The Newcastle United Blog

74 responses so far ↓

• 1 Kash // Jul 26, 2007 at 9:57 AM

  Riquelme £3m, Emerson £1m, Campbell £1m, Barzagli £11m, Lahm £9m and Shorey £6m! £31m in total and defence and midfield is top notch for at least 2 seasons! What more do you want???????

• 2 Toon Exile // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:06 AM

  Ed, close yer tags on the front page, its a pain in the arse to read all in bold

• 3 sam gardner // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:08 AM

  that would be nice 31m howay big sam you can do it

• 4 steve // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:10 AM

  what exactly is the transfer policy of this regime? are they willing to splash the big money or are they nursing their investment? they should be some concern about how much the board is willing to invest in players.

  while none of us want a return to the silly money spent on players in the past the truth is the sides we should be looking to catch in the medium term – spurs, liverpool and arsenal – are spending vastly more than us. not to mention villa, portsmouth and west ham into the bargain. we need to spend whopping amounts of cash this summer on strong talent in order to keep up. that’s the reality.

• 5 paul p // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:10 AM

  is anyone starting to really really really worry now that bsa has come out with this. riquelme, emerson, campbell, upson, shorey, diego, wright phillips. now that would be alot better than what we have. although ad like lahm as well, but he and barzagli wont be signing for us.

• 6 The Big P // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:12 AM

  The longer we wait the higher the prices …………..

• 7 bottlodog // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:12 AM

  Once again hope and optomism is rapidly turning to despair – unfortunately our lack of transfer activity looks strangely familiar – no matter how many players we put forward on various blogs – the depressing fact is we just aren’t an attractive proposition for any of our targets.
  Sadly this has been confirmed by BSA in the Journal this morning – Of all the targets recently identified, he has been unable to persuade any of them to come and join us. This is a man with almost legendary powers of persuasion!!!
  Lack of European football has been cited in most cases but the reality is with the present squad, we’re highly unlikley to achieve qualification in the coming season.
  I can’t help it ,but this is really getting me down especially with the manager so downbeat too!
  Come on Mr Ashley cough up the big bucks and rekindle some hope cos I can’t face sitting thru’ another season like the last one

• 8 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:12 AM

  This whole situation is giving me flashbacks of last pre-seaason all over again – Freddy and GR promising “3 or 4 new arrivals” then all of a sudden it turned to “2 or 3″ and then it was “we’re trying our best to get 1 big player in” and then we ended up with sodding Olivier Bernard!! I heard BSA comment only a couple of weeks ago that he would definitely get another “3 or 4″ and now he says he will def get one player! Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!! It makes you want to pull your hair out! Why say things like that and get the fans hopes up, to then f*ck it all up when you realise you cant attract the players!

  There are loads of other great players out there (see Dyer’s Newcastle Future In The Balance” article on this site and someone has listed all the players still available who are great! All it takes it someone (Mort!) to say “Right. We are so short of players, we are going to have to bite the bullet and pay over the odds for the transfer fee and wages to make sure we have a big enough squad for the season”. I for one will be seriously p!ssed off if we start this season with a threadbare squad again after all the hype that has been pushed down to the fans by the new owner and chairman!!

• 9 Craig // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:15 AM

  Ashley needs to pull his finger out and splash the cash as promised. As for Mort, he has no experience in running a football club, therefore, should have never been put in such a difficult position in the first place.

• 10 Josh // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:15 AM

  I Agree with you Paul,

  I Haven’t REALLY seen any huge players taken from our rivals clubs who i think Newcastle should Have, apart from Ben Haim. There seem to be plenty out there just NOT with PL Experience but i say get out that Cheque book and sign 4 QUALITY Players!

• 11 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:20 AM

  And what about this whole dream which was portrayed to us when the takeover had just started that Mike Ashley wanted us to be challenging for the title and the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE within 3-5 years!! If this is the case, does he honestly think that he has time to hope we qualify for UEFA Cup next season before being able to draw the big players in! For God’s sake, just take the hit this season and splash the extra cash needed to attract bigger players and then worry about using the European draw after that!

