dustynrg

Money.

Knowing him he'll go in a bigger sulk and say he doesn't want to go to a hellhole like Wigan and he wants to go to Villa, whine whine. And it'll drag on until the last possible minute.

What happens if they don't agree a fee?

Based on what? As far as I can see he's been one of our most loyal players. He's been too good for Newcastle for quite a while now, I don't want him to leave but I won't slag him off for wanting to. Whether Man City should be his destination is questionable though. But what constitutes "loyalty" in a football player today? He hasn't stayed here under sufferance, he hasn't stayed when any of the top 4 have come in for him (because I'm sure if they had my God his lawyer would have let us know about that), he stayed because he liked the area and it suited him. Then Man City come along and offer him double his wages and he's off, and he's human and no-one would turn that down. But don't put loyalty and footballers in the same sentence. He's been very very well paid over 11 years, I just don't know how loyalty comes into it. The thing that gets to me is that the propaganda put out by "his people" has certainly worked, oh poor shay, never gonna win anything here, club's fallin apart, poor shay, loyalty hasn't paid off so he's off. Whereas in reality if they'd just said "Man City have offered to double his wages and he'd like to go thanks very much" it wouldn't quite have the same ring to it would it?

Aye capitalise on his £100k a week, it will be a nice consolation for him when the medals he so craves don't come his way with the mighty Man City. I'm sick of all this "poor old shay talk" - if someone had come in for him at any time over the last 11 years he'd have disappeared like a shot.

Yeah I mean whats 11 years like Christ on a bike, he wasn't chained to the goalposts and fed bread and water, he's going now because Man City have offered him 100k a week, if they had been in a similar position 5 years ago and offered him 100k a week do you really think he would have stayed so long? Would he have stayed so long if Man U came in for him just because he loved the North East and the people bla bla? Us fans have got a hell of a lot more to put up with than Given ever had. I don't get the sympathy, he wanted out when they offered him megabucks, end of. All this bleedin heart stuff is just that. Bleedin heart guff.

http://news.google.co.uk/news?q=ryan%20taylor&oe=utf-8&rls=com.google:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn What - is Wigan the new Arsenal then?

Thing is, who has issued the statement? I can't imagine any footballer would have the nous to know how to "issue a statement", they're so mollycoddled and adrift from the real world, is his Agent still McKay? He is being very badly advised indeed.

He HAS ability but he won't get anywhere with that attitude. He'll rot either way, either at some French club when he falls out with the next Manager, or hopefully in the reserves. Remember when he was "homesick" for London?! Wich Manager was that?

This. He can join the growing list of jumped up whingeing french piss-taking f***s who have taken good wages from the club before getting beyond their station, a la Domi, Goma, Distin. I honestly wouldn't bother with the fuckers. The way this is playing out, we will have a bunch of 17 yr olds playing on Sunday and tbh, they would probably have more fitness and fight than half this bunch of overpaid journeymen. Aye.

Christ he gets paid a week what we'd like to get paid in a year, it doesn't matter how clueless the manager is, he should be playing for the fans at least, these spoilt bastard players just get on my tits. Does he not realise how stupid it makes him look? ANy Manager out there with half a brain will be saying well he aint coming here and saying that about me. I hope he gets relegated to the reserves and stays there for the rest of this contract.

How to impress any prospective new employer, he's clueless.

