Mick

Ask him how many Newcastle shirts we'd sell if we bought somebody like Tevez and had him on a 5 year contract.

Which one is it then? I didn't mention "greedy" or "astute." Do you think it's OK for him to take money out of the transfer budget?

Agreed, I think we have plenty of good things to look forward to, I just hope too many people are not getting too carried away. Things are looking good but we've got to see a lot of hard work being done yet. If we get it right then we can make major gains on teams who finished above us last season, I can't wait to see a ball being kicked, I think Carlisle and Hartlepool should get good boosts to funds soon.

That extra 1p was a childish act of a man who wanted to get one over on the Hall's, he's a petty man who took an extra £300k which will eventually come out of the transfer budget because that's probably the only cost which isn't fixed other than future wages.

I'm sure he gets the money either way, the only difference would be that the longer he stays the longer it takes to trigger the two year pay-off.

My worry is that he's identified players for Bolton and is working on that list while at Newcastle, the Barton signing doesn't really prove anything either way as Anelka was on his list for Bolton when he had the money. I just wonder if we're shopping at Aldi when we should be shopping at M&S or Sainsbury's. I don't know the answer and look forward to see how things pan out over the summer, I hope we have a special player or two to come in, not just the bargain basement type of players usually associated with Allardyce. I suppose that will depend on the transfer budget as much as the manager, we'll know a bit more in 10 weeks or so.

Agreed, I think far too many people are going way over the top about what Allardyce can do, I hope they aren't setting themselves up for a lot of disappointment.

It was his point, I think. I just went a bit further than he did.

I'm sure they still are.

The agreement probably isn't as binding as you seem to think. Here's some quotes from the Independent: "There's a feeling that it's a case now of 'who breaks ranks first?' The agreement not to sell is not binding in a meaningful sense. It could, theoretically, lead to one director suing another, but breaking the agreement would not contravene any stock market rules or be illegal in any way. It was more a statement of intent than anything else. And everyone is aware that things might change very quickly."

Why we sold them a crock for about £14 million. Are you on about the Owen deal? Everyone I knew was happy with that deal at the time, as for the other two, aye your reet. Real Madrid made a £7 million loss on Woodgate, we'll lose more than that if Owen cost the alleged £17 million and goes for the alleged £9 million clause. A lot of people on here were less than impressed when we signed Owen for £17 million when we felt that the money could have been spent more wisely than a single injury prone player.

He'll be really popular with the chairmen of Real Madrid, Deportivo and Rangers.

So far Emre has proven nothing, I think it's make or break time for him and it could go either way. He needs an end product which he hasn't shown too often while playing for us. Too often he'll run into a dead end but at least he had an excuse for that last season when he had nothing much to aim at.

We may sign Joey Barton to do that. Barton seems to be more interested in having a go at goal then creating for others, I could be wrong.

I guess it's more to do with a transition than a vote of confidence.

Ask him if we are going to just hoof the ball up front and bypass the midfield considering we still have a lack of flair players who can change a game. If he says that he's not going to bypass the midfield then ask him who he'll be bringing in to link the play from back to front.

Taylor has the makings of a very good footballer and it's up to the club to get the best out of him, to do that he needs to be playing next to somebody who he can learn from. If we can get an old pro to bring out the best of him then he can become a very, very good player. I think he's got a better chance of realising his potential now than he had this time last year, I remember commenting that I though Taylor had stagnated because of who he was playing with week in and week out, most of that dross has now gone so if we bring in the right people then Taylor can start to learn again and produce the kind of performances we all know/hope he's capable of.

If Ashley has put together a fixed amount of money which he is going to spend on the club, I would guess that he has. Then the two parasites are taking even more money from the club. Almost £2 million in compensation for losing the jobs which they gave themselves and the extra £300k Shepherd gained by haggling for an extra penny. Supporters my arse. Does this look like a good description of our directors? An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.

I really hope that's sarcasm.

I'll never forget the pictures of Bobby walking to his car after being sacked, I look forward to seeing Shepherd do the same.

I'll not make a prediction yet but we've seen what a good transfer window and a good manager can do. If we do good business then I see no reason that we can challenge up to 4th place, time will tell.

It takes longer than 5 minutes to get to the M1 from Derby, never mind Nottingham. The counties are next to each other but the Cities are not 5 minutes apart, unless you fly over by plane.

I wouldn't worry too much about who is right or wrong, one is history and the other is probably on borrowed time, with a bit of luck neither will ever again have any decisions to make regarding who comes and goes.

I wouldn't call it a u-turn unless you said you didn't want him back at any cost then changed your mind. I'd rather win the lottery jackpot but I'd still take 5 balls plus the bonus.

I liked Bellamy but would rather he didn't come back, if he's brought back then I'll go along with it as I don't think he's any worse than Barton, a player who many seem to accept without question. We were a better team with Bellamy than we were without him. Like a few have said, Shearer should keep his mouth shut, does he really need to do talk-in's?