It runs out at the end of the season, Would you give him an extension to his current contract, or try to caox him into a coaching role, bringing in a younger version?

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Answers

Caox = geordie word for persuade.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Actually - all three of those choices!

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

The problem is, If you offer him a new contract as a player, then he would expect as much if not more than he gets now. When he goes into coaching he'll get a massive pay cut.

I think i would try to bring in a replacement before the end of the season, and get him into the team to see if we could do without Lee. Then again we might be able to do without if Bassedas comes good.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

All of the above. He could be on the same money, but coaching in addition to playing more of a squad role.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

after the travesty that was his testimonial, we should do something to keep him around. It's bliddy criminal that he was treated as shoddily as he was that night. Wor Rob is a toon legend no doubt about it.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Howay man, the blokes on a million pound a year. Next you'll be sugesting that NUFC set up a retirement fund for the poor sods who've come to the end of their playing careers.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Respect, appreciation ..... there truly is more to life than brass you know Rik.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Sparxx, his Testimonial Committee planned the event and made a hash of it: it was a weakened Newcastle XI playing a pre-season kick-about which was a million miles from anything a testimonial should be. Besides which, £20 is 6 hours work if you are on the minimum wage: he really should ask himself whether he was doing the right thing to charge the poorest supporters in the PL to pay the same as those of us with STs paid for Saturday's game against Man Utd. I'm afraid he had it coming. And I say that as one of the 18000 who turned up.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

PS. Had he charged £15 and announced that he was giving a third of it to charity, I am fairly certain the ground would have been full. Besides which, the souvenir programmes are still on sale and the paperback version of the excrutiating "Come in Number 37" has just come out. He won't starve. As for whether he should get a new contract for player-coaching: of course he should.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Are you sure its up at the end of the season Rik? I've read somewhere it was up in a matter of weeks (seems a strange time to end a contract though).

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I will be appalled, again, if he is still playing for us this time next year. He has been a great servant and all that, we all ove him, but really he isn't the best player in the world.

He was adequately replaced by Hamman three years ago, but Hamann has never been replaced himself. If Robson finds the replacement then Lee shouldn't be a player for us. I don't know whether he'd make a good coach, I don't know his personality. I'd hope that Robson can be hard enough to not hang on to him for sentimental reasons.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I beg to differ MacB... Rob Lee epitomises everything that it means to be a magpie. Certainly he isn't the most skillfull player and he may not have scored a great deal, but you can never, ever question the man's raw ability and heart. As for replacing him, let's just see how easy that is. Name one damn player who would do all the little things Rob does during a game. I guarantee you not even the Hammock boy himself would want the job.

As for the testimonial, when it comes time for Big Al to have one let's see what he charges and then ask ourselves why the place will probably be sold out. Not saying Al doesn't deserve it, but so does Robert, irregardless of what he's making, what book he has or whatever. Rob deserves all we can give him. I'm just sad I wasn't there to enjoy it.

My feeling is this simple. Anyone who would spend 10 years at a club in todays game is a credit to the team, and should be honoured as such. Now I'm not entirely sure what that entails, but it should be a matter of personal preference. "Hey Rob, Charlton have come in with a bid, if you wish to go that's fine, if you stay you will always have a home here." See what happens. My bet he stays.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Every season we say it will be Rob's last, but he has started in a manner that suggests he is vital to our side for key games.

I would get him as a coach. I did that on Championship Manager and I've now won the Champions League 3 seasons running. Not that that reflects real life of course :)

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Sparxx, if after all his injuries, Alan Shearer is still playing in 2006, he won't just deserve a testimonial, he'll deserve a bliddy knighthood.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

In 2006 AS will only be 35, not inconceivable that he will still be playing, even if it's only 14 minutes a season

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Rob Lee may not be the best player in the world Macbeth, but he was a damn sight better on Saturday than the £29mm man who the media have been fawning over all season. Doesn't make him too bad - even at 35 - and we still have no one who can adequately replace him.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Completely agree Clarky. Until we have a REAL replacement who can really do the job that Rob Lee has done for the last 9 years, then we shouldn't even be contemplating the thought of selling him, unless of course it was for £30m or something audacious like that :)

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I am not in anyway knocking his performance on Saturday he was great, and sorely missed when he went off. There is a bit in the match programme about him being young enough if he's good enough. Yeah that's great but he isn't as good as he was, he can't play as often as he used to, and we are eking games out of him at the moment.

I'm pretty sure Robson does have a central midfield player as his next target as it is the next weakest link. If at the end of this season we have to choose between giving Robert Lee another one year deal at a million a year, or whatever, I feel the club has to be in the position of saying thank you but no thank you to his playing career.

If we keep old players just cos they've been good servants and deserve to be rewarded for being good servants then Peter Beardsley should still be in the team.

Again, I am not knocking Robert Lee I just feel it would be a sign of weakness that we need to give a 36 year old a playing contract. He may still be able to still perform and he is lucky to be able to, but regardless of the bravado that he is stil doing so at 35, age does catch up with you. If we don't have a replacement then that will be a disgrace

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

The other thing of course is that the commanding central midfielder is almost as elusive an animal as the mythical commanding central defender. I think the club are trying on this one but understandably don't want to rush into buying another Bassedas.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Definitely give Lee a coaching job - even if it's just coaching the kids.

