fredbob

But it'd be a worlwide signing, would it be that hard to envisage 2 millions people worlwide have a nufc ronaldihno shirt? Assuming the average price is about £25. That a real crude calculation but the theory is there, not to mention the benefits that we couldnt measure such as press, and advertisements. Even if shirst sales brought in a fraction of the transfer outlay you can effectivley wipe that off the price of the tranfer and that;d be how much we were paying, which would be a simlar outlay to someone like Turan. So if we were to take £20m shirt sales wourlwide, that would leave us with a player costing us £30m in transfer fees and wages for about 4/5 years. Bare in mind Owen has cost us approx £50m for the equivalent 5 years, and i dont think it'd be as bad as people are making out. Not sure if any of that makes sense.

Just out of interest DaehtihS, who do you think are a bigger and better club nufc or the mackems? Also, if we have no hope of signing good players, becasue "we are such a small club" then how did Man City manage it last season? In the past 10 yearsm Man Citys hightest finish was something like 9th, how do you account for them being able to sign the likes of Elano, Corulka and Petrov etc? Surely if they can manage it with there history then we can with ours, theres absolutely no question bout it, club for club the most pessimisitc would say we were equal, (Stadium, Finance, recent history) but the ones with half a brain wiuld all say we have had a far better recent history, so what your verdict? This example contravenes anything you've actually said. Dont tell me any rubbish about finance either because you havent used that line beofre in your "realistic" views so i wouldnt expect that explanaition now.

Well its already been said by someone that the outlay would be around £50m, worldwide its not impossible to envisage that, it'd be 50 million shirts sold - obviously we wouldnt get that, but im confident we'd get quite close or we'd atleast get enough to make the money we actualy end up outlaying more reasonalbe. Ronaldihno is easily in the top5 most marketable players in the world, probably the second. With Ashley owning Sports Direct im surprised that the trophy signing route has been ruled out, the marketing practically does itself. Add to the fact that the profile of the club would sky rocket with him on board, like La Galaxy have with Beckhamand the attraction for other player to come and have the oppurtunity to play with Ronaldihno and the more i think of it the more it'd make sense to pursue him.

Wouldnt think twice about having him here. He's still an amazing player, and has plenty in the tank, also people who say the financial outlay wouldnt make sense are forgetting that he is almost as marketable as Beckham, would be another player who would pay for himself and also raise the profile of the club which would be excellent for us. The only risk with this transfer - like any transfer, would be if he flopped, but i dont think he woudl, so in my eyes, a risk wroth taking. Even if he did flop he would prctically of paid himself off anyway...

True, but it could go either way. Isnt a single transfer in the history of the game that is/was guaranteed to be a success Ronaldo? The real one that is.

missed this one, but its spot on based on what we've seen so far. Quite amazing how some people continue to choose not to recognise it just because it means ackonwledging the old board actually did something right and soopa Mike might not be so soopa after all. Are you suggesting we never signed reserve/fringe players from the top clubs under the previous board? Think carefully before you answer. We also signed top notch players and paid the going rate, which is how we qualified for the Champs League and europe so often. Competing at the level of the likes of pompey and Blackburn isn't really how I think NUFC should be run. Stand by for years of real mediocrity if thats what you want Dave. The truth is that clubs like Blackburn are currently doing the best of about 40 or 50 teams competing at that level, thats all. Newcastle are bigger than that. I didn't spot an answer in there. If this is the only type of player we sign you'll have a point. As it is, we've also signed a player Portsmouth wanted for £8m and there's six weeks of the window left. Wtf.. They clearly didn´t or he would have been playing there wouldn´t he Dave? You are aware that was Mallorca´s asking price and no club was willing to match it, so how does that make him worth that amount? You seemed to understand this very same principle in the Arshavin thread.. what now? You've based that opinion on absolutely nothing whereas it was confirmed by the Mallorca that they rejected an £8m bid from Pormstmouth in Jan, so by that pricing it'd be fair to say that maybe he could of been worth more...

Aye, its always surpirsed me as well, i suppose you cant blame any player for wanting to earn more money but to hold the club to ransom like Adebayor is doing is a fucking traversty. I doubt he;d be earning even a quarter of what he wants if Arsene hadnt picked him up, i just dont understand why out of the top 4 clubs, Arsenal (in recent times) have probably had the least loyal set of players, The fact that i could name 4 or 5 players who have all actively seeked to leave the club would back this up, i cant think of similar 4 or 5 players off the top of my head out of the rest of the top 4 who have seeked a move away...

