Minhosa

Didn't do Bentley any harm.

Good experience for him. So long as it doesn't leave us too short. Can only imagine KK doesn't think he's quite ready to be a fully reliable deputy as yet so we'll be buying in that department.

I thought he'd prove to be a good buy and I hope we see an early couple of goals this season just to give him a chance of improving his confidence and give us a chance to recoup some of his fee. It's been a shame but wishing the lad ill will isn't in anyone's interests.

Fair enough if you think that but who would we get to replace him? I wouldn't be happy with someone of Johnson's quality for £11m. Unless the club pull off a miracle like Blackburn did with Santa Cruz I can't see us getting a cheap replacement who is as good as Martins. I'm not sure tbh. He would be an expensive super sub though if his reported £60k per week wage is anywhere near accurate. If it's someone fast who can create something from nothing we might be able to chance a few million on a kid with potential or take a risk , as Blackburn did with Santa Cruz as you say, with someone from a different league. I may be completely wrong and KK may play him every week for his unpredictability but this has it's costs and I reckon KK may eventually run out of patience with him. I do agree with the Johnson and Crouch analogies made by others though. He should generate as much as them as he has proven an ability to score goals in the premiership.

In terms of raw energy, ability and enthusiasm I think he's great my concern with Oba is his lack of awareness; He'll twist and turn then shoot from distance when an easy pass is on; He'll rarely make runs down the channels and; He doesn't seem to know what he's going to do next (See Tino for that too). In some respects that's his appeal but it limits the chances of building an effective relationship with a strike partner because second guessing him is impossible. When I think of some of the best strike forces we've had in recent times (See Sir Les/Shearer, Shearer & Bellamy, Cole/Beardsley etc) they were so effective because of the awareness of each others games. I swear sometimes Shearer and Bellamy would make passes into the other players space/channel without even looking up. I can never see Martins having that kind of relationship with anyone and because of that, I think now might actually be the time to sell up. KK will quickly spot this and I think he'll end up being a super sub (i.e: an upgrade of SBR's Lua Lua role) who can come on and do something unusual. If he's not getting a game firstly he'll have the hump and secondly his value will plummet. Personally, and not because I don't see the guys strengths, I'd sell him for anything north of the £10m we paid for the guy. Puts tin hat on...............

If he made it clear he wanted to leave (not saying he will btw), what would you realistically expect to get for Oba? £12-£13m?

He wont get £80k!?! He doesn't have to atm as he is on £100K+. If he is available on free next summer he will easily get £80K a week. I have no evidence of this as it is in the future but lets hope a deal can be done & he is at Newcastle for a bit longer than his current contract states. Forget what you read in the press about salaries etc. If he chooses to opt for life elsewhere he'd do well to be earning a guaranteed £80k per week. He'll be 6 months off being 30 when his contract expires. He's had an awful injury record and he's lost his yard of pace that made him stand out. Don't get me wrong I do like Owen and think he's one of our top players but he's not irreplaceable and he's not worth the money he's on now to be honest.

Wouldn't get £80k at many places. I think there'll be a deal done. He's not stupid, neither are his representatives.

NE5, You probably remember this more vividly than me but didn't Alan Oliver seem to have all the major 'scoops' transfer wise during the first KK reign? I thought (and I might be imagining this........) Oliver always announced new signings first and often a couple of days before they happened. I'm thinking Beresford, Lee and Sellers off the top of my head.

Double Meh.

Aye, see you later Charlie. If you were that good you'd be playing at Arsenal already son.

What was that on? Killer would eat Bartons head. Easy. It'd be like Giant Haystacks against Mick McManus.

Shite body language at the end of the season. Quite simply, never a £30m player nor a £20m player. At the absolute most I'd say he's worth £12m. He's embarrassed himself by asking for pay parity with Henry's wage before he left. Thats the same Henry that's won world cups, numerous player of the year awards, scored goals year in and year out and, by the time he'd left Arsenal, had a shite load of big game experience. Adebayor is the new Anelka and he'll look back on this whole saga with regret. Milan are naive if they think he plays the way he did against them at the San Siro last year every week.

