AyeDubbleYoo

It's not needed, but it is nice. Also, players can care about the club enough to put that bit extra effort in even if they aren't local. Scott Parker ran himself into the ground for us week after week. Don't forget we still have Shola!

I wasn't there so I can't say for certain. I'm fairly certain it would take a very big lad to force him into a helicopter. I'm also happy to call him a cunt. Also, very much depends on what you mean by "everything possible". The club could have (a) refused to even let him speak to Liverpool and rejected all the bids and (b) offered him £100k a week.

Criticising a club for getting small crowds is stupid anyway, it's either due to accidents of geography, relative success (meaning a lot of the new fans are essentially casual) and the vagaries of the economy. Never understood why clubs are judged on attendances at all. There's not much they can do about how many people support them.

I guess Ashley thought it would be a sign of weakness to renegotiate the contract of a young, relatively unproven player so soon after he'd already had a new deal. If that was his view, I totally understand it. Like you say though, the alternative being £35m coming in wasn't going to help them make an exception.

But doesn't a business have to be managed according to the balance sheet as well as the cash flow? Obviously we're not actually writing cheques for the amortisation, but they are costs to the business that have to be taken into account. I was always taught in business studies that cash flow is essential to the ongoing health of the business, but never that you could ignore the wider picture as long as you had some short-term cash to hand. May have misunderstood, I'm basically a mong as far as finance is concerned.

We'll beat Man Utd with HBA scoring a couple, guaranteed.

What's with the red text?

Is anyone taking the financial benefit to the club into account, or are we purely going to judge this deal on the players we buy with the money?

I think the fact he's a Geordie is a big factor, in fact it's the only reason I was surprised that he left. For any other player the move and the money would obviously be enough to shift him, but it was supposed to be about more than that for Carroll. As for whether him being a Geordie makes any difference to Newcastle, probably more symbolically than anything tangible, and it'll soon be forgotten once he starts turning out for Liverpool.

Shearer was amazing, I was on holiday with my Mam and brother, and my Dad faxed us the back page of the paper to the hotel. That was the first I knew about it, it was amazing.

They've had plenty of criticism for not talking to the media enough.

no idea about the fed brewery but i know he was in town with Best, Nolan, Barton, Taylor and a few others including Paul Kitson celebrating Nolans dads birthday on Saturday night And nobody fucked him up?

Then again, Pards was without Carroll for a lot of games too.

Actually, I can't even remember what game it was, but the first time I went to SJP for a midweek night game. Up until then I didn't know what all the fuss was about, and I didn't even consider myself that much of fan. But the second I came up the stairs and I saw the lights and the stadium open up in front of me, I can remember thinking "fucking hell this is it". I can still close my eyes and see that view with the floodlights, the frosty air and the city behind. Absolute magic, will never forget it.

I feel like Hughton would have delivered slightly worse results, although obviously I don't have much actual evidence for that.

When I realised Albert was chipping Schmeichel.

I'd honestly love to see Holloway in a job at a club that the media actually thinks is big. The clash of cultures would be immense.

Defoe has always been a streaky player hasn't he, it's just now the streaks don't come along very often.

So do I, as I went and bought a shirt as soon as he signed a permanent deal. The club bringing out a 37 t-shirt suggests he might.

you could take put a higher mortgage on it if there was equity on it, alternativly you could take out a mortgage on more favourable terms....like i have done several times. Yes, but also if you had a load of other debts and your financial position was constantly worsening, the bank would be unlikely to agree to any refinancing.

As you say, it's a great opportunity for him to loosen the manager's purse strings a bit now we must be way ahead of forecast financially. Let's hope he does it at least a bit.

Still got loads of tickets in my collection from European midweek games, they're awesome. When I look through them it's hard to believe they ever happened! If not this season then hopefully sometime soon.

We really should get rid of that facepalm graphic, it's the most patronising and annoying thing on here.

Would absolutely love Bellamy back!