AyeDubbleYoo

If I won it I'd just wish I'd bet more than £2. Just one of the reasons why I don't gamble on football.

Hoyed Ba in my fantasy team, goals on the way.

Don't get my wrong, I hate it as much as anyone, I'm just surprised that other fans really care. I guess the stuff on the roof is a cut above the normal level of advertising!

What Pardew said last night about Obertan was encouraging I thought, he knows that he should attack the fullback more and they're telling him to do that.

Do you really think other fans actually notice and/or care? I hate the advertising, but nobody except Newcastle fans have ever mentioned it to me.

I used to love going to see training when I was a kid. Used to get loads of autographs, Keegan even got back out of his car to sign my top... what a guy.

Smudger breaks Hatem's leg in training... the final insult.

Rare shirts?

I think the evidence points more towards selling for silly money, and at the same time not being taken for a ride by existing players who are taking the piss over new deals. That would explain most of the outgoings we've had. I certainly don't think Ashley is just looking to sell players whenever he can. That's not to say we'll never sell another good player mind.

Wonder if he'll celebrate when he scores a screaming free kick against Wigan?

If I was an owner of one of the swanky flats at the corner of Leyton Orient's ground I wouldn't be happy about them moving!

Good post Pip, but I still think that our (still pretty good) attendances are lower because of a period of relative failure and tough economic conditions. Yes, it is possible that spending a lot more could bring more excitement and therefore attract some of the fans back, but it's also possible that we'd waste the money on shite players that would fail to impress fans or bring success. I agree that we maybe need to maximise incoming revenues more though, hopefully a couple of top 8-10 finished can help us to do that.

Aye, with Santon behind it should be OK, but I'd still rather see HBA central.

I just don't want any change of manager or owner now, preferably for at least 3 - 5 years. Ashley has been incompetent and/or disastrous for the club in the past, but now most of his errors are minor (the excessive SD advertising etc). And the effects of even his worst mistakes have turned out not to be that bad in the end. In an ideal world, Pardew could build an Alex Ferguson-lite career here and still be our manager in 10 years time. That is more likely to happen under the current regime than a new owner IMO.

Thought that straight away, in court he was obviously just trying to make a case for keeping his car.

Good to hear that from Carver. Excited to see more of Marveaux, he looks quality from what I've seen. No idea where he'll play, but I guess injury or suspension will resolve it soon enough.

Decided to come up for this, psyched. Saw the N'Zogbia debacle last season as well, so hoping for some retribution on Wigan.

Agreed. Tempted to agree. I want to see other players eventually but we're against a Premier League team and we have a good chance of progressing in this cup. A trophy should come above everything else. TBH I would rather rest players in the league!

He's very good at these media things, definitely be tuning in.

If a player is a world beater by 25 we won't be able to sign him anyway. If he's a striker of the quality of Cabaye or Tiote I'll be ecstatic.

That's shit. Surely they won't sell any anyway?

That's an incredible stat... very impressive.

We shouldn't lose heavily to Man Utd really, we are capable of scoring against them as well. Man City and Chelsea, aye they'll probably destroy us. But we should be prepared for that and not let it get us down.

Quite a lot of games that we would previously have struggled in and returned a lot less points, that's the biggest thing that encourages me. Obviously we're due a humping by Man City et al, but that can be said about almost every team in the league.