OTF

Enrique also has genuine pace. Apparaently this Lovenkrands bloke is quick as well, which would be good as all the rest of our fast blokes are left footed.

Plus he got one assist, and very nearly could have got two - if only Jonas could have finished like Bellamy did for them in the first half.

More than just someone. He was about 4,000 times better than Taylor. Noone got by him all game, and he also helped out the pace-less Argentine Coloccini on several occassions. Outpaced Bellamy quite easily in getting to a ball, stopped Carlton Cole from breaking free on more than one occasion. If anyone that watched that game thinks that Enrique is one of the biggest problems that we have, then they clearly have no idea. He was easily one of our better players, and our best defender (Bassong gave away at least one clearcut penalty that the ref somehow missed - FFS get your hands down!).

Yeah thanks to Taylor for that. resting his arm on the back of n opposing defender in the box, great tactic that. If the ball was closer I have no doubt that Taylor would have legitimately fouled Collins, but as it stood it was an own goal and a tremendous one at that.

You're clearly blind. It was Enrique and Jonas combining several times down the left that was the only way that we broke forward. Enrique's pace and defending was put to use several times, not the least when he out ran Craig Bellamy to a ball. Sure, occasionally his long passes didn't directly find a target, but didn't see him turn a ball over that resulted in an opposing break. What did put us in trouble was Coloccini being dead slow, and Taylor waving his arms around like a prancing gymnast. We also had no central midfield. Guthrie was off the pace, and Geremi may as well not have been there (would have helped our free kicks/corners early on). Carroll had a good game (big improvement over his Hull performance) thoroughly deserved the goal. Jonas and Duff tried hard, and were decent. Finally got something out of one of Duffs crosses! Bassong needs to use his hands less in defense.

Remember the Luque highlights clip? JAR is passed his best, Enrique is 22 and improving - he has 6 years to score a handful of goals in order to get his own highlights reel I'm not against bringing JAR here, but only if it doesn't result in Enrique leaving. Enrique is a better defender than most of you give him credit for, and is surprisingly quick. Riise is definitely better at getting forward, but at a club like Newcastle where we can't boss the midfield most of the time it's more important that our left back can defend IMHO.

I agree that he's not being professional making comments like these. It is however very interesting, and seems to just reiterate that Newcastle United and the current owners have no ambition. If he's looking at clubs like Tottenham and Aston Villa and seeing them as bigger clubs than Newcastle United then we've clearly slipped a long way down over the past 5 years. Honestly can't see how he would even get a look in at Villa. Spurs he would be a reasonable fit for. Another quick player with not a lot of end product.

Will be a crying shame if he leaves. Ashley probably feels that he's already alienated the fair weather fans. Those left now are the hardcore ones, who will support the club virtually no matter what. Players like Shay Given are the reasons why teams like Newcastle can gather support around the world. If they are content to let them go the wider community support for Newcastle will dwindle, and in a few generations will be nothing more than the die-hard locals.

Journalists putting 1 and 1 together and coming up with 3 tbh.

If he specifically meant January, then I agree with him. He did. But nonetheless it is critical that we recruit if we want to preserve our top flight status. Therefore this transfer window IS the ideal time to recruit.

6 million is a great deal.

Sounds just like the last 5 or so managers that we've had. Always start off talking about how we'll need to bring in 4 or 5 players. Then a few weeks later when noone has signed that number drops to 3 or 4. Then they start talking about how they're in negotiations for a few players and the number drops to 2 or 3. Then they start talking about how difficult it is to finalise the transfers that they are working on. Suddenyl it's the final week of the transfer window, a few panic buys ensue.

I thought he was older than 27. Sure plays and looks like it. It wouldn't be the worst purchase ever if he was snapped up for 1-2 million. We definately need cover there with Beye missing, and he has the premier league experience. He's still not very good though.

ffs man step up the Ranger Oh well, that will remove any chance of other teams being interested in Martins in this window.

As far as I can see the only three players that he could be talking about are: Xisco - 5 million back to Spain Enrique - 5 million back to Spain N'Zogbia - 6 million to England or France

To get this straight, I'm not for one second suggesting that all of this will actually happen. I have close to no faith in: - A recruitment team that buys a player for upward of 5 million pounds, gives them roughly 90 minutes of game time then decides that they need to be sold less than six months later. - A manager with minimal tactical nous, who spouts nonsense to the press. - An owner who constantly contradicts himself. Nonetheless I feel that if the steps I mentioned were there or there-abouts taken we could have the club on the up for the next two years, then who knows from there. What happens in this window will give us the clearest indication of our short-term future, because as we all know it would be foolish to trust anything that any of these clowns have to say.

