Newcastle United Transfer Rumours and General Chat

Salmon

The thing I cant understand is why we persist with the long ball up to the forwards when our midfield would be more than capable of threading balls into martins. We also have decent wingers who could put in decent crosses and create chances, but all we ever seem to do is hoof it up to shola and hope he can flick it on. When are we gonna start playing it around on the ground and stop the long ball, its as if the defence hasnt realised that shearer retired last year!!

Spaco

I have to say, Bramble played well for the first 40 - 50 minutes, except when he cleaved some lad out of it in the other half. No need for that!!!.
Solano looked out of it except for 1 or 2 moves. Thought Milner should have started though as he's looked impressive and is a talent we should try and hold onto.
Ameobi didn't do enough to stay on the pitch except score the peno that Martins created but he was annonymous. Rossi should have been on sooner to give us some chance but I really feel that Luque should be getting alot more of a look in. I think Roeder has made his mind up about him and is as happy to let him rot which I think is insane. Granted, he's had a bit of an attitude but seems to want to make it again and should be given his chance.
It's going to come to a head soon in SJP and I can't see Roeder being there at Christmas if they keep throwing away matches like this. It's beyond a joke now.......

smog

thats the problem ... bramble always makes a mistake that usually costs a goal or two ... with taylor on the bench ... phhhh. thank god boumsong is gone at least

Defenders are needed but leaving the better ones you have on the bench?

sundula

Roeder sucks - he shouldnt have got the job. Typical honeymoon period as a caretaker and then short sighted Ferd Shep gives him the gig. He blew it when he was in charge of West Ham before. He is better as a coach and shouldnt have tken the Job fulltime. EVERYONE knows that the newcastle defence is shocking and Roeder has done nothing to address this, instead he spent all his time worrying about who was going to replace Shearer - even if Martins scores 50 the defence will probably let in 75

kinaldo

Tough fixture tonight against Fenerbache, but let's hope for some salvation in Europe. Then what perfect place to get back on track than Boro on Sunday

evilhomer

Moore and Bramble dropped in favour of Ramage and Taylor!

It's worth a shot anyway. it's not like they could be any worse

1-0 with Sibierski on target for The Toon Army!

I hope we can carry that forward to the weekend.

evilhomer

We are in serious trouble here lads!

Can't buy a goal at the minute. Martins needs time to settle into the premiership and we have no one else pop in the goals while he gets upto the pace.

kinaldo

Apparently Martins was our one bright spot today, scared the hell out of the Boro defence and was unlucky to hit the bar after lobbing the keeper one on one. Luque and Solano left out of the squad today which again raises more questions. Is anyone else starting to fear relegation? It won't happen of course but we won't be far off at this rate.

kinaldo

Hopefully this article from Henry Winter in today's Telegraph will exacerbate the growing campaign to get Shepherd out.

Vokes

Dyer injured again! Must be the most unluckiest player ever.

Pighead

Poor old Dyer, was only reading yesterday how he was raring to go. Injury described as a freak training ground accident involving his eye. This guy is in a different league to Darren Anderton.

kinaldo

Must be all that bad karma he picked up when doing his best to get Sir Bobby sacked.

kinaldo

Former Newcastle striker and Geordie boy Michael Chopra struck twice for Cardiff at the Stadium of Light to beat Sunderland 2-1 tonight, also making him top scorer in the division with 10 goals. Which reminds me, Newcastle have no fit strikers to play in Palermo this week. Rossi is ineligible, Martins and Ameobi are both out injured, and Sibierski isn't likely to make it. What odds on Roeder finally giving Luque a few minutes out there?

evilhomer

It looks like you will have to put a gun to Roeders head to make him play Luque.

I think Luque just needs some game time to get his confidence back.

Chopra would have been first choice for Newcastle this year, I wonder if he regrets leaving?

kinaldo

Oh dear, not looking forward to this game at all. Duff, Parker, Baba, and Carr didn't travel either.

