Unbelievable

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

If we paid the money, he would join us no question. Krul, Siem De Jong, Janmaat and Anita are here man. Dutch bonanza. His stock is already way above ours man.

There is no way Wijnaldum would move to either Sunderland or us.

Yup. I don't think he's being kept on however.

"With the Hammers out of the race the likes of Newcastle, Southampton and Chelsea should have a clear path to make a move for the striker." Love how they make it sound like West Ham is the biggest club in the world. Anyway, after them we are clearly the most attractive option available to him, so I expect him to have his medical tomorrow at the latest.

Deadline

Look, I'm not being negative for negativity's sake here unlike what some people might think. Think about it: why would a Dutch poster on a NUFC board with a history of defending Dutch and Eredivisie players when they have been (in my opinion) undervalued come out and express dismay at the arrival of a possible Dutch number 9 at Newcastle? I would love nothing more than to see a Dutch striker become a hero at this club. I wanted us to sign Dirk Kuyt back when we were supposedly after him. I have no ulterior motive here, I couldn't possible have. I hope we don't sign Bas Dost. That doesn't mean I'm writing him off before he's even kicked a ball for us or will not give him a chance because he's not our player yet, and whilst that is the case I sincerely hope we look elsewhere and aim higher. His record isn't all that bad and I will always defend any Eredvisie striker record against the likes of Ronaldo (the poster) who suggest the league is so weak that any striker could score over 30. That said, he scored 77 goals in 163 competitive games in Holland (one season in Jupiler League, 4 in Eredivisie), or slightly under one in two. Take out his "Pardew 5th place season" anomaly and it drops to in 39 in 124, or slightly under one in three. Wolfsburg shelled out for him when his stock was high (after the anomaly) and at the higher Bundesliga level you would expect a striker with these numbers in Holland to score maybe one in four in a stronger league, which proved to be the case in his first two seasons at Wolsburg (12 in 41 in Bundesliga), where he was a squad player at best despite the fact that they had paid just shy of 10m euros for him. His hot streak earlier this year for Wolfsburg was seriously impressive, but nobody saw it coming (a bit like Papiss Cisse's streak in his first few months here) and I think nobody who closely follows the German league can realistically see him replicating it, not least Wolsburg which explains why they want to cash in on him while his stock is (once again) high. Having said all that, his goalscoring record is not my biggest worry with Bas Dost. It is the fact that he is the type of player that needs the team to be built around him and quite frankly, he is not good enough for that to happen at the top level. Considering our current group of players, there is hardly anybody here at this point in time capable of providing him the service he would require to be even considered half decent. Bas Dost is more or less purely a box player, a luxury we sadly cannot afford as we are in deperate need (in my view) of a forward who can transform the way we play offensively, and by this I don't mean hoofing it at the big lump up top, but somebody with some pace, movement and intelligence about him. A wider criticism would be what this transfer represents, especially coming in the wake of Mike Ashley speaking of Champions League football and talking about the club finally pushing above its weight. Bas Dost is to the Newcastle number 9 shirt what Steve McClaren is to the Newcastle hot seat: utterly underwhelming and a sign not of renewed ambition, but of ingrained mediocrity. It is simply not good enough and ultimately all this penny penching and taking chances in the hope that some may come off will only continue to see us fall further down the footballing ladder. The club is absolutely raking it in from TV revenue, posting profit after profit and the most we have spent on a striker under Ashley (one of the richest people on the planet) is 10 million pounds or about half what a good lower Premier League/top Championship forward would set you back nowadays. Yes, I am negative about the direction of the club in general and this potential transfer in particular, but I don't f***ing want to be. I would much rather the club was run ambitiously with a striker capable of replicating the heroics of the best number 9's we've seen over the years. I'm sorry to say there is no way that Bas Dost will ever be that player, not ever. His goalscoring record as well as his all round play are nowhere near good enough.

You didn't answer my question - how many Wolfsburg fixtures did you watch last season to gain such an expert judgement on him? The bloke started 28 games last season (across league, cup and international), scored 20 goals and got 7 assists. Terrified of the ball he is, absolutely terrified. Fine. He's a penalty box striker with good general instincts but needs to be force fed. In other words his ability on the ball isn't very good at all and seeing as we don't really create much it would be De Jong mk2 ( the crap one) except i agree with Unbelievable, De Jong is a better player. Still didn't answer my question, but okay Lets hope we don't sign this bloke, because four people on an internet forum claim to have scouted him on a regular basis (with their intense and fantastic scouting record) and deem him unable to be a success for us. :cheesy: And your qualification for opining on this subject is? I've not said he's good nor bad, I've just criticised others who have slated a man who they've barely seen kick a ball. I've simply stated to give the bloke a chance (should he sign). Except we have seen him kick a ball unlike you. You're beyond help. Your argument is pathetic. PS - I went and watched Wolfsburg live on one occasion last season and managed to catch between 6-8 of their league and cup games on TV. But obviously you know everything and you are a world class football scout. Good on you. So you're not ignorant, just completely rubbish at properly assessing a player. But please do tell, what did you see in Dost's style of play that made you think he would be good enough for the PL?

You didn't answer my question - how many Wolfsburg fixtures did you watch last season to gain such an expert judgement on him? The bloke started 28 games last season (across league, cup and international), scored 20 goals and got 7 assists. Terrified of the ball he is, absolutely terrified. Fine. He's a penalty box striker with good general instincts but needs to be force fed. In other words his ability on the ball isn't very good at all and seeing as we don't really create much it would be De Jong mk2 ( the crap one) except i agree with Unbelievable, De Jong is a better player. Still didn't answer my question, but okay Lets hope we don't sign this bloke, because four people on an internet forum claim to have scouted him on a regular basis (with their intense and fantastic scouting record) and deem him unable to be a success for us. :cheesy: And your qualification for opining on this subject is? I've not said he's good nor bad, I've just criticised others who have slated a man who they've barely seen kick a ball. I've simply stated to give the bloke a chance (should he sign). Except we have seen him kick a ball unlike you. You're beyond help.

He scored over 40 goals in 60 appearances with Heerenveen over two seasons. 20 in 28 appearances with Wolfsburg. Three seasons of absolute luck! What a complete terrible player he must be! Sigh. I've never said he was a terrible player. Just not good enough for the level we are/should be aiming for, as well as not at all being the type of forward I would like Newcastle United to build their attacking play around. Not sure what is so difficult to comprehend here.