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Ruud Gullit has resigned as the Newcastle manager. Steve Clarke will take charge of the next game against Manchester United on Monday Whoever gets this job will have a very hard task. I think that he will be told that he has to make do with virtually the same players , selling off the likes of Serrant, Pistone and Hamilton will be his only source of income. I also believe that the job should be until the end of this season. Put the next man on trial using the current tools at his disposal. If he gets us into a reasonable position then at the end of the season give him a longer contract and the funds to improve the team. I think the worst thing would be to tear the team apart and start from scratch. The next man has got to be able to get the best out of the current players. As for who it is? I would not mind a "Geordie dream team" of Robson (manager) Beardsley (attacking coach),Pearce (defensive coach) Waddle( assistant manager) with coaching roles for Shearer and Lee, so they all feel part of it. I think we could use a Geordie dream team. If not then martin O'Neill or Gordon strachan have the passion and ability . I don't think Venables or Howard Wilkinson or another foreign coach would be a good idea at the moment.

Friday 28th August

Newcastle get to play Bulgarian champions CSKA Sofia in the UEFA cup. The first match is on 16th September in Bulgaria., The second leg at St James park on the 30th September. between now and then we have a couple of easy warm up games against man U and Chelsea, both away. 36 hours after the game and I am just about calm enough to reflect on Wednesday nights game. CLICK HERE It looks like Shearer will get his way, still captain of England and soon to have a new boss, expect an announcement on the future of Ruud Gullit sometime later today (Friday). It seems that Man U fans are not the only Glory hunters around , wanting to be on the winning side. It now seems quite trendy to slag off Gullit and praise Shearer... looks like I'm in the minority, We are all entitled to our opinions, but Don't you have a conscience?

Thursday 25th August

Last night 36,000 GEORDIES stood , many soaking wet in the torrential rain that poured onto the uncovered stand to cheer the team that the love against the ald enemy. they gave 100%. When Dyer scored the first goal after a shaky start all but one of those GEORDIES went crazy with excitement. The noise was deafening, all but one of us in the ground cheered and roared with joy. If you were a fan of Newcastle United , you just had to show emotion. One fan, stood stone faced, emotionless, while all around him were ecstatic. That fan was Alan Shearer. Was he not happy that Newcastle had scored? How can any TRUE FAN not be happy when the toon score? He was sulking after being left on the bench by the manager who stuck with the young men that had scored three on the previous outing. When he was finally allowed on to vent his anger on the pitch and motivate the team, a job that he is paid around £40,000 a week for , what did he do? He did what he has been doing for months, hung around , upfront with unfit Ferguson waiting "FOR SERVICE", whilst the rest of the team tried in vain to stop Sunderland from scoring . They were knackered, he was the freshest man on the pitch and should have been in the thick of the action. Did he earn his £40,000 this week? has he earned the £40,000 a week since he signed his much publicised new five year contract? Having said that did the manager earn his wages for putting Shearer on? Substitutions had to be made, the team was running out of steam., but I happen to think that playing Stuart Green (who?) could have been a better option. These so called top international players are all highly paid individuals, I would be embarrassed to pick up my wage packet if I were one of these overpaid players. We pay a lot of money to make them very rich, We expect a lot more for our money or a refund.

Wednesday 25th August

Newcastle lose to Sunderland 2 - 1 at St James' park. The get rid of Gullit brigade gains strength, Gullit says he is staying, the bookies are taking no more bets on Gullit still being manager in May.A report here soon

