GWIP,

I'm still having problems, any danger of Out in the cold being updated?

AG

Leaving St.James Park after the Fulham game a couple of weeks ago the mood was dispondent. We had lost to a very poor side and hadn't turned up. If you had suggested we could get a point a piece from West Ham and Liverpool away I would have thought you mad. Okay so we lost last night at Anfield but that still leaves us with 3 points from the 2 games, a tidy return.

Steve Harper, what can you say? He has always been missing one thing when being compared to Given, he could always brag the he hadn't had the ball headed out of his hand to conceed a goal against Coventry way back when and as a result didn't appear in any 'Football Blunders' compilations. Not wanting to be out done (and no doubt fancying some royalties) he decidesd to have a sit down just as Alonso performs and 80yd back pass.


I haven't commented on the recent Panorama programme exposing corruption in football. i wanted to see what was being said before I stuck my orr in. Well having had time to relfect I would say I am dissapointed in the witch hunt of Allerdcie; a man I don't have much time for but who should not have been exposed without evidence. What the programme showed was a group of bent agents who should be stipped of their licences and alluded to 50-6 managers who were on the take. There was no direct evidence of this and only Allerdice and rednapp were named. The most telling conversation was a recorded call with Kevin Bond where he seemed to imply he would be partial to payments and would take the suggestion to Harry. Kevin may be an excellent coach but I won't be dissapointed if he doesn't return to toon. If there is evidence produce it, don't make accusations on the no smoke without fire assumtion.

AG

GWIP - Send me a new invitation, the last one doesn't work!

Observations from yesterday,

• We won a match we didn't expect to playing good football. #
• Martins has a hand in both goals and looked as though he is beginning to find his feet.
• Ramage and Moore had a good game.

Given is in hospital after stomach surgary and will be out for 6 weeks ish. Initial reports that Harewood had no right to go for the ball aer wide of the mark, had it been at teh other end we would have expected our striker to have a go. Best wishes go to Shay but in Harper we have an excellent understudy.

I'm not going to write a report of last nights match, it was on the box and if your on another continent I'm sure you've already read reports from other sites.

I will offer some observations though. 0-1 whilst not the perfect result Roeder claims is a victory, did have a clean sheet and may have raised a couple of pointers for the season to come.

1. When Ramage switched to centre back the team looked solid, he may not possess the power or ability of Bramble but he does have a good head on his shoulders and never looked like putting a foot wrong. He was communicating with Moore and the defence looked better for it. Due to injuries we are likely to see the combo continue on Sunday which could benefit the team.

2. Duff is a capable left back in emergency situations, although he offers more going forward from the midfield.

3. Milner is a good player who we should not be offloading for pennies, although short of moving N'zogbia in one for Emre I cannot find him a stating place at this point in time.

4. Antoine Sibierski? There has been much comment on Newcastle's expensive flops up front (think Ferguson, Cort, Anderson....) and a number of complaints about a club of Newcastle’s stature taking an aging reserve from Man City.

This deal is a no lose for us. Consider, if Sibierski is useless and spends the season in the reserves it has cost us wages. All accounts from Manchester indicate his attitude is spot on and it is his ability that was questioned. What other options are there on a similar outlay? Vieri? Tristan? Let us remember these are massively talented players released by their respective clubs, if they came to toon and couldn't be bothered the wages would be greater than those offered to the Frenchman and the impact on the squad could be worse. Think Kluivert.

On the pitch Sibierski has a record played one, scored one. Okay it was against a pub team and he missed other opportunities but he was always available, he competed in the air and looked to involved others. At no point do I remember complaining about him being behind play or missing a ball 'cos he couldn’t be bothered to move for it. He isn't a world beater and he has some way to go from the 'Can't hit a barn door' tag I gave him when wearing sky blue but he appears to be an honest footballer and we could do worse than having a couple of those at the minute.
Re-reading that last paragraph reminds me, Shola's back for Sunday. Wonder why that popped into my head?

Newcastle 1 – Fulham 2

On a sunny afternoon on Tyneside Newcastle threw away the advantage to a poor Fulham side who are historically bad travelers.

The day had started well, the stadium, splendid in it’s usual black and white was filled with expectation for the home debut of Newcastle’s 10 million new boy Oba Martins and the likelihood of seeing the highly rated Rossi, on loan from Man Utd. Martins is a footballer in a sprinters frame, short and fast, light on his feet with a good left feet but he was always looking for a touch to set himself before carrying the ball meaning he was caught in possetion too often. As with all imports, he will take time to settle in to his new surroundings and his teammates did little to help him out today.

