Rich

Seems a good pro, Shorey, certainly wouldn't mind us getting him. Does seem a very "Southern" sort of bloke though (not meant offensively, for once), so dunno if he'd fancy a move up here if there were other options in London open to him. People will worry about Jose, but the fact is that we need a left-back, and it makes sense to sign the best one we can possibly get (the best in the opinion of the scouts/Keegan, not us lot, I mean.)

No surprise there, but he won't have been on much to begin with.

Exactly. You'd think 6'2" was some super ginormous size based on Ronny's post.

Might be a fall-back option if the more high-profile deals don't come off? 25 years old, from abroad, seems to fit the bill.

Direct quotes from the player though, which is more than we've had from anyone else so far. He says the clubs have had contact.

Faye is nowhere near 6'2" in fairness Really?

Habib Beye winning by a landslide!

Who the fuck would fight with Abdoulaye Faye?

Speaks good English, gave an interview of MOTD after he scored past Birmingham. If Owen goes, I couldn't think of anyone more deserving of the armband. His English is good, he's been on Newcastle World TV loads this season.

Good old Nicko.

:lol:

Only saw 2 reserve games since he joined, but he looked very good in both. Lovely hair.

Yeah, 'cos that wasn't posted this morning on page 6 or anything...

He's an irritating twat who for some reason thinks his purpose here (his admittance) is to try and wind me up, but he just comes across as a total fuking cunt and i cannot be arsed with the prick in any way shape or form. Oh dear.

Come on fellas. Peas and love and all that jazz.

Want to read that interview like, not in Newcastle though. A scan would be much appreciated.

Thing is with Duff, he's been crocked loads, much like Smith. Has SWP suffered that much with injuries? To me, with him, it seems more psychological/lack of match practice than anything. He's also not quite as old as Duff was when we got him and doesn't seem to have lost his pace, either.

Agreed SWP has 'another gear'. But he would cost twice as much in wages and fees, is he that much better than Pennant? If he can recapture his form from his previous time under Keegan then he would be, simply for the pleasure we'd all have watching him play. He was unstoppable at times, not least when we beat them 4-3 under Souness. I'm not sure if "twice as much" is right either, like, as far as wages go. Pennant would be coming from the bench of a top-four club as well, you know? He'd hardly be cheap. If the choice was there between the two and both would come and we went for Pennant because he'd be cheaper then I'd be very NE5 about it, to be honest.

SWP showed at Man City that he is capable of carrying a team on his own, Pennant has never shown that. While both are better than what we have and while both a different players, I'd go for Wright-Phillips every day of the week. I still think there's a top-class player in there somewhere. I would never call Pennant top-class. He'll be a very good winger for somebody, but he's not at the level that SWP can play at. I've been wanting us to get SWP for ages, and I'm not sure if we ever will, but I think he'd be absolutely loved up here. I'm not sure Pennant would, because of his previous problems/bling boy attitude.

You're right. I wouldn't complain at going into next season with the current back-four as starters, but I can't say the same about at least 3 of the other positions on the park (Butt, Geremi and Viduka - who's crocked anyway, so make that Smith/Carroll.... ). However, like you also said, we've got absolutely zero cover for either full-back and Edgar/Cacapa don't exactly fill me with confidence as pertains back-up to Taylor and Faye. Diatta - well who knows on him? We definitely need another left-back if Zoggy goes (probably do anyway), at the very least, but in an ideal world I'd like to see us sign a quality centre-half. Dunne fits the bill, for me.

Heh. I just base it on the older blokes in my family more than anything. A lot of them are what I would call "divs" when it comes to football. I'm from Wallsend man, I've been associating with the proles my entire life

Another thing as well: if the speculation/prices are true on Gomis, then it would appear to bode well for our transfer budget this summer, as I'd assume that even if we had signed Modric for £20M then we'd still be in for a striker as well. The rumoured interest in Veloso has continued as well, alongside this. Maybe we will spend a lot of money between now and September, if we can get the players we bid for, of course.

Know nowt about this lad, bar what I've seen on YouTube in the past few days, but he's the sort of player who I would assume would excite the general public here if he came, myself included, even simply because he'd be known as a "highly rated young striker, the next Drogba" and because we'd shelled out a lot of cash for him. I think the same could have been said for Modric, unfortunately. Younger players like this tend to get a lot more leniency from the crowd, especially in the early days, and could be another beneficial aspect of going for them. Unlike players like Duff, Butt, Parker, etc. who come with big reputations from big clubs and have a lot of pressure on their shoulders from day one, Gomis would be an unknown quantity who would hopefully win the fans over quickly if he adapted well and showed some bright sparks in his play. Much like Robert did under Robson and Martins has done more recently (I know Martins was hardly unheard of to most on here, but I bet a lot of fans didn't really know a thing about him). I'd rather we took gambles on players like him to try and do something different than go for the likes of Saha, Ashton or Bent, to be honest. Might not be the most sensible policy 100% of the time, but it's a lot more exciting.

I have to see that part of my family for a wedding in July. If we lose Dunne to them after Woodgate, Modric, the Carling Cup and them finishing above us (I have to hand £20 over to my uncle for that) then the day could turn into a massacre. Thank God they haven't beaten us for 3 years, otherwise I dunno how I'd cope.

Viduka has been as important as those two, despite the lack of goals. We've always looked better with him on the pitch this season, whether Allardyce be here or not. I'm still not overly fussed on Owen, especially as I know in myself that he's agitating for a move (and has been for some time), but I'd be far happier to see us keep him than lose him at this current time. He's only ever one injury away from being a pariah again though.