New signings should be the priority for Newcastle.

Posted on August 17th, 2010 | 164 Comments |

Nolan: Fighting to be fit.
Nolan: Fighting to be fit.
The match at Manchester United last night had some positive and negative points, but one thing that was blatantly obvious is that the squad needs bolstering.

No matter which way you look at it, there is a desperate need for new faces to help out the squad. One look at the substitutes bench last night and my own concerns became apparent for all to see.

I have said all along that our first eleven should be good enough to stop up, but what about when we suffer injuries? We are experiencing some form of injury crisis now in fact, which isn’t helping the situation.

Peter Lovenkrands and Danny Guthrie missed out last night, as did Sol Campbell, Dan Gosling, Steven Taylor, Danny Simpson and Leon Best, plus there is Kevin Nolan who is now doubtful for the game against Aston Villa on Sunday.

Having that amount of first-team players out at the same time is always a worry, and while some of them will be back in action quicker than others it doesn’t negate the fact that on week one of the season we are already left with a threadbare squad.

If you looked at our bench last night you will see that it was full of players that, Ryan Taylor and Shola Ameobi aside, have not had much Premier League experience. Now I don’t mind them being on the bench, not one bit, but I don’t like the way they HAD to be on the bench as that is all we had.

The defencies were there for all to see last night. Granted it was Manchester United we were playing, and we still created a few chances, but the lack of any real pace or crativity is a major concern for me. Ben Arfa would have gone some way to solving those problems and would been ideal for us, but I very much doubt that is going to happen anymore.

Now Newcastle have just two weeks to bring in the required players to enable us to skirt around injury problems and loss of form etc, you know, the kind of things that just happen in football. Hughton may remain “very confident” of signing new players by deadline day, but all of that should have been done and dusted by now in my opinion.

Remind me, what was the bonus of getting promoted early? Headstart in the transfer market was it? Apparently not, and as we bear down on deadline day memories of previous transfer windows under this regime will no doubt be invoked.

New signings are a must!

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

Posted on by toonsy in category: Thoughts and reflections and Toonsy , with tags: , ,
Comment on this post

164 Responses

  1. I think the game provided a positive last night and it came in the form of Andy Carroll. Worked his socks off so he did. If Nolan is out, just get benny signed and we’ll be fine, lol.

  3. toonsy – You just hit the nail right on the head, mate!

    The advantage of being promoted early was that we could line all our ducks up in the transfer market – What’s happened?

    Either two things have happened:

    1) Hughtoin was told there was fck all to spend after he’d told us that we were going to get all our transfer deals done early due to our early promotion, or;

    2) Hughton was just talking shite and stringing us along with lies.

    Either he’s been shit on or we have.

  4. Ross – I agree. Carroll was excellent last night. More of that and he will be a real hindfull for most teams this season.

  5. Alot of time has passed as you say and although clubs may not have been willing to sell players you have to wonder what we have been doing. Saying that the markets slow and needs to kick off, why didnt we start it by getting what we need and putting others up for sale?

    I think I may be in a minority but I think CDM is the priority. I would actually like to see us buy Fer and Rios to play in front of the back four

    Harper
    S Taylor, Collo, Campbell, Enrique
    Fer Rios

    You could then have any 4 others making up the team. I think having a stable unit at the back will enable those further up the field to concentrate on finding the net. We need to play with the knowledge that although we may not score, we probably wont concede and can try and get at least a draw from games and pick up points.

    An outlay of 4million on Fer, 4million on Arfa, 2million on Rios would be a great use of 10million pounds, plus any offers for Smith and R Taylor should be used to put towards this IMHO

  6. Stu – I honestly don’t beleve he would lie. I think he got shat on, then that statement appeared. Remember at teh time, when he heard nothing about it?

  7. Although its a big step up, I dont think last night was a fair reflection of the league as a whole.

    What frustrates me is where we waste our effort against teams now out of our league, and then dont turn up against teams we could actually beat.

