Scottish Mag

Gravesen is a decent player, but he wont be of any use to us. He's not better than parker, and we're stuffed in midfield already. 165746[/snapback] Centre midfield is certainly not "stuffed" as you put it. If Faye goes we will be left with Parker, Emre (whose fitness over a season is questionable) and Butt. You cannot even include Dyer into the equation. It could be argued that N'Zog etc can tuck infield, but I would much rather go with a central midfielder playing in the centre than putting more square pegs in round holes.

I would get rid off him and bring in Graveson..

CHARLTON boss Iain Dowie is trying to snap up Newcastle midfielder Amdy Faye in a bargain £1million deal. Dowie wants more strength at the heart of his side and is negotiating to buy the former Portsmouth powerhouse. The Senegal star, 29, has been in and out of the side since signed by Graeme Souness for £4m 18 months ago and new boss Glenn Roeder may sell to raise funds. Dowie is also targeting Liverpool defender Djimi Traore.

Didn't seem to stop you chucking it down your gullet mind! 165314[/snapback] What option did I have? Do you think I could have bore the company of all of you sober? And here I already had to resort to buy Becks in cans. Sic transit gloria mundi... 165319[/snapback] Oi! You were drinking fucking American Budweiser on draught when you were here, you dirty animal! 165321[/snapback] Someone who didn't even know that Budvar is the original Budweiser (wgich they sold on tap) should shut up and drink his pink wine. 165333[/snapback] In fairness to Wolfgang I imagine he would have drunk anything to get rid of the taste of the "House Red" we had in Hana Hana.... I do not think it was quite what our resident wine connoisseur is used to drinking.

The fact he has been on trial at both Leeds and Sunderland surely is a sign that even as back up he is far from good enough to playing at the level we aim to be playing at. Good luck to him, but hopefully the fact he has knocked back the contract is a blessing in disguise and we will finally sing a decent left back (or is that wishful thinking?)

Could mean the end of our chance to offload Boumsong

Newcastle are being linked with a move for Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Guardian claim that the Swedish international is a target for Toon boss Glenn Roeder. Newcastle are desperate to bolster their attacking options after losing Michael Owen to a serious knee injury and the retirement of Alan Shearer. The Corriere dello Sport say that Ibrahimovic is on the verge of slapping in a transfer request at Juve, relegated to Serie B as punishment for their part in the match-fixing scandal in Italy, unless he is handed a major pay rise and contract extension. The Malmo-born striker's agent Mino Raiola said: "Zlatan felt good in Turin and he wouldn't have problems in staying, but the contract conditions must change, and not just a little. I'm not pessimistic or optimistic about Zlatan's stay, I'm simply realistic and I live day by day. "Our position is clear and the first step is up to the club, we are ready to talk and to discuss. "It's possible to find a solution, with Juve there is a particular feeling but we must deal with facts because the club could change category and certain big players have already left.

The price for Chelsea is 25m, probably more like 15m for anyone else. I still think I'd rather have Bridge for less than a third of that. I would have thought Cole is more of a finishing touch to a quality team. The rumour is more interesting in that if it's true FS must know something really big, or that last Cheese and Onion Pastie was well past it's sell-by date. 164766[/snapback] Swop deal for young Charlie, thats why we bought Duff

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I got bored because you posted about 9 weeks worth at a time 164742[/snapback] If i didnt get them up fast people would complain about not having enough time to post. Anyways just because there were 9 weeks up didn't mean you had to post 9 results in a row. As often as I could, I also stickied the current week, it was simple enough...

I`ll do the old premiership TTW if people are going to regularly enter, last season I was posting the fixtures up and the results but at one point only about 3 people were entering and I just stopped doing it as there was very little point.

Bringing Ronaldo with him I heard 164616[/snapback] Now thats just ridiculous 164624[/snapback] Do you think? I cannot see Beckham coming but if Ruud joins Real it would not surprise me to see Shepherd interested in Ronaldo, he is just the type of trophy signing FS chases year after year.

