Rich

Aye, same goes for Duff when he returns as well. Could be back to his lethal best in the "Chelsea style" formation, if he wants it enough. I'm hoping the fact he was so poor was down to Roeder and injuries as much as anything else, he certainly always seemed to be trying at the very least. I'm quite excited that we played so well against Bolton and in pre-season without having Owen, Emre, Duff and Barton for all of the "better" performances we put in.

Cacapa can play right-back, but I've never heard of him playing left-back. Would still love a specialist right-back, Faye and a left-footer who can play CB/LB - but I'm an exceptionally greedy bastard. I don't actually mind Babayaro playing, but he's never bloody fit. Left-back would be looking tasty if he'd quit being injured.

Are the people asking for away games insane? Someone utterly dross at SJP, please.

I'd like to see Emre at least given a shot at playing this sort of role that we're talking about, if people like Carr are being given a chance and a clean slate, then he deserves one as well. I think he could thrive in the 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation, and he's more than just a "creative" player, he battles and works his socks off as well. I hope we keep him and I pray that he proves me right, but I'm very excited to see what he can produce under Alladyce and with the new formation.

We were still in the hunt for a specialist RB anyway and I can't imagine Big Sam will let Nobby leave without a replacement incoming for him. Way I see it is this: Martins/Milner can play RWF to a high standard (or whatever it's official title is) when we play 4-5-1/4-3-3, we also have Geremi and Smith who could play there, at a push. If it's a 4-4-2 then there's still Geremi and Milner who can play there, at the least. Because of the sort of players Allardyce has already brought in, we're better covered in absolutely every area of the park to an acceptable degree even if Solano isn't directly replaced. It would be ideal if he was, though, and we got Faye as well. I still think there's time, but like OML says we might have to pay a bit over the odds because of how late in the day it is. Dyer has already been replaced, as well, if you ask me - so we're only really losing 1 quality player as it stands. I know it's easy to forget him, but Damien Duff is still here (although I appreciate that it's another 3 months before he's playing again) and we haven't seen anything of Emre or Barton yet, either, we do actually have tonnes of players who can play in all of the midfield positions as well. Enrique left-midfield, Rozehnal defensive midfield, as two brief examples. As far as I can see if Faye comes in we'd have 2 players for every position, plus Luque (who might be leaving, yet). Krul and Carroll are out on loan and Edgar and Huntington are arguably too young. So we still have 23 "senior" players on the books, not taking injuries into account. People might argue that having Babayaro instantly drops us to 22, for example If Luque goes we most certainly need another player in, but as far as I can see even before Nobby wanted to leave we were after Faye plus another, so I have faith that we'll be alright.

It's absolute bollocks, man. For sure. West Ham acted the bollocks during the deal and Mort and Ashley demanded more money out of them because of it. It's done, we won. The board did the right thing and we're £2M better off. Huzzah. Denyong one unsubstantiated story, then claiming another is true. Ouch. Aye, the truth will come out some day - hopefully soon - and you'll see that's not what I'm doing at all. Have some faith in things, man.

It's absolute bollocks, man. For sure. West Ham acted the bollocks during the deal and Mort and Ashley demanded more money out of them because of it. It's done, we won. The board did the right thing and we're £2M better off. Huzzah.

I have to nip out very swiftly, but in regards to that post Johnny, you cannot underestimate Alllardyce's new formation, Solano's age and Dyer's injury problems - plus the fact that we might be bringing in another play if Solano leaves, as well. If you know what I mean. So then we'll have 3 players replacing O'Brien, Dyer and Solano, which will look a mile better on paper. Geremi was brought in as an aside to Solano and probably with Sam thinking both would play together (their link-up play in some of the friendlies was fantastic), so I could still see us getting another "forward" player in if Nobby does indeed leave, your shouts for the type of player we need is exactly right. I know what you're saying about Dyer's pace and Solano's vision, but with Allardyce comes a completely different system and I'm not sure there was a place for either in the first eleven if he ever had his full squad available with them still here. Perhaps Dyer, but Solano wouldn't have had a sniff, IMO. I suppose the proof will be in the pudding, but I see Geremi and Smith as being better than Solano and Dyer in the current climate, especially considering we'll have paid about £2-3M less for the pair of them.

He was supposedly up here for a medical last night, discussions are thought to be in an "advanced stage". Expect some news this afternoon/evening, probably. Same with Kieron Dyer.

