GuyP

6/12, thought id be nearer 8-10 but ah well, "not an easy job" etc.

Thing about whether Carroll wanted to go or not, I see it like this; He would have stayed but was encouraged to go, so he left. "Forced" is the wrong word as he could have stayed if he wanted to, but its not like he forced the deal through. As always the truth is somewhere in the middle of what both sides say...

Add to this, he only cost about £7mil. Ok its not a free transfer, but its not like he spunked £20mil on him ourselves. We will probably recoup this wherever he goes, apart from if he left on a free, in which case another 2 years of HBA He is not crippling the club like Owen's wages/fee, enjoy him while we can

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B1JtfOpd85I/SnBTu3-1osI/AAAAAAAARlw/_qUlVT-83gM/s400/zlatan+presentation+smile.jpg

I would love a less injured version of Ben Arfa but if he never had injuries, he would never have come or still be here now! I would love to keep him but sign a Mcmanaman-type classic winger who would be happy to fill in for the half season HBA doesnt play

To be honest i was a fan of the Gouff-Cisse-Ben Arfa front 3...provided Ben Arfa is back to full fitness and Cabaye is played further forward in the midfield 3 (or 4-2-3-1 with Cabaye in the 3). Gouffrans work rate is fantastic, and is sharp enough against all but the top level in the league. Cisse has shown flashes of getting back into form and if Cabaye can feed him better from a further forward position, we can score goals. Tiote also needs to "keep it simple" as someone said, and Sissoko needs to settle into his rightful position further back. Problem this year is the amount of "ifs" - Cisse out of form - Ben Arfa injured - Cabaye out of form/injured - Sissoko played in ridiculous positions - Tiote playing suicidal passes/tackles Gouffran is the only player working as he should so far. These are things that generally went right in the 5th place season so hopefully we can tend towards that rather than what we saw this season. Striker backup too!

Relatively small. Was reading earlier the Freiburg annual wage bill is £14m At the top end... http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqSZGJy0Vek/UI5F7gQwl3I/AAAAAAAAGkw/150PbC8wbSY/s640/28+Dortmund+Wages+Europe.jpg Imagine Milan's last summer, still with the 30+yrs old players all on £80k pw as well as Ibra, Cassano and Thiago Silva...wow... edit, just realised it was for that season...interested to see what its like now then

Possible Giggs but relevant;

Just realised the 2nd longest serving manager in the Premier League thing, shows how times have changed. No longer are we so fickle in changing managers, Mike Ashley has brought stability...

Disagree, Frankie all the way...the woman is a goddess!

At one point, Milan had Niang, Mexes, Balotelli, El Shaarawy, Prince, Constant, Robinho and Abate on at the same time, who all had Mohawks....

Worst manager since you started following Newcastle? Can't have been that long then? http://i2.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article1273306.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/5045994.jpg

Would be funny if he moved for big money again and is just garbage... and we sign him for £3.5mil

Was just going to confirm this. Higuain is an upgrade of Quagliarella and Llorente is probably an upgrade of Vucinic but i love Mirko (and his Eastern European tache) and Llorente has hardly played for a year so...

I just realised i think alot used BetFair, which means someone can then match the bet (1 person bets A, the other bets B) so he could have just gone and mopped up all these Eddie Howe bets

Hope this has not gone amis; The whole thread is hilarious, they all start putting money on Howe i think, and his odds close massively as loads of people coincidentally start putting money on him...I guess meanwhile that the poster is putting money on someone else? (I dont bet often but guessing this is how it works). Love how easy it is to post something like that

Well that is simply rubbish...I had half an exam on Tax in my A Levels...your comment sounded a bit like a "exams nowadays are far too easy, not like in our day".

This line is amazing like

So, you've only really seen him from...afar? http://i.imgur.com/3KUGM.jpg

How cool would it be having him as number 2 again. Late push for appearences record

May be giving him too much credit but Pardew did ease in Santon slowly while he got used to the league, maybe its the same with Anita and Bigi. Bigi is much younger so there is more leeway with him but Anita is our most expensive center mid (not counting Jonas in that position) so its safe to assume he is going to be a key player in the future. I loved him at Stoke away. He absolutely chased down everything and looked very comfortable on the ball. That was one of our better performances for a while at that point and i thought he was a key reason for that.

He called Ashley brave for not selling anyone last summer so I strongly doubt that. He can still fuck off with those comments, as usual. The biggest coward I've seen at the club, everything about him revolves around fear. Reverse psychology

HBA on the right doesn't put crosses in. TBF, he doesn't do it much on the left, he's not the type of player to be looking to whip a cross in, he likes to take on his man and either put a through ball in and have a shot. If we are playing 2 wingers though, where would you stick him? He is more beneficial than a winger in many ways! I'd rather have HBA on the wing than Adam Johnson and Ryan Jarvis...

I dont get why photographers always use the "apathy" expression. Look happy, or intense...but not "bit down to be here to be honest" The shirt itself...meh, standard.

Ben Arfa on the Right is good, meaning we need 1 winger on the left (first 11-wise at least) which would be a handy signing even if we didnt get Carroll anyway. Cal Mac?