• 12 bottlodog // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:22 AM

  Kash
  The money isn’t the problem – NUFC might be the biggest thing in our minds but to most of our targets it’s an underachieving club in a small, isolated, rainy city somewhere between England and Scotland – that’s the percieved reality we have to overcome.
  We’re often portrayed as this Massive club but unfortunately that’s largely in our own minds, in reality we’re percieved as a bit of a laughing stock. Until those perceptions are overcome,we all get a grip on reality and lower our expectations
  that’s what we will remain

• 13 paul p // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:25 AM

  we wont be challenging for the champions league or uefa cup or any trophey with this current squad. the only thing we will be doing is battling against relegation. if it was’nt for martins and dyers goals last year, we would have gone down… no joke. facts and records are there!! now this proves to me our squad is shhte and we need not just 4 or 5 new players… we need 10 or 11. we got 4 in, but got rid of 6, so we are worse off than we have ever been before.

• 14 Hammy // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:25 AM

  Hey Sam,
  Forget the board, just do what I do at work…..get what you need and claim your money back out of petty cash at the end of the week…you may need to find a bigger tin though.

• 15 Kash // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:29 AM

  Bottlodog – You’re full of shit!

• 16 Bosck // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:37 AM

  Steely – we may all be frustrated but lets not start making things up, nowhere does allardyce mention only getting one player, in fact he is quoted saying the opposite:

  “We are in the situation that I’m confident I’ll get the number of players we need, but I’m not sure about the quality”

  Nothing about only getting one player in just that he knows he can get plenty in but just concerned about their suitability.

  as for people suggesting SWP we dont need another right winger or striker which are basically his two positions, we need to buy positions not names. ALready we have geremi, solano, milner, and troisi or duff if needed to play right midfield. adding swp for the price quoted would be irrational and unnecessary.

  We are all concerned about who will come in/leave, but attacking the new manager/new board is not gonna get us anywhere. And for all those who would be happy to pay way over the odds for players we have done that for 10 years spent £250m and got nothing from it, so personally i would rather be a few short for now then have players with overinflated prices, overinflated egos and without the ability to match it. Remind you of any recent teams?!?

• 17 Kash // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:45 AM

  West Ham are just throwing money at players, if they don’t have a fruitful season then they’re f*&^%d!

• 18 Kash // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:47 AM

  And the reason why we are classed as a big club, is because we have the infrastructure of a big club. Yes, Newcastle is not well known compared to London, but we don’t want players coming to Newcastle who are after a high profile lifestyle. We want players who are here for the football. That is what Newcastle provides, the means to prolong and improve a footballers career. Thats what BSA will be telling players, if they don’t come then screw them.

• 19 Dave // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:52 AM

  bosck – I agree.

  We need (if there’s any left in the tank) patience. A few good solid want to players is a damn site better than one flashy, play when he wants to, money grabber.

  We need European football to get the Great players to Want to come to Toon and this I beleive Sam can deliver. It might not be this season but I for one don’t mind. The mentality of the club seems to have chaned to a much more pragmatic and realistic one. Sam’s no mug and Ashley/Mort combo won’t let the club fail due to lack of money.

  A nice steady investment that if cared for will bare increasing amounts of fruit over the next few years. (sorry for the weird fruit based analogy )

• 20 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 10:53 AM

  Bosck, I quote Sam Allardyce “But in saying all that, I want a top, experienced defender to come in – and if not one, perhaps two or it might even be three” – a markably different stance from a couple of weeks ago when he said that he would definitely get four more defenders in. I hesitate to remind everyone about Mort stating that a huge player would be arriving before the season ends (remind you of FFS quotes from last season?)…time still to go on this, but from what Allardyce is now saying I doubt this is the case!
  Also, the list I mentioned from another article did mention SWP – I completely agree with you that we dont need him or anyone else in that position – I was trying to highlight the list in general – there are players in there who we really could do with now. And with Dyer looking like he’s upping sticks, and with Emre possibly injured it looks like another midfielder might be on the menu too…not nearly as desperate for one as a bloody left back though!!
  Finally, I’m not attacking the board – I’m merely pointing out that they’re already starting to make mistakes which the previous gaggle made (saying players are coming in when it isn’t perhaps the case! Do you see Curbishley out there saying he will get X amount of players in? No. He just gets on with it, and WHU fans must be relishing it! I really hope we have the right people in the right places now, and I dont agree that we can afford to steer away from overinflated prices right now (see Paul P’s comment above…4 in, but 6 out…and we all thought the squad was thin on the ground last season! We’re statistically 2 down already (although I dont really count Bernard as a loss), and we are going to have to get players in to cover those gaps!!

