player in a particular position and he signs for another team. That's annoying. But when he goes on to be a mega star, really really annoying. If it were a sold called bigger club that signs him that's understandable, But when it's Coventry city. I could scream. Arrogant football players that think they are bigger than the club they play for. The likes of Anelka, Collymore and Hamoan fall into this category, I would really like to meet them in a dark alley to give them a good kicking. Let's hope their aren't anymore developing big heeds at SJP. The same could go for managers, but I'll save that for another day. Incompetent referees. Ok so being a ref isn't an easy job and everyone makes mistakes. My grievance is with referees who refuse to admit that they have made a mistake, and that leads me to the new page . "Four Star of the month" is a page that will feature a **** Award , each and every month. You will be able to pull him to bits. Rik style. This months "Four Star award" goes to ????? ??????.(Tomorrow)

Wednesday 18th August

The Newcastle supporters roller coaster took another plunge today, as long time toon target Robbie Keane looks likely to join Coventry . Wolves have accepted a £6 million fee for the highly talented forward. If I could offer one piece of advise to Robbie on this it is WAIT A WEEK. Ruud will either turn the boat around and be given funds to strengthen the team OR Ruud will take the easy option and jump ship. Either way funds should be available for what we need most (A third striker) by the end of next week. Does he really want to play for Coventry? More problems for Gullit off the field, Apparently the new goalkeeper Karelse, was the only player to console Ruud after last weeks game. All the others kept quiet. Today his girlfriends father is also sticking the knife in Gullit saying he may use "Family Problems" as an excuse to quit the toon if the next couple of results don't go his way. Estelle's father Henry told the Dutch press: "Ruud is just using my daughter to save his face in England. "I think it is a shame that he has given my daughter the blame for all the problems in the last fews weeks at his club." But Gullit says: "Don't believe this man. He has a grudge against me." Apparently the two don't get on very well , Henry Cryuff has always disliked Ruud for going out with his little girl as Ruud was twice as old as Estelle when they first started going out together. Sir John Hall returned from his Spanish Villa to offer words of wisdom to the management regarding the current situation. I wish I'd been a fly on the wall when Sir John told Gullit how to handle the job. One of the solutions could have been to remove Robert Lee from the equation. It is believed that Gullit's agent contacted a number of clubs, offering Rob Lee at a discount price of £500k. Liverpool were said to be interested, but nothing has come of it as Lee refuses to be pushed put. The way he will see it is, another week and Gullit could have departed . It is an unlikely situation but you never know. Other players are also thinking of their futures, Solano, may after all be planing a move to Spain, Maric is said to be unhappy at not being a regular player and is regretting coming to Newcastle and Dumas is unhappy that he has been made to look poor by having to play in a very unfamiliar midfield role. It's not all doom and gloom though, On the plus side big Dunc has been told that he is likely to start, possibly alongside Robbo in Saturdays game. He is not fully fit, but will play until he runs out of steam. Marcelino is also fit enough to start at the weekend, which would suggest that Hughes will drop back to the subs bench. Hughes is actually playing tonight for the Northern Ireland team against France. (On Eurosport) It's just a friendly and the French are fielding a weakened team at Windsor Park. Last night the French Under 21s were beaten by the Northern Ireland lads. Domi had a pretty poor game with Northern Ireland's wide men dominating the game. Blackburn's Damien Johnson , ran rings around Domi, just like his old Blackburn mentor Stuart Ripley did with Domi on Sunday. Top Billing in tonights International games is Croatia V Yugoslavia in Belgrade. Maric will play in this match that will no doubt be a very hard game. Lets all hope that Silvio one of the Toon favorites doesn't get injured in what promises to be a real battle. And Finally I completed the TOONWORLD pages We have 2 addresses either of which you can bookmark. http://www. soccer-uk.freeserve.co.uk/bbs.htm This will load the ToonWorld Menu on the left with the Communicata BBs in the main part. http://www. soccer-uk.freeserve.co.uk/toon.htm This will load the ToonWorld menu on the left and the ToonWorld message board in the main part. Check out the Introduction page first to see what's what.