Full squad: Steve Harper, Tim Krul, Fraser Forster, Pavel Srnicek, Shay Given, Steven Taylor, Craig Moore, Titus Bramble, Peter Ramage, Paul Huntington, Olivier Bernard, Nobby Solano, Emre, Charles N'Zogbia, Nicky Butt, James Milner, James Troisi, Matty Pattison, Alan O'Brien, Albert Luque, Antoine Sibierski, Andy Carroll

Limerick Dude

Luque starting tomorrow night, about time.

kinaldo

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/72336192.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19390335F8FA9CA92A66E114B9264299B924E9C89C783688B46

Harper looks like he's about to cry in that picture. Don't blame him either, he waits forever to get his chance then gets injured and outshined by an 18 year old kid.

Probably the best debut from a young goalkeeper I've ever seen. Huge performance - great athleticism, reactions of a cat, stood up well and came off his line quicky to save one on one, and his distribution was better than Given's.

Apparently he just kept saying 'unbelievable' in the post match interview.

Unbelievable indeed. I don't think anyone thought we could win this game given the way we've been playing lately, even if Parker, Duff, Martins Given etc had been fit.

Defence was very solid and the midfield of Emre and Butt was excellent. Not much up front but then Luque can harldy be match fit (one reserve game against Liverpool where he scored two 30 yard screamers) and he was all alone up there.

Would be nice to see him get the start he deserves alongside Rossi against Sheffield on Saturday. If he doesn't then it's clear Roeder is just holding a personal grudge against him, and wasting the club's money as well as ruining the guy's career.

kinaldo

While on the subject of Luque, here's the highlights of the reserve game at Anfiled where he scored twice from 30 yards. Nice Fowler goal in there too. Goal v Palermo here.

therecklessone

What's going on in Barcodes land?

Roeder "bemoans" fixture madness

Glenn Roeder has hit out at a fixture list which has left his Newcastle side facing three matches in six days.

The Magpies meet Sheffield United on Saturday, two days after facing Palermo in the Uefa Cup, then travel to Watford on Tuesday for a Carling Cup tie.

Sounds bad all right. Except...

A Premier League spokesman confirmed to BBC Sport that Newcastle had the option of requesting to play the [televised] game on Sunday [and lose out on money from Sky], but did not take it.

Suppose the TV money is handy when there's interest to be paid on the £50m debt.

More bizarrely:

The Football League stipulates that Carling Cup fourth-round ties must be played in the week beginning 6 November.

However, it is left up to the two clubs - Watford and Newcastle - to decide which evening to play on.

Did Newcastle at least ask that this game be moved to the Wednesday? Seems very odd.

kinaldo

In fairness, not many clubs would be able to turn down £350k for an extra days rest. I doubt they asked for the Carling Cup game to be moved back seeing as they're playing Man City in an early ko next Saturday. Perhaps if we were in a more comfortable position in the table, but as it stands each league game has greater importance. Nobody at the club has so far dared mutter that dreaded word, 'relegation'. Roeder should pipe down and stop looking for excuses in advance.

kinaldo

Tim Krul highlights v Palermo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzdf7GFx_rc

therecklessone

kinaldo wrote:

In fairness, not many clubs would be able to turn down £350k for an extra days rest.

Fair enough (though we did in December, benefit of a healthy balance sheet...;) )

kinaldo wrote:

Roeder should pipe down and stop looking for excuses in advance.

Agreed.

kinaldo

therecklessone wrote:

Fair enough (though we did in December, benefit of a healthy balance sheet...;) )

Spurs had a similar situation for their match with the spanners and pulled out, giving them an extra days rest. Sky told Spurs that they would get an extra game later in the season so nothing lost. Spurs got 3 points from that match, would they have got them if the match had been played 24 hour earlier? Maybe, maybe not.

I don't know if that's true or not, it's a quote from a Spurs fan, Martin Jol, (usually reliable) on a Newcastle forum, but Newcastle haven't been offered any extra games by Sky.

therecklessone

kinaldo wrote:

I don't know if that's true or not

Our original tie against West Ham wasn't a Sky live match, so its not true.

kinaldo

Words fail me right now...

