ohmelads

Didn't Baptista or his agent deny those quotes? Vaguely remember something about that.

I couldn't be arsed discussing speculative figures, what's the point? You haven't worked it out yourself, you've just thrown up some random figures. You seem confident over what Ashley's business plans are, yet you still haven't come out with them other than vague suggestions he'll invest some money - we all know that. Of course a club which performs well on the pitch is more marketable than one which doesn't. I didn't fail to realise that, it would have been stating the bleeding obvious. I have no idea about Ashley's plans and you certainly don't either. He's invested a lot but he could make that back the day he sells up, you make it sound like his money has gone down a black hole! Indeed he has inherited around £80M debt and I do think he intends to improve the club on the pitch and off it - this is all a given! You don't need to explain it all over again, it's blindingly obvious. What is in discussion and what none of us know is to what extent Ashley is prepared to speculate to accumulate, ie release funds for players who may or may not perform. Wanting to do as well as you can is a given, how much money you're prepared to pump into a club is another matter entirely. Which one are we discussing here? I'm not saying Ashley won't invest, I'm rejecting this automatic assumption many on here have made that he will invest vast sums of money despite knowing nothing about him or his intentions. He might, he might not. I haven't even taken a side in this debate, I've just suggested that a club can make a profit by maintaining a decent league position. You've jumped on your high horse and then said you don't even know what I'm going on about.

Firstly I didn't say he intends to leave it as it is because we're 13th in the league. In fact, I didn't make any assumptions on why he's taken us over, and I don't know why many like yourself have made assumptions that he has grand plans to take on people far richer than himself and already in charge of much bigger clubs than his own. That's a major assumption to make, I think this debate would be a lot more sensible if we avoided any assumptions on his business plans. Admit it, everything you've said is pure speculation. What I did say is that, for all we know, he does intend to get the club in the top 8 but isn't prepared to gamble the necessary finances to challenge the big clubs and instead expects to make money and "grow his business" through raising the club's profile and making money through merchandising and TV rights. Take a look at his area of business expertise and some of the recent comments made from Sir John Hall.

I think a lot of people are just assuming that Ashley will speculate to accumulate, that he'll take a gamble on getting us into top 6 and eventually top 4 in the hope of reaping the rewards. It'll cost a fortune to do that and might be money wasted. Man Utd and Liverpool were already up there, Chelsea are an anomaly. Is Ashley a gambling man who thinks he can take those kinds of clubs on, or someone who sees an opportunity to make a steady profit from an underachieving club in a growing industry? I think a well run club can make a steady profit finishing top half every year but not showing real ambition to risk going further. For all we know, Ashley might well know this and see football as an ever growing industry where he can invest modest sums to keep the club at a reasonable level high enough to make money from TV rights, merchandising etc. There are loads of new owners coming in, they can't all fit in the top 6, yet all seem to fancy their chances of making money. My gut feeling is that we're seen as a club with massive potential and have been bought by someone who thinks he can tap into that. But just how ambitious our new owner is, I'm not sure. He may have no visions of us competing with the top 4 because it'd involve vast sums of his money and represents a big gamble. Rather he may have visions of trying to maintain a top 8 finish every year and reaping the rewards from that, while sorting out the club's wage bill and improving its marketing potential to line his pockets. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm a bit concerned to see our manager pleading for funds via the media to his new owners while Ramage and Huntington are turning out in our strongest available defence.

Milan and Villarreal are linked in the Spanish press, with a fee of £7M - £10M mentioned, though they reckon Real will ask for more after his Copa America performances and the fact that a good percentage of the fee will go to Sevilla. Real's technical secretary wants to keep him but the new manager Schuster doesn't and with the signing of Saviola it looks like his opportunities will be limited.

Baptista is a brilliant player. People may point to his Arsenal form but then I'd point to the fact he's an important part of the Brazil squad. And despite his limited chances at Arsenal, very few players go to Anfield and score four goals. I think he'd be a brilliant signing for us, his versatility means he can play DM, AM or up front and used correctly he can be an amazing striker. He has a hell of a lot in his locker and I don't think he ever got the chances at Arsenal. The only club to date to give him a chance and make him a key player was Sevilla, and he was unstoppable for them. I think he could walk into our first team in several positions and give us a lot that we're missing. I really hope this one is true, it's got a lot more to it than the previous sunday gossip as there are actual quotes, plus I think he is very much a Big Sam type of player due to his physical attributes and versatility. For £6m he'd be a bargain, a 25-yard old Brazil international. Compare that to £7M for Parker and £8.5M for Reo-Coker, Baptista is a far better and more versatile footballer than either of those two.

