Unbelievable

Or, alternatively: * Allardyce is doing excellent in the transfer window so far. None of these signings could have or would have materialised under our previous managers and chairman * Our squad just needs a bit of finetuning and we'll be right back where we belong. There's plenty of time left to get in what we need and there's no reason for concern when players that we've never heard of until a month ago turn us down * Ashley is God and although we don't know his motives there is no reason for concern as he only wants the best for Newcastle United football club. The facts that he is a businessman in it for the money, he previously owned part of Tottenham Hotspur and has no real feel for the club and region and has not come out once to tell us what he wants with the club are minor details that we won't let ruin the party atmosphere. Anybody questionning this line of reasoning is a moron * Players like Quedrue and Young are exactly what we need right now. The fact that they will hopefully be surplus to requirements and are on the way down careerwise are irrelevant. Rome wasn´t built in a day, so why would we expect better than midtable team players. It´s not like this will keep us from getting back in Europe, is it. Sam can take a turd and turn it into a gold nugget, so no worries.. Thats probably about it, well throw in a fanny/Fanni joke and you are up with current events.

Hit the nail on the head. I couldn't give a crap about prices, it's the quality of players we're (apparently) chasing. Gradually we're after poorer players and that's reason for concern in my book. Are we struggling to attract the players necessary to improve us? Is there no money in the kitty? Why are we looking at midtable players like Young and Queudrue? Young and Queudrue would be very much like the signings of Babayaro and Carr. Indeed. I've said this before and got attacked for it, but I'd like us to at least be linked with some younger players whose best days are in front of them, not behind them. Rather take the risk on them than extremely average players in their late 20s. To be fair though I'd rather we had a decent squad right now then we can bring in the "potential" players. Baines is already a better player than Quedrue is at this point in time however, yet he has the potential to become even better.. That is what we should be looking for in youngsters.. At 6 million he isn't overpriced either..

I don´t think the `fans being fickle` argument is really valid seeing as we are in the aftermath of a major event in our club´s history with Mr Ashley taking over and taking us off the stock market. The club is (almost) completely his now. He can do whatever he wants with it. It's amazing that so little fans have been asking questions about his motives and plans for us. Everybody seems happy enough without much to base that optimism on. Some people are now seeing us target the type and level of player that would have got everybody up in arms when Roeder and Sounness were here. This is leading some of us to ask questions as to what is happening as these players will essentially be tomorrow's dead wood holding us back if we have as ambitious plans as everybody seems to believe.. I don't think this is being fickle, it's being cautious and sensible rather than just joining the party and putting complete faith in people we hardly know..

Why? Some of the best left backs this league has seen, I hadn't heard of or knew little about before they came. Is it too much to ask that our club find one of these? We'll never unearth a top player with this kind of attitudes, that a 28 year old cheap left back becomes available from a club much smaller than ourselves, so we buy him to fill a slot because he's a proven average Premiership player who will 'do a job'. This is how we ended up with Steven Carr. Since the Premierships inception, we've never found a good full back who grew with the club. The closest we came was Bernard but he didn't make it, and that was under a manager who, for all his flaws, saw the potential value in taking chances on certain players and letting them grow with the team. I'm not even convinced Queudreu and Young are better than Babayaro and Carr, just a lot less injury prone. I won't suggest a realistic alternative, I expect my club with its massive resources to find one, or try at the very least. Other clubs manage it. I think there's far too much blind faith in Big Sam at the moment, and I can see the bubble bursting after the transfer window slams shut. I hope I'm wrong but I just don't share all the excitement in the moves we're making. I think calling these moves "sensible" depends on who we are and where we're going - if the objective is club profits then they are very sensible indeed. SAY WHAT?!!! He's right you know. Carr and Babayaro had better pedigree when they came here than Quedrue and Young as far as I am concerned. Both Quedrue and Young were ok a couple of seasons ago, yet their careers seem to have gone the wrong way recently. Much the same as our very own Carr and Babayaro. I can deal with having two of these players here as squad players, not four of them competing for first team football for two crucial positions in our team..

Hit the nail on the head. I couldn't give a crap about prices, it's the quality of players we're (apparently) chasing. Gradually we're after poorer players and that's reason for concern in my book. Are we struggling to attract the players necessary to improve us? Is there no money in the kitty? Why are we looking at midtable players like Young and Queudrue? Young and Queudrue would be very much like the signings of Babayaro and Carr. Prepare for some abuse ohmelads.. You´re not allowed to ask questions or be worried about what´s going on around these parts nowadays..

