A few weeks ago a lot of opinions were expressed as to the merits of YKD amongst others. I try not to get too involved (hard) being a so called exile and relying on the informed opinion on here, match reports, and the ones I can see on the TV. I particulary take notice of what other teams supporters think of certain players in our team, this I find most fruitfull, no axe to grind , genuine guys,lovers of football, lot of them qualified in their own right.

Being a great admirer of Alan Shearer it has hurt me over the past year to listnen to people who without exception have said, been a great player, finished , too slow , it was never that way on here, but were we deluding ourselves, forget the injuries I am with Clarky on this one, not fit, don`t play at this stage of his career. What concerned me was that 80% of the country`s fans had formed the same opinion. I have often asked the question, "Are we right, the only ones marching in step"?. I have yet to meet up here a semi-pro manager, followers of Rangers/Celtic, other exiles or for that matter read a report from qualified soccer pundits that Kieron Dyer of Newcastle Utd is anything but a quality player, this goes to all the managers in the EPL and Serie A , forming a opinion is sometimes like a old forces trick of when not knowing the distance to a bunker you go for Unit Average. What I have spoke of in the past is the contribution of the senior pro`s, Shearer and Robert Lee (BTW did not like his methods but Gullit was right on this one), bad move by YBR , Dyer is still young. but he must look around now and take it all in, Shearers out, Lees out hey they are expecting a lot of me here, Im the main man!!! From experience this can spread to the rest of the team ,boy`s become men. non tacklers get stuck in, strollers develop engines they did not possess or use before, the incomers shake of their fear of trying to impress the icons of yesteryears , in short a team starts to appear, sorry you will not get consistency, no big miss,never had it anyhow, will get mistakes, that`s uneviteable, highs/lows (goes with the territory), one thing you will get and the use of it by one writer on Tuesday excited me, DETERMINATION, and I expect YKD to be at the forefront, he will never have a better chance to be the hero of the Geordie public. Not saying that YBR should not buy, I am concerned about full back cover, he did well last year , his team picks, tactics managing the young uns should make it very interesting in 2001

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2000

Answers

Buff where ya been all day, I've dying to have a chin wag. I like yourself am an exile and therefore rely heavily on various media reports, TV and of course our own bbs users to keep me informed. I do take the opinion of the bbsers that post on here very seriously because they like me have a vested interest in everything Newcastle. If YKD is running around doing nothing then that needs to be expressed, if he plays like a donkey then we have the right to express our opinions on such.

I am with you and clarky on the Shearer thing, if you're not fit dont play. After the Arsenal debacle I watched our 5-0 victory over Manure, it is hard pressed to find any similarities between the shearer of that season and shearer now. I know he is older but it is shocking to see his whole game plan change.

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2000

Hey Syme, On night shift but the server has been down for a while,its 1-30a.m and obvious its back up . We got the white stuff yesterday, side roads to work are bad , but the temp has risen tonite , -1 , nuthin like the windy city so my cousin tells me who spent over 40 years there working a navvy on the docks, retired to Florida for 8years but is back in Geordieland now apart from periodic 2 week trips to Florida, Spain, Isle of Man, say no more, nudge nudge . wink wink. Never been down to the Golden City this year, tickets are no problem, time off no problem , health wise its been a dodgy year and 4 days doon the road I wanna be fully fit , unlike some the Toon will not rush me back to early!!, Worked the Xmas Day, off Hogmenay tho, 350 tickets sold out for the village hall @ £3 per ticket, bring own booze and eats, families do, we supply (RHMT Promotions - Hall comm + Football Club) the music , etc etc, 7.30 pm until 11.30am , with a break to go listen to the bells at 12 midnight, whiskey whiskey thou art a pest, but yill gan doon the throat, jes like the rest. Chin wag ower wif, football ok, got a wee bit carried awa , In the previous piece reading between the lines one could say that I am passing the opinion that Shearer is finished , no not quite but on return it must be of a limited role , the saviour returns in 3 months just aint going to happen. Robert Lee who I admired has had his day and with Barton these 3 may and repeat may have had a negative effect on the progress of the younger players and the incomers. Myself and Clarky whose opinions I value tend to disagree on this issue , he sees it at the sharp end , I can only voice from managership experience at the very low echelons of football, but one thing is for sure, it don`t change, human nature you see. Bobby Robbo should forget the short term fix, he can be on a winner, play what I have , full back cover I mentioned, rotate not workhorses for courses, foals for goals, and more astute picks that come off and look you right in the face, Griffin on Kewell- magic, or is that telling Warren he is giving his man too much space!! Great aul game eh Syme - AAl the best for New Year and lang may your lumb reek, (with other folks coal >>Shilbottle preferred) ma

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2000

I'm a neophyte Buff, former player in the old style game, totally out of my depth with respect to the 'new' game (i.e. the one where the ball has no lace :-) ) Do you think we could use Radebe? What would he cost? Seems his nose may be out of joint at Leeds.

