David Kelly

I don't think you can pick out a single player. We desperately needed width so Luque and Solano were essential. After the disasters that were Butt and Faye we desperately needed a holding midfielder so we got Parker who I agree has looked awsome. And after losing Kluivert and (especially) Bellamy we have looked embarassing up front so a striker had to be signed. They were all needed badly so like I say you can't really pick just one but if I were forced I would say it has to be Owen simply because of what his signing has done for the fans and no doubt the players too. We all needed a lift and I can't think of a better one than him.

I admit I am working on the basis that Souness is able to suitably manage the players at his disposal (and considering my opinion of him as a manager I am certainly being optimistic). But I still think we have a team which is at least as good as the one that finished 3rd (after all that team did include O'Brien!) and if we do bring Solano back we will have a squad that messures up favourably to any that we have ever had. I'd certainly prefer we had at least cover at fullback and left wing but in every other position we have quite a bit of quality. I have been as miserable as anyone recently but I have taken many positives from the way we have played when we had pretty much our full squad available. Then we just last that pace and movement up front (something that Owen, Luque and Dyer can easily provide). I'm not saying that we will overnight become contenders because of one player but I see nothing in Liverpool, Spurs, Bolton, Everton, Boro, Citeh or Charlton that makes me beleive we can't overtake them as long as Souness is even half way competent. I know that's a big if but somehow it no longer seems impossible. If the fat bastard can come up with the goods then why not Souness?

I can honestly say that I am just as excited as when we signed Shearer. I was up in the air all day yesterday and totally unable to concentrate on anything I was doing (I even found myself watching SSN at four this morning while I feed the baby).I was so nervous yesterday that something would go wrong that I didn't post any messages but I am finally believing that this will actually happen. The only drawback being the lingering feeling that we might be on the look out for his replacement next summer. But for now I am absolutely buzzing and growing in confidence that we can actually mount an attack on a champions league place if we can get a bit of luck with injuries. If we could have only sorted these deals out sooner we could be 6 or more points better off but hey this simply isn't a time for negatives. I can't wait for the Fulham game now and I think I will be having a bet on Owen for first goal and the Toon to win 4-0. That is the confidence that I am feeling and I think the rest of the fans and the players will all be feeling the same. The atmosphere against Fulham will be the best in a hell of a long time and I for one look forward to savouring it.

I'm sure this was actually a point I made last week Alex you theiving Gypo!

The thing is that if he had been our first target and we had made a bid for him a couple of weeks ago we probably wouldn't have got him. There were other clubs interested and I think he only turned his sight on playing for Newcastle because the transfer window is closing and the likes of Real Madrid chose other targets. Anyway knowing the Deportivo chairman I don't think we have heard the last word in this case. 16360[/snapback] Your confidence with this is the only thing that's keeping me going at the moment. I may have to hunt you down and kill you though if it turns out to be unfounded

The club is a fucking joke. I'm begining to wish I was just a glory hunting fan then I could just trot off and support a club that wasn't ran by complete wankers!

Taylor Boumsong Parker I thought Parker did well considering that the midfield basically had no movement in front of them so it obviously becomes a lot more difficult to create anything. Shearer is looking very sad now, it's quite sickening to see how he's ending up. Hopefully if we can get some more attackers in he will still have something to offer but without any support or service it's quite frankly embarassing. Btw I thought Jenas was shite (didn't help that the crowd were against him from the start) and Clarkie's footballing brain and passing ability made both him and Bowyer look like championship players.

Luque is basically a left forward/winger. He's not, as his stats back up, a 15-20 goal a season main striker. If this goes through (and I hope it does), it still leaves us short a striker (and another as cover!).

He did well last season when he went to Norwich and I admit I haven't seen much of him. But I seem to remember there being talk about the makems going for him at the start of last season and Eric Gates on the bellends saying that the only reason a big club hadn't been in for him was that he was lacking PACE. Can we afford someone like that with our current squad?

Sky Sports website are saying we have agreed terms with him and are close to agreeing a fee. This would be typical of us if it comes off. We spend half the summer haggling over a fee for LBM and then end up paying double for what you have to say is our second choice!

I agree totally. I just think the manager and chairman have fucked up our transfer policy so badly that we won't get anyone decent in now and that any purchase we do make will be an extremely ill advised panic buy that will leave us no better off with playing personel but have an extra (no doubt stupidly high) wage on the books and having forked out an inflated transfer fee.

I am now thinking we would be better off waiting. I know we are desperate and I know we are fucked without signing someone but would we be any better off signing some moron who's simply not good enough for an overinflated price? At least if we wait we won't have to get rid of an extra man when we get relegated!

I was thinking the same thing but if they're willing to pay about £4m for him I would be happy either way!

I agree with that, but I fully expect Souness to manage him car crash stylee... 12990[/snapback] we simply can't afford to be picky now. we need a striker with pace that can get in behind defencea and score goals. le sulk fits the bill....even if he is a moody cnut 13043[/snapback] I agree, he's by far our best realistic target. His recent actions seem to be based upon him wanting to come here which is great for us. Until he does the same to us when he decides he wants to go elswhere!

Despite it being a cracking result for you on Saturday I think Rovers (even with Bellamy) are a poor team who I expect to be in the bottom half of the table at best. I expect us to win on Saturday (but then I always am optimistic about such things) with or without any new signings. I think the sense of injustice felt about Sunday will have the players up for the game and I think that will be enough to swing the match in our favour.

No one, apparently it's just to let us know that Century have the rights to broadcast the game on the radio!

Parker Taylor Boumsong

I think both of our fullbacks are suffering from not having a clue who's (if anyone) going to be on the flank in front of them. If we could keep a settled team I think they would improve a lot. I agree Carr is becoming worrying though!

He started the season a million times better than he finished it but at no time did I ever seem him put in as energetic or passionate performance as Parker did yesterday. The best thing I can say about Parker is that he played as if he was playing for his home town team. It appeared to matter to him in the same way that it does Shearer or did Clarkie or Pedro or Watson. I'm not saying it will always be that way or that he is some kind of saviour but just that I couldn't be happier with his performance yesterday.

Hopefully the sense of injustice might help us get fired up for the West Ham game. We showed a lot more resiliance a passion than I thought the players had before the game which give me some hope for the season. But as others have said we still never threatend their goal (mind you we have had games like that there is past season when our squad did have a reasonable goal threat) and we will need to add something in attack if we are going to do anything but struggle this seaon. Relegation does seem a more distant threat today despite us being second bottom

That's fair enough and is why I don't want to go and do ratings for the whole team. However, I think Parker did the only job that was possible in the circumstances (ie no real attack to feed the ball to!) and he did it unbelievably well. If he hadn't done that job we could have been tanked. Re the comparissons to Butt, it's the same thing I thought before we signed him. When he played I thought something different.

I don't know how anyone can give Parker less than a 9. He was an absolute colossus (especially considering how long he's been out) getting in the way of everything they threw at us. He's just the sort of player we have been crying out for, for years. Someone who is actually involved in the game away from home.

Fat Fred "I accept this award as the leagues best chairman on behalf of the Newcastle fans who show me so much love and respect"

The problem is even if he is sacked today, that useless fat twat will no doubt make an arse of the new appointment, delaying it until whoever it is has no time to sign anyone!

Nicky Butt "There's nothing in the world that means more to me than Newcastle United"