Wallace

He'll probably still try and bring in players of other nationalities. If he can't do his wheeling and dealing then I imagine he'll eventually just spontaneously combust. He'll be like a kid in a sweet shop. All those players to choose from and he doesn't have to pay a transfer fee for them.

I don't understand if it was all innocent and above board, why the account was under his dog's name rather than his own.

There were a couple of times where he had found space and was screaming at Krul to give him the ball only for Krul to kick it upfield. Good to see his growing confidence as he has always struck me as not being very vocal before.

in addition to that injury? has been started training again? Caused by training on Friday. Probably rushed back too soon by Wenger. Arsenal seem to get an abnormally high number of longterm injuries especially for a club that is supposed to excel in sports science.

Ferdinand got an extra game for the elbow last season, or the season before didn't he? I think this has changed from this season and you no longer get banned for an extra game if the appeal is unsuccessful.

I wonder if Spurs' transfer dealings are due to the fact that they are in a kind of limbo with the manager. Will he be there beyond the Summer? Maybe Levy is reluctant to splash the cash on players that a new manager would not want. They are almost certain to qualify for the Champions League next season but maybe they don't quite have the belief that they can challenge for the title yet and so decided to hold back until the Summer.

Today's Daily Mail seems to think that there was an approach from Celtic for a loan but we would only entertain a permanent deal whereas Best himself didn't want to go. I think the board would like to move Best on. There is constant speculation about him and he was said to be on the transfer list last Summer but the stumbling bloack is always that the player wants to stay and fight for his place. His signing was supposedly one of the black marks held against Hughton. I would say though that Best is now regarded as a better player than when he first signed and should he be sold, then he will achieve the board's aim in that they are likely to make a profit on him. It would have been daft to have let him go this month though - he is certainly the best of the back up strikers.

Talksport is quite amusing post any West Ham midweek game (win or lose). Loads of Hammers always calling in to complain about how bad the football is and bemused at how they are top of the league as well as slating Nolan.

Comes to something when we are being outbid by Wigan.

Wonder if another club would have bid for him if our bid had not been made public by Watford.

Next stage - after acquiring fullback on big money, plays centre halves instead.

I have to say I am not convinced by Pardew as my impression of him is someone who starts off well and then it all goes wrong for whatever reason. I agree that we have some exceptional players and 6-7 of them are being talked about as going to clubs above us in the league so I would say we are comfortably a top 7 team as I reckon there are few if any teams below us that have as many players of that calibre. Whether the manager is good enough to get the best of those players we will have to see but it does worry me that he seems to be lukewarm towards Ben Arfa but keener on "team" players. I am hoping that Pardew proves me wrong and that we continue to improve but I still think it is too early to judge him. However, I would worry about what kind of replacement Ashley would come up especially as the reportedly basic salary is so low that few established managers would even contemplate the position and I am not sure whether we have the abllity to "scout" a good up and coming manager.

Sounds a sensible way of doing things, but I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't an "s" missing off "club" in that quote. It makes more sense if there was, because I thought the whole basis of how we structured deals was that we paid up front now. He used a loan like the Ba deal as an example but didn't quite as far as to say that it was actually the case that we went down that route. I am sure whichever way we do it, it will be to our advantage.

Isn't that more likely to be the fact they knew they were going to be offski, so wanted a bit more special adulation? Plus Nolan was on crutches.

Nolan supposedly had a lot of influence over Barton and "managed" him to some extent - once he left, Barton was always going to be a problem at NUFC. At QPR, he was heralded as the "star" player and probably indulged by Warnock and Fernandes and that is never a good idea where Barton is concerned.

Well at least Barton has never felt the need to attack Pardew in that way and has always praised him and been respectful towards him (in public at least).

I can accept a player leaving if an offer comes in and they genuinely want the move but if it is hard to accept when a player would prefer to stay and in Krul's case, I think he would want to stay here for at least 2-3 years before he is ready to move on to win things. I also think if we already have a player who is a ready-made replacement for the outgoing player then that would be OK but in Krul's case we definitely do not and good keepers are hard to find. IMO it would be absolutely madness to sell him.

Pardew needs to keep the other strikers motivated whilst Ba and Cisse are at the ACoN. We have winnable games coming up providing other players step up to score goals in their absence.

It is quite a regular feature on other club forums these days - a lot of praise for our scouting and signings and questioning their own club's set up.

Radio Newcastle said they thought it would be confirmed around 8pm this evening. The player has left to join up with the Senegal squad and they are just finishing off the paperwork.

Mick Lowe on Radio Newcastle.: Was Pardew's number one target last Summer but couldn't get the deal done. Llambias has told him that he is not a replacement for Ba nor are there any other planned outgoings as a result (I guess at this stage!!). Likely to be the number 9.

The only reason someone like Hazard would be here would be to see a game as a mate of Cabaye in the same way that Pieters was supposed to be coming over to visit Krul and take in a game.

Out of curiosity, I wonder if they still owe us the remaining £5m which means we would only have to pay £5m. That would be funny!! And then there is the sell-on fee!

Whilst I am sceptical of the story, the one thing that makes it interesting is that it is written by Rob Beasley who is the former NOW journalist that does get to speak to Ashley. That makes me think there could be something in it.

With regards to the release clause, I heard it slightly differently in that, Auclair said he wasn't convinced things were as they were being portrayed in the press. Also that he knew's Ba's entourage well and all are insistent that he does not want to leave this month.