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Rover1987

Listed below are comments made by Rover1987 between Wednesday, 3rd September 2008 and Thursday, 18th September 2008.

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Taking the Mike 11:40am on 18 Sep 2008 JDBINKY - The first post I've read from one of your fans that I completely agree with.

Smack1971 and the rest - No fan of any other club is denying that you have good fans. Not the best, but good. You should expect those kind of fans from a one club city. We're not denying that, based on fanbase etc you should be a decent side. But what I and most other fans are fed up with is being told about it every 5 minutes.

I'm fed up of being told that Newcastle are a 'great club'. Potentially, they probably are. But they've done nothing to suggest they might become a big club other than have a few seasons flirting around the top 4. Blackburn, had a few seasons similar in the 90's and we actually won something. You won't hear a single Rovers fan claim we're a big club.

What you get with us is a sense of pride just that we're in the Premier League and we can play teams like United and Liverpool every season. We know we punch above our weight and we love every minute of it.

What I'm trying to say is take away the fans and Newcastle are no bigger than anybody else. As a club you need to lower expectations and just accept that you're as crap as the rest of us. Until you do this then fans of other clubs are going to always look at you and criticise you. Its nothing to do with jealousy. Its a sense of frustration at being told you're club is bigger than theirs when you've done nothing on the pitch to back it up.
Viva Fabio 4:16pm on 12 Sep 2008 There's no doubt that England's performance on Wednesday night was much better than we've become used to, but does nobody else think we were slightly lucky? Not taking anything away from Cappello and the players, who were all fantastic, but allow me to explain my theory.

Walcott has been hyped up for being brilliant and to a certain degree, rightly so. Its been ages since an English player scored a hat trick and it was brilliant to see. But 5 minutes before the first goal (great finish but very lucky it fell to him) I announced to the pub that Walcott still looks very lightweight at this level and is probably too young. As you can imagine my mates haven't let me forget this, but I stand by what I said. Walcott might have been fantastic the other night but circumstances went his way, and on another night he may well get kicked off the park and look like a little lad. Cue criticism from fickle fans and subsequent loss of confidence and form.

Lampard looked, dare I say it, brilliant at times. But was this because he's suddenly re-discovered his ability or because 'Stevie G' wasn't in there fighting for the same space?

Capello is definately the best manager we've had in a long time. He DID get it tactically spot on in Croatia. But his job was made extremely easy by the fact that Gerrard and others were unavailable. The team virtually picked itself.

Another thing that everybody seems to be forgetting is that we played almost the entire second half against 10 men. Lets not get carried away with the 'Sambaesque' performance chaps, because lets face it - against 10 men you should be able to knock the ball about like that.

I don't mean to be cynical or anything, but Wednesday night was a good performance. Nothing more. There's still a long long way to go before we're a good side again and people seem to be forgetting this.
Stylish Zola arrives at Upton Park 11:34am on 12 Sep 2008 In response to Macca60999 and Don 291, I can understand the comparisons to Blackburn under Jack Walker but that situation was unique. Unlike any of the foreign owners we're seeing in the game today, Walker was a lad from a working-class family in Blackburn who had been brought up watching the Rovers all his life. As he became rich he put his money back into his home town and his home town club. If we're talking about an age where football has lost touch with its roots, I think Jack Walker should be looked back upon as a true legend in the game. Never again will we see a club owner in tears as his team win the league. And never again will we see a club like Blackburn Rovers win the league.

Anyway, back on topic, I think Zola will prove to be an excellent appointment for West Ham. The lack of experience won't affect him, as he is one of a handful of ex-players (Hughes, Keane etc) who won't have to earn the respect of fans or players, he commands it instantly because of what he's done in the game. Give him a season or so and I'm sure West Ham will be back playing the exiting football that we expect from them.
Capello at home in hostile Zagreb 4:53pm on 10 Sep 2008 With regards to Wembley I agree it is a hugely over-priced and ugly piece of architecture. However as far as atmosphere goes, is it not up to the players to give the lads in the crowd something to get passionate about? Passion on the pitch creates passion in the crowd. If somebody put a few tackles in, took his man on or generally did something that showed the fans that they care as much as we do - then maybe, just maybe, we might get behind them.

As far as tonight goes, I expect us to put in a well organised performance with a 4-2-3-1 formation. I think Heskey will play down the middle on his own with Rooney Cole and Lampard behind him, and Walcott will get a run out towards the end.

People need to lower their expectations. I've spent the last 10 days or so defending Blackburn after we got stuffed 4-1 at West Ham. Club fans always look for positives from any defeat, why can't England fans? After the summer we've just had we should realise more than ever that just being in South Africa will be something to be happy about. And once we get there, England will go much further with an 'underdog' mentality than the arrogance we've had for as long as I can remember.
Time for England to trust Joe Cole 4:44pm on 08 Sep 2008 "must at least equal Scholes in his ability to lose the ball"???

Scholes is probably the best English passer of a ball in the Premier League! The national team would be a much better side if he came out of retirement.

