Quailman

They've been linked numerous times before. I hope your ITK is spot on Tommo! It would be fantastic if DIC took over... but is this too good to be true? Always seems like the case with us!

I will only be happy if he has a huge consortium backing him with millions and millions to spend!

If Ashley sells the club in the next week or so and Shearer is installed as manager, I can't see Shearer letting him go that easily. We can afford to keep him... it's just the other overpriced wankers we want rid of!

I reserve judgment until the end of the transfer window! With this club making rash decisions is never going to be the answer. I just need to see who leaves, who comes in, who owns the club and of course the man in charge! Hopefully the latter can be sorted in the next month... otherwise we are in deep shit before the season has even started! There is no point making judgment now because we are in unchartered waters!

If Curtis Davies is worth £10 million, then Bassong is worth £25 million! My point is players nowadays are way over priced and I think £15 million isn't an unrealistic price!

Krul Beye S. Taylor Bassong Enrique New Nolan Guthrie New Carroll New/Ranger I know that Harper would be the first choice but I think Krul deserves a shot at some point. I think we are just rewarding Harper for his loyalty to the club, which certainly isn't the best way to pick a team! I think there is a real possibility of keeping the back 4, although Bassong and Enrique could be tempted away with big contracts. The latter more likely than Bassong in my opinion (Spain). I believe Nolan and Guthrie will stay and start as our centre midfield partnership. Butt will certainly be in the squad and is there as an influential part of the lockeroom, but in no way should he be given a place in our starting lineup! I know that Duff has pledged his future to us, but if an offer comes in big enough I'm sure we would sell him. We lack pace and that was clearly evident all year. The championship isn't played at the same pace as the premiership but we still need stronger and faster players! We also have no creativity coming from midfield and the only creative midfielder we have at the moment is Barton... enough said! I think Carroll has a huge role to play next year with Viduka leaving! He needs to be our big man who can hold the ball up for our faster strike partner. Martins is likely to leave and Owen leaving is a given, so perhaps Ranger will be given an opportunity at some point (play well together for reserves). The likelihood is we will bring in another striker with a bit more pace than Ranger and have maybe Ranger play second fiddle for a while. All in all, if the back line all stay then we will have a very good defence in the Championship. We will keep the likes of Edgar as a backup CB, but with the amount of games we will be playing we desparately need to bring in some back up FB's! Beye can always swap into the middle if needed as extra cover. If I had it my way I would try to get the Kyles from Sheffield Utd! The rest of the team need revamping in some areas and creativity needs to come back to Newcastle!

Bassong is on 5k/week at the moment isn't he? Bump that up to 15k/week and promise to double that if we gain promotion sounds reasonable considering the financial situation we are in right now! He is under contract and won't be sold for a cheap price. I think we need to try hard to keep him but not go over the top with the wages! We just can't afford it!

I would have loved us to re-build in the premiership and manage to compete for something again, but the truth is if we didn't get relegated we would be going nowhere! Maybe this had to happen to finally hit home! I hate to say that, I really do... It's happened now and we need to think positively!

I'm getting constant shit off my mates and team mates, the majority of whom support Villa! I just ignore or laugh and keep it inside... I think i'd flip if they weren't my friends!

That thought had crossed my mind. If there isn't a salary cut clause in case of relegation in the players contracts then surely that would be the obvious option, rather than retaining them and having their salaries really damage the clubs books.

It seemed like year after year recently we have gotten progressively worse and each pre-season there's an eternal sense of optimism with most Newcastle supporters - myself included. The fact is this is probably the best thing for us right now! If we had stayed up we would have retained a lot of the players we have now, with a lot of high earners staying at the club for that very reason, they are earning a ridiculous amount of money that they really don't deserve! It is quite possible that we have the right person at the helm now and with Shearer revamping the atmosphere/internal environment and changing things that needed to be changed, perhaps come August we will be in a good position to change for the better! With an actual chance of working our way up the Championship table and challenging! With the squad we have right now I can't see that as a possibility! Some of you may disagree with that statement, but if anything has taught us from previous years it's, bringing in players to fill up the cracks does not work in a football club! You have to start from scratch and re-build in order to really challenge for top prizes!

