Wallace

Abdoulaye Faye was one he scrapped with. And Carroll.

Graham Carr scouted them both if members of this forum are to believed. Hughton said he had been watching Tiote since Keegan had sent him over on a scouting mission. Don't know about Ben Arfa.

Well Ashley's strategy of Divide and Conquer is working again with everyone bickering with each other. Funny how all of our better players end up leaving under a cloud. I am angered and sad that Caroll has gone but don't blame him for it as I am sure the way it panned out yesterday was all engineered by the club. Anyway, I have hugely enjoyed watching this lad progress over the last 5 or so years - from watching him playing in the reserves at Kingston Park and standing out head and shoulders above others on the pitch - wondering whether it was just his height at that age that made him stand out and how would he be when others caught up with him. One of the thrills for me in this last year has been to see one of our own local players make that step up and to look like he was going to be a seriously good player. Fancy that - Newcastle actually developing a top player for a change - he even made his England debut whilst playing for us. Maybe that's why this hurts - it is not like we have been churning them out over the years. I looked forward to going to games to see if he would score, how he would play, would he do something better than previously and how would he perform against the top defenders. I love Jose and Colo as well but you don't go to watch football to watch great defensive play but for goals and creative play. Pick the one player out of the team that you would pay to see and that was Carroll for me. The others are good players, a good team but you also want that something extra - the return of Ben Arfa can not come quick enough now. And with regards to replacements for Carroll, I hope we are doing to do some serious scouting in the next few months. Other clubs have really been struggling to find strikers. Of course there may be more available in the Summer but even average strikers will want a bigger salary that Carroll was on and clubs will want a lot more money as they will think we are loaded. Even Championship strikers are overpriced and Ashley is supposed to have regretted agreeing the the signing of Best. If we are paying up front then that reduces our options even more. To me that means looking abroad for players who are desperate to come to the Premier League and therein lies another risk. We have had too many bad experiences with foreign strikers who have just not been good enough. I wish Carroll well and hope he goes on to become the striker he can be. I've always said it is up to him how good he becomes. He is probably at a better club now to make that happen.

He will probably get injured on Wednesday and will be out for a couple of months.

I wouldn't be surprised, the offer rejected, transfer request, offer accept sequence of events happened (or were reported/ leaked to the media) within a very short space of time. Read one entry on a blog where they said that Carroll was already in Ashley's hellicopter at the same time that he supposedly handed in his transfer request which means that they could not have sold him in response to the request. The timelines definitely do not add up. If the club is lying (which I think it is) then I hope the truth comes out for Carroll's sake as he is getting so much flak which may well be unwarranted.

Also all these new contracts for players can now be seen for what they really are - to protect their resale value rather than to keep the players at the club longterm and build around them. I don't want to hear Pardew saying what a good job they've done in getting X to sign a new contract when it now obvious it means nothing. Taylor was going on a free so better get him signed up. Clubs showing an interest in Barton - better give him a longer contract - can't have him going for £1.5m and making a loss. Ben Afra - Liverpool interested - get the permanent deal done ASAP because he will instantly be worth more than double that amount paid etc. I thought Pardew might have a chance with supposedly being a "mate" but obviously it makes no difference. The only thing I would believe is if they came out and said Ashley lost a lot of money buying the club and he wants it back ASAP before he can sell up and make a profit.

Infact, I have to give David Craig some credit - how he can maintain a straight face when he is spouting this stuff is amazing.

Of course it is all a joke on Ashley's part. You can just see him and Llambias laughing themselves silly at winding up the stupid Geordies even further. Anyway. Whelan has the good sense not to sell to another relegation rival and weakening themselves with no time to get a replacement in.

If he is coming in it can only be because Spurs have got striker(s) coming in. They are one down already with Keane going to West Ham.

So are we getting this paid in cash upfront or is it by dripeed over the next 5 years?

It makes no difference whether Enrique signs a new contract or not. All it means is that they will get a bigger transfer fee for him when they sell him in the Summer. Infact, I wonder who the media will campaign to move on to a bigger club now: Jose or Tiote?

That they're leaving the transfer window far, far stronger than they were on Jan 1st? Yeah, livid. Clueless. Whereas we are leaving it far weaker - currently 3 players down an dour best player gone. And virtually all of the lower half teams have strengthened.

