Chris_R

I think the top brass at Newcastle are hoping that prices go back to £5-10m for a player, and that clubs can then just keep pocketing £100m+ each year in TV revenue. They don't realise that the thing which will determine whether or not this continues isn't the other clubs' desire to make a profit, it's their desire to fucking win something.

Well he's definitely a young 29, given that he's actually 28.

Christ, no way am I clicking on a Chronicle link without an i9, a 1080ti and at least 3 adblockers.

It's literally on the last page. Well the page before now.

Considering this is nufc i bet we can't even reach the number of games agreed It's probably 1. Or 1000.

Yeah not playing does not equate to injured. You can't look at appearances and automatically decide that when someone wasn't playing they must have been crocked, that's daft talk.

Not sure I'll ever buy into the school of thought that a visible lack of effort is a positive trait for a footballer. I could not possibly disagree with you more on this. Not chasing back is not, in itself, a lack of effort. Not provided the reason for not chasing back is so that the winger can run at the opposition goal. No player can run for 90 minutes at full speed. Even marathon runners only run for 120 minutes and they're not exactly sprinting. If you want your attacking players to be able to provide full effort running at the opposition, they simply must conserve energy when deciding which balls to chase the other way. It's not lack of effort, it's using your effort wisely because you only have so much to give, no matter how fit you are, and being intelligent.

I don't want to see players like Ben Arfa busting a gut to chase back when they can save their energy for running in the other direction with the ball at their feet.

Both wide forwards, both quick and good on the ball. Both reckoned to have bright futures. I didn't get too much from him as it was a brief conversation but he seemed gutted we might be signing Jacob.

Told my Norwich-supporting colleague we're after this guy, his response was "you bastards". Says he's quick and skilful, and that we could do a lot worse than buy either of the Murphy twins. Reckons that for £10m we'd be getting a very good deal.

Would be incredible if he returned, not that it's likely.

Fucking hell. This is just shocking. Awful stuff.

I'm more worried about trying to get away with fielding 2 goalkeepers, but then still putting Given up front on his own. Personally I'd go: Owen Xisco N'Zogbia Geremi Butt Duff Edgar Cacapa Coloccini Taylor Given

Well that'll have knocked his value down a bit. If he did do any of it on purpose, it's to get his value down to make a move more likely, not so he can stay. If he wants to stay he can just reject a move. Fucking helmets.

Moyes saying he wants £30m puts an upper limit on what they can ever hope to get for him, that's the starting price for bargaining and that price will go down the longer things go without interest. I reckon they'll probably get around £20m. They absolutely have to sell this window, because his value will plummet if they don't. Once he's out of the eyes of the MOTD cameras, everyone will forget about him.

I think they'll start poorly, dip a bit in the middle and then tail off badly towards the end.

Well Pickford next season.

He can beat a man and has pace, every side needs players like that. I'd sign him, definitely.

Flushed. Excellent.

Even Colback can't fuck this up, can he?

Obviously you didn't see Rob Lee's 70-yard left footer Vs Brentford that was disallowed so we could have a free kick for offside?

Could someone have encroached the penalty area during the run-up? It's all I can think.

Well, that's what they spent about an hour discussing on 5-Live yesterday. Sexist by referring to her gender, threatening by saying to be careful next time she comes to the ground.

Hey, it's my birthday the day after! What are the chances? About 1 in 365, iirc.

My take on this is that it sounds worse than it is. I assume Moyes, like many managers, set an acceptable line of questioning before the interview. The interviewer then deviated from that against his wishes by asking about Short being there, which may have specifically been on the "Don't ask me that" list. Moyes then after the interview is over reprimands her. He's trying to be playful yet firm at the same time, and yes he fucks that up by coming across as sexist and threatening instead. It's a misjudgement, but it's not what some people are suggesting it is. The "Be careful next time you come here" is just him saying "Stick to the questions next time". He's in the wrong, yes, and managers perhaps shouldn't be this dictatorial in what questions they'll answer, but it's a storm in a teacup IMO.