• 21 bottlodog // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:02 AM

  sorry mate – full of shit???? just an honest appraisal from a born and bred Geordie and life long Toon supporter
  Like it or not( and I don’t) that’s how the rest of the country sees us
  Like I’ve said the sooner we all get a grip on reality the better for all of us
  None of the the players you mention will want to join us

• 22 valle // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:02 AM

  Bottlodog:

  Stange i have never seen u on here before, yet in ur first post u degrade ur own club?… Could u be Spur in disguise…

  Anyway, i remember something about spending 250mil over 3 years to make us into EPL winners and laet on Champ League winners. Now that the deal is done, things have changed, havnt they?… We have spent a net of 1.5min and Mort is sitting so tight on MA’s purse that Big Sam has to go to the media to highlight the problem. I dont agree that we shouldnt pay silly money… Hell spend those 50mil and give the clubs an ekstra mil just to make sure they accept, as long as its the right players we buy who can take us forward. Besides giving us a better team, it will also lift the fans, the players and make everyone sit up and take notice of us.

• 23 Ed Harrison // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:07 AM

  Toon Exile – done it – sorry about that.

• 24 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:07 AM

  Valle, I agree with you totally!! Spending that extra bit of cash on a player doesnt automatically turn them into a Boumsong or a Marcelino! If BSA is as good as everyone says he is then he will be able to distinguish the wheat from the chaff. And if it means spending an extra mil on that one (or two) bits of wheat and adding an extra £5k onto a weekly wage then do it!
  It’s never been officially quoted, but I think even without the takeover happening, we should at least have expected a £20m kitty following the new TV deal this year! Now that the club is in new hands with such an ambitious owner then that figure must have increased! I repeat your question valle,

  Why does it take BSA to go to the media to highlight the funding issue!?

• 25 Kash // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:10 AM

  Bottlodog, i’m a born, bred, well travelled and educated geordie (did i mention handsome and wealthy). From a business and footballing point of view I know that Newcastle is capable of competing in the top 4 due to the INFRASTRUCTURE in place. Now i’ve seen what the London clubs have to offer and only Arsenal and Chelsea are similar in that sense to us. Spurs and West Ham have a lot of catching up to do in facilities. Yes, we don’t offer European football, but neither do West Ham. West Ham are attracting players who are not going there football reasons (Dyer, Bellamy, Boa Morte, Faubert, Neill). Spurs on the other hand are picking young ambitious players, different strategy completely. However, Newcastle have enough pulling power to bring in established players to make an immediate impact so they can challenge further on 4 fronts next season.

  All those agree say “Aye”

• 26 bhha // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:10 AM

  dammit! BSA has been in charge for 2 months now and we’re still in 14th! Get him outta here!

  On a more serious side, from what you’ve all said i guess the logical choice would be c.davies? but i dont rate him and i think he’d just prove to be another captain calamity, but he’s the highest quality CB in a lower/lesser league? But for an experienced head with EPL experience i can only think of Big Sol, Hyppia and Jaap Stam? Dont think any of them will cut it anymore or join. I’ve no idea with regards to left backs as i think baines is pants and shorey/bridge/riise won’t join. The entire league is looking for left backs. We could perhaps lay out the red carpet for chiellini and hope he joins.

• 27 Gavin // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:13 AM

  Forget signing players with EPL experience, becasue that appears to be a dead end. Just sign quality players from the different leagues around the world. We managed to attract Rozehnal fine, why not others.