As for Cole, he's been England's most consitent player for the last 3 or 4 years. Theres nobody else in the squad who offers anywhere near the amount of flair and creativity he can offer, and he can play anywhere across the midfield or as a second striker. He should be one of the first picks as far as I'm concerned.
England must raise game in Zagreb 2:25pm on 08 Sep 2008 I don't see what people's problems are with Saturday. Yes, we hardly dazzled the world with our exiting football but what do you expect when we've got no flair in the side we're playing a team with 11 lads behind the ball? Its all about winning matches first and entertaining second (look at France, and Italy only scraped past Cyprus too, while Argentina drew with Paraguay).Capello is in a different league to McLaren, and in time this will become more and more apparent.

England will never win anything playing in a traditional Premier League 'long ball up to a big man who can knock it down' style. And I also don't think we'll win anything with a 4-4-2. All the top sides at the moment play with a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation and I think this is the way forward for England too.

The Gerrard/Lampard debate needs sorting and I think if he makes it into a straight competition for one place it will actually help them both. Performances will have to pick up and they'll both have a point to prove every time they pull on the shirt.

Rooney is not an out and out centre forward. I agree 100% with post 313, he is at his best running towards goal where he can put defenders on the back foot and make things happen. He's not a target man and he never will be. Let the lad play his normal game, behind a striker - whether that be Owen or anybody else.

This would be my team, should they all be fit:

James

Richards
Terry
Ferdinand
Cole

Carrick
Barry/Hargreaves

Cole/Young
Gerrard
Rooney

Owen/Ashton
Time for Capello to deliver 3:01pm on 04 Sep 2008 I'm seriously fed up with England. Probably since Euro 96, the national side has been far too predictable and the football we've played has been completely devoid of exitement.

The media, and quite often the players themselves, need to take a step back and realise that we actually aren't very good.

The main problems for me are that we lack a decent goalkeeper and a decent centre forward at the moment. The back 4 and midfield, provided we pick the right players (Woodgate and King left out?!?!) and they stay fit are pretty decent. But Capello should be careful not to fall into the trap of every other England manager and pencil the big boys in as definates on every teamsheet. People have been talking for a few seasons now about Lampard not performing on an international stage. However he's in a comfort zone at Chelsea, with Essien, Makelele etc sitting behind him. In the Prem Lampard does nothing apart from take set pieces and score fantastic goals, but England require more from him and he cant/wont give it. Beckham is past it. I personally wouldn't include Owen in this squad because he's coming back from a long term injury and isn't quite fit yet. Carrick and Hargreaves (two of our better players) are both out. That leaves us struggling a little bit and highlights further the lack of depth we have in this country.

If I was an England manager I'd look to get as much pace and enthusiasm as possible back into the side and shake it up a bit. There may not necessarily be a sharp upturn in results, but it would certainly give some established players a kick up the backside and inject a bit of passion and enthusiasm back into a national side that people are rapidly losing interest in.
Ashley leaves Newcastle in chaos 2:38pm on 03 Sep 2008 I actually feel sorry for Newcastle fans. Over the years I've found their 'big club' mentality pretty amusing, but as the years go on and more incidents like this happen I'm starting to feel increasingly sympathetic towards them.

From day one most non-Geordies clocked Ashley for what he is - desperate to be popular and obvioulsy knowing nothing about how the owner of a football club should behave. Now the novelty of the owner sitting with the fans and buying them pints in the Bigg Market after games is starting to wear off, Newcastle fans are starting to realise what the rest of us knew a long time ago.

They will never get it right on the pitch until the whole club is organised and structured behind the scenes from the bottom upwards. That means a good backroom staff, without meaningless roles such as Vice President (Player Recruitment), a manager that controls everything and a chairman that sits in the directors box with the rest of the board and gets involved as little as possible. Sadly, this will never happen while Ashley is in charge and Keegan and the fans deserve so much better.

As for Barton, I dislike him as much as anybody else, but he's served his time in prison and at the end of the day he's a good footballer. Granted the Ashley regime inherited him, but Newcastle signed him and therefore they must live by the decision. They've got much bigger problems that Joey Barton anyway.

I hope I'm wrong, but I think Keegan's as good as gone. The only thing that is stopping him from resigning is the fact that he wont get his pay-off. He wants to be sacked. I don't think anyone could blame Keegan for walking this time, its just a massive shame for Newcastle that its the wrong bloke leaving.
The right move for Robinho? 12:52pm on 03 Sep 2008 Only time will tell, but I think Robinho will flit in and out of games and struggle with the pace and physical aspect of English football. He certainly won't have the impact that Torres had last season.

However that isn't the point. Whether Robinho turns into a world-beater or becomes a massive Schevchenko-esque flop, City have made a huge statement of intent here and it is extremely exiting for the future. I'd be suprised if they broke the top 4 this season, but its not impossible, and I think they'll come very close. All this talk of winnning the League and dominating Europe is a bit premature though, and their number one priority should be concentrating on catching Liverpool. A goal which I believe is definately achieveable within the next 2 seasons.

As a Blackburn fan I have seen first hand the way Mark Hughes transformed my club from top to bottom over the last 4 years. I strongly believe that Hughes, Mark Bowen and the rest of his backroom team are amongst the best in the business, and they will prove this over the coming years now that they have a platform from which to build.

I agree that football is going down a dangerous road, with the wealth and foreign ownership a serious problem in the game. However it will be refreshing to have a 'big 5' rather then a 'big 4' and it will undoubtedly make this season much more exiting than it would have been.

Good luck to City.

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