    They will have to get streetsmart and that includes the three amigo’s who again looked a little nieve last night in their loss of possession in dangerous areas. The season isnt like last, if you make a cock up against these teams you pay for it on the scoresheet.

    Ben Afra and a holding midfielder better than what we currently have, not bothered who, and we might be ok. Its gonna be a long hard slog tho. I dont expect us to turn over blackpool either.

  8. I don’t want to be negative but if it’s the same team that played last night against villa we are f**ked.surely Ashley isn’t stupid enough

  10. toonsy says:
    August 17, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    Aye, toonsy.

    Personally I think he will be the next to suffer from the Ashley hanging out to dry process.

    We know the guy likes a gamble.

    Makes me wonder if he really is setting this club up for a sale. Here’s hoping anyway.

  11. RAFFO you have hit it on the head 100% m8.

    we dont and cannot expect 50/60mil a moderate out-lay is all we needed, should have done weeks ago,we are on catch up already imo

  12. Well Petrov and Downing are pretty slow to be honest.

    There might be a chance Agbonlahor is still injured but he has played shit against us in the past. Carew is the one that really worries me because Colo’s main weakness is the physical. I thought the centre backs both read the game quite well last night but Villa will be all about crosses and Carew’s brute force.

  13. jus 2 or 3 signings will make all the difference marseille will let HBA come to us its jus gonna take time for it happen, 2 weeks left n am confident well get the players we need, fer and arfa would do me n id b happy, there is no point worrying in bout last nyt not every team is to the standard of manu

  14. all ash needs to do is free up say 7-9m and we would be a hell of a lot stronger imo.i think and hope the ben arfa deal will go through in time for the villa game.

  15. You have to wonder Stu – there are 2 wealthy Indians looking to buy Blackburn and give Spam 100million to spend, you have to wonder if his thoughts are on that a little. If Spam does get 100million to spend thats another club we couldve been competing with who could spend their way up the table.

    Ice – cheers mate, just seems like common sense to me. We all would like flair and pace up top but if we havent got a stable base to work from then theres no point. Back to the KK days where we score 4 but concede 5!!

  18. If Villa roll into town and score 3+ – 0. Do you guys think the Ashley owt chants will start again?

  19. DJG – don’t you think we will beat Blackpool? Or just that it won’t be easy? If we have a couple in by then and don’t win we will be doomed. But we did hammer them last season, so should be able to do it again.

  20. its only young n carew worry me bout villa i really dont rate downing n petrov is ok i think we will win

  21. I worry that the management team have sat down and said right wel get a few freebies in and see how it goes until January then we will spend in January.that’s what they did last year But if were bottom 3 by January u won’t get people like ben arfa looking to join

  22. Stuart, out of Downing and A Johnson from boro, I know who i’d rather have anyday of the week mate.

  23. I wouldn’t say Downing was fast. Compared to Nolan and Smudge yes. But not compared to Jose, Jonas and Routledge.

  24. got play 442 at home though, the sooner campbell is fit the better me he is gonna make a huge difference to our defence, id move colo to rb n hav campbell n williamson cbs

  25. WhoTheVuckicHaris

    I dont think it will be easy. Just ask Wigan. There isnt any easy games in this league, not now at the standard we have dropped to.

  26. DJG – I think he will probably get a stay of execution for a while, but if things havent gone well after 5 games of so then I can see it all starting again. The only reason it stopped last season was that we winning regularly

  27. Personally hope Nolan isnt fit and we can start with Guthrie in a 442 and Lovenkrands up front. And Ranger or Vuckic off the bench before Xisco please Chris.

  28. DJG, Blackpool won’t be easy but if we failed to win that at St James – most winnable fixture on paper – after fairly probable defeats to Villa and Wolves – I could see the morale crumbling.

  29. Its such a shame really but we are now in the condition where we have to keep this squad and manager together and try to add a few decent players. I dont think even if its going bad after say 10 games we are in a position where we can change managers anymore. The sticky plasters will have to be applied and we will just have to hope that they can pull it together.

