TRon

You are right. The two clubs involved, the players and agents should all just agree on everything with a couple of calls. I still think we should have asked for £25m for Milner then phoned Villa to agree on it within 40 mins tops. I said ENQUIRE, yes, ENQUIRE!! Not wrap up the deal!! not agree terms, just ENQUIRE!! F****** read my post properly then respond I attempted to read your post but I'm still trying to work out what it is you are complaining about.

Arshavin is top, top quality, but I doubt he will come here.

You are right. The two clubs involved, the players and agents should all just agree on everything with a couple of calls. I still think we should have asked for £25m for Milner then phoned Villa to agree on it within 40 mins tops.

pity the ideas are holier than thou, patronising, aloof shite. nailed. beautifully crafted sanctimonious bullshit.

I doubt this will get through to some of the nuggets on here but worth pointing out all the same.

Fuck me, talk about irreplaceable. How are we going to survive this tragedy??

Nah, haven't you read the thread, it's a piece of piss to find someone much better and cheaper (fee & wages) than Milner. My God you are right...we should never have let Milner go for even £20million !!! He is irreplaceable!!!! Well if we don't get someone in before the transfer window closes then, erm, yes, he is. Well since he wasn't playing at the end of last season through injury, he clearly isn't.

Nah, haven't you read the thread, it's a piece of piss to find someone much better and cheaper (fee & wages) than Milner. My God you are right...we should never have let Milner go for even £20million !!! He is irreplaceable!!!!

Not as confident of getting a result now that Fabregas looks like being fit. Still think we might sneak a point though.

That's the only thing that worries me. Though tbf he's been saying similar nice things about Smith and Ameobi that everyone was so keen to dismiss as fibs, so why not the same here? As always, it depends on who comes in. If we get someone like Arda (from what I've seen of him, anyway), KK won't give a flying f*** that Milner's gone. The only way I could see KK agreeing to such a move assuming he has a say which I think he will do is if the money was to be used to bring in someone much better. I still don't think he'd be happy though and to be honest, no manager likes losing players they want to keep even if they get a better player in as a replacement. I'm not blaming the club or anything here btw, if Milner wants to leave which may well be, there isn't much anyone can do. KK might not be happy but he's not stupid either. Someone would have had to pay Milner the extra money for a new contract, do you think KK would offer to give him a cut of his own wages? At the end of the day, whoever pays the bills is the one who makes the decisions and KK will understand that. He paid Terry Macs wages for his first part season Well if he wanted to keep Milner so badly he could always pay his...

That's the only thing that worries me. Though tbf he's been saying similar nice things about Smith and Ameobi that everyone was so keen to dismiss as fibs, so why not the same here? As always, it depends on who comes in. If we get someone like Arda (from what I've seen of him, anyway), KK won't give a flying f*** that Milner's gone. The only way I could see KK agreeing to such a move assuming he has a say which I think he will do is if the money was to be used to bring in someone much better. I still don't think he'd be happy though and to be honest, no manager likes losing players they want to keep even if they get a better player in as a replacement. I'm not blaming the club or anything here btw, if Milner wants to leave which may well be, there isn't much anyone can do. KK might not be happy but he's not stupid either. Someone would have had to pay Milner the extra money for a new contract, do you think KK would offer to give him a cut of his own wages? At the end of the day, whoever pays the bills is the one who makes the decisions and KK will understand that.

Happy to oblige

I said before I think he'll do ok for Villa, hish high, hopeful crosses will probably find their way towards Villa's big men. Pointless in our style of play though.

I don't really blame Milner, I think he'd have stayed given any encouragement. He gambled and he lost basically. i blame him because he signed a contract last year and wanted a better deal because someone else got one. that someone else was in the last year of his contract (the normal time for renegotiating contracts). pure and simple greed IMO. It could be argued he was worth a better contract (not my opinion though) and he probably thought it was worth a go to ask for one. In any case, it's a good day for the club. A great fee for an average player, and a message sent out to the rest of the squad. Be careful what you wish for... he agreed to the contract and knew what it meant,he also knew that it meant should he play poorly and not be in the first team squad he'd still get paid at that level. it cuts both ways but players now want it all one way. i stand by my "pure greed" opinion. Well, regardless, he's welcome to fuck off to Villa and earn his higher salary there.

I don't really blame Milner, I think he'd have stayed given any encouragement. He gambled and he lost basically. i blame him because he signed a contract last year and wanted a better deal because someone else got one. that someone else was in the last year of his contract (the normal time for renegotiating contracts). pure and simple greed IMO. It could be argued he was worth a better contract (not my opinion though) and he probably thought it was worth a go to ask for one. In any case, it's a good day for the club. A great fee for an average player, and a message sent out to the rest of the squad. Be careful what you wish for...

I don't really blame Milner, I think he'd have stayed given any encouragement. He gambled and he lost basically.

