Rich

Hope this one goes through as well. Babayaro's days must be numbered, thankfully. Ramage being nowhere near the first-team is also good news in my eyes and he might be able to get out on loan for a season to bring his game on a bit, along with Huntington.

Excellent stuff, there's Craig Moore replaced. Only Onyewu and Bernard to cover now and we're no worse off numbers-wise than we were last season. Is everyone optimistic again yet?

Wayhey.

Should also state that he seemed a decent lad as well, although he did know all the words to "Love Shack" and looked mincey as fuck (sort of like a male Avril Lavigne.) At least he's not a fucking charva, though.

He's now probably thinking "I wish I'd asked Woodgate about Newcastle."

Absolutely gutted I didn't speak to him in Florida now, was literally a foot away from the bloke in a club in Downtown Disney in June and was tempted to ask him if he'd ever consider coming here. Funny how things work out. No idea what Sam's intentions are for him, but I'm happy enough he's here anyway.

Get him in. Not my first-choice for the fullback position and not entirely convinced he'll follow in the footsteps of a few other players and come here over Everton with him being our apparent "second choice" and us leaving it late, but I'd be happy enough if we got him for that money. The Sunderland thing would make it all the sweeter. Potential defensive incomings of Baines, Cacapa and Dragutinovic on top of Rozehnal would seem to be a massive improvement on Bramble, Bernard, Moore and Onyewu and I'd be delighted with it. If we get this Steinsson bloke as well, who we've apparently bid for, then we'll be looking well-stocked in the defence and we'd hopefully be able to send Ramage and Huntington out on loan.

NUFC.co.uk

Thought Adriano was a right back? Every time I saw Sevilla play Drago played at left back. Adriano's a left-winger/left-back, but if you're a Pro Evo fan they had him down as a right-winger/right-back on the last game. Could be where the confusion stems from. It is indeed Had him in my last master league team. Not usually one for tooting my own horn. But, beep beep.

I think we'd struggle to keep two defensive midfielders happy so perhaps Faye would be the better signing of the two, simply because he can cover at the back if we need him to, if you look at how Allardyce lined them up at Bolton a fair few games he didn't even use a DM, he was happy to play Speed, Campo and Nolan. We could do the same against the weaker teams, especially at SJP where we would hope to dominate, a midfield trio of Emre, Barton and Geremi would still give us a good balance with a bit more attacking power, I do agree though that there are times when we're going to need someone like Diop or Faye in there. Spot on about the difficulty in keeping two players happy. However, Butt is getting on a bit and in my eyes shouldn't be an automatic first choice for us anyway. Would be a difficult balancing act, but you have to take injuries into account and we've got two "senior" players in every other position in the front six already, with some to spare. Speed, Campo and Nolan have a fair bit more defensive instinct/power/nouse about them than our current central midfielders, as well. You're also right about the home games against perceived "weaker" opposition. Diop is fairly capable on the ball and can offer a lot going forward, and it's definitely not always necessary to play with a "shield" in front of the defence. Faye probably won't offer the same as Bouba going forward though, who isn't simply a "DM" and who has proven himself capable of playing a bit. Allardyce knows this, as you've pointed out, but if he isn't sticking with what he knows/has used at Bolton it could work if you leave the DM to shield the centre-halves and provide cover for two extremely attacking full-backs. Playing a DM doesn't necessarily mean you need to play more defensive on the whole, as you'll know. I'd be happy with either of the two, obviously delighted with both, but I'd still like to see Diop here for £3M to see if Big Sam and the new surroundings could make a "player" out of him again. When he was on form he looked like somebody who should be at a far bigger club than Fulham but as we all know he seems to have fallen from grace since then. Would definitely excite me, though. We'll see, though.

It was on the North East News tonight, apparently.

Thought Adriano was a right back? Every time I saw Sevilla play Drago played at left back. Adriano's a left-winger/left-back, but if you're a Pro Evo fan they had him down as a right-winger/right-back on the last game. Could be where the confusion stems from.

