Paphos People

See the Smoggies got off to a good start last night to York

Saved a beating in the dying seconds to gain a draw, very lucky indeed

Our turn today against Hartlepool, should be a good match to find out who KK needs to get rid of over the next 5-6 weeks

who cares about pre season friendlies they mean nothing
all they are for is to build up match fitness and get the squad playing together (which is why all bar the keeper played 45 mins), anyway even if you win all your friendly games it is not as if you are going to win your first game is it?

I don't know, I think looking back at how Manc USA started last season, didn't they lose there first few games, better to get them at Old Trafford now than half way through the season when they've started to gel, same as Arsenil, our 3rd game

Thats got to be 2 of the hardest games to play, Manc USA @ Old Trafford & Arsenil @ Emirates, we have them both in the first few weeks, we might get something

aye 2 sound thrashings probably

I don't think so but then again, I'm bias

oh my god the mighty newcastle have managed to beat hartlepool 4-1 guess they are certainties to win the league this year

if only you got points for pre season



in all honesty a good confiidence booster for newcastle (just a shame that duff scored all his goals for the season in a friendly)

Noticed that King Kev at the Victoria Ground felt the need to emphasize that they ie NUFC would be doing their training locally, unlike their neighbours.
Well There You Are Then
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Yes Smurf, we beat Hartlepool 4-1 where you could only scrap a dying seconds draw with York pre-seasons are played to give the manager a look at what he should expect during the season, so I'd be worried if I was you mate

Just remember also, Owen, the Spider, Viduka, Faye, etc didn't play due to injury or being allowed time off after playing for their international teams, there were only 12 senior players there & some of the new youngester were used in the second half, something to do with us having the smallest squad in the Premiership

Roll on our next pre-season friendly

On another note, I see the mighty Toffee's lost their second pre-season friendly last night too... not looking good for Europe is it are they gonna do what they did a few seasons back when they got into the CL & dropped straight out into the Uefa cup & got kicked out of that after 1 match, then dropped to the bottom of the Prem only just to survive by the skin of their teeth

so newcastle have pulled out of the mallorca tournament? just shows that kk knows nowt

Good point Smurf, what's he talking about. Oh and he refused to give Sky an interview. Dummy out and the season hasn't started !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Well there you are........ a friendly played in Portugal....Sporting Lisbon 1 Sunderland 3
That's 10 man Sunderland....Chopra should never have been sent off !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Good result for you Gary, shame you're goona be without Chops as well as Jones, you'll need to get some new strikers in soon

wont they only be without chopra if the ref includes it in his report? i know it was a red, but th fa wont act unless they are notified by the officials in their report

Doesn't he have to include it in his report to the FA if its a RED card, didn't think he had any choice in the matter

1-1 draw against celtic in the algarve, decent enough game, boro played 2 teams swapped everyone at half time (except for turnbull and walker) the 2 new signings and the youth team players (particularly greame owens, davids williams and josh walker) all plaeyed well

threw the win away in last minute with very scrappy goal fairly happy

one player who wasn't there was lee cattermole, could this be a sign that he is off to wigan (rumoured 5m)

was good to see mcmahon getting a game him and matthew bates both had horrible luck with injuries the past 3 years (mcmahon 3 broken legs, bates 3 different cruciate injuries) so hopefully they will get back to where they were

one last thing setenta's coverage was awful, in the boro line up apparently we had shanky and parker playing for us (when it was shawky and walker) and i know we had a lot of youth team players playing but you would expect commentators to prepare before the game and learn the names

Didn't see it Smurf but my Boror mate reckons you had about 20 fans there.
We had 1100 Sunderland fans at our game last Sunday, same expected tonight.
Good going in my book.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

I notice no one has been on about yesterday's results;-

DONNY 1 - TOON 0

No doubt there will be many explanations justifying the score, none of which likely to give Donny credit for their performance.

John

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Never let truth get in the way of a good rumour.