I'll ask again, why would Carroll go along with it? Or is that too naive of a question for you to answer? Money up front. Agent pressure. Who knows. Exactly. How come everyone is so eager to believe the official line in this story? Look at all the major things that have happened to this club over the past 3 years, look at the official line and tell me that it's been an accurate narrative of what actually transpired. Look at KK's firing. Look at the Milner s***. Look at Hughton's sacking. Look at Pardew's appointment. For f***'s sake, Golfmag had posted that it was planned for weeks in advance, yet the official line never mentioned it. Ashley might seem dumb but he's not. I don't believe the official line at all. If Ashley did not want to sell this would have all been ended this morning. He was obviously encouraging a higher bid.

From Nicko: You will NOT believe the player heading for Newcastle United right now to sign... Lower division. Six-month loan. Mike Ashley had better not go near the ground any time soon. Oh dear

We have proved today if a club wants the player enough and are willing to pay the money, we are happy to sell.

Getting worried as I think the club could end this very easily if they wanted to although I think Ashley gets off on all of this stuff. I think it if he does sell, it will have a hugely negative impact on the rest of the season and also for season ticket sales next year. But then he likes a gamble doesn't he? A strike force of Shola, Ranger, Best and Lovenkrands? God help us.

"Ashley is trying very hard to resist". Please!!!! It is very easy for Ashley to resist if he wants to. Ultimately it comes down to 2 people Ashley and Carroll. Ashley can agree the sale and Carroll can refuse to go. Not as if the banks or other board members can make the decision.

Just say no Andy.

That, quite frankly, is a lie. You're missing Carroll and Ben Arfa from you're best XI through injury. We have almost an entire team missing. That's not the point though. The point is that £30m for someone who has had six good months in the PL is absolutely outrageous - I take the point that Ashley may not re-invest it all but still, that's an outrageous figure. David Villa moved for less recently and he probably the best centre-forward in the world. Closer to home, Darren Bent moved for less recently and he has scored more goals than any other PL player over the past half-decade. You are a simpleton, you simply do not understand that a transfer fee is based on more than the ability of a player. And I would have thought that Carroll has been a godsend for Ashley. He has given Newcastle a profile that none of the other players we have can do which in turn promotes his SD brand and will also help if he wants to sell the club. Without Carroll, we are another run of the mill PL club. I also think it will affect the morale of the other players and having been saying the club is going in the right direction, they will now question whether that is true.

David Craig gets his stuff straight from Llambias. I know that but remember "lying for PR purposes" from the KK tribunal. I just think Llambias uses Craig to get out whatever propaganda they want to promote at that time. There is no amount of PR to be had from lying about rejecting a bid then AC9 appearing in a LFC shirt later in the day. Absolutely - but I am just sceptical of anything Craig says because of his source. He will be repeating what he is told - whether it is the truth is another matter.

David Craig gets his stuff straight from Llambias. I know that but remember "lying for PR purposes" from the KK tribunal. I just think Llambias uses Craig to get out whatever propaganda they want to promote at that time.

Lee Ryder saying Carroll wants to stay. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2011/01/31/andy-carroll-says-he-wants-to-stay-at-nufc-72703-28085042/

If this was just coming out of NUFC via David Craig, I would be sceptical but it looks like it is also coming form Liverpool. I think it would be madness to sell - what would we replace him with? Another Championship hopeful or someone from abroad who doesn't give a toss. We've not been able to find a partner for Carroll as it is never mind a replacement plus most clubs are desperately looking for strikers with little success (another reason for the high price). And we won't pay the wages for a proven striker. Anyway, if we have a £30m striker on the books that has come through the Academy surely that raises the value of the club in terms of its assets. And it won't be £30m in cash either - probably £10m downpayment with the rest over the duration of a contract and it will include performance related payments. Once this window is over, I would like the club to offer Carroll a new contract to at least show their commitment to keeping him as he will now know that he will get the big money elsewhere so his agent will be looking for that from Newcastle.

The thing is we just don't know what floats Ashley's boat. All we know is that he wants to run Newcastle as a business but for all that, Carroll might just be his favourite player and he might fancy having England's centre forward playing for his club. He might decide to toss a coin in the morning to decide whether to keep or sell. Who knows. I am just starting to get worried that this team that everyone has become so fond of is going to be broken up in the Summer. It is good that there is interest in Carroll, Enrique and Tiote plus if he continues in his current form possibly Colo because it obviously means we have some very good players and they are wanted by good clubs. Then of course if Ben Arfa proves to be the player we think he is, we will probably be worrying about losing him next January. If we keep the players, we could be at the start of something exciting but as ever is Ashley happy for us just to survive or does he want to improve year on year.

The way Spurs are going on desperately trying to buy any striker and trying to use their current ones in part exchange is not going to do much for morale for the remaining strikers.