Shear3r

Can't believe nobody has made the Kappa shout! I love the logo across the shoulders. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3ZQyzfrTujc/Sicz...appa+Kit-01.jpg It saves Fulham's Harrods Green away strip, slightly. Also agreed, our best strip was 1996 away. http://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/med...-boys-use_1.jpg

I saw Nile Ranger on the train down to King's Cross, via Durham, on Friday. He was enjoying a tin of Stella and a crunchie bar.

Won't get us another Andy Carroll, I can tell you. Not on the players these days, with their wages.

I'll take a punt on the grammar...

Another concern is how does this affect Alan Pardew's management and the team performances? 1) Is Pardew happy selling him for the money on offer, despite his incessant statement of "not for sale"? 2) Is it undermining his management selling him after these public statement? 3) If the above two are right, and Carroll leaves and Pardew is left with egg on his face (& without a number 9) how will that affect the players performances on the pitch?

I don't think he'll want to go, does that stand for anything in this? If he does go I think we'll have lost a player who shows the potential to emulate Alan Shearer's goalscoring exploits for us for many years... bad lolz. What will £35 million get you? or Andy Carroll....?

A fella in The Strawberry yesterday, before the match, was saying we're selling Carrol. Now I don't think we will, but he made an additional valid point which does make me a little nervous. That if we do sell, we'll do it on transfer deadline so Cashley doesn't have to spend the incomings.

eh? smudger smith is out for the season so we're already light in centre mid. tbh, ireland would almost certainly waltz into our starting 11 plus he brings a bit of creativity. why turn your nose up at an extra body that has undoubted quaity? he can pick a pass, beat a man and he's mobile. i'd rather him ahead of smith, guthrie, and the untried gosling. who cares that he's a bit of a bell end? Agreed, and wasn't Barton once a bit of a "bell end"???

I agree re: LW. A 'proper' one would be great although they're a rarity, especially as, effective as Barton is on the right, we aren't able to stretch sides with pace down that side of the field, so we need someone who can run at defenders to give us a different option. A Jonas-type but with a bit of end product would be nice. I'd keep Jonas as well though as he can play both wings. RW a far bigger priority in my eyes. We have Jonas and Ben Arfa for the left, Barton (for me personally) should be brought back into CM and with Routledge going we need a replacement.

You wanted to sign him permanently before you go all Mystic Keg True... but he'll still be on the wage bill representing the team, and be a part of the dressing room. The discussion whether we should sign him wasn't "would he be a good loan signing" or "would he be worth permanently signing" it was "would ireland be a good signing". Now we discussed this on a presumption it would be a transfer, but will be interesting to see if the rumour is true (and it is only a rumour) how it will be perceived.

I called this... will be interesting to see if opinions change now it's rumored.

According to Bobby Robson, Souness inherited "an Alladin's cave" when he took over the reigns. This was in regards to the squad Souness took over, briming with young, attacking talent. However Souness went about marking his stamp on the squad, selling so much quality in the likes of Bernard, Robert, Jenas, Dyer, Ambrose in order to replace it with Boumsong, Luque, Emre, Owen, in doing so inflicting lasting damage. But one player he quietly moved on was the consistent and versatile defender Aaron Hughes, for a palsy 1 million pounds to Aston Villa if I remember correctly. Now granted he is a tad older now, he is still quality; as shown when we played Fulham at the start of the season. His contract at Fulham runs till 2013, and I reckon he'd be available around the 3 million mark. His versatillity across the back four is exactly what we need now and personally I'd love to see him back at Newcastle. Anyone else think he'd be a fantastic signing...?

Doubt his wages are that much. Anyone have any idea? Free role in the middle, like Nolan? Surely that works for us? I'm a massive Nolan fan, infact I'd argue he is just, if not more valuable than Joey Barton at this moment in time, but we have nobody else who can play that central free role. He would be a worthwhile risk IMO.

On the back of thinking about Bent to Villa, I started thinking about Stephen Ireland... Houllier wants rid of him, supposedly on the same principles he wanted to sell Paul Ince when he took the reigns at Liverpool; he saw Ince as a senior play having a bad influence on the younger players. The arguement... Ireland showed at Man City that he is an extremely talented footballer, he was their Player of the Season a couple of years ago and at one point was mooted as Sir Alex's long-term replacement for Scholes at Man U (I think the figure banded around on BBC gossip was a fee of £20 million). Once City signed Robinho, to much of upset of many City fans Ireland was relegated to the bench to be used as an impact sub. Little playing time later and he was then sold to Villa as part of the Milner transfer. Now admittedly he hasn't being playing to the standards of his old form, but he is still young, with plenty premier league experience and I feel he could just be looking for someone to reignite his career. Personally I believe has the character to handle playing for Newcastle, although I accept he would have to settle as still being a bench-warmer, bar any injuries, if he recaptured his old form we would benefit hugely. He is rumoured to be available for transfer and I don't think Villa will demand a lot of money, thoughts on if he's worth the risk? For sake of this discussion I imagine he'd be available around the 4 million mark.

Ok we're never going to sell him considering we just bought him, but for the sake of the discussion I'd be disappointed if we sold Ben Arfa for anything less than 12 million. As for Jonas, we would be lucky to get somewhere near 5 million, granted he can take a player on but he offers diddly-squat in the final third. I admire he's work rate, and he seems a decent bloke but I'd be happy to see the back of him for nothing less than 5 million. Kevin Nolan I would just not sell, there is a lot of talk about our front six when Ben Arfa returns and where Nolan and Barton play... personally I think he is vitally important to our team. He is a big character in the dressing room, his work rate, consistency and experience are irreplaceable really. Highlighten here; http://www.premierleague.com/page/PlayerPerformanceIndex Where he is 8th best player according to their stats in the PL, joint with Carroll. And if you look at the stats for last season in the Championship he dominated it and came out top of the list. He may not catch the eye with blistering runs or skills but he is a very effective player. So, considering he's only 28 I wouldn't like to see him leave for anything less than 8 million. I always remember this as well, great technique! Looking at him you just wouldn't think he would have the skills. Utter hero! *chicken dance