Wallace

I would have thought one of the first things you would do would be to check if the the salary is within your budget. What's the point in doing all that negotiating which seems to take weeks these days to then find the player wants double what you can afford.

Lots of very unhappy Mackems on Radio Newcastle.

A couple of amusing interview wth Enrique: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/194559/Jose-Enrique-We-ll-give-it-a-bash-to-lose-Joey-Barton-s-tache http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/150081/Enqique-can-t-wait-to-face-Villa/

Appointed John Carver as his assistant.

Scott Wilson on Twitter "No Sol Campbell for #NUFC on Sunday, and both Guthrie and Lovenkrands doubtful after failing to train fully today. "

With a bit of imagination, you could probably do quite a bit with a limited amount of money but I don't think we have the knowledge or experience to do that. If we have spent £1.5m on Perch, I am sure that could have been better invested.

i think to most fans Villa were a nothing club with no real effect on NUFC fans thinking but that all changed at Villa park when we went down. Its probably hard to describe but for those like me who were there our view of Villa changed that day. Agree. I never minded Villa before but my opinion of them also changed that day. I am so desperate for us to beat them on Sunday.

Talksport just said that Dirk Kuyt is going to an Italian club - think they said Inter.

Bullard a couple of years ago but he has hardly played and priced himself out of a move to Celtic so he is not going to be cheap. Also, doesn't he like the social life and little too much as well?

Too right. Bravo Shay for moving on after two games on the bench, he is all heart thinking of the skint arabs bank balance over his own! So you think he should stay at a club where he's not likely to play? How do you know what will happen? Hart could have a bad run, injuries etc but no he wants out after less than a week for gods sake. Piss taking, strop throwing t*** of a man hasnt got the balls to compete for his place so wants out. Unlike you i think he should honour the contract he signed not think he is bigger than the club who paty his wages. I agree. He joined a club, and competition for places goes with that territory. If he'd fought for his place for a year, and failed, then I can understand him seeking a move. As it is, he's just being selfish. I agree. It was the same here - did not walk straight back into the team for the first game he was available for after injury and so puts in a transfer request. It is only a couple of games that Joe Hart has been preferred to him, so you would think he would give it until January at least. THis is what happens when you are playing for one of the top teams - increased competition for places.

What's happened to that young lad they signed from Leeds?

Gone to lecture at Sunderland University.

I think you need to give the fans something to believe in but I think the club is slowly but surely disconnecting itself from the supporters. If they continue to do that, the club will take a very long time to recover. As supporters, we have always been able to cling on to the dream of what if and have some hope - if that does not exist then what is the point? And Ashley will suffer because he will only damage his investment further. If he thinks fans will turn up regardless on the basis of last season then he is very much mistaken. We are fortunate in that as a newly promoted team, we have a far better base than most previously promoted teams. A modest investment would guarantee survival.

And Smith, Nolan, Shola will be another year older and even slower.

Nothing new really. The journalist on Talksport was Philippe Auclair (?). He said that Benfica had made a good offer to buy the player but his wage demands were too high for them and that they were no longer interested. There were no other clubs interested but it is complicated by the number of agents involved. But it looked like he would be going to Newcastle and that he had been here over the weekend. He said it would be a real coup for us - at he had been considered better that Nasri, Benzema etc. He was a "super" Laurent Robert. Was supposed to have matured but still has a problem in his head if not his feet.

Nothing has changed since before the match. We know we are going to struggle. we know where we need improvement It is all about the games against the lower half teams and doing well at home. The next few games will tell us more than last night.

I think it also has a lot to do with his wife and kids living in Cardiff.

No. So the supporters who have it in for ST will have to find another irrelevant stick to beat him with. I had heard it was one of the Shepards. Isn't Shepherd Junior in business with or working for the same agency as Paul Stretford?

Would be great if he could have the same initial impact as Robert had.

Graham Courtney - Talksport NE correspodent - is absolutely cluess where NUFC are concerned. Surprising considering he used to work for them. I am sure he makes everything up on the spot and just feeds the presenters the lines they want to hear whether it is true or not. Any discussion he has on us will contain many inaccuracies and he likes to promote the media cliche of the club and fans. In a recent example he said that Steven Taylor had started off last season well but had been really poor in the second half of the season but had improved in the last few games. That's the same Steven Taylor that never played a game from January due to injury. So if he is reporting that HBA has undergone a medical, then I would be very sceptical.

If that photo in the airport had not been posted, no-one would have known that he had been here.

And don't they let you know it every couple of minutes.

Pretty sure I read somewhere that we'd taken the lowest available allocation for the first three away games. Why would we do that? http://www.nufcblog.org/2010/08/the-story-of-the-disappearing-away-seat-allocation-part-2/#comment-107547 Thanks. What an absolute joke it is tbh; the excuse they gave was beyond feeble: It is a careful balance between ensuring that supporters have the opportunity to buy tickets for away matches (and having a strong vocal support for these games) and ensuring that we mitigate the risk of being left with unsold tickets that we have to pay for. If we are left with a remnant of tickets this is wasted money that cannot be spent elsewhere, for example, player investment. As if we couldn't sell 3000 tickets for man u when we took 8000 to Barnsley on a weeknight. NUFC getting it so so wrong again for the sake of 50 grand. Oh, and only 1100 tickets for Wolves away. I could accept an argument for a lower allocation at Man Utd with it being an evening kick off and on TV but the Wolves games is a 3pm kick off on a Saturday in the Midlands where it is easy for lots of exiled Newcastle fans to get to. We had 4000 fans at Coventry on a cold night midweek in December so I just do not understand why they would even begin think we could not sell out the full allocation.

Newcastle + drama = We're now back in the Premier League

The fact that Blackburn are desperate to get rid when they are desperate for strikers themselves speaks volumes.