afar

22 Janmaat's old number

He may not have been the most important signing of last summer but he was vital, he scored some really important goals, including that all important 2nd against Huddersfield, that's a good move for him and Forest. We will get almost all our money back, fantastic business really. If it goes through best of luck to him, up there with the Kevin Sheady, Kilcline and Bracewell signings for me, late in their careers but key to getting us promoted.

Love those shoulder stripes All black kit in playing outdoors in the summer months in Orlando. Having lived there in the past who thought that would be a good idea ?

I think it's fair enough really. We need another striker and a number 10, but if they fell through we at least have Gayle and Perez who at least has a season of playing well. Our goalkeeping situation is pretty s*** whoever's played at the moment, so getting someone solid and dependable in would be great. It's shit because he's making it that way in my view. Krul is a perfectly capable number 1 in the PL, he's proved it over a number of years, Darlow is a fine back up, hell we've even been able to rely on Elliot in the past and we have Woodman of course who personally I think we should seriously consider pushing through. It's nowhere near a bad situation, unlike the clear weakness in CM, number 10 and up front, those should be the focus areas not wasting time chasing small improvements to the GK.

Keeper seems Rafa's next priority , which is whacked if you ask me, or maybe that's all a smoke screen.

I would sign him now and loan him back to Norwich if they were interested in that deal.

That's excellent, I've said it before but recently the club have really stepped up the quality of their social media presence.

Rafa, like any other manager has bought some crap in his past, but generally the wheat has outnumbered the chaff over his career. As long as we are buying the players he wants then there really is no need to panic.

Why ? He was totally disinterested at Sunderland and frankly a big part of their problems last season. He may have been great for them for a 3 month or so period when he signed but frankly like Khazari has shown little to no desire to stick with that club in the long term and do what you would expect of any professional. To me there are character concerns here that you can't just write off as "because he's playing for that shithole".

Analysing the competition here, if we finish ahead of any of last season's top 7 (and one of them doesn't somehow have a implosion of a season) then we've had a remarkable season. Last year honestly any of the bottom three could have finished 8th or lower, so little to chose between them, so even finishing 8th or 9th would be par for us. Rafa's too good a manager to have us embroiled in a relegation battle, don't care if the mackems mock us for faith in the "manager that sent us down", but as long as he's around we will be safe with whatever squad we take into the season. Hopefully today's transfer news is just the start of a busy period for us and we get in the 4 or 5 players we still need.

As I said earlier I'm not thrilled with this one but if we are going to take a flyer on someone then the right back spot is the place do that, think Yedlin is fine there, we need bodies to back him up and if Rafa can somehow unlock the potential that many others have seen in him then we will be laughing.

He was awful for the Mackems, they were saying they should have signed Yedlin and not this bloke. Not sure about this deal, backing up Yedlin I hope.

Think this is probably his last chance to impress at Newcastle, if he has a good season, bangs in 20 or more, he'll be given a chance to see if he can do it for us next year, if not we'll probably look to cash in.

Happy birthday sweet prince

Once every thing is done with Murphy, I think we are set on the flanks now, with Ritchie, Murphy, Atsu and Aarons, I like that quartet a lot. We are set a CB now too, probably need to let one of Mmeba or Hanley go, I'm hoping and expecting it's the latter one. We need to resolve the GK position, although I honestly think Krul starting as number 1 with Woodman backing him up, selling one of Darlow or Elliot, is a perfectly acceptable situation. Obviously Krul's contract situation is a concern and they I think want a clear succession plan for Woodman to ensure they hang onto him, that's one of the reasons I think Rafa favours Elliot, who clearly is no more than a stop gap. Both full back spots need looking at, I think Rafa will be content enough with Dummet, Haidara and Lazaar at LB (but he really shouldn't be in my view). But surely we need to replace Anita at RB, Yedlin, Gamez and Sterry, may get us through the season though at a push. We desperately need to upgrade Colback and add some more quality and cover in that central midfield. I trust Shelvey and Hayden as an effective duo but the drop off from those two is extreme, I'm surprised we've not been making this a piority although I do think Saivet may be a useful squad member if Rafa trusts him. Up front we look weak, Gayle I'm sure if fit and selected will score plenty in the PL but we have no like for like replacement that fits within the system Rafa plays, we need to bring at least one more striker in and let Mitro go either permanently or on loan. Murphy will be gone to a champ club before the start of the season. Perez is more a number 10 than a striker in Rafa's system. The number 10 role is still the gaping need for me, De Jong did well at Hearts, but I just can't see him working out at Newcastle and I doubt Rafa does too, Perez ended the season well last year but he was too hot and cold last season in the lower league. This is such a vital role in his system and if we have to break the bank to find the perfect fit then we should do it. In my view, we are still five quality players short.

Exactly this! Absolutely

I actually like it a lot. The last two seasons we've had 6 really nice kits in my view, puma have stepped it up.

If he is flying out to Ireland, that means they've probably already discussed and agreed personal terms with the agent.

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/resources/images/2499823.jpg?type=articleLandscape Lol, that's fantastic

Cough, cough

Too early for me to commit right now, two big factors play into this, firstly will we bring in the players we so badly need and if that doesn't happen will Rafa leave ? If we assume we don't bring the players in but Rafa stays, then I honestly think because of the qualities of the man and the general standard at the lower reaches of the PL, we comfortably survive 13th or 14th or thereabouts. Back the man properly and we can easily finish top 10.

I do actually think this one will go through, disregard that tweet, just part of the process at the moment. If they want 12 and we've bid 10 then we are almost there, we don't seem to do a lot of business on weekends so I expect some movement on Monday.

Not awful signing if that's the money they've got to work with. Still, the vile c***s will do very well to get playoffs. 1.5 million for the pair. If they've got f*** all to spend it's not bad business. Outstanding business given their predicament. McGeady is top half championship standard easy and vaughan is a body in in a position they are scandalously short in. He will also see this as a last shot at getting back into the big time and will be extremely motivated. If they keep the current squad on paper they've one of the best midfields in that division and on that basis I think they should be aiming for playoffs with anything else a bonus. I think they'll ultimately miss out due to a lack of depth and a proven reliable consistent goalscorer. One of the best midfields in the division are you off your f***ing rocker. Theres no goals or creativity at all in that midfield its absolute s****. Anyone thinking these chumps will finish in the top half is out of their mind Their midfielders are (off the top of my head) rodwell, cattermole, lens, khazri, mcgeady. Bear in mind Colback made that division look easy at times last season. Goes without saying I hope they crash and burn like. You alright mate ? Don't forget at one point there were heated debates on here because some folk (wrongly) thought he was better than Hayden. Clearly Colback is an awful footballer but he found his level in that division and at times looked extremely comfortable. Nobody sane ever thought Colback was better than Hayden, some may have suggested he was a better partner for Shelvey being more defensive, but that doesn't mean a thing. I'm not sure where you are going with your points, Colback struggled last season, just as much as he has if not more than previous PL campaigns. Have you seen Cattermole play ? It's a rare thing because he's always injured but when he does turn up he's just Colback with less brains. Lens struggled badly for them, so badly that they were happy to ship him off on loan last season, he now openly hates them and is edging for a move anywhere. Khazri had a couple of good games when he first arrived scored some important goals but has done nothing since except eat pizza and chips and is another running for the exit door.

Clearly we need to keep Gayle healthy, he's absolutely key to the way we are going to play. Without a direct replacement being signed, it's a huge risk.

From what I saw, looks like he'll be a difficult person to get by, seemed to do the basics right, couple of bad passes including one to the keeper which led to a corner, but it's pre-season, long way to go.