• 28 Ed Harrison // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:14 AM

  We have to take this in stages and be realistic. We cannot sign world class players immediately and expect everybody wants to come to Newcastle – which is a remote place in England – to a lot of people. But we can get a better squad than last year – and have a solid season and qualify for Europe next season. Then we’ll be in a better position to attract players. We should try to buy players in both windows – so what Sam has at end of August is good until Jan – when we can strengthen again if the right players are available. But we’ll have to take it in stages.
  Nothing wrong with that – we are probably too negative on all of this. Sam can build a strong team – don’t worry about that – he’s just frustrated – like the rest of us. But let’s be up beat – good times are coming – we can feel it in the air.

• 29 bottlodog // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:17 AM

  No Valle not my first post not a spur in disguise and I’m not denegrating our club I think it’s the greatest in the world!!!!! My point was about the perception of others looking in and how that affects players’ decisions about joining us – I’m the proudest Geordie you’re ever likely to meet
  I was at St James in 1969 sat on the wall behind the Gallowgate goal watching our team win 3-0 on their way to winning our last meaningful trophy – I don’t want to wait another 28 years to see it happen again.
  If Chelski could buy almost instant success why can’t we – largely because of the way we are PERCEIVED outside of our region

• 30 Dave // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:20 AM

  bhha – yeh man lets get rid. Mind you we’re above the Mackams.

  Ed – Good times are coming I agree – a definate shift in the right direction

• 31 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:21 AM

  bhha, I think you’re right – how good would it be to get that big strong player with EPL experience into the squad (Campbell, Hyppia etc). However, as Gavin says I think it’s a real dead end. All those linked with us are either not superb, or simply will not move/be sold.
  Regarding the LB position, ANYTHING would do at the minute!!! With only Baba as an established LB – that leaves us in a very dangerous situation due to his fitness and general crap skills! Who knows, Zog might shine there, but we cant risk depending on him!

  We need numbers at the moment – preferably some mega-talented world class players, but as none seem to want to come and sample sunny Newcastle then we might have to deal with players of a lesser talent until we can attract better players!!

• 32 Kash // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:43 AM

  Big Sol I reckon is on his way to us. He said:
  “A new training ground and stadium is a big thing, even if it’s not for us now, but for the future of the club. Those things really mean a lot to me and any top player coming into a club. At top-level clubs these things need to be there, it doesn’t matter where you are.”

  We can offer him that and more!

• 33 roscoe // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:54 AM

  baines wants to leave wigan and turned down the mackems already so why dont we really put in a serious offer even if it is slightly inflated! he’s quality! might not be perfect for sams plans but he’s quality enough!! then quedrue also wants to leave and looks like he’s keen on the toon, he’ll be perfect cover for baines! there LB sorted!

  Get one more CB from another league does’nt really matter who, round 3/4mil.

  Defence sorted!

  That’ll do till january when we’re sitting 3rd in the league and can sign one or two bigger names and maybe edmilson!

  WOW wasn’t that difficult!!! COME ON BSA!!!! PLEASE!!!

• 34 apan // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:57 AM

  come on chris mort high hopes for u, BSA knows what his doin just give him the funds and backing dont ask many ques we are running out of time!

  get at least 3-4 defenders and 1 midfield

  def – riise,shorey, davies, ferdinand, glen johnson, justin hoyte, zaccardo, barzagli, collocini, matthew upson?

  mid -deco, baptista, gudjohnsen, and haha mido?

• 35 malaysian youngster // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:01 PM

  i hate MA and CM forever if we failed to shine this season. feel pity for big sam.do so much hardwork but cant get the support.until now we only spend a few millions. look at how man city get blanchi and west ham all the smaller clubs are spending so much this season and get alot decent players.just hope our current squad can be fighter for us. get their mentality right.i dont bother of many signing cuz in my opinion we failed last season is cuz of the mentality of the players i cant see them battling other than butt , martin, taylor.

• 36 bottlodog // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:08 PM

  Aye,Kash, up to a point. so why, when you say we can attract the right players, won’t they come ( BSAs comment – not mine )
  The whole MA bubble could easily go ‘pop’ on the first day of the season – why? because collectively we (the ‘Toon Army’) ran out of patience 2 seasons ago. We all keep saying “it’ll take time” but it’s difficult cos we all want it NOW. I want to stick 2 fingers up at the National ( london) Media and prove that we are a major force in Europeazn football but I want it yesterday

• 37 Rich // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:15 PM

  Chris Mort’s comment –

  ‘We wonmt be throwing silly money around’

  this concerns me slightly, if he means we wont be spending 15 million on Curtis Davies then i agree, but if he think he can get NUFC back to their best without having to pay extra to beat other clubs who are spend happy like the Hammers & Man City then that does concern me.

  i hope this comment didnt mean we are just going to concentrate on

• 38 Dave // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:17 PM

  roscoe – I read somewhere that Baines wants to move South rather than North, hence turning down the mackems. Something to do with family (hmmm) .

