Memphis

I can only hope they drag this out...not only to increase the sale price but also to make some desperate attempt to get someone half-decent in to replace him. Otherwise, we're fucked. Would really hurt me to see him wearing that fucking red strip.

Postponed. Uh oh.

Why wouldn't we keep rejecting their bids up to and until the absolute deadline? They have every motivation to buy and we have none to sell immediately.

This is well put.

It's less about the amount of money and more about the message that it sends, both to the supporters and to the player himself. To the supporters, it says quite clearly that the policy of bringing homegrown talent through and utilizing them as long as they want to play for the club is sacred. Carroll is irreplaceable not so much because he's a brilliant striker (he has become one) but because he's a brilliant NEWCASTLE striker born and bred. You can't replace that for any amount of money, so short of a positively ludicrously stupid offer like 50m or more, or the player agitating for a move - neither of which appears imminent - he's staying. And to the player it shows that he is really wanted and we want him to at least attempt to achieve his ambitions here. I love it. This is not FM. I have no confidence that excellent replacement players will necessarily be queuing up to join our newly-promoted team having just sold our best young asset, anyway.

http://celebritycarsnews.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/jessica-lawlor-grilfriend-of-stephen.jpg?w=448&h=300 The Lambo is very nice.

http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/stephen-ireland.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/02/24/article-1253462-087321CD000005DC-577_634x341.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/04/article-1218054-06B18BF3000005DC-512_634x350.jpg Just a few of the Ireland family automobiles. Quite like the Audi.

If the offer is legitimate and if indeed it has been flatly rejected, full credit to Ashley. Most observers would have expected him to snap up the cash - or at least keep the lines of communication open. Carroll is hugely important to our long-term ambitions to get the club back to the upper mid-table/regular European qualification we had for a decade or so. And obviously utilizing that money in this transfer window, or what's left of it, would be virtually impossible and monumentally stupid. I'm thrilled the club is making their lack of interest so clear. Plus, as so many others have written, it's just fantastic to have a homegrown player achieve such success leading the line for our club. Huge huge credit as well to Carroll for what appears to be a very legitimate love of his club.

Good information in this Villa fan's blog post from August when he was initially acquired: http://astonvillacentral.com/2010/08/tale-of-the-tape-james-milner-vs-stephen-ireland-part-ii-the-bigger-picture/ And obviously Villa Park doesn't suit him. But SJP just might - and if it does, surrounded by TGOL and with some apparently strong dressing room leadership to help him out, there's no reason why he can't become more comfortable and therefore, more effective. To even compare him to Vuckic or Guthrie is ridiculous - Ireland's done it in this league at a very high level before, and at 24, there's no reason to suspect he couldn't do it again given the right circumstances. Barton had a suspect reputation, Ben Arfa had a suspect reputation, Carroll's had a few punch-ups, etc. Would you want a squad without those three? Quality sometimes is accompanied by stupidity/daftness/ego/instability. But if you ever want to be better than merely mid-table, you have to figure out a way to get the best out of such players.

It's all a bit too David Brent for my liking. http://www.patricksays.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brentdancing.gif

Would be an excellent test of Pardew's man-management skills. Loan would be low-risk, high-reward. I'd be all for it.

Should have been 6 points from 6 over the last two matches, but to draw at the SOS and against Spurs without Carroll and Tiote is more than acceptable in the scheme of things.

£18m rising to £24m official according to the Times. Bent quote: "The size of the football club and history of the club are major reasons for me coming here."

Harewood

Good effort lads. Just too much to ask to beat a top club like Stevenage away. Cracking cracking attempt, though.

Fucking LOL at this shit.

There couldn't be a better example of how fragile this squad is. Investment please.

Deserved this. Absolutely zero motivation. Players can't even complete simple passes. Outplayed and outthought by Stevenage. I'm far more bothered by the red to Tiote and the suspension than going out of the cup. Not looking forward to having to add this to the list of memorable FA Cup upsets. How Pardew handles the response to this will be telling as he couldn't be bothered to motivate this lot today. And his selection didn't do us any favors.

Have to say it looked a red to me. I would be very surprised if it's overturned on appeal.

From Caulkin via Twitter: Pardew: "I can’t say to you strong enough that Andy Carroll will not leave this club in this transfer window. 100 percent."

Everybody has a price at the right time in the right situation. But this is none of those. There is no compelling reason to sell as we're in a relatively decent financial position. Spurs are doing better than us now but are not historically a 'bigger' club. There is no reason we can't replicate what Spurs have done over the next 5 years if we make the right decisions - and the first right decision is to keep Andy Carroll. This isn't Man Utd or Barcelona. It's Spurs. There is a massive, massive difference.

The transfer window is officially open. Also, regarding Pardew's quotes, I don't really see the harm. As someone else pointed out, part of his remit is clearly to improve the communication and he's doing that (and then some). It's only fair to wait and see how his quotes compare with what actually happens. It took us a while to get accustomed to Hughton's style (I remember a fair few frustrated people once the secrecy began), and it will take a while to get used to Pardew. I'm still struggling to warm up to Pardew, but I think we have to try to be reasonable.

Also from Wilson - expected to be a 4/4.5 yr. deal but no info yet on wages.

Scott Wilson from the Northern Echo: #NUFC expect Ben Arfa deal to be confirmed tomorrow after Marseille officials return from winter break. €6m give or take a few centimes.

I'm thinking we could sign Lacina Traore, sign Crouch on loan, then maybe bring over Yao Ming as cover.