...phoenix

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2000

The question that is playing in my mind after the Leeds game is "Does the team perform collectively better as a unit without Shearer or not?"

Don't get me wrong, I love Shearer and still believe he has a few years in him but I notice the players seem to respond more without Shearer time and again. It's like a bunch of school kids behaving themselves when the headmaster is around but when the headmaster steps out, the kids suddenly comes to life or something to that effect. I remember a few weeks ago, can't remember which game but during that match Solano got a shot in as Shearer was about to pull the trigger himself and Shearer gave him a earful about what he thought of that and Solano's game just went downhill from that moment on. Are the rest intimidated by Shearer and Lee due to the Gullit fiasco?

I think the coming months will show us whether we really have a team capable of expressing themselves or not without Shearer's influence, good or bad that may be.

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2000

>>>I am a neophyte Buff<<< Geez Phoenix for one moment I envisaged finger trouble and I was on the wrong board , !!! Like yourself I always and still do think football is a simple game and therein is the attraction. Kids imitate what they see on the TV by the pros, my pet hates at present are the jostling at corner kicks and the longstanding one, the Gary Linnekar wistful look at the line aka Gazza, this by 15 year old kids. Still there is an upside, the Klinsman dive goal celebrations are out and this means a big saving on the strip, washing and maintenance!! You ask about Radebe ,I like him but Its extremely doubtful he will be availible, in Europe and certain other games O`Leary will play 3 at the back, Ferdinand, Woodgate, Radebe, when playing 4 at backdue to injury, suspension, squad rotation he will get his fair share of games. Newcastle should stick with Hughes, Caldwell, Marcellino and hang on to Goma until end of season, then review the situation.

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2000

"Does the team perform better as a unit with or without Shearer",>>>> Gene that should probably have been the title I should have used but I couched it another way for one reason, the reasoning like it or not will have the influence of Tuesday game hanging over it, thats not at all fair to Alan and his efforts for our club, one swallow comes to mind, ask me the same question in 2 months and I will have a answer, One thing we will be and I guarantee this is "DIFFERENT", couple this with DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION and our DESTINY is in the hands of Bobby Robson,

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2000

Slightly off topic, but raised by the absence of Shearer. Do we play better with five in midfield and 1 up front?

Shearer idealy needs a partner, infact demands one as he hates playing a loan hand up front.

With our diminutive midfield, as a unit of five they can controll the game. However do they tend to loose out when we play 4 in midfield?

So do we realy need to play 2 upfront. So Shearer being out allows us to possibly play to uor strengths.

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2000

Interesting to read this discussion as I was having a similar conversation at home yesterday. We were debating whether or not the youngsters/newbies are intimidated by the presence of Shearer. I think it is more than possible that they are. The incident you mentioned with Solano, Gene, sticks in my mind. I remember discussing it with DeBuilder, I think. Nobby`s head definately went down after the lambasting he got from Shearer - and I was disappointed because I felt that was not good captaincy.

When Shearer is fit and well rested, and if he is not forced by circumstances into coming back before he`s ready, I will be more than happy to see him in the team again. In the mean time, that win against Leeds will have been worth its weight in gold to some of our budding players. Yes, I agree with Buff that we won`t get consistency yet, but at least they are getting a chance to show us their potential. I suspect that if Shearer had been in a position to soldier on for the rest of the season, we would have had little or no insight as to what possible rising stars were waiting in the wings.

As for whether or not we should bring in a striker - I can`t decide. If we bring in an expensive, youngish `star` player (unlikely I know), we could very easily end up top heavy. I`m imagining a possible scenario at the end of the season of having a fully fit and functioning Shearer, Carl Cort (not a favourite of mine), A.N.Other `superstar`, Cordone playing well, Gallagher in form, but with LuaLua and Ameobi really blossoming......we couldn`t afford to keep them all, so who would you let go?

I think that if we could possibly manage to hang on without making a purchase, it would be better for team morale, and a great help in assessing our requirements for next year.

If we do have to buy another player, I wish we had found the money to keep Saha, I had very good vibes about him.

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2000

Everyone on here knows I am a Shearer devotee, and haven't been able to contemplate playing without him for any lenght of time. However, we now have no choice, and it will indeed be very interesting to see how the team responds without him.

He is a very strong personality, and I could quite imagine him intimidating younger players. However, he is also a wonderful talent, and part of the managers job is to ensure he fits into an overall team pattern designed to get the best out of him, and to ensure he doesn't overly dominate.

I believe AS is a diffiuclt player to play alongside and few have done this successfully - in fact only similarly strong personalities like Sir Les and Drunken. Dyer certainly hasn't performed very well in this role, and yet linked noticably better with Ameobi when he was clearly the senior partner - interesting stuff this physchology!

I feel sure the Club would like to avoid having to buy a big name striker just now, because I feel fairly certain Michael Bridges is their numero uno target in the close season. I think Cordone and Gallagher will leave at the end of the season, leaving us going into next season with AS, CC, Ameobi and Bridges as our main strikers - not bad at all.

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2000