Absolutely right, I could understand it if he was going to one of the Sky 4 but Man City? I suppose 6 months worth of £100,000 a week is the draw, I'm not blaming him but I find it a bit tedious when we're supposed to feel sorry for him. If he's that keen to go let him put a transfer request in.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/manchester-city/2009/01/27/manchester-city-v-newcastle-united-barclays-premier-league-preview-115875-21075582/ Manchester City v Newcastle United: Barclays Premier League preview By Mirror.co.uk 27/01/2009 Follow Manchester City v Newcastle United live with Mirror.co.uk’s Match Tracker Premier League predictions Daily Mirror sports writer Darren Lewis: Away win Mirror.co.uk sports editor Dan Silver: Home win Mirror.co.uk sports writer Chris Wilson: Draw Manchester City team news New signings Craig Bellamy and Nigel de Jong are in line to make their Manchester City debuts against Newcastle at Eastlands tomorrow. The pair arrived from West Ham and Hamburg respectively at a combined cost of around £24million last week and are expected to go straight into Mark Hughes' side as City look to extend a three-match unbeaten Premier League run. Captain Richard Dunne begins a four-match ban so Nedum Onuoha and Micah Richards are expected to be paired together in central defence. Team (from): Hart, Schmeichel, Zabaleta, Onuoha, Richards, Bridge, Ball, Garrido, Ben Haim, Wright-Phillips, Kompany, Fernandes, De Jong, Elano, Ireland, Robinho, Sturridge, Bellamy, Jo, Vassell, Caicedo. Newcastle team news Newcastle will be without the suspended Nicky Butt for tomorrow night's Barclays Premier League trip to Eastlands to face Manchester City. The former Manchester United midfielder is banned after being sent off at Blackburn, while it remains to be seen whether or not City target Shay Given is included in the squad with Fraser Forster and Tim Krul standing by. New signing Peter Lovenkrands is available, as is Geremi after recovering from a groin injury, while Mark Viduka (Achilles), Claudio Cacapa (knee) and Alan Smith (foot/ankle) have all returned to training. Obafemi Martins (hernia surgery), Shola Ameobi (knee), Habib Beye (ankle) and Tamas Kadar (broken leg) remain on the casualty list. Provisional squad: Given, Harper, Forster, Krul, Enrique, Bassong, Coloccini, Taylor, Edgar, Guthrie, N'Zogbia, Duff, Gutierrez, Lovenkrands, Geremi, Donaldson, Doninger, Godsmark, Owen, Xisco, Carroll, LuaLua, Ranger. Opta match facts City are unbeaten in the last six Premier League meetings with the Magpies – winning four of those matches. City are also undefeated in their last six home games against Newcastle who have only scored twice in those visits. Michael Owen has scored six goals in five Premier League starts against Man City. City have dropped more points (15) than any other team from winning positions this season. Newcastle have conceded more penalties (9) than any other team this season. Newcastle have won just once on their travels in their last 14 away matches. Man City are the only team who have not drawn a home match this season. City and Newcastle have both had four players red carded – the joint-most in the league Man City have had 15 different goalscorers – more than any other side. Newcastle have only managed to win two of their 22 Premier League games without Obafemi Martins since he joined the club in the summer of 2006.

I thought o'Neill was asked to come here but he decided against it as he had no respect for FFS and didn't think he could work with him.

He has always looked a very good foil for Michael Owen in past England games and at £3.5 million extraordinarily cheap, surprised were not in for him to be honest. So you seriously think he would come here with Owen on his way out, us showing zero ambition and on the verge of relegation? As opposed to Villa, riding high in the table, all sweet and fine with the manager and owner and fans all clappy happy? Can I have some of your happy pills?

We would be a much better bet imagine building a team from nowt and taking Can you give us any reason why they wont be any better than Ashley ,The Al-Kharafi family wealth estimated at 9.6 billion dollars seems like a no brainer to me bonny lad . Nice and patronising, cheers. I can't really give a reason, no, other than I don't know anything about them or what their plans for the club would be. At the moment it seems like people would sell the club to Mugabe Holdings Ltd if it meant Ashley would leave. Sorry to sound patronising but a megasuperich arab to a penny pinching english chancer i know who i want to own us. Unfortunately they would take one look at us and run a mile. Mayhem, marches and chaos over a club who may win the Premiership this year? Err let's think about it the Megarich Arabs say, well nowt to think about is there?

I predict he will stay until the League Cup Final then walk. But of course because he's Arry he won't be a lily livered cretin like Keegan, he'll be a poor put upon Manager whose players just didn't understand him or his wonderful coaching abilities. In fact I might put a bet on him being gone before April. He won't want to be the one who takes them down.

So how much are City wanting to pay for Given then?

I found this article in the Telegraph from JUNE 2007 about non communication from Sports Direct - it's obviously a running theme. "City analysts complain that telephone calls to the retailer are not returned and they have had no access to the management team, including Sports Direct founder and deputy executive chairman Mike Ashley, since the company floated. Mr Ashley sold a 43pc stake for more than £900m at the time of the float. Analysts have also expressed concerns about Mr Ashley's recent takeover bid for Newcastle United which they fear could distract him from running the business. The deal has highlighted Mr Ashley's unorthodox, although very successful, business style.He was in the North East yesterday meeting the Newcastle board and major shareholders in the football club."

Oh dear Bentley's hair's all messed up - how will he cope?

So he's playing his usual game then, let's face it he's overrated with a capital O, only Arry could spend so much on him. If I was owen I would be worried that such an average player was keeping me out of the England team.

Curbs has no problem with being a pundit or a manager in the future. I doubt we'll ever see Keegan involved with football again. Yes but will we ever SEE him again? Anyone seen him at his Glasgow Sports Place? Perhaps he's locked in a cellar under St James Park and cursing every move we make. Literally.

Forget all the good manager bad manager stuff, Where the hell IS HE? I heard Curbishley on Talkshite and it occurred to me that they left their jobs at the same time, Curbishley has popped up here and there but Keegan has disappeared of the face of this earth.

No really, surely the running costs of the stadium and facilities would eat up any money if we were in the first division.