Wallace

Ashley and Dekka will be pleased as they will be able to sell him for a higher price now.

It will be interesting to see if he plays the same type of football at West Ham as he played here, whether the London press will continue to think quite so highly of him. Certainly our local press have very little good to say about him.

Spot on. Agree. There is no guarantee that new players coming in will adapt to the Premier League or settle in Newcastle and if they do well, they might want to move on to a perceived bigger club ASAP. It would be a huge risk to remove the experience from the squad. The team needs to evolve rather than be radicallly overhauled each year.

I think it is very telling that the players themselves don't really seem to have a problem with Ashley but refuse to discuss Llambias when asked. (At least at the talk-ins I have attended).

Can Ireland ever replicate his form from a couple of years ago? And is he mentally tough enough? We know can well Barton can perform. Anyway, they are not the same kind of players.

It is all very commendable to keep trying to reduce the wage bill but if we have a number of cheap, young and foreign players in the team, what is going to happen when the going gets tough. Nolan and Barton are a major reason in keeping the team focussed whenever the Board makes an unpopular decision such as sacking Hughton and selling Carroll and when heads could have dropped in games, they have driven their teammates on more often that not. Barton the player may be replaceable but his character on the pitch is not and we need some experienced players with a strong character and leadership skills in the team. Our team spirit and the Nolan/Barton presence on the pitch has played a huge part in our success in the last couple of seasons and I worry that the Board do not appreciate that enough and prefer to concentrate on the balance sheet. I am not convinced by McKay's version of events but then I wouldn't believe whatever story the club comes out with. I do hope at the very least that Barton stays next year and that maybe things can be resolved as the team needs to evolve and we cannot afford to lose too many of our big players so quickly. It is also another indicator of Pardew's lack of influence.

Broadcast Payments to Premier League Clubs 2010-2011 http://www.premierleague.com/staticFiles/fe/72/0,,12306~160510,00.pdf

'It'. i actually thought about putting a disclaimer in, i have no idea if the little thing was a lad or a lass! it was so small it looked like a pokemon Older one is a girl, younger one a boy.

Wigan fan on the radio earlier saying that Zoggy's attitude had been better recently and he had been more of a team player. Said he woudn't mind if he moved to a bigger club like Liverpool but does not see why he would make a sideways move to clubs like Newcastle and Sunderland!!!!!

Pardew seems to have upset the SPL with his comments last week of it being a poorer league. Dundee Utd manager says there are many SPL players that would walk into the Newcastle team!!

The same goes for Colo, Barton and Nolan. None of them asked to leave though, regardless of interest. Because no-one would have wanted them, especially at the wages they are on here. I personally don't buy the argument that the players stayed because no-one wanted them. IMO it was by accident rather than design that they all ended up staying. Ashley basically abandoned the club during the Summer as he wanted to sell it and they took the stance that they could not make any decisions on players (or anything for that matter) because that would be down to the new owners. Agents were saying that they had interest in players but there was no-one at the club who they could speak to. By the time Ashley realised that he would have to start making some decisions as the new season was almost upon them, previously interested clubs had probably moved on to others targets and they just ran out of time. (Wages would have been an issue but with enough time, compromises could probably have been reached). I am convinced that if Ashley had decided at the outset that he would not be selling the club and had brought a manager in at that point, that most of those players would have been sold and we might not have been promoted. Some of them might have been hard to shift because of wages but I am sure quite a few more would have gone. In retrospect, I think the players are now glad they stayed and have no regrets because they learnt how to play English football, improved their form, enhanced their reputations, are praised for their loyalty and created a great camaraderie between each other but I am sure if given the opportunity at the time, that they would have been off without a second thought.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Newcastle-news-Kevin-Nolan-will-sign-deal-to-keep-Joey-Barton-and-get-Toon-into-Europe-next-season-article738740.html Kevin Nolan: I'll sign deal to keep Joey Barton and get Toon into Europe Published 22:50 21/05/11 By Brian McNally Inspirational skipper Kevin Nolan believes he can steer the Newcastle revival bandwagon into Europe next season with the aid of his Scouse sidekick Joey Barton. Victory over West ­Bromwich Albion at St James’ Park today could well propel the Magpies to a top 10 Premier League finish and Nolan insists the Europa League must be their minimum target next term. Nolan and Barton are both locked in contract talks with the club’s top brass – and the indications are positive the close friends are moving closer to signing new deals. Barton, who stalled on penning a new deal in January after the ­£35million sale of Andy Carroll, insists he will now sign if Nolan accepts an improved offer. Nolan said: “I’d like us to keep Joey. He’s a big ­player for us and he’s come out on record saying he wants to stay. He said he will sign if I do. “We all want Joey to stay. We want to keep this squad together. That is key – along with adding to it. We can’t afford to lose any other big players, to be honest.” And Nolan – Newcastle’s top scorer with 12 goals this season – is adamant he wants to finish his ­career on Tyneside after helping lift the Toon from the despair of relegation in 2009 to a runaway Championship title a year later and a solid Premier League finish this term. Nolan added: “The ­Europa League is the ­minimum that this club should be aiming for. We should be in the elite. “Playing my part in the Newcastle revival has made me proud. Two years ago I finished the season down in the dumps when we went down and I didn’t know where my future was going to be. “But I just didn’t want to go – I wanted to prove myself here as a player. “Over the last two years, I feel like I’ve been able to do that but I don’t want it to stop here. I want it to go on over the next four or five years.” Despite controversial decisions by owner Mike Ashley that saw manager Chris Hughton sacked and star striker Carroll sold, Nolan believes ­Newcastle are finally ­getting it right. He explained: “Mike took a lot of stick over the last two years but he’s been fantastic. “He’s got a manager, Alan Pardew, he firmly believes in, who he wants to back. Hopefully now that will be the case in the summer and it’s going to be the springboard to bring in the right players to push us forward.”