Marca did say he wouldn't be allowed to leave until he had been replaced, though, so we'll see what happens in the coming days on the Sevilla front. Another defender in? Six-foot plus? Left-footed? Part of one of the best national defensive units in the world? Sevilla regular? Colour me enthused.

A good point, but I don't rate Butt as highly as most and I'd be happy if Diop was going to be the "first choice" in that role, personally. Competition for places can't be bad though and at the moment Butt has no competition at all for the defensive midfield role. Emre, Barton and Smith can all "play" there, but none of them are natural in that role and Butt-inclusive none of them are much cop on set plays/powerful in the air (something we've sorely missed in the middle since we sold Speedo.) Two players for every position is ambitious - and difficult to manage - but I've more faith in Allardyce to be able to do it than I've had in the previous two managers here (which isn't saying much.) I'm not quite sure where Smith fits into things (and this Diop stuff could be/probably is bollocks), but if you take it as Diop/Butt battling for the defensive midfield role and Emre/Barton gunning for the other central position (if we're playing 4-4-2 of course) then it looks very, very healthy indeed - especially when you take injuries/potential injuries into account. The squad is fairly "hefty" in the front six places when everyone is fit, though, but that's a very rare occurrence up here! When you look at the midfield pool, the only thing missing in my eyes is someone of Diop's abilities/stature, as we seem to have everything else pretty well covered. It's a good variation we've got in there for different circumstances... and we'll be fucking brilliant on the next Football Manager.

I want Diop here, if possible. Has fallen away a bit at Fulham but is a powerhouse and has a lot of pedigree, hopefully he's just gone stale at a fairly gash little club. If he could get motivated again and if he'd thrive in our new "regime" then he'd be a massive boost to the squad and exactly the sort of player I've been harping on about us signing for a good while now. I'd be thrilled if we got him, actually. The days of looking a soft touch of a side *should* be hopefully coming to a close and the squad is starting to get a more "varied" look about it since Sam's arrival. I'd be pleased with Faye as well, although I can imagine it would be extremely difficult to get Bolton to sell to us after all that's happened. However, I've been certain for a while that we'd go there and pinch a player before August 31st and the big lad certainly fits the bill if there's no need to go after Nolan/Anelka.

Simple, but effective

Nope. Shame, really.

Have the hystericals shut their traps now that Mort has come out, again, in the media to placate their little souls with some words?

"Drag-u-tin-o-vic! Dragutinovic!" To the tune of: "Where's your Woodgate gone"?

I just want him back to what he was in his first full season here. I fucking loved him that year and he was one of the very, very few bright points of the Souness reign. As long as he's in the team in one of his actual positions, I'm happy. Left-wing firstly, centre-mid second and left-back if absolutely necessary. Not sure he has the vision to play in behind the strikers, not just yet anyway. He's an "impact" player, ideally suited to bursting up the flanks/through the middle... the Juve game was eerily reminiscent of of the times two seasons ago when he'd receive the ball on the flank from a quick goalie throw and the whole crowd would roar him forwards... and quite often he'd make something useful happen. Our most exciting player on his day and invaluable if he has his head right. As he gets older and slows down a little/learns more discipline/experience I think he could become a top-class fullback as well.

It could be fallacy?

We'll see what happens. Seems to me like a re-hash of Oliver's article with a different slant on it. If his agent says the lad wants to play in the Premiership, I believe he'd choose us over Nice and Sochaux. I trust agents, me.

