Sifu

Going to wait until Saturday morning before I offer my proper opinion on this window. Anxious and nervous at the moment but that could very well change with a couple of additions by 11pm on Friday.

He really isn't the brightest of individuals is he?

That's a good shout but the 12 game ban could very well put Norwich (and any other club) off. Can't see it. Barton called both Hughton and Calderwood out in the worst possible terms in a training ground rant on the eve of our first game in the Championship. They rose above it, mainly because nobody would have touched Barton with a barge pole back then, but very much doubt they'll want him anywhere near Norwich. And yet Barton remained as one of Hughton's most trusted players in our first season back in the PL.

Wait until transfer deadline day. Someone is inevitably going to be a prick and bump these threads (oops )

I still like him to an extent too (don't know why tbh). Certainly don't hate him but it needs to be said that he's a bit of an attention seeking tool. Everything that has happened to him in the last year or so has been his own doing. Will he ever learn? Unlikely.

That's a good shout but the 12 game ban could very well put Norwich (and any other club) off.

because its the final week of the window and the rumour mill goes insane This week is going to be rather unbearable. Urgh.

I'm pretty sure that is what Pards would do, should Douglas sign. More than likely, I have every confidence that Pardew will handle the situation in the correct manner. His man management skills are top notch.

If we had signed Douglas a month and a half ago then I would have been all for him starting instead of Saylor (injury/fitness reasons more than anything btw). However, now that the season has properly started and Saylor has performed well so far, dropping him now would send out the wrong message. If we do sign Douglas (and I'm all for it considering our lack of options in the back), he will have to force himself into the starting lineup imo. Unless Saylor goes through a horrible run of form, my first choice CB pairing would be Colo-Saylor.

Lightning does strike twice.

That's completely different. They're your local rivals. Of course you wouldn't give a s***. The Newcastle v Sunderland thing doesn't really mean as much to me. I understand it's like Yankees v Mets or something, but it's not like Dempsey left us to play for them. That would be totally different. 'before' Just trying to spare the guy's feelings. Some basic f***ing s*** here Mike, how long you been on this board? You know that I understand rivalries, man. You more than anyone. You post in the US threads. But there are Newcastle fans all over the world now, and you have to understand that the stuff that means a lot to you won't mean a lot to some of the foreigners. I remember typing this s*** before. I can empathize, but most of the time the Sunderland stuff is just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . Your hatred of them is hilarious, but if Dempsey goes there, I'll look out for their results and hope he does well while they stay mid-bottom of the league. Oh dear Mike, you're a lost cause

Stoke love?! Uh oh.

You do realise that you're going to have to disown Dempsey and/or take posters of him down. If he joins the mackems then he's going to tarnish his reputation Btw, if the mackems do actually sign him then I wouldn't put it past them to actually finish in the top 10. The only way they'll f*** up their season is through O'Neill's dinosaur tactics. I was wondering how much Sunderland love I was going to be allowed, tbh. None Mike, Sunderland "love" is not allowed

You do realise that you're going to have to disown Dempsey and/or take posters of him down. If he joins the mackems then he's going to tarnish his reputation Btw, if the mackems do actually sign him then I wouldn't put it past them to actually finish in the top 10. The only way they'll f*** up their season is through O'Neill's dinosaur tactics.

Rhodes would fit the bill nicely. Would be good back up to have if anything were to happen to Ba/Cisse. Our attacking options would be very decent. Would be satisfied to go into the season with Cisse, Ba, Rhodes, Shola, (Sammy), Campbell as our strikeforce. Make it so. Btw, how gutted will Carroll be if we do sign Rhodes over him

Yeah, fuck that.

Gouffran?

We're still laughing at you Brendan

If he does end up at Marseille then fair play to him. From the shitness of QPR to the decent l'OM would be some feat. Some decent blagging there.

I had 20 odd pages to catch up on...

It's got to the point where I don't really check the news outlets anymore. This forum is where I get all my football news really.

Had to be fucking FOX who commissioned that

The more times this thread gets bumped, the more I think he's coming back. Booo. In which case, it's time for the healing process to begin.

I would say the only time this partnership has been close to working was Cisse's debut against Villa. My gut feeling though is that the Ba-Cisse partnership will work in time... They don't appear to try and play as a pair which doesn't help matters... Always too far apart imo... If Pardew's intention is to play a 4-4-2 then I'm sure he is actively working on them to click as a pairing in training. 4-3-3 makes more logical sense though as it utilises all of our players to good effect. The good news is that the 4-3-3 is still very much in our plans so I'm not worried as such.