TRon

This basically. I don't think anyone on that list is capable of commanding much respect, and most of them aren't fit to wear the shirt never mind the armband.

Why wasn't he playing today btw? As we have lost all our main strikers I am surprised he was missing from the squad...aalthough obviously we have plenty of other players who will refuse to threaten the goal in his absence.

I just posted yesterday that it always struck me how ryan taylor looked terrified at times last season. I get the feeling that he's one of those players who's happier at a smaller club. Especially since he's got no ability whatsoever.

Shearer has moved swiftly to land beckford from his new NUFC office at the BBC.

so he could fire over the top for us?

Just checked the team sheet...not really surprised there's been no goals looking at that midfield and strike force. It'll be a similar theme in the competitive games as things stand.

That must go down as denial of the century.

Will Alan smith and his like be able to help us play successful football next season or just talk a good game? Think Smith will important next season, and obviously he's not as talented as Beye but it is ridiculous that you think he cannot criticise him for this reason. They are both professional. However, only has been acting like a professional in recent weeks. The other deserves criticism. Criticise who you like by all means but at the end of the day we will lose a good player and keep a very bad one on astronomical wages. All the nice words will count for very little on the pitch.

Will Alan smith and his like be able to help us play successful football next season or just talk a good game?

At least Lescott accomplished something other than being relegated three times. Bassong is not English, and has only put one full good season together. Not worth more than 10 million. While Bassong was in a team that got relegated, I would have thought that most people might have noticed by now that the vast majority of the squad that was responsible for the relegation is not wanted by any club at all. I am talkking about Nolans, Duffs, Butts, Geremis etc. Other clubs are very sensibly cherry picking the few obvious assets like Bassong, Beye and Martins. Just because they played with the rest of the Newcastle players doesn't make them shit by association. Quality will always be in demand and whether fans want to acknowledge it or not, the market will always tell the real story.

From Spurs POV £10m on a young defender whose 1st season has been outstanding in the Premier is not a bad deal when you consider the price for Lescott is £18-20m. While it might look like a good deal for us, it's only becaus we're a pathetic club which has been relegated.

I just hope DIC aren't using us as a negotiating tool in their long running attempt to buy Liverpool. Don't want to put a downer on this but it seems a big drop in ambition to buy Newcastle after chasing Liverpool.

There's been a crash in property value in dubai as well. Things are pretty ropey over there, although where isn't that the case?

Give him Newcastle United andd some decent backing and he'll walk all the way back fom glasgow I reckon. It would solve the compensation problem as well as i'm sure we'd come to a suitable agreement.

All the clues are adding up. I am usually a sceptic but this looks like it might be the real thing this time. If it's DIC we are in dreamland because I'm assuming they are seriously loaded.

Surely it's more fun than the last few weeks of despair and no news were. It's a decent substitute for the rumors of a transfer thread in a usual summer. it would be nice if one of these rumours actually turned out to have some substance that's all. we've had Malaysians, Geordies, Iranians and americans all lining up in the last fortnight and it's all been a damp squib so far. Thomo sounds sure of himself though so i'm going to give this more credence than i normally would.

Here we go again...

There are far better Championship players then him, there are players out there who would play for a quarter of his wage who are better players, he wouldn't be a loss in the slightest, it would be a large gain to get rid of that tosser. To get rid there'd need to be another club willing to pick up his wages and even Steve Bruce wouldn't make that mistake twice. What are the odds he'll issue a statement he's perfectly happy here over the next couple of days and that's the last we'll hear of it?

He has a third option: continue stumbling around the pitch at a leisurely pace for Newcastle for a very high salary. I think he'll stick with this option personally (just a hunch).

Looks like not only did Butt injure his hand, he must have took a serious blow to the head as well

If the rumour is true that Shepherd's offer is the only one on the table then obviously it isn't under value. Unless Derek isn't talking out of his Llambiarse and the two £100m bidders materialise. At the moment my hunch is the £65m being the only offer rumour is more likely to be true.

Doesn't work like that. West Ham lost Defoe, Kanoute, Di Canio, etc. when they went down, yet it was people like Harewood & Zamora that got them back up. Unless the club gets sold we won't be buying any Harewoods or Zamoras though. It'll be Shola and Carroll next week, we'll just have to hope it's not too late by the time Ashley eventually moves out, if he ever does.

I found it even more odd that I couldn't see a thread on TTastic when I looked in earlier.

I don't know why people find it so difficult to engage their brain before making such assumptions. Does anyone seriously think someone will invest £100m in a football club then turn it into a training academy for a country thousands of miles away? Did you seriously think some London businessman would pay hundreds of millions and pay off debts only to destroy the club and get it relegated ? Why not try engaging YOUR brain - it's fun. Try it. With respect, whatever we think of Ashley I don't believe for a minute that his intention when he bought the club was to destroy NUFC and get us relegated. That has been a consequence of his poor management and bad decisions. Yes that's a reasoned view, but not everyone wants to see the situation in context, for some it's more important to push their point relevant or not...as we'll probably see in subsequent replies. Tbh his supposed quote 'doing this for Iranian football' can be interpreted a number of ways, no one knows what his plans are except it will involve Iranian personnel in some form. Using some common sense I would imagine anyone buying the club will want it to be successful and the key personnel will probably reflect that.