Hi John,

Where you been mate, you only come one when the TOON lose is is

We played crap & deserved to lose apparently from what I've read, not seen anything about us apart from that & that we still haven't signed anyone, so maybe this will make Ashley spend some money at last

must come on quite often then eh pete?

He will be this season thats for sure

He'll still owe me a couple of Mars Bars tho, as we'll still beat the Spurts H&A..

The skunks had a strong team out anarl
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Well I read that 10 first team players were out, so not sure who was playing but it shouldn't matter, we should still beat Donny

Lets hope its a wake up call to the owner that he needs to spend some money in the transfer market

Vitoria Setubal 1 Sunderland 1
Doncaster 1 Newcastle 0
Hartlepool 0 Sunderland 1
Hartlepool 1 Newcastle 4
Carlisle 1 Boro 2
Cobh Ramblers 0 Sunderland 4
Nottingham Forest 0 Sunderland 1
Norwich 1 Spurs 6
Orient 1 Spurs 5
When are Newcastle due to get beat by Berlin and Mallorca ?

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So close yet so far away

Berlin is tonight & Mallorca is Sunday, hoping to go watch them at the G&D if they're showing them

Someone somewhere said that Berlin were taking 1,000 fans and Newcastle were taking 8,000 fans.
Then it was explained that the Newcastle fans were going in fancy dress.
Understandable you may think, after all it's a cheap short flight from Ponteland International Airport.
So why did 7,400 Geordies choose to go as an empty seat Pete ?
Ha !
Gary
There may be trouble ahead.

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So close yet so far away

No idea Gary, but I'm sure you'll tell me...

I tried watching the game on the PC last night & gave up after 30 mins, as the streaming was completely crap, so I've no idea why no one turned up, maybe because it was a friday night match & everyone goes to work tomorrow

It'll probably be the same on Sunday night too mate, so this'll save you the trouble of posting something after the Sunday match too

So that's 2 pre-season friendlies weve lost 1-0 in the dying minutes again, seems like we're back to that again

I just hope this makes Ashley realise we need to spend money in these last few weeks of the transfer window

See KK's blaming it on the heat !
He went on to say he'll be ringing the changes for the friendly at Sid James next week against those part timers from Iceland and if they don't win that he'll play the youths the following week against Asda !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

boro continue quietly winning 3-2 at hibs after being 2-0 down,

giving a lot of fringe players time on the pitch in these games and playing some good football it seems

We lost 1-0 today to Ajax. All the new players impressed but our defence was woeful again and we are desperate for a striker.
Liverpool who we play first game took the micky out of Rangers and wupped them 4- 0. We need a new Centre Back, Left Back and Striker before we kick off against them.
The thought of Torres and Keane running at our defence frightens me.
Smurf, see Julio Arca was carried off at Hibs.

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So close yet so far away

aye but he was walking after the game, having a scan tomorrow but nowt too serious they think

so are you worried pete?

All I can say & it may sound like an excuse but we only had Smith as a striking option last night

Owen, Martins, Ameobi, Viduka, Carrol are all injured, so we've not been putting any goals in with the so called striker Smith, so losing 1-0 against european teams ins't that bad & no I'm not worried, especially if Ashley sells to Anil Ambani, who says he's give us £150m to sepend on transfers

even if he does sell (which i am sure on a previous post you said it was all gossip and that ashley loved the club etc etc) it would still take 2-3 weeks to finalise, so that leaves 1 week of the transfer window when most clubs will not want their squads disrupting (so not wanting to sell as they would be unlikely to get a replacement in time) so that would leave you with the same squad you have now until january at the earliest, i think a long hard winter in store for the barcodes

To be honest mate, I don't think Ashley will sell the whole club, he wants others to take a share & I can see this Anil Ambani going elsewhere but yes you're right, it would take time to go through & we do have a very small squad which isn't getting any bigger any sooner

Poor game last night, but not a big surprise looking at our list of absentees:

Given, Beye, Faye, N'Zogbia, Butt, Spiderman, Barton, Ameobi, Viduka, Martins, Owen, Carroll

Basically 3-quarters of our first team!

