ChezGiven

Defence - Strengthen factor 6 out of 10*. Campbell brings experience and Perch versatility and pace. Both have drawbacks, lack of positional awareness and fitness being the main concerns. Midfield - Strengthen factor 8.5 out of 10. Tiote has pace and discipline. He will be deployed with Smith away from home or with Barton. Ben Arfa has creativity and flair, these two combined have moved the squad up a level. Its what everyone has been crying out for and its been addressed. Gosling is one for the future which is great and should be a significant improvement over Guthrie who was our best central mid last season. Also Barton's progress, return to fitness sees us much stronger in the middle of the park this year. Attack - strengthen factor 4 out of 10, with those 2 of those points based on Carroll's progress. A perfectly legitimate policy imo. Ben Arfa's ability to play off the frontman gives us the other 2 points. *figures pulled out my arse but based on realistically what we could have acheived in the transfer market.

Overall league points gained, weighted by the league they were gained in would be a far better statistic. You'd then need to include points for cup wins and weight them higher, the further in the competition and to carry different weights according to Carling, FA, EU, CL. That would give you a score that is biased towards longevity, which is fair enough as thats a metric of success anyway. I'm open to suggestion on the weighting scheme.

I hope everyone is clear that was NOT a denial.

Nonsense. He's come here for guaranteed first team football. Hope you're right parky. We'll see what he's like after the first couple of strops. He'll be decent initially, i've no doubt about that as he will have everything to prove. Honeymoon period and all that. Its what happens mid-december onwards that will be the test.

Nae tits and a massive arse? Did you shag it Stevie?

And most of his team too apparently.

Shut it you Yorkshire muppet.

If he gets the England job, his twitch will get even worse. they'll have to tether him down to interview him.

Without doubt a move like this always gives him that exposure and therefore a reduced risk on his side for the move. Thats a good thing imo as he may also enjoy himself and if we are successful enough, decide to stay. If he's great but we finish 17th, who would blame him for going to e.g. a CL club. Who knows, lets see if he adapts first. If he turns out turd then we didnt waste money on him either.

I think we all got a bit glassy-eyed reading that.

I can't honestly think of any other reason to turn down Milan and Werder Bremen...was there anyone else?..Liverpool?..hate saying it, but they're all more attractive than us at the moment.And didnt his agent say that they were told to find a new club (i.e. us) and he wasn't allowed to go because Milan wanted to pay cash now rather than a loan? It all points to us offering the most dosh for me. We're paying some players 50k+ a week. No player coming in is reportedly on more than 25k. But Mike Ashley could also say the moon is made of green cheese and it would be about as truthful coming from that fuckers gob. Based on nowt then. Fair enough. That bold bit makes no sense either, L'OM wanted to sell him outright and not loan him to us. It was reported in the french press that firm offers to buy him were on the table. It seems other clubs were in for him but he had his heart set on coming to us. No one knows for sure but nothing i've read since the end of July has suggested we were offering massive wages and thats why he was coming to us. I could equally put forward the view that he has been a life-long fan and has always dreamed of playing for NUFC. In fact that (daft) opinion is actually supported by the fact that he is with us. As you say, we don't know for sure, but for me money motivates some players more than the glory of champions league football. Or as mentioned the likes of Milan and Bremen passed and he came back to us with his tale between his legs last week. Well if you want to look at it that way then there is nothing to prove you arent right (just seems less likely to me) but i take the point about modern footballers in general. My optimistic view is that he wanted a team where he could shine, a sporting challenge in a new league to escape the constant media attention in France and the non-stop debate over his actions on and off the pitch. I also want to believe that we are profiting from the Shepherd era where this club was elevated to the top tier of European football, we signed Ginola and Robert, we established connections with great European clubs and the reputation of our support is known amongst people who Ben Arfa is known to have discussed the move with (Cantona) and those who live in Marseilles in the summer (Beye, Cisse). Thats mostly pure speculation from me, apart from the Cantona bit. I think he has looked at us and seen a fit. Whether he can live up to his reputation (as a gifted footballer) with us remains to be seen. Interesting angle reg Beye and Cisse and another thing, to French players of this type the ambience of a club is as important as its stature, a starlet like Bafra thrives on the right kind of supporter and the right kind of passion which is what we almost alone in the PL are all about. I've travelled around Europe a fair bit in the last ten years and people are very happy to talk about Newcastle as much as say a Liverpool, we are still carrying that certain aura that excites certain kinds of players. I think he has looked at us and fancies running the midfield, I might add I would rahter have him than Nasri who is similar, but not as gifted. On the comments page on Le Figaro today some were saying far better than Nasri. Also was interesting seeing their comments about us, some bad but some very good with one lad criticising the 'descendents' of Newcastle (critics) saying that our downfall was due to the stupid owner and we are one of the few clubs with the ability to break into the top 4. Bit over the top but as you say, shows the lingering reputation of the club (which we have the previous board to thank for). A few people on here need to let go of their emotional baggage and enjoy the fact that we've brought in a mad/bad/crazy/creative bit of gallic flair. Its going to be fun.