  I’d agree though, a timely and sizable bid, the chance to work with BSA and with a decent wage on top might capture him. I’d certainly feel alot better if he was on the books.

  What £ did Sunderland bid? I wonder if he was the mystery NUFC rejector?

• 39 Bosck // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:19 PM

  Steely i understand what you were saying now but i’d still take that comment to mean that he wants one top premiership experienced defender minimum to come in and then a couple other potentially less experienced players as well. but is just saying would be good to get more than 1 experienced player in.

  As for the SWP comment wasnt aimed at your post more at the people who seem to think swp would be our saviour in a position where we have as much cover, and possibly more potential, despite the fact that he has achieved as little/less than dyer and seems happy to get rich sitting on the bench at chelsea.

  Looking at current top premiership defenders that i feel are at the level we need it could be a big ask tho, realistically options would seem to be: hunt, knight, hyppia, riise, brown, O’shea, arca(at a push), campbell, Shorey, baines

  Seriously unlikely would be: upson, dawson, heinze, yobo

• 40 apan // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:42 PM

  CAMPBELL DROPS POMPEY QUIT HINT

  Sol Campbell says Portsmouth will not be his last club amid reported interest from Villarreal.

  NOW WE SHOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE TOO!

• 41 Dingo // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:45 PM

  @ bottlodog & kash

  you both have a points… kash- yes we want players here to play football and the infrastucture is great… we got the third biggest stadium in the country and good worldwide following and the rest….. but….. in bottlodog’s favour…. when for example Deco has been playing in Barca and enjoying his football as well as playing well, its conciveable that after the match he will go out into the Barcalonian night and visit great clubs, shag beautiful women and eat fantastic food. We just dont have that in Newcastle (top women though imo!! dont want to get flamed like Sheperd did!!!) and Deco knows it… i mean really can you see him moving? Places like Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Liverpool have a WAY more european feel than Newcastle does.

  Now… before you get on yer high horse and tell me I dont love the toon.. dont….. I am born n bred here as well (also ran a night club for 6 years in the town) and have a black n white heart but… the CITY of Newcastle does not have the infrastucture to match the clubs or that a 100k+ a week player desires… can you imagine Frank Lampard giving up China Whites in london for Liquid (the old Ritzy) or living it up in Baha beach club… maybe the Pig n Whistle???? its for this reason that Owen flys back to Liverpool all the time in his helicopter. Big players want to let thier hair down like multimilloinaires do.. in style and flambouyance.

  Get Ashley to spend some of his billions on the toon as well and we might start to attract the Galaticos that many supporters want.. When the ifrastucture of the toon meets that of the club we are in like flinn. agree?

• 42 Soren // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:52 PM

  apan – YES!!! If we could get Campbell it would be great! experienced and proven PL quality. I cross my fingers and legs for that we get Campbell.

• 43 david veitch // Jul 26, 2007 at 1:01 PM

  Ed I think you are right. We will need to do our homework and line up players in the January transfer window.
  Sam is well aware of our defensive weaknessess but will not lower his quality threshold.

• 44 toon 85 // Jul 26, 2007 at 1:04 PM

  Bottlodog – im with you. Even though we love this club, we have to be realistic. Why would players like deco want to come and play for us??

  Sam will get his men but even if he doesn’t, I would rather have our squad than west hams team of money grabbers any day!!

• 45 Craig Allen // Jul 26, 2007 at 1:06 PM

  With all this going on I still think we’re in a better position than last year pre-season with Viduka, Rohzendahl and Barton in Bramble out Big Sam & Mike Ashley in, Freddy out if we do a sub total qucikly I’d say we still better than last year.

