magorific

17-yr-old striker from Atalanta, signing today apparently. Sorry if already posted.

Chron say Spuds DID make a bid for Zog but KK has knocked it back. Also claim we are signing Fabio Zamblera (17-yr-old Atalanta striker) today

Marca say he definitely isn't coming. At least, I think that's what Babelfish is saying... Alvaro will not finally go away to the Newcastle Alvaro Luiz Maior, Brazilian defense of Levante, will remain finally in the Valencian club, after not to have made specific east Wednesday his crossing to the Newcastle, equipment that supposedly a supply had presented/displayed east Tuesday to take control of its services and that had been accepted by the player and the levantinista organization. According to they explained the spokesman of the advice of administration of Levante, Navarrese Javier, and the representative of the player, Masterful Salvador, still does not know with certainty the reasons by which the operation has been stopped and it speculates on itself whereupon there has been a problem with the intermediaries, and whereupon there was not even any supply of the English club, since neither the Newcastle nor the Birmingham, the other club that had showed its interest, have confirmed their intention to take control of the services of Alvaro. The player and the club a supply of the Newcastle received through the office of the representative Jorge Mendes to take control of the services of Alvaro, and it even affirmed yesterday that the soccer player would travel today to England to pass the medical examination. Nevertheless, throughout the day it has not been possible to make specific the crossing reason why the Brazilian defense remained in Levante, since today it concluded the term for the international crossings. "If Alvaro feels deceived, the club also", affirmed Navarrese, that in addition informed into which in the next hours, Levante will give new explanations of the happened one, "as soon as we resist the information which we have".

If I can play devil's advocate for a minute, while Ferdinand was, on balance, an excellent signing, he went off the boil in front of goal when we needed him most in the final few months of 95/96. Still should have stayed beyond 97, but I remember him missing really good chances that would have got us vital points in the "title" year.

Chris Coleman has just resigned at Real Sociedad and was KK's captain at Fulham....... Nah, it's gotta to be Shearer as No 2

