Unbelievable

You want your cake and eat it too, yes? Eh? I want both parties to be happy - that means him signing with the club satisfied. If he's forced out neither party will be happy, and nor will I. Why are fuckers always trying to cause arguments on here? Well, I ´m not trying to pick a fight, just think it's a bit easy to be sitting on the fence on this one. We have a situation here and the club is handling it in a certain way. What you are saying is I will not be judging the action itself, but I will hold them accountable for the end result. Can you not form an opinion about what the club SHOULD be doing, rather than sit back and observe and judge by hindsight? What would you do if you were in charge of affairs at the club?

You want your cake and eat it too, yes?

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? Sigh, it's simple really: - buying club will always want to do the deal quietly to keep cost as low as possible; - if player involved potentially has other options available or is a player who maybe is of a higher profile than he buying club itself, buying club can resort to courting via the press to make it clear to the player they are very keen on him; - selling club will want to start an open auction involving other interested clubs with the aim to maximise it's earnings; - player will want to strike the best possible combination of club/wages. What you're saying isn't new or brilliant no matter how much you think it is. Nor is it something a club can adopt as a policy. A transfer involves at least three parties, and has its own dynamics depending on the profile of these parties.

is ameobi premiership proven ? Stop it, you're making yourself look ridiculous. Sober up please before you post again..

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 thw way we have conducted ourselves? You haven't said any such thing, but you have implied you have been impressed with the way we have conducted ourselves in these two transfers and rubished my comment about the way a deal is done being related to the quality of the player involved. Fair enough on you liking to do our deals quietly. Personally I couldn't give a rat's ass about how we pull off deals, as long as the quality of the player's involved is up to scratch, and so far that doesn't seem to be the case. For that reason, I think applauding the new setup for the way they have pulled these deals off is a completely mood point. I'd rather focus on the squad we will be putting out next season, and I remain worried. To put things into perspective, I have been impressed with Pompey's transfer dealings this summer so far (and since a few seasons tbf), even though Redknapp has used the press an awful lot to his advantage in attracting players, and is still doing so with SWP. Do you think Portsmouth supporters will be complaining about the public way their club conducts their transfer business?

It is a shame and shows what can go wrong when potential deals are made public, all the more reason to keep them quiet. Mick, the point is that you can't tell top players that are being courted by several other clubs to keep it quiet, nor can you make the selling club that is involved shut up about it. It is in bith their interests to forge the best possible deal for themselves, not us. That's why keeping things quiet will not work that well when we (hopefully) move onto bigger targets. Of course, when there's only one club interested and the player is not a high profile character that attracts a lot of media attention, keeping things quiet is far easier, but that in itself doesn't make them better signings. I can't believe I've had to explain this..

SWP not Premiership proven..? mackems.gif

The loss of Emre will have no negative effect on the team, he's either injured or ineffective so getting rid of him is a plus as far as I'm concerned. He may have been all that, he is/was also our best midfielder in terms of natural ability.. When has he ever shwon that natural ability? Certainly not in his set-pieces. He may have taken some shitty corners, he has also taken some of our best free kicks in recent years.

Maybe because the press knowing about our transfer dealings and the quality of the players involved are logically related? Do you really think we will sign top quality, high profile players without the press having a clue until it happens? A relatively unknown Argentinian and a low profile Liverpool youth/squad player yes, but somebody being courted by other big clubs? If so, what went wrong in the Modric (no) deal?

The loss of Emre will have no negative effect on the team, he's either injured or ineffective so getting rid of him is a plus as far as I'm concerned. He may have been all that, he is/was also our best midfielder in terms of natural ability..

Maybe the quality of players signed should count for a little more in your definition of sound transfer business dealing?

