TRon

He seems a better all round player now the ball is being mostly played on the floor, his link up play with midfield has been excellent. I wonder if Owen was offered a new contract? tbh, I always thought his link up play was good on the deck, even last season. Don't really understand the stick he gets considering what he gives the team. If he was called Andy Carroll and came from Gateshead we'd probably have built a statue by now. Honestly, bored to death of that s****. That argument ONLY stands for Steven Taylor - who is a good player. Does anyone, anywhere, really think that Peter Ramage is anything more than Unibond League standard? Do you honestly think if it was Lee Clark doing what Martins does we'd be carping about his poor first touch?

N'Zogbia has looked as motivated as I've seen him since Souness left. He's done very well under Allardyce, so this story makes about as much sense as the one about selling Martins - which has since been rubbished by Sam. This one will probably end up in the bin as well.

He seems a better all round player now the ball is being mostly played on the floor, his link up play with midfield has been excellent. I wonder if Owen was offered a new contract? tbh, I always thought his link up play was good on the deck, even last season. Don't really understand the stick he gets considering what he gives the team. If he was called Andy Carroll and came from Gateshead we'd probably have built a statue by now.

Absolutely top post. Let's at least wait till the end of the transfer window to see where we stand before making judgement on a new regime.

I'm a big Martins fan so this is great news far as I'm concerned. While all the talk has been of Luque, Milner and Geremi lately, for me Martins has been superb pre-season. A lot of our best attacking moves have gone through him. Cracking player IMO.

You're right. We should don white hoods and nail him to a burning cross tbh.

The way I see it, Smith is a straight replacement for Dyer. Dyer is a more exciting player, whereas Smith is a bit huff and puff in comparison. If Sam is going to play long ball football though, then Smith will be more effective than people might realise. And the big plus is, we won't have a bunch of twats venting bile at one of our own players because he's too flash, a little waster etc. Will be a blessed fucking relief, even if we've paid £3m more than he's worth.

The problem with blind hatred is, so called fans can do so much damage to their own clubs. Players who are driven out - and you can spin it any way you want to, that's effectively what's happening, because no one would want to stay where a significant section of the fans don't want you - you can bet other clubs will try and lower the asking price. No wonder Mort is mortified at the repercussions.

That's not how players think though. In Smith's mind he's probably better than Steven Gerrard, and the fact we have made a bid for £6m will probably make him think he's going to be playing first team football. Especially as we are supposedly hard up so why would we spend £6m to put a player on the bench? Think of Ben Haim and why he went to Chelsea. Players who have anything about them will always think they will be good enough to hold down a 1st team spot.

Players not wanted by their clubs tend to leave. They then look for a relatively big club to compensate taking a step down, and despite our troubles in recent years we are still more attractive than Everton, Middlesbrough and the like. Someone like Smith would have enough faith in his ability to think he could hold down a 1st team place here.

He's not wanted at Man U.

Exactly. Sam flew out to Barca and he was insisting he would stay there at the time. We don't need him anyway, far happier with the strikers we've got.

He'll replace Dyer in midfield. Not rocket science really. we'll lose our speed on the counter but gain some aggression and commitment.

Don't expect an answer to this, as reason and logic are beyond the thicko/pack/charva mentality.

Martins has been one of our best players pre-season. All this crap about him having a poor first touch has looked pretty stupid as he has done very well playing the secondary striker role, just off the CF. Give the Roedent credit where it is due, he got a good 'un there.

Dyer's a better player but he's hated on Tyneside by too many. Smith, might have less ability, but just like Bowyer he'll be vocally appreciated. Looks like a straight swap is on the cards.

I'm just happy to see him in the team and looking up for it. He's starting to look the player he was, and when he's playing well, there aren't many better left-footers in the Prem. To answer the question though, left wing.

by Alan Oliver, Evening Chronicle Can't quite see how Mort's backing of Sam requires another statement of backing. Have the United hierarchy actually publicly said they want Keegers and Shearer here? If it turns out to be true then fair play to Oliver. But if it's a load of bollocks will Alan Oliver owe it to his readers to make a statement confirming it was bollocks?

Sounds good to me.

Carr has done ok last couple of games. I thought he was a write-off personally, but he looks fit and motivated. A surprise plus point of the pre-season so far.

Saw this coming tbh. Hence the thread 'Dyer's replacement'. Having seen Troisi and Caroll in action today though, there's no way I'd waste £6m on Smith.

Reading between the lines, I think we will still sign a left back, just won't be top notch. If he's seriously thinking of going with Babayaro and N'Zogbia, he may as well go abroad and get in someone who could challenge for a place. We need numbers as well as quality. At the moment we have neither.

It's not like this is the first time he has been booed, fact is he's a hated man in Newcastle, so why would he want to stay?

:clap: I agree 100% with this and these are the words of a REAL manager, one who isn't easily swept along by euphoria every time he sees a left back tearing up the line. I'm on record as saying I don't rate Stuart Pearce as a manager, but give me a left back like that every time ahead of Baines or Babayaro.

I agree that Shepherd always backed his managers which was good. Unfortunately he didn't possess either the intelligence or judgement to make good appointments which makes the former good quality redundant. Shepherd's appointments of Souness and Roeder spoke volumes of his lack of judgement. Let those who would defend him explain in detail how such important decisions were made or justified. [pasted from previous page as the silence is deafening]