Ashley also made Shepherd & the Halls amongst the richest men in the north east of England. He handed them 137m of his cash. They were very very well rewarded for their services to the club. Personally i think we've had a good window, Tiote is going to be a big player for us, Perch has looked better than Simpson or Raylor at RB, Campbell will add some cover at the back and Ben Arfa will add some creativity and flair. With Barton's form, Gosling wouldnt get a start anyway.

Try clicking on "Manually select music" or something in the main iphone menu or in the iphone music menu.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-u...72703-27164711/? Hughton "He wanted to come to the premier league and he wanted to come to us. We're not just bringing him here because there was nowhere else for him to go" As i said, he deserves a massive reception.

I can't honestly think of any other reason to turn down Milan and Werder Bremen...was there anyone else?..Liverpool?..hate saying it, but they're all more attractive than us at the moment.And didnt his agent say that they were told to find a new club (i.e. us) and he wasn't allowed to go because Milan wanted to pay cash now rather than a loan? It all points to us offering the most dosh for me. We're paying some players 50k+ a week. No player coming in is reportedly on more than 25k. But Mike Ashley could also say the moon is made of green cheese and it would be about as truthful coming from that fuckers gob. Based on nowt then. Fair enough. That bold bit makes no sense either, L'OM wanted to sell him outright and not loan him to us. It was reported in the french press that firm offers to buy him were on the table. It seems other clubs were in for him but he had his heart set on coming to us. No one knows for sure but nothing i've read since the end of July has suggested we were offering massive wages and thats why he was coming to us. I could equally put forward the view that he has been a life-long fan and has always dreamed of playing for NUFC. In fact that (daft) opinion is actually supported by the fact that he is with us. As you say, we don't know for sure, but for me money motivates some players more than the glory of champions league football. Or as mentioned the likes of Milan and Bremen passed and he came back to us with his tale between his legs last week. Well if you want to look at it that way then there is nothing to prove you arent right (just seems less likely to me) but i take the point about modern footballers in general. My optimistic view is that he wanted a team where he could shine, a sporting challenge in a new league to escape the constant media attention in France and the non-stop debate over his actions on and off the pitch. I also want to believe that we are profiting from the Shepherd era where this club was elevated to the top tier of European football, we signed Ginola and Robert, we established connections with great European clubs and the reputation of our support is known amongst people who Ben Arfa is known to have discussed the move with (Cantona) and those who live in Marseilles in the summer (Beye, Cisse). Thats mostly pure speculation from me, apart from the Cantona bit. I think he has looked at us and seen a fit. Whether he can live up to his reputation (as a gifted footballer) with us remains to be seen.

"Newcastle was my first choice," Ben Arfa, who also said he hopes to be fit for action within the next fortnight, told L'Equipe. "Everything happened because I wanted to come here."

I can't honestly think of any other reason to turn down Milan and Werder Bremen...was there anyone else?..Liverpool?..hate saying it, but they're all more attractive than us at the moment.And didnt his agent say that they were told to find a new club (i.e. us) and he wasn't allowed to go because Milan wanted to pay cash now rather than a loan? It all points to us offering the most dosh for me. We're paying some players 50k+ a week. No player coming in is reportedly on more than 25k. But Mike Ashley could also say the moon is made of green cheese and it would be about as truthful coming from that fuckers gob. Based on nowt then. Fair enough. That bold bit makes no sense either, L'OM wanted to sell him outright and not loan him to us. It was reported in the french press that firm offers to buy him were on the table. It seems other clubs were in for him but he had his heart set on coming to us. No one knows for sure but nothing i've read since the end of July has suggested we were offering massive wages and thats why he was coming to us. I could equally put forward the view that he has been a life-long fan and has always dreamed of playing for NUFC. In fact that (daft) opinion is actually supported by the fact that he is with us.

You think we offered him the most money? On what basis? What information are you using to form that quite startling opinion? Dont tell Leazes we are offering better financial terms than CL clubs around Europe.

Big interview in L'Equipe, most important thing for me is that he says we were his first choice. Turning down the champions league to come and play for us, the lad deserves a huge reception in 2 weeks time and plenty of patience for him to settle in. Says that the atmosphere before kick-off at Wolves was giving him the shivers.

Ben Arfa "I'm not a kid, i'm 23. The decisions came from me and me alone.... i've got a country to conquer, its a great challenge" twitter.com/tomwfootball

Where's that from pissy-knickers?

Wolfswinkel is actually German for dog's cock.

Est-il flemmard en défense? Is he lazy when it comes to defending?

Barton has been arguably better than Enrique this season.

Just about to try this, from a new Islay distillery. A bit early for a dram but fuck it. This is nice, really long. This Japanese one is floral & herby with some fruits.