steve_69

Rafa has said he's staying and he's clearly a man of integrity. If you're not going to believe it from the horse's mouth then nothing will convince you. After this season he'll almost certainly be gone and none of us can blame him. If you keep peddling the 'he's going to walk' line every week you're going to bore the shit out of the lot of us. If you're that convinced he'll leave before the end of the season stick £100 on it and shut the fuck up.

Lazaar is our only backup specialist left-back. If we're not sure of bringing in Targett or Kennedy it makes sense to put transfer talks to get him out of the club on hold

Maybe he has. His 'all' just happens to be fucking shit

Under Rafa he has. Under whoever's next, probably not. If he can get in them team over Merino, Shelvey and Hayden i'd be very fucking surprised. Surely not even Pardew's judgement is that bad.

To be honest, I'm not too bothered if he doesn't leave. Obviously i'd prefer he wasn't here but we know he's played his last game for the first team and that's the most important thing. If he's happy to rot in the reserves then fuck him. Out of sight, out of mind.

I'm pretty sure that's not the only way deals are done these days. Rafa has already said that he has identified targets and spoken to players who want to join the club. If we agree a fee in principal with a club and agree wages in principal with the player, once the funds become available it can all move quickly. I doubt we're waiting unless we bank the money before making initial contact with a club.

"Slams shut" tomorrow night at 11 So we still have plenty of time for 3 or 4 players to come in! If the deals are already agreed in principal, it should just be a case of completing formalities. If we were just waiting for funds/wages to become available we could see some significant movement in the next couple of days. It probably all depends on whether that tight-arsed lawyer of Ashley's sticks his fucking oar in

I can see this being the transfer that makes or breaks the board's relationship with Rafa. Surely he'll only be prepared to let Gayle go if he has someone else lined up. If the board fuck about and stop the replacement coming in it'll be the straw that broke the camel's back. We'll have around £30-40m in the coffers if this goes through and a decent budget for wages. No excuses!

Get fucked!! That's ridiculous!

Could be tricky, we've only got one sub left to use

wait, what? has he used a sky sports 'interview' to say he wants £600m for the club? surely not No, he hasn't said anything about that but something came out a while back about him wanting ridiculous money for the club. With the new TV money I can imagine he'll be taking the piss with his asking price.

Says he won't stand in the way if someone wants to buy the club from him and take it forward. Sets an asking price of £600m. Devious, lying conman!

Yes. Care to elaborate?

Has this been confirmed by anyone credible?

FWIW I totally get the whole sell to buy and in theory it should've been fine. We've already bought quality on a budget and i've no doubt Rafa could've done the same to fill the other positions we need. The problem is no one anticipated just how little demand there is for our dead wood. They could all do a job at a certain level but are they worth other teams breaking their salary ceilings for? I doubt it. So we're either left short of quality until at least the January transfer window or, God forbid we adjust the strategy. This is the part that really pisses me off because in every business strategy there is always room for flexibility or a slight change of direction when things don't go to plan. But not, it seems when it comes to Newcastle United. Basically if you can't shift the shit, you play with what you've got regardless of whether that risks another costly relegation. It's not just stubborn and reckless, it's completely stupid. We're talking about one of this country's best business men apparently. Who knows, maybe in a couple of weeks Mike will recognise the seriousness of the situation and bolster the transfer kitty, but history suggests otherwise. For now Rafa is stuck trying to undo mistakes that aren't of his own making.

Gamez? Manquillo? Lejuene? French? Came from the Spanish league

9 goals and 4 assists last season in a team completely devoid of creativity, playing up front on his own. He's still only 31 Mitro got only 8 goals and 6 assists in the championship? I don't see how Negredo is finished? Fair enough if you don't rate him but the stats don't seem to back up your statement. Also bear in mind the guy would be being coached/managed by Rafa - i'd be far more confident of Negredo getting 15+ goals in our team than Mitro next season.

Is that a rule now for having an opinion that a player is not good and not worth keeping? We have to somehow know the availability of replacements/improvements? Seems like a silly requirement tbh. I'll just stick to thinking he's not worth keeping, ta. Because I consider the option of "get rid without replacement" equals to bullshit. What's the point of getting 15m and then relegate? Hanging on Mitrovic may not guarantee us safe, but having Gayle as the only striker for this season guarantee Championship next season. Mitro isn't the striker we need. He doesn't score enough in the PL and he didn't score enough in the championship and he doesn't fit into the system that Rafa plays. I love the guy but I don't see the point in keeping him. I'm confident we could get a striker for £15m that fits Rafa's style better and would at least equal the 8-10 goals we'll get from Mitro this season. Negredo might be worth taking a punt on for example, he's a much better finisher than Mitro for a start

I would too if i hit them like that

He's 27 and managed to not score in 17 appearances last season. He isn't going to sort out his finishing like Yeah, i think he's a lost cause. Hopefully he'll be someone else's problem before long

Obviously it's a massive part of the game but if he could sort out his finishing and composure he'd be a decent striker. His movement has never been in question and he's got reasonable pace but in front of goal his arse falls out. Hopefully he can resurrect his career somewhere else, ideally somewhere where he gets more time on the ball. It was a gamble that didn't pay off on our part. Win some, lose some.

Jonesy, great lad is Deano.

Who the fuck is DeanJonesBR?

That's exactly what happened with Assou-Ekotto, he said as much in an interview. He wasn't passionate about football, just happened to be good at it and was only doing it for the money. I doubt he's the only one but he's then only one I can think of who came out and said it.

Two different types of players. Fernando is more of a player who breaks up play (DM/DMC), Delph will sit a bit further up run at defences more without being an out and out AM. Merino signing will put an end to our interest in Fernando. Is he? I always thought he was a box-to-box type of player. To be fair he's been injured or benched for most of the last few years so I can't recall the last time I saw him play.