OTF

Truth is some people are opposed to the people giving their opinion more than the opinion itself, or just feel the need to take up a contrary opinion for argumentative sakes. When it comes down to it an opinion should be something that can change based on internal and external factors which is where many are flawed here, IMO

Accessible outside the US without VPN?

Nick will then tell us how the club is streetes ahead of our trophy winning rivals. FYP. It's funny how some promising youth players develop into stars and others fall off the face of the planet. With the exception of Andy Carroll we're specials for the latter.

I was hoping there would be some fanfare and that these would at least be televised. No such luck apparently. I mean a few years back Setanta televised a pre-season away friendly against Mallorca (incidentally it was a painfully slow and crap match), surely Ashley and co would have been able to negotiate some sort of television deal for this. If not it's an opportunity lost. With the state of the US dollar it's not like it will be an otherwise lucrative sojourn.

Canny third choice striker in the championship maybe.

Marveaux was carrying on about how he was fit to play at the end of last season, so either that's nonsensue or they wanted to wait to introduce some of the other new players in a higher profile match. Doesn't make a lot of sense though as Barfa and Cabaye played. The pitch invasion is embarrassing.

Didn't know that as I'm not subscribed to any.

Google calendar will sync to your iPhone for nada through a gmail account. Just need to turn on calendar under the mail, contacts, calendars menu for your gmail account.

In part funded by the 50M sale of Torres, which looks like it was a good price.

The Downing move to Liverpool certainly has to sound the death knell for the N'Zogbia rumours. 20M for Downing, less than half and they'll have landed the younger, stropier N'Zogbia. Downing should improve the value of Carroll for Liverpool immensely. Was never going to fit in in any sort of meaningful way here because of the other players we already have (discounting injuries), and so there's every chance that any of this talk was just a distraction.

Thanks, very handy.

I'd be surprised (but not amazed) if he's on 40K. If so the club have every right not to extend or offer a new contract at the same level. He'll not get anywhere near that anywhere else.

Glad TBH. Spending 9M or whatever on another midfielder when we clearly need to prioritise other positions would be incredibly annoying, as we know getting this bunch to spend anything of note is nigh on impossible.

Good question. I think it's most important that captains have good communication skills in English when playing in British leagues. To my knowledge the team captain is officially the only player who can approach the referee and verbalize with him. It would be hard to make a point if you weren't fluent in English. That's the reason why it's best that Barton isn't made captain. He'll already have some referees offside before he has spoken just on reputation alone.

Gera would have been a handy signing.

Didn't it work out that way in the end with Jonas? Compensation for Jonas was under 2.5M, very good business for a player who, despite his naysayers, has been virtually an ever present in the side. Players receiver sign-on bonuses regardless of whether they move on free transfers, though I guess in the case of higher profile frees they would be higher. If they're going to include those then they would have to subtract loyalty bonuses that Carroll and Nolan would have forfeited as a result of not completing their contracts.

Too predictable. Idiotic isn't it? Ideally if you buy well in the summer when there are many more players available as clubs can more readily organise replacements, you'll not find yourself in that predicament in January. Of course if you're Newcastle United currently you also have to make allowances for the better peforming players who are sold in January. The transfer fees from those players can then in turn be used to purchase a new deep fryer for the canteen and to re-carpet the offices. As opposed to all those other players out there who don't get paid a wage.

Could see Mike and Derek not being too worried about this if he was their number one target. They'll simply switch their attentions to the next lower rung of player...

Wow, we must have the best motherflippin' training ground in Europe now Someone has to pay for the new table tennis table and dart boards.

Don't know where you get the idea that Joey is frustrated. TBH I'd say he comes across as relaxed, calm and ultimately confident in his own ability at the moment. Age and experience. I don't think we'll have any problems on that front. It will be good to see some pictures of the team back in training. In particular Ben Arfa, hope he and the new players can settle in quickly and properly.

Well there you go. I'm stretching a lot but it would make me feel better that we're not in for Sturridge if Chelsea don't want to do business with us.

I still think for the 1M we paid for him he's good value. Limited player but can have a good impact through his pace and trickery. Whilst he had some forgettable games he also had some decent ones, one in particular where I felt he was possibly our best player. Would have been valuable late in the season when we were short of wide options. In short, I'd keep him as backup.

It's frustrating if we're not interested, but I think 10M is out of the scope of Ashley's intended spend on incoming players. It would limit the ability to on-sell for a profit down the track. Looking at the price of Wickham, Carroll and Henderson 10M for Sturridge in comparison seems like good value. He's a skillful player and we have noone like him on our books so it makes sense on all fronts. Maybe Chelsea don't want to do business with us if the rumors are true that we set the price for Torres through the Carroll sale (+15M)?

if absolutely no one else left then I would be fairly happy. Me too, to be honest. Sturridge in, Enrique and Barton still here and (unrelistic) signed to new deals.

Why not counting Carroll? Being sold in January is not an adequate answer. The club have stated that they did not have time to replace him in that window. Might as well mock up a mock CT first 11 next season that wouldn't have included Nolan, then you can claim 4 in none out. Intrigued by your logic or lack thereof. Intrigued how you can start a thread on the outcome of a transfer window over 2 months before its closed. Being an idiot is not an adequate answer. I'm speculating based on the great many events and indicators before that suggest that this is a likely outcome. Everything that has happened so far has been in keeping with that down to the latest statements from the admittedly clueless manager. I'd like nothing more than to be completely wrong, but I don't think it's realistic to think that this owner is going to spend the money that they directly inferred would be spent on the team. Do you think that the money will be spent? BTW - I'm not suggesting that the money should be spent for the sake of it, but we've had a hell of a long time to search the market for targets and to then scout those targets. We're far from the finished product as a team with many obvious weaknesses that could and should be addressed using the money made from selling our most promising young player despite statements from the club to the contrary regarding keeping local talent being a priority.