The club have said they cannot get him or his advisors to discuss a new contract so they will not have got to the stage where wages are discussed. Jose wanting to move on seems to be more about personal ambition than money.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/brian-reade/Brian-Reade-column-When-is-a-shocking-tackle-involving-Joey-Barton-not-a-shocking-tackle-and-why-Hawksbee-Jacobs-are-in-tune-with-the-way-fans-really-feel-article738576.html

If he is carrying injuries and accepts it affects his game its possible he could retire over the summer. He only has 1 year left on his deal so cant see him going too much longer especially if Pardew makes it clear one of Krul/Forster will be regulars. The op has supposedly cleared up the injuries he was carrying - left over issues from previous ops etc. Krul and Forster were surprisingly never mentioned and no-one in the audience thought to raise the subject but I don't think it was a case of avoiding the issue moreso that they just ran out of time. Only thing really mentioned about the goalkeeping side of things that I can remember was that the new GK coach Andy Woodman is absolutely mental. He reminded people of his part in that goal in the pre-season friendly a few years back!! Also said that without the right attitude you won't get anywhere regardless of how much ability you have and it is something that he keeps stressing to the youngsters. He then cracked a joke about having been away for a few days during which time Ranger gets into trouble (re. the gun thing).

Well Harper said that once a club tells you they want to accept an offer, there is just no point in staying. Whether we agree with that or not, it does seem to be the standard viewpoint of players. Also suggested that Carroll did ask for an improved contract but not for anything comparable to what he would be getting at Liverpool. He also implied that the club wanted him to put in a transfer request to make life easier for them - whether that was to avoid loyalty payments or speed up things, I don't know but that the request was something that was driven by the club. Anyway from my own viewpoint, I cannot believe that many clubs would turn down such an extraordinary offer and only give in because the lad submitted a transfer request. If it was for £15m or maybe £20m then perhaps but £35m is such an extraordinary fee, it could not be ignored and if they had no intention of selling him, then why ask for more money and agree a fee before (asking) the lad to put in a transfer request.

Joe Allon also said that Sturridge paid £4.5m for his house which would indicate a pretty big salary. Allon still has contacts from his Chelsea days.

I went. Thought it was excellent. Went to the one last night which I also enjoyed but this one was free, at a smaller venue (with not that many people turning up) and with Joe Allon asking the questions rather than Roger Tames so it was more relaxed. I thought he was a very eloquent and humourous speaker and (understandably) more relaxed than he comes across in interviews plus he interacted very well with the people in the room. He was on crutches as Nolan was last night. Quite self-deprecating on his shortcomings recently but said has been carrying injuries for a while now which has affected his game. I don't think he said anything especially revealing (maybe because I have heard a lot of it before from the likes of Nolan and Barton albeit with less swearing). During games, he talks in Spanish to Colo and Jose - says he and Colo always tease each other during matches about each other's kicking whenever either of them use their left(?) foot. Said first Carroll knew of Liverpool's interest was when it was on SSN at lunchtime. They had been aware of interest from Spurs but Harper said that he had told him that Spurs would not be a step up because with a bit of investment, we would be at Spurs level soon enough. Said that the club were offered £30m by Liverpool but told them they wanted £35m and then told Carroll that they had accepted Liverpool's bid and asked him to put in a transfer request. Spoke very highly about Woodgate (especially) and Colo. Said Ashley had to re-invest the money from the sales of Carroll and Routledge but if he had a choice, the one striker he would buy would be Sturridge but that we could not afford him because his current wages are already higher than any NUFC player (which I guess means that if he wants to leave Chelsea for regular first team footbal, his options will be limited). Talked a lot about the managers he had played for - absolutely loves Keegan, Dalglish didn't get a fair crack, Gullit - a brilliant coach but disastrous at man-management, Hughton working so hard but constantly having to battle with the board. Didn't really talk about Pardew but said he has done well considering they were not his players. So nothing really new but entertaining all the same and a lot more interesting than I have made it sound.

It was said at the time, the Carroll money had gone towards Tiote's new contract.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2011/05/18/kevin-nolan-will-be-raring-to-go-next-season-72703-28715437/2/ From today's Chronicle: "Meanwhile, the Chronicle understands Alan Pardew will not be pursuing January target Carlton Cole this summer."

Pulled off some cracking saves in the FA Youth Cup, if I recall. And what about Soderberg? Any good?

Due to be released on 27th June according to Amazon. Also the Man Utd 5-0 on DVD on 30th May.

http://www.boggsport.com/2011/05/kevin-keegan-interview-off-ball.html Recent radio interview with Keegan.

Miles Starforth on Twitter NUFC will play Leeds United at Elland Road in a pre-season on July 31 (2pm), and also visit Darlington on July 15 (7.45pm)

The guy who phoned Radio Newcastle last night to say that he had been told Nolan was having the op said he had been playing with the injury for some time.