Pilko

I thought Ranger got his 5.5 year deal when Williamson did? i.e. under Hughton...

For what reason? Mostly a gut feeling on the back of the Kinnear appointment and Llambias resigning. He's obviously not at all happy with it, hence the silence up until it was absolutely necessary for him to speak. I think things will continue to be made extremely difficult for him, with the aim of making him walk. Plus, Gus Poyet hasn't been given a job elsewhere yet. I'm also a bit skeptical. Pardew will be fully aware of the history that Ashley has at this club and what went on with the Wise/Keegan situation; whilst he might not get his big payoff if he walks away, his reputation would still be relatively intact and he'd probably be able to pick up another Championship/promoted side management job within the year off the back of the successful 2011/12 season. If we don't sign the players he wants and we're left with a thin squad again, especially if Kinnear's new involvement and the splitting of Llambias' role muddies the water somewhat, I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility. Plus, as someone else has already said, like fuck would Pardew keep his gob shut for almost two months unless summat was the matter.

Aye but he's got a good point about our recruitment policy in fairness.

He looked absolutely pegged by Arsenal (a) and the Brighton cup game. I think he was starting to get frustrated at the shit performances around him too. The time out will have helped him IMO.

You're always going on about Kevin Mbabu. Let it go Taylor, you're never going to meet him.

If JK is as good at recruiting the players as he is shifting them quickly then we might be areet. So long as Carr's input on which players we get is sufficient enough.

The optimist in me likes to think we're creating wage space for some decent signings: Gosling - replacement will be Bigi/Anita/Vuckic as he never plays Perch - Sissoko to play a more orthodox midfield role/Anita playing more Harper - Alnwick becomes third choice Xisco - was on mega money which we're finally shot of Simpson - Tavernier/Santon/Anita to become right-back cover Or am I just hoping too much?

I think what will happen is he'll spend the first half of the season here getting the odd sub appearance, if he makes a big enough impact his role will gradually increase and if not he'll get a League One/SPL loan in January.

Be hilarious if Holloway turned him into the next Charlie Adam and flogged him for a big fee.

Bigi and Anita (and Vuckic) will be Gosling and Perch's replacements fwiw.

To be honest, if the wages we're saving from three who won't be 'replaced' by signings (Harper, Xisco and Gosling) and one other in Perch, along with the fees for the latter two mean we can have a bit more room for new signings then fair enough we're clearing the decks first. It only becomes a problem if we miss out on our targets while we're getting rid of some of the players that are supposed to being replaced/improved upon.

Most people were saying Perch was alright to leave cos we'd never manage to shift Gosling.

Nailed on the City game will be on and it'll be a Monday night jobber. 100%.

Regardless of whether people are Taylor fans or not he's definitely better than QPR like. He's a Premier League defender for sure. Although, if we could get rid for N'Koulou I'd be happy. He sounds dead foreign and mint like.

I think he'll get 6-7 goals for Palace. Good signing for them really cos he'll probably merk the Championship if they go down after a season of actually playing. Wish we'd hung onto Perch now like.

Canny kite on him there.

"What's that spidey? Brad Inman's just thrown three patriotic hand axes at me?"

We've argued them down to... a booting.

This is weird, we're already seemingly lumbering around desperately trying to get a deal on the cheap all over the place in the fucking first week.

Aye but only if we're actually going to use him. Being an unused sub is a canny thing for a few weeks, because it gets him settled into the matchday routine and used to doing away trips with the first team squad etc. After that though it's an absolute waste of time if we just put bloody Shola on anyway instead of him.

it's the hope that kills you.

Derek Wright is just looking at that screen thinking "fucking hell I love pie me"

Paul Huntington away at Alkmaar probably tops it by a distance IMO.

***OLD ARTICLE AHEAD*** http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/shola-ameobi-extends-newcastle-contract-2335228.html

The Kurt smilie.