midds

Liverpool getting dicked by Galatasaray atm. 2-0 but it could have been 3 or 4 just coming up to HT. Ch 434 if anyone's interested.

Just hope everyone behaves themselves after Darlington. If Smith plays I also hope he impresses Leeds because they may be the only fuckers daft enough to take him.

Sliced bread.

Smokescreen for a different striker imo.

4 + an inevitable 3 or 4 more through suspension. I'm actually cautiously optimistic that having an effective partner (Cabaye) next to him should mean he picks up less silly bookings. Nolan, for all the goals he scored, was pretty anonymous in loads of games in general play which meant Tiote was in the middle of the park without too much support. We'll see.

That list just confirms that we shouldn't even give Smith a place in the 25, we've got more than enough cover in the middle of the park. I've got high hopes for Cabaye despite not actually seeing much of him. Reading the opinions of lots of people he seems to be an absolute gem and will dovetail with Tiote nicely. Tiote's going to miss a chunk of the season (4 games in total, 3 of them away...) and we'll need someone to come in and be a bit of a destroyer. It might not be his natural game but Gosling might need to do the job.

Honestly think his head was turned in February with promises of a move to on of a few 'big' clubs who fancied him coming in on a bit a cheapie. Definitely Liverpool, maybe Arsenal too. This interest in February hasn't materialised into a definite bid this summer with those clubs doing a bit of wheeling and dealing and Enrique now looks a bit stupid. He's clearly frustrated and unsettled about the lack of investment of the Carroll fee but he's got to deal with the reality of the situation and accept he's going to be a Newcastle player in the short-term so he needs to get his head down and play well for us this season to get his move next summer. All imo obviously.

Is Onuoha still available for a loan? Heard nothing of him this summer.

Wonder if Mancini would lend us Dzeko for a year? We could pay at least 20% of his wages?

France Pot 2! It's possible for England, France, Wales, ROI and Scotland to be in the same group. Would love that. 45 mins football, 45 mins rugby.

Draw for the 2014 World Cup is on Saturday. England are in Pot 1 if anyone's interested. All of the info is on fifa.com

Here we go...

Not sure why so many are surprised at this. He simply doesn't give a fuck. He'll never sell the naming rights to the stadium... He'll never sack Hughton, he got us back up... He'll never paint the Gallowgate roof... He'll never sell Carroll... He must spend the Carroll money... He'll do what the fuck he likes and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

Don't think he'd even consider us. London lad, wouldn't move up here and at 10m I wouldn't want him to. Probably too old at 29 too. Complete non-starter.

Cheeky £1.5m cash offer. Take it or leave it.

Dann still there?

Shouldn't be. But there will be. It wont just be the results that people will be pissed off about though (if it does happen). It'll be two bad results coupled with key players leaving, lack of investment and being fed a pack of lies again. The bigger picture would be far more damning than one or two bad results. Yep. Losing to Sunderland is huge for a Newcastle boss. I'm 35 and only experienced 6 losses in that time. It's a big thing.

Shouldn't be. But there will be.

Lose the derby and both Bruce and Pardew will be under a bit of pressure from the fans. Still 36 games to go for whoever it is and loads of time to pull it round but the pressure will be on the loser. Maybe not enough to lose them their job like...

Didn't we offer £4.5m or something ridiculous like that?

Pardew's doing exactly what he was brought in to do. To the letter. He'll not get binned until he's finished the dirty work he was hired to do.

Kean won't see October out.

I think he'll do ok for Swansea actually. Another £2m in the bank though. Plus another million off the wage bill.

The reason for the Carroll deal was that the amount of money was too good to turn down. That's it. Only if you're prepared to spend it. Which is the crux of the matter and the reason for the discontent atm. What I mean is, when you get an offer for an asset that is that crazy you pretty much have to sell. If the club was financially healthy and/or Ashley was prepared to continue to pump money in, we could have said no. But neither of those things is true. So you're suggesting we had to say 'yes' to keep the club going? He probably didn't literally "have" to say yes, we obviously wouldn't have gone bust without the Carroll sale (but you know that). What I'm saying is that if you have a club that is making regular losses, the owner is subsidising it with big loans, and there is a chance to bring in massive money for an overvalued asset, then you might well think it's a good idea. I'm not saying anyone "had" to sell Carroll, I'm saying I understand why it was too good a deal to turn down. So we could have kept him and still signed Ba, Cabaye, Marveaux and Abeid. That was my point - we had a choice and decided to take the cash and not invest any of it back into the playing staff.

The reason for the Carroll deal was that the amount of money was too good to turn down. That's it. Only if you're prepared to spend it. Which is the crux of the matter and the reason for the discontent atm. What I mean is, when you get an offer for an asset that is that crazy you pretty much have to sell. If the club was financially healthy and/or Ashley was prepared to continue to pump money in, we could have said no. But neither of those things is true. So you're suggesting we had to say 'yes' to keep the club going?