I always thought this was accepted fact, we were used as a stalking horse. There was no way on earth that Rooney was going to come here, whatever he says. In fact I thought the tale was that Ferguson asked FFS to bid for him as his board were saying they had no money and he had to push them to make a bid. TBH I wasn't referring to the Rooney crap, the thing I found most interesting was the fact that FS's son worked for Stretford's company out of St James' and he owned a large stake in them. You wouldn't believe the amount of incestuous links between ProActive and football people who got involved in the Rooney transfer in some way. Whether it was Dalglish and the gangsters who intimidated his original agent or Freddy Shepard and his fake bid. Even the journalists who wrote all those "Wayne must go for his own development" and "Sir Alex will work wonders for him" rubbish stories. Plus, all the talking heads who came out in the media saying he needed to leave, including Alan Stubbs. They all owned shares in ProActive or had personal ties to Stretford and co. Hadn't realised it was that bad tbh. Fucking hell. Stinks.

Exactly the slippery bastard will still be running the show, he'll just not front it. Toothless punishment.

Positive in that it means an official way of communicating 'slow news' stuff to fans and building bridges with the community by positive, club led, PR. I imagine it'll carry a lot of stories that used to be page fillers for others (or got little coverage) such as hospital visits, local community schemes as well as a way for the fans to better get to know players etc. Makes a change from using the back couple of pages of the chronicle for our own agenda. It might end up cringeworthy but, as a propaganda tool, it'll be another way of managing comms with fans, building trust etc without the need for national media stories. I wonder if it's all part of a wider plan by the club to control their news a bit more?

Great post. There's plenty of time for mud-slinging, finger pointing and recriminations when the window slams shut, in the meantime, I'll be supping from a glass half full.

I bet all the fitness coaches looking for extra work this summer are gutted that Stevie Carr has gone.

Do you think that many people fall for this shit? Of those fans that actually contribute financially i.e: those buying season tickets and replica kit every season year in, year out how many (as a percentage) do you actually think believe this shite to the point where it impacts their spending habits etc? I was thinking this whilst reading the Mail on Sunday article this morning. My first reaction was 'complete load of bollocks - who is driving this shit?' but I did wonder how many supporters would actually believe it and also what difference would it make? Not having a go btw, just interested in how many people you think this will impact and in what way.

I think he's listened to his pals too much and reckons he's johnny big bollocks. He was sent to Charlton to bring him down a peg or two and he did shite all there. Not good enough imo.

Seriously, where is this coming from? Who has such a strong agenda against us that they would be trying to unsettle us to such an extent? I don't think the Allardyce'/Custis' off this world have anywhere near the power. This is coming from a far higher source than those two bellends. Just who the fuck has Mike Ashley upset so much to warrant this shit storm every fucking weekend? All things point to Shepherd but surely he's not well connected enough nowadays? I mean what could he offer journalists, ney news organisations, to get them on side? He's lost his powerbase, he's yesterdays news and frankly he's not clever enough to play big boy politics. Shepherd would be the only person fucked off enough about the purchase and the way he was bullied into it, coupled with the his families less than welcome reaction on their SJP return to maintain a negative agenda over the long term, surely? But surely it's from a source higher than that? Who would benefit from such upset at SJP? A potential buyer maybe? Trying to knock some value off the club by damaging it's reputation/worth?

Exactly, I worked in Saudi for a while, actually on a job in Jubail which was a SBG (Saudi Bin Laden Group) contract. Minted isn't the word. I suspect this is all bollocks as 1) They don't do their business in public and 2) If they really wanted us they would just buy us now without quibbling over the odd £100m. The SBG wealth makes Ashley look like one of us.

Good post. His best game imo was Arsenal at home when him and Jamie McClen pwned Vieira. Vastly underrated was Acuna, certainly not a flop in most eyes.

Ten games? It's a good job Arsenal fans didn't think that way about Henry, or Man Utd fans about Evra.

He is quality but I'm not sure he'll cope with the pace of the premiership tbh. It might help him that he's gone to Chelsea who can afford the luxury of time. If we'd signed him (granted, not very likely) I'd be concerned at the need for him to adapt straight away as he'd be the main man.