Benwell Lad

Saw Mainz play in December. Player who caught the eye was a Adam Szalai 22 year old 6'4" Hungarian centre forward - mobile and notched a couple but this is his first season in top league. Was interesting Liverpool but they went for someone else apparently. Das Bild reporting that Arsenal and Dortmund now want him. Why don't Newcastle monitor this site - they could have had a two year head start.

See he's requested Webb for Sunday.

Problem with that is that there aren't any. Aye it would be the smallest thread in the history of the internet.

Exactly Aye, unless there's a player holding an NUFC shirt or an official club statement it's hardly worth thinking about what we're up to nowadays. Very little, if anything, is given to the press so they just throw names around and speculate on progress or lack of it to fill up a few inches.

Difficult, nay impossible to disagree with one word of that.

So this latest crisis we're in makes it open season to question/criticise/abuse Ashley's ownership and his financial strategy again. That's fine of course, but what is the suggested alternative this time, bearing in mind he won't be changing course any time soon ? Is it fairy godmother Arabs, fanzine editors wanting our pension pots or perhaps another "Geordie" knight in shining armour dashing to our rescue?

Don't worry, right now it seems like you ARE this thread, so just say what you want.

Frankly it's not even a backpeddle from the "great" man himself. Most likely a statement prepared by "advisors", aimed at damage limitation, which they have persuaded him to put his name to.

Aye, undoubted talent but seems to play the game like a schoolkid tossing it off in the school yard. Definitely needs to drop a level or two to see if he can acquire the maturity he needs to start progressing.

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Excellent post! Absolutely top post. So obviously written by a real supporter and sums up how so many of us feel. Bang on about Probert too. In a sport where the top referees so obviously display the fact that they have never played the game, this freak is probably the worst of a very bad group. Time the game's authorities took a whole new look at refereeing and change age limits etc to allow those who have played the game to move into refereeing and not end up with strange people who for some obscure reason wish to start refereeing when they are still children.

Two biggest disappointments about today are not having placed a huge bet on Brighton to win when the teams were named and not witnessing Lee "Freak" Probert run into a goalpost and suffer a career ending injury. We may be scraping the barrel in terms of who's in the side but Newcastle United fans deserve better than that whoever is playing.

Do the macums have cheeysee chips on the coach after away matches ?

I think he means theres no way the incoming Ba fee will pay for an equivalent replacement and the balance will have to come from the budget.

I was told something a couple of weeks ago which I have chosen not to repeat. I would class the source as pretty credible and he was talking about a possible January departure. There is a personal problem which has changed circumstances since the contract was signed but it has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone else at the club, or indeed the team's form, if said source is to be believed.

Really? Is she married to a Newcastle fan?

Heard a couple of weeks ago that there was a personal issue which could lead to a hasty departure, but absolutely nowt to do with the Pardew storm in a teacup or MacDonald's rubbish.

Aye, I often wonder if it's as nervous watching home games n the box. Hope she's better soon mate!

Nowt against Demba but "decency" doesn't exist in the dictionary of those who are pulling the strings on this deal.

Looks like he may be gonna do a "Gyan" as well "He has made nearly £65,000 from the United Arab Emirates ministry of foreign affairs, and nearly £83,000 from the London Speaker Bureau"

There's something almost surreal about such a great player and consistent goalscorer's exit being met by many fans with a mixture of relief and excitement.

Not totally true on two fronts. First - His blueprint is for the club to be self sufficient, if a players cost fits within the clubs affordability he’ll be bought irrespective of fee. The other “condition” is that he has resale value, that does not have to be more than he was bought for, just more than his value “on the books” at the time of sale (due to amortisation). Second – “competitive wages” are paid already (daft wages are not) and will continue to be so, so long as it fits with the % of turnover for wages that’s been laid down. It really is quite simple, players will be bought if it fits the model. If they don’t they won’t. In hindsight, he made a mistake in the summer, there was a case for a little speculate to accumulate, especially given the explosion in PL dosh next season. Hopefully he’s learned from that, but it doesn’t need a daft or never ending splash of cash. In fact if we hadn’t had so many injuries (way more than you could possibly reasonably expect) the apparent summer non-spend likely wouldn’t have been a factor. Yup, that is exactly the policy at present contrary to what many would have us believe. I agree. Thing is before this "self sufficient" policy came into effect Mike Ashley pledged that he would invest 20 million per season of his own money on top of making the club more financially stable. I can understand how he retracted that promise when the fans turned against him, but you would hope that as things have stabilised in terms of fan discontentment, he would now go back to his initial blueprint for the club. Whatever anyone thinks of him, anyone with a brain would understand that an interested Ashley is better for NUFC than an uninterested one.

Not totally true on two fronts. First - His blueprint is for the club to be self sufficient, if a players cost fits within the clubs affordability he’ll be bought irrespective of fee. The other “condition” is that he has resale value, that does not have to be more than he was bought for, just more than his value “on the books” at the time of sale (due to amortisation). Second – “competitive wages” are paid already (daft wages are not) and will continue to be so, so long as it fits with the % of turnover for wages that’s been laid down. It really is quite simple, players will be bought if it fits the model. If they don’t they won’t. In hindsight, he made a mistake in the summer, there was a case for a little speculate to accumulate, especially given the explosion in PL dosh next season. Hopefully he’s learned from that, but it doesn’t need a daft or never ending splash of cash. In fact if we hadn’t had so many injuries (way more than you could possibly reasonably expect) the apparent summer non-spend likely wouldn’t have been a factor. Yup, that is exactly the policy at present contrary to what many would have us believe.

John Terry straight swap and Lampard as player/assistant manager ??

Was thinking this before, even in the stands I dont sense many turning on Pardew/the team like with previous managers, especially Alladyce and Souness. I think most can see we've had problems this year especially with injuries. Was looking for a spare this morning and on .co.uk it looks very close to a sell out. Excellent if so, considering form, midweek TV, return to work hangovers etc.