TRon

He's a good forward, we knew that already. Same with Gameiro I'm sure. If CL clubs are competing for the same players as us we don't have much chance tbh. It's more disappointing when we lose out to players to clubs like Villa who are more in our bracket.

I think Arsenal will be better than people are expecting next season, but Spurs could easily finish above Liverpool IMO.

Swansea want Routledge so there's a chance we could negotiate some sort of deal if the respective valuations can be agreed. But why would Taylor sign a new deal then come to us 2 weeks later ,shirley thats dead in the water if he wanted to come he would have forced a move in the first place . I'm not saying it's likely to happen but there's still scope there. The clause was a bit vague, it might have been us who pulled out if we thought it was going to cost more than we thought. So Taylor then signed a better contract at Swansea.

Swansea want Routledge so there's a chance we could negotiate some sort of deal if the respective valuations can be agreed.

As I've said before, I'm glad I don't have that shite in my life. It's the derogatory opinion of people from the North East I can't abide. If you want to live your life on the moral highground, get on with it, but don't try and pretend it's a problem with us. Who the fuck do you think you are? United for Newcastle? You're an embarrassment. I've made it quite clear that its not people i find primitive, but blind hatred. To suggest I look down on people from the North-East, from what i've said is a baseless low-blow, keep on spinning if it makes you happy. Just fuck off you mackem twat

Same here. For us to fork out relatively big money on a player suggests we've done our homework, and it seems Carr, our chief scout seems to really rate him. Plus I really liked what I saw on Youtube.

Not really. They are/were both expensive Allardyce buys and neither are fit enough to attract top flight interest.

Especially when megabucks clubs like Man City and Chelsea are throwing double that at their players.

Listening to the Auclair interview is quite insightful. The only other time I listened in he reckoned Ben Arfa was coming here last summer although he did stress it wasn't a done deal. but in the end he was proven correct. If he's talking about Erdinc now there's probably good reason. I would guess we've hardened our interest and now it will come down to convincing him or his agent to see sense.

Auclair certainly seems to have pretty good knowledge of Newcastle as a club, a lot more than most English commentators at any rate. He seems to rate Cabaye and Marveaux quite highly and while he didn't talk about Erdinc much what he did say was encouraging, basically how he'd had a couple of outstanding seasons before the one just ended where he became sidelined.

While it's not good news it's quite fitting that the two areas where we should be strengthening, up front and left back, is where we have suffered injuries to players who might have been pencilled in as excuses not to buy. Ben Arfa up front and Ferguson as left back cover.

Maybe flogging Routledge has made this a goer. I'd like to think so.

Well presumably because we don't want to potentially waste a lot of money in transfer fees and wages on a player who'll end up as a reserve and who is only then going to block the progress of the promising young left back that we've already got. I know you like Shane Ferguson, but as a defender he is completely unproven. Enrique has the speed and power to stop any attacker whatever his attributes, whereas Ferguson looks like he could be knocked over by a gust of wind. In fact he's already been knocked out of our optimistic hopes he could play this role through injury in the pre-season friendlies. Thank the lucky stars I say.

What's he on? £20k a week at least is my guess. That's not peanuts for most Championship teams. He's on £8k. Not sure why you'd think a Championship free would be on £20k. I'm not privy to players contract deals so I go off what is reported in the media. If he's on £8k only maybe the lack of interest from other clubs is due to agent signing fees?

What's he on? £20k a week at least is my guess. That's not peanuts for most Championship teams.

Villa just look like a Freddie Shepherd version of us a few years ago at this time, chucking daft money at any player of repute and offering silly contracts. Shay Given on a 5 year deal is just mad. I wonder who's going to pick up the tab when Randy Lerner fucks off? Or are Villa fans already picking up the tab through the club paying back the loan?

Wonder if he'll agree to go to Swansea? I would imagine he's a London lad so would prefer to live somewhere a bit more cosmopolitan.

