James

No, this has actually come from an official statement from KK's union representative. saying what That KK hasn't resigned, and will be meeting with the board over the next few days. i know . Then why ask, fleabrain?

It'll be Poyet or Zola imho.

No, this has actually come from an official statement from KK's union representative. saying what That KK hasn't resigned, and will be meeting with the board over the next few days.

No, this has actually come from an official statement from KK's union representative.

Chris Mort was good at it. He gave a face to the day to day boardroom operations at SJP, and provided reassurance when needed. Now he's gone, we are left with a bunch of faceless mute cretins. yet said nowt. i'd rather silence than someone speaking for 10mins without actually saying anything. You've forgotten the period between Allardyce and Keegan. Mort did a really good job as the link between club and fans.

Chris Mort was good at it. He gave a face to the day to day boardroom operations at SJP, and provided reassurance when needed. Now he's gone, we are left with a bunch of faceless mute cretins.

Mike Ashley does not speak to the media. Derek Llambias does not speak to the media. David Williamson does not speak to the media. Dennis Wise does not speak to the media. Jeff Vetere does not speak to the media. Tony Jimenez does not speak to the media. When I say media, I mean through any kind of widely available source, ie the Official Site. Six owners/directors, and not one of them has bothered to open their mouths other to come up with anything other than some corporate bullshit, or some charity promotion. I am going to ignore Ashley's interview in the club magazine, as it is clear on here that the circulation of it was not good. The pressure to be the mouthpiece of the club was piled on KK, and it seems that he was only really allowed to speak for himself. Any statement from the club is faceless, we don't know who is talking, and who they are talking on behalf of. Chris Mort showed that you can speak to the fans without looking stupid and without giving too much away. It is about time some of our other directors followed his example.

None. I think you could level some criticisms at those aspects of the job being covered by Vetere and Jimenez, but it is impossible to say what went wrong and who was at fault. Assuming he is not overstepping his job description, I can't see where Wise can be criticised right now.

Going by job descriptions alone, Wise is probably the least culpable individual of the trio at the club right now. Wise is supposed to appoint coaches and bring the best young academy talent to the club. Vetere is supposed to coordinate the scouting and help Keegan and Wise assemble their shortlists. Jimenez is meant to be the negotiator for the biggest deals. Now, which of those three areas has performed worst?

Mancini would be another name that could be thrown in the pot.

He's just starting a new season at a new club.

Where are these rumours? ssn and northern echo, apparently the people that bought man city tried to but newcastle first but ashley didnt want to sell Nothing to do with that. Davig Craig last night: "Newcastle fans may look at Manchester City tonight and feel dissappointed, but I understand that this won't be the last lot of Middle Eastern cash coming into the Premier League this season." That never happened. You've just slammed two seperate sentences he said together. Yes, I've paraphrased, but something of that sort came out of his mouth last night when asked about Manchester City and the Newcastle thoughts of it, and given that he's merely the NE correspondent, it was weird coming from him. There is in my mind a possibility that a middle eastern consortium are on the verge of doing some sort of deal with NUFC, and they might not want KK, or KK refused to spend their money.

Where are these rumours? ssn and northern echo, apparently the people that bought man city tried to but newcastle first but ashley didnt want to sell Nothing to do with that. Davig Craig last night: "Newcastle fans may look at Manchester City tonight and feel dissappointed, but I understand that this won't be the last lot of Middle Eastern cash coming into the Premier League this season."

Where are these rumours? David Craig on SSN last night, plus a couple of corporate whispers around this forum today.

There have been a couple of rumours that we are about to secure some Middle Eastern investment of our own. Could this have any bearing on today's events?

We'll call a 5pm press conference, press gather, KK walks in: "Hey everyone, we forgot to say, we've bought Kaka"

Club would have denied it by now. Either something has happenned, or something might happen. Let's pray for the latter.

The club need to confirm or deny this ASAP.

