TRon

http://www.setantasports.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/06/03/Prem-Newcastle-keen-on-Aimar/?facets/great-britain-locale/sport-space/football/

Read something about us supposedly being interested. Weren't Liverpool linked in January?

I don't know what French football fans have got to laugh about. Their football is basically a feeder league for the Premier.

I am no fan of Shepherd but I don't want to hear this type of shit from Saunders. It's bad enough the useless cunt was on our payroll for so long.

I think this story is fabricated. My hunch is that they really turned down a whopping £75m

I disagree, we also have a choice not to take the risk. I know it sounds crazy but I think it could be done.

Like I said earlier, I hope the new regime do their homework before buying players as I don't think we have bought very well under the previous regime. This is not just about Duff. It could be Ashley's men are no better, we'll have to wait and see.

At the end of the day, whoever is paying the money for these players has every right to want players who'll hold their value. If it was my money I'd want that. Even though I have backed Keegan when many here didn't, I don't see how we can tell someone how to spend their money. The money will come from Ashley unless KK is planning on buying shares so there's only one person who can decide how it's spent.

Same here. I always thought bringing Duff in was unnecessary, the sooner he's off the wage bill the better.

We haven't signed him because Keegan's being a t*** and dragging his feet so he can get the experienced Premiership players he wants instead. He's better than Crouch already but if he goes on to be a top player over the next few years and we're left with Crouch doing the f***ing robot then Keegan can f*** off. Am I reading this right? You want the club to sign players the manager doesn't want? I'd rather the club went with Vetere's opinion rather than signing w*** like Crouch, Kapo and Riise yes. Same here. Keegan isn't bad in the transfer market but he's never going to do what Wenger does - he's usually wanting established stars and that's a limitation in many ways. No way should the club be buying players the manager doesn't want. It's just madness. Unless you have a really pliable manager who's willing to have his team chosen for him it's just not going to work. The manager wont pick the player, the player will get pissed off, and we'll just end up having to sell him off on the cheap after paying his wages for doing nothing. Either that or get a new manager every year. It depends whose money is going to be spent on older, established stars who will be worth nowt in 3 years time. Keegan will collect his final pay cheque and wave goodbye, the club/Ashley will have to foot the bill to buy replacements. So unless KK wants to stump up £50m himself, I don't think he can complain if the club wants to buy up and coming players who will hold their value. To spend recklessly with a "who cares, I'm only here for 3 years " attitude would be madness.

It's about doing your "homework" and having some idea of what a player is worth. Luque is on record as saying he didn't want to come so he asked for daft wages and nearly fell off his chair when Freddie said yes without any hesitation. That's something I would hope we don't see again, don't know about you.

Keegan's never been one to build for the future which is understandable from his point of view. But we'll still be here in 3 years time so I'm with the long term vision of Ashley/Vetere on this one. I hope KK sees sense.

I'm interested in this "homework" and what it is exactly, please give a bit more detail about what more the club should have done that would have stopped us buying Duff. It wasn't just Duff, in fact I was referring to other players as well, one of which you mentioned, such as Luque. If you think our homework was done there maybe you can fill us in on the details of that one. Or Steve Carr for that matter. As for Duff, do you think he just suddenly started playing s*** once he crossed the M1? I can't answer your question, as I don't know what the homework involves. Does it involve looking into crystal balls which tell you when a player is going to get a serious knee injury? No it involves calling Luque's agent asking how much he wants and agreeing to the first daft figure which is demanded.

We haven't signed him because Keegan's being a t*** and dragging his feet so he can get the experienced Premiership players he wants instead. He's better than Crouch already but if he goes on to be a top player over the next few years and we're left with Crouch doing the f***ing robot then Keegan can f*** off. Am I reading this right? You want the club to sign players the manager doesn't want? I'd rather the club went with Vetere's opinion rather than signing wank like Crouch, Kapo and Riise yes. Same here. Keegan isn't bad in the transfer market but he's never going to do what Wenger does - he's usually wanting established stars and that's a limitation in many ways. By going for 27 year olds you're getting yourself into a position where you will always have to buy players because others will be on the way down, with a bright young squad there will be times when you won't be desperate to strengthen so you can go out and spend all of the transfer budget on one position if you wish, instead of signing a few £6 million players to cover several positions as you're desperate to replace others. It's a case of getting the balance right. One or two established players in key positions is fine, but a young squad with legs and their best years ahead of them is the right way to go. My concern is that Keegan isn't one for knowing the worldwide market and he should be using the expertise of Vetere who knows that job better.

