OTF

At the end of the day does it matter how much he goes for? It's not as though it will make any difference to the availability of funds for transfers.

Think he wants too much time on the ball to cut it in the premier league, but as you say with the depth of squad we don't have better in than out.

May explain how we managed to sign him (and Cabaye). We all know the long contracts are to inflate their value/protect the club from missing out on sizeable transfer fees. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that they were guaranteed the right to negotiate an exit if the price was right.

And to be fair to us, he's on contract until 2018. So if it wasn't all about coin we'd not even need to entertain the idea of selling him for a few seasons yet.

Welcome to?... where have you been the last 10 years....

Am I mad for actually wanting to see MBiwa given a consistent run in the side at CB? Santon is such a downgrade on Debuchy it's not funny. As much as I want to like the guy across the last season it seemed like he really wasn't interested in defending or generally playing football. Possibly complacency from very little competition to get into the side, may have enjoyed frequently being subbed to avoid being part of our abject performances.

Was out injured most of last season. Apart from the injury concerns what worries me most is that he doesn't have a fixed position in which he excels.

Some undeniably quality technique on display in that video. A little odd to sign the brother of a player who you just had on a pretty miserable loan where the option to buy was rightly not exercised. Scores quite a lot of goals from midfield, but in a highly dominant team in an overall average league he'll need to prove himself in this league. With the players we have he should get a good chance to do just that.

Just got an Xperia Z2 and they have a Sony podcast app which seems ok. Pretty crappy for Google not to have one.

"We can confirm, with utmost sincerity, that Steven Taylor is ever more of a bellend than apparent through his on field demeanour. He showed the promise of an exciting prospect in each of his eleven seasons with the club and his father continues to believe that he will one day form the heart of England's defense."

Good to see we've wrapped up all out incoming transfers prior to the World Cup.

Belgium are interesting, and then... Iran. Iran... so far away.. and Iran so clearly night and day not who I wanted.

Coffers suitably refurnished. Count me in for número two-no. And apologies in advance for whomever draws Australia. That bet should pay out if we score. /secretly confident /blatant lie

Paid up. Massive sweetener should ensure that I've Qatar'd the draw

Thanks guy, I've passed the info on. Unfortunately it's not for me.

Where's the best place/area to stay in Newcastle with the one provision being that it has to be vehicle friendly. For a couple of nights in August.

I'll be at one of them.

Coming to Australia according to that article.. That's the first I've heard of that...

It's about 30km from the City Centre. Perth is an odd place to visit if coming from the UK (specifically Fremantle even more so). That's with my east coast bias as I've never been. Sydney and Melbourne are the most progressive cities in Australia. They're geographically massive and home to huge diverse cultural populations so different parts will have distinctly individual feels to them. It also means that there's good cuisine spanning a vast number of international cuisines as well as local Australian offering usually with hints of international inspiration. /touristguide

I think you've got the spelling wrong there. 'Cow bars' are Bull Bars over here. I've not been to Perth before, but it sounds as though you were a little out of town if the conversation was regarding both Aboriginals and bull bars in any capacity. This isn't excusing anything, but the thinking in more rural areas is more stereotypically ignorant with absolutely no adherence to political correctness. I would imagine this is not a cultural phenomenon limited to Australia.

Sad but true. They've undermined their own policies.

I'm not entering this ridiculous discussion, but I would be interested to hear when you were here and the specifics of your experiences with racism (where, when and context). It's not something that I encounter at all.

Alf Stewart ya flamin' galah!

I'm in.

Racist pricks.