AyeDubbleYoo

He agreed to a pay cut. The problem is the length of the contract. Fair enough, the headline talks about not getting a pay rise... on closer inspection the quotes don't even mention it.

Woodgate is a perma-crock and Upson is massively overrated.

Didn't he realise he was never going to get a pay rise? I would have though the negotiations would be about the size of the pay cut.

i'd like to see us change our policy for colo mind, i think he's got years in him yet Yeah, I hope it's not so concrete that it can never be flexed. Although I guess Colo will have to take a pay cut as well when his time comes. CBs can peak later TBF, so we might realise he is worth keeping.

I'm pretty sure we don't think Barton can't play past 29, we just aren't going to be offering big contracts to people much past that age.

Any football manager sometimes has to bow to what the board say about financial management. It's not 1970 any more, we know managers aren't in control of everything at a club.

--------------------Krul Simo------Tayls-----------Colo-------Jose ----------Tiote--------------Matuidi ------------------Cabaye ---Jonas---------------------------HBA --------------------BA Aye, that looks tasty even with the one new player (assuming Ba is done). Man, I'm excited about Matuidi now.

It's tres sexy really, would still be amazed if we got Matuidi but I hope we're in for him.

Stealing that. Nice.

Trying not to get too excited about Matuidi, surely it's not possible for Newcastle to have this many good midfielders.

Ah, someone as naive as me.

I think having Tiote and Cabaye together will be superb. Both mobile, both plenty of energy, both can contribute from deep positions and further forward. As long as they're intelligent enough not to both bomb forward, it should work brilliantly.

It's comforting having Shola in the squad, would be better if we weren't relying on him as our main striker however.

Hopefully, he is a massive one.

Good, because it isn't happening. Pretty sure you said the same about Nolan. I definitely said the same about Carroll until the last minute! Don't remember saying that about Nolan, but I did think of him and Barton he was the most likely to stay. I never claimed to know anything!

No it isn't. Tiote was given his long contract under the current salary structure, we can afford it. Aye if Man City come in with a £30m bid we might sell him, but you can say that about almost any player at any club in Europe.

He's not really a target man. Although I can see why you made that assumption upon seeing a big black striker, you knuckle-dragging neanderthal. I was going to post 'because they're all black?' but I decided against the can of worms that would be unleashed. I wouldn't say Best was that similar to Ameobi either.

No it isn't. UV has a library of posts which he's bookmarked and filed away for future reference. What is the point of the internet if you can't put such diligent cyber-plotting to good use? On the one hand Ian I'm honoured that you're so impressed by my internet skills, on the other it's a bit worrying that you think putting "Zogbia" into a search query is advanced stuff. Not surprised that its a bit like witchcraft for Tron like. My memory's shit, but it's easy enough to remember the repeated petulance and moodiness of N'Zogbia, and the almost universal reactions on here when N'Zogbia left as shame to lose a decent player on his (infrequent) day, but good riddance to a bad influence in the dressing room. Which is why it's so surprising to see so many of the same people frothing about possibly getting him back and completely blanking the issues we had with him throughout his time here before. Seeing you go on about how we now look into the character of players Ian (Ben Arfa is another example of solid down to earth type who never causes trouble I guess ) is laughable. I don't really disagree with you, I just think circumstances are different enough for it to be worth taking a risk now. He would massively improve our squad, he's older and hopefully a bit more mature, his ability is now equal to his attitude. He's a much better player than in 2009. I never argued we should only sign angels, but I do see signs we are signing players who actually want to be here. Ben Arfa was keen to come and has behaved perfectly since arriving, and Cabaye also seems to be making the right noises. It would just never occur to me to go rooting for someone's posts from two years ago to make a tenuous point, that's all.

Good, because it isn't happening.

And it's one of the few places in the UK he can show his face without being abused or attacked, win-win situation.

Now is the right time for Nolan to sign deal like he's managed to get at West Ham. If he waited another couple of years he could be finished as a player.

Thing is though, in a game like football with so many participants and such a large element of luck, a sample size of one season must be almost meaningless. I mean, of those 8 games we lost without Nolan, who else was missing or playing, who were we playing against? I agree stats aren't totally useless, but over such short time periods with so many other factors I take them with a pinch of salt.

The only one I listen to is The Game from the Times, Marcotti is awesome. Used to listen to the Guardian one as well, but it annoyed me too much during the relegation season.

Agreed. I am slightly worried about the speed of change, but the circumstances around Barton and especially Enrique can't really be helped. Ironic that people are usually crying out for more transfer activity almost every window, and I still think this thread wouldn't exist if NUFC had sold Nolan a few days before signing Cabaye instead of after. Still sorry to see him go mind.

Think you're being kind there.