Rob W

Newcastle agree £6m fee for Smith  - beeb

Smith started his career with hometown club Leeds

Newcastle have confirmed they have agreed a fee with Manchester United for England striker Alan Smith.

The Magpies are in talks with the 26-year-old, who has been linked to a host of Premiership clubs, and it is believed the deal is worth £6m.

Smith could even make his Newcastle debut alongside former Leeds team-mate Mark Viduka in a pre-season friendly against Sampdoria on Sunday.

Out-of-contract Lyon captain Cacapa, 31, is also in talks with Newcastle.

The Brazilian central defender skippered the French champions in each of their last five title-winning seasons.

606: DEBATE

Does Alan Smith's future lie at Old Trafford? 

Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce has so far added Viduka, Joey Barton, David Rozehnal and Geremi to the squad since arriving at the club.

But with six players departing and Kieron Dyer also set to leave, Allardyce has been frustrated over the lack of new faces.

There is a basic problem here tho'

as supporters we want ALL the cash spent on the club but we also expect rich guys to put up money  - and then take nothing out

if I had £ 100 million in the club as an investment I'd want it to make at least 5% (and that is being very very generous)

thoughts?

People go on about our lack of investment in the defence, but it is the one area of the pitch where you can make do with workmanlike players.

 

We got into the champions league with a back four of Hughes, O'Brien, Dabizas and Bernard. We failed when you add £7m Woodgate and £5m Bramble.

 

If we were to go into the season with Carr, Taylor, Roz, Babayaro and Ramage i'd be worried, if we add at least one experienced and strong centre back, a competent left back and another who could cover right back and centre back I'd be happy that this would be strong enough (injuries allowing) to allow us to progress towards top 6 where hopefully in Jan or next summer we can atttract a better calibre of defender to the club.

 

What is important however is that we adequaely replace Dyer and anyone else who may leave, and I would still like to see another defensive midfielder to be bought.

 

As for the debt, its far better to get this to a manageable level as soon as possible

I've watched this lot for 48 years and this is exactly why we win nowt

We have this death wish were we spend money on forawds (why the hell do we need Smith for example when we have Owen, ameobi. luque & martins) and "make do" in defence

year in , year out the same "exciting" matches when we get beat 3-2 or 5-4

we need CLASS in all parts of the field AT THE SAME TIME

the critical words in that links are

"according to the players agent"    ie total bollix

£ 300k  a year seems a lot for a warehouse TBH - it would be a fair whack for a fully fitted office

with Owen here it (might) attract other decent players - no-one top rate  is going to say

"I've always dreamed of playing alongside Viduka" are they?

Fat Fred's bets deal without a doubt..................... 

The problem with an owner who is having issues with the City is that when and if we need to raise cash (say to extend the ground) it won't be available

i can see us having an "Albert Luque Stand" when the ground is redeveloped

he's up there with the greats IMHO

all clubs complain about injuries but the last two years at SJP have been apalling

you have to blame the physio staff and teh club doc

theyw re doinfsomehting wrong - probably trying to get palyers back too soon under pressure form FFS

Time to ditch the little fella. Has some bright moments in games but dissapears for long periods and often the passing and free kicks are woeful.

 

There is apparently interest from European and Turkish clubs and I don't think he is dynamic enough in the way Gudjohnsen or Baptista would be in a 433.

 

Also he is another with the perpetual injury merry-go-round.

 

This would be the time to get shot.

 

I don't think he is a SA player.

anti Tork parky?

the kebab boys will round tonight

hang on

the last one is a drink..............

I fyu listen to the crikeet on the radio theres thousands

coley, nobby, giveny, martiny.............

Am I alone in still wishing for a big powerhouse to play in this "deep lying role" behind Barton/Emre/Both?

 

We still seem desperately lightweight in every area of the park to me, both in terms of numbers and physically as well.

