Rich

He's getting on, though. I'd rather we found a longer term solution, we've done two years without a proper right back. Aye, I keep forgetting his age because of the way that he looks. He's 31/32 now isn't he? Would just seem to me to be a very good instant-fix who could probably do you for a good season or two. It's a big ask to get a young lad to come straight in and do the business as first-choice.

I don't think we need more change at the club at this time, we need stability. Exactly. I understand that it might be the terms of the agreement and that the club/Chris Mort will have their own (good) reasons for deciding it either way, but as far as NUFC goes, from a purely selfish perspective, it'll do us no good in the immediate future to be changing chairman again, especially if the bloke who takes over has a distinct lack of knowledge about the area, the club and the game itself - which Mort admittedly had last June.

Same here, because he'd probably command less wedge than either of them and seems a good lad. Things have been thrown a bit in the air since all the wage stuff has come out, though, it's not as easy as my first instinct of just "buying the best we can". But he's not that young Supertoon, he's about 27.

Next summer, I think.

Very excited for this, but it's probably going to be another huge let-down. Praying for an early goal from Man Utd to make it interesting.

He's incredibly underrated, if you ask me. They went to shite after he got injured against us (although I realise there were other things that played big roles in their dip in form).

Would probably want daft money to come up here, unfortunately, so he'd probably not be ideal - especially when we already have Enrique here.

I like the tournament idea more than anything else suggested so far, could become a staple thing for a few years including a raft of previous clubs (whoever was available)? PSV, Barcelona, Sporting, Porto, Us, Ipswich, Fulham and WBA aren't exactly a bad pool to choose from! Obviously the venue could change each year, along with the participants. It'd be a bugger to organise, but could be a very nice touch for a very good man.

Am I the only one who's finding this thread far more entertaining than our own one, by the way? And as far as Hleb goes, Diablo, he's away isn't he? Rosicky is as good as him, anyway.

The answer. I can't believe people have doubts as to whether there are protective measures written into Barton's contract. Even if Freddy Shepherd maliciously left a time bomb (or Ashley and Mort royally fucked up one of their first ever transfers) there is no way known that we are paying Barton's wages while he is in the clink. The Dabo assault was fresh in the minds which would have prompted a "last chance" clause - a chance he blew when he beat the shit out of a boy, just after an assaulting another man. So the power is entirely in the clubs hands. I'm surprised no one has pointed out that Joey Barton played on the left side of our midfield three - the same position it was expected a certain Luka Modric might fill had he not chosen the Yids. Perhaps the club was already preparing for life after Barton...? Aye, to take my arse firmly off the fence, and after thinking about it a fair bit more/reading all the news about it from various sources, I want him gone in the way that Baggio has suggested, if it's at all possible. If it was me making the decision, that's the route I'd take. However, I'll support him/the club if he's kept on, of course, but he'll have to be much fucking better when he's on the park.

Definitely, this would be bang-on. Shame it might only happen after he pops his clogs (which hopefully won't be anytime soon.) Fantastic man. Would probably top my list of people in football who I'd like to share a pint with, could listen to him all day.

Keita will replace Yaya Toure, will he not? Seems pretty much like-for-like, so will open the door for him to join his big brother at Arsenal I suppose. This summer looks like it's going to be a very, very busy one for a lot of big clubs.

Aye, saw that today, just wondered about Villa simply because of them not having a right-back to begin with, and then with Mellberg leaving... he'd be ace for them.

Aye, only bit I'd disagree with there is the "Allardyce in the long run" bit. He'd already lost the fans and the players were turning on him as well, he was past the point of no return, unfortunately.

The media will have a field day with this if it happens, by the way, no matter what the reason is that Mort is going.

What would you call drastic? Employing a brand new board, brand new coaching staff, brand new manager (replacing one that had only been brought in a few months prior), bringing Kevin Keegan back to the club... not drastic enough for you? I'd say it's been a refreshing change. Whether what Mort's done has been good or bad for the club remains to be seen in my opinion; it's been less than a year since the very first changes were implemented. I don't think we can judge fully his contribution to Newcastle United until we're two or three years down the line. I've got an inkling, however, that he got away with a bad decision by sacking Allardyce. That makes no sense to me, especially after the run we went on towards the end of the season under Keegan. He didn't "get away" with it, really. He replaced Allardyce with the right man at what turned out to be the right time, despite most of our protestations in January, and we stayed up comfortably, playing some very good football and achieving some very good results along the way. Granted it took a bit of time to get the ball rolling, but I dread to think where we'd be at this point in time had Allardyce not have relieved of his duties.

Ben Arfa is the most ball-greedy player I've seen for years, and I think it'll be Spurs who are in for him. (Seriously).

As things stand, yes. Our glaring weakness this year (well, one of them) has been we have no right side whatsoever. No right sided midfielder, and no right back. He'd have got plenty of games last season, it just depends who else we buy this summer. Has there been any rumours linking Finnan with your lot, brum? With him out of favour at Liverpool I'd personally say he could still be an excellent player for one of the teams just outside of the top four. I still think he could do a job at Anfield, really.

Somewhere in a basement up North, Scottish Mag's patriot alarm has just started buzzing frantically. Get him sorted man.

Somewhere in a basement up North, Scottish Mag's patriot alarm has just started buzzing frantically.

There was something else he was up for, wasn't there? Something minor? Damage-related? Sure I remember seeing it ages ago in a few articles.

If found guilty of the Dabo thing, does anybody have any real idea of what sort of sentence he could face? I know it's apparently "up to 5 years", but I'd eat a hat if he got that. What would be the realistic outcome? I'd say as a club we're probably waiting on the verdict for that one before making any decision.

I don't think this can be used when sentencing for the Dabo incident as it happened after that took place. Aye, of course technically it shouldn't be, but he'll be standing trial before a regular jury. I'd say the chances of this "not being taken into account" are slim-to-none, unless they get 12 people who haven't seen a sports section for the past 6 months. Oh right, I thought you were talking about it being considered when the judge passes sentencing. No worries, I didn't exactly make it clear, was merely talking "guilty/not guilty". I'd be more worried if he'd been fucking brilliant for us, as others have said, but by the same token I don't expect all of our players to be angels. Like Alex said previously, I'd bet most people know others/have relatives who've done worse in their time than this specific incident. Not fussed either way I suppose.

I don't think this can be used when sentencing for the Dabo incident as it happened after that took place. Aye, of course technically it shouldn't be, but he'll be standing trial before a regular jury. I'd say the chances of this "not being taken into account" are slim-to-none, unless they get 12 people who haven't seen a sports section for the past 6 months.

It's a fucking tricky situation, made even worse by the fact that he's still waiting for trial for a further two offences, including the Dabo one which he could get royally fucked with now that this is on his record as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see him shot of.