Craig

I'd be happy to see a quality wide player arrive....

The fact that Leeds have been given a stupidly incomparable punishment has made the West Ham thing totally ridiculous. There's no consistency from one club to the next and it's totally and utterly wrong. Leeds have been punished for exercising a loop-hole. West Ham have escaped punishment despite breaking strict rules. I don't blame the clubs in this, and for what it's worth i don't think it's geographically driven either - it's down to the league bodies and indicative of a need for the football league to be running ALL English leagues.

Ho'way, we weren't that bad......

Thing is though, they have to run with a really unbelievable line otherwise people would think its for real...

Haven't you nicked that image of the internet???

All the best Luke, hope it all goes well

Seconded... Someone who is sadly missed around here and always posts it as it is....

Jesus christ, I'm leaving the country if we ever buy Malbranque.... Didn't someone photoshop an image of Smith in the Newcastle kit back then?

this man cannot write to save his life. god knows how he's clung on to his job for so long Well they say things happen in 3s... Roeder's gone, Shepherd's gone....... Please let it be a hat-trick

Due to a request from an individual at the piss up last weekend, thought it was about time that Morph was brought out of retirement and thanks to the skills of Mr M4, he's adorning the new home strip.... Those boots look familar though, now where have I seen those before?

You'll do anything to stop reaching 20,000 posts.... Expect 'Turd Ferguson' to be posting away Monday morning

If there's one good thing to come out of this, it's Shola's suddenly enhanced reputation. He'll be loving it. Fickle attitude of some Newcastle fans is unreal... 2/3 months ago Shola was shiter than shite! Now suddenly he's considerably better than Alan Smith??

What have you got against him to warrant that sort of reaction? Nothing other than an allergic reaction to mediocrity that's had me sneezing since Sir Bobby left. It's just poor business in my opinion if the 6 mill figure is correct. Where will he play? I'd have Owen, Viduka, Martins, Ameobi before him, and most of the midfield ahead of him. 6m for a squad player with a knackered leg and a shite haircut =/ Where's the unheard of cheap foreigner Sam like that Teymourian, he looked proper handy towards the end of last season. Aye you've got a point there like...... What do you suggest? We send him down the barbers first??

I'm guessing the money for a LB will still be available and that we're just offloading the wonga we'll be getting for Dyer...

He's a better striker, without a doubt. But IMO, Smith is better in attacking midfield which I think this purchase is going to be predominately for. I think it's all academic anyway...

Depends if we're looking at it from a 'player v player' or 'who will fit better into our setup' point of view. If it's the former, then it's Eidur by a country mile, but Smith offers more diversity and if this is a replacement for Dyer, you have to say that he's the more obvious choice. Gudjohnsen would be brought in as a striker and we have to consider that we already have Owen, Martins, Shola, Luque, Carroll whereas I think Smith would play very effective just behind the front two - especially if he has Barton alongside him. I don't know where this negative perception of Alan Smith has come from - up until his leg break at Anfield, he was considered as being awesome. Since he's been out, Man Utd have moved on, bought Hargreaves, Carrick, etc and he hasn't had a look in - hardly his fault!! Compare him with Dyer and I'd have Smith every time.

Said he'll be replaced tomorrow no less! That was actually a pretty good post-match interview: - Minimum of 3, maximum of 4 players needed - We are strong in every area but defence - Problems over signings have been the lack of European football - the quality of player he's been looking at wanted Europe and could get it elsewhere - No problems with not getting money ("Everything's fine"). Him and Mort are working together on the signings that need to be made and they hope to "win the battle because it needs to be won". For those that missed it. Class stuff! Wait for all the pessimists to say he should have come out with this info before now...

Being a broke student I do often illegally download music if it's single tracks or albums if it's by a big artist but if it's a smaller, less well known artist then I'll pay for it. It's double standards I know and if it means I'm 'up my own arse' then so be it. I wasn't referring to you specifically, because you have explained that the music you want isn't available from other sources. More of a generalization of people who pay to download all of their tunes. So what is wrong with people paying for things they're supposed to pay for? I don't think it's socially accepted that music nowadays is totally free. Really?? Well it is. Are you serious? Erm....... it most definitely is not!

You can't believe that some people want to avoid breaking the law? I did anticipate this kind of response from somebody. Laughable tbf Why is that? Problem here is that not only are you making a stupid comment but you also made an assumption about someone's intentions and implied they were stupid too... Ridiculous. Because illegally downloading music is such a widespread thing that it's a socially acceptable law to break, so therefore I DO find it hard to believe that a small section of 'up their own arsers' opt to pay for MP3s that are often readily available for nothing. Ridiculous. Just as well honest people exist though, isn't it? Aye. These people probably get their cars restricted to 70MPH because that's the maximum speed limit in this country and doing 72 on a motorway at night is a naughty immoral no-no. Aye, because theft and slightly speeding are exactly the same thing. What do you think would happen to the music industry if no-one paid for music? Precisely!!! I bet he's the type of bloke who justfies his actions by claiming that music and video costs too much anyway...

You can't believe that some people want to avoid breaking the law? I did anticipate this kind of response from somebody. Laughable tbf Why is that? Problem here is that not only are you making a stupid comment but you also made an assumption about someone's intentions and implied they were stupid too... Ridiculous. Because illegally downloading music is such a widespread thing that it's a socially acceptable law to break, so therefore I DO find it hard to believe that a small section of 'up their own arsers' opt to pay for MP3s that are often readily available for nothing. Ridiculous. So observing the law these days is seen as 'being up your own arse'??? And people wonder where the problems lie with society...

You can't believe that some people want to avoid breaking the law? I did anticipate this kind of response from somebody. Laughable tbf Why?

You can't believe that some people want to avoid breaking the law?

See, I don't disagree with that, but you have to ask questions when you see the likes of Spurs and West Ham picking up players who would be better than what we've got. Are you saying that they're finding it easier to conduct transfers? The lure of London is huge imo, so I reckon it is definitely easier for them than us. If you're a 20-something lad who is currently, or will very soon be a millionaire, you want to live in a swanky pad in London, not Darras Hall or the Quayside. I should have said Man City So basically, we're fucked until we get European football, which isn't looking too likely for a couple of years. Man City are hardly pissing money down the drain though, are they?? We've bought more than them!

My belief is that our situation is being complicated by the fact that we're in the process of a strategic review. As I said yesterday, maybe some will argue that it is not the right time to perform such a review, but when is?? Surely if we did it mid-season we'd be risking upsetting the progress of the season, potentially writing it off anyway and if we leave it 12 months then we're just where we are now!! Spurs are not going through such a review, neither are West Ham.