Matty

Richardson is fuckin' shit anyway. No where near better than Milner with the attitude of a world beater. Twat.

Greg Halford from Reading for £3.5m.

Is at our training ground today, SSN are showing. Of course it's Mike Ashley. So from the chairman with SSN and Jim White on his speed dial, we apparently have the most illusive man in football.

Babayaro is anything but inconsistent tbh! He's always shite!

Stephen Carr next please.

Looks quite hypnotizing, like something Ashley might put out on the shares letter.... "Sell me your shares, I'm a good man, sell me your shares...."

1862 on a summers afternoon!

Slaven gutted by Viduka defection Former Middlesbrough star Bernie Slaven is as devastated by Mark Viduka's defection to Newcastle as he was by Mo Johnston's mould-breaking transfer to Rangers. Boro manager Gareth Southgate's summer rebuilding plans were thrown into turmoil when the 31-year-old Australian signed for the Magpies after rejecting a contract extension at the Riverside Stadium. "Losing him (Viduka) would have been disappointing anyway, but losing him to our north-east rivals, as a Boro fan, I am absolutely gutted," said Slaven. "I was brought up in Glasgow as a Celtic fan and the last time I felt like this was when Mo Johnston had posed with a Celtic shirt and then ended up going to Rangers." He added: "There was chaos in Glasgow at the time. There maybe won't be the same level of feeling at Boro, but it is hard to take when one of your top players is taken by one of your biggest rivals. "It's bad enough losing him, but him going just up the road is gut-wrenching." As Sam Allardyce finally got his hands on a man his predecessor Glenn Roeder had been trailing for a year, Southgate was facing the task of replacing his leading scorer, with the emotions of his club's fans in stark contrast to those of their counterparts a few miles up the A19. Boro insist they made Viduka an "outstanding" offer to stay put, and Slaven does not relish Southgate's task in replacing a man whose retention he believes would have been as significant as the £7million capture of Real Madrid defender Jonathan Woodgate. He said: "Getting Woodgate was fantastic, but getting Viduka would have been just as good for me. "He will be a big loss because he is a smashing player. He's got a presence, an exceptional first touch, he scores goals, makes goals. "He is one hell of a player and I do not know how we are going to replace him."

It's not an agent apparantly.

And me too! Sort it out people!

Yes for me.

You do have to pay....but you don't have to go, as they don't matter at all. I'd happily lose every pre-season game 5-0 as long as we won our first game of the season.

It's a testimonial. A tribute match to OUR player. Celtic were invited to play in this game. Clearly normal rules were not going to apply. For example : - Shearer was subsituted after 5 seconds then came back on at the end - Several players who don't play for us, played that night. As for a slagging match, well if your supporters really want to take this sort of game so seriously and then get upset about "losing" then that's really your problem. Oh yeah, and Luque scored! And that wasn't staged!

Are you for real? Typical of Celtic to take that game, and the Beardsley one, so seriously. I guess you have to when your league is so shite.

I missed all of this! Someone must still have it!

I pissed myself after that voiceover bit. "I don't know the word "can't". Was another classic quote! And that poem thing he gave to the woman when she left.... you can imagine him reading that to the players at half time with them all having confused looks on their faces wondering what the fuck he is on about!

Apaarantly they were just dancing and singing and Emily just said it from a line of a song... Obviously not the best line to use,but clearly it wasn't meant to offend.

Chuffed? So happy to see that ya can't keep her satisfied?

<----------- Clearly can't wait to get his new Toon kit on.

Excellent news!

Better than Carr. And I've never seen the lad play.

My season ticket. £482 worse off now!

I blame the Asians.

Cold War Kids - Saint John

Nodding In Approval At Allardyce... Posted 05/06/07 If Sam Allardyce can get Tal Ben Haim, Mark Viduka and Joey Barton in at Newcastle United for the grand total of £5.5m - and add Sol Campbell for not much more - he will already have done a better summer's business for the Toon than any of his previous five predecessors ever managed. Add to that a few quid spent on two new full-backs (Leighton Baines will surely beg for a move after T*tf**k Bumble's arrival at Wigan) and Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins being persuaded to stay put for at least another season, and you start to believe that Newcastle are ready to join the likes of Tottenham and Everton in that second tier of Premiership clubs. Allardyce inherited a Newcastle squad stronger than the Bolton one he twice led to UEFA Cup qualification - it's just that this one is beset with the typical twin Toon evils of injury and general disaffection. Whatever Big Sam's limitations tactically, he is untouchable in terms of ensuring players are fit and happy. If you can keep El-Hadji Diouf and Nic Anelka quiet and relatively content, then what problems could Oba Martins and Kieron Dyer possibly pose? Of course, Joey Barton is a different proposition. Journalists talk of 'discipline problems' but fans talk of 'loose screws'. Can Allardyce change him? Who knows, but sometimes the kid at school who attacks another kid with a brick just needs a change of school and a change of approach. If he can rehabilitate him, and that risk comes at just £5.5m, then it could well be the bargain of the summer. Espcially if they get £8m for Scott Parker, a player no better and probably less motivated than Barton. But even at £5.5m, and assuming you're getting Barton the player rather than Barton the thug, he might not be Allardyce's best move of the summer. For reasons unbeknownst to anyone, Newcastle's only top-quality centre-half of the last ten years has been Jonathan Woodgate, and he was made of balsa wood. Kevin Keegan ignored the issue, Graeme Souness spent £8m on Jean-Alain Boumsong. For some reason it's been considered un-Newcastle to have a decent defence. Change that ridiculous tradition and you solve the majority of the Toon's problems in one fell swoop. You need only look at Portsmouth's achievements last season - without a great deal of flair and no strikers worthy of the name - to see what an almost rock-solid defensive back five can achieve. Newcastle's forward players are in a different class to Pompey's. Add in Allardyce targets Campbell and Ben Haim and you get a line-up that immediately looks so much stronger than either side last season. Nolberto Solano, James Milner, Emre, Nicky Butt, Damien Duff, Kieron Dyer, Owen, Martins, Shola Ameobi - it's hardly a poor selection of options, is it? The free transfer signing of Viduka would also be something of a coup. When he looks like he can be arsed, the Australian is still one of the sharpest strikers in the Premiership. Sam's nutritional expert only has to keep him off the stotties. Hopefully for Toon fans, Allardyce's reign will bring about a new era of sensible spending, ending the days of ill-fated PR-boosting, season ticket-selling chases for the likes of (The Real) Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, £9.5m moves for unproven 'stars' like Alberto Luque and Hugo Viana and cheap, low-quality defensive reinforcements. It does not take a genius to see what Allardyce needed to do this summer - buy a new defence and bring in players with proven Premiership pedigree. He didn't need to make headlines, but rather steady the ship. Barton might not fit into that no-risk strategy, but he is still a very good Premiership player whose commitment on the field is rarely in question. Basically, his temper has made him three million quid cheaper than he could be. Sam presumably believes that's one risk worth taking. As long as he doesn't take too many more, he'll have something of a Toon revival on his hands... Sarah Winterburn