Top post. That's exactly the point. People were duely concerned when there was talk of Belgravia, Polygon, hedge funds and the likes, but now it seems you get lambasted for questionning or even being curious as to the new owners´ motives..

Rose tinted glasses I tell you.. A couple of bad results and all the optimism will soon fade away.. Stating facts is not looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses. Please list all the average players who have turned us down this window. I'll admit I'm naive and wrong if you can provide any evidence whatsoever. I can't provide you with evidence of actually being turned down just as much as you can't provide me with evidence that this isn't happening. If you put on your thinking hat though, it's pretty obvious that we have been in for a number of players who have gone elsewhere (Sidwell, Ben Haim, Distin, etc) and for players who have decided to stay put rather than move to us (Beye, Diarra). That's not even stating all the players we have or are reportedly (been) interested in and that haven't materialised. It's pretty obvious to me that the standard of player that we are being linked with at the moment (Quedrue, Shorey, Fanni) is not the standard that a club that has the ambition to be one of the biggest in football needs to be targetting. If you believe otherwise it's hard to argue with you not wearing rose tinted glasses; if it would have been Roeder targetting these players everybody would have been sitting here saying they weren't renewing their season tickets..

I understand what youre saying about us not knowing what Ashley has planned for the club but he's going about things in the right way. He's got rid of most of the s**** that was running the club and Shepherd is noting more than an ornament. Ashley has brought in somebody who appears to be very professional and he seems to be going about his review of the club before moving forwards, again, another good move. Mort had an opportunity to give out more information but he hasn't been here long enough to go into any sort of detail as he could find out that things are totally different to what he expected, he'd look like an arse if he said one thing and did another. I can't understand why so many people are questioning the intentions of our new owner before he's had a chance to get his feet under the table. Because they're f****** morons whose only experience of transfer windows has come on computer games. Bloody hell.. The abuse people get on here for not joining the party as yet is ridiculous.. The transfer activity we´ve seen up to this pount has been what I would have expected Allardyce to do under Shepherd´s reign, i.e. based on common sense but also quite unspectacular. Ashley's money and seeming ambition has not been a factor as yet. I don't see why people aren't allowed to discuss this without being sworn at..

Rose tinted glasses I tell you.. A couple of bad results and all the optimism will soon fade away..

Not that interested in them Gemmill. I want a defense. I would have loved us to have gone after Woodgate, may be a bit of a risk at 7M but surely well worth the gamble? I have seen the views that Baines is too small but I'd also take him; I'd love Bridge but that aint going to happen. Luke Young/ Shorey? Not sure, better than what we have but not top drawer. There's 5 players (not a trophy player in sight) & we have signed a untility man to play at RB. Of the 5 players you mentioned, you're not sure on two, one of them was unavailable, which leaves Baines and Bridge (who may or may not be available, but it seems he probably isn't). You mention yourself that Baines is viewed as too small by Allardyce (if Allardyce doesn't think he's the man for the job, that's good enough for me). So of that list we've managed to whittle it down to Bridge who it looks like Mourinho wants to keep. This transfer business is a bit harder than just reeling off a list of potentials isn't it? I would much sooner we make careful, considered decisions than draw up lists like you just have, and go for whatever's available on it even if we're not sure they're up to the task. I'm hoping we've moved on from that sort of thing. Get the f*** out of here with your 'logic' and 'reason'. WE'RE OWNED BY A BILLIONAIRE. I think you're all being a litle harsh on Tsunami. I have to say I agree with him for the most part, but approaching it from a different angle. Unlike the vast majority on here I am yet to be convinced by the plans that our new owner has with our (or should I say his) club.. So far it's only been speculation in the local media based on so called sources close to the club saying he wants us to become a major power in football and is willing to invest what it takes to get us there. The club have organised an exclusive interview with Mr Mort that was essentially a missed opportunity to clarify their position to the fans. If actions are to speak louder than words I have seen nothing too convincing in that department either. Allardyce, who most put complete faith in it seems and with whom I am personnally quite happy as well as I thought it was (!) the best we could get, was brought in by Shepherd. In the transfer department we have got a player who our two previous managers were also after (Viduka). An international defender without Premiership experience who on the looks of it looks a bit lightweight, which is worrying in my opinion. Nobody knows for certain he will be a success here. We have got a gifted midfield player with huge mentality issues (whatever happened to everybody wanting to get that sort of unprofessional behaviour out of our club a couple of years ago?) at a reasonable yet not astounding price. And we've got a decent defensive minded utility player on a free from Chelsea. Forgive me for not being overwhelmed as yet. I would even go as far as to say these are (certainly in part) transfers that I could have seen Roeder go for as well. More worryingly, we are being turned down an awful lot by players that most would have never even heard about or considered good enough up until a month ago. I share in some of the optimism around the club, but I think some need to take off their rose-tinted glasses and see what's what. Our previous owner has brought in the best manager we could have got and he has done some decent transfer business, but nothing really special so far. The new owners are yet to show their hand, and much of the optimism is as yet unfounded. This place is a lot more cheery than a couple of months ago, but there´s nothing wrong with trying to get some perspective on things..