Newcastle United, buoyed by their signing of Damien Duff, are already working flat out on bringing more new faces to St James' Park. A United source told me today: "As Glenn Roeder would say, there's never a London bus and then three or four come along at once, and we are hoping this is going to be the case on transfers in the next couple of weeks." But despite reports to the contrary over the weekend, Miroslav Klose, Dean Ashton and Alessandro del Piero will not be joining Duff at St James' Park. However, there could also be a couple of departures after the Chronicle revealed in our latter editions yesterday that United had released their Geordie defender Robbie Elliott. Jean Alain Boumsong is due back for training on Friday after being on duty for France in the World Cup, but I am not 100% certain that we will see the £8.5m central defender back on Tyneside. Monaco want him, but United say that reports linking Boumsong with Marseille are news to them. And now Fulham have joined Wigan, West Ham and Middlesbrough in showing a big big interest in United's winger James Milner. United supporters quite naturally are more interested in who is coming in and they have had their appetite whetted after excellent work by Freddy Shepherd and Roeder saw the arrival of Duff for only £5m. And I understand that there is still an outside chance of Shaun Wright-Phillips also arriving from Stamford Bridge, albeit on loan, but nothing is expected to happen on the Chelsea winger until the last week of the transfer deadline at the end of August. Before then I expect another couple of strikers to be paraded in a black and white shirt by Messrs Shepherd and Roeder. As it happens, Roeder will be without both his recognised strikers Shola Ameobi and Albert Luque for tomorrow's friendly at Norwich City because of respective ankle and back injuries. However, Roeder will take his strongest available team for the Craig Fleming testimonial, with youngsters like Carl Finnigan and Paul Huntington also included.

Damien Duff turned down no fewer than six top clubs to join his Irish colleagues Shay Given and Stephen Carr in a Newcastle United shirt. Duff's advisors told me that the Republic of Ireland international was wanted by Inter Milan, Valencia, his former club Blackburn Rovers and Spurs as well as Merseyside pair Everton and Liverpool. And they admitted that they did not have a lot of advising to do because it was always going to be Duff's decision where he went and that Newcastle United was always going to be his first choice. And, judging by the reaction Duff received from hundred of United fans at St James' Park yesterday, he already must be feeling that he has made the right decision. Duff will know that there will be other attacking players to arrive at the club as he reported for training today with his new colleagues. He will not play in tomorrow's testimonial at Norwich City but will play some part in Saturday's friendly with PSV Eindhoven at St James' Park. If Duff looked happy at St James' Park then so too did Freddy Shepherd and Glenn Roeder at what eveyone seems to agree is a great signing. Indeed, when the Chronicle revealed on Saturday night that United had picked up Duff from Chelsea for a mere £5m there were a few raised eyebrows, not to mention some doubters. But this was the figure released by the Stock Exchange yesterday morning and confirmed by Shepherd at the Press conference when he also announced that Duff has signed a five-year deal. Meanwhile, Duff admitted he is more excited now than when he signed for Chelsea and says he will have no problems settling on Tyneside as he shares the Toon Army's religion - football. Duff joined Chelsea from Blackburn Rovers in a £17m deal in July 2003 and the 27-year-old collected two Premiership winners medals during his time in west London. But he admits he is more excited about the prospect of bringing silverware to St James's Park, given the passion of Newcastle's fans. "There was a great finish to the season last year under Glenn Roeder," said Duff, who, as part of his transfer deal will wear the United No 11 shirt. "It would be great to be challenging for trophies - hopefully a cup this year. "We obviously need a few new players, but it's all set up for success. "Winning a trophy here would be a dream come true - it would be unbelievable. "Obviously it's not going to be a Premier League trophy this year, but I think the fans will be happy when we start going back in the right direction." Duff was welcomed by hundreds of fans at St James's Park yesterday. He said: "They're special fans - the best fans in England. "And I'm more excited now than when I signed for Chelsea - the passion's just ridiculous up here. Football's a religion, and it's mine too so I feel as though we'll get on well."

Benni McCarthy will open contract talks with Blackburn on Tuesday after Porto gave the go-ahead for the striker's switch to Ewood Park. McCarthy's business manager Rob Moore has told skysports.com that the 28-year-old's Portuguese employers have agreed a financial package with Rovers. The South Africa international will now travel to England, where he will undergo a medical and discuss a contract with the Premiership outfit. "Everything has been agreed by Porto, with respect to Benni and Blackburn," said Moore. "We will now be opening discussions with Blackburn tomorrow [Tuesday]." Should McCarthy complete his switch to Rovers it will end manager Mark Hughes's year-long pursuit of the player. Initially targeted last summer, Hughes tried for the player, only to later opt for the now departed Craig Bellamy. Ironically, McCarthy now appears poised to fill the shoes of the Welsh international, who last month signed for Liverpool in a £6.5 million transfer.

Pompey have already had a couple of bids for Petrov knocked back with word being that the last bid was over 4 million. Celtic are holding out for 5, I really cannot see us spending that on another midfielder so do not see him joining us tbh.

The "rumours" section on www.nufc.com is excellent for that. Interesting when you look back at some of the rumours from 5-6 years ago (like Essien being linked with us from Bastia). http://www.nufc.com/2006-07html/rumours.html 163417[/snapback] November 2001 - In Dirk Kuyt FWD Utrecht Journal Unconfirmed

Happy Birthday..