ponsaelius

Do you realise that both Wes Brown and Paul Robinson are older than Shearer was when he retired from international football? Yes.

Anybody who retires from international football at a stupidly early stage is a massive c*** imo. What the fuck? I think I'll announce my retirement from international duty then, since that cunt Fabio didn't think I was good enough. Whether the manager chooses to pick you or not should be out of the question, all players should be ready and available for selection - playing for your country is an honour not something you should just excpect and then throw the toys out of the pram when it doesn't happen.

Until he is photographed with a Newcastle shirt then doubts will remain. I hope he signs officially before international duty, don't want this to be dragged out any longer.

It is but that's the only quotes I have read from Hughton about Ben Arfa. Unless you have heard more from him? Okay, yeah that's the only time he's mentioned him personally. The fact we've been silent on the subject for 2 weeks while the story has been continually plugged speaks volumes.

28th July? A lot has happened since that article, in particular the Marseille owner announcing on TV that he will join us

When did he say that?

citeh hardly need the cash, a loan may suit them ? Possibly. I just think he'd be perfect for us. Would give us much needed athleticism at the back and can play both full back positions aswell as CB.

It's a shame he's out of our price range, but Mancini has said Onuoha is surplus to requirements at City. He'd plug the RB problem perfectly.

The thing with cliches is they are often an exaggerated version of the truth. The Prem is utter pap for the most part, I have no doubt about that. Didn't miss not watching it regularly one bit last season. Conversely I watched La Liga and Serie A consistently. Far more absorbing leagues imo.

Strange one. Guess it was Warnock's decision though, good luck to him, he did well for us last season so thanks for that.

Keep the optimism coming guys. It's refreshing

Did they say One-Size was the new QPR captain?!

He was always signed as back-up. If Carroll and Lovenkrands had both got injured, we would have needed Best to score goals ... Third choice in more ways than one. Only arrived when Beckford and Moses didn't sign up. Moses would have been a brilliant signing in hindsight imo. I forget he's only 19.

Watch us offer like 20% of his wages

I love Hughton btw, I think he's done almost everything spot on so far. (Except sign Best).

Smith started 33 games last season. Around 33 too many tbh.

Cool Your jets. The club is being run on a shoestring and the chances of us landing a flair player of genuine quality on loan are very slim. Not impossible but remote. Arfa might prove to be a great signing but ignoring the lack of apparent competition for his signature isn’t big or clever. All things being equal there’s probably a catch. Wondering what it might be isn’t negative, it’s realism – and we all have to be realistic nowadays don’t we? My grudge is the fact people will find anything to complain about. Said poster is trying his hardest to find any faults in this signing rather than looking at the positives. It's been a while since we made a signing of this ilk and I for one are gonna be pleased about it (if it comes off) rather than just mope about it. The fact of the matter is we're just over a week away from the start of the season and haven't strengthened at all (Gosling and Sol out for the start of the season, Perch looks shat) - the fact we may now actually be adding a quality player is not something to get down about.

Nasri and Benzema didn't get into the France squad. Would you take them?

Fucking shit this. Hughton's a cunt, signing these poncy foreign players with pedigree rather than keeping our current squad. I'm pretty skeptical about this to be honest, I reckon he could start picking fights with the entire squad and ruin our team morale. What if he doesn't grow facial hair with everybody else and they take umbridge about it? I'd much rather we took a gamble on somebody who hasn't proven jacksh*t in his career but plays for one of the big four. Why is nobody else signing him if he's so good, we should be competing with everybody else rather than looking for sneaky bargains under other teams noses Hope this doesn't mean Smudger will be forced out of the team. Or captain Nolan for that matter. Shit signing. MASSIVE gamble. [/Taylor27]

Shit. 3-0.

Why did Sunderland choose Welbeck over him? Hell why are Birmingham looking to buy Charles N'Zogbia when they can get this guy? Where are West Ham, Wigan, Stoke, Blackburn? Like I said, why not wait 12 months before deciding whether this is a good move or not? I'd be delighted to be wrong. You've got to be an elaborate wum.

That actually sounds really good @Beren

Cleverley and Wilshere are not being loaned out, Welbeck has gone to Sunderland.

Seriously, fuck off. You're ridiculous

I just disagree. I could give you countless examples of foreign players failing in this country. We play different football but it's certainly not worse IMO. Of course it's f**king worse. The British blueprint is why we got mullered at the World Cup and played off the park by the first decent team we come across. Take a player out of a team in Spain and hoy them in a team in England and they'll struggle to adapt (for example Borja Valero), but put a lower English team against a lower Spanish team and they'd get played off the park. They're technically and tactically streets ahead of us. There's a reason why we've only won 1 out of the last 25 Uefa Cups (or equivalents), our middle to lower teams are so far behind the top echelons. I think you have confused English footballers with the English premiership. Spain's national team (Barcelona) is excellent but that proves nothing. We need to nuture our youngsters better yes, but that has nothing to with the standard of our league. No. It's a footballing culture that manifests at every level in England. Have you watched some of the crap in the Premiership recently? It's technically inept players playing hoofball for turgid, tactically backward managers sticking with simplistic 4-4-2s for two-bit nothing football clubs. The bottom of the Premiership is a clap of horseshit, and because of that I remain some modual of confidence that we can survive. I can comfortably watch any game in Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, Eredivise and comfortably say the enjoyment levels are streets ahead of what I'd get from watching some drivel fom the Premier League.