Chris_R

Surely his situation is the same as Enrique's? In that both have a year left and both clubs will want to get things sorted one way or the other early on. I hear what people are saying about a bidding war, but you need to have time to get replacements in too. I think going in early is sensible, whatever the outcome. If we're successful, excellent, if not then we've got plenty of time to chase after other targets.

Defoe would be a large improvement on anything we've got up front at the moment. But I'd stay clear for 2 reasons: 1) Spurs will want shitloads of money for him 2) He's 29, so has virtually no resale value once he's in his 30s I just can't see us going for him, he'd be the epitome of all the things we're trying to get away from.

Both photos look like they've been done in pitch darkness. I can just imagine them there at 3am, waiting for ages to make sure nobody's about, then standing with their coats on and the sign all rolled up. Then when they're 100% sure that there's nobody for 2 miles around, whipping their coats off, unfurling the banner, getting the photo taken and then diving straight back in the car all within 10 seconds, and speeding off like they've just robbed a bank. I wish I was that hard.

I really don't think so. The top of the "L" comes up to almost the bottom of the loop of the "P/D", so if it was a "P" then the tail of the P has nowhere to go. Since they'd do the "P" first, and then the "L", then this shouldn't be possible. Even for mackems.

I was very annoyed yesterday when West Brom equalised, but the reaction from the village of the damned (And that photo in particular) has actually made me almost glad that they finished above us. Shows how utterly laughable they are as a club, a city, and a people. If we'd finished above them we'd never have got this amount of enjoyment out of their reaction.

Absolutely refusing to look at any league tables today. So annoyed.

Today I wanted the following to happen: Newcastle to win Sunderland to lose Wigan to be relegated Wolves to be relegated Owen not to score Blackpool to stay up Newcastle to finish above Sunderland Fucking hell. 0/7. Useless cunts.

Joe Cole Swap for Enrique

Because I asked somebody who worked for the club and he said they hadn't inserted any clauses. That's all well and good, but why do you believe this particular turnstyle operator?

If we bought Cole for £2-£3m then I'd say "Well at least he's got to be better than Lovenkrands" and see him as decent backup, but the thought of wasting £9-£10m on him just makes me shiver. There simply MUST be better players than him around for £10m.

Carlton Cole? No. Just no. This is a man who has never scored more than 10 league goals per season (12 in all competitions is his best return). This year, his return is 5 from 28. He makes "Homegrown Striking Ace" Shola Ameobi look fucking prolific. Laughably he had never scored 2 goals in a PL game until boxing day just gone. At 27 and having played up front your entire career, that's fucking disgraceful. Career stats of 52 in 248 in all competitions says it all. One in 5 ffs. The man's a fraud.

Needs to make sure he's exactly 6th off the pitch then, right bang in the middle.

Mustn't have looked very far then Dave. Agree he could say he knows his budget, but if he didn't explicitly state "My budget is £Xm" then people would still whinge. There's honestly people here (Probably like chubby, above) who will only be happy if Pardew said "My budget is £25m" just so that they know there's a certain amount to spend so they can then decide whether they're happy with that or not, irrespective of the damage that would do to our intentions in the transfer market over the coming months.

I'd suggest the manager knows full well how much he has to spend. He's just (quite rightly) not telling the press. Every club in the world knows we've got £35m burning a hole in our pockets after Christmas, we'd be mental to not try to play this down somewhat.

Or what ads said, basically.

Just a thought for those already sharpening their pitchforks: A) Pardew comes out and says "We've got £30m to spend, we're going to go on a spending spree!". All other clubs hike their prices up and we get fucked roundly in the ass spending £30m on 2 crap players bought as panic buys on deadline day B) Pardew says he's "Trying to get the owner to spend" and is able to negotiate a lot of really good deals, and we still spend £30m by the end of the window Which would people prefer? Why on earth would the manager come out and declare he has bucketloads of money to spend? What benefit could this possibly have to the club or our ambitions in the transfer market this summer? Not saying B is definitely true, but to completely discount the fact that we're just being a bit clever about how we go about things is fucking madness. [Cue all the "cockney mafia out" mob screaming "Waaaaa, but it's Ashley man, he's trying to destroy us!"]

I just want to finish as high up the league as possible really. If that means we finish above the mackems, I'd not complain.

I don't think we should lose him for nothing, but I'd rather lose him for nothing than sell him to Liverpool. I'd keep him for the extra year just to spite them, even if he ultimately ended up there on a free anyway. If we were offered £5m from Milan and £10m from Liverpool, I'd accept the Milan bid and tell the bin dippers to get knotted. It would be truly horrible to see him playing for Liverpool. Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea, Man City even I could accept, but I'd still prefer him to go overseas.

Sounds uncannily like us when we went down.

Thought we played terrifically well today. Fully expected us to get a beasting and even at 2-1 I was fairly happy. But the equaliser was thoroughly deserved. The only downside is that Mike Ashley will probably think we don't need to sign anyone in the summer now...

Allegedly looking at Van Nistelhorse... http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15052011/58/paper-round-ruud-return.html He turns 35 in July and they'll be spunking £60k/week on him Still, at least they'll be pleased that he's not black.

Michael Owen claiming he won the Premier League is like me claiming I've set foot on the moon, just because i was alive when it happenend.

Personally I'd take him back, what's done is done and I want what's best for Newcastle. We need another winger, he's good and likely available. If Wigan go down, which looks likely, we could get him for less than we paid. The problem might be the effect it could have on squad morale. We finally seem to have players that are a unit and happy together, and some of the longer established amongst them might harbour a grudge against N'Zogbia for the way he left. For that reason alone, it might be worth looking elsewhere.

Have to agree with everything the OP said. I'd add that I don't think Barton will cut it as a right sided midfielder now that he doesn't have Carroll to aim for. We need to switch him back into the middle (Yes, I realise this leaves Tiote, Barton and Nolan comepeting for 2 places) and get a decent, pacy right winger. Or better still, get a decent pacy left winger and put Jonas on the right. I always have been and always will be baffled at why a completely right-footed player is continually deployed on the left wing, and then people criticise his final ball. Madness.

Some mad answers. Jonas FFs Williamson for me. He's an old-fashioned defender who offers little or nothing going forward. Nothing wrong with that, but he's probably our least technically gifted player.