thewellander

It would be hard to turn down 13 million for Martins, I admit. But I don't know that anyone of similar quality is available right now. I would prefer him to stay.

Good news. He deserves an improved contract.

You know, I've been going back and forth on this one, but after seeing the footage and especially after reading the post quote, I have to agree. Something about the way you put it, I guess. Losing him wouldn't be the worst thing that happened, and he doesn't deserve to wear a Newcastle shirt.

Surely Barton will clean up his act now, right? With any luck, he'll come back to the club a more humble and mature person and this whole ordeal will have meant that his antics are behind us. We need good players, and by all accounts, he's a good player. Until we bring in at least two more centre midfielders, I don't want them to sack Barton.

Good tournament and Spain deserved to win today. I'm glad it's over with though and am looking forward to August and some moves in the transfer market.

Good news. Now, Mr. Ashley, could you personally step in and get Owen's contract done and bring in some new players, please?

I know a guy who knows a guy who worked security at Keegan's Soccer Circus, and he says that Keegan has a secret laboratory in the sub-basement where he has been hard at work for the past five years building a time machine, which he will use during this transfer window to sign 23 year old Pelé from Santos, circa the 1960s. You heard it hear first.

Agreed, except that I do rate Milner. I honestly don't understand why so many people don't, but I won't get into it.

I loved our 3rd kit from two years back (the black and blue one), but other than that, yeah they've been mostly bad. This one is fairly plain, but at least it's not offensively bad.

Allardyce is a complete tit. And, I'm sorry, but you can't judge Allardyce's record directly against Keegan's on a game-to-game basis. Keegan proved that he's a better manager at the end of the season. I blame Fat Sam for the majority of the losses at the beginning of Keegan's return. He inherited a right mess and came good.

Shak gets the prize for most obscure WWE reference. Good job.

I hope that Carver's being in Toronto will result in Newcastle coming over to play a friendly. My TFC jersey would go in the closet for a night. That would be lovely.

What a bizarre thread. I'll bite, though. Berbatov and Rachel Dratch: http://cl.theoffside.com/files/2008/04/berbatov.jpg http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20061018/244.dratch.rachel.101806.jpg

Another Toronto FC / Newcastle link-up. Gary Speed has been training with Toronto as part of his attempt to get his coaching badges. In case anyone's interested in reading the article, here's the link: http://toronto.fc.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20080619&content_id=167065&vkey=news_t280&fext=.jsp&team=t280 Personally, I think going to a club being managed by an ex-Newcastle coach kind of defeats the purpose of the exercise, but I suppose it counts.

I don't know if he's any good, but we need to bring in players who have this attitude about Newcastle, imo. Not necessarily him, but it's nice to read that there are still some players out there who consider us a big club to aspire to.

I've thought this before, but hadn't mentioned it until now...isn't this the same blueprint that Roeder was trying to impliment while he was here?

I might pick up that yellow keeper strip. The purple one is nice, but plain.

This is good news. I hope they get it done soon. It would be great to have him tied down before the end of the Euros, when the transfer market is set to really pick up.

I've never thought he was as bad as others on here do. He works hard and deserves a new contract. I would rather keep him around than pay a transfer fee for someone who may or may not work out here. Let's face it, we haven't always been lucky in the transfer market.

Isn't our 3rd kit going to be the same colour as that Liverpool away? I hope ours looks nicer than that.

Great stuff, I must say. That makes this group the only one I got right in my pool.

If he's not good enough for Spurs then he's not good enough for us. Don't want him.

Not sure, it's completely gone off topic though if we're considering Van der Vaart as a realistic summer target.. I was looking for the "Unrealistic Summer Targets" thread before I posted the link, but didn't see it. Yeah, it's definately not going to happen, but I didn't want to start a new thread over a silly rumour.

Sorry if this has already been posted, but Fox Sports is saying that we're leading the chase for Van Der Vaart. I don't really see that happening, but I'll dream. http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8244830/Magpies-lead-hunt-for-Dutch-superstar

If we want to be competitive, we need at least 6 new players. We have to replace Emre, plus at least one more central midfielder, another left back, another central defender, another striker, and backup at right back.