  Was expecting cash to be flowing and players flocking (a bit optimistic at first yeah I admit) so am disappointed so little movement so close to the window closing with the current defence (who btw are still better than last season!)

  Looking forward to the game tonight! and anxiously to the remaining days of the window biting my nails hoping we manage to assemble a decent squad

• 46 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 1:27 PM

  Craig, I think you’re WAY wrong about our defence being better at the moment than last season….at least we had players then…even if they were numpties! At the minute, we have Taylor and Rozenhal which is good, but then after that we have youngsters in Huntingdon and Ramage, a liability in Babayaro, Carr who cant cut it, and Geremi who is essentialy DM. I must say that getting rid of Titus Bumble was the second biggest step forward this club has made so far (the first and most obvious being to get rid of FFS).

  Malasyian Youngster: “i hate MA and CM forever if we failed to shine this season”…a bit strong really! They do need a chance and we cant expect miracles to happen! Who’s to say that even if we signed 11 world class players that they would all gel together in the first season! I’d say next year is first year we can start to think seriously about breaking into the top six in consecutive seasons.

  And yeah, I’m looking forward to tonights match as well! I might be a glutton for punishment, but I really am looking forward to seeing what Luque might be able to pull out of the bag! I really do want him to succeed so badly and I hope it’s true that he’s been hampered by injury since he got here. Personally, whenever I have seen him he’s just looked like a complete and utter lazy tw@t who didn’t give a sh!t about being in black and white stripes, but who knows….can BSA really have such a strong influence on underachievers….any thoughts??

• 47 The Big P // Jul 26, 2007 at 1:42 PM

  Perhaps Fatty Fred left earlier than planned because of the lack of backing for Sam when players (Defenders) were available. NUFC have had a lack of a depth and quality at the back for sometime. Fatty Fred was behind each of the managers looking to strengthen the back four. Perhaps he has not quite seen the big picture, and maybe Sam had a word with Mr Mort about this ……. suddenly out of nowhere and despite assurances Fatty is out?? Noticeably after a significant lull in the transfer market.
  If this is the case we might see a change.

• 48 Cockney Magpie // Jul 26, 2007 at 1:49 PM

  jesus lads maybe people should just be supporters and SUPPORT the team, who cares what other fans think about our club? other than the “big four” no other club have been in the champs league as many times as us in the last 10 years so we have every right to regard our team as a big club, other clubs may laugh but they are only laughing because we are underachieving not because we think we are bigger than we are. I think every person who loves nufc is finding this pre-season just as stressful as the last few but we all need to have faith that BSA and the new board will take us back to where we belong. so shall we stop bitching at eachother and realise everybody here wants the same thing?

• 49 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:07 PM

  Cockney Magpie, it’s all good and well saying just SUPPORT the team, but what kind of supporters would we be if we didnt have opinions about the club and just sat back without letting our feelings known!
  We pay for the bloody club to exist through tickets and shirts so we have the right to make our feelings known. Come on, you cant say that we’re 100% ready for the season to start…so what’s the harm in having some banter over who we should be signing…relax a little…you’re a Newcastle Suuporter…why all the tension! lol

• 50 WelshWizard // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:14 PM

  Cockney Magpie – well said mate, fully agree with you….

  Dingo – i live and work all over the UK, currently in Leeds which doesn’t compare to Newcastle, i can only agree that London and Manchester are more appealing cities than Newcastle for these players to come to. All the other cities in England offer no more, London obviously cant be matched by anyone and Manchester just seems to get better and better but Newcastle is next for me …….

• 51 roscoe // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:18 PM

  Dave –

  family reasons… sounds very familiar!!

  Mackems bid 6-6.5 i think and wigan let him go for talks… but he obviously wasnt offered very good wages, probably not much more than at wigan. we can offer much better!! if that mystery 7mil was for baines then he would have come to the toon for talks already and be in black and white by now!!

• 52 Ryan A // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:36 PM

  Papers say that newcastle are preparing a bid for Ronaldhino for 58m pounds. Can someone confirm this?

• 53 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:39 PM

  What’s the date on the paper you’re reading Ryan?

