AyeDubbleYoo

Not sure why I'm so sure that Long would be a good signing, it just seems obvious that he has all the abilities to complement the players we already have. If we're playing one up front we'll probabaly be starting Ba anyway, and if we play two then a nippy player like Long is a good match for our existing forwards.

How many strikers did you think we were going to sign this summer, 3? Think that's a bit optimistic for one transfer window. If we get one more to go with Ba I'll be satisified with that. Obviously I'd rather have more, but come on, it was never likely we'd sign 3 strikers. Well I wanted us to sign two, was hoping for more quality than Ba & Long but there is point us signing two strikers if it means we get rid of one we already have. But how many strikers can we realistically have on the books at once? New Player, Ba, Best, Shola, Lovenkrands - that's 5 first team forwards. As well as a winger purchased and HBA coming back. I'm not saying they're any good, but there's only so many signings we can realistically expect.

Can you though? Who? And what don't you see in Long? Not saying he's world class, but he has the attributes and the potential to do very well for us. Whether £7m is fair or not is a bit hard to say. I haven't seen a huge number of games in the championship but when I watched Reading last season he's never stood out. If you look at the caliber of players we've got in for less, 7 million seems like a huge amount. I'd rather have DJ Campbell here for example. He's proved himself to be a decent option at this level and would complement Ba well as a poacher. IMO Long is far superior to DJ Campbell, although more expensive. I can imagine the reaction on here if the next striker we sign is Campbell, it would be meltdown. It's going to be difficult for the club to win here isn't it? If they sign someone decent for a low fee they'll be slammed for penny pinching, if they pay any money for someone who's not world class they'll be criticised for that as well. Narrows down the list of acceptable targets quite a lot.

I don't think he is desperate to sell the club, personally think that he is here for the long-haul. Same, it's extremely unlikely that he'll get a buyer at a price he'd be happy with. I think he's just trying to make the club self-sustaining so he doesn't have to subsidise it, I don't think it's much to do with selling.

Exactly.

How many strikers did you think we were going to sign this summer, 3? Think that's a bit optimistic for one transfer window. If we get one more to go with Ba I'll be satisified with that. Obviously I'd rather have more, but come on, it was never likely we'd sign 3 strikers.

I'm sure he'd rather settle for second-choice players than pay over the odds for the first choices.

There's no reason to be frustrated though, that's the thing I don't understand. We've made some good moves and are obviously working on others. There's no way our squad could be described as threadbare at the moment IMO. We obviously lack quality up front, but not numbers. I don't know what kind of summer people were expecting, if what has happened so far seems negative to them. It just baffles me.

The media just want something to talk about, so it's easy for people to plant stories to unsettle players. I wouldn't say it's a campaign by the media, more like they just get all excited about the possibility of a big move.

Can you though? Who? And what don't you see in Long? Not saying he's world class, but he has the attributes and the potential to do very well for us. Whether £7m is fair or not is a bit hard to say.

Slightly contradicts what Pardew has said... shame they don't have any quotes. Anyway, like I said, we can't judge the club based on press speculation, let's see what happens.

There was that season when John Barnes was our top scorer.

Yep, £7m is a price I could be in favour of. £10m sounds a bit much, but in reality he is worth at least 5 or 6.

Same, it is depressing but I'll wait and judge them on what actually happens.

Ah totally, he's got nobody to blame but himself about buying us without due diligence. I don't know the details of all these deals, but it wouldn't surprise me if moving quickly and recklessly like he does has got him some bargains in the past. He is a gambler like, obviously, as we found out to our cost in the relegation season.

I thought Smith was a good signing.

Quite a habit he has there. Interesting that he seems to make the same mistakes again and again. Was the Lilywhites purchase a mistake, or the Dunlop one? Genuine question, I don't have a clue. He's very rich for a man who keeps making such big errors.

Newcastle fans are guaranteed to love Shane Long as far as I can see, he has everything we like in a player. He runs his arse off, works hard and when he gets the ball he's direct and goes at people. Given chances, his finishing is also good. He might not blossom straight away, but I think because of his general style the fans would be patient with him. Obviously the downside is he wouldn't be a marquee signing.

So is Shane Long.

Is that the first sighting? Kudos if so.

I think he's a decent player and there are worse strikers at the club, but for some reason I'm just not attached to him and wouldn't be bothered if he left.

I think in HBA's case that cliche is totally justified. I won't be able to restrain the jizz when he waltzes through the Arsenal defence and opens our scoring for the season.

Guthrie Ah of course, always think of that as the Beardsley shirt that a proper attacking MF should be wearing. Can't take it off the Scouse pudding I suppose.

Watched it the other day, got it online for around £10. Could have been so much more but I thought it was OK for a simple recap of the games. First one I've bought, not sure I would buy another one unless it's a really special season.

Who is 8?