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MagpieRH

Listed below are comments made by MagpieRH between Monday, 3rd November 2008 and Monday, 15th June 2009.

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Is Owen still worth a gamble? 2:35pm on 15 Jun 2009 Michael Owen was a top striker. Note the use of the past tense "was". Since moving to Newcastle, he has not reached anything like his peak. Injury after injury, an apparent disinterest in saving the club who were paying him a frankly ridiculous wage, it strikes me he never wanted to be at Newcastle but at the time nobody else wanted to pay him the money he was after (and nobody will now, which is hwy he hasn't found a new club yet).
Back when he signed, Newcastle were top-half, just off the back of some Champions League football and a couple of years of UEFA Cup and I can only assume MO thought if we got back up there then he'd have clubs lining up to have him front their attacks. It didn't happen and he hasn't had any clubs covet him.

As for what happens next, Man Utd won't pick him up as they have the money to go for strikers in their prime, Liverpool is a possibility but he's a less-effective Robbie Keane and Keane didn't work out, Chelsea have Anelka and the Drog with some youngsters for support/backup, Arsenal's style doesn't really fit Owen. Outside of the 'Big Four', Villa have constantly been linked with a move but if they're that interested, why no move so far? Fulham, West Ham, Everton, etc. can't afford the wages for someone who'll be unfit for 20 games +. City are probably the best shout as they have the money and SParky will want some Premiership players, but they're after Tevez and he offers a lot more than Owen does.
Life's just not fair 6:59pm on 18 May 2009 Replacing Viduka and Yakubu with Alves a bad move? He brought in someone who, admittedly, hasn't been on top form but Yakubu's been out for half a season and Viduka's turned up once this season - last Monday. Doesn't seem a bad deal to me. Maybe Yakubu would've given you a few goals and a bit more presence but he's as injury-prone as the rest. I'll bet Alves is on a lower wage, too.
Battle rages over F1 future 4:44pm on 12 May 2009 Why is Max Mosely intent on destroying Formula 1?!
England still need Owen 12:12pm on 31 Mar 2009 Owen has done nothing in recent times to justify a callup - and I say this as a Newcastle fan! He has just returned from injury and has played a total of about 100 minutes of competitive football - all the issues a few years ago came about because he came back too early to play for England. He's admitted from a fitness POV that he shouldn't have gone to Germany in 2006, so why the fuss when he's not picked?
When Michael Owen starts playing regularly for Newcastle (or whoever he plays for next season) and scoring goals, then he will more than likely be in the England squad. Until then, why should he be there?
Toyota set for 'best season ever', but is there trouble ahead? 11:14am on 25 Mar 2009 Big surprise - Ferrari aren't top dogs so somebody must be cheating! With McLaren 2 years ago, they were stealing documents (OK so it turned out to be true but they must've known something about it surely?!), now the 'newboys' Brawn GP are outpacing them in testing so their interpretation of teh rule is wrong and their car illegal.
It would be nice to see someone different at the front of the grid for once, I've gone right off Ferrari because they're whining, sore losers!
Let's celebrate Moore and Beckham 10:56am on 13 Feb 2009 You can't blame Beckham if he only gets a few minutes as a sub - is he supposed to say no to the manager? That wouldn't go down well. I'm sure if he had the choice, Beckham would play 90 minutes in every England game, and he is still good enough to do it.
In his early days, I wasn't a fan but in the last 6 or 7 years he has shown he is a model professional and is still a world-class player. I hope he gets the chance to hit the 125 mark.
Robbo's Christmas presents 11:08am on 23 Dec 2008 his Majesty's pleasure
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Pretty sure the Queen's female, Robbo
Ince forced out by fear factor 5:57pm on 16 Dec 2008 I don't see what the fuss is about - Ince was a gamble when he was appointed and has failed to live up to the hype. When KK walked out on Newcastle, Ince was touted to replace him but would not have been a popular choice. OK, so Kinnear wasn't top of the list either, but at least he has plenty of experience and I think even Ince would've said no to the Toon at the time.

As for the previous managers, Sparky was good and the change in fortunes shows what effect he had on Rovers. Since he's gone to City they've been inconsistent and apart from the money I'll bet Hughes secretly wishes he'd stayed where he was.
Souness - reluctantly allowed to leave? As I understand it, he was on the verge of being kicked out but Blackburn couldn't afford the pay-off so when Newcastle came in and offered compensation for him Blackburn bit their hand off.

I don't see why suddenly all of these supposed top-class managers want to manage in the premiership. Both Sunderland and Blackburn are supposedly chasing some of the best available managers.

Sam Allardyce has supposedly shown preference for Sunderland over Blackburn - he should be grateful to even be linked with either of them after his time at SJP. I hope for the fans' sake Blackburn do not announce Allardyce as any part of their backroom setup, I'm almost tempted to say I don't want him at Sunderland either but that might be going too far.
Ask Bearders #182 8:54pm on 22 Nov 2008 Q. If a batsman is stumped off a wide, how do you score it and how do you enter it in the book?
Mr J. Morrall

Bearders' Answer: I use my own A4 loose-leaf sheet scoring system. In the dismissed batsmen's space for that over, on the main scoresheet, I would enter a plus sign with a dot in the top left sector to denote the wide. Above that I would put a red 'W' denoting the fall of his wicket. On the innings scorecard I would record 'stumped off a wide' in the Notes on Dismissal section.

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The standard scoring that the majority of people seem to use in local leagues, etc. is to put the 'plus' (+) to indicate a wide, and a w in the top left corner. Add one to the 'wides' column in the extras scoring section, one to the total score and end the batsman's scoreline.

Surely by putting a dot in the +, that normally indicates 2 (one for the wide and one bye which goes down as another wide), and what do you do if the wide crosses the boundary? In normal scoring, that would be indicated by a + with a dot in each corner, but with your method, you are one space short.
Defending The Delapidator 4:38pm on 03 Nov 2008 Stopping Delap throwing the ball the way he does is as ridiculous as Cristiano's appeals to stop people being allowed to try and tackle him a few years back. It would have the same effect as banning wingers from trying to beat opposition defenders.

If it works, use it until someone works out how to defend it, then change. While it's getting them goals, why should Stoke change anything?

It'll be interesting to see how Hull and West Brom defend them, having more experience against Hull than most. Also, how will the 'physical' (read 'dirty') Bolton deal with it? Will they be any more effective?

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