 

I think Barton's injury has given us all a jerk of reality and shown just how thin we are in several areas. As things stand with injuries and low numbers, I honestly believe our defence would barely be above relegation standard with Ramage and Huntington possibly walking straight into the team. The only positions we have "sorted" are goalkeeper, the wings and up front, everywhere else needs work. In central midfield I have more faith in Emre than most but he does have injuries and I'm not convinced Butt is as good as many here make out, he's had one 'decent' season on the back of two awful seasons and he's prone to the odd injury himself. That should be our engine room, where we control games - I honestly thought Barton would be the mainstay but he hasn't lasted two games. Defence simply must be the first priority but someone like Baptista would be such a useful addition.

 

We can move people into unfamiliar positions, but then problems can pop up in the gaps they leave. It's a problem that'll only be solved by bringing more bodies in, but to see Big Sam trying to juggle players around doesn't fill me with confidence that the numbers we need will make it through the door. Taking a look at our squad and Sam's comments over the last couple of weeks I'm a bit concerned at the way things are going.

 

Glad I'm not the only one. We have two recognised central defenders and one of them is still young and fairly wreckless in the way he plays. We have no decent full backs. The only one who's capable of doing alright there is Solano who we're being told might be used in a central midfield 3. We really don't have enough central midfielders to play Sam's 4-3-3 as evidenced by nearly a whole reserve/youth team playing the second halves in the two friendlies so far. In fact we barely have enough to cover two 4-4-2 formations. There seems to be no sign of new signings and Sam is already voicing his frustration at the new boards naivity/incompetence. Things look very worrying after looking so good to begin with :-/.

in the good old days there were no subs and the bast ards palyed 90 minutes - you didn't have any pocy injuries like a cruciate ligament either

owt else but  broken leg meant you were back in training on Tuesday or else

Rob in trouble straying too far from his home territory of politics.

myhome territory is the aisle of an EasyJet 737 laddie

Bolton  = flash in the pan

Chelski = not English

I suppose "Colin Murray Talks.." is almost as unbelievable

4-3-3 is un-English

it doesn't work

Never even been on that forum. This is the one the players read!

the PLAYERS CAN READ?  :frantic: :frantic:

FFS has anyone told Sam?  :kasper:

I'm afraid fat ferd thought

"who will allow me to talk BIG at the next meeting of owners.........."

Solano is probaly being considered as a utility player - he can play anywhere down the right centre, he's got teh skill and the abilty to read teh game even if he's slwoing down

i can see Sam keeping him in the first team squad for quite a while even when he has bought for all the positions that need a decent player ( 7 or 8)

then a coaching role probably - he's hard working, a credit to the club and very popular inside and outside SJP - teh ort of bloke Sam needs

fat Fred's gone, teh  City of London Fraud Squad are in

might be difficult TBH

Ah......  the best of the sixties

A church in Liverpool had a big poster outside

"What will YOU do when Jesus Christ comes to Liverpool"

Instantly overpainted with

"Play him at inside right and move St. John to the wing"

Gazza

Bellamy changes clubs the way other people change their underwear

 

It's quite clear he carries a lot of baggage and that so far every manager he's been with ahs been glad to see the back of him

 

pity because he has genuine talent but you get both th poisonous s*** and the gifted footballer in the same nasty little package - and people can't work with him

 

 

 

 

this thing of him changing clubs a lot.

 

Coventry- got relegated, signed by newcastle

 

Newcastle- Doing well, till souness forced him out

 

Celtic- On loan, decided at the end he would rather stay in the EPL

 

Blackburn- Was there a year, did well, hughes liked him, decided to move to liverpool, his boyhood club, and a big club.

 

Liverpool- struggled there, was played out of position, couldn't be guarenteed a starting place and with the arrival of torres and voronin was obviously going to leave.

 

 

Liverpool are the only club since newcastle where craig bellamy the person has been a factor in him leaving, and he would have probably stayed, if it wasn't for torres and voronin. only one incident on a golf course that i remember while he was there.

 

 

 

Its not too bad when you look at it is it. Its not like he fell out with all 4 managers. he fell out with souness and rafa. Hughes and O'Neill liked him.

not exactly Bobbie Charlton or Alan Sheraer tho is it?

Most clubs got shot of him as soon as they could