:mad:

GrumPy

kinaldo wrote:

Words fail me right now...

:mad:

?

kinaldo

I take it u didn't see the game today. We lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield United. Luque was dropped again and the team out there didn't look capable of finding the net even if they'd played all night. I'm too depressed to even look at the league table right now. I think one of the Sky commentators said if Sheffield scored a 2nd goal we'd have ended up bottom of the table tonight.

evilhomer

repost from another thread!

Is it time to send him back to managing the youth team? He doesn't seem to be able to get the players to play for him and I have had to question some of his tactical decisions lately.

Shocking the way, we kept pumping long balls upto short players, when the Sheffield united centre-halves were so much taller and far superior in the air.

At one stage the crowd were chanting "pass the ball, pass the ball, pass the ball!"

On a positive note, Luque looked good when he came on. He should be starting the next premiership game.

Is this the end of the road for Roeder?

kinaldo

I dunno but somethings gotta give or we're going down, simple as. We were that bad today we probably deserve to be bottom. A new manager might save us but what we really need is new ownership.

kinaldo

Parker is getting quite a lot of stick on the Newcastle msg boards. Apparently he was subjected to a considerable amount of booing from the East Stand today which I find sad. He may have reacted by sarcastically clapping and telling some of them to feck off. Although it's not saying much, he's been our best player this season. I hope this sh1t doesn't drive him out of the club.

Necronomicon

There's no quick fix, getting rid of Roeder wouldn't resolve anything imo. A new manager still has to work with a weak defence and an injury-ridden strike force until january.
There are deeper problems at the club, a chairman who has a ridiculous turnover of managers being one.

kinaldo

BBC Five Live reporting that hundreds maybe thousands of fans gathered outside the Milburn Stand after the game chanting "sack the board" and "we want shepherd out". Best news I've heard all day.

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/72408087.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19390335F8FA9CA92A67E7621E3BA057FC2329DF394FE942516

Limerick Dude

I have had enough of shepard, this is all his fault, if he actually got us a good experienced manager, we would not be in this mess.

eirebhoy

I wouldn't mind a chairman who's willing to spend about £60m in 3 seasons. Shepard appears to be on his own at Newcastle. Who's the Chief Exec and why isn't he involved more? At Celtic the chairman is hardly ever in the press as the Chief Exec, Peter Lawwell, is the man who works with Strachan. Celtic fans couldn't be happier with Lawwell.

kinaldo

eirebhoy wrote:

I wouldn't mind a chairman who's willing to spend about £60m in 3 seasons. Shepard appears to be on his own at Newcastle. Who's the Chief Exec and why isn't he involved more? At Celtic the chairman is hardly ever in the press as the Chief Exec, Peter Lawwell, is the man who works with Strachan. Celtic fans couldn't be happier with Lawwell.

Newcastle are pretty much run by Freddie Shepherd and his sidekick Douglas Hall. The two of them were caught up in a News of the World scandal years ago (around 1997 shortly after Sir John Hall stepped down) in which they were basically caught slagging off the fans and bragging about how much they earn. How they survived that is still somewhat of a mystery. To this day Shepherd's love for media attention remains undiminished.

There seems to be a myth amongst non-fans that Newcastle are practically bankrolled by Shepherd which is not the case at all. They've taken millions out of the club in dividends as well as being on huge salaries. Shepherd and Hall both get over £500k per year in basic salaries. In 2003 Shepherd got paid £670k including bonuses.

Since 1998 the Hall family have taken out £18.2m in dividends and share sales. The amount of money taken out of the club by the Shepherd is just over £5m, and that's not including his salary. This includes nearly £1m during a time when the club did not spend any money on players.

The total income since 1st August 1997 is just over £614m. Most of this has been wasted by Shepherd in hiring and firing the wrong managers, and handing over millions for the likes of Boumsong 6 months after we turned down the opportunity to sign him on a free transfer. The total net amount spent on transfer fees since 1998 is £86m or roughly an average of just under £10m per season.

I think I speak for the majority of NUFC fans by saying SHEPHERD OUT!

kinaldo

From The Sunday Sun

Angry Newcastle supporters staged a demonstration outside St James's Park last night calling for the board to quit.