I think we're at a critical cross-roads currently. We have a squad that is horribly balanced, with some players of exceptional quality, and many players who are passed it (or just never will be). We have an owner with questionable interests, and a manager with questionable talent and credentials. Then we have Dennis Wise, of questionable character, intelligence, morals, sexuality and effectiveness. Though it's not all bad. I honestly don't think our squad is that far off being competitive with teams that will be challenging for the top 6/8. So with that in mind I think that should be a very reasonable target for us to achieve as soon as next season if things are properly handled in the meantime. Key: This would involve a decent amount of funds available to us in the current transfer window in order to provide us with cover in key areas, and strengthen us in other areas. Namely we need to bring in cover for both fullback positions. A single player who is comfortable playing on either side may be sufficient, though a left and right fullback are preferable. Unlike many I have a good deal of confidence in Enrique's defensive abilities, so I don't think he needs to be replaced. Likewise I think Beye is an excellent fullback, so won't need to be moved out of the first team squad (obviously when fit). An investment of 5 or so million pounds may be sufficient to provide this cover, if we're looking at two player that may need to raise to 8-10 million depending on the resourcefulness of our scouting team. More importantly we need to spend on our central midfield. Butt has been woeful of late, and definately needs a rest. Guthrie is half decent, and if we bought someone good to play alongside him I think we could see them forge a partnership that will help Guthrie improve. Barton is still in the picture, and will have an important role to play when he returns. I think an investment of around 10 million is required here. They're the key positions that I feel we need to strengthen. After these 2-3 player I think we then need to look at bringing in even more midfielders. If we're keeping N'Zogbia then I'm realitively happy with our left side. Duff is playing well of late, and Jonas is more than comfortable on the left. So we'd really only need to bring in a right sided midfielder. Preferbly one with pace, and sufficient conditioning to get back to help out in defense when required. A big defensive midfielder in the vein of Papa Bouba Diop could be the go here. He could well be a possibility given Portsmouth's financial instability coupled with the fact that he has not been a permanent inclusion in their team. With this sort of investment I feel we'd be able to safely negotiate our way out of relegation troubles. Then comes the summer where we would again be active in the market. Stocks could then be taken of players who are no longer required from the current squad. Certainly the end of Viduka's contract (and Owen's) and the possibility of offloading Alan Smith and Geremi would free up considerable wages. This void could be used to increase the quality of our squad. Investment required here would be in the 20-40 million pounds range for a net spend (including any potential return on outgoing players). It's highly likely that Michael Owen will leave in the summer, so he will need to be replaced. This is not necessarily such a bad thing, as I never felt that Owen and Martins would make a good partnership (given that they're our two highest profile strikers it would be good for them to be compatible). These are the players that I feel could have a key part to play next season (in no particular order): Shay Given, Obafemi Martins, Jonas Gutierrez, Habib Beye, Sebastian Bassong, Fabricio Coloccini, Damien Duff, Jose Enrique, Charles N'Zogbia. The remainder of the squad are in some ways expendable. I do feel that we should certainly seek to have Steve Harper sign a new contract. In addition I feel that we're better off giving Ameobi a new contract as well, as we'd have to spend money where it's not really required in order to bring in a player better than him. He is at least very loyal. I'm sure Nicky Butt will sign with us again, as I don't think anyone else would be that interested in offering him a contract. Certainly not a club the size of Newcastle. They will be squad players, that should only see considerable time on the field should there be an injury crisis (and there invariably is at Newcastle). With that sort of investment we rightfully should be able to challenge for a UEFA Cup position. I do however feel that we would also need to replace Joe Kinnear at the end of the season with a manager more in touch with modern tactics and the player market. Thoughts? I'm most likely being far too optimistic and not thinking about all of the externally influencing factors - like the quality of the squads and managers that we would be competing with for these places, as well as our ability to sign quality players while we hav ethe likes of Joe Kinnear managing us. It could very easily go in a vastly different diffection from this junction, all it takes is a few players leaving.

Hang on.... someone is inferring that Joe Kinnear is talking rubbish?!??!?!

How does this man have so much money?

Yeah, I shuddered when I saw that as well.

Arsenal only just bought a left sided midfield player in the summer - Samir Nasri. Nasri is better than N'Zogbia and is developing constantly. N'Zogbia's development has stagnated over the last couple of seasons, Newcastle can probably shoulder some of the blame with him constantly being played out of position but nonetheless there is several areas where Arsenal need to strengthen more than on the left (where van Persie and Walcott can also play, plus where Adebayor constantly drifts). They're not a big spending club, so I don't think they would pony up the amount of money that Newcastle would want for N'Zogbia. Paper talk exasperated by N'Zogbia's foolish comments.

For the third match in a row Butt was horrendously bad. His dillying on the ball was painful to watch and almost gifted Hull a goal. Damien Duff is playing well of late, and Jonas was exceptional in the second half. Michael Owen should have scored in the first half, and should have been given a penalty in the second. Given again MOTM.

Yeah, it would certainly boost his popularity amongst Newcastle supporters if he was to sign on for the rest of his career.

Still feel for the poor bugger though. Honestly think he is a good player, who more or less gives his all whenever he plays. If he didn't have his horrible injury record, I think he could have been an excellent player for England. As it is I'm glad we're rid of him.

That covered 10 years, so take out £155M (transfers, Finance and Shareholders), it takes about £50M a year to run the club. Don't we get about £40M a year TV money? No way is he not in hefty profit with his transfer record. That's what's been bemusing me with the transfers, I can't see how we've not got a cash build up somewhere unless something major has changed that I'm missing. Don't think it's that likley that any of the better players from the higher teams in the Championship will be keen to let their players leave cheaply. Rather than potentially upset the balance for a small payout now, they'll be pushing to crack it into the Premier League for a much bigger pay off. Even still, there's some good players there - so I don't begrudge them for looking there. Plus there should be less of a change for these players as compared to those from foreign leagues.