Tuesday 24th August

Tommy Wright returns as Karelse gets a knee injury? Don't you believe it.! Officially, Karelse got a knee injury this morning , which will put him out of the next couple of games. Newcastle quickly found a replacement in Tommy Wright who last kept goal for Newcastle back in 1993. He is currently Number 2 at Man City, and also number 2 Northern Ireland goalkeeper. I watched the Ireland game last week against France and was impressed with Wright. Although now 35 (36 on Sunday) he is still a good goalkeeper. Back to Karelse, Injured? I think not. After spending £800,000 on the Dutchman and seeing him let in seven goals in 2 appearances, Gullit had to drop him. However if he did drop him questions would be asked as to why he signed him in the first place. By faking a light injury, Newcastle can simply put Harper back in goal where he belongs to take the heat off Karelse and end the "is he a waste of money" question. . When he returns to full fitness, (after the Chelsea game) he can be given a game or two in the reserves in preparation for a return to the first team. On the other hand Given should be fit by then and if Harper can have a good couple of games then Karelse may end up as the 3rd choice. As mentioned yesterday, there will be little chance of any new players arriving in the next few weeks. Funds will not be made available the Gullit until the team climbs up the table. The Ibraham Ba deal was never a serious option as there is no way Newcastle could ever get an insurance policy out on him, even if it were just a loan deal. We can also forget about Zenden, Juninho, Bogarde and all the Spanish rumours. The Spanish transfer market is now closed until December. One possibility could be Lou Saha. Last years loan signing is available again due to Metz being knocked out of Europe by West Ham tonight. The Inter Toto cup final ended 3 - 1 , to the Hammers, (3-2 Agg) West Ham now join Newcastle , Leeds and Spurs in the UEFA cup. The first round draw will be made on Friday. With the emergence of the New Gazza (Robbo) I think we could have saved ourselves a few millions. he is strongly fancied to get his second start and his first Newcastle goal tomorrow night.Both Newcastle And Sunderland have defensive problems ahead of tomorrows game, and I am sticking with my predicted (Youth) team for tomorrow nights derby . If you are going to the game, just remember, Win . Lose or draw, be civilised to the MaKems both before and after the game. Security will be heavy, so get their early. The spotlight will be not only on the 22 men on the field but also on the fans of both sides. Nowt wrong with a bit of banter in the ground, but lets all behave ourselves outside. Likely line up still is:- ...............................Harper...................................... Barton ............. Beharall......Hughes..........Domi. ....Dyer...........McClen.........Speed.........Solano ................Shearer .................Robinson..

Monday 23rd August

Tickets for Wednesdays crucial derby game against the MaKems went on sale today. There were queues outside the ground today, only thing was you had to phone up to get one. Non were on sale to the general public at the box office. United decided at the last minute to sell the few remaining tickets to Newcastle fans on the waiting list to stop them from being sold to the Makems , who only have 834 tickets allocated. It's not a bad idea the only thing is changing the rules at the very last minute wasn't a brilliant idea. never mind I've got one, so I'm happy. It could be a case of youth V experience, with United likely to be playing it's youngest team for many years due to the huge amount of injuries. There could well be 6 under 21 year olds in the team , as opposed to 6 over 30 year olds in the makem team Likely line up ...............................Harper...................................... Barton ............. Beharall......Hughes..........Domi. ....Dyer...........McClen.........Speed.........Solano ................Shearer .................Robinson..... Harper is set for a recall, Goma and Marcelino look unlikely to start, a big question mark hangs over Dyer, although if he fails to make it then Kets looks likely to have recovered from his back injury. There will be NO new players until Newcastle climb up the table. So talk of a £5 million bid for Zenden, £8 million for Seedorf are more of a case of wishful thinking than anything else. Even the rumored loan of Ibraham Ba looks very far fetched. A more likely scenario is that Gullit and Clarke will register as players, JUST IN CASE.

Sunday 22nd August

Yesterdays thrilling 3 - 3 draw against Wimbledon, Saw Newcastle climb 2 places. There were some fine performances by a young looking Newcastle team especially Paul Robinson , a star in the making. The overall performance was good although the final score was disappointing. A good win on Wednesday against the Makems should see Newcastle move above our poorer cousins doon the road . MATCH REPORT IS HERE Gullit looked a lot happier with the performance, although he too is unhappy with the result , he commented on the fact that Newcastle were comfortable until the injuries in the second half to Alan Goma. He had replaced Goma with Beharall, whose blunder led to the second Dons goal. Gullit was probably hinting at the fact that there is little strength in depth in his team. Reports from Holland suggest that Gullit had agreed to sign, Sunday Oliseh and De la Pena in the summer only for the transfers to be called off because of a lack of funds. This could be why the last two signings have been for Dumas at £500k and Karelse at £800k. I would have thought that Gullit will either have to look for players to take on loan, (Ibraham Ba?) look for older, cheaper players (Fonseca?)or sell some of his current squad to raise funds for a decent winger (Zenden?) and central Midfielder.(Bogarde?)  Now, just who could he sell that would fetch big money? and finally, the tabloids are still sharpening their daggers, laughable comment of the day goes to NOTW's so called reporter. "Newcastle were booed off the pitch" What a load of utter bollocks.

Saturday 21st August

"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 against Wimbledon 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 so 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 deficit 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)

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