Butt is probably as good as we could get and afford.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

I'm in total agreement with Macbeth.

We both admired him and respected the fact that he's been a great loyal player over the years. Even at 35 he's doing the biz in the middle of the park, but he isn't as sharp as he used to be and I'm sure there are better players out there that wouldn't cost anything like £28 million . I think it would be generous of the club to offer him another contract of anything more than a year.I would prefer him to be replaced this season and for him to be retained next as a trialist coach / back up squad player, perhaps registered still as a player in case we have injury problems. After a year on trial as a potential coach the club either retain him as a permanent coach or release him.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Sorry, not buying the age argument. Stuart Pearce was having a great season at something like 37 or 38(?). Yes, we need a replacement. Lee isn't what he once was (who is at that age?), but can still do a job for us. We need to get out of the current circumstance where he's playing because we don't have anyone better. Then if he's willing to stay on in a squad role for a transition year, or we can find him a coaching role, great, otherwise, thanks for everything, Rob.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Sopt on ciara - agree 100%.

Macbeth - it already is a disgrace that are still totally dependant on RL, never mind 'it would be so at the end of this season'. As I've already pointed out, we are presently in exactly the same situation we were 12 months ago - high in the table, but needing to invest to fill identifed gaps in the squad to be able to sustain things - and we are still way too dependent on RL's form and fitness at the age of 35. All that has elapsed is yet another 12 months since Rob Lee's DOB!"

I'm sure there are better players out there that wouldn't cost anything like £28 million." Considering we don't have anything like £28mm to spend - and I doubt we even have £5mm - like who Rik?

Who could be bought to adequately replace RL - even as the player he is today - for less than say £10mm? Players like Carrick, Seth Johnson, and Nicky Butt would all cost more than £10mm, and are effectively out of our price range. The only other names being mentioned are the Lembi blerk that BR is apparently interested in, David Prutton (Forest), and I threw in the name of Matt Oakley (S'ton). David Dunn (Blackburn is another who springs to mind, but would almost certainly be unavailable.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

I think 45 minutes was about right for him.

ciara, I am working on the NTSC bit, will know tomorrow if I can do!

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

I'm not as convinced as you are Clarky that it's a 'disgrace'. After all we do have cover, albeit perhaps inadequate and certainly inadequate if we talking about UEFA Cup and upwards. Until his recent form, Rob Lee wasn't even necessarily our first choice anyway. Between Speed, Acuna and Lee, together with Bassedas and McClen we have just about enough cover, but it is unquestionably the next area to focus on. In the past, before our actual summer signings, I believed it to be the area we needed to focus on above everything else. The dimensions Bellamy, Robert and to a lesser degree even Elliot and O'Brien have brought to the side have proved me wrong. If we accept that we can't improve every single area of the team at once, then with retrospect it seems Bobby Robson chose well. Similarly with the next step, the key for me is patience. It's better to get the right player after 9 months, than make an expensive mistake tomorrow, and this sort of patient approach is so much easier if the team keeps on winning.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Good point .... perhaps we don't need a replacement. Indeed when Dyer and Speed are back, they will surely be the two central midfielders, with Acuna as main sub in this position.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Lee Clarke.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Peter,

I'm possibly being overly harsh in my criticism. However, I'm basing it on the fact that we've been notionally seeking a long- term replacement for Rob Lee for at least three seasons - and yet we still find ourselves in a situation whereby, not only is he still indisputably the first-choice central m/f, but we don't appear to even have a standby - viz, Barton having to fill in on Saturday, when even without Speed and Dyer, both Bassedas and McGlen were fit and available for selection.

IMO this is a ludicrous situation, and if Bassedas and McGlen aren't considered good enough for consideration when there are no other fit m/f players, then they both should be gotten rid of.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Clarky, on current form he is our first choice central midfielder, but not indisputedly so IMO. Re Bassedas and McClen not being on the bench, it raises an interesting point. Who was on the bench? Harper, Ameobi, LuaLua, Barton, and Distin? Can anyone confirm? How many subs are allowed these days?

If that's right, YBR made an obvious decision to keep more attacking options on the bench and sacrifice an out-and-out midfielder with the 'versatile' Barton. Sod's law that it was Lee that got injured, as there would have been more direct replacements for every other position. I suppose what I'm getting at is that Bassedas not even being on the bench may have been as a much a tactical thing as anything else. If Lee (and Speed) are still injured, Bassedas will probably start the game against West Ham.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

I guess Lua2 was a sub ahead of Bassedas cos of Robter whinging on about his head cold, or whatever it was :0)

The subs would have looked more balanced if you swapped Bassedas for Lua2: Harper, Barton, Distin, Bassedas, Shola has a player for each position. The ideal subs bench at the moment is Harper, Hughes (if he's not playing), Bassedas, Lua2, Shola. Hughes is key to it all as he can cover the whole defence.

I don't know why we still have Jamie McClen, it's just coming up to two years since he started a game for us, at 22 time to think about moving him along there.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

..... it could also have just possibly been because Bassedas was cr@p against Brentford. There again, most of them were, er ......er..... so just scrap that particular argument.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001