They will assess what offers they get first. And no we have no legal right too, the only right is a moral one that these players owe us. I concur - I think if the player wants to stay and help us get back to the Premiership, morally they will know a pay cut is the first thing they will have to do. I'm sure Ashley would have reivewed contracts and set up contingencies in case of relegation. The first thing they would do is create a transfer list made up of those players who have made them aware of their intentions to join other premiership/european clubs. Assuming that would be at least half of the first team, the next step would be to review those contracts of players who want to stay and fight - including a salary cut. The players I'm sure will already be aware of this situation and if not will be informed of it in the next week or so. Hopefully, Shearer stays, a bit of consistency happens in the dressing room for a change and Shearer can make a move for some potential targets as well as reviewing the youth team and reserves for some talents that could make the step up. But I feel I have gone off on a tangent.... so yes, wage cuts are a must!

As a Newcastle fan living in Birmingham and amongst all of the Villa fans, yesterday was extremely difficult to take. I was in the Holte End for the game and heard the expected chants; 'You're going down with the Baggies' etc... But what I was shocked about was their determination to rub it in as if we were their biggest rivals! Some of you are right though, they had nothing really to play for so their attention was turned to taking digs at our club. Some Villa fans are hooligans who just look for the fight (by some I mean 3/4 of the Holte End for sure!). The banner was pathetic and those supporters should be ashamed of themselves! It is a football fans perogative in some senses to take shots at other supporters, but I thought they crossed the line! Like some of us have stated before, I don't think we would have gone to the same extremes as they did, if in their shoes. I'm not going to live this down for a long time and will no doubt be reminded of it for years to come, but the fact is it wasn't Villa who 'sent us down!', it was 38 dismal performances due to various factors, some of which could have been avoided (but that's a topic for another thread), gives me some sense of defensive mechanism against those Villa supporters (grasping at straws here)! We have been a joke for many years and maybe going down to the Championship is the right thing for us right now. To rebuild from scratch and get rid of dead wood taking up high wages. I am a proud Toon fan and have stayed with the club through tough times, even though I have no ties up North. It is the loyalty of the fans that I think will help us re-establish ourselves as a top club in Europe in the next 5 years. I have faith and I'm sure most others have the same faith!

Unfortunately I have to watch it in the Holte End! I am with about 6 mates who are Villa supporters and 1 who is a fellow toon! Gonna be hell all game really!

Shearer was interviewed on NUFC TV today and in regards to Ranger and his new contract signing and prospects Shearer said; 'From what i've seen of him he's an exciting talent, a bit raw at times, but i think if we can coach him and point him in the right direction and give him one or two pointers then I think he's got a big future.' It's what you expect from all young players to be a bit inexperienced and make some mistakes, never heard the use of 'raw' though.

200 or so I believe. By the sounds of things most are against Ashley.

Wheres Jonas? Am I missing something? Don't think here's injured? Ideally I'd put Lovenkrands up front with Martins and bring Jonas into midfield. Edit: Read back and noted he's suspended. Damn, could have done with his direct running at West Brom! They would have shat their pants! I'd probably go with that team then. Maybe bringing on Smith with 20 mins to go replace Shola.

Samba would be. Papa has went off the boil from the days he was bossing it at Fulham. I saw somewhere Arry may be dumping Dos Santos, I know we have some people on here who have keen interest in Spurs, what has he been like in the games when he has played? I am guessing badly. Bouba Diop has the same injury as Barton... could be out for weeks! What happened to the quick fix?

F*ck Man City... we now need to make a statement of intent! Get Ronaldo in for £120 mil!!!

Keegan stays!! Thank God!!! Edit: At least I think he has!

How the hell could they sack Keegan?!

I just can't believe what i'm hearing?? Keegan needs to stand tough and put up with the sh*t the board are putting him through! If Keegan goes we riot!!!!

My God! The twists and turns are unreal! I would never have thought Man City would be the new Chelsea, they are really making their intent known and the first major signing made (pretty much). I mean £32.5... to think that could have been us If this transfer window has shown us anything the new board do well to keep things secret until they want to make the major announcement. Well the clock is ticking and I'm really hoping that David Craig is playing along or just out of the loop... Bring on another 3 or 4 signings!

Why we've allowed this, i'll never know. SSN : We're in discussions with the Zaragoza chairman who is in London at the momment. We've agreed to sign Sergio Garcia and Diego Milito for a combined fee of £18 mill. Garcia is utter class, and Milito would be a good addition too. As i said before, i think you'll get Lennon. Milito is off to Italy mate. Garcia might be going to Spurs though he also has an offer from Betis.

It's my final day at my current job, start new one on wednesday. Wasn't planning to work anyway, so just been on the forum since 8am and plan to spend the rest of the day on it! Go on the drink tonight to hopefully celebrate... it's all good!