I'd second that, just needs fine tuning and a bit of faith, i personally cant see an obvious major weakness in his game as a winger, not one that hinders his play anyway, his attitude is questionable, has had some difficult times but i genuinely belive that every current minor flaws can easily be ironed out - in fact if he went into a team player transofrmation a la Ronaldo i think he could be an excellent first teamer, very happy that he could possilbiy be part of a Keegan first team.

I'll get shot down for this Dave but i actually believe he will be a very good centre half when he gets a bit older. However, i don't believe he is the player for us. We need someone in the peak of their career. I won't shut you down because I agree. His only problem right now is one of maturity and focus which I believe will come as he gets older and he gets the young, rich and famous out of his system. His first season at West ham in the prem he was very good and then the hype came along and he got carried away with all that. Get him away from London and at a more disciplined and structured club and he will certainly improve as a player, and even moreso as he gets older. Unless he does a Bramble. At the end of the day, Bramble was a risk worth taking, the problem wasnt signing Bramble, the problem was getting rid of Bramble when it became clear he wasnt up to it.

Crouch is just about an above average striker at best. Im in the group who pronbably think he's slighlty overrated, his hold up play is ok IF its played into his feet but if he has to run onto the ball or has to make any attempt to get the ball under control he's a liablility if you ask me. He's poor in the air, slow, and his finishing can be suspect, one thing for certain is that he isnt a striker who will put fear into defenders and can be easily subdued - not marked of the game but his gola threat can be minimised becasue his movement is so poor in genreal. Does have a healthy knack of being able to score off the bench but i belive this is due to the team having to pose with a different threat mid way in the game and struggling, play him consistely for 90min everygame and i dont think he will score that many.

I'll get shot down for this Dave but i actually believe he will be a very good centre half when he gets a bit older. However, i don't believe he is the player for us. We need someone in the peak of their career. I'd take a gamble on him as well at a decent price, he has all the ingredinets, he's basically a cockney version of Steven Taylor, at a decent price id wouldnt turn him away. Could be a good defender, definitely wont be a shit one, back up at worst.

I think theres something in this to be honest - thought so when it first came out, would be hugely dissapointed if Ashley sold up, but on the plus side i dont think he'd sell up to a buyer who wouldn't be able to invest in us. In fact the price of the club would mean than only the richest would be able to purchase, getting way ahead of myself here, but my 2 major concerns would be the personnel change whihc would occur and also the possilibty that the debt of the takeover may be lumped onto us Liverpool/Man U style which could be potenitally disastorous for us.....having seen what Ashley did with the Sports Direct share floats, i cant honestly say that im 100% faithful that his heart is in the right place regarding nufc.

Would never advocqate selling him, really like him, not the most intelligent of players but his scoring record is brilliant if you consider the amount of creativity weve had in his 2 seasons here and baring in mind he played practically on his own for most of his first. If you ask me, i bet the opposition make special plans for him and thats the sign of a dangerous player and a player you want to keep. For £15m you;re gonna get no one who will get you anymore goals than him, Crouch? Bent? Ashton? they're all in the £15m mark but i cant see them getting more than 15 a season - what'd be the point? None of them would scare me if i was a defender as well.

Again, it's nothing to do with the player himself - I know nowt about him and won't disguise that. I'm just glad we have proved we can do our thing without making a song and dance about it, as you say. Hopefully he'll be a good buy. So what's to admit being wrong about? Has anyone claimed that it's impossible to sign players on the quiet, and that we wouldn't? Admit that people who were complaining about the apparent inactivity of the club were wrong becasue this signing proves conclusively that things ARE happening behind the scenes and no one except those at the club have a clue whats going on, so any arguments slating the club for its aprent inactiviy in the past can be humbly retracted in this thread....

Premiership experince - check? Not South American - check? More to the supposed criteria than meets the eye me thinks...

You see i probably share similar views to this - maybe not just onebad game but i didnt think he was as bad as people made out - i just thought that the defence was made to look shit becasue of Allardyces tactic which put us under constat pressure, i always see him making a lot of interceptions and cant remeber him ever being compleelty doinated by a striker like he was against Benjani. Didnt make any major gaffs either. Just a defender who sucumbed to the pressure he was put under - like every defender in thwe qworld.

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=46267.0 Good find. Aye, having read some of those comments in comparsion with these- im not sure which judgment is a fair redflection of his time here. In my book, i though he was quite good who had some much needed attribute but maybe struggled a little with the physical side, he was also put under a huge amount of pressure under SA tactics, would of been interestng to see how he would of done when we werent under so much pressure...