What or who did people actually want us to sign at the start of the summer? My priorities in order of most important were: 1. A long term viable defensive midfielder (ie a Butt replacement) Guthrie is fitter than Butt, faster than Butt, a better passer than Butt, and a bigger goal threat than Butt. He isn't as good defensively as Butt, but that will come with experience. Maybe Guthrie wasn't the ideal player we all had in mind, but I don't think a different player would bring us to a significantly higher level. It is now down to KK's tactics whether Guthrie is a success. 2. A pacy wide player We've yet to see what Gutierrez can offer in a creative sense, but there is no doubt that he is a quality player. I've always thought that recent creativity problems haven't been down to lack of passing ability, but more due to the lack of any explosive players who can tear an opposing team apart, creating spaces for our own players to exploit, making that offensive pass easier to make. Gutierrez is a huge fucking bomb in that sense, and will devastate the organisation of many teams, allowing us to exploit it. Any good pass he might make on top of that is a bonus. 3. A young target man. We already had three very good strikers. Owen, Martins, Viduka. Realistically, we were never going to sign a player who could beat those in terms of quality. The question marks over our forwards though was the fitness records of Owen and Viduka. Martins is an extremely good option/deputy, and is rarely injured, but is inconsistent and doesn't hold the line very well, meaning that we could potentially struggle if Owen and Viduka were injured simultaneously. We needed an understudy for Viduka, albeit someone good enough to be used when needed, someone young enough and with the potential to gain the experience that could make him a first teamer, and someone who wouldn't complain at spending spells on the sidelines. Many of us looked at Derdiyok, admiring his physical attributes and his goal per minute record. Xisco is a similar player attributionally, plus (although I haven't checked this claim) he had the best goal per minute ratio in La Liga last season. On paper Xisco is the exact striker we needed. 4. A defensive lynchpin. Although I was happy with the individuals in the defence, I felt that if we could find one quality centre back, it would give a little more confidence and composure within the whole team. On paper, Coloccini is that player, and so far his performances would suggest so too. 5. A creative midfielder. This one was way down on my list of priorities. I thought that the DM and explosive winger could help us get better from other players such as Barton and Geremi. As I saw it, there are very few players out there who could actually do what the majority of fans seemed to be looking for in this player. I think I would have wished to see the creative player be out wide on the opposite flank to the more explosive winger. The fact that we looked at Modric and Nasri seemed to suggest that the management was in agreement. Once the likes of those and others slipped away, it was a case of finding a technical player who might make the odd impact when things got tight. Again, on paper, Gonzalez is that player. 6. Full back backup/competition. Let's face it, it would be very difficult to find players who would come here for a reasonable fee and be happy not to be guaranteed a starting place. I think we have found one in Bassong who reminds me of Distin when he came here. Quite frankly, I also felt this area wasn't worth much investment, and that we'd be better blooding youngsters. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So in short, of the six things I felt we needed stuff done, we've done very well with my top four priorities, and we haven't failed to completely address the other two areas. The only other two things that occurred during the window that might have perhaps shifted priorities were the departures of Faye and Milner. Bassong counteracts Faye's departure. We didn't replace Milner, but were only given 11 days to do so, and I'm not sure he'll be missed with the over personnel we already had anyway.

Goalkeepers - Exactly the same, but no change was needed. Defenders - Two less senior players, but the two that have come in look to be better than all that went out. Midfielders - Two out, three in, and we know that two in are better than what went out. Strikers - One additional player who we don't really know about, but his background and basic attributes match what I was looking for.

Had the official website not announced the Gonzalez & Xisco deals now I'd have agreed, but I'd imagine by announcing them pretty much together, even though they'd have been wrapped up since this afternoon, that that's the club's way of wrapping up our transfer activity. Having experienced two summer transfer deadlines with the new board, I do get the feeling now that we announce everyone shortly after midnight as if to say: "right, that's your lot, now go to bed."

You realise that it may be a few hours yet before we announce who has or hasn't signed?

You realise that it may be a few hours yet before we announce who has or hasn't signed?

I'm a bit cynical. People could easily get SSN running a Barton to mystery Top Ten Club story, followed by a text that is designed to win people over.

Barton has texted Jim White to stay he's staying.