Craig

Give him a chance, he'll need some material first! (Imagine that'll be up shortly after the press conference, or the first game)

I don't doubt they're saying that but seriously, how the fuck do they know - are they stood over him as he's signing it??

I'm still glued to the office ceiling! I wonder how much of it was down to FF and Souey and how much was the hard work Shearer put it... Regardless of anything, Souness will always be the manager who brought Michael Owen to Newcastle United! Of the three super-signings I've seen in my time, this one is the cream of the crop. Keegan was coming to the end of his career and Shearer was effectively 'coming home'. Here we've signed the current best English centre-forward in his prime from under the noses of his dream team... I couldn't be happier!

He's already passed the medical - see above!

Cue thousands of instant sickies....!

Didn't someone say that when we signed Shearer, the final figure was actually nearer to £17.5m??

Just for a change, yeah?

So for: Butt Ambrose Robert Bellamy we've got: Parker Emre Luque Owen good dealings IMO, now all we need is Dirk Kuyt as a replacement for Pievert and it's been an awesome summer in the transfer market!

absolutely fuck all, and my boss is sat next to me and can see my screen.... oh, and he's a Liverpool fan!

It was requested and for the duration of today, I didn't see it doing any harm... I'll let it drop off tomorrow.

Agreed... As soon as I heard on the radio this morning that he was off back to Liverpool for more talks, my heart sank.... I'm still clinging onto the hope that we can pull this one off because if we can't, we are seriously in the smelly stuff! I hope to god Fat Fred has not put all his eggs in one basket for the second year running only to drop the fucker down his gold slacks!! If he has, I fear the ramifications in terms of fans reaction, but you can't help but understand why!

The one niggle that keeps biting away at me is that an interested club have to have the permission of the club who holds a player's registration before they can talk to him about a possible transfer. With that in mind, Madrid must have given Liverpool permission to speak to Owen - now generally that is by way of accepting a transfer bid which "we understand" Liverpool can't match or a loan agreement which "we understand" doesn't interest Real Madrid.... So why have they given permission?

I think the BBC are basing that presumption on the fact that the entire British press totally discounted the notion of him signing for Newcastle and have stood by that claim ever since... Now it seems more of a possibility that he might, they're standing by their claim in order to save face and hope to fuck it comes off! If he does sign for Newcastle, expect to see signs of a 'dramatic last minute change of heart' like some of the rags had to come up with when Shearer signed for us instead of Man Utd. I see people are making reference to the fact that Owen spoke to Liverpool first, but didn't Rooney talk to us before he spoke to Man Utd?

10% I think....

Sorry but I'm not taking this as gospel just because he's on holiday in Spain. People in Spain know as much as we do, ie. fuck all. Having said that I sincerely hope I'm left with egg on my face after saying this. 21003[/snapback] Same sentiments here.... But what confuses the fuck out of me is how comical Gol has found the whole 'Owen to Newcastle' saga - sure, he's always acknowledged that we'd made a bid but all of a sudden, he's deadly serious! I hope to fuck this isn't some wind-up on his behalf or I'm personally gonna drive up to Scunny and give the fucker a wedgie on his return!

Well an update from our friend in Spain last night via text: Owen and Kuyt WILL sign! Normally I wouldn't take this too seriously but knowing how much he's pissed himself laughing all summer everytime the words 'Owen' and 'Newcastle' have been mentioned in the same sentence, it does make me wonder.... Guess we'll know within 60 hours.....

Aren't you the very same Ugly Mackems who in the past in defence of Mssr Robert's abject performances has said that you should never judge a player one one idividual performance alone?

Dunno about anyone else but SGE's comments read to me that Michael Owen has to get out of Real Madrid if he has any ambition of playing for England next summer. Eriksson is crafty with his line of "If he plays as many games as he did last season Real Madrid, I will pick him." He knows fine well that as Madrid have signed two new big name strikers, Owen has very little chance of playing as much as last season! In my mind, the England coach is saying if the move to Liverpool doesn't happen, you have to go to Newcastle for the sake of your international ambitions.

Well the BBC were commenting this morning that Everton are concerned that ourselves and Celtic were interested in Moyes... Personally I'd have any of Moyes, O'Leary or Bruce in replacement of Souness should he go... But has been said earlier, Stuart Pearce would be my first choice - an ex-Newcastle player but it's his passion and enthusiasm which excites me. He literally does kick every ball and he's certainly got a huge chunk of Brian Clough in his style.... The best English manager in the Premiership by far IMO!

Aye but he has the missus with him!

Craig, do you know the name of the paper/magazine he got this from? From my time there I'd say there are 40% excellent ones, and 60% are crap. 20440[/snapback] Dunno mate, and as it's one in the morning over there, I think I'll leave it til tomorrow to find out!

If the claim was just coming from NUFC then I'd see where you're coming from Ritchie but Real have confirmed we've made the bid. I think the money is there and the very reason we haven't been 'flashing the cash' this summer is because they've been putting it to one side for a ridiculously high bid like this!

.....is that the offer on the table for Owen IS £18m AND........ there's already a £13m bid on the table for Kuyt!! And the word is that everyone in Spain is advising Owen to make the move to Tyneside rather than Merseyside. Source? A text message from our good friend Shearergol who's currently on holiday out there!

Does anyone know who'll get the no.99 shirt?

He's a clever lad that Shearergol.....managed that one all the way from Majorca as well!