  30. DAVY m8 doesnt really help us a lot which ever way we lay out the defence we havent got a decent d.m.to break the play up,we would find we are defending for 80% of the time imo,unless we are going to play hoof ball

  31. DJG says:
    August 17, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    Without a doubt. The hostilities are only on hold I think.

    The militia only need an excuse and Ashley being a tight fcker is as good an excuse as any.

  32. I think also we will need to have the best unwaivering support ever for the lads this season. No boo boys and ashley oot boys. Just support for the lads, I must say from what I heard through sky sports last night the support sounded top drawer even when we were 2-0 down and they were singing newcastle we love you. I think only support will help the players. And did you notice after ‘we support our local team’, the mancs sang, ‘sad geordie b###### with a s#### football team’, and Jonas beat the fullback and whipped it in were 2 players were waiting in the box. It flashed past the goal and they went quiet. lol. I think that will have got to our players that little ditty.

  33. Ice – Soz for delay, just walking the dog :)

    Re: Ben Arfa. Part of it is my gut feeling and the other part is press reports from the Chron, and the lack of them from France.

  34. I dunno about that blackburn owner stating he is giving fat sam 100 million to spend , didnt birmingham new owners say something similar? Didnt porstmouths owners say something similar? Didnt notts county owners say soemthin silimar? N before anyone says it yes Mike Ashley said something similar , so until fat sam gets the cash i wouldnt worry about it too much

  35. ashley is owa biggest threat of going down,the man is clueless,he will fk owa hughton in a heart beat,but everyone knows he is the problem..
    wor andy had a blinder last neet..

  36. think i alot of are over reacting to last nite, it was manu who scored 3 past chelsea last week yes we need players everyone knows that, but to say we are gonna get beat off villa n wolves n blackpool i think u goin over bored

  38. TOONSY thats a surprise YOU tak notice of the local shite rag,i might be wrong but have they got 1 thing right this year,i trust your your gut feeling like,my gut says it will,battle of guts eh

  42. Although having said that, I have just read somewhere that Ben Arfa talks are back on between the two clubs and it should be sorted by Weds/Thurs ;)

  43. ben arfa will happen he still aint training with OM n they wont convince him to stay, the fact he came to the toon over the weekend we will hav spoke to him, OM are the ones holding this deal up, dassier has said there will b answer today or tomorro on whats gonna happen

  45. Davy – You are right. Carroll impressed me a lot last night. Not just the fact that he roughed up their defence, but because of his willingness to run and chase things.

  47. hey, im new on here, thought id say a quick hi.
    been following the ben arfa deal since it began, i really hope this happens as we really need pace and creativity which was evident we didnt have last night…BUT im starting to think AC Milan are guna snap him up…could this be possible or just paper talk?

  49. I thought there were positives last nyt, i think if we can get hba in behind carroll n a proper dm we will be ok, perch had a bit of mare but i also think u gotta look at the reason he did nani didnt actually giv him much trouble one on one it was his postionin that was the trouble kept getting dragged into the cb area which left us exposed at rb but he was being dragged into the middle because he picking up the runners from midfield that are midfielders shud of been picking up

  51. French football expert on talk sport said it’s almost certain that ben arfa will join us but other clubs are sniffing around also mentioned he’s on massive wages.he says it will be decided in nxt 48 hours. said he personally thinks he’s a Newcastle player.here’s hoping.

  53. lets hope so,waddles seems to think it on so thats good enough for me.really hope its a permanent move too.i agree we do need a good dm aswell.smith is way too reckless

  56. The biggest worry was that it took Hughton 70 minutes to realise we were carrying Nolan as a passenger, whether through injury or playing badly, the fact he took so long to address it left us one man down for most of the game. I never thought i would be pleased to see Shola on the pitch but he did more in ten minutes than Nolan all game, on the same subject, Smith was given a good write up by the Journal and i am gobsmacked with that one, he was minging.
    I hope Hughton proves me wrong in this transfer window but if we were going to sign quality, it would have been here by now.