I think we'll sign at least one more midfielder. Inler or Larsson in as a first teamer, Derdiyok as "cover" for Viduka, a two footed fullback and a big trophy signing midfielder to keep everyone happy and shift some replica shirts. That would suit me. That would suit you? It would mean we would fall further behind our rivals who either already have stronger squads and first teams or will show much more ambition than bringing in some decent Premiership and promising foreign youngsters and one signing to really strengthen the first team, which is what you mean when you refer to a siging as a trophy signing, i.e. somebody with a bit of class about them? Inler & Larsson are established internationals, either of whom would strengthen the team, as would the trophy signing (lets say Aimar, the big name that has been linked). If we went into next season with N'Zogbia - Inler - Aimar - Gutierrez as our first choice midfield in a 4-4-2, retaining Guthrie, Butt, Milner & Barton as backups, I would consider that job well done. The teams that have built better squads than us - Spurs, Everton, and especially Pompey - did so over the course of several seasons. We aren't going to make up all that ground in one go. But if we made the signings I suggested, we would take a big leap forward IMO. Personally I wouldn't say the likes of Inler (how many people on here knew about him before Euro 2008) and Larsson (decent squad player maybe) would improve our team, especially if we were to lose Emre and Barton (for a while anyway). I would have hoped we are setting our sights higher than this.

I think we'll sign at least one more midfielder. Inler or Larsson in as a first teamer, Derdiyok as "cover" for Viduka, a two footed fullback and a big trophy signing midfielder to keep everyone happy and shift some replica shirts. That would suit me. That would suit you? It would mean we would fall further behind our rivals who either already have stronger squads and first teams or will show much more ambition than bringing in some decent Premiership and promising foreign youngsters and one signing to really strengthen the first team, which is what you mean when you refer to a siging as a trophy signing, i.e. somebody with a bit of class about them?

He´s a pretty stand up guy actually. This may come as a surprise to you, but high profile players attract a lot of attention when they move clubs. Of course, Newcastle is lauded by some on here for keeping their transfer business quiet lately, but then that may be because hardly anybody has ever heard about our transfer targets in the first place so there´s not actually much to write or shout about...

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11827_3805951,00.html Good call. Look mate, it's all over reputable Dutch media. We will see. No smoke without fire. Quotes from his agent: "Rafael wants to play in Spain next season. Several clubs are interested. We will discuss next week.` Those are quotes from Van der Vaart, but I guess you'll listen to his agent over him right? I will listen to both and point out your foolishness in a couple of days time for believing a player keeping the fans of his current club quiet before moving clubs, which will undoubtedly happen..

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11827_3805951,00.html Good call. Look mate, it's all over reputable Dutch media. We will see. No smoke without fire. Quotes from his agent: "Rafael wants to play in Spain next season. Several clubs are interested. We will discuss next week.`

First Bolton, now Fulham. We have beaten some top quality opposition to this signing!

Another signing! I'm ecstatic!

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=53565.msg1361915#msg1361915 And there were a canny few more..

I didn´t say or suggest he wouldn´t go to any other club than them did I? I suggested it ridiculous that some people on here deemed him a realistic target because it was perfectly predictable that he would have more attractive options open to him. Migueljon claims he always had a feeling it would be Madrid. You´ve added one and one together and got three. I can only assume you are referring to your own stupidity, especially if after this news you STILL believe we had a realistic chance of getting him..?

Van der Vaart off to Real Madrid. And to think some people on here thought we had a chance with him..

backs up Apisith's POV. can't really read this in any other way than him not being willing or able to invest his own money in transfers (possibly sees it as throwing money away). so in a way he is selling the club, only not the whole thing but portions of it. not the best news. Ssshh, he´s just got legend status in many fans´ eyes because of saying he hates Spurs.. You take things too seriously. Love you too..

backs up Apisith's POV. can't really read this in any other way than him not being willing or able to invest his own money in transfers (possibly sees it as throwing money away). so in a way he is selling the club, only not the whole thing but portions of it. not the best news. Ssshh, he´s just got legend status in many fans´ eyes because of saying he hates Spurs..

Gomes? Dodgy keeper? I'd say Gomes is definetly not a dodgy keeper. Certainly a VAST improvement over Robinson. Good shot stopper but flaps more than an eplileptic Duck. Absolute nonsense. I´ve seen him for years in Holland now, playing for a rival team no less, and he is curently one of the best goalkeepers in Europe beyond a doubt. He won titles for PSV almost singlehandedly. I would say replacing Robinson with Gomes with all other things being equal would mean about 10 points more in the Premiership for them.. Oh come on, he showed glimpses against Tottenham of how dodgy he can be when he almost killed Salcido taking a routine catch. One or two matches against Tottenham. Is that what you´ve seen of him and are basing your opinion of dodgy keeper on? You´re in for a shock..