afar

I agree don't want it now. But it was the right thing to do back in 92/93. We had been in a bad place almost dropping into the 3rd tier the previous season, to turn it around so dramatically the following season was amazing and worthy of the reception. Really though that first season back in the top league was equally astonishing, often gets forgotten about but to finish 3rd for any newly promoted team, hell had Beardo and Cole been fit at the start of the season, it could have been even higher.

I was reading somewhere a fan from one of the clubs who would have the money to buy him talk about this, he was basically telling the Mackems to get real. His point was that to spend 30 million on a keeper, he has to be the proven commodity because there a lot of other options out there for slightly older keepers who have the miles on their clock maybe they are in their mid to late 20's but if you bought one of those you would get at least 10 years or more out of them because keepers generally play longer than outfield players. Pickford has had one season in top flight football, being at the bottom club where keepers have the chance to shine with the amount of shots raining down on him. You are still very much paying for potential, no one is paying 30 million for potential, not even money stupid clubs like Man City or Chelsea. If he went to one of the "big" clubs he's probably going to have to sit on the bench, that's a lot of money to splurge on a bench warmer, why not pick up someone else for a much more reasonable price and watch Pickford develop some place else to see if he's the real deal or a one season wonder. GK is simply not a valued enough position and you can only play one at a time with a lot of adequate alternatives out there for them to get close to what that figure. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see him start the season still with that lot. That would screw up their recruitment policy which seems to be based solely around getting huge sums for players who have been playing for the worst team in the division this season.

Boro want £30m for him apparently That seems like going rate people are asking for now, damn Sissoko !!

The QPR game was just the perfect performance from start to finish, unlucky really it was only 6-0. The most important result though was probably a coin toss between Brighton and Huddersfield away. To win those two back to back was hugely important, should have set us up for a canter to the finish line really but we stumbled a little after that only to recover just in time

He also regarded Freddie Shepherd as godlike !

They've had some good tweets through the season, whoever runs that account has done a good job, loved the Lansbury own goal tweet

Just saw the goals, was Gayle doing the "going down, coming up" actions on his goal celebrations

He took a huge gamble staying with us, with little to gain and a hell of a lot to lose in terms of reputation but he's done a marvelous job. A point that often gets forgotten is that we were everyone's cup final this season, a lot of the players that came up to SJP this year had never played in front of a crowd of that size before, it gave most teams an extra yard or two, but in the end promotion was comfortable and the icing on the cake with the title too.

I'm glad he's happy today. If Rafa is still in charge come August then he's done his job which is to ensure Rafa has a platform to continue the rebuild of the club. He has a huge opportunity here to shift away from the villain. He has a financially stable club, now he needs to build it into a successful one. Just make sensible choices and back the man who's forgotten more about this sport than he himself will ever know.

Nice bunch of folks on their board, I'm also very glad they were the team that joined us in the automatic spots, by far and away the best two teams in the division: http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?351977-Any-Congratulations-to-NEWCASTLE-UNITED-thread

Did Brighton get presented with the 2nd place trophy thing ? Are there any pictures of that ? Guess it would be a strange situation, but really it's a huge achievement for them , they'll be gutted right now but in a week or so it'll be forgotten and they can look forward to their first ever PL campaign.

12 goals, not a bad return at all but he's capable of more, definitely come good in the last few games though when we needed him, I think that's possibly saved his NUFC career.

Chuffed for him today, gotta remember how young he is. Hope we keep him and Rafa develops him, obviously there is room to grow there.

Time to enjoy the playoffs now. Huddersfield have really fell off in terms of form, they will play Sheff Wed. You have to fancy Wednesday in that one. Fulham and Reading will be a good tie, hard to call but Fulham are in a purple patch right now. Fulham, Sheff Wed final for me, a repeat of today's game with Fulham won !

That's very classy, no problem with Brighton at all but I do believe they were the 2nd best team in the division and finished where they deserved to, which is a fabulous achievement for them.

Personally think it's a no brainer, cheap and capable of doing a job, we need to fill a squad here not just a first 11.

LOL

FFS there are some idiots on this phone in on Radio Newcastle. Apparently we got beat 4-1 by Huddersfield, caller now reckons we should have brought Rafa in at the start of last season, despite the fact he was at Real Madrid, and is now complaining about 4321, at huge length.

Unbelieve Brighton really are bottlers last season now this season, perfect.

I find it a little ironic after the outrage at Wonga, now we are likely to sign up with some dodgy Gambling group out of China, and no one bats an eyelid. Anyway wonder if they are going to buy the naming rights to the stadium like Wonga did, or do we revert back to the Sports Direct Arena ?

If I were in the market for a English goalkeeper and had money to spend, which I don't think will be very many teams, I would certainly rather spend it on Butland, that boy is quality. Hart too may be available in the summer, obviously not as young but still English, if someone is looking for that Pickford to me would be way over priced at 20 million, at 10 million or so there would be a good market for him. Laugh my head off if they kept holding out for a big fee and it screwed their plans during the window while they waited, only for transfer deadline day to have them take 7 million from someone, because he dropped a couple of clangers in the early season ! Honestly if someone offers them more the 10 million they should snatch their hands off.

Tbf no one would have dreamt that we could get 30 million for Sissoko so 20 million for Pickford may be possible, the problem though they will have is the market for him will be really small. At that price only teams with few holes in the outfield positions will feel ok to take a large chunk of their transfer kitty and spend it on a keeper who's had one season in the PL playing for the worst club in many a year. They are looking for the Arsenals, Chelseas, Manure's, Man City, Spuds and perhaps Liverpools, no one from abroad will cough up 20 million for a young English keeper.

That girl's boobs aren't bad either .... ta dum.

According to them lot its not even a debate that it is better than ours that went down ! There is a hell of a lack of quality, even if they kept everyone of their own players but it is also propogated with a bunch of injury prone players. Thank goodness for them that they'll easily get 30 million for Pickford !! They will need that plus a bunch more to be competitive.

Could be exactly what they need or a complete and utter disaster to keep him in charge, I'm lost in predicting what Moyes actually is now as a Manager, surely the great work he did at Everton couldn't all be put down to a bit of luck ?