Tuesday 18th August

The resorves return this week. The "R" team were in attendance and Jonno sent in an analysis from the game. Don't miss it (IT'S HERE) . Softie, Jonno and the crew will be attending all of the home games this season in what will surely be a much harder competition than last year. The new premier league reserves leagues are up and running . Newcastle are in the tougher Northern section with the 11 other top placed Northern teams , which consists of all of the premier league teams from last season plus those that were promoted split into a northern and southern league. For some reason we get Aston Villa which is a bit strange, but that's the way it is. There will be no promotion or relegation from the league. However if a first team is relegated from the real premier league and fails to Yo Yo back up the following year then they will be relegated and replaced by another team that has made it into the real premier league, (With me so far). So supposing Blackburn don't come up within 2 seasons, they will drop out to be replaced by the team that has been promoted to the real premier league, such as Man City,. Unless that is they are a team that have been in division two within the last 10 years. (such as Man City) In which case they will revert back to the last team that was relegated (Bolton) or if their are two teams they will have a play off . If there are three teams wanting to join then they wont have a play off and will simply accept the first team to come up and go straight back down .(that's erm...Bolton? so they play themselves? no that can't be right). if however there are more than 12 teams in each league then the one with the oldest stadium will be relegated.(Bolton again? No hang on they just built that Reebok stadium) . Finally If they need an extra team to make up the numbers they will look to the highest placed division one team in two consecutive seasons and providing they have been in the playoffs, (Bolton?) at Wembley within 5 seasons will be admitted to the new league. This simple system of unproportianal representation was devised by premier league executive and Bolton Director Matt Loftball. Sounds exciting doesn't it? It surely will attract the big crowds, indeed 731 attended last nights game which is ...hang on a minute , half of last seasons average? Still could be worse, there were 14,000 seats empty at Villa park last night to witness the clash of the claret and blues. Indeed where as Newcastle are building another extension to hold 14,000 more, advertising hoardings could clearly be seen next to the empty seats saying "space for sale". They must be thinking of ripping out 14,000 seats and renting the land off. strange lot the villains. They could have gone clear at the top but the team that conned the Ref into sending off A;lan Shearer last week could only draw against a Newcastle oldboys team from London. it was a good result from our point of view, we are only 7 points from the top of the table with 35 games to go. fantastic...

Monday 16 th August

Riksplace is sensationally put up for sale as top blerk Rik suffers a serious bout of depression and resigns as editor. three offers came flooding in the first from a lad who just seemed to want the rights to the "uncut" Predic t it girls. He aims to call it "Gordons Gaff" and intends to make it the Sunday Sport of web Sites. After seconds of thought the offer is refused, and the search for a new owner continues. What seems like hours but was actually 48 minutes passes before the next offer is received. The generous offer made by MR Wai from Singapore of a years subscription to spanking Monthly is not a fair swap for the largest collection of NUFC web pages on line. Sorry Mr Wai, no deal. The final offer came late in the day and I was tempted. A young lad offered me the use of his season ticket every saturday till the end of the Centuary. I was on the brink of accepting it, despite the offer only amounting to two games, I thought it was going to go to a good home. Then I read the rest of my E mails.... From Bobby, Stevo, Dave Watson, Filip, Allen, John , Albert, Clarance, Ali Baba, Paul, Mike, Ciara, Frank, Nina Nerka, Simon Rushworth, Alan Gibson , MaCMalcolm and all the lads on the Communicata BBs, thanks for getting me to see sence. I feel quite sane once again.

