UV

He still played more and had a better goal rate than Martins last season whatever you think of their relative fitness levels or form.

It was the fact that Tandy set light to Barton's shirt at the party that led to Barton's downward spiral, when he turned to violence and signed for Newcastle tbh.

He was on loan, and officially left in January.

You forgot Emre, but I generally agree with you. Pattison and Babayaro

I think it makes perfect sense, they did not want him to leave, he bought himself out so now they are being c***s over it, this is the kind of issue where FIFA should be helping the player. Instead they would rather say stupid things about stuff like the Ronaldo saga, when this is a situation where they could really help out. FIFA don't like the ruling - and I don't blame them tbh - so they're not going to make it easy if they can help it. However there's nothing they can do to stop it. IMO we need to threaten to sue FIFA for damages for every day he is restricted from working due to the holdup, as technically any restriction of player movement is illegal under European law I believe. The FIFA regulations are just a compromise they managed to reach with the European Commission. If they are not going to stick to that ruling, or are going to be awkward about it, then the EC could abolish the whole player contract situation as we know it, and I doubt FIFA want to open up that can of worms.

Is there actually a precedence for a player being banned due to a training ground incident against a teammate rather than for something which happens during (or immediately before/after) a game?

Webster's registration wasn't held up until the amount of the compensation was agreed though was it? Theoretically, there should be no hold up at all as it's quite clear in the regulations that he is entitled to break his contract, the only matter to be resolved is the amount of the compensation and to whom it should be paid. Can't really blame the club if FIFA/UEFA are being slow about it.

Wouldn't be surprised if it was some disagreement over agent fees tbh.

It's harsh to blame the club for this. I'm sure they've been doing everything they could to get it resolved, it's obviously complicated by him being part owned by that Argentinian club. One would expect the club to go through all the implications before taking the deal on though. It's pretty obvious Mallorca weren't going to be very pleased about us taking a player they feel is so valuable, and I'm disappointed we've committed to it without being certain from the outset. He looks a good player, but he's useless without his registration. No more useless to us now than the superstar players we're going to sign on August 31st though, which seems to be okay. He IS a Newcastle player, and he'll play as soon as the paperwork is done by FIFA. The transfer will still be a bargain whenever the registration goes through.

It's harsh to blame the club for this. I'm sure they've been doing everything they could to get it resolved, it's obviously complicated by him being part owned by that Argentinian club. Fuck knows what's happening with this though, I can only imagine they are still in contract negotiations, and as we can see with Owen, the club don't seem to mind letting these things drag on.

Who's There? Fabricio

Knock knock

LOL

So we got Luque with nothing to pay for 3 years? Aye right. mackems.gif

I hope you're right. It'll take a long time before it gets to that stage though IMO. the press will help. with nothing to print they keep on making up stuff or making mountains out of nowt and each day turn more people against them. it has already started happening this summer. Ridiculously naive IYAM. The vast majority of supporters do not scour internet forums for reasoned debate and form their own opinions. They believe what gets drummed into them from all sides by the media which feeds off any rumour it can get it's hands on. Even on here, most believe we were in for Aimar , Turam, etc, without anything whatsoever from the club itself to back that up. It's been seen before, no matter how ridiculous the story the "there's no smoke without fire" brigade will come out. So far Ashley is still in his honeymoon period for most, but that will last no more than another mid-table season. If he carries on letting the media set the agenda, and refuses to deny the stories they come up with, by the end of the season I believe a large number of supporters will have turned against him whether justified or not, and any negative story that come up will be believed. The media will produce stories about NUFC whether the club feeds them the stories or not. If they work with the media, then there's at least a chance the press will be positive. If they force the media to rely on rumour and hearsay, then there is absolutely no chance of that press showing the club in a positive light.

Those "2-3 players of decent quality" gets you a mid table team at best. We'd had a bad season, but we still had one of the better squads in the league at that time and we needed to replace Shearer. It wasn't "daft money", and it wasn't done to look spectacular. Although it doesn't hurt to have a big name player like Owen in you team, that was by no means the main reason he was signed. Maybe instead of buying Coloccini we should have bought "2-3 defenders of decent quality" to "strengthen the squad" instead? No. Buying a load of "decent quality" players every year gets you absolutely nowhere unless you are a scouting genius or get very lucky. I'd far rather we spent the budget on 2-3 quality "trophy signings" than 6-7 players that might be a bit better than what we have and "improve the squad" but bloat the wage bill. Talking of Shearer, he was the ultimate "trophy signing" yet I don't see too many complaining about that.

How is Coloccini not a so-called "trophy signing" as you would define it? I'd be surprised if he wasn't our highest ever paid defender. His signing has certainly eased my fears somewhat about possible restrictions being placed on transfers (ie they need to be young and/or cheap) which were being alleged by a lot of people on here. I always saw Luque as a replacement for Robert tbh. I agree with Skirge's comments ITT though. What's in the press has nothing to do with my lack of optimism, it's what will be on the pith which is the cause for concern. The defence has theoretically been improved, but as we saw last season that can be largely irrelevant if your midfield can't hang onto the ball. I don't see the midfield as being significantly improved on last year so far, maybe Gutierrez will prove to be a bit better than Milner, but I don't think it's a significant upgrade. Of course we should be able to do better than last season even with the players we already have, but not half as much better than we would be able to with just a couple more quality signings. Of course this could all change by the end of the transfer window, but I'm not going to be optimistic based on blind faith that we'll be bringing in these players.

Signing another player on the way down with their best years behind them, just like the bad old days

The FA will be concerned that he might be influenced by financial problems to take a bung or bet on the outcome of a game, not that I'm saying he'd do anything dodgy but they'll have to be seen to act. well a friend of mine said that referee's claim up to 200k a year on expenses (he knows clattenberg), that's around 4x their 60k a year salary, so it's not lyk they are short of some money Whistles must be expensive these days lyk.

When I read "he kicked and punched someone so hard that their life was imperilled." I assumed it was a satirical piece. If I were Barton, I'd sue him for that. If your principals include lying, victimisation, and witholding human rights, then yes it is.

5 years ago we'd just finished 3rd and were about to play a CL qualifier. Nit-picking, the last 5 finshes are 12, 13, 7, 14 and 5. Is what i meant. I'd call 5th pretty near the top 5 like, and it's only 2 seasons since we almost expected to be in Europe every year. The point being that it's only the last couple of seasons where the expectation has dropped to being a mid table team at best, even last season there was an expectation from most that Allardyce would get us back in contention. The current perception is that Keegan isn't being backed with cash for the coming season, so there's no realistic prospect of us doing significantly better next year than last. If it's going to be a long and gradual process of improvement, it's not surprising that a number of supporters will just give it a rest for a couple of seasons and wait for that process to come to fruition.

5 years ago we'd just finished 3rd and were about to play a CL qualifier.

Truth hurts sometimes. You have to be impressed by Tottenham's set up and the recruitment of players this transfer window. tottenham are said to be 60-80 million in debt after this pre-season, they are doing what leeds and we did and spend money which they haven't got. The club is run very well especially on wages. Yes, us & Leeds. Plus Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool & Arsenal. Also Everton, Villa, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Man City & West Ham. Oh, and don't forget Middlesbrough, Wigan, Sunderland, Bolton & Fulham. I bet Spurs are nowhere near £60-80m in debt btw.

He was probably looking over your shoulder at a bloke in an England top.

You mean like when the same team tried to squeeze us for £11m for Luque?