Finally the Luque debacle has been equalised

if we had 3 targets lined up and the selling clubs wanted, say, another 1m per deal to sell in this window do you think we should pay it? or spend nothing on principle and start the season with what we've got? assuming they're first choice targets of course rather than last minute panic attacks Why capitulate when there's still time to negotiate better terms? Don't you think that's happening right now? good non answer; i meant when push comes to shove on monday you know? i don't mean just bend over and get fucked but if it's a matter of we need to pay 3m extra to get 3 players we want then do you think we should do it just hypothetical man, not legally binding or anything! If they are worth it then yes.

if we had 3 targets lined up and the selling clubs wanted, say, another 1m per deal to sell in this window do you think we should pay it? or spend nothing on principle and start the season with what we've got? assuming they're first choice targets of course rather than last minute panic attacks Why capitulate when there's still time to negotiate better terms? Don't you think that's happening right now?

I understand the 'defensiveness' towards criticism of our club, I have reacted like that a million times (perhaps 10 million times) before - but we are in a mess. Denying it, getting upset about it, making comparisons to 'times in the past', and sticking your head in the sand generally, doesn't help! There is something wrong at our club, there is something very "smelly" going on there (can't think of a better way to describe it) - quite simply, all is not as it should be. Look at their faces and the words and body language. I have seen organisations like this before - ill at ease with themselves and with eachother. Things not happenning, significant progress not being made in the way that it should be. I do not know what can be done now (a few last minute - even BIG - signings will not cover up the cracks). And, how likely is that (even) to happen. Keegan's man-management skills with the players has helped get us some reasonable performances - not great performances - and some decent results from those performances . . . so far. When the injuries and suspensions come in with our tiny squad though - we will struggle. We shouldn't even be considering 'struggling' - we should be taking steps to PROGRESS. That is what is wrong with the club, but the reasons WHY it is so wrong at the club at the moment - we are not privvy to, we can only speculate. But, lets not hide from the truth . . . There is nothing fishy or smelly. Keegan like any manager wants new players, that's what you would expect. The board are looking to provide them but not at stupidly inflated prices for mediocre players. We will get quality footballers through the door when the opportunity arises, I'm convinced of that.

I'd take the 10 mill and risk it. Would leave a hole in the squad. If Zog can play as a left back, I'm pretty sure he can do a job on the right wing. Or if we wanrt a huff and puff job, there's always Damien the *uff once he's fit.

£6m+ was crazy money, but then again we paid that for Smith under Shepherd and Allardyce. In that context £15m is steal.

FYP The sad bit about this is that the spoilt brats include fans who claim to have followed the club since the dark days of Westwood & co but seem to be addicted to prawn sarnies and lobster these days.

tbf i think 15 out of 20 premiership clubs would call this transfer window a failure for themselves, so it's not like we are the exception, clubs don't want to sell TBH i don't give a fucking shit what the how the other clubs think they have done, I care about what goes at Newcastle. And when we are fielding Alan Smith up front on his own and some reserve kid in the the middle of the park away to Wigan, what portsmouth did in this transfer window will have no relevance. took the words right out of my mouth so ur saying martins, viduka, owen, carroll are all gonna be sold or injured before that situation then injuries happen at all clubs, look at man utd they are still desperate for a striker and they are the best team on the planet and what do you want, another carl cort, luque, viana, boumsong then if u do then fucking support chelsea or someone that can applease you and your desired trophy signings that you crave for sorry mate, nothing personal. Your comment about ManU shows the desire to remain the best, so why not take your lead from them in terms of the need to keep changing, you can't stand still in this game. Simple truth is, the only striker we have, who is likely to stay fit and perform for about 25 games, is Martins. Owen hopefully will, but his history says he won't. Viduka won't. Carroll is a kid. Ameobi is crap. Smith has not been a success. What is that left ? As for the "trophy signings", I will tell you that its trophies that I want, and for Newcastle to sign the sort of players who win these trophies. If you want to ridiculously label them as "trophy players" then you have a lot to learn, but I suspect that you are just regurgitating the bollocks cliches that are spouted around by other people who's views change like the wind. Having supported this club since 1964, and seen a damn sight worse than this, I'm not going to change now. I suspect people like you would be sorely tested if you had even a slight taste of real mediocrity, if you really think you have seen it at this club in the last decade and a half. Having seen such shite (which it undoubtedly was) I'm surprised you have now turned into a prawn sandwich eating Man U - type supporter demanding we compete with said club without any of their resources or wealth. I always knew that NUFC were one of the biggest clubs in the country. I recognised from an early age that McKeag, Westwood etc were the biggest bunch of arseholes going. Lord Westwood actually said once that if Brian Clough became manager of Newcastle he would resign from the board. And the other tit said - as proudly as he could - that the new Milburn stand was "like Watfords", having been financed largely with the money from selling Peter Beardsley. The difference back then was that it was 100 times more frustrating. And seriously, football was also a different beast to nowadays. I'm sure you've been told that standing in those stadiums etc was a completely different experience to now. One thing about being an NUFC fan was that you knew you were being let down but just grew to accept complete failure throught gritted teeth. One or two people on here won't acknowledge this. Whatever. That's all well and good but doesn't answer the question: how are we meant to compete with the likes of Man U and Chelsea for big name signings without their revenue streams, international status etc? Without regular CL revenue how do we pay for these trophy signings?

To be fair,those are pretty good stats mate,he looks as if he`s starting to come of age,he always looked one of your better players in the highlights and games I`ve seen. shows how much you know about watching quality football fuck all That's the problem with stats. I wonder how many goals weren't scored because Milner decided to check back or do an extra step-over while the defence re-grouped?