  58. the chronicle seems to think any deal for ben arfa is highly unlikely,and the club will concentrate it’s efforts elsewhere.

  59. Does anyone think this Ac/Inter Milan thing is not just their Moles trying to drum up some final interest before they concede to defeat next 48 hours and let us tie it up. Im not stupid enough to think we havent allready offered him a big money deal for this season and thats why he wants to come here.

  60. just a gut feeling and the fact what @51 says with french footie expert saying he thinks he is newcastle player

  61. i take what the chronicle and journal say with a pinch of salt nowadays as they hav no info from the club anymore jus like us its all guess work

  62. ”the chronicle seems to think any deal for ben arfa is highly unlikely”

    If the ronnie gill says its off we should all celebrate his arrival in next 48 hours. What does Lee Ryder know sitting in the Groat market writing crap.

  63. our local rags are worse than the mail,they know nowt,always dragging the gutter,they are 24hrs behind the real storeys

  64. I like when they actually get something right and they have a little picture of the paper the rumour was in.Saying ‘you got it here first’. But for how many rumours do they actually get something right 1 in 10 maybe being generous. There’s no investigative journalism at the chronicle they just go off the same web rumours as us most of the time.

  65. Anyone watching SSN? That Motherwell gadgie is getting all radge and is vowing to send Cardiff into admin 8O

    Couldn’t happen to a more appropriate bunch of fans!

  66. When have the chronicle ever known anything?they talk so much sh**e.there’s been nothing in the French press to say he’s not coming just that marseille want to speak to him.

  67. TOONSY aye m8 i am,and i agree with you.

    might mean we will get whittingham on the cheap £175.000 lol

  68. If we do sign him the chronicle will have a picture of the paper from as far back as possible that mentions him and will totally say nowt about their about turn. Mark my word thats what will happen, pile of poo rag.

  71. TOONSY as i said y/day the romours that the “third” party ownership of rios is holding up a deal for him,heard owt ?

  74. cheers toonsy, glad to be onboard…i hope this ac milan thing dont happen and arfa is a toon player…fur looks pretty good as well.

  75. We’ll probably sign someone the press haven’t even mentioned – Someone like Brett Ormnrod from Blackers!

  78. pretty sure that kpb is on his way to milan so hopefully nowt in the rumour of wor hatem going there,some french foot expert was on radio the day saying that hba is 99per cent toon player from what i pick up so i think there will be an announcement one way or another maybe tonite or tommorow.would be class if he was to make his debut at weekend in our 1st game of season and had a blinder.instant hero!

  79. 17 Aug 2010 15:31:52
    Another two clubs to throw their hat into the Loic Remy saga are Newcastle United and Sevilla. These two teams face tough competition from Tottenham, Liverpool, Stoke and Hoffenheim to land the £12.5 million rated forward who plays for OCG Nice.

    Would be the wow signing we all crave wouldnt it?!?!

  82. just been on la provence website (l’om paper) and they convinced that om are about to sign gignac for 16me also there is a piece about how om could cancel hba contract and nufc can pay up to om the remainder.they seem to think that he is 99per cent coming to the toon

  83. That would be some signing! But even if MA was willing to spend that i dont think he’d come

  84. lol Ice – no way at all it would happen!!!

    Heres another rumour posted

    17 Aug 2010 14:48:35
    Newcastle news:

    Ins:
    Ezquesiquel Lavezzi – loan (unlikely)
    Yannick Djalo – 6m (possible)
    Kevin Prince Boateng – 4m (possible)
    Leroy Fer – 3m (likely)
    Edigio Arevalo – 2m (likely)
    Hatem Ben Arfa – 5m (likely)
    James Perch – 1.5m (done)
    Dan Gosling – free (done)
    Sol Campbell – free (done)

    Outs:
    Alan Smith – loan (unlikely)
    Fraser Forster – loan (likely)
    Xisco – 2m (likely)

  85. Hope you lot are right and the Ben Arfa deal goes through. After seeing that game we need something extra.

    Don’t get the doom merchants around. It was Man U!!
    One of the best in Europe not just England. Sure we only conceded the same as Chelsea. Only a few others teams like that to worry about in the league the rest we can take on. Come on the toon!!

