TRon

They might both turn out to be wank

Doesn't bother me I'd take a draw right now.

Same here. I can't see us taking a gamble on a Brazilian, they don't have a great track record in England. But who knows...maybe playing in a more passing side full of foreigners might suit him more than it would have in previous Newcastle teams?

Which one? Keirrison or Toivonen (sp?) Sorry I'm not up to speed which players are part of this transfer influx, it seems to change on the hour.

Irish. Strike him from the list as well then. That leaves...erm none.

Connor Whickam might turn out to a star in the making but he really needs to deliver for the price Sunderland paid. English players just don't come cheap. Even Welsh ones are commanding daft fees, just look at Shane Long.

Well Wullie did say just now he would like us to buy British

Erm, he got us £35m for Carroll? I was thinking of when we sold Zog and Bassong. £6m for Zog still rankles.

We won't spend money on European players at half the price, what chance we'll spunk £20m on Sturridge and the like?

Thank fuck Ashley hasn't caved in for once. At least when he leaves it will be for decent money. I know there will be those who say we won't spend it so who cares...but I still do.

I think the massive turnaround in the make up of the squad will negate second season syndrome to some extent. It usually kicks in when squads become complacent after the first year back, but this time there are so many new faces it's going to be like a fresh start.

I think it was probably just paper talk now you mention it. A swap deal was mentioned with Shane Long back in the day he was a target.

missing a month isn't a disaster considering how his lucks gone since he's been here. What's four matches after he's been out for a year?

It was only the Daily Fail and the Star that mentioned the 5.5 story wasn't it? Yep.

So the papers are all convinced that we've agreed a fee of £5.5m with Liverpool but the Chronicle is running the story we hope he's now going to stay? has there ever been a better time to bang the drum for the local press and hope it doesn't blow up in our faces?

What if it were a smokescreen as this regime has tended to use them in the past. I did consider that but my gut feeling is that we have run out of ideas. Also signing Ba probably has taken some of the urgency out of the chase for finding another striker. Best was put up for sale but he's still here again leads to the suspicion that we won't buy until we sell in that position. Just little clues which lead to the conclusion the search isn't as urgent as it could be for me.

The talk of Pavlyuchenko just suggests to me there are no real live targets any more. I think we'll probably stick with the strike force we've got using the pretext that we won't buy for the sake of it. If we can't buy the strikers we want we won't settle for second best etc.

At this point I'm just pleased that we are still considering a LB replacement for Jose. Even better if we actually sign one as it's nailed on Enrique will leave.

Did you ask midds for a source Dave? Or a link maybe? Just wondering....

You did the classic paint job of Phil Brown singing like a twat right? I loved it. Shame it's been downhill ever since.

If what you have described is what happens (it's a big if) then we are clearly the winner. Try this scenario: Barton (advised by his c*nt of an agent) sticks his lip out, gives it large on twitter looking for a free transfer and a decent signing on fee. He and the agent are expecting Champions League clubs to form a queue. But there is a problem, no one really wants to pay his current wage rate and they all view him as a major PR risk. Most worringly Stoke appear to be the club most interested in doing some sort of deal. Suddenly the Newcastle January offer looks a lot more attractive? Depends on what you consider to be a winner in this scenario. Joey was publicly advocating a fans buyout of the club such was his disgust at the ownership a while ago and he's been sniping ever since. Any employer would be crazy to give him any sort of extension to his contract IMO.

tabloid-tastic Dave, as you might say. Link? as you might also say

Pardew makes himself part of the lack of spending problem by commenting on it constantly, even setting himself/the club a new deadline every other week for those "one or hopefully two" players. He's making a rod for his own back with a lot of things he's saying regarding transfers, which is stupid if he has no actual say. Do you think there's a way he could have handled this better other than hand in his resignation? The Hughton approach, in hindsight, was perfect. He knew little about the transfer negotiations so he didn't comment on them too much. No need to build our hopes up with that "off our seats" nonsense then go on to be in profit less than a week before the first game. I don't think Pardew's said a lot wrong, in fact the only people who are picking up on this are those who see him as part of Ashley's crew and therefore part of the problem. In which case he could talk or keep his trap shut, it would make no difference, he'd still be a spiv cunt. For the record I think he's bought some exciting players, although whether that will translate into a good team we'll have to see.

It works both ways for me. Just like he wouldn't want to come back here, I also wouldn't want him back now. We saw the best of him, he'd not be the same player now imo.