Wallace

There must be something going on because he has never let us down when he has played. Maybe there are concerns about his injury record but still that is no reason to exclude him completely.

Well the club have left themselves in the situation where they have no choice as there is very little defensive cover in the squad. I read that Perch wanted to leave anyway as he wanted to play more football.

Also, I don't think it necessarily sends a good message to other players who maybe are really happy and settled at NUFC. Their agents are probably already anticipating unsatisfactory contract offers perhaps causing them to start the process early to find new clubs for their players which may lead to players leaving the club sooner than they might have done otherwise.

I keep hoping (no doubt in vain) that somewhere along the line where a player is deemed to be so valuable to the team, that an exception will be made. I am sure there is no way that we could offer £80k a week but maybe for once, the club might actually negotiate for a change so that a compromise could be reached.

Agree and Simpson will not be on a big wage in the first place. I do not understand why they are so inflexible and it is always a case of "take it or leave it". You can understand the big wage earners struggling to agree new contracts but not a player like Simpson. I guess also it is an indication that they don't think they will make much money on him when he is sold so there is no point in tying him up for a longer period.

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2011/09/11/putting-the-new-in-newcastle-after-vocal-barton-departs-dressing-room-79310-29399105/ Putting the new in Newcastle after vocal Barton departs dressing room Sep 11 2011 by Mark Douglas, Sunday Sun FABRICIO COLOCCINI believes a new Newcastle United will emerge in the wake of Joey Barton’s departure. Quieter, most definitely, but possibly stronger as key men are forced to take on new responsibility as the memory of Barton fades. The United skipper will lead his side into battle at Loftus Road tomorrow evening knowing that his leadership skills are under the microscope following the loss of one of the biggest voices in the Toon dressing room. The fact that Barton will be making his bow in blue-and-white hoops following an acrimonious free transfer switch to South London just brings things into even sharper focus for the defender. A surprising but popular choice for captaincy, Coloccini has been peerless on the pitch so far, but knows his leadership credentials will face an examination over the coming months – especially with unofficial leaders like Barton having departed. Coloccini clearly wishes his former team-mate nothing but success at his new club, but is confident others can fill the void left by the midfield motor-mouth. As he acknowledges, they will need to as the nights draw in and a gruelling season kicks in. “Joey was a very good team-mate. He was not a difficult man to work with – in fact, sometimes you need some players like that with character,” said Coloccini. “When we are on the pitch we need players with character, players who want to go and win. Maybe you need players like that when you are battling against adversity. “He always showed his character then, which is good. Sometimes when we did not have good times at the club or we were near the relegation, we needed that kind of player. Now it is up to those left to do that. “Of course the dressing room is different without Joey. A lot of players have different styles. Some are quieter, some are like Joey with strong spirit. But it’s normal, a lot of dressing rooms are like that. “Other players show themselves and their character in different ways. Joey was louder, maybe. But those differences are the same in all changing rooms.” Elated at being named skipper, Coloccini has settled into the role well over the first weeks of the season. His English has improved, he fulfills his media duties with little complaint and there is a clear affection for the club and support that he represents. “I know I am the leader. But it is no more pressure because these players have gone – I felt pressure from the moment I signed,” he said. “For me it is so important to have the relationship I have with the supporters. I’m so proud of it. “When I bring my family over, it is a proud moment when they sing my song. I feel like I am back home again, back home in Argentina. “I want to go on the pitch, I want to win. I’m proud to be captain – I'm happy too. I was surprised – there was Joey, Harps, Smudger – they are all good players, experienced players and English too. “For me it was like a present.” If United’s supporters experienced frustration at the climax of the summer transfer window, there was at least a measure of relief that Coloccini remained. Constantly linked with moves to Spain, the Argentina defender always maintained that he was happy to remain on Tyneside. But that didn’t stop the wicked whispers persisting – rumours that United fans found difficult to dismiss given the amount of mistrust that still persists among Toon supporters. “I am happy the transfer window is shut,” he said. “I said all along I wanted to stay here and now everyone knows I will be here and there will be no more speculation. “I'm also happy because we had a good start to the season and we have signed new players, good players. We are looking forward now – to the future and for the team.”

Mates with Santon? I read somewhere that they were good friends.

It is probably not a good idea for Pardew to badmouth Barton a few days before the game. Despite what he says, I suspect he is relieved he is gone. I get the impression that Pardew doesn't really want "big" personalities in his squad despite what he says - it seems as if the squad he has now is pretty quiet and easy to manage - unless one of the new lads emerge as a "personality". I think a lot of what Pardew says is to keep fans onside rather than what he actually thinks. After tomorrow though, there will be no need for him to mention Barton again - or at least until we next play QPR.

we're not gonna receive a transfer fee for Alan Smith, and he contributes f*** all, unlike Barton. So why wasn't he released too? because noone wanted him even for free Barton wasn't released - we just didn't want a fee for him. If we release Smith, we would have to pay his contract up.

Just seen that pic of Santon in front of the "Howay the Lads" sign in the tunnel. How long before that is tampered with?

I really enjoyed watching him develop over the second part of the Championship season and push on again in the Premier League. It had been a long time since I had seen one of our players improve so quickly. Weird how it seems so hard for most people to let go and move on.

If QPR get relegated and West Ham come up, I can see him moving there next season. But if most clubs were not interested in him when he was on a free, they are unlikely to be so next year.