  86. To be fair I would take Fer, Boateng and Arfa. Lavezzi on loan perhaps, but I cant see cashley spending more than 5 million, esp if we can recoup some of that with a sale or two

  88. After having time to reflect on last night-

    Smith was a passenger/liability in midfield – always a yard off the pace and too quick to dive in and concede free kicks around the box.

    Nolan struggled to make an impact in a stretched looking field, doesn’t have the mobility to play that role in behind carroll. When jonas did get forward there was only a heavily marked carroll to find.. no chance.

    Perch was fine for a debut, in fact defensively our problems started in midfield – and apart from enrique we were pretty reasonable.

    We had lost the battle mentally before kick off, so always gonna be a toughie.

    Reinforcements needed – surely up front, and tucked in behind carroll. Until then we should be starting with Shola as the most tried and tested finisher in the squad.

  89. lol Ice meant to write Arevalo! I wouldve had KPB but there you go. As mentioned earlier the Fer + Arevalo partnership is what I think we need

  90. RAFFO we def need some quick yes i would take those two,

    could do with a ashley,fan partnership as well m8,cannot see that happening either,lets hope for a shock :)

  91. I didnt think Arevalo was that good tbh, getting on a bit too, Fer is awesome though.

    Btw i’m growing a moustache (and goatee) until we win too, any takers?

  94. Yup Badger I am with you on that score, not sure how happy the wife will be but hey ho!!

    Ice – would be nice wouldnt it but can see that happening either. It will be interesting to see how long before we are linked with a sale of the club to someone now we are back in the EPL. I suspect as soon as the window shuts he could do his usual trick!!

  95. cant believe we didnt go all out for bellers and now he’s in ccc,maybe we have bigger fish awaiting ash’s frying pan? would love to think so.think hba is almost certain to be signed,feel it im my bones that he will make debut v villa,but we do need a rios/fer type of enforcer.also think that lb isnt too important coz we have kadar and perch to cover there,though perch worries me greatly thus far but he needs time.a striker would be a huge bonus and cant see it.but hba and rios/fer would be great.just getting so so sick of waiting for something,we have had all summer to do this,i understand that om have been arsing us about but we could of strengthened elswhere in mean time?

  96. We have the basis of a good squad developing, just need maybe 3 top players to come in. No good getting promoted and not add some top players, will go straight back down. Plus who wants to stuggle for 16th 17th place lol. Not me.

  100. just listened to the french reporter on talksport n he seems pretty sure ben arfa will sign for us, n he reckons he is gonna be on massive wages wen he signs, was talking him up like saying he is miles better than nasri and benzema he said if signs it would be like having a super robert

  101. Yeah the missus hates mine too Raffo

    icedog-i know hes a tight arse, but surely that extra 2 mil for a player we know will progress – no brainer even ashley should see that

  102. http://www.om.net at 18.30 will be interview with deschamps and he is going to reveal what is happening with hatem.lets hope its good news for us eh? would tie in with waddles saying that om have given hatem the thumbs up to come,anybody speak french? its a live tv interview

  104. davy,

    He must be foo###g class mate look at his record and now a french international, 3 years clairfontaine aswell, thats like the holy grail. He came on for france and scored a screamer after 3mins! I hope we get him so much coz a player like this can lift everybody and add swagger and confidence to the whole squad. We havent had a majic player since Viduka and he was lazy. This guy would be so much better.