Sunday 15th August

Gullit on the verge of resignation after another poor show. Losing 4 - 2 is embarrassing. We were actually very good in the first half. But once they made their substitutions at half time ,we just couldn't handle it. We are still looking at a bunch of individuals, Clearly we need someone in the centre of midfield that can control the game, Plus a left winger. I believe though that the cheque book has been locked away until we get a few points. Karlese. Very stupid to throw him in at the deepened, he did not look comfortable, and a lot of the fans will be thinking "can we have or money back" Domi Once again our best defender, and we conceded four? Barton I am a recent convert to the Barton camp, but I will be happier when Griff is back, Barton was just hoofing it forward in the hope of finding a black and white shirt Goma I didn't notice him, much although I did notice he was out of position for two of their goals Hughes Looked good, made a couple of good challenges and kept Ostenstad quietish (most of the time) it was the men in front of him that let him down. Speed Hot and Cold, To his credit he was trying to cover two players in the centre of midfield. Solano Very potent going forward but can't / won't defend and this was the main problem in the second half. We had 3 lightweight midfielders, that were badly positioned and ...didn't defend properly when they needed to. Dyer looked fantastic in the first half, but was conspicuous by his absence defensively in the second half. He should play on the right wing, and Solano on the left, as there was No one on the left. Serrant took an early injury so can't be judged Maric.The sub was subbed, as he was again crap, He is a good player but is doing himself and the team harm by continuing to have these bad days out. He should have a spell in the reserves and Gullit should get Lee back into the centre of midfield until with Dyer and Solano going wide, and forward. He won't though will he? Robinson. Not enough time for him to get into his stride. needs to START a game. Ketsbaia. Always gives his all, but gives the ball away far to much. If he gets a goal great he is a star , but how often does it happen. He should go back to being a super sub. Shearer. He is in a no lose situation, he has a job for life, His position is safe, if Newcastle were relegated then he gets sold, Gullit will never leave him out of the team, would he? I wonder if their is a secret agenda here? I am not saying he wants us to lose , but is he that bothered if we do? The conspiracy theory. What happens if we lose 5 on the trot? Gullit walks out and the likes of Beardsley and Robson come in , Shearer will be happy and his best mate Lee will be happy.  The solution Gullit can do two things, throw in the towel or try to make friends with Shearer, perhaps by reinstating Lee into the team. The captain and the manager have to get on, if they don't, doom and gloom will prevail and the captain will win. Ruud Gullit , his girlfriend Estelle Cryuff and Joelle, Not happy living apart but that's the way it's going to be for a good few years. according to Gullit. yesterday, Tonight he is likely to return to Amsterdam , and what will he go home to? "Just Leave darling, you don't need this hassle" Howay Ruud you can't just quit . It's still early days WE HAVE TO BEAT THE MAKEMS. Get Lee back into the team, he will do 2 things, stabalise the midfield and bring a bit of harmony into the team. Then take us forward from there.

Saturday 14th August

Newcastle united sign a third goalkeeper, He is John Karelse who has signed a four year contract and has registered in time to join the squad for Sunday's game at Southampton,  Factfile (by Stevo)  Name: John Karelse pronounced Kah-rel-sur.  Born: 17 May 1970  Partner: Anneke  Children: a daughter, Eileen  Previous clubs: Wemeldingen  Position: Keeper  Previous Coaches: Looyen, Verel, Carton, Jannsen, Pot, De Visser, Spelbo s, Rijsbergen,  Neumann  Best Coaches: Korebrits and Van Eenennaam (both Keeper coaches)  Worst Coaches: I've not had a bad one, you learn something from them all.  First Football Experience: Street Football  Superstition: I'm always the first onto the pitch and I always do the same warming up routine.  Favourite Club: Liverpool (before signing for us one hopes S)  Favourite Stadium: Nou Camp  Greatest Role model: Peter Schmiecel  Best Player Ever: Marco Van Basten  Underrated P layers: Players like Van Haalst (now of Ajax), Gaasbreek (NAC), and Bosz(ex  NAC), they're hard working players that don't really stand out but are of great importance to  their sides.  Overrated Players: Don't exist in professional football  Highe st point of your career: Winning Promotion with NAC  Worst point of your career: Shoulder injury  Supporters: The most important part of any football club  Breda: A city I shall never leave (Oh yeah-Stevo)  Favourite evening out: Go out for a few beers at 5, then have a meal out, then a few more late  drinks.  Political Preference: VVD (Dutch right-wing liberals, comparible with the Tories-Stevo)  Hobbies/Free Time- Going to a sauna and fishing (going to a Sauna is pretty common here  -Stevo)  Telvision: Friends, X-Files, Sam Sam  Internet: No  Music: A bit of everything  Favourite Film: Braveheart and Midnight Express  Favourite Book: I never read  Favourite Food: Mediterranean Shrimps, Salmon, Sole, Tacos  Favourit e Drink: Beer, Orange Juice  Best Personal Qualities: Honest, Direct, punctual.  Worst Personal Qualities: Hot Tempered  Ambitions: To get into Europe with NEC, and maybes play abroad. Well he got his wish, Newcastle signed him for £750,000 and he makes the bench for Sundays game. Rather impresive facts to bore your friends with. many thanks to Stevo for the info. The Official Website actually put something very good on their site FOR FREE, It's a computer generated virtual tour of the stadium, If you have Real Audio, click on the link to the virtual tour provided by the official site. I have a few stills on my latest SJP picture page. (click on image) Ruud Gullit didn't register as a player and we won't see him on the bench tomorrow. Indeed his girlfriend Estelle wants him to spend more time with her in Amsterdam, She would actually prefer him to quit Newcastle and concentrate on being a TV pundit. I bet he is really happy to see that all over the back pages of tomorrows papers. SILLY GIRL.

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