On the plus side, a few of the fringe players have had a run out, fitness will have improved and Guthrie, Spideman and Bassong all look decent acquisitions (Bassong in particular was very good last night - reminds me in style a lot of Sylvain Distin)

My what short memories you Mag supporters have. I seem to remember a multitude of posts from Pete banging on about how the Toon were about to take on the world in footy because "you were the only Premiership team owend by a British Billionaire". Now it seems you are happy for him to sell and bring in foreign investors. How will that make you and diferent from Man u, Liverpool, Chelsea, Villa etc. I am talking about club ownership when I say how will that make you any different, we know as far as the actual football is concered you are very different, the other teams win game you don't.

From the recent posts in this thread it seems losing 1-0 is fine as long as it is against foreign teams. Well if losing 1-0 is OK, what is it when your team beats foreign teams and actually wins yet more siverware. Don't worry I don't expect you Mags to answer that one as it is not something you have had experience of. Bless.

The season is only 2 weeks away, this is the time the managers should be putting the finishing touches to their plans for next season. I am the first one to say how pleasantly shocked I am at Darren Bent. Ten goals in 6 friendlies. Yes they count for nothing in the big scheme of things but confience is key to a striker and getting into the habit of scoring will only do him good. Maybe he will start to look like a top class striker this season. Cant be said about any of the Toon players, you haven't scorted in your last 3 friendlies have you?

I do think the Toon will struggle again this year, I think Boro will be below mid table but will be safe and I think Sunderland could end up as the best placed North East team. Probably mid table but the seasoned pros they have signed should be good enough for them this year.

Good luck to us all.

JOHN

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Never let truth get in the way of a good rumour.

So Boogs, and I accept by the way that you are probably better looking than me, where will Spurs finish and who will be their strikeforce ?
As you know Sunderland have bid for Bent, I very much doubt we'll get him now.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

I think we could start with Bent and Berba up front with Dos santos just behind them. If Man Utd don't find the money for Berba then I can see him being made Captain when Ledley King is absent (which will be just about every other game). By making him Captain he will be more involved in the team and could stop him from sulking all the time.

If Berba does go then it will be Bent and Dos Santos up front.

Given Bent's recent scoring run and the £16m tag he has unless you lot bid over £12m you won't get him now.

Thanks for acknowledging the fact we are obviously better looking than most. It's hell going for a drink around Newcastle these days with all the girlIes throwing themselves at me when they see how attractive real men can look without a 6 stone beer belly.

JOHN

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Never let truth get in the way of a good rumour.

Oh so the Spurts are so totally different to everyone else are they BooBoo, I mean their main shareholder is American (Joe Lewis) & Daniel Levvy & the board were ready to sell not that long ago for £400 million but because no one would pay that much for them, they denied everything, especially has the POOL only cost G&H £320 million plus debts

Yes we're fickle & want the best for the team, as we did when Ashley first started to buy the TOON from Hall & FFS, all the promises of £90 million war chest that never came about but at least he spent money on our youth teams & invested in other things, apart from the first team as of yet

Since buying the TOON, he's paid off all our debt but his compamy 'Sports Direct' shares have fallen big time & he's not worth as much as he was when he brought SJP, so that's why he's asking for investors because I don't think he now wants to be known as Multi Millionaire after being a Billioniare, doesn't have the same ring about it, does it
So if he can sell <50% then he'd be happy but that ain't going to happen, these Mulit-Billionaires want the full stake, not to be answering to Mike Ashley or anyone else, so if they've offered £260 million for something he brought for £134 million + debts, then why should the TOON fans be happy for him to sell & make a profit, just as long as we also benifit from having the 6th richest man in the world has our new owner

If he does sell & Anil Ambani buys the TOON, the same will happen as happened when Abramovich took over at Chelski, all the other teams & fans were jealous, myself included, as the TOON will buy top class player & start to win titles, trophies etc, then you can always say it's because we brought them with money, as did Chelski