  105. At 18:30 today is going to be an interview with Deschamps and he is going to tell everything about the situation of Ben Arfa

  106. Massive wages? Doesn’t sound like Newcastle.

    I have heard he is anywhere between £25,000 and £52,000 a week at Marseille (‘Marseilles’ for the clueless ;) ) but it depends which report is to be believed. Probably none :)

  107. think it will be french time,not sure the difference on the riveira like,could be 17.30 here

  108. maybe ashley is waiting to see how c.h.goes because to me 50% of his signings are a bit iffy,best,perch,simpson,young yes good enough remains to be seen for me,then again it depends on which pitch you want to bat on imo

  110. Anyone see the vid of him “causing trouble” at Clairefonatine?

    I’ll try and find it.

  111. I’m in two minds about bellend. Good pace, but not much else. His attitude is second rate too. Why do you think he’s gone to cardiff and not a pl team? No one wants him! Personally I would have liked to see us sign Jones from the scumderland but he went to stoke.

  114. Fcuk me still nowt on Benny boy, Last night with nearly half a dozen players missing showed we have a base to build on we just need a bit of tweaking and we still have the chuckle brothers struggling to locate their own arses with both hands… :roll:

  116. Completely toonsy, looks like Diaby was the one being the dick, plus he was half the size, good for him for standing up to him I say.
    But at the end of the day look at them, they were kids man. If anyone uses such videos to legitimise saying either are ‘trouble makers’ then they are idiots!

  117. Cardiff are facing a winding up order! We should put in a bid for Whittingham at least then we might have a winger that can cross tthe ball for Andy!

  118. Maybe, just maybe Bellers has gone to Cardiff for a couple of reasons. He is a supporter and his family live there. Man Shitty wont allow him to go to another top 4 prem team and if they will pay him 95k a week to play for the team he supports and he can be at home with his young family then I dont blame him

  122. CC dechamps saying he thinks benny will move on and they will have to find another striker quickly blah blah

  124. Imagine if Joey Barton was responsible for bringing back the tash! Suppose it would have to be a scouser like.

  125. Perch doesnt look like a world beater and he wont be regular when the injuries clear up but does he warrant this:-

    james_perch_is_a_premiership_player

    Also when did Hughton use Best every week to justfy his signing, He rarely got a kick because of Carroll and Lovers form and Hughtons preference to Shola and Nolan, Shite website, Piss poorly reserched…

  126. Not being a wet blanket here,but do u all seriously think we can win Aston Villa???

    I reckon,our first win will start rolling from Accrington game(25 August)till Sept 26,Stoke City.

    Then we MIGHT lose big against Man city(Oct 3)…and win our remaining October Matches,which includes Wigan,West Ham,and Of course the Mackems.

    We must be prepared for a bad period during Nov and Dec.

    Then come Jan,let’s Hope CH is still around,and let’s “splash” Money again.

    Total points till Jan: 29points?? Draw with Birmingham,BlackBurn.

    So 29points till Jan good enough??? ;)

  127. if we get benny he will play a couple games and get injured,thats our luck.

    ime a happy soul me :)

  128. I’m not too concerned about AC,they were linked wi Ben Arfa before we were then said he wasnt what they were looking for so could just be a re-hashed old story and as I said earlier I doubt Huntelaar would go to L’OM if they wanted to use him as part of the deal.

  129. AoD……….on paper no but just have a gut feeling we’ll beat them….no logic just a feeling.

  130. Rich

    You better not go on to Eds and use logic like that you’d blow their fecking minds… ;)

  131. RICHIETOON hes already said he doesnt want to go to italy,or germany,if reports are to be belived like m8

  132. he’s coming here ice.I’ve just been talking to him he said summat about going to see Diaby about some unfinished business???!!!……then he’d be coming over ;-)

  134. Toonsy I love yer pic caption “Nolan fighting to be fit”
    Didn’t think it would take more than a year :) wonder if anyone has suggested to him to try dieting or even just cut out the pies ;)

  136. Rich, Well….i am doing what CH says by categorising those matches that are possible to win,and i do put Everton as one of them.

    And also, i done some simple calculation and found out we garnered 22points till Jan in our relegation season.

