Rich

Most definitely not. And that last sentence - provided Solano stays - also has some sound logic behind it.

I'd take it with a pinch of salt although I think if somebody did offer that sort of cash and he didn't sell then he'd be mad. Back to these claiming to know about his intentions, before Ashley bought us we knew nothing about the possible sale, nobody in the media predicted it yet now they all think they know what he's up to, they haven't a clue, they're only guessing. Ashley doesn't seem to be the type of person who people know much about yet all of the papers are speculating what is going to happen, pathetic. They have to fill their NUFC quotas though, keep the idiots up here buying the papers when we're on the back pages. I'm still alarmed at how much people believe the rags... especially the likes of the Mirror/Sun/News of the World. Granted, they occasionally get it right and have some substance behind the words, but the vast majority of stuff written will come from nowt more than rumour, imagination and ill-informed gossip and be purely designed to shift copy - which is the nature of the beast, as I've said before. I won't slag the papers, editors or writers themselves off for doing it because that's what they get paid to do. This is also why I don't bait Oliver as much as most on here because he's just doing his job and trying to make money for his employer - he certainly gets us all talking and reading what he says, even if just online, so he's probably not doing a bad job from the Chronicle's point of view. Why do they care that they're accurate and impartial all of the time if they sell more papers with the current methods? Also, and this is the real key thing that has just struck me, I love how there are certain people on here who don't seem to trust Mort and Ashley as far as they could throw them and question their every utterance, but these same people are quite happy to go cock-a-hoop when there's a story in one of the newspapers which tries to show the club/owners in a bad light. People need to open their eyes a bit. I'm not saying that Mort and Ashley are all sunshine and happiness and that we should trust them unequivocally, but I personally trust them far more at this particular moment than the hacks who are paid to write stories on Newcastle United that will sell their papers.

Nobby off jet-setting again at 32, I suppose this makes it less upsetting if he does end up moving south.

Still 9th in the table, having played 2 games less than half of the teams in the league and 1 game less than the other nine. What an atrocious start.

Same team again. If it happens, does anybody know the answer to this: when was the last time we had three consecutive matches with the same starting eleven in all of them!? I bet nobody can be arsed to answer that/knows the answer - and I'm not going looking myself either I'd pop Solano on the bench for Ramage, if he's in the "right mind" - if not, then why not slot Enrique in to give him a taste of being involved in a matchday squad pre-Barnsley? If I can be my usual positive self, it does bode well on the injury front and might be another pointer to this football club heading in the right direction after the mess of the previous few years. Cue another bout of pre-Riverside pinkeye overnight.

Me too, far more than Sunderland - who I'm fairly sympathetic to (or have been for the last 7/8 years). I see Spurs as our rivals more than them lot down the road in the current climate. Jenas doesn't help.

Fay as guck.

Absolute pleasure to hear from Oba, as usual. Here's hoping for a goal or two for him on Sunday.

Who says the spending is over with? Also, who isn't taking sign-on fees into account? Geremi's was £2M, I'd assume Viduka's was even more, Caçapa won't been strictly "free" either... £30M ploughed in to clear the debt, as well. People have very, very short memories.

(Surely no need to quote when you're the post directly after!? )

By the way, those sums are extremely optimistic. Let's say we get 3 home games in the domestic cups in each of the next two seasons as a more "realistic" benchmark. That's still going to be around £100 of football for nothing, which ain't half bad.

"Please note, as usual, your own seat or area is not guaranteed and the Club reserves the right to re-allocate you with a reasonable alternative should it wish to do so."

Very tempting, although it's come at a bad time for me personally. It would be around £50 a month from now until August for my seat and I do go to every cup game, but it's a gamble like others have said because home cup matches aren't always a given.

Don't tell me I've lost my Captain Pessimistic title!? Even I think this reaction is a bit overboard, but I don't think it's a wind-up and it certainly isn't complete nonsense, as BottledDog has argued very well. I have been impressed with Allardyce's strengthening of the squad on a small budget and with Mort's recent handling of the media and supporters (much better than before!). All in all the outlay that has been made (excluding the 30 million that has gone into debt reduction for the long term financial health of the club and of course the money that went into acquiring the club in the first place) hasn't been sufficient to narrow the gap to the top clubs in this country at the moment, some of which have significantly strengthened their squads. In the long run, very significant investments will need to be made to get us up to the level where I expect Ashley wants us to be, even moreso as a lot of other clubs have been taken over and their owners are spending like mad as well. Not all will get it right of course, but if we continue to spend below average on the playing side I'm not sure if we're giving Allardyce everythign he needs to succeed. I assumed it was a wind-up because of this post from BrazilianBob in July (less than a month ago): We look to be spending exactly the outlay that he suggested 4 weeks ago on this very forum if Faye comes in from Bolton for around the £2M mooted price, so either Bob's the most fickle fan I've (almost) ever come across or he's trying to wind people up. Hope that clears things up regarding my viewpoint on the opening post.

You said anything less than a win away to Middlesbrough is "abysmal", actually. I'd be satisfied with a point as it would equal the start we made in 01/02 in our first three games against similar level opposition (Chelsea away, Sunderland home, Middlesbrough away). 5 points from three games, two of which are away, would not be a bad start at all.

Best wind-up I've seen for a while, fair play.

Geremi stayed behind because he's applying for citizenship, not because he was injured. Yup, saw the story and have commented on it in other threads. Will edit.

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcastleunited/chroniclesport/tm_headline=geremi-to-become-british-citizen%26method=full%26objectid=19676834%26siteid=50081-name_page.html That's better than mine, in fairness.

That has got to be sarcasm...

Fully up-to-date now, with added Geremi conspiracy theory!

This is really the first time that Allardyce has had any decisions to make regarding the starting line-up because of a number of things: • Carr and Rozehnal both played entire games in Denmark and Austria, respectively, which might rule them out. • Owen got another fifty-five minutes under his belt and will probably be pushing for a start. • Geremi and Martins might not be fit to play after they couldn't feature for their countries yesterday (although Oliver says they both will be.) • Caçapa will be pushing for his first start after appearing from the bench on Saturday. The definite starters at the moment are Harper, Taylor, N'Zogbia, Milner, Smith, Butt and Viduka.

Has he got any pace though? If he's tall athletic and powerful i dont want him. If he has the capability to kick a football over 50 yards then I'm not interested, either.

Wouldn't surprise me. If we don't get a RB in before the deadline then I can't see Carr remaining first-choice there much longer, now that we might have 4 decent centre-halves to keep happy - all of whom can play there.

Any confirmation on what was the hold up? Gartside had locked Faye in the mascot's changing room at the Reebok, left him dressed as a lion.

So are we expecting this one to finally go through today/tomorrow now then? Thank fuck for that, if so.