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Douglas said yesterday he and Elanga are of interest.

Obviously. It’s more about the potential change in setup with someone centrally playing further up. Especially when said player has the attributes that Joao Pedro has. Makes a massive difference to me if it happens.

I don't think we can sell the Greek keeper due to the PSR loss on his book value. All we can do is loan him out. We may have messed that one up, but a PSR high fee swapsies early in the window strikes me as an easy route to more headroom for squad building. We should keep an eye on Villa and see how their situation develops. If they get in a hole, offer a big fee for one of their players conditional on them taking Vlach for 15M or whatever his book value is. Pass the PSR parcel.

Bloody lovely

I suppose the club can justify not buying a CM with the combination of Joao Pedro offering a 4-2-3-1 option, the occasional wing-back system and Hall being able to play LCM. It's not ideal but, as long as the others get bought, it could work. Miley has star potential, too.

It's like he's not been class at RB for us before. Short memories. He had some poor form for his standards pre Halls injury. Then he got up for it for the Cup Final and performed well since.

I mean you would imagine we'll be signing 4-5 players this window. Elanga alone would obviously be a poor window.

So more of a dig at Ashley's Newcastle than the club itself.

Could be a class signing for them tbh.

I'm not massively confident that we'll buy all the essentials (RW, CF, CM, CB, GK) so let's not worsen it by selling a superb starter. While there's a good market out there for full-backs and a sale probably won't weaken the team as much as selling other purples, there's just no reason to entertain this. Unless they paid a huge £90m+ fee which, judging by the surprisingly low Kerkez + Ait Nouri fees going on, I can't see them agreeing to.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7268389/OLIVER-HOLT-truth-Steve-Bruce-good-Newcastle-not-way-round.html Fans are missing the target... the truth is that Steve Bruce is too good for Newcastle, not the other way round Newcastle United will be one of the most compelling stories of the next season Mike Ashley allowed Rafa Benitez, Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon to leave Fans deluded themselves that Jose Mourinho or Eddie Howe might take the job They greeted Steve Bruce's appointment as their new manager with dismay The truth is that Bruce is too good for Newcastle, not the other way round By OLIVER HOLT It is apparent already, even with the start of the new Premier League season still almost three weeks away, that Newcastle United will be one of the most compelling stories of the nine months that lie ahead. Not in a good way, obviously. Compelling like one of those videos of a car on black ice, sliding down a hill towards traffic in a snowstorm. Bystanders watch. They know the crash is coming. Newcastle are already on that hill. They started rolling down it when the owner, Mike Ashley, allowed Rafa Benitez to leave the club. Steve Bruce was appointed as Newcastle's new manager last week which was met with dismay Steve Bruce was appointed as Newcastle's new manager last week which was met with dismay and when he sold Ayoze Perez to Leicester City, who are the kind of team a club with Newcastle's support base should be blowing out of the water. Salomon Rondon, Newcastle's best player last season when he was on loan from West Brom, was allowed to move too. All the classic early signs of trouble are there: supporters refusing to renew their season tickets, lack of investment, a protracted and inept takeover bid, fans planning a stadium boycott, dissent surrounding the appointment of a new manager and players involved in a brawl after a pub crawl. In the grim game of relegation bingo, Newcastle's numbers just came up. It is hardly surprising they are one of the favourites to go down. Until now, Ashley's stewardship of the club has merely been like a festering sore, the pustulating antithesis to the passion of the supporters. In the last couple of months, the condition has deteriorated. Now he runs the club like he's gangrene, gradually eating away everything it once stood for. Salomon Rondon, Newcastle’s best player last season on loan from West Brom, has left Another one of the Magpies' forwards, Ayoze Perez, has been sold to Leicester this summer With the right owner, Newcastle could be Liverpool. They could be a club that uses its power-base in its region to challenge for honours. It bestrides its city like few other clubs, its stadium dominating like a fortress on the hill, the focus of the Geordie nation, and yet its owner is allowing its power to fall away into impotence and stasis. Ashley's entire cursed reign at Newcastle has been an exercise in brinksmanship. Trying to do the bare minimum to keep the team in the top flight with access to all those television riches. Trying to do just enough and no more. Trying to spend just enough to stay up. Sometimes it has worked. Sometimes it hasn't. Either way, there has never been any joy in it. As an owner, Ashley has never been anything other than semi-detached. The club is a milch cow for him, a tool to help promote his true love, Sports Direct. A club that was once everyone's second favourite team has now become a byword for charmlessness, meanness, gracelessness, spite and lack of ambition. Owner Mike Ashley allowed Rafa Benitez (right) to leave the club despite his heroics at the club Owner Mike Ashley allowed Rafa Benitez (right) to leave the club despite his heroics at the club In these circumstances, maybe it is not surprising that Newcastle fans greeted the appointment of Steve Bruce as their new manager last week with dismay. There has been an acceptance for some time that the club need a miracle worker, not just a manager, to counter the malign influence of Ashley and Bruce does not conform to that description. In the wake of the departure of Benitez, some supporters deluded themselves that men such as Jose Mourinho, Roberto Martinez, Eddie Howe or Steven Gerrard might be interested in the job. But why would anyone with self-respect or ambition or a reputation to uphold even toy with the idea of taking over at this version of Newcastle? The truth is that Bruce is too good for Newcastle, not the other way round. He is too good for Ashley's Newcastle anyway. He may or may not have been 11th choice for the job. That's meaningless if the top 10 decided they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. As an owner, Ashley (left) has never been anything other than semi-detached from the club As an owner, Ashley (left) has never been anything other than semi-detached from the club Newcastle fans continue to protest his ownership and were dismayed by Bruce's appointment Newcastle fans continue to protest his ownership and were dismayed by Bruce's appointment If Bruce were not a Geordie whose late father loved the club, I doubt he would have gone anywhere near it, either. Newcastle is a great club but Ashley's Newcastle is not. Ashley's Newcastle is a club that is lucky to have a man and a manager like Bruce. Ashley's Newcastle is lucky to have a manager with an affinity for the club, a decent track record as a boss and someone who will be emotionally invested in trying to save it from its owner as well as the other 19 teams in the division. He might not be what Newcastle fans wanted but he's as good as it's going to get under Ashley. If they direct their ire at the manager, they will be missing the target. This is not about Bruce, who has done a good job in difficult circumstances at other clubs. This is about an owner who is fiddling while Newcastle burns. Bruce is too good for Newcastle, not the other way round – too good for Ashley’s Newcastle Bruce is too good for Newcastle, not the other way round – too good for Ashley's Newcastle To attack Bruce would be to do what Ashley wants because it would shift the focus away from him. To attack Bruce would be to divert attention from the real problem. To attack Bruce would be to ignore the root cause of what is going wrong. To attack Bruce would be to undermine the best chance Newcastle supporters have got of salvaging something from this season. I don't subscribe to the idea that Newcastle fans are over-entitled for complaining about their lot. Maybe they've had it easy compared to clubs such as Morecambe and Leyton Orient but it doesn't change the fact that a club of their size and their potential deserves better than Ashley. With a decent owner — an owner who is prepared to back his manager rather than ignore him — Newcastle could be a somebody in football again. Instead of which, a crisis is upon St James' Park that is of Ashley's making and Newcastle are on the slide before a ball has been kicked.

