Papa Lazaru

Near to 196720 i'd guess?

Yes, but then i'd have renewed even if Fat Fred was still in complete control and Roeder was boss with Souness as his assistant! The difference now is that i've gone from dreading having to pay money to depress myself for another season to looking forward to it!

When i was a kid i used to be annoyed that we hardly ever seemed to play home pre-season games, now i wouldn't bother going. But i think they'll get some good crowds this time with new singings, some actualy optimism about where we're going and the like.

I think he's almost right. The results aren't important, its about getting fit, conditioned etc. and trying out players, tactics and the like... But losing all of them would obviously not be great for confidence, individually or collectively, so you'd hope to put in some good performances. But really, its about what happens once the season kicks of for real and pre-season results will be long forgotten.

Sounds like just what we need, a "proper" out and out defender, no nonsense and good at stopping people! And the fact that he's free makes it even better if we can get him.

I'd have Bellamy back, but as Alex said only if a striker was on the way out. At the moment we have enough strikers and its full backs and centrebacks we need.

It'll be really interesting to see what kind of money we spend. I don't think anyone is expecting Abramovic kind of spending, i'm certainly not, but you'd expect a healthy investment in players. Hopefully this will allow Big Sam to bring in his freebies and cheaper deals as well as a few bigger deals to give us the squad we need. And then more quality players we can bring in, the better chance we have of being able to get rid of the likes of Babayaro and Carr etc.

Really happy with the news, cheered me up at work today! Obviously in an ideal situation it would have been a clean break from Fat Fred, but this is still great news. It will now all be sorted really quickly allowing Ashley and the club to move on with their plans straight away and spend money on players. Also whilst Fred is still here, as people have said he has no real authority, he answers to a boss and can find himself out on his arse if he pushes his luck! If keeping him on as chairman got the deal sorted smoothly and quickly instead of dragging it on and hindering our dealings then it was shrewd business by Ashley to be honest.

Agree with people that its certainly an option trying Dyer at RB at Newcastle, though obviously we'd rather sign a top class proven RB first. Also i think for this one game it is a decent idea by McClaren which makes a change!

Agree with that. Liked Sib for his attitude, hard work and professionalism, better than many of his team mates in that regard. But never good enough to offer a 2 year deal to if we aim to get back to where we used to be. I was in favour of giving him a 1 year deal back a while, but with the new manager, hopefully a takeover, more to spend and already Viduka coming in i wouldn't have actually offered him the 1 year deal either.

Tbh the whole Newcastle = shit defence is rather a cliché, we've had seasons were they've been fine (albeit still prone to losing it at a crucial moment). I kinda get the feeling we could built the best defence in the league and people would still be saying that sort of stuff. Well, we had the second best defence in the league and people were saying it. Yes, under KK the defence was actually quite good, especially when you take into account everyone in front of them goign all out attack and often 1,2 or even 3 of the efenders joining in the attack!!! These days we'd have to basically have clean sheets every week before anyone would say we even have a half decent defence! I would love to see a toon team go on a run of getting clean sheets mind it would be a new experience, combined with goals scored obviously!

Bit like Bellamy really isn't he, and you were always a big defender of his!

I haven't watched Barton intently at Citeh, but i can't help feel that him and the extra money are better than Parker. Plus it really wasn't going well for Parker last season, he was becoming a target for the moron fans who spend their whole time booing players an moaning all the time and i think it best he moved on. Plus he didn't seem to gel well with either Butt or Emre, perhaps Barton will, or maybe we'll sign another CM player!

We have a winner!

Yeah, i thought it hadn't been concluded one way or another. And obviously as footy fans are always collossal hypocrites, we'll have to hope he gets off with it if he signs for us, if not then lock him up!

Does anyone know if Barton still has legal action hanging over him? I'm sure the player he beat up mentioned charges and hadn't the police spoken to Barton, but i don't remember reading of any conclusion?

That's the one worry, that as things stand at this moment in time the money isn't available to throw around just yet, we shall see. And come on everyone, the mackems already have a 7 page thread on this and a seperate poll as to whether they'd want him or not themselves, we just don't care about NUFC as much as they do.

And just what are you finding amusing there, i have no idea!

Well putting aside whether people are for or against this particular signing, hopefully it signals the launch for several transfers to be completed as we're obviously up and running! On SMB the mackems already have 2 page thread on this subject before we've even started, they really are sad obsessed little people!

Agree with that, its unlikely he'll come, but would be fantastic if he did. Imagine if we ended up going from the complete and utter shambles that NUFC is/was to being run by Ashley and Dein, with Allardyce and all his backroom team below them, it would be a complete transformation with professionalism from top to bottom! Aye and talk of signing decent defenders. Its just not Newcastle is is? Bring back the shambles... I know, its almost like its not the club we know and love anymore! Still as has been said we've a long way to go yet before everything is sorted!

I hope you're right about the incoming,but I don't think Sam will be able to pick up players as cheaply as with Bolton.Other clubs know our situation ,and will want to milk it if possible.Players on frees can demand large signing on fees. If Ashley takes over other clubs will treat us like a money pit But whatever happens I hope it happens soon-my nerves are in tatters already Yes, it could be harder for Big Sam to pick up his bargain buys now that he's here and the takeover is in the papers all the time, but hopefully he'll manage it. And i'm the same as you, just hoping it all gets sorted as soon as possible.

Agree with that, its unlikely he'll come, but would be fantastic if he did. Imagine if we ended up going from the complete and utter shambles that NUFC is/was to being run by Ashley and Dein, with Allardyce and all his backroom team below them, it would be a complete transformation with professionalism from top to bottom!

Agree, we definitely need more than 5 or 6 players coming in, our squad was already lacking depth before we started shifting players on and there could be more to go yet. Ideally i'd like to see 2 fullbacks, 2 centrebacks, 2 midfielders and a striker come through the door and more if possible. We know Big Sam is likely to get players on frees, cheap prices or maybe even a loan, but then we don't know on top of that how much money he is going to be given to splash out on bigger fees. If he can get Viduka and Haim on frees that'll be a good start, leaving plenty of money for other purchases.

If it helps get any extra percentage from our players then I'm all for this kind of thing, whether it sounds a bit strange or not! The last sentence is quite interesting as well, whoever the players in question may be!

That's the fucking post of the year mate I think Shaun Phillips is worse for using his middle name tbh. I think Jan 'Of Hesselink' is a prick for using Venegoor all the time, the pretentious twat!