TRon

Not fussed either way. I like the look of Shane Long but Best has scored goals in the premier.

Why are we being told that his fee is being used to fund the wages of new signings then? I'm not unhappy about the work we've done in the transfer market so far but this is starting to rankle. Don't we have other means of paying our players except through selling assets? What about gate money and tv revenue?

I think he's looking at it from a purely financial angle personally. A Bosman means a bigger signing on fee from his next club.

So possibly: Gameiro---->Erdinç---->Long £10m £7m £6m Nice. It's not as bad as Best---> Shola-----> Lovenkrands in perspective.

It might be bullshit but Barton has more or less alluded to the same train of thought in his public utterances in any case. I'm not really bothered tbh. I know he's running down his contract and same is maybe true of Enrique. If we can sell them great but if not then we'll benefit from having their valuable services next season.

Aye Barton stays off the drink by visiting pubs. http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6057/5904643203_bb988cfe01_z.jpg Note to Nolan: this is what a professional footballer looks like shit attitude or not.

It's not a good example. Shane Long sounds like a bog standard signing but the Bellamy comparisons would be more accurate. No idea about his finishing capabilities but he's fast and skilful. I would prefer Erdinc but Long wouldn't devastate me either.

UV's facts and figures don't mean too much since the financial situation world wide has changed drastically since pre-Ashley days, the value of the stock market has shrunk considerably since then. Shepherd's vision was more expansive but at the end of the day he lumbered NUFC with the debt and ran off with £40m in his swag bag - and that was during a period of relative financial growth.

On the whole I'd much rather have us being run responsibly than for us to go back to Shepherd mode, but the club brings in plenty of money through gates and tv deals. I'm sure there are other avenues as well like stadium sponsorship as opposed to advertising Sports Direct for the benefit of our owner. I would have thought having invested so much money in the club Ashley would at least want to enjoy the process by putting out a team worth watching. Pardew seems to think he's had good backing so I still hold out hope the two signings to come won't be a let down.

I like strikers who are clinical finishsers, not those who will get goals as long as they get plenty of chances. This sort of rules Bendtner out for me.

I'm reasonably happy with the players we've brought in so far, but with two months to go I still think we should have enough in our pot to sign Zog and one striker. I don't think that's going to happen but with the tv money we get from Sky to add to the Carroll money I would find it difficult to understand why not.

What has the £35 million got us so far? I've over-inflated all figures to try and accomodate for agent, signing on fees and all the rest of the nonsense that we aren't supposed to know about. Ba signing = £3m Marveaux signing = £3m Cabaye signing = £5m Abeid signing = £1m Training ground = £2m First two years of Tiote's new contract = £4.5m First two years of Cabaye, Ba, Abeid and Marveaux's contracts = £11m = £29 million spent, £6 million of Carroll money remains. Sale of Kevin Nolan = £4m Removal of Campbell, Kuqi and Nolan from wage bill = Saving of £4m a year in wages = £10 million to spend on transfer fees, £4 million a year, which is what, approx £80k a week in wages??? So... £7-8 million striker (would have been Erding) on up to £40k a week and £2 million left-back (Taylor) on £20k a week Carroll money all gone... If that's the scenario at the end of the window I think there'll be fair reason for bitching.

I'm wondering the same thing. Bendtner does everything right except in front of goal. I think I'd rather take a punt on Shane Long.

I have it on good authority that the training ground now sucks you off. We could always spend that money on sucking Michael Owen off instead.

What for? Wanting to go to a more ambitious club? Play for his country? Not deciding or giving an indication of what he bloody wants, leaving the club hamstrung by his silence? At the moment, the way it stands, he'd be leaving in a similliar manner as Michael Owen did. Tell the fans you will consider signing new contract at the end of the season but, in truth, even a blind man could see that the intention is to leave all along. And departure is compounded by saying fuck all at the end. Nice. He's been making his intention as clear as if he'd handed in a transfer request, but he's hoping to hang on to his loyalty bonus. If he really wants his loyalty bonus that bad he can always turn down Arsenal or Liverpool and stay here for the final year like Joey.

At least if he goes now we'll get some decent money for him. Hopefully that will go towards buying a genuine quality left back. It's actually good news that things are moving one way or the other as the worst scenario is for someone to come in at the last minute and leave us without a left back.

He's not leaving he's staying. In order to claim a bigger signing on fee from the buying club. No one should accuse him of being a greedy bastard for looking after his bank balance. That insult is reserved for Newcastle United when they do the same thing.

If and when Villa actually bid £9m then I would expect us to match it if we are serious about bringing him back. Tbh though there's a different story every week about Villa/Sunderland/PSG/Liverpool all getting ready to slap in a bid.

If you read the story then you would know that City would pay half his wages. Again, if you read the story you would see it's a year long loan. Now put two and two together... Still not going to happen. 40 000 is too much for such a mediocre player. It's a lot less that £6m for Mbengue and 40k a week for 5 years.

Or that we haven't had any offers for Barton and probably wouldn't be able to get rid of him even if we wanted to? Either way it means we won't be bringing Zog in if Barton stays here.

I reckon Pardew has some input on which players he likes but is more than happy to work in the current set up. It's how most clubs are run these days, i.e., within a budget.

If you read the story then you would know that City would pay half his wages. Again, if you read the story you would see it's a year long loan. Now put two and two together...

Douglas obviously needs to make his mind up whether it's 7 figure or 8 figure but I'd guess the former.

Do you really think that we are that bothered if he goes somewhere else?

Shane Long