If Faye comes as well he'll have signed 5 quality players who all have a good amount of Premiership experience, which is exactly what he said he was looking for. In Smith, Geremi, Viduka and Barton he has also signed four "leaders", which is also exactly what he said he was looking for (I'm not sure what Faye's character is like). It's brilliant to have a manager who has a gameplan and - for the most part - sticks to it. Even when he's bought from abroad, Enrique aside, (which was a good signing in it's own right because of the potential of the lad) he's brought in Lyon's captain and Rozehnal, who looks a natural defender in the Woodgate-mould to me, which instantly leads by example to people like Taylor. Fantastic work from him, Mort and Cushing so far - with more to come as well. Rozehnal - Bramble Cacapa - Moore Faye - Onyewu Enrique - Bernard Smith - Dyer Geremi - Solano Barton - Parker Viduka - Sibierski Is how it's potentially looking so far, with a mooted "replacement" for Srnicek's former role being worked on as well, not to mention another potential signing for the defence. Looks great, on paper.

Apparently not, according to the Journal this morning. Seems like Portsmouth is the most likely destination.

I'd be very surprised after the performance at Bolton. Substitute at best, barring any injuries.

Cracking goal tonight, mind. Fair play to the lad.

Faye will come in to provide competition for CB first and foremost and will also push for a spot in midfield/at right-back, which is a canny good signing if you ask me. On top of that I would still hope there's scope for specialist right-back OR a Dragutinovic-style player who can play centre-half and left-back. I know we have N'Zogbia and Babayaro for back-up in that position, but I'm being greedy. We might even get in another "senior goalkeeper" as well. If we got Faye plus this other defensive player, and sold Luque, Dyer and Solano, while loaning out Ramage, Huntington and Edgar I'd be delighted with our squad for this season. A specialist right-back, with good pedigree and this Dragos-style player would be the stuff dreams are made of. We are in the market for more than one more outfield player, if you ask me, even if Nobby/Dyer both stay (which they won't.)

He's the new Woodgate, man. Although hopefully far less injury prone.

What exactly did Rozenhal do to get dropped?? Have to second this. 159 out of 166 people have picked Rozehnal, more than anyone else so far.

Eto'o at one point as well, weren't we? ...and van Bronckhorst?

That would be the ideal, but I think they need more people if anything else. I can't see why the club couldn't offer this sort of thing for cup games. What about getting people who want to sing stationed in all four corners of the ground? That means there's atmosphere coming from every side and will encourage people in the middle of the stands to join in. Methinks the club are going to be a lot more open to this sort of thing with the new owners here.

Just ignore him, man. It's not difficult. You're the ones going to meet the club on Friday and having a full story in the Chronicle dedicated to you, not him. You will never win with certain people, you're never going to get everyone singing at the match. There will always be people who go to watch the football and don't feel comfortable joining in too much with the atmosphere. Just look at how many on here are saying "well done". You know that a lot of us don't care for the name, but the vast majority of our posters appreciate what you lads are trying to do, take heart from that if nothing else. Let us know how the meeting goes as well, and keep up the good work as the others have said before me

Lads, keep the bollocks out of here please. Kane, you've let yourself down badly there by rising to Crumpy's bait, you should do what everyone else on here does these days and ignore him/take everything he says with a bucket of salt. Absolutely no need for this to descend into farce and I've deleted the posts in hope that we can keep it on track. You do yourself and the Ultras absolutely no favours by going on like that, though, and you'll never get any support from the "older" fans if that's how you respond to tongue-in-cheek comments/criticism. We all know Crumpy doesn't care for the Ultras, it's old news, but he's one person. What does it matter? He's entitled to his opinion, whether you agree with it or not. Let the actions of your group speak for themselves and I'll be joining you lads for the cup games, like I have done for the past 3 seasons or something now. You've got this meeting with the club, go and do yourselves proud and good luck with it, they're going to want to hear what you have to say. Alienating fans with that sort of nonsense you've just posted here is not the way forward and makes you fit your stereotypes nicely. Really disappointing.

Aye haha, you can stick the word 'Official' on it all you like but if theres already a thread on it, no point. Merge or delete this methinks.. There's always someone moaning This is perhaps going to be used down the line to help with/be a part of the Newcastle-Online Match Previews, think of this as sort of a "pilot" scheme in the meantime to see what sort of response it gets. I don't see the problem with it running in conjuction with the "Pre-Match thread" at the moment, until some proper guidelines are set down for it. Would NSG have been moaning had he not been the thread-starter of this week's thread in question? I think not. As an idea, I think it's fantastic and should perhaps be the starting point of the pre-match thread in the future, rather than coming around on a Wednesday. Also, 89 voters and 14 "proper" replies show that there is room for both at the minute, the pre-match thread is still ticking over. I do agree that in an ideal world we'd have them running together though. We'll hopefully get it sorted for Boro (a).

Pogo, if you love the toon. Goods news all this, if you ask me, apart from the name everything about the Ultras is quality.

Mmmmm hmmmm.

Same team/formation as we played away to Bolton, with the bench consisting of: Forster, Cacapa, Enrique, Ameobi and Owen. That's my prediction.

Rather he goes to Portsmouth than West Ham, have nothing against Pompey apart from disdain that God-awful bell-ringing bastard.