Unbelievable

Today will be the day that McClaren will start to realise what he's let himself in for.

I feel this is big big news, possibly even worthy of a thread title change. It's the day pre season training begins, the transfer window is now officially open and we have less than 6 weeks to go until our first Premier League game, and we are having a fucking board meeting to discuss our transfer options

A board meeting to discuss transfer options? Oooohhhhh, the ambition is almost palpable now isn't it?

Surprising. Now watch them appoint a better manager than us in no time.

Charnley may well be sacrificed at some stage, only to be replaced by the next complete misfit. We all know who the real problem is.

What email?

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-not-signed-anyone-9557346 Good summation of our current position imo. It's going to be another absolute disaster of a transfer window.

He was arguably our "best" winger last season. Unless we get at least one first team winger in, two if Cabella leaves or we don't trust Aarons to stay fit, we would be mad to let him leave imo. He's not of the required quality for where I want NUFC to be, but that goes for a lot of our players sadly. I would be all for an upgrade, but will we get one whilst we have Obertan and Gouffran on the books? I doubt it very much.

Ridiculously underrated going by the last few posts. You must all be very confident that Tauvin or someone of his ilk is set to join or look forward to another season of Obertan and Gouffran providing our strikeforce with clear cut chances.

We should call this thread the Monitoring thread and the Other club's transfers thread simply "Transfers".

Definitely more excited about this than about Steve McClaren being appointed head coach. Considering the fact that this Cathro bloke appears to be very ambitious and wants to move into management asap, could it be that there is an understanding there between the parties that he is here to learn of Steve McClaren who will make way for him in a few years time, possibly heading upstairs as a Graham Carr replacement. It appears extremely unlikely for an outfit unable to even plan a transfer window to be this forward thinking all of a sudden, but from what I’ve read about Cathro he just doesn’t appear the type who would come here to play second fiddle for long.

How does that compare to previous seasons HF, do you know? And why is the capacity only 24k in that overview? I always thought season ticket holders accounted for close to 40k of ticket sales.

Spoke to my brother in law yesterday (FC Twente season ticket holder). When I told him that McClaren was now manager of Newcastle he laughed and simply said "good luck". I reminded him that he won them their first and only trophy and he replied that McClaren was working with very solid foundations which were put in place before he arrived, which suited his motivational skills, which he recognises made a big difference. He said the problem is it wears off quickly so Steve McClaren is an ideal short term appointment and not someone who should build up a club over a longer period of time. When I told him NUFC were is disarray and we have given McClaren a 3+5 year contract he laughed again, and repeated "good luck". Bodes well.

More Championship players to go with our excisting collection of Championship standard players and Championship manager. Dat ambition

What?

Stifler is Mike Ashley. Suddenly it all makes sense.

He's about to become a regular first choice for Holland. He'd be thick to come here and risk his starting place. There's no need for him to move to a club which pound-for-pound punches well below it's weight, and likely promotes itself as a stepping stone to a big club. He's probably in the crosshairs of the big boys already, so a stepping stone phase (and wasting one or two years max) would be lunacy. A move here would be a major sideways step, as Anitafound out.

This will be the story of the summer imo. Same for Wijnaldum no doubt. Who would have thought that running the club into the ground would end up damaging its attractiveness to managers, coaches and players beyond repair?

I don't see why Siem de Jong couldn't make it back into the NT fold if he can stay fit and have a strong period in the PL. From the Siem thread:

Now watch it happen for real