Because a large number of them are financed by generous benefactors who are happy to throw money at their clubs? Like Stoke and Wolves? Aye, righto. Ok - I'll try again - other clubs weren't trying to correct years of negligent ownership that had created an 100% unsustainable business. Any other examples you'd like me to bat back? How long are you going to bang this drum? Will you still be defending him in 2015 on the basis of "what Shepherd did"? At what point does it become his responsibility seeing as there isn't a contract at the club that wasn't signed under Ashley? I'd agree that there comes a point where Shepherd's mistakes become irrelevant (even if they did set off a chain of catastrophic events). But I am not sure that pointing out that none of the contracts at the club were not signed by Ashley makes a whole lot of difference. He still inherited a mess and has to try and clean up that mess. This will be a popular post. It has to be said if Ashley left the club tomorrow he would leave it in a hell of a lot better condition than the day he took it on. Healthier balance sheet but short on playing staff of right quality. But why worry about squad ability, its only a football club. Your putting words in my mouth there, I do worry about the overall squad ability. Try not to take my post out of the context in which it was made. edit: or should I say, I have concerns. I don't worry about it. There are two aspects to the club. Finance, yes we are in a better position. Team, we are a poorer side than the one he bought. Fundamentally I'd want to be enthused by the football rather than the annual release of accounts. That remains to be seen, but I suspect you'll be proved wrong on that. Even without the two more signings that will probably happen, I think we're stronger now than we've been for some time. If you gave me the option of Kevin Nolan and Andy Carrol in a straight swap for Cabaye and Demba I'm afradi that I would say we were in a worse position... Time will tell? Well I wouldn't agree, and particularly if you add in the returns of Ben Arfa and Gosling, and the arrivals of Marveaux and perhaps Abeid as well. Carroll and Nolan did lead to us playing in a certain way, which was fine for getting promotion and sticking out the first season, but if we want to kick on we need to change our style. The important thing about the new signings is that they'll enable us to play through the midfield a bit more and keep possession more easily. Comparing individual players with one another misses that overall picture. I think this will turn out to be our best side since the Sir Bob days. That's my take on it as well. I believe it was worth sacrificing Nolan's goals in order to try and move forward. There is a risk involved in changing to a less direct style of play with new players but IMO it's one that had to be taken rather than hang on and play survival football year in year out. My issue is with a bit more investment we could have made the process of changing the way we play a lot more secure by strengthening the squad a bit further. It might still happen, but I wouldn't put money on it.

Was Downing in the last year of his contract? If he wasn't then it's a totally different situation. Could Villa sign better than N'Zogbia for say, £12m? That's not how it works when a play is in the final year of his contract as we have seen with Enrique. Wigan will need to replace N'Zogbia and as it gets closer to the close of the window the price would drop. Villa have shot their load early though and that means they will probably pay close enough to £10m. Nowhere near the £15m valuation you mentioned in the post I responded to though.

That's what struck me, individually these guys all look very talented but they hold onto the ball too long which allows defenders to regroup. Maybe it's harsh to judge on yesterday's game though because as VI pointed out Paraguay did the same thing to nullify Spain. They ar good at it but for me they cross the line with their cynical "smaller" fouls.

One thing which puzzles me about income is why we still have Sports Direct as our main "sponsors" for the stadium. Does Ashley actually pay anything for it, because if he doesn't then I'm pretty sure that could pay for a few wages. Shepherd was reckless with the spending when he was here, but we must have pulled in a lot more sponsorship money just due to the higher profile players we brought in. Ashley seems to have gone to the other extreme altogether.

Maybe I'm too harsh because I grew up watching a team with players like Falcao, Socrates and Zico and it's unfair to expect Brazilian teams to be that good as that was the best midfield I've ever seen. But there used to be a time when if Brazil got a free kick it was as good as a penalty. These days they can't even bury the penalties! Long range shooting which was a Brazilian speciality is also ordinary these days. In yesterday's game I saw so many times when after a great bit of dribbling the player would lose possession at the crux or fail to get the pass when the opening was there. Don't get me wrong, Brazil have some great players, they just aren't a special team any more.

None of Paraguay's fouls were that bad but there was persistent fouling throughout the game - shirt tugging, tripping players etc. The same players were doing it four or five times before the ref cautioned them then they eventually got substituted and their replacements did the same thing.

Was Downing in the last year of his contract? If he wasn't then it's a totally different situation. No, Downing had two years left. Whelan's ace at this, wringing every last penny out of a deal, but if he's going to arse around till the last day of the window, then we need to move on elsewhere. I think he should consider himself lucky if he gets £7-8m for Zog in the last year of his contract. He'll capitulate as it gets nearer the close of the window but it would serve him right if the deal fell through and Zog walked for free next season. If it keeps them up again then it's job done. £8m as opposed to £40m? Serve him right ffs. In that case he shouldn't be selling him at any price. Unless it's £40m.