Not sure if already posted elsewhere. Decent read though. Now it’s time for Ashley to deliver Jan 13 2008 By Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun JOURNALISTS and pundits are often accused of sitting in ivory towers. Right now, many of them are on another planet. It’s up to those of us at ground zero amid the fall-out of another fine mess at St James’s Park to tell it like it is regarding Newcastle United. That would be the least the right-minded majority of the club’s fans deserve even if they were not being miscast as the villains in Tyneside’s now annual alternative panto. Discerning myth from reality in football’s nudge and wink world these days can be so difficult that the dressing up of speculation as gospel truth has become accepted practice. But dressing up ill-informed, lazily- delivered and downright offensive opinion as fact, when the facts are staring you in the face, is inexcusable. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT And the facts are not that Newcastle’s fans hounded Sam Allardyce out of a job; not that the terrace heroes of the Magpies’ lengthy tale of woe are the villains of this particular sorry chapter. I believe the most basic facts are these: Mike Ashley sacked Sam Allardyce by proxy, stripping credibility from chairman Chris Mort in the process – and from Newcastle United in his timing. And it is up to Mike Ashley to deliver now. To deliver genuine support to his manager – financial and emotional. To deliver him much more than lip service, a relative pittance in the transfer market and then the sack on the flimsy premise that the fans demanded it. But first and very much foremost, to deliver a manager. And what price that search, because of Ashley’s aforementioned ill-timing, becoming an ever more humbling wild goose chase? Even before they were persuaded to pursue a spiv by another spiv (Paul Kemsley), Newcastle – in ‘Arry parlance – had done ‘emselves up like a kipper. It seemed inconceivable that Ashley would sack Allardyce in mid-season without having a replacement not so much lined up as in the bag. Inconceivable, because the timing of the axe was always likely to send the majority of leading managers in gainful employment running for the hills. Yet lo and behold, Ashley did just that, and has thus plumbed new depths of embarrassment few thought possible for a club whose stock already appeared at rock bottom. In any event, he should have given Allardyce a season or no time at all (dismissing him at the off – on the basis that he wasn’t his choice of manager – would have been marginally more credible than fudging things until January). But in the event of not having Sam’s successor onside? What Ashley has done beggars belief. Yes, if you are looking for a villain, look no further than, err, Hong Kong. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll shed no tears for Allardyce. After promising beginnings, his tactics and his players proved as incompatible as our sympathy and his multi-million pound pay-off. But the realities of his reign have been lost amid the blame game played in his wake. And while it’s bad enough that outsiders are pinning Allardyce’s problems on supporters, it’s far worse if Ashley would have us believe the same. Not that that is the only work of fiction being penned amid another tawdry chapter in Newcastle’s lurid recent history. So let’s separate the lies from the truth. FICTION: Ashley acted in response to a “baying mob” of fans who “must be proud of themselves” for creating “another fine mess” (© Brian Woolnough, Daily Star) and “are living a very old dream” (© Steven Howard, The Sun). Ashley’s own mucker Kemsley (am I the only person uneasy that a spiv who guest stars on The Apprentice, not to mention gets embarrassingly rumbled tapping up a foreign manager, appears to have a big say in the future of Newcastle United?) also made out that his mate was merely giving the punters what they want. FACT: Other than for 20 minutes of a performance against Liverpool which had to be seen to believed, there was no baying mob. Not, that is, unless an away end singing “Big Sam’s black and white army” three days before his sacking fits the description. Many fans thought Allardyce could get it right, and even most of those who didn’t recognised he had to be given a chance. And why, if Ashley acted on behalf of the supporters, did he then pursue a manager few of them wanted? I’d also like to ask the likes of Woolnough and Howard why they don’t look across London for supporters who do deserve a club in crisis. But I guess to take Chelsea’s “faithful” to task for taunting Avram “two defeats in 26” Grant would be to s*** on one’s own doorstep. Newcastle fans? They are at fault – but only in continuing to turn up. Allardyce, as the contrary Kemsley also pointed out, was not Ashley’s appointment. As such he was always on borrowed time, with his meagre £9 million spending money last summer now seen to add up to nothing more than a sop from a billionaire going through the motions. We just didn’t know how little borrowed time. FICTION: The Magpie “mob” is baying for Alan Shearer to succeed Allardyce. FACT: This fits perfectly with the daft, insular Geordie stereotype so beloved down south. It’s also nonsense. A mere sprinkling of sane supporters apart, it’s the lowest common denominator of Geordie who is baying for Big Al – the doltish vocal minority sad enough to hang around St James’s Park on weekdays and do their performing seal act when the Sky cameras turn up. As for Sky’s own Andy Gray writing “as for the Geordie fans, you will not please all of them unless the new man is Shearer”, who needs an ivory tower when a TV gantry is far enough from reality? FICTION: Newcastle United are not a big club, despite their fanbase. FACT: The journalists who make this claim have reported on nothing else but Newcastle United since Allardyce’s sacking. Enough said. So what now? Well, whichever manager can be persuaded by Ashley that he isn’t a trigger- happy tyrant stands to be left exposed if Ashley fails to back him with hard cash rather than what, to him, amounted to the loose change he gave Allardyce. Indeed, the new manager will do well even to make good the refurb begun by Big Sam these last few months. Ashley allowed Allardyce to build half a team, and may find that completing the job is not as simple as getting a different site foreman on board, not to mention discover that unwanted Premier League players don’t shift as easily as replica shirts. And the billionaire’s obligations extend ever more obviously beyond his current cheerleading role when you appraise Mort’s current standing. If, as seems the case, he had such little inkling of Ashley’s decision that he was negotiating deals for Big Sam’s transfer targets on the afternoon of his dismissal, Mort has never looked more like a puppet chairman. No, in going from Fred the Fan to Grim Reaper this week, Tyneside’s favourite billionaire put his own neck squarely on the block. The new manager is “his” man, so he is his responsibility. Time for Mike Ashley to prove to fans for whom the club is a birthright whether Newcastle United is his hobby or a vocation.