Btw Gary, BooBoo is a Geordie you know, so now you're saying Geordies are better looking than Mackems

No Pete I'm saying that the table I linked in says Spurs supporters are better looking than Mackems and Mackems are better looking than Geordies.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

I know that Gary but BooBoo is a 'Geordie', lives in 'Newcastle' but supports the 'Spurts' so you're saying that a 'Geordie' is better looking than a 'Mackem'

Er I think I've just answered that one.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

No Gary, you said the Spurts Supporters are better looking that Mackems who are better looking than Geordies but BooBoo is a GEORDIE, so how is he better looking than you if that table you've posted is correct

Btw, I'm not a Geordie supporter, I'm a Newcastle supporter

Gary, so much crap in one posting, my brain is huring just reading it.

Right in reply.

Your points about the Spurs baord are totally correct, the difference is we never made ourselves out to be any different from other clubs. You were the one banging on about being owned by a British Billionaire (now multi Millionaire). From my perspective and I am sure this would apply to fans of Chelsea, Villa and the rest, it is just moeny, where it comes from is incidental. You had to make a big thing about it being British money.

You are right Ashley has paid off the club debts. these are the debts he didn't find when his team were checking the books when he was buying the club. Surely if his team had gone through the due dilliegence process properly he would have found them, so he has no one to blame but himself for that fiasco. And certainly shouldn't be credited for doing this.

Are you saying it is OK for him to sell the club and make a bit of profit from his time in charge at Newcastle? If that is the case why was it not Ok for the Halls and FFS to do the same. At least when they were in control you had full grounds and managed to get into the Champions league. Surely they deserve to be able to make some money from the club more than Ashley who has only been there 5 minutes.

If he does sell it is likely you will get loads of money to spend, I honestly have no issues with that. I was glad when Chelsea broke up the Man Utd/Arsenal monoply of the league. It makes for better football when more teams are in with a chance. I do however think your last comment on this point was made firmly with your tongue in your cheek. Even you can't be silly enough to start bragging about what The Toon will do, who they will sign and what they will win, before the new bloke is in charge, have you not learnt anything from the way Ashley has done business in Newcastle. These folks do not get to be mega rich by just splashing money on any johnny foreigner. And don't forget just because they offer them the money doesn't mean they will come to Newcastle, especially when the more fashionable clubs like Spurs are also after them.

I think the story Gary was referring too was aimed at the supporters of clubs not where those supporters come from. After all you are Toon supporter and even with your new hair cut you don't look as daft as most of the neanderthals who frequent Sid James Park on a saturday.

John

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Never let truth get in the way of a good rumour.

Apparently now, all the crap-loids are saying that Anil Ambani has denied any correspondence with Ashley about buy the TOON, even tho it's on his wikipedia profile, so if this is just another crap-loid wind up, then it's got the wikipedia people as well, as normally they don't put anything on there pages unless it's accurate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Ambani

Just a quick response Pete.

Wasn't it reported that The Toon offerred Modric better therms than he accepted with Spurs???

You are right money does talk and if a player is offered £100k a week by the Toon and £75k by someone else he will join the Toon. Problem is it doesn't always work in your favour. Look at Chelsea, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Shevchenko, and others. Joined Chelsea for the money and then disappeared from sight as far as football is concerned.

Money does not make them a team, only players who compliment their playing style do, irrespective of how much they are getting paid.

Cheers.

JOhn

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Never let truth get in the way of a good rumour.

Boro's pre season continued last night with a very young squad winning 5-0 at darlington

boro line up
jones, mcmahon, john johnson (saiko 67), williams (capt), bennett, owens, shawky, walker, adam johnson (smallwood 80), emnes (craddock59), porritt (franks 67)

only shawky and emnes are not from our youth system, and only shawky and jones are over 21 (both 26)

so a very good result for our reserves really, 2 goals from adam johnson, 1 for emnes, 1 for mcmahon and 1 OG

a bit worrying for darlo when you think that they start there season on saturday

Anyone can update Wikipedia man, that's why it's so notoriously unreliable!