Dozens of police officers, some on horseback, were sent to the stadium to disperse a crowd of as many as 1000 fans who bellowed "sack the board" after the club fell to 19th place in the Premiership...

...

It may not be a tune to match the Blaydon Races, but the chant of "sack the board" is similarly steeped in Geordie culture.

And its first airing at St James's Park yesterday for more than a decade and a half marked the return of the dark old days at Newcastle United.

A whole generation of junior Magpie fans have grown up without raising their voices against the club's powers-that- be.

But Newcastle's slump to within one place of the bottom of the Premiership prompted supporters young and old to vent their spleen, in time-honoured Geordie fashion, on chairman Freddy Shepherd.

In the 1970s, it was Lord "The Pirate" Westwood who bore the brunt of fans' fury at Newcastle's slide into the old Second Division.

In the late 1980s, barrister Gordon McKeag presided over another relegation which prompted a mood of all-out revolt on the terraces. Now, after 15-plus years of near-triumphant peaks and depressing troughs on the pitch- but little transition off it - rebellion is back in the air.

And Shepherd, having entered the United boardoom courtesy of the coup which toppled McKeag, knows full well the power of the people on Tyneside.

Although talk of a takeover has roused the fans to demand change, the man whose family made their name in scrap metal has seemed set on staying put at St James's.

And, given that he was in Majorca rather than the director's box yesterday, it remains to be seen whether the ferocity of the fans' uprising against him will prompt a change of heart.

But the Geordie electorate have spoken.

And with history telling us their next move will be to vote with their feet, even darker days may lie ahead for Shepherd . . . and for Newcastle United.

full article

smog

kinaldo wrote:

Newcastle are pretty much run by Freddie Shepherd and his sidekick Douglas Hall. .....

I think I speak for the majority of NUFC fans by saying SHEPHERD OUT!

would second that .. but tough times ahead even if changes happen

sundula

Footbal fans in the UK seem to be forgetful fickle people i saw them asking for and supporting Roeders appointment. It was madness, Roeder career / track record is dire and just because he got the usual Caretaker Managers run of luck they give him the job. NUFC fans should have been protesting then to have Shepard out. Roeder could take ncastle all the way down if left there for the rest of this season.

smog

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_1662613,00.html

football365.com wrote:

Newcastle were so poor on Saturday that it would have been understandable if the small band of Sheffield United fans participated in the post-match protest against Freddy Shepherd outside St James'.

While the notion that Toon boast the most loyal fans in the country is overplayed - barely 15 years have passed since St James was regularly half-full - they deserve sympathy. Has ever any other club on the shores been so systemically mismanaged, at every level, as Newcastle United?

According to at least one Sunday broadsheet, it was the Toon chairman himself who ruled that an extra £250,000 from Sky to cover Saturday's night shambles was of greater import than an extra day's rest for the first-team squad after Thursday's UEFA Cup tie in Italy.

"All over the pitch we were a yard or two slower," commented Glenn Roeder. "You have to look for reasons when the performance is as poor as that, and less than 49 hours ago we were playing in Italy. I'm not saying that is the reason, but it certainly hasn't helped."

The priorities motivating Shepherd's decision to accept Sky's cash are as questionable as the business transaction in 1998 which saw Shepherd Offshore plc sell a warehouse to Freddie's brother, Bruce, for £175,000. Newcastle United plc then completed a 17-year deal with Bruce Shepherd for the warehouse to store the club's merchandise at a cost of £2.5m.

How Toon could do with that sum now. For one thing, Shepherd has believed to have a clause in his contract stipulating that he will receive two years' pay if dismissed. Or, in other words, around £2m. And as Shepherd implicitly confirmed last month when he revealed that the club had recorded pre-tax losses of £12m, that's money Newcastle simply don't possess.