We haven't signed him because Keegan's being a t*** and dragging his feet so he can get the experienced Premiership players he wants instead. He's better than Crouch already but if he goes on to be a top player over the next few years and we're left with Crouch doing the f***ing robot then Keegan can f*** off. Am I reading this right? You want the club to sign players the manager doesn't want? I'd rather the club went with Vetere's opinion rather than signing wank like Crouch, Kapo and Riise yes. Same here. Keegan isn't bad in the transfer market but he's never going to do what Wenger does - he's usually wanting established stars and that's a limitation in many ways.

I'm interested in this "homework" and what it is exactly, please give a bit more detail about what more the club should have done that would have stopped us buying Duff. It wasn't just Duff, in fact I was referring to other players as well, one of which you mentioned, such as Luque. If you think our homework was done there maybe you can fill us in on the details of that one. Or Steve Carr for that matter. As for Duff, do you think he just suddenly started playing shit once he crossed the M1?

I think Hughes should stay. Or maybe go.

How do you know this hasn't already happened? I'm hoping Keane is blind and will give us £6m for him.

Bent is a different type of target man, offering more power and pace which is what I usually prefer. In Crouch's favour, he probably holds the ball up better and is cleverer with his link play. Both would be good additions to the squad seeing as we are currently relying on Fatty Viduka being fit which he never is.

so we cant strengthen the squad in case it upsets 1 player ? What I said was that we have to make sure that we DO strengthen. It's detrimental buying a worse player and giving him the first team slot, especially if the player in possession of the shirt has been playing well which Zog had at the time. at the time i wouldn't have said duff was a worse player. we had n'zogbia mainly left,milner right and little else. then we had the chance to get duff a quality international who can play on both sides. it hasn't worked out but at the time it was a no brainer. just maybe duff got his place due to n'zogbias attitude. Agreed that on the surface, Duff looked a good signing at the time, other than we already had someone on fire in that position. Moving on though, we need to do our homework properly on the next left winger to come in. I don't think we did that with Duff. We saw a big name and assumed everything would be fine. think we need to be doing that for players in any position don't we? not just left wing...! but i know what you mean, was bought by roeder but it might as well have been souness eh? "proper" player who is in fact shit...if it was souness we'd have paid 10m though I'd like to think we'd be doing our homework with a new regime in place, we certainly weren't previously. Time will tell.

Crouch is not that great in the air but being the height that he is, he is still more than adequate when dealing in aerial matters. His skill is with the ball at his feet. His physical size allows him to hold the ball up well and he is excellent at linking up play. For me he is certainly an improvement on Viduka. If we can replace first team players from this season with a better player in any position then I am all for it. Fair enough. Darren Bent would be a decent alternative.

so we cant strengthen the squad in case it upsets 1 player ? What I said was that we have to make sure that we DO strengthen. It's detrimental buying a worse player and giving him the first team slot, especially if the player in possession of the shirt has been playing well which Zog had at the time. at the time i wouldn't have said duff was a worse player. we had n'zogbia mainly left,milner right and little else. then we had the chance to get duff a quality international who can play on both sides. it hasn't worked out but at the time it was a no brainer. just maybe duff got his place due to n'zogbias attitude. Agreed that on the surface, Duff looked a good signing at the time, other than we already had someone on fire in that position. Moving on though, we need to do our homework properly on the next left winger to come in. I don't think we did that with Duff. We saw a big name and assumed everything would be fine.

Crouch always strikes me as a bit of pillock being led by the nose by his WAG. But then so is Beckham so maybe we should put that to one side. Football-wise, it's been established that Crouch is mediocre in the air, which for a tall bloke, like Ameobi, is a bit condemning. So what does he bring as a target man? Is he strong enough to boss defenders? Is he strong enough to hold the ball up? I haven't really watched him closely, but if he's got those attributes he could do a job because he does score goals.

so we cant strengthen the squad in case it upsets 1 player ? What I said was that we have to make sure that we DO strengthen. It's detrimental buying a worse player and giving him the first team slot, especially if the player in possession of the shirt has been playing well which Zog had at the time.

I think quite a few people expressed their concern that that is exactly what would happen.