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Seems like the exact same situation we had with Parker, and I'd take parker back in a second.

really I can't even imagine what a worse footballer than Butt would play like boggles the mind. Oh wait, Alan Smith

I'd prefer "get lost Joe,' but assuming we're stuck with him, can't disagree with anything said here.

No he isn't. No offence, but having endured your teams in your years of success I'm convinced the average 'Wanderer' wouldn't know a good footballer if he ran up to them and kicked them in the bollocks. Both bollocks. And if there's one thing a Toon fan can do well, it's know a shit player when he sees one

Got a feeling he'll turn us down. He's club captain at a stable mid-table club, why would he move to a mad house like us with a manager that makes Megson look like Mourinho?

Kevin Nolan, please come. You're our only hope. What a sad bastard I've become.

Don't mind. Their rubbish is better than our rubbish.

Can you imagine the devastation on this forum if this doesn't go through? The relegationometer will get dragged up to 15

I'm so excited about this will be absolutely devastated if he turns us down. Also quite sad that I'm feeling like this about us signing Kevin Nolan for Gods sake.

We were worried that we'd turn into Bolton under Allardyce, looks like we're now going to turn into Bolton without him I'd take mid-table mediocrity and shit poor football any day given our current situation mind.

Joey Barton Games: 26 Goals: 2 Geremi Games: 33 Goals: 2 Nicky Butt Games: 97 Goals: 5 Danny Guthrie Games: 17 Goals: 2 1 goal every 6.5 games sounds fucking amazing to me.

I'd actually take him over Veloso. Cheaper, proven to work in the Premiership, and won't be making noises about moving on to a better club. Gambles like Veloso should be made when we're in a more stable position.

I would be honestly impressed with this. Would be exactly what we need. Of course, he'll now turn us down with some insulting quote about "taking a step down to Newcastle"

With Barton and Guthrie out for the foreseeable future, it looks like he'll be starting in midfield anyway.

Here we go ... The bizarre negative theories once we're linked with any half decent player. Just think about what your saying here. Do you want the club going for good players or not. You can't just assume they will all want out and act up all the time. At the same time he could come in along with a few others and help turn things around and love it here as we are then on the up right? Just chill out really. This is hardly unwarranted negativity. Have you not noticed that the player's stock has dropped massively in the past year? That he has a reputation for having a bad attitude and causing problems? When a player is linked with Arsenal and Man United one window, then linked with Bolton and Newcastle the next, you know something seriously wrong is going on.

Even if we were capable of getting him to sign, I wouldn't be sure I'd want him here. Could just be another N'Zogbia situation where he underachieves massively yet still unsettles the dressing room by begging for a "dream move" to Arsenal every window.

Try M'Bia then. Everyone on here who's seen him (I haven't) reckoned we'd need to double our supposed bid to get him. Where does that £3-4m come from if not from the Given sale? We can't afford our targets as things stand. Would never come here anyway so not really bothered about him. Simple fact of the matter is that no player rated at 10m is going to come to this club right now.

I find it extremely unlikely that the delay is actually about us squabbling with the club over 500k. The player's agent is apparently already in town for negotiations, and 500k is chump change for anybody. Even us. The simplest explanation for me is that the player's agent is just being an arse over personal terms. Again, can't prove any of this etc.

No reason we can't pony up 3m, and the player's representatives wouldn't be in Newcastle already if we hadn't even agreed a fee. Pretty sure the agent is just trying to jack up personal terms.

It's been made public numerous times that we have "8~10 mil" to spend. We've made public bids that roughly conform to that budget. The reason we haven't spent all window isn't because we're utterly insolvent. It's simply that our targets won't come. 5m more doesn't make a huge different to us when it seems likely that the absolute best we can hope for at this point is maybe signing Ebondo. Having Given or not makes a huge difference for City. (This is of course, all assumption based on my interpretation of reality. No I can't "prove" any of this, just like no one can prove anything that pertains to their views of how the club is being run right now. It's a "discussion" forum for God's sake.)

Our prem status is at risk BIG TIME, we need money to fund other areas of the first team. Man City know this. 5m more isn't going to represent a significant upgrade on our current targets.. Our problem isn't the money it's that nobody wants to come here. We have absolutely nothing to lose by playing hardball. It's not as if we're going to buy anyone significant anyway.

How do they? They're under pressure to improve their squad and their league position.

Would love him to prove us wrong by coming to us in our darkest hour rather than waiting until everything is plush. It's about time somebody connected to this club exceeded my expectations for a change.

I don't get this "city have all the cards" bullshit. It's not as if the club's going into administration immediately. We're debt free and only need money insofar as much as it can buy us players. It doesn't look like we're buying a lot of players (which certainly isn't a good thing, but howay nobody wants to come here what can you do.) So we don't need the money. There's every incentive for us to hold out and get a proper rate in the summer rather than letting them hold us to ransom. CITY are the ones who should be under pressure. They need a keeper NOW.

Not his fault tbf that his best players have been sold. Portsmouth were paid handsomely for those signatures. He should have replaced them. Besides, what they have left still isn't that bad.