The first half was poor, Fulham had one free kick from 30 yds, whilst Newcastle were restricted to shots from distance as the rare pieces of interplay around the box resulted in a poor final ball. The main battle of the match was shaping up to be Jamie Bullard and Scotty Parker, two players at the peak of their games battling for control of the midfield. A nasty looking injury to Bullard on the half our left Parker free to control the game. At half time Parker was the only Newcastle player to have turned up, with flashes from Duff and N’Zogbia that never quite materialized into anything of note.

HT 0-0

The second half started much as the first had finished, Newcastle looking to play long balls up to the inept Ameobi who never looked interested, the crowd were becoming frustrated that the midfield were being bypassed. Given was struggling to find a black and white shirt when he looked long; and the short passes to his defenders were being returned to him rather than on to Parker or Emre.

Then Newcastle started to play. There was a good ball out to the right from duff, Emre 30 yds out, by the touch line switched the ball onto his left before curling a peach of a cross onto the head of the fast arriving Parker. Reminiscent of Lee or Speed at the height of their powers and no more than Parker deserved having been head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch today.

After the goal Newcastle reverted to type, wasteful long balls finding no one in particular, Martins was replaced by Rossi who looked interested but didn’t get a kick, Parker picked up a knock and was replaced with 10 minutes to go with Butt as a precaution.

With 8 mins to go, a slip from Ramage, playing at left back for the injured Babayaro, let Routledge cross to the far post where the unmarked McBride leveled the scored. The ball traveling across the box at head height without being cleared.

5 minutes later, a Routladge corner to the far post saw McBride without a Black and White shirt in sight; he headed against the bar only for the rebound to hit the incoming Bocanegra finishing in the net. The mugging complete the stadium began to empty.
Full time was greeted with the predicable Boos from a crowd that came expecting so much more. Glenn will have to work on playing through a very talented midfield before springing the forwards as Martins or Rossi will not get a kick if we play like this for the rest of the season and we can kiss any cup hopes goodbye. It’s also time to put Ramage out of his misery and consider him as a centre back who can cover on the right, a left back he will never be. Even if Bernard is not match fit he would have provided balance today that was sadly missing, square pegs and round holes springs to mind.

A busy few weeks ahead with UEFA cup and rearranged league games to fit in so the boys will have every opportunity to make amends.

Child Tax credit - update.

As those figures didn't add up I contacted HM Revenue & Customs again. It appears they don't have a clue either.

After much protesting over disclosing the calculation I was advised wages under £25,561 receive full credit, over this amount the credit is reduced by 37 p for every £1.

Calculations are better but not by much!

The Labour Tax fraud II

Child tax Credit,

The credit consists of three elements,

Family - £540 p/a
Baby (child under 1 year old) - £545 p/a
Child - £1765 p/a

Only families with joint incomes under £15,500 qualify for full credit
Every £15 earned over £15,500 reduces the credit by £1
Baby element gets paid in full for all incomes under £50,000


The government claims to want to encourage parents to provide for their families yet they discourage potential workers by means testing every benefit they could qualify for.

The figures are as follows,

Current Minimum wage (over 22 years) = £5.05
Current annual wage for 2 parents working a combined 60 hours (35 hours & 25hours per week to allow for childcare etc.) = £15,756 ((£5.05*60)*52)

This means the benefits payable will be means tested already. This is before you consider people earning over the minimum wage.

The result?

In 30 years time we will be financing pensions of people who haven’t worked a day and who will be quick to complain that they don’t get enough. This is likely to result in increased taxation, either direct or otherwise of those who do work hard and contribute to society.

The Labour Tax Fraud

Working Tax Credits,

The credit consists of three elements,

1. Basic (You must work over 16 hours per week) - £1665 p/a
2. 30 hour per week (You must work over 30 hours per week) - £680 p/a
3. Second adult (who works over 16 hours per week) - £1640 p/a

You must earn under £4,500 p/a to qualify for full credit.
You must have a combined income of less than £15,500 to claim any credit

The figures are as follows,

Current Minimum wage (over 22 years) = £5.05

• Current annual wage for 16 hours work per week = £4,201.60 ((£5.05*16)*52)
• Current annual wage for 30 hours work per week = £7878 ((£5.05*30)*52)
• Current annual Wage for 46 hours work per week (combined 16 & 30) – £12079.60

At minimum wage it is impossible to earn full Working Tax Credits as to qualify for the 30 hour element you have to be well into the means tested element of the benefit. This from the government that is trying to promote the family.

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