• 54 AlexW // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:43 PM

  i think we should just shut the fcuk up and let big sam do his job, after all who are we to try and tell him who to sign i think we should just trust his judgment and by 31st august i am sure we will be looking at a decent side, with decent cover for decent players. after all we already have a hald decent squad as it is, just need some more cover so i think we should all get off big sams case, after all with all the trouble with the tranfer market as it is, big sam dosnt need a 50,000 people on his case telling him how to do his job……….

• 55 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:45 PM

  AlexW….calm down mate! Crikey! It’s not like we’re all going round his house and banging on his door with ideas! If you dont want to read other peoples suggestions, p!ss off to another site!!

• 56 AlexW // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:50 PM

  i like this site, and i like to hear other peoples suggestions, but nether the less we need to know our place, being supporters, so we should be supporting the club, i fink we should all just chill out and see what augest brings, but imagine if everyone on this site is stressed, its not compared to how big sam is feeling, but he knows what e is doing and i have the confidence in him to pull through with some great signings……..a lot of people are calling for baines, i like baines myself but if sam doesnt want him, which i think he doesnt has he has had plenty of time to sign him, then lets not get him, after all i bet he brings in4/5 players who noone expected so lets just wait and see

• 57 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 2:58 PM

  Alex, I think you’re right about bringing in players we weren’t expecting. Until all the Toon sites got hold of it, I had never even thought of Rozenahl being of the CBs to come here. Nor had I even contemplated Geremi being a Newcastle player this season…still, both pretty good signings!
  All I’m saying is, it’s good to have some healthy chat about who would or would not be good for the club.
  How much do you think Sam will end up spending by the end of the Tx window then?

• 58 Darren // Jul 26, 2007 at 3:53 PM

  Nice to see people getting on the boards back already, are we back in 1988 here?

  Have patience , their is 4 weeks of this window left yet and as I’ve said a million times………..

  ITS NOT F*&&^%G CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER YOU LOT ARE ON ABOUT

  Real life is a little more difficult.

• 59 AlexW // Jul 26, 2007 at 3:56 PM

  i think sam is going to spend at least another 15,000,000 but i have no idea who he will bring in

• 60 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:19 PM

  Is this not Championship Manager?!?!
  Shit, I’m in the wrong place! My bad!

• 61 Cockney Magpie // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:29 PM

  steely i have not got a problem with people having opinions my comments were mainly directed to the fella saying, why do we still think we are a big club and that other teams are laughing at us, that sort of talk just pisses me off lol

• 62 Cockney Magpie // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:33 PM

  and when i say SUPPORT the club i dont mean sit back and go for the ride i mean lets give them support, BSA is not going to go into the season unprepared no matter what the papers say that he has said he is one of the only great english managers and i just feel if he wasn’t the kind of man that is prepared for absolutely anything to happen he would not have come to newcastle because lets be honest we are no ordinary club when it comes to bad luck.

• 63 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:36 PM

  Cockney Magpie, I agree totally with you on that point. We are technically the biggest club in the EPL outside the Big Four, 3rd biggest stadium in EPL, arguably (but definitely in my opinion) and the most loyal fanbase in the country (which other supporters would come see their team week in week out when they hadnt won anything for as long as us?). I think THE main reason we arent getting players this season is because of the Europe issue. Dont forget that Owen’s get out clause only was valid this season because we didnt qualify for Europe…if we had done so, then none if the big issues would have arisen this Tx window.
  I dont know, perhaps some people just dont like Ant n Dec or Jimmy Nail?

  Lets Get Ready to (G)Rumble, that’s what I say! lol

• 64 Cockney Magpie // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:37 PM

  and plus if this was champ man we would b storming it im in 2010 n look at my team lol buffon/ gallas, carragher, taylor, richards/ duff, gerrard, ronaldinho, j.cole/ tevez, defoe /subs krul, huntingdon, beckham, martins, van nistelrooy/ only just won the league 4 the 1st time tho lol

• 65 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:41 PM

  Oh I reckon BSA has the players ready for the season….absolutely no doubt at all about that! I reckon they should be better prepared both mentally and physically than they will have been for many a year! I just hope we dont leave it till too late to fill the gaps.
  I PRAY TO GOD that “the problem” (i.e. LB) doesnt get left until last and then we end up signing some donkey to make sure we have cover! I’m sure BSA is on it already, but I really think we need 2 new LBs in…..Babayaro is a travesty and needs to be replaced asap!