They're ridiculous like, free reign to sign the windows top picks and then ruin their careers, every window We are what's wrong with football though

Yeah, fuck knows. He seemed convinced thing were different this time though. *alan partridge shug*

https://x.com/paullynufc79/status/1931693320431923709?s=46

There’s probably no need for me anymore to say that I’m not his biggest fan. I understand that some of his attributes could be very effective for us in certain games. He’s not a bad player, just a bit limited and one dimensional. Having said that, IF (Big IF) we get Joao Pedro then it changes a lot for me. If we get him then I’d be much more open to the idea of Elanga even though he wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d still want a more technical player that offers a bit more in general play than him. JP in there and it’s a massive difference for Elanga than Elanga in our current 4-3-3 without him. Most likely wouldn’t even be the same setup “on paper”, most games at least.

There have been rumours of that for years. Levy would only ever do that if he was getting an amazing deal to be bought out. He’s not going to step away unless someone offers more than it’s worth

Maignan would be ok but not sure the others improve their XI. Genuinely sick of them as a football club though. Especially with a couple of colleagues being supporters.

Aaron Ramsey to Pumas in Mexico.

£150m net spend is likely less than £50m on the books. I think we’d struggle to get £40m for Willock, Longstaff and Vlach but I didn’t think it was possible to get so much money from Kelly. Edit The net spend largely doesn’t matter. It’s the accounting profit on sales that matter and the amortised cost of transfer and annual wages and bonuses.

Long time Spurs supporting friend says Levy is stepping down (or has been asked to step down).

Someone please just link it so I can read it and scream.

I think he'll do well there eventually, but like every other Spurs manager will have to contend with Levy's knife hovering at his back.

So he despised Newcastle and the fans before the Saudi takeover then.

Holy hell, I really don't want to go looking for that article or give the mail any clicks, but I am curious to what basis he could possibly form for that argument