I'll be surprised if he's back playing in 6 weeks.

It's unlikely Emre will be ready for the Bolton game. My guess is Geremi or Dyer will have to play there with Solano or Carr at right back.

It would be brilliant news if SSN have messed it up. Allardyce makes no mention of it in his post match interviews, even when he's talking about why he rested Ameobi, Given etc as precautions.

Derek Wright has been here since Bobby's days though hasn't he. Don't know about the other medical staff. I'd be interested to hear if Allardyce has made any changes in this area of the club yet? Have any of his old Bolton staff come over, we were linked with a few but there's been no confirmation?

I don't see what the club doctor can do to prevent injuries, all he can do is try to get them back as soon as possible after injury. Well I'm not pointing a finger at anybody, maybe that was a bad example. My medical knowledge is terrible and we don't know anything about their expertise, but something's not right at this club. I honestly can't remember the last time we fielded our best 11, or even close, and that's including pre-season friendlies.

If it's a broken bone in his foot there's nothing we could have done to prevent that. Although your point stands, we always seem to top the injury table and I'd put money on it that we do again this season. I wouldn't point blame at anybody in particular because there are probably a number of factors including bad luck, but we've had the same club doctor under the past 4 managers and the injuries have kept occurring during this time, so that's one area the club could look at. Injuries have cost us really badly in recent years under every manager, we need to be looking at every facet of the club and trying to prevent them. This isn't a knee jerk reaction, it's been going on for years and Barton's injury has only brought the subject back into discussion. IMO if we sort out the injuries we'll sort out a lot of the club's problems - it's been a huge thorn in our side.

It'll get to the point where players turn down a move to Newcastle purely for health reasons. If I were a pro and had no allegiances to Newcastle I'd think twice about making the switch!

He's too lightweight for CM but he could play there in a 3-man midfield. He's ten times more experienced in centre mid than Geremi, who people seem happy to shoehorn into that position. If Geremi is good enough emergency cover for CM then so is Dyer. For me his best position is right wing, he gives us something Milner/Solano/Geremi don't in that position. I agree his wages are probably too high to be a rotation player, but that decision has already been made. I'd rather keep him on high wages than see him sold without a replacement. We need a squad if we're going to sustain Newcastle-level injuries and compete this season. If we sell him and don't replace him we're weaker, why would we want that? Are we really so skint we need to shift him off the wagebill like? I quite like the idea of having options, and Dyer gives us huge pace and stamina, something we're lacking in midfield and on the right side in general.

With Barton and Emre out injured are we really in a position to sell? If he wants out fair enough, but if he wants to stay I'd keep him, barring a silly offer.

Looks like we might not be seeing him for a while. BBC on metatarsal recovery times: 6-8 weeks seems to be extremely optimistic if it is indeed a broken metatarsal.

Was just thinking this myself, it can't be 6/8 weeks if it's a broken metatarsal surely?

Has anyone ever seen Geremi play centre-mid in a 4-4-2? Pretty sure he's only played in centre mid a few times and that was part of a packed 5-man midfield.

Think Allardyce is beginning to realise the size of the task ahead. No defence and injuries starting already. Any idea when Emre is back from his injury? We really need him now. We'll have to think twice about letting Dyer go...

What is it with this club? Welcome to Newcastle, Joey.

Where you heard this?

The excuses made for Roeder were as bad as the ones made for Luque. He wouldn't even play the lad in reserve games, what on earth was all that about? When he finally gave him a reserve game he scored two 30-yard screamers away to Liverpool and then decided not to give him any more chances. Very strange. Hopefully Allardyce can show up Roeder's man management skills.

Adriano.

Me neither.

All depends on the manager and what he intends to get out of them. Some managers like Eriksson see them as a chance to give loads of players a run out, but its questionable how much this actually achieves. Other managers like to try out new systems, and they can be useful for that. Pre-season friendlies are not just about fitness but about getting the sharpness and match practice back. These first couple of friendlies don't concern me too much, I'd hope by the Sampdoria game that we're performing as well as our opponents.