Mick

Arsenal reject went to a lower league club and came here for less than £2 million. http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4953/andycoleeg1.th.jpg

So you're saying that being in a side that's been in the Champions League semis is no way to judge a player?

Keegan promised him that he'd let him go if N'Zogbia still wanted to leave this summer so we'll have to wait and see.

I still hope he's here next season.

I wasn't trying to question your ticket status, it was more the length of the list required to pacify you.

I hope you didn't waste your money on a season ticket.

I know, I was over the moon, I'd settle for that again.

I trust the manager to identify and bring in his targets, that'll do for me as he's better than I am at knowing what he wants the team to do next season and who he needs to make his plans work. Keegan has missed out on players in the past and brought in players who have been excellent for us, Ginola being one second choice player that worked.

His point was clear and in some cases correct, in other cases it would be wrong, I'm sure most people will understand that so I'm mentioning that for your benefit.

Well bumped, I'll add that it's up to £618,406.92.

You asked me to point to some posts of people writing him off and I've told you where to find some, whether it was before or after we signed him makes no difference, he was written off. My thoughts are that he could be a good squad player and a good piece of business, I'll know better when he's actually been here a while rather than before he's kicked a ball, unlike some who have already decided that he's not good enough.

Go to the first page in the thread.

Aye. I'm fed up of looking forward to every season being the one when we actually improve and challenge the top 6 and being disappointed time and time again. Doing it different this year, expect s*** and anything else is a bonus. Starting a season with Keegan in charge is slightly different because of what he's done here in the past, he'll do everything possible to do the job to the best of his ability. I think we can all be confident that he’ll want to do the job the way we would like him to do it, I didn't feel that way about the three named above.

And by doing that you're not writing him off, unlike some people.

I really can't wait for the season to kick off as I think we'll have a reasonable season. We finished 7th under Roeder and that was still a shite season because when Souness was here we were very poor and we rescued it late on. I think next season will be more of a steady season when compared to what we've had since Bobby left. I think we'll get beaten a few times but I don't see us going to the basement clubs and trying to contain them. I expect that we'll see some good stuff and we'll improve and build for the future. As long as we move forwards and take forward steps then I'll be happy. The wrist slashers can slash away, life is too short to spend it being constantly negative, especially without reason.

My choice for player of the year would have been Beye so I guess I would go against that.

It seems that a couple of good tackles is a good disguise for his shit passing.

I can't agree with either but that's life.

We haven't signed the players that they want YET so the dummy is out and everything the club does is wrong, it doesn't take much to work it out.

The only reason that I'm bothered about the way we do our transfer business is that it gives us a better chance of getting the players we're after if other clubs don't know that we're actually after a player. It's been well publicised that we tried to get Rooney and would have got him if Man U hadn't come in for him after we'd gone in for him in the first place. Man U only involved themselves once they found out that we had made a bid so if things had been done on the quiet then we might have got him. The same applies to other players, if it gets out that we are after them then other clubs might decide that they also want the player. Is this so difficult to understand?

The player who can play a slide rule pass isn't a necessity but would make a massive difference to us rather than the hit and hope balls that we play far too often and usually in desperation. When a game is tight a player who can do this can often change the game.

You're right we can't tell players or clubs to keep quiet and I can't remember saying that we could so maybe you could help me out and show me where I did say that. What we can do as a club is confirm nothing ourselves until the deal is done, then it's just seen as another rumour until we say we've done something. Players and agents seem to use Newcastle as a means of getting a players name into the papers when they are looking for a move so us saying nothing makes anything we're doing just look like that. Where did I mention the quality of signings will be better because of the way we have conducted ourselves?

Roeder will be watching him this summer as he tries to make up his mind.