My issue with him is that if he Wenger couldnt get the best out of him in his attacking stlye, i cant see keegan being any different. Same goes for Reyes as well...

It'd be interesting to see people posts about him earlier in the season when he looked quality - im sure there wasnt a single person who was criticising him before he had that shocker. Cant rememebr properly but im sure he played really well the next game "to put him demons away" and everyone was lauding him for that. Quite frankly i think he's been one of the best centre halves in a while behond Woodgate and Faye at least....not saying muc about our defence though.

Im sure there is also quote from him actually saying he'd be interested in us having been linked with us before he went back to Madrid...

I think we have a very very realistic chance of getting Arshavin - people are saying that he'll be snaped up by the top4 soon enough, but i think its only Chelsea who actually have the policy of being able to buy - "player of the moments" on a consistent basis, the other teams will look to buy players who are looking to reach there potential. I cant think of the last player that either Man U, Arsenal or Liverpool bought who were "flavour of the month".

FFS install a spell checker please. Your posts are worse than txt spk. Usually it's just annoying but that was almost illegible. alltelltale indeed. Emre - Turkey, Boumsong - Scotland Martins - 22 Barton - great standing in the game! I know there are differences between the players the journo chose to pick out of the players we signed in the past and those he chose to pick out of the one's we've been linked with this transfer window. Why didn't he include Bellamy, Robert, Viana or N'Zogbia in the first group? Why didn't he include Arshavin in the second, or even Beye, Cacapa, Faye, Smith who were all bought under Mort/Ashley? The difference has nothing to do with them being "stellar names", and is merely down to their age, the relative averageness of the first group and the "potential" of the second. The difference is based on hindsight in one case and hope in the other. I have no doubt that if Modric, Turan or Gomis had theoretically been signed by the old board a couple of years ago and had flopped they would all have been included in the journo's list of failed "stellar names" as an example of the bad old days. If its all the same, Ill stick with my dodgy spelling when it comes to teaching you how to suck eggs. Things that are important will get there due attention. Thanks for the advice though.... What the point of me even replying? You'll only miss the point again. As usual. My reply was to NE5 and the list of players he listed - you've only just gone and re written basically what he said earlier. In fact your post is so unitentionally funny, its almost saddening. "Look at there ages" - so obviously you pick the youngest one to "prove" your point missing the entire point. "Current standing" - so you choose a player that has no relevance to anything we're talking about, (old board policy vs the new board apparent policy) Like i say - the signings of Viana, Dyer, Milner Jenas werent ciritcised - any belief that they are are pure fabrication in your paranoid little mind. Theres just so much wrong with what your saying, i actually havent got the time to make you look as silly as i usually do so ill leave it here - dodgy spelling in tact.

Wont delve into this too far, but will say that 15 of those players we part of one era, our last successful one. This article, like most article ridiculing the Shepherd regime refer to after this period of time. And to be fair the ones that werent part of that era could be defined as Marque signings (Butt for example). Decent article - still craving some fresh news though. Same chairman, different managers. Same money, different approach to transfers. Who's to blame? I struggle to see how Boumsong, Luque, Duff, Parker, Smith, Martins, Barton and Emre are "stellar names" , but Modric (£18m?), Turan (£15m?) and Gomis (£12m?) aren't. I can name 2 or 3 major differences bewtween the sets of players and how the policy differs. Not just a case of different standards but i like most people on this board appear to see the difference between signing those set of players and the latter group of players. - Look at who/where they were signed from - Look at there ages - Look at there current standing in the game TRhe second group are all players on the cusp of real potential, the samedefinitey cant be said for the first group. The first group are even signed from major clubs in major leagues, look at the second group - Turkey, Croatia and France in comparision to England, Spain and Italy, these are alltelltale signs of the mojor difference in transfer pursuial policies. I think this is just another case of you beliving there are double standards when in actual fact there isnt - a prime example of this is Hugo Viana and Albert Luque. 2 players who endured simliar careers here but only one of them was marked agaisnt the old board, why?

Wont delve into this too far, but will say that 15 of those players we part of one era, our last successful one. This article, like most article ridiculing the Shepherd regime refer to after this period of time. And to be fair the ones that werent part of that era could be defined as Marque signings (Butt for example). Decent article - still craving some fresh news though.

Messi would be the only player who comes close to him, but i'd worry bout his injuriues - otherwise his pretty irreplacable. Huge loss for them.