For those who watched the European U21 championships, he was the tall, lanky central defender for Portugal. As a whole their team performance was disappointing, and I don't think Da Costa's performance was much better. Also, I don't think as is suggested earlier in this thread that he is suitable to play as a full back. I am not even convinced he is worth the reported 7M euro buyout clause at this point in time, and due to his inexperience and our need for experience in the centre back position (seeing as we already have potential in the person of Taylor) I don't think he would suit us at this point in time.. Seeing as he can stay at P$V or potentially go to Porto in his homecountry, I don't even think he would really be interested in coming to Newcastle, especially as a squad player..

I've seen quite a bit of him and never been too impressed. Alongside Alex he has done mostly well, but then again who wouldn't? When Alex was out with injury it really hurt P$V's defense and especially highlighted the inexperience in Da Costa's game.. Reports in Holland from multiple sources are saying Porto are after him as a replacement for Pepe, who has just moved to Madrid in a big money deal I believe.. It was also reported when he signed for P$V that there was a buyout clause set at 7M Euros.

Fans of SW should unite and not renew their season tickets collectively to make a stance.. Seeing as we are now "customers" of football, surely people are within their rights to discuss the "level of service provided" openly on an Internet forum..

Gets a bit touchy when people applaud Argentina at the expense of Brazil doesn't it Felipao? Anyway, Riquelme may not be better than Ronaldinho, but I'd very happily take him at our club.. Unbelievable that his future isn't clear yet..

So, anything in the Icelandic newspapers related to what our Icelandic, Italian car loving source predicted yesterday?

That's a bit s***. Actually, how can that be the case if we had Rossi for four months? By this year, I presume they mean this coming season???

I don't know the details of this new regulation, but as it's the first I've heard about it it may well be an FA thing, meaning that if Krul is loaned out to a club in Holland (Roda was in the market w couple of weeks ago), we could still possibly negotiate a callback-deal (not sure what the rules say. I guess it's to protect the club who loans a player rather than to frustrate both players and clubs who loan out players), although I can't see many loaning clubs at the highest level in Holland agreeing to such a deal and planning to let him be their first choice goalkeeper either (why would they want to take the risk to lose their GK when ours get injured?)..

No right foot? Are you sure you were awake while watching?

Excellent!

I bet you it's this one from that list, seeing as Wullie mentioned Reykjavik. They are monitoring the situation closely it seems: http://sport.is/fullfrettir.php?idnews=5935&idcat=10

Ask Wullie, he should know..

Take your pick: Iceland Newspapers Bæjarins Besta Dagbladid Vísir Dagbladid Visir Eyjafréttir (Vestmannaeyjar) Félag leiðsögumanna Fjarðarpósturinn (Hafnarfjörður) Fréttabladid Fréttavefurinn Tidis (Vesturbyggd) Iceland Review Morgunbladid The Reykjavik Grapevine (Reykjavik) Skarpur (Húsavík) Skessuhorns Sport.is (Reykjavik) Strik Vaktin (Vestmannaeyjar) Véfréttin Vefthjodviljinn Vikurfrettir

He has a good taste for cars, so he must be right! We're signing Gudjohnsen!!!

Excellent news if we can keep Owen and Oba as well. If we can't, at least we're prepared and won't be left with too few strikers at the start of the season or having to buy somebody under pressure and at an inflated price..

I'll need a very reliable source to even start contemplating that what you claim here could potentially have a slight chance of having happened in reality..