Sean

Unsurprisingly theres not a lot of interest in our deadwood. You'd think that we could find buyers for Darlow and Hanley. Krul, Saivet, Riviera, Haidara and maybe even Lazaar may have to be sent on loan, with us paying a proportion of their wages still as they haven't exactly impressed anywhere lately. Also Gamez possibly. That leaves Mitrovic, Colback, Diame and Mbemba as the only real saleable assets. Can't (unfortunately) see Rafa getting rid of Colback or Diame this summer, think Mitro may well be sold. That would leave us with 20 senior players, and needing a new GK, LB, CM, CF and hopefully no10. Lot of work to be done if we want to be prepared for the season.

I think it's fair enough really. We need another striker and a number 10, but if they fell through we at least have Gayle and Perez who at least has a season of playing well. Our goalkeeping situation is pretty s*** whoever's played at the moment, so getting someone solid and dependable in would be great. It's shit because he's making it that way in my view. Krul is a perfectly capable number 1 in the PL, he's proved it over a number of years, Darlow is a fine back up, hell we've even been able to rely on Elliot in the past and we have Woodman of course who personally I think we should seriously consider pushing through. It's nowhere near a bad situation, unlike the clear weakness in CM, number 10 and up front, those should be the focus areas not wasting time chasing small improvements to the GK. Krul's really not as good as some people seem to think...as a shot stopper he can be OK however he doesn't command his area well, organise his defence, he's not very good dealing with crosses, etc etc. It's not a massive surprise that theres no Premier League teams looking to sign him up. It seems pretty clear those traits above are qualities that Rafa values in a GK. Reina would be perfect in that respect, although seems unlikely still.

Who's quote is it? Rafa's from his interview... http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/rafa-benitez-james-mccarthy-everton-13352565 Interesting, not like Rafa to comment on players we are looking at. If it's true then I wonder who our first target is? Be a bit of a comedown for McCarthy to be second choice to Clucas. We've been linked with a certain player he managed at Real Madrid but I can't see it! Who's that then? I must have missed it. Kovacic I believe...we can dream eh.

Same here, I trust Rafa knows why he wants him.

Think that's bollocks personally, Pardew has been rumbled, even Ashley wouldn't touch him now. I don't think Ashley would care mate. He'd care about relegation and the plummeting value of the squad that we were headed towards last time Pardew was here. I don't think he cared the last time tbh...Pardew wasn't sacked remember. Ashley probably thought he was doing a great job. Pardew was definitely under pressure by the end no matter what Charnley said publicly. He turned down Palace initially then when he realised the writing was on the wall he knew his time was up. That's how I remember it. I think the fans turning on him might have had more to do with it. Either way, I have full confidence that Ashley would manage to make the worst possible appointment if things go bad, and theres no doubting who that would be. Anyway I wouldn't give a shit in that case as I'd already be done with the club.

Think that's bollocks personally, Pardew has been rumbled, even Ashley wouldn't touch him now. I don't think Ashley would care mate. He'd care about relegation and the plummeting value of the squad that we were headed towards last time Pardew was here. I don't think he cared the last time tbh...Pardew wasn't sacked remember. Ashley probably thought he was doing a great job.

Why do we need to get rid of deadwood first? If the money's there we should spend it. Then if someone wants to buy our deadwood we can shift them as and when. TBF I think that's just how football clubs work by default. We won't just stockpile players we don't have a squad number for. Is the last line (about deadwood) actually a genuine quote? Can't find it anywhere. Erm, he's not going to call his players deadwood :lol:

Why do we need to get rid of deadwood first? If the money's there we should spend it. Then if someone wants to buy our deadwood we can shift them as and when. TBF I think that's just how football clubs work by default. We won't just stockpile players we don't have a squad number for. Is the last line (about deadwood) actually a genuine quote? Can't find it anywhere.

