Wallace

So predictable. Interesting that Barton raved about Colo as well.

Graham had a trial with Newcastle as a youngster. He has said before in interviews that Newcastle were the one club that he had wished he had managed. It is so frustrating as you hear a lot of football people say that Newcastle would be a fantastic club if it was run correctly and which makes you wonder why people running the club cannot seem to see the potential that is there.

Routledge wasn't a total disaster for us earlier this season. He did OK in games against Wolves and Everton and probably some others but he did have some bad games as well.

Well that and what were his intentions of buying Ben Arfa when he was injured, loaning a headfuck at minimal cost and securing Tiote by giving him more money. Why would he offer someone significantly more money for an extra years commitment? Protecting his value (Tiote) Grabbing a bargain (Ben Arfa & possibly Ireland) Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the principles of the model, more the fact the club aren't just up front about it. We are a feeder club now and the kids he'll buy in the summer, if they prove themselves by Xmas will be wrapped up in long term deals in order to sell to the highest bidder come next summer. All good as long as Carr isn't hit by a bus, the team morale doesn't dive bomb a la relegation year (hence Nolan imho) and the fans don't stop turning up. My understanding is that Liverpool were sniffing around Ben Arfa so the club decide to push the deal through early rather than wait until the end of the season and risk losing him. Since they had agreed such a good price for him, once Ben Arfa signed that contract, they can almost certainly sell him for an immediate profit. I know he has a lot to prove after the injury but even now before he has played again, they would easily get more than £5m for him.

This Summer will surely show Ashley's true intentions once and for all. He is in the last chance saloon. Will he sell several of our better players and replace them with poorer ones? With the £35m+ received in transfer monies (assuming Jose goes), he has no excuses and failure to strengthen the squad will make it obvious to all supporters that he is not interested in improving the club in any way other than financially. At that point, I think a lot of fans who have given him the benefit of the doubt up till now, will decide enough is enough.

Well fortunately for them, they got rid of Hicks and Gilet so they might avoid a situation where their popular manager gets undermined by the owner.

Well I am interested to see what happens in the Summer because I have no idea what kind of player Pardew would go for or who he would sell of the current squad. We probably need 4 or 5 at the moment but if Jose goes and a few of the fringe players, then we could be bringing in a lot of new players. How much upheaval will that cause? The second season after promotion is often harder but we could be looking to gel a lot of players who are new to the Premier League and who might need a year or two like Jose and Colo before they adapt. I am not yet won over by Pardew although he does seem to be trying hard to impress and fit in but as with all managers, he will be judged by his signings. £35m does not look much when you think of what a thin squad we have. Next year it will his team so we shall see where we are this time next year.

There was a nice little interview with Nolan on Five Live before the game. He was saying how he had totally fallen in love with the club, people and city. He loved how the whole place was obsessed with football. He is about the only player that I would believe was genuine when saying such things.

Well Dalglish did more than OK at Liverpool before. Some managers and clubs are just made for each other and everyone else may mock them for their sentimentality but supporters tend to know what works for their club. Just like Keegan and NUFC. Although KK did OK elsewhere, the chemistry he had with us was unique and could never be created elsewhere. And listening to Dalglish's interviews, you can appreciate why the feelgood factor is back at Liverpool - Keegan had the same knack of making our players and supporters feel special too.

Interesting that this will be the 10th club with foreign owners. I think the Premier League need 13 clubs to pass resolutions. I wonder what it might mean for the Premier League if another 3 clubs are bought by foreigners e.j. an increased likelihood of games being played abroad?

So they rate him now after all.

Same here.

I think if they were to change it anytime soon, it would be another PR disaster and they need to avoid those for the time being whilst things are going OK. I think it is closed a lot of the time these days. The club used to put on a few events there which would pack the place out such as talk ins and quizzes with current and ex players but they have not done anything like that since Keegan left.