NE5, howay man, as far as I can see that was a marvelous job you just did of skirting the real issue/shifting the blame onto others (who I'd already mentioned in my original reply to you - I do realise you're not the only one with an apparent "agenda"/what appears to others as an "agenda".) Being a gent, I'll actually reply to what you say though, makes for good debate you see? As far as I can see Big Sam is frustrated with the takeover more than anything, because after this "rip roaring" start we were all so enthused about things seem to have fallen a little bit flat after Ashley has got a firm grip over the club and taken us off the market. Whether this situation is short-term (as I'm inclined to agree) or long-term remains to be seen, but I'm of the opinion that you're not going to shell out £130M on a football club and take on a rumoured £80M debt unless you want to get some money back out of it, or at least raise your public profile, or something. So the personal investment will probably come, which is where we would have been lacking had Shepherd stayed (either yourself or HTL agreed with me a while back about the worry of "falling behind" these clubs with "new money" under Shepherd and Co.) None of us know the reasons and you're completely valid in your concerns about them not "knowing the game" - concerns I share with you - but concerns that again will be short-term while Mort gets to grips with the job, aided by Allardyce - who we both seem to agree was a fantastic appointment by the previous board who unfortunately came a few years too late, much like Bobby Robson. But at least Shepherd got his man eventually - and yes, he SHOULD be backed, but not to the point of financial problems - like we were heading towards under the old regime. Like I've said, I think you're worrying too early, it's only bloody July and they've had full and unmitigated control for less than 12 full days. It's asking a lot... and we don't even know that there's no money there. Only last week Allardyce was quoted as saying there were "lots of bids in for players" and various deals hadn't worked out, etc. so we are actively moving in the market and more money is going to be spent on transfer fees and wages. We should also not forget that Mort and Ashley are funding Allardyce's backroom plans - much like Shepherd also promised - and that we are still "poaching" staff from clubs to make up his "team" behind the scenes. None of which will be coming cheap and all of which points to "backing the manager". If they really wanted to squeeze Big Sam they would not be building him this "war room" or bankrolling his recruitment drive, would they? This is all stuff that they are definitely doing for him, as it's come from the horse's mouth. You and Baggio are correct in addressing this apparent "blind faith" amongst some on here about "anyone being better than Shepherd", when it could well be proven to be very, very far from the actual truth. But as I've said, I think you've blown your wad somewhat by getting onto the back of the new board merely 12 days after the de-listing of the football club and harmed your credibility on this issue because of it. You've just agreed there though that we "can" panic on September 1st if things turn out as badly as they did last summer, which is fair enough on your part. As for the £10M quid comment, for all we know it could be there, as I've said we don't know what's available and there is as much media evidence both from internal AND external sources to say that Big Sam will be backed than there is to say that he won't. He's criticised them for moving slowly and missing targets but has he actually said they aren't providing him the money to pursue people? The last I saw from him he said he picks the names and Mort does the negotiating, he has not been set any price restrictions. You're already saying we'll lose Allardyce because of the new board, 12 days into their full reign, which is grossly unfair on people who are admittedly brand-new to the football business. That's all the ammo you have, though, at this moment in time - the only stick you currently have to beat Mike Ashley and Chris Mort with is the fact that they aren't experienced at running a football club. I mentioned earlier the potential need for Shepherd staying on, or Dein coming in (which they tried to do, apparently) or a DOF being brought in to bridge the "gap" between manager and board (if there is one), but you completely ignored it and stuck "on message." Basically, I appreciate why you have the concerns you do, but I feel you've been a bit hasty in airing them. I also strongly believe you'd be on exactly the opposite side of the fence if Shepherd was still in control, while the likes of Mick would probably be slating the former chairman at this stage in proceedings while you did the whole "32 days left" line that I've been pulling. You'll probably both deny it, but from what I've seen I'd wager a lot on that being the case. That was the point of my last post and that is why it appears to people on the "outside" that you both have agendas for/against the previous Chairman.

Yeah, 'cos that thing is fact-filled, isn't it? Two for the price of one. Easy pickings on here today, like!

Wiki says he has... Yesterday Wiki had him down as signed for Panithinikos. Tongue in cheek, man. Wiki is hardly as reliable as the Bible, is it? It is mentioned on numerous other sites, mind (after a quick Google of "Cacapa Al Rayyan"), no word on Panathinaikos anywhere.