STM

Hope he signs. Losing Enrique will be far less hurtful if don't lose Barton too.

I actually think Woodgate is as talented English centre back as their has been in a long while. Comparing the two is pretty tough, as Woody never saw his prime (he's past it now IMO) and Ferdinand joined a stable club where it was "easier" for him to show his talents. Ferdinand was and probably still is an excellent centre half who has a remarkable physique. It's a real shame that Ferdinand never got to play with a better centre half than Terry for England and that Woodgate is so injury prone. Anyway Coloccini is better than both because he stays fit and has curly hair

Apart from Barton and Enrique all of those players are expendable. Wouldn't be suprised to see Guthrie sold in the summer and Smith (if anyone will take him). As for Elmander/Larsson, i agree both would be excellent additions to the squad on free transfers. In fact i have stated before that it wouldn't shock me if we don't already have something agreed with one of them. Both situations sound like the sort of deals we will be looking at so fingers crossed. Just because we have a bit of dosh (allegedly) doesn't mean we should be pissing it away or turing down bargains.

Gervinho looks as though he could be some player. Big, powerful and a good turn of pace. If we are after him then he won't cost much either It's been said before but it's worth saying it again, we really need to look into Van Aanholt's situation at Chelsea. I've heard the whole "they need him", crack but lets be honest, this is Chelsea, they got loads of young stars as well as Ashley "trigger" Cole. If we lose Enrique, we could do alot worse than investing our time and money into this lad, a real star for the future.

I bet we get a decent fee for him. Just have a feeling they have agreed to sign him for more than we bought him. Something like 3 million, you watch.

Surplus to requirements. Has no long term future at the club, etc etc.

Including 3 new first team players, this is something realistically i would be looking to do; Harper Simpson Samba* Coloccini Enrique Tiote Nolan Barton Ben Arfa Cisse Elmander *I know Samba signed a new contract but i believe something could be done there. If not there are other options. We should also look to sign Ireland on the cheap, should his loan go well. Should we lose our key players ( i don't want to lose them), we need replacements; Barton= Kranjcar Enrique= Figueroa Tiote= Mulumbu

Of the teams that might go down these are the players that stick out, McCarthy, N'Zogbia, Figeroa, Brunt, Mulumbu, Noble and Jarvis looks a canny player.

There was a day when we would have been desperate to have a team capable of picking up clean sheets. If it aint broke, don't fix it. Taylor can wait.

When we got relegated i dreamed that someday we would be playing European football again and that when it came about i would not take it for granted, like last time, when we were playing "FC Whothefuks" on thursday nights. Someday i hope to finish work and have my mate ring me and ask if fancy going to match and experiance that special St James Park European football again. Anyone who has been will know what i mean when i take about those mild but dark European nights on Tyneside, bloody magic.

Reo-Coker is dog shit. We shouldn't be looking for "cover" or "squad players", that's not how it works. We should be looking for players to compete with Tiote for that position (as hard as that will be). If we can't find players in their prime we should find young players, with an element of development in mind. In short, IF we want to find someone to compete for Tiote's position we need to find a young and hungry player who will act as understudy to him. Not a lame player like Reo-Coker who, quite frankly, offers nothing which we don't already have.

Don't rate either of them massively but then of course they will look shit alongside Colo. Out of the two, Taylor would just edge it. Personally, i think it would be great to see us sign another quality centre back for Colocccini. He deserves to have a quality partner alongside him.

how do we convince that we will be in the champs league in a seasons time ? His aims, like most footballers, will be too play in the champions league, win trophies and play for their national team. That's no shock and we want players like that. How do we convince him? The same way every other club does.. sign better players, spend more money, show more ambition. I'm not cliaiming it to be easy, nor realistic but we have to at least be seen to be doing the right things.

The issue isn't about whther Jose's happy here, of course he is, he's playing every week in the premiership, on big money and he's adored by the fans. Nor is the issue about whether he aspire's for more. Again, of course he aspire's for more, don't we all? The real question is whether this "aspiration" is big enough for him to want to leave and i'm sure their will be some juicy offers for him in the summer. Again it's down to the club to convince a player that we match his ambitions. We all have serious doubts about this regime, clearly Jose does too. The owners haven't got to simply convince the fans but the players too.

Our transfer policy is to lose players on the cheap? Agreed, wtf is he on? £35 million for Carroll isn't cheap. I think he was referring to getting players from elsewhere on the cheap. Correct.

Woodgate was amazing TBF. To say he transformed our back four is hardly an understatement. Although out of the two, Coloccini is my favourite because he stuck with us through our relegation and is apparently one of the nicest guys you could meet. Coloccini will go down in history as the cult hero, of all cult hero's for Newcastle (largely becuase of his curly hair). It would be an honor for us to see Coloccini finish his career with us.

Where does Corluka fit into Spurs first team plans? I know he played last night but he's the sort we should be sniffing after. He can play both centre half and right back. Him and Kranjcar would be brilliant signings for us, sadly both have found themselves in the Spurs first team in recent weeks. Oh and the only reason Ashley hands out long contracts is so that we don't lose players on the cheap. Which ironically is our transfer policy.

For the record i'm convinced we have Elmander lined up for the summer. This transfer story has been brewing for months (since the summer i believe). It would not suprise me if we ended up with Larsson on a free too.

Not that it matters but Nolan would have chinned Diaby.

Can't see this happening TBH, far more likley to end up with Aliadiere. Neither present a realistic long term option anyway, we just need someone to see us through for six weeks until Shola returns. Hopefully with the return of Ben Arfa and Ireland we will have enough attacking options until the end of the season.

What's Tiote yellow card status, did he get booked against Arsenal? Still two bookings away from a suspension? I think we will turn them over 2-3. It will be: Harper Simpson Willi Coloccini Enrique Tiote Nolan Barton Jonas Best Lovenkrands

Coloccini again.

Has anyone considered that Diaby is probably friends with Ousmane Dabo. Alot of the African/ french players are very good friends, even the ones who haven't played together. There's a huge social network in Milan, Paris, London and Marseille etc between African french players. Would not shock me at all if that is why Diaby took exception to Barton.

Probably correct. He looked a different player at Everton though. Didn't he score like 10 goals for them? Fuck it play him up front

Seriously? He's hardly going to be first choice over Kompany and Toure. Although i doubt he will find many clubs willing to take him. The good thing about City is that i get the feeling they aren't bothered about the fee's they get for players.