Sorry if posted before, but this - and I have the paper in my hand - is what AO went with originally today, before Harry went on SSN: TAKE IT AS RED Harry set to be new United boss after getting his family's approval * Harry Redknapp will tie up his switch to Newcastle United – after getting the go-ahead from his family to make the move from the south coast to Tyneside. Sources in Portsmouth say that Redknapp’s wife Sandra is his rock and major decisions are always taken in consultation with her and his sons Mark and Jamie – the former Liverpool, Spurs and England international. I am one of the few journalists to have spoken to Harry in the last 24 hours, and he could not have been more professional, insisting he was focusing on Portsmouth’s game with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light tomorrow. But when I put the phone down I had a distinct feeling that I had been talking to the next manager of Newcastle United. And Harry did tell me: “Whatever I do I have got to make sure my two dogs are OK.” I believe those two bulldogs will soon be running along the beach at Tynemouth instead of the south coast where the Redknapp family are housed in one of the most exclusive estates in the country.

It's in the Chron. AO saying Sam has made an approach and that Pompey are the other club keen.

eh? why not? Most clubs insist on a 72-hour no-drinking curfew before games.

Sweet Jesus. The magistrate gets a case presented before them why bail should not be given. This does not equal being found guilty or not guilty for the offence. What did you think happend? Sweet Jesus. I asked that question before I'd read the report from the court, which explains exactly why the magistrate said what she said - his lawyer completely 'fessed up. If he hadn't she wouldn't have been legally entitled to say what she said.

Here's what kicked off then. . . Jayne Hughes, prosecuting, had earlier told the court that Barton could clearly be seen on CCTV involved in a series of incidents in Church Street in Liverpool city centre at 5.30am yesterday. She said Barton and his friends became involved in a confrontation with another group inside a McDonald’s restaurant and the manager asked both parties to leave. Outside, she said, the alleged affray took place when an unknown man made a gesture towards the player. She said there followed a final incident in which a man was allegedly punched to the ground by Barton. She said: “The CCTV clearly shows Mr Barton involved in altercations with members of the public going about their business. “He was seen pacing around Church Street and lashing out indiscriminately at people walking around and standing around.” Alongside Barton, his brother, Andrew, 19, from Widnes, is charged with actual bodily harm and affray and Nadine Wilson, 27, from Huyton, Merseyside, who was also part of Barton’s group, is charged with common assault and affray. Barton’s solicitor, Gwyn Lewis, said the 11-minute long incident was the result of a “great deal of provocation”. He said: “Mr Barton was involved in an incident of which he is in no way proud. “He was goaded. They recognised his face and he was an easy target for them. “It is fair to say there was an enormous amount of provocation, although that is not a defence.” Mr Lewis said the player was goaded because he did not sign for Everton FC this summer, over his playing abilities, and over the conviction of his half-brother Michael for the racist murder of Anthony Walker in 2005. Mr Lewis said the final straw came when a girl in Barton’s group was assaulted in the street by a man. He said: “That was the spark that lit the tinderbox and, there is no secret about it, he lost his temper.” Mr Lewis offered the court a number of bail conditions including a police imposed curfew and the offer of residency at the Sporting Chance clinic in Hampshire.

The magistrate who refused him bail said “I also have to consider the safety of the public - you lashed out indiscriminately.” How can she say that (ie `you're guilty') before he has even entered a plea, let alone had his case heard?

Barton definitely not back on Saturday. Says in the Chron he is still "a little way to go in terms of fitness".

No, he's been offered more than that.

and Barton?

Will N'Zogbia be a regular once Enrique comes in and Barton and Emre are back?

because it's a crap offer in relation to what other young players - ie Milner, Zog - have been given?

By inventing quotes from Taylor's dad?

the piece talks about Milner and Zoggy getting good money in their new deals and says Taylor just wants similar

according to today's Chron. His dad says `i hope they atren't trying to force him out'

Hardly seems like he's wanting out or anything like that, though I would say it's a bit of a shame he can't just respect the fact that Harper is doing quite well for us at the moment and just get on with it. I'm sure the minute Harper makes a major error or suffers another ill-timed injury, Shay will be straight back in the team and won't get dislodged again unless he gets another injury himself. "Showdown" might be too strong a way of putting, but don't people remember Shay slapping in a transfer request the last time Harper got the nod ahead of him when he was fit?

And, in the end-of-season run in of 05/06, i'd say there was no player in the squad more influential than Nobby, in getting us back up to 7th. Agreed.

Aye, that's me. But the mate isn't AO!

Imminent apparently, or so I'm told. EDIT: Quotes today (16th August) from Allardyce

But didn't Oliver break the news of West Ham being in for Dyer? Tin hat on . . .