I agree our attempts were rubbish, but even more worryingly I think we were serious. It seems pretty obvious that the transfer market is a difficult place to do business. There are differering agendas from players, their agents and the clubs themselves and they all have to be dealt with. We seem to be ok at identifying and closing in on release clauses and free transfers. We can also pick out a bargain. But to me we have demonstrated that there is a lack of the right sort of negotiating expertise in our structure. There are times when a bit of flexibility is required. One of the journos (Edwards?) said we are always looking for the perfect deal when, at times, you have to bite the bullet and pay a full price for a player you really need - and I think that view is right. Couldn't agree more. What annoys me, and I suspect a lot of other people, is that "the perfect deal" is sometimes paying a bit more to get a component you need rather than look at it in isolation. If we had to spend an extra £2m on signing a striker it would probably have been worth at least that just in finishing several places higher in the league table, generating excitement and therefore higher gates and so on. I just don't understand our mentality sometimes. By all means work within a budget, but when you've banked so much money from sales why not invest a bit more in the players who will take you on a level? It makes business sense to do so for most people. The team's needs seem to be less of a priority than getting any player for what they consider to be value for money e.g. buying a younger promising and cheaper right back who can also play at left back rather than a specialist left back when we don't even have one in the squad and arguably have 4 players (Simpson, Taylor, Perch and Tavernier) who can already play at right back.

I would imagine he is lacking match fitness because he has had little if any game time in pre-season.

I guess what happened on deadline day will always be a mystery - did he jump or was he pushed? Other managers and journalists were saying that the Newcastle were touting him around to other clubs all through January. I'm quite sentimental so I want to believe he was pushed because where Ashley is concerned, I cannot believe that he would have turned down £35m. It was an incredible amount and for the club to turn round and say they only sold him because he put in a transfer request sounds quite laughable to me with the fee involved. If they had sold him for £15m that would be more plausible but not for £35m. Every "expert" who has spoken about the transfer has said they would not have turned down that amount of money - even Keegan so why do we assume that Ashley would have done so. At present, we seem to have been the losers in the deal (maybe not the bank account) because of the dissatisfaction it created within the squad which has left to the departures of other players, because the money has not been re-invested in the squad as envisaged and because of the negativity and disillusionment within the support which has increased hugely in recent months.

I'd have him back in a flash. He is still the one player I am really gutted about leaving. I was disappointed with the others leaving as well but can understand their/our reasons for them going even if I don't entirely agree with them. He doesn't look right at Liverpool - whether that is because he is still recovering from injury or he just hasn't settled who knows, but he certainly hasn't performed for them like he did for us.

Will all of this branding need to be removed for the Olympics next year?

Ashley and Llambias both give a damn and the singing section was only disbanded this year, that was done to try and shut up people who were slagging Ashley off. They will think that they have done enough in the transfer window and the shitty statement backs that up. They are clueless, the criticism still hurts them even though they don't want people to pick up on that. They do seem very sensitive to criticism and in such cases, they tend to lash out. Look at the speed they react to perceived criticism from the likes of Shearer and Keegan even when they are stating something that is pretty obvious to everyone.

He's daft as a brush, but he'd be class to go for a pint with No doubt, he's improved no end since Willo's signing That and he has had a good spell of fitness and a good pre-season Remember the first half of the Championship, Taylor and Colo were brilliant together until he got injured. We were winning lots of games 1-0 but after Williamson arrived, we conceded more goals but started to score a lot more as well.

I wonder if this is more to do with the fact that he has not signed the new contract and as they don't do compromise, the only outcome is to sell the player. I am not certain that it is because they view him as a weak spot in the team.

It concerns me that our transfers are done purely on a business basis rather than what is best for the football team. For example, we need a left-back. We target Cissokho and his club value him at say 12m but we offer 8m, then we offer PSV 6m for Pieters but they want 7m so instead we buy Santon, a right-back who can play at left-back for 5m. Now Santon might end being a fantastic player but in the end I get the impression that we have gone for the cheapest option (and also potentially the one with the highest resale fee) as we were supposedly prepared to pay a higher fee (albeit below their club's valuations) for other players rather than what is best for the team. If we are prepared to go as high as 8m for one player, why not pay 7m for the alternative. Maybe I am being unfair, but I wonder if you had a choice of all 3 players and ignoring the price, which player would have been the preferred option.

They go on all the time about cost-cutting but are we making any effort to attract outside sponsorship. I bet our revenue from sponsorship has dropped hugely since Ashley took over. Is that deliberate or are they simply unable to attract sponsors? If so, why is that? Outside the top 4/5, our matches are broadcast more than any other clubs presumably because we attract bigger audiences so surely that should make us more attractive to potential sponsors than other clubs. Al;though having said that, the stature of the club from when he took over is decreasing with every year that passes. If we are continuously pleading poverty when deliberately ignoring potential sponsors to provide free advertising to SD, then that cannot be right. However, the club is Ashley's toy and he can so what he wants even to the detriment of NUFC.

I think you are right. I don't know why they bother though because their "PR exercises" are so transparent these days that they are no longer fooling anyone.

I had never heard of Taylor before we tried to buy him but it seems he has done well for Swansea so far this season and they were praising him in the Wales match on Friday so we may well have missed out there because of our hard stance.

The problem with the figures quoted for player's contracts is the club will release the highest potential figure that contract could achieve, whilst those representing the player will probably quote the lowest base so we never truly know. I seem to remember that when Colo first arrived, it was quoted that he was on £40k a week but once we got relegated, it became accepted that he was on £80k a week. I would hope that the club do not stick so rigidly to their wages structure when a player is so valuable to the club and will be difficult to replace. However, the way we seem to be doing player contracts seems to be pushing players out as compromise never seems to be an option. A heavily incentised contract always sounds good in theory e.g. bonuses kick in if the team finish in the top 10 but if the club don't provide a strong enough squad to make that happen, then no matter how well a player performs personally, they will have no chance of earning those bonuses.