TRon

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.

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?

I tell you what I find disagreeable about this whole business. We are in a thread about Pardew and he is getting hammered for things which are out of his hands like lack of spending. The lack of spending is something I'm in agreement with btw, I also think we could have a really good season if we pulled our fingers out and signed a couple of key players. But if it isn't happening I don't see how slagging Pardew off for it is going to help.

Wullie, I am not going to argue that much, but I just want to point out, the only owner that can serve your expectation is an Abramovich. f***ing hell. Maybe we could have an owner that doesn't constantly lie and f***ing deliberately mislead the clubs supporters at any given opportunity. An owner that may see the potential in having a £35million figure to improve the squad and at least attempt to progress, the fact that you and so many others are content to sit back and accept the lies and f***ing outright bullshit is just depressing. What are you going to do about it? Put a gun to some billionaire arab's head and demand he buy out the club and spend £50m on the squad? What a bizarre stance for a football fan to take. What? Look at the reality? The reality is we're owned by a lying cunt with zero ambition other than for the club to simply exist. Pretty shit reality to be honest. Yes it is. Just like it's also a reality that the only other potential owner we've had was a geordie twat who didn't have two pennies to rub together to buy a stottie and a bottle of brown ale, never mind £10m players. If there was an alternative I'd be all for it I'm sure.

Wullie, I am not going to argue that much, but I just want to point out, the only owner that can serve your expectation is an Abramovich. f***ing hell. Maybe we could have an owner that doesn't constantly lie and f***ing deliberately mislead the clubs supporters at any given opportunity. An owner that may see the potential in having a £35million figure to improve the squad and at least attempt to progress, the fact that you and so many others are content to sit back and accept the lies and f***ing outright bullshit is just depressing. What are you going to do about it? Put a gun to some billionaire arab's head and demand he buy out the club and spend £50m on the squad? What a bizarre stance for a football fan to take. What? Look at the reality?

Wullie, I am not going to argue that much, but I just want to point out, the only owner that can serve your expectation is an Abramovich. Fucking hell. Maybe we could have an owner that doesn't constantly lie and fucking deliberately mislead the clubs supporters at any given opportunity. An owner that may see the potential in having a £35million figure to improve the squad and at least attempt to progress, the fact that you and so many others are content to sit back and accept the lies and fucking outright bullshit is just depressing. What are you going to do about it? Put a gun to some billionaire arab's head and demand he buy out the club and spend £50m on the squad?

Wullie, I am not going to argue that much, but I just want to point out, the only owner that can serve your expectation is an Abramovich. Not even worth responding to that tbh. Why not? If you can trot out statistics like how great things were before Ashley arrived it's probably worth having a look at what impact Abramovic had on the game.

Bringing Shepherd into this just weakens your argument. Fred spent recklessly then ran for the hills with his loot once the deficit started to mount up. Anyone can spend blindly for a few years if they don't have to pick up the pieces when the banks start closing in.

Exactly. Havent we only finished in the top 10 something daft like twice in the last 7 or 8 years or something??? That's still no excuse. We could quite easily do it this season but it's turning into a needless struggle. Is that down to Pardew though?

Even though they were all signed a month before a pre-season football had been kicked (bar Obertan). So much for the benefits of getting them in early, then. The pre-season last year didn't go great from what I remember. This time it's been exacerbated by visa problems and freak weather. None of those are really Pardew's fault although I fully expect some to try and argue they were anyway. This is getting daft.

Shit. I forgot I wasn't going to click on this thread until Monday.

The shirt sponsorship is major revenue, although it's probably a lot less than it used to be, but that side is sold to Northern Rock isn't it? The Stadium naming rights are up for sale, until then Sports Direct are using the rights and the big boards on the roof I have no idea what they are worth or if they are available for anyone else to sponsor.

But the money would go into Newcastle United's coffers rather than any of his other accounts which would be a factor into the profitability of the football club, hence spending power etc.