Jospeh Heller must have been a Toon supporter.

kinaldo

sundula wrote:

Footbal fans in the UK seem to be forgetful fickle people i saw them asking for and supporting Roeders appointment. It was madness, Roeder career / track record is dire and just because he got the usual Caretaker Managers run of luck they give him the job. NUFC fans should have been protesting then to have Shepard out. Roeder could take ncastle all the way down if left there for the rest of this season.

The only reason Newcastle fans kept their voices down when Roeder was appointed was because he did such a good job in getting us into Europe and is generally quite popular up there having also played for the club. Most Newcastle supporters were quietly against his appointment and some even gave up their season tickets for the first time in 30 years, but seeing as he got the job we had to support him. Unfortunately it's clear he's not up to task of managing Newcastle and will inevitably be sacked. Shepherd could probably get away with murder, but he can't get away with presiding over the club heading towards relegation.

According to at least one Sunday broadsheet, it was the Toon chairman himself who ruled that an extra £250,000 from Sky to cover Saturday's night shambles was of greater import than an extra day's rest for the first-team squad after Thursday's UEFA Cup tie in Italy.
"All over the pitch we were a yard or two slower," commented Glenn Roeder. "You have to look for reasons when the performance is as poor as that, and less than 49 hours ago we were playing in Italy. I'm not saying that is the reason, but it certainly hasn't helped."

I don't buy into the excuse of having to play too soon after a midweek game. Parker and Duff didn't travel to Palermo and gave probably the worst two performances on the pitch against one of the worst sides to ever grace the Premiership.

Ardent

I'm laughing my ass off at Damien Duff/Michael Owen. See what lack of ambition gets you boys?

eirebhoy

Ardent wrote:

I'm laughing my ass off at Damien Duff/Michael Owen. See what lack of ambition gets you boys?

In fairness, Duff's form should be his main worry as I've never seen him play as bad as he did on Saturday.

kinaldo

eirebhoy wrote:

In fairness, Duff's form should be his main worry as I've never seen him play as bad as he did on Saturday.

True, it says a lot when his best performance this season has come at left back.

kinaldo

Here's the nufc.com take on Scott Parker being booed:

Cut the clap and shut your trap
As unacceptable as the performance was on Saturday, we were more than disappointed with the on-field actions of two Newcastle players when the going got tough.

We're told of, but didn't see Stephen Carr's ironic applause of home fans in response to booing from the stands at half time.

However we did witness club captain Scott Parker indulge in some identical mockery during the second half, having being abused by fans in the East Stand after failing to compete for what seemed a winnable tackle.

Reports from fans in the East Stand claim that Parker had initially responded to a "get stuck in" shout with a 4-letter reply. This then prompted the boos from those that heard it.

Other witnesses thought his applause may have been an attempt at an apology for the expletive, rather than ironic clapping.

Speaking in his post-match press call, Glenn Roeder asserted the right of fans to criticise him and the players - it's a pity that two of his senior internationals weren't big enough to agree with their manager.

The only way to answer such criticism is with actions on the field, not words - or gestures.

Even more worrying are reports we received from fans in the Gallowgate end who witnessed stewards trying to eject people for joining in the "Shepherd out" chants.

This itself brought about strong reaction from supporters who turned against the stewards.

If this is true, then are stewards really being instructed to stifle any anti-Chairman chants? That would be an unprecedented development.

It's a far cry off from this time last season when he was cheered off the pitch after putting his body on the line in a match winning performance against the Arsenal.

redspider

kinaldo wrote:

There seems to be a myth amongst non-fans that Newcastle are practically bankrolled by Shepherd which is not the case at all. They've taken millions out of the club in dividends as well as being on huge salaries. Shepherd and Hall both get over £500k per year in basic salaries. In 2003 Shepherd got paid £670k including bonuses.

Since 1998 the Hall family have taken out £18.2m in dividends and share sales. The amount of money taken out of the club by the Shepherd is just over £5m, and that's not including his salary. This includes nearly £1m during a time when the club did not spend any money on players.

The total income since 1st August 1997 is just over £614m. Most of this has been wasted by Shepherd in hiring and firing the wrong managers, and handing over millions for the likes of Boumsong 6 months after we turned down the opportunity to sign him on a free transfer. The total net amount spent on transfer fees since 1998 is £86m or roughly an average of just under £10m per season.