Do you need to be a psychologist? If you were thinking of moving to another club, would you give an interview like that - bigging yourself up, slagging off other players and saying that Dabo deserved a wacking? Who genuinely thinks he's off this summer though? Regardless of his reputation, no one would consider matching his wages. I've said this before and these "new" quotes convince me further - he's enjoying the freedom to say whatever he wants from a position of absolute security. He'll never get picked for England, so he can slag off Barry, Gerrard and Lampard with impunity. He knows he'll still be at the Toon come September, so he can voice his concerns regarding transfer policy without fearing his immediate prospects. What will be interesting is if he's saying the same thing in twelve months time... Well perhaps trying to get inside the mind of Joey Barton is a futile exercise, but there's something irrational about his behaviour here. People may say he's just being honest, and whilst he's certainly interesting I think there's more to it than 'honesty'. Deep down, I think he's much more insecure than all these outspoken comments would indicate. When he was first being considered for England quite a few years ago, he seemed to want to sabotage things then by saying how s*** Gerrard and Lampard had been at the World Cup. He still got picked for the squad but he didn't make it easy for the manager to do that. It's hard to know whether he just likes the attention, or he likes to pick an argument, or he likes to court popularity with the fans, but there's a kind of recklessness about it that suggests he almost can't help himself. It's certainly unusual for a player to go to a public talk-in and start making comments about his employer and his team-mates like that. He must know that everyone at the club is bound to hear about it all. The extra dimension that I'm starting to wonder about is how he copes with major decisions. He's only made one move in his career, which suggests he may not be that confident about starting over in a new environment. If you remember, when he joined us, there was a last minute, public delay over a pay-off with Man City, which we ended up paying. After he had talks with us, he was going back to Manchester to think about it, and then actually did a U-turn on the motorway and signed that night. It's not exactly a confident way of making your mind up. He's now saying he'll sign if Kevin Nolan signs, like he's pushing the decision on to other people. He also seems intent on putting any other clubs off from signing him. Don't get me wrong. I really like him as a player and hope he signs. On the pitch, he's brave, physically and mentally. For all I know, he may be a thoroughly likeable guy in his personal life, providing you don't hit any raw nerves. It is common for players to talk about other players at Talk Ins - most people who go want to hear some of the inside stories but it is unfair to imply that he said anything untoward about his colleagues at the recent Talk In (which took place after that French interview was done). At the Talk In, he praised Colo, made a few remarks about Enrique in jest (and anyway other players have said similar about Jose in interviews in the match programme) and said that Martins and Bassong didn't want to be here after relegation which everyone knew anyway. He also said that night that Duff was a good guy and should not be put in the same category as the players who wanted to leave as he was up for staying but ended up moving because of his lass. He also said good things about Pardew and Mike Ashley. He had also more or less agreed a contract with the club which was then changed. He has said he wants to stay but IMO basically does not want to be taken advantage of. If I was a player at the club, I would be wondering about what the motives of the club are in getting players to sign new deals and what their true intentions are with regards to the future of the club. The supporters are asking those questions about the club every day. Other players probably share the same reservations but will keep their thought private. There are many instances of the club saying one thing in public and then doing something else. As a player, Barton has probably 5-6 years left at most and as one of the best English players of his type in the country is probably justified in wanting to play for a club that does want to be competing higher up the division rather than one where they are content just to survive each year. I heard one journalist comment once about how they love interviewing Barton because he gives them so much to write about compared to most of the anodyne player interviews they sit through and that he thought it was because of all the counselling he has had that there is a need for him to always get everything off his chest - whether it is appropriate for him to do so or not. How people feel can change from day to day - especially where NUFC are concerned - so it would make sense that his he seems to change his mind a lot. I think he really wants to stay here. He gets on with his team mates, likes Pardew and wants to believe that the club is moving in the right direction. He knows NUFC have been good to him and the fans are supportive. One of the other things he said at that Talk In was that Nolan can read him like a book and can tell when he wants to say something and will tell him to hold off and let him (Nolan) deal with it. I heard somewhere that it takes time for people to get used to him and his ways but everyone at Newcastle knows how he is and are comfortable with him. If he moved to another club, it might be difficult for him to start that process all over again.

I would wait until 1st September if I was you even if he signs his contract extension.

There was some desperate pundit/commentator on the radio the other day, claiming that he was already talking with a Scouse accent!!! It won't be long before the media manage to erase his Newcastle years from his CV.

That interview was done a few weeks ago wasn't it - before the latest internationals? His interviews are always interesting but I am sure it will give the media more ammunition to have a ago.

Something strange has gone there. They are saying sore throat on the radio but sound sceptical.

Th Agreed. A lot of what was said that night was good humoured and tongue in cheek.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/184731/Hatem-Ben-Arfa-I-nearly-lost-leg-/ HATEM BEN ARFA: I NEARLY LOST LEG 5th April 2011 By Ian Murtagh HATEM BEN ARFA has revealed he could have lost his leg in the wake of the horror injury he sustained at Manchester City earlier this season. Hatem Ben Arfa flew into Tyneside last night to complete his rehabilitation and will today start light training with his team-mates for the first time since Nigel de Jong’s X-rated tackle left him fearing for his football future. The French international had played only four games for the Toon before being carried off at Eastlands on October 3 with a double fracture. However, his nightmare was far from over, for, within weeks, it wasn’t just his career on the line. Ben Arfa, 24, was just coming to terms with the injury when doctors told him he required emergency surgery to save his leg. He said: “I needed a second operation because I had an infection. It was a big infection which could have been very dangerous. “I was told that I could have had my leg cut off if they didn’t operate on me very quickly.” And the former Marseille midfielder had also resigned himself to having to quit Newcastle and retire. “You take a blow, that’s for sure, and I started seeing myself as someone whose career was over, who no longer plays football,” he added. “That brought me closer to my friends and family and I started to really think about things because I wasn’t in the spotlight. I travelled a bit and the break did me a lot of good and hopefully it stands me in good stead for the future.” With Toon chief Alan Pardew’s blessing, Ben Arfa has spent most of his recovery period at Clairfontaine in France, with the club’s medical staff paying regular visits to the French Federation’s Centre of Excellence to monitor his progress. Ben Arfa, who joined Newcastle on a permanent basis in January, has yet to play under Pardew, but says he is determined to repay the club’s faith. He said: “Newcastle showed me so much respect and a lot of love that I want to give back to them. “I will give everything I can for this club because they trusted me and, for a human being, that is really touching.”

David Ginola and Rob Lee on Goals on Sunday tomorrow.

If the club wanted to keep Carroll then they would have done so. They thought it was too good a deal to turn down. Redknapp said the Carroll transfer request made him laugh because it is what clubs ask players to do to deflect criticism of a sale. If it was down to the request for a new contract then the club have happily messed players around on these before - offering contracts then withdrawing them or moving the goalposts so they could have easily given lip service to a new contract - and anyway contracts do not get sorted within a few hours but rather a few weeks which would have taken them through most of the rest of the season.

But if Ashley has had to keep loaning his own money to NUFC to keep it going as has been reported, isn't a huge reduction in the debt misleading because we just owe him more money instead?

Pardew is on Total Sport (Radio Newcastle) on Monday evening to take calls etc.

Huh? I think he knows someone connected with Whickham and I don't know whether they knew he was coming but it was a surprise to everyone else. He was with his kids.