It's not Charnley, this is all trickling down from Ashley. If the will is there to get deals done we'd already have a few more players in. There was no problems getting players in this time last year, so what's changed? Prices have gone up due to the amount of TV money flooding into club coffers. Our budget has stayed the same meaning we are restricted to buying either less players of genuine quality or if we want quantity, go for the cheap and nasty volume option. Rafas getting pissed off with the way those above him are doing (or rather not doing) business. Not because fees have gone up. Everyone knows transfer prices have gone up, but so has the amount of tv money we get for being in the Premier League. Huddersfield must be on their way to bankruptcy the way they've been spending in that case.

It's not Charnley, this is all trickling down from Ashley. If the will is there to get deals done we'd already have a few more players in. There was no problems getting players in this time last year, so what's changed?

Not so sure. We managed alright last summer when Fat Mike was keeping his distance and Charnley and Rafa were running things. Now this new lawyer gadgie is here everything seems to have gone to shit again, don't reckon that's a coincidence. Surely Ashley has put this bloke in place for a specific reason. looking at the way we seem to have conducted transfer business since his appointment it would seem to me that he's here to ensure we don't get deals done as we should. This surely has to come from the top.

It is the 3rd kit.

What we need is the club to actually attempt to sign the players Rafa wants, is it not pretty obvious yet that we are deliberately failing to conclude deals by offering ridiculously low fees and or stalling once deals are lined up and ready to be signed off?

Getting really worried now. Not optimistic about the next few weeks tbh.

It's also becoming clear as day that Rafa isn't being backed as he should be. Why did he not take a holiday again? Something to do with being able to get things sorted out in good time before pre-season no?

Whats most worrying for me regarding these rumours of Rafa being unhappy is the fact that this time last year Rafa was talking to the press in June, whereas theres nothing this summer - no quotes at all, he's not talking to the local press, not even an interview on the official site. If I was Rafa and I'd decided to forego a holiday in order to get deals lined up etc I'd be seriously pissed with the situation. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the 'takeover' talk is a smokescreen similar to previously, and that rafa is being lied to behind the scenes. FFS why can't we just be run like a normal fucking club?

Amongst others doing fuck all.

What the fuck was Lascelles doing there ffs?!!

Would be delighted with 4 points from the next two games. Something that Rafa said around the time of the Sheff Wed/Blackburn game stuck in my mind..."we need to learn how to draw", them points against Bristol City and Norwich were huge, even if we did shoot ourselves in the foot big time, and as disappointing as the Bristol City game was, I think the confidence we got from coming back was massive and probably led to the result at Brighton. Agreed. A point gained in the end. If someone offered us 7 points before Bristol City, Brighton and Huddersfield we would have taken them in the order they were given. Mental that at half time against Bristol City, Huddersfield were 2 points behind us with a game in hand. Funny old game. I don't think they had a game in hand on us at that point, we played Brighton a few days after while they had Man City in the FA cup which is where their game in hand came from. It was still too close for comfort then though.

Theres a live stream of radio newcastle on youtube, not sure if ok to post?

Just watched the sending off again and noticed how not one Arsenal player is even calling for a yellow card to be shown. Then Carzola putting an arm around Mitrovic. You know a decisions harsh when the other team react like that (or don't react) to a challenge.

I think it will come soon. I actually think we will benefit from the break. I really liked how we constantly tried to play the ball out from the back today despite having 10. You just know that for the past few years that ball would have been launched long. Yeah it was nice to see us playing the ball around, even under pressure and with 10 men for most of the game. It looked to me like the players must have been explicitly told NOT to hoof the ball aimlessly unless absolutely needed, because we didn't do it at all. Maybe players are getting fined for this as well as passing sideways? Such a difference from Pardew anyway, but we need to get points on the board soon (and Mitrovic scoring, but thats a while off now).

Referee so obviously wanted an Arsenal win, again end of second half blew the whistle as the ball went towards the arsenal box. Just one tiny observation among thousands from today mind, what a cunt.

This is like a pantomime now…fucking ridiculous.

Terrible refereeing. Most would look to 'even things up' after giving such a soft red, but not this cunt; every little decision going to Arsenal, even blowing for halftime DURING an attack of ours with the ball on the edge of the Arsenal box. Proud of the effort shown by the lads though.