This type of information is useful. Just to remind people that Newcastle is a public company and is listed on the LSE. Its valued today at 91m UKP. I understand that Shephard has 29%. I am sure many fans are small shareholders too.

The clubs finances are probably okay, although I have not looked at any of their financial reports. Recently the club/company reported a loss of 12m ukp on revenue of 83m.
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/27102006/325/newcastle-united-swings-net-loss-year.html

You could be right that the club are not over-investing in players, but they are maintaining a high spend. All of this money comes from the fans through their purchases. I dont know if Shareholders have been asked to put in extra funding after the club/company floated on the LSE.

So overall, the situation is where Shephard and other directors are getting more out of the club than they have put in/are putting in.

Note that others see potential in the club, and any club with 50,000 fanatical and paying supports has potential to be in the top-4 (if one of the thers would give way).

In terms of the football and other posts, I dont think that people can blame the likes Duffer too much. He has little to work with up front, there was no point in him staying out wide, beating a player or two and whipping in a cross only for it to be easily defended. The team structure is terrible and players are not responding well in what has now become a dire situation.

I have no doubt that Newcastle have the capability not to be relegated, but they need to apply that. Shephard et al may be to blame for some of the long-term problems over the last few years, but a short-term solution will be a change of manager.

redspider

kinaldo

redspider wrote:

This type of information is useful. Just to remind people that Newcastle is a public company and is listed on the LSE. Its valued today at 91m UKP. I understand that Shephard has 29%. I am sure many fans are small shareholders too.

The clubs finances are probably okay, although I have not looked at any oftheir financial reports. Recently the club/company reported a loss of 12m ukp on revenue of 83m.
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/27102006/325/newcastle-united-swings-net-loss-year.html

You could be right that the club are not over-investing in players, but they are maintaining a high spend. All of this money comes from the fans through their purchases. I dont know if Shareholders have been asked to put in extra funding after the club/company floated on the LSE.

So overall, thoe situation is where Shephard and other directors are getting more out of the club than they have put in/are putting in.

Note that others see potential in the club, and any club with 50,000 fanatical and paying supports has potential to be in the top-4 (if one of the thers would give way).

In terms of the football and other posts, I dont think that people can blame the likes Duffer too much. He has little to work with up front, there was no point in him staying out wide, beating a player or two and whipping in a cross only for it to be easily defended. The team structure is terrible and players are not responding well in what has now become a dire situation.

I have no doubt that Newcastle have the capability not to be relegated, but they need to apply that. Shephard et al may be to blame for some of the long-term problems over the last few years, but a short-term solution will be a change of manager.

redspider

Just to add to the above, the Shepherds, Freddie and his brother Bruce, own 28.1% of the club, while the Halls own 41%. Other major shareholders are Legal & General and someone called "L Hatton" who own about 5 million shares combined or 3.8%. They would have taken about £1m out of the club since 1998. The rest is made up of tiny shareholders like myself. What exactly Douglas Hall gets paid over £500k for is unknown, as he's a non-executive director. If the Halls were to sell up they'd be expected to make a £40m profit on their £6m investment.

Most of the figures point to gross mismanagement on the part of chairman Freddie Shepherd. If he didn't love the limelight so much, failing to sell up, he could easily retain his position and just appoint a Peter Kenyon like figure who's qualified enough to run the club. His ego would never allow that though. He's not the worst football chairman in the world but it's pretty clear he's not fit enough to run a club with fans who've invested roughly £246m since 1998.

The Daily Mirror provided a good piece today:

To borrow a famous quote Shepherd once used against Sir Bobby Robson's side: the pair are being paid Rolls Royce wages and not delivering a Rolls- Royce club.

Shepherd and Hall are running an outfit sliding towards financial trouble. Relegation doesn't bear thinking about.

Club income has fallen for the last four years, gate receipts are down, wages are spiralling out of control, debts are up, and losses last season were £12m.