    So if 29points is met,i think is quite good. But Nov And Dec period,is OMG~~~High possible in losing lots of matches.

  137. AoD…..it’s scary when you look at the fixture list….the last 7 games have a couple you’d be looking to take points from then you look at some of the others and think oh f***!!

  138. To completely change the subject since I’m starting to get completely sick of this HBA saga, shouldn’t the club be bringing in some more coaches?? We obviously need some attack-minded coaches for the first team, and who is the academy coach now?

  140. Oh yeah, Joe Joyce is still the academy coach. Had to check to be reminded. Who could we bring in to help the lads with just holding the ball in the opposition half?? CAN we get anybody to help do that? Will Ashley spend the money on it?

  142. Rich here’s how i think we can get 29points by Jan~~

    Wolverhampton(WIN) Man City(LOST/Big Margin possible)

    BlackPool(WIN) Wigan(WIN)

    Everton(WIN) West Ham(WIN)

    Stoke City(WIN) Sunderland(MUST WIN)

    Arsenal(LOST) BlackBurn(Draw)

    Fulham(LOST) Bolton(WIN)

    Chelsea(LOST/Big Margin possible) WBA(WIN)

    Liverpool(LOST) Bringmiham(Draw)

    Man City(LOST) Spurs(LOST)

    ;) ;) ;) ;)

  143. AoD……..heres hoping,for now I’m just looking forward to going to the match on Sunday :-)

  145. AoD, here’s hoping we can win that many games before Jan. I honestly think that there will be more draws in there with Everton, West Ham, and even mackems unfortunately.

  146. @AndrewT: hmm,judging from above,it might seems there are many wins.

    But if you put the dates and month in,you will know that from Nov-Dec, i predict we will only get 4points out of the 10matches. :(

    So what i hope is that,we shall be prepared for that dark period ahead. hahahas.

  147. Hopefully the boys can manage it when we start losing a few games in a row. If we get the right kind of players in within the next couple weeks, we have a much better chance of beating more of those teams until Jan. But if things stay the way we are, and our history of injuries, I see us losing a lot more points.

  148. just read on l’equipe the marseille president is basically saying he can join newcastle and he’s told newcastle the minimun they would accept bt we havnt bid yet, he says ive told them the minimun because i dont want to break his career, so maybe we are holding the deal up and not marseille

  149. Assuming ,he’s telling the truth GeordieT……..he has lied before in this saga.Surely there’s no such thing as a minimum but just an asking price. ;-)

  150. also Loic remy is close to joining Marseille along with Gignac as Ben arfa is joining newcastle imminently.. according to Canal+

  151. RICHIETOON seems strange m8 benny has already said toon agreed to pay what om asked for then said no,thats why he came over to toon to push it through,dont trust the french t@@ts

  152. i suppose he is just saying look we want 8million knowing tht we wont pay it and saying tht is the minimun i can take, and then he can say to geordie arfa tht we didnt want to pay the fee and he will knock him out as he seems to like fighting and buy his contract out and come to us anyways :]

  153. Anaa, well mate av read tht the deal is basically complete on one thing and on another he’s saying we still havnt offered, so yna wtf do we believe just cant wait for it to be over a done with lol also would love to sign Fer and perhaps Rios anall get rid of Smith,R.Taylor,Guthrie and Nolan(if only)

  155. a just dont rate him never have and never will, a think he’s very wasteful with the ball doesnt hopd his position enough got an awful delivery from corners 90% of the time hits first man, few games last season a thought maybe im wrong maybe he is a good player bt a just cant get away with him, squad player if we had to keep him then aye but if we needed to make money like we do then ad sell him

  159. a half fit sol would of done better than colo the defence is the same as always shite teams will lookforword 2 playing the toon get rid of smith and nolan they r 2 slow and past it need a striker defencive m/f corative m/f

  163. Aye,I play football just like a Charlton………..er I mean I have the hair of a Charlton :-)