• 66 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:44 PM

  Nice to see you kept Huntingdon in there for good measure! lol

  Good Ol’ Championship Manager….my fave is still LMA Manager on the PS1…what a classic! haha

• 67 Obafan // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:44 PM

  Yesterday a bit of hope, because BS and Mort said that they are going to bring defenders. Now again the sh*t about how difficult it is to bring players in. One of the reasons being the fact that we aren’t in Europe this season. Are West Ham, Middlesborough and Villa in Europe? They already signed good players. Okay, West Ham is throwing their money away, but Boro (Turkish internatinal) and Villa (Reo-Cocker) are on the good way. Man City is also pulling out a few good tranfers.

  And we??? Again our defence has to be rebuild before the season starts or otherwise we will have the same bad start as the past couple of years and then we can start to chase to clim in the top 10; loose 2 games fall to spot 14 and go on till the end of the season. And then again no UEFA Cup and the players for next year will not come again because we are again not in Europe.

  I think this is a weak excuse (not in Europe) that BS has. The second excuse about the board changes is a good one, cause before spending the money Mr. Ashley wants to be sure everything is in his hands. And that’s normal he does it that way.

  So will this continue; every day watching the news about the fact we will sign defenders and then saying they won’t come. Or will we put more efforts in to get good players.

• 68 Cockney Magpie // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:53 PM

  my fave is champ man 2 wen the team is Srnicek/ beresford, albert, howey, barton/ ginola, beardsley, lee, gillespie/ ferdinand and then i always buy uwe rosaler to partner him and ur unbeatable!! lolol and huntingdon gets really good on that game lol but on a serious note iv got a sneaky feeling inside that BSA is on the phone to reading as we very speak sorting out nicky shorey g

• 69 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:59 PM

  obafan. I reckon some money has been kept back during the sale of the club, but regardless of that it would have been very narrow-minded (and dangerous) for th club to have stopped all transfers while it was going ahead! There would have been funds available regardless of takeover or not. The fact we arent in Europe is surely the biggest reason we cant attract the players. If you’re using Villa and Man City as examples of clubs not in Europe getting players like Tuncay and Reo-Coker then you could put is in the bracket with any one of Barton, Geremi, Rozenhal and Viduka. It’s not that we cant attract good players, it’s that we cant attract VERY good players at the moment (unless we offer BIG bucks for wages – obviously something BSA and MA/CM are not keen on)

• 70 Steely // Jul 26, 2007 at 5:02 PM

  Fingers crossed on Shorey! It would certainly calm my nerves a little! I’m off home now….fingers crossed when I get back to comp tomorrow morning I will be able to say how happy I am that Luque has been MOTM and bagged a ‘trick! lol.
  3-2 to the Toon tonight! Not sure if Owen has been declared fit or not for tonight, but if he plays I reckon he gets a brace. If he dont play, expect one from Milner and Oba to get off the mark!
  COME ON THE TOON!!

• 71 Bosck // Jul 27, 2007 at 12:56 AM

  Bloody hell steely, you got any predictions for this weeks lottery numbers. Luque having a great game scoring a brace (ok not quite the hattrick but hey its good enough!!), oba and milner scoring, only thing you got wrong really was the score!! on that kind of form you should be able to get at least 4-5 numbers!!

• 72 Steely // Jul 27, 2007 at 8:23 AM

  lol….even I couldnt have imagined my Luque prophecy would have come anywhere near true! Not a bad game if I say so myself! Glad that Rozehnal had a good game as it calmed my nerves about the defence a little.
  The game was crying out for a Kieron Dyer type player in the second half though and I think it’s a real shame letting him go when the fitness of Emre and Barton is in the air. Hey ho, I trust ya judgment BSA!

• 73 valle // Jul 27, 2007 at 9:17 AM

  Darren:

  Its called Football manger 2007 now mate.

• 74 Cockney Magpie // Jul 27, 2007 at 7:44 PM

  valle championship manager and football manager are 2 different games lol