Hughesy

What's the Captain gonna say? 'We're a f***ing selling club, everyone here knows he's only a window away from being f***ed off to another club if the owners are happy with the bid, so morale is a bit s***'? And people claim Pardew should come out and tell the 'truth'. Oh the irony.

Probably on a fair amount already tbh... so matching it is probably a fantastic offer. I'd say he's worth the wage of a top 4 fullback. You think he's on Evra money? Ashley Cole money? Hell, even Glen Johnson will earn more than him. Matching the guys current salary (when he signed he wasn't a big name, so won't be on mega bucks of Colo etc) is not an incredible offer. Liars. He isn't worth top 4 left back money. No way. Disagree. Fair enough - personally I don't think he is Champions League level. Still makes far too many stupid mistakes and found wanting positionally too many times to be at that level. Still a very very good player but I don't think he is top 4.

Probably on a fair amount already tbh... so matching it is probably a fantastic offer. I'd say he's worth the wage of a top 4 fullback. You think he's on Evra money? Ashley Cole money? Hell, even Glen Johnson will earn more than him. Matching the guys current salary (when he signed he wasn't a big name, so won't be on mega bucks of Colo etc) is not an incredible offer. Liars. He isn't worth top 4 left back money. No way.

Probably on a fair amount already tbh... so matching it is probably a fantastic offer.

I think the 'hatred' in all derbies is much more of a modern thing to be honest.

Bendtner seems massively underrated by some on here.

I kind of posted it thinking of him as a CB - but yes, I would pick him over Simpson. Not sure there is a huge huge amount in it though.

He would be first choice at right back or centre back. A year or two ago, I'd have agreed. I think his stock has fallen a little.

Sounds like Onuoha is out of favour at Man City. Would be tempted to get him as cover at CB and RB, or even pushing for a first team spot.

Increased bid of £1.8 million from Swansea, according to BBC.

Nailed on.

Because a large number of them are financed by generous benefactors who are happy to throw money at their clubs? Like Stoke and Wolves? Aye, righto. Ok - I'll try again - other clubs weren't trying to correct years of negligent ownership that had created an 100% unsustainable business. Any other examples you'd like me to bat back? How long are you going to bang this drum? Will you still be defending him in 2015 on the basis of "what Shepherd did"? At what point does it become his responsibility seeing as there isn't a contract at the club that wasn't signed under Ashley? I'd agree that there comes a point where Shepherd's mistakes become irrelevant (even if they did set off a chain of catastrophic events). But I am not sure that pointing out that none of the contracts at the club were not signed by Ashley makes a whole lot of difference. He still inherited a mess and has to try and clean up that mess.

Because a large number of them are financed by generous benefactors who are happy to throw money at their clubs? Like Stoke and Wolves? Aye, righto. Ok - I'll try again - other clubs weren't trying to correct years of negligent ownership that had created an 100% unsustainable business. Any other examples you'd like me to bat back?

Because a large number of them are financed by generous benefactors who are happy to throw money at their clubs?

Maybe, who knows, the point is that just because we didn't plan for the Carroll money doesn't mean we should now spunk it up the wall as quickly as possible. Why is using some of it to finance the general running of the club over the next X years (which we couldn't afford before) so terrible. When running a football club, all that stuff has to be balanced with spending on the first XI, that's all I've ever argued. Ian - for the sake of your own sanity, I'd give up to be honest. You can only bang your head against a brick wall so many times..

One striker target based in France and one in Spain.

Apparently Ba wasn't free there isn't a such thing as free transfers according Newcastle United Football Club, they are actually really expensive and take up a large chunk of 35 million pound... Do you genuinely not understand what people mean when they say that signing a player on a free transfer costs the club money or are you trying to be funny?

I assume because they are increased costs to the club and they want to account for them out of the revenue streams coming in. The wage bill has gone up so something needs to cover that. It doesn't really matter 'where' it actually comes from - it just comes from the funds we have.

Carroll was on about 30k? Nolan was on 50k? Sol was on about 20k? All estimates but it'd be around that. But Tiote is probably now on 50k (from 20k?) and I assume that Ba, Marveaux and Cabaye are all on at least 40k per week.

Otter's version was more positive...

I wouldn't say that is guaranteed, but I agree that it is highly unlikely. Not quite sure how you can be so certain as to rule it out though. Maybe I should clarify and say the traditional 'I don't want to see us 'do a Leeds''.

Well - obviously any fan wants us to play well and win. That's pretty clear. I don't think any fan goes to a game, watches us get twatted by a team and sits there happy in the knowledge that we are on a financially stable footing. Ultimately I want us to be a stable financial footing so that: 1) We always have a club to support 2) The club runs itself in a sensible fashion and is then able to progress by sensible investment over a period of time. In order to fulfil 1 and 2 above, our finances do need to be respectable.

everything in moderation Couldn't agree more, but you can't just ignore the financial realities of the situation because it's football. Which seem people seem very very keen to do. personally i'm keen for them not to ignore the footballing realities but whatever floats your boat. just look at everything else the club is doing, now we're getting rid of badly needed squad players for no other reason than to stop paying them wages, EVERYTHING is geared towards cost cutting for f***s sake, EVERYTHING. when does this become not good enough for our club? after 10 more seasons 'trying to attack the top ten and challenging in the cups' ? Not sure where that little temper tantrum is going. All I am pointing out is that it is utterly ridiculous for people to ignore the financial realities of running a business. The fact that this particular business is a football club doesn't alter the fundamental principles on which the business should be run. People making statements about not caring about balance sheets, the wage bill or levels of debt are deluded.

everything in moderation Couldn't agree more, but you can't just ignore the financial realities of the situation because it's football. Which seem people seem very very keen to do.

I don't think there is a problem in a fan identifying a player who will increase in value and could be sold for more than the purchase price. It doesn't make a fan any less keen for success. I hope the club does identify and buy players who increase in value. I don't quite understand the 'bubble' some other fans live in. The whole 'fingers in the ears, chanting 'I don't care about balance sheets'' is so shortsighted and simplistic, I can't actually believe people think it, let alone say it out loud.