In the world of big business, half-million salaries are usually the rewards only for directors running companies with a turnover of £600m. Newcastle's turnover is £83m.

Pighead

More striker worries for the Toon. Perhaps now Mr Luque may get a bit of a run.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/6128490.stm

kinaldo

Roeder made his mind up about Luque a long time ago, despite the fact that he's only started less than a dozen games for us but still has a better goal ratio than any of our other forwards. Luque asked for 3 games to get match fit which is only fair considering he's not even getting reserve team football at the moment (except at Anfield where he scored twice!).

Roeder claimed he was playing for his shirt against Palermo, so after seeing him score the winner he drops him against Sheffield in a game we never looked like scoring in. Last night at Watford we finished the game with no strikers having used up all our subs while Luque just sat there on the bench.

It really annoys me to see a professional footballer being treated in this manner. Roeder obviously has no respect for him as a player or a person. How he can claim Luque has trained well and then still refuse to use a forward we payed £9m for when we're struggling for goals in inexcusable. Earlier this season at Old Trafford we were subjected to the sight of Luque warming up on the touchline despite having used up all our subs. I can only assume this was to humiliate him. Luque to his credit has acted professionally throughout when it would be understandable if he went off moaning to the press or AWOL.

I don't think Roeder will last much longer, but if he does I hope Luque escapes in January. He's still a legend at Deportivo and plenty on Spanish sides would take him. Thanks to Roeder though the club will be forced to take a massive loss on him. At least Souness was honest in his reasons for dropping Bellamy and Robert. Roeder is cowardly trying to pull the wool over the fans' eyes by having him on the bench and claiming Luque is playing for his shirt.

Like a lot of Newcastle fans I've just about had enough of Roeder and his anti-Luque antics. He deserves to get sacked for numerous reasons and I hope Luque did sleep with his wife.

evilhomer

I have to agree Kinaldo, there seems to be no reason for Luque not to be getting some game time. The game against Sheffield United and the game against Watford, Luque would have been the ideal man to get a game and maybe give us some of the attacking edge we have being missing!

Roeder better play him against Man City from the start alongside Sibierski as Rossi hasn't looked like doing muchin the last 3-4 games.

I feel sorry for Luque too, at least give him a chance to try prove he was worth £9.5!!

Pighead

kinaldo wrote:

Roeder made his mind up about Luque a long time ago, despite the fact that he's only started less than a dozen games for us but still has a better goal ratio than any of our other forwards. Luque asked for 3 games to get match fit which is only fair considering he's not even getting reserve team football at the moment (except at Anfield where he scored twice!).

Roeder claimed he was playing for his shirt against Palermo, so after seeing him score the winner he drops him against Sheffield in a game we never looked like scoring in. Last night at Watford we finished the game with no strikers having used up all our subs while Luque just sat there on the bench.

It really annoys me to see a professional footballer being treated in this manner. Roeder obviously has no respect for him as a player or a person. How he can claim Luque has trained well and then still refuse to use a forward we payed £9m for when we're struggling for goals in inexcusable. Earlier this season at Old Trafford we were subjected to the sight of Luque warming up on the touchline despite having used up all our subs. I can only assume this was to humiliate him. Luque to his credit has acted professionally throughout when it would be understandable if he went off moaning to the press or AWOL.

I don't think Roeder will last much longer, but if he does I hope Luque escapes in January. He's still a legend at Deportivo and plenty on Spanish sides would take him. Thanks to Roeder though the club will be forced to take a massive loss on him. At least Souness was honest in his reasons for dropping Bellamy and Robert. Roeder is cowardly trying to pull the wool over the fans' eyes by having him on the bench and claiming Luque is playing for his shirt.

Like a lot of Newcastle fans I've just about had enough of Roeder and his anti-Luque antics. He deserves to get sacked for numerous reasons and I hope Luque did sleep with his wife.

Is there not even the slightest chance that he's being ignored because he no longer is the player he used to be? Lets be honest any time he has started he's looked distinctly ordinary. He must have played 30 or so times for Newcastle and to be honest Pighead doesn't remember to much goal action in those games.

Just a thought.