There is a belief in football that a manager lives or dies by the striker(s) that he signs. It dosen't matter too much if he makes a mistake with other players but if he gets the striker wrong then it will seriously affect his standing with the fans.

Looking into recent history. Kevin Keegan bought Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand and ultimately Alan Shearer. He didn't win the league but came close, and will be remembered as a great manager at Newcastle despite signing flops such as

Kenny Dalglish got it all wrong, we tend to forget that he bought the likes of Nobby Solano and remember him for his hopeless striker signings of Stephan Guivarc'h, Jon Dahl Tommason, Bjarni Gudjohnson , Andreas Anderson and Ian Rush.

It's the same with Ruud Gullit, we tend to forget that he signed Keiron Dyer , but remember the likes of Silvio Maric and the panic buy purchase of large Duncan

Look at any successful manager and you will associate him with good strikers that he's signed.

Wenger ( Henry and Kanu). Ferguson (Cole, Yorke, Solksjear) , O'Leary (Viduka, Bridges and Keane) Houlier ( Heskey), Redknap (Di Canio and that new bloke) So far Bobby Robson has brought in Cort , with whom the verdict is still out due to his injury Gallacher as a low priced ageing stand in and LuaLua, who we have been told is a player of the future. He needs to get the next one dead right. I don't believe that any of the players mentioned in recent days are of the quality wanted by the fans or needed by the team. If we are to get another striker he must be player that is better than what we already have. We don't need another squad player we need a Star Player with International prestige and class. If we can't afford one then do without until we can, and make do with the youngsters that we've already got.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

Answers

Spot on Rik- so weve probably got about max 2 million to buy a striker at present. Obviously theres no point in bringing in any more young 'potentials'. So our only options will be a 30+ or else a South American etc. Wonder if we cud get Hartson on an initial 2 mill rising to 3 or 4 depending on games played. And only pay him max low 20's.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

Ooh - hard one to call. As I said in Saturday (or was it last Tuesday?), my priority would be another striker (I was only saying, what happens if Dyer gets suspended and Cort and Gallacher's still injured). However, it has to be a quality striker. Sorry, but the has-been like Rush and Barnes will not fit the bill. I've said it before and I'll say it again (aye, aah'm a boring owd ba5tard) the successful EPL teams have at least 3 top class strikers, and often fower (F***er/YMO/Heskey, Cole/Yorke/Sheri/Sulky, Can You/Bergchump/Henry/Wiltord to name but three combos). What do we have? Shearer (injured)/Cort (injured)/Gallacher (injured)/Ameobi(less than 270 mins experience)/Lua x2/Corblimey.

A Loan Ranger is all I could expect in the short term. Unless FS is prepared to put his b0110x on the line - which he seems rather reluctant to do since they were exposed (ie him and DH) in the NotW.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

The Jamaican international will go down as one of the club's best ever buys.

Signed from Brentford in 1994 for £250 000 he started his Dons career on the wing and developed into a very tricky player for opposing teams.

However it was only when he moved to striker at the start of the '96 campaign that his true potential was unleashed. With Efan Ekoku he formed one of the most deadly Premiership strike forces and scored some tremendous goals

The 1997/98 season saw Marcus battling more injuries than defenders, but he regained his form towards the end of the campaign and was a member of the Jamaican World Cup squad in France '98, along with fellow Don, Robbie Earle.

Marcus is the complete striker. In addition to his ability in the air, his fearsome pace and strength, combined with wonderful ball control makes him an increasing threat in front of goal

POSITION Midfielder

DATE OF BIRTH 27.9.70 PLACE OF BIRTH Hammersmith DATE SIGNED 24.3.94 FROM Brentford HEIGHT 6' 1" WEIGHT 12st 9lb HISTORY Club Transfer Fee Wimbledon £250,000 Brentford from trainee INT HONOURS Jamaica

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

Now i see hes only 30, i reckon this wud be a tremendous 1.5-2 million buy. The fact he often plays as a left winger wudnt hurt either. Im actually now very hopeful we sign this blerk!

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

How come we are not talking about a loan deal for Gayle? Seem to me we should continue this policy of taking players on loan if he is just a short term solution. No point spending what little we have on someone who will probably be a reserve player once our strikers are fit again.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

The only decent strikers well have returning are Cort+Shearer- we NEED another to allow injury cover and rest. Then well have our 4 main men of Cort, Shearer, LuaX2 and ********(?). The only thing Bobby needs to decide is are the further options of Dyer and Amoebi sufficient to allow us to forget spending more on a striker. Remember Shearer will be our only experienced striker!

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

I'm still annoyed that Camara went to WHam for 1.5mil. I'd have happily signed him for twice that at the start of the season.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

>>>a manager lives or dies by the striker(s) that he signs.

This is too simplistic by half. Ferguson's best signing was surely Roy Keane and the youth development producing Beckham, Giggs & Scholes was far more important than Cole, Yorke or any other striker. Wenger's notable signings include Petit, Vierra and Overmars as well as top quality strikers. Bryan Robson can sign any striker in the World good or bad and still lose matches by the bucketload.

The focus in the game stresses the striker more than others because goals are what the game is about, but any intelligent analysis of a team's performance or a manager's record will show that there's much more to it than strikers.

>>>>we need a Star Player with International prestige and class

That would be welcome but these players don't always have to be bought as the finished article. I think Anelka was unknown when Wenger signed him. We could have had Saha whose star is currently rising, for example. "International prestige and class" would be most welcome - especially if the player achieves it here rather than us buying it in. I've no objection to buying the finished article of course, but there are other ways to achieve the objective.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Which begs the question which of the current crop can achieve this international class.

We have Griffin, Cort, Dyer, Bassedas, Hughes, Bassedas and even more so Domi if he'd sort himself out. Bassedas has played Internationally of course and Acuna has had enough experience to suggest he can live iwth that standard of football.

These players all have the potential to make the grade internationally, it is up to Bobby and his staff to mould them into the right player and that is what I shall judge him on. Because with the rise of these players into International Football will come a rise in fortunes of Newcastle United.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001