Matt

No. You're lying. Best started that night, ahead of Lovenkrands and Ranger. Something you should have remembered by conjuring up that complete rubbish. Pardew started him virtually every time he was fit after his first appearance back from injury, and even made noises about giving him the no.9 shirt in March. Mea culpa, the loan move talk was under Hughton.

We won't get two brass tacks for Shola or Lovenkrands for that very reason, which is why I think it's more likely we'll be lumbered with them for the next season and cash in on Best.

Nope, no way Best will/can afford to be let go this summer If we're relying on keeping Best for as anything other than injury-crisis backup next season, the transfer window will have been a failure.

I can see us flogging Best this summer anyway. He only featured under Pardew by default and the fact he got a few goals means we might get a decent price for him from a Championship side. I don't think he's up to the job and suspect Pardew doesn't either- he was all set to leave on loan before Shola got injured at Fulham. Decent player as backup but can't see us resisting a couple of million for him.

There's no way it's true. Smith's wages alone for a season are reportedly £3m, effectively making it an £8m deal. Ashley would snatch their hands off I reckon. So soon in the window? Players of Nolan's quality are not going to be queuing up to join WHU this summer- we can afford to wait and see what happens with Parker and make the most of the situation. I have no doubt that if they were to bid £5-7m and it was deadline day, we'd have taken it.

Well that thread certainly blows apart any sense that we still have a decent reputation in Europe! "It's a real shame to see him leave for that kind of club" "Living in Newcastle will be horrible"

Job Done, Mr Llambias, the oiks are happy with just survival! I cannot understand the logic that Nolan not agreeing a new deal means he's off. He'll be 31 when his current contract expires and it's clear even this season that he's more effective as a lurker than a tireless box-to-box player. The press seem to panic at the thought of losing a player on a free. Unlike Barton, we've had good value out of Nolan so if he left on a free in 2013 would it be that much of a disaster? Probably not- certainly less than panic selling him now when there is no real need to do so. "Newcastle sell player" is an cheap story on the back of McKay's chatter. Expect more or less the whole squad to be linked in the next few weeks- those close season column inches are hard to fill.

A horrible way to end the season, but proof if any is needed that very few of our fringe players offer anything at this level and that a concerted effort in the summer window is required on the incoming and outgoing fronts. Overall it's been OK, good early wins but after that it's been something of a grind. Our aim was to survive and we did. Next season's task- to cement a solid top-half finish will be far harder.

Apologies, having checked the RNS it was only once that they issued new shares, I was convinced they had done this twice since ENIC took over. It will be very interesting to see where Spurs are in a couple of years- CL qualification is like a heroin-laced canape, as we found out to our cost.

Yes they are very well run. People on here have used them as an example of a club pursuing their ambition by throwing money about. That's a myth - they invest what they can afford. The key reason is the wages structure. Look at their squad and you will find their wages unbelievably low. I wonder what this year's figures will look like? Something has to give at some point and clearly they've fallen short of their target this year. Plus they have "currency speculator" Joe Lewis on hand to regularly put in £10-£20m, which has happened a few times over recent years.

He won't get the debt back specifically. He'll sell for a price which could be more or less or the same as the debt outstanding, it doesn't really matter. Putting in money as loans rather than buying new shares is simply the most tax-efficient way of doing it. Ashley owns NUFC lock, stock and barrel. Him loaning NUFC is like saying your left pocket owes your right pocket £20 when you move a note from one to the other. Same for Chelsea. It's daft to say they have £700m of debt. It's simply useful for tax and for insolvency purposes.

Anything that winds up Darren Ferguson is fine by me.

That Guardian piece is a bit pointless if they start classing all shareholder loans at 100% owned clubs as 'debt'. "Mike Ashley has today demanded that Mike Ashley pays back all that money he owes himself, or else"

I saw their game against Genoa the other week and they were absolutely dreadful.

"You can't get away with that" says Waddle. Well, he just did.

Why are some people wanting Man Utd to lose? The last thing we want is Chelsea to have motivation to win by a huge margin.

That was a pen. Doesn't matter where the ball is.

Apparently one kid got thrown out for launching a programme at someone- it's a NSC cup game, not the Champions' League final!

Classy in any language

Doesn't the club pay Shearer for the rights to the name? Club probably looking to save a few more quid.

He's a cracking player mate. Went to watch Benfield v Blyth in the Northumberland Senior Cup last week and he would walk into that Blyth side at the minute. When he left he was still club captain at Blyth, but after 10 years felt the spark had gone a bit. Way too good for Northern League standard. Would be great to Whitley Bay come up, although it would mean waving goodbye to the Vase.

He's knackered by an hour every game, he could barely move by the time he was subbed. To be fair to him yesterday had a decent game against a weak defence and gave them something to worry about. Ranger still looks way too raw, he could turn into a decent player but it's hard to tell as he's so erratic. A season (or even two) out on loan are definitely in order- let's hope we strengthen sufficiently that we can let him go.

Really? I wouldn't.

For all the talk of costs, maybe we should be far more concerned about how our income is going to suffer through lower sales of corporate boxes & hospitality areas and advertising round the ground, slowly being replaced with the default SD hoardings.

Spurs have Joe Lewis on hand to repeatedly pump in cash.