smoggeordie

Huge session coming up now in terms of the whole series. If England can have them 6 or 7 down by lunch then there's a good chance we can win this. If not, then it's looking like a draw.

Onions on a wicket rampage!

Anyone wishing to lay tributes to Sir Bobby may gain access to St James Park today until 5pm and Saturday/Sunday 9am - 5pm via the Tunnel access at the North West Corner of the Stadium.

SSN now RIP Sir Bobby, my true hero.

Confirmed

Great day yesterday, 18 hour round trip for 30 overs, but the banter at the game was top notch. Shame the day was ruined by the obvious greed of the ECB, desperate to get 25 overs in so that no refunds were given. Not going to complain too much though, because i've finally been to an Ashes Test Match. Bring on Durham in 2013.

Driving down from Boro early doors tomorrow for the game. Hopefully the weather will improve and there will be as close to a full days play as possible! For all those who are interested, there's a limited number of returned tickets available from Edgbaston ticket office now.

The Chronicle has been informed that Bassong and Beye are close to breaking point in their quests to quit Gallowgate. And Martins, who pledged to remain on Tyneside earlier this summer, is the subject of advanced interest from Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg, with manager Armin Veh confirming the Nigerian is in his sights and a bid could be made next week. Martins would be happy to stay on Tyneside after recently enjoying a pay rise that took him up to £65,000 a week – an astronomical amount at second-tier level – for the final two years of his current deal. But United would not stand in the way if the Champions League- bound Germans lodged a £6m bid. Ideally caretaker boss Chris Hughton is praying for the closure of the transfer window so he can hold on to what he sees as a strong enough squad to win promotion at the first time of asking. However, while Martins is open-minded about his future, Beye and Bassong, although yet to hand in transfer requests, are both completely disillusioned. And that discontent has only intensified in the last few days. Bassong, who is set to make his first appearance of pre-season tonight after a muscle injury, is wanted by Spurs but believes he could hold out for a bigger club playing in European competition, and there are at least two other sides monitoring his situation. Beye is being tracked by Portsmouth and Hull City at the moment and would almost certainly quit with just one year left on his current deal. Beye also played a central part in a heated dressing-room discussion at Leyton Orient in the aftermath of the 6-1 walloping in the capital. It’s understood that a number of players who want to stay and fight for promotion, regardless of who is manager this season, took issue with those such as Beye, who have indicated in public they want to leave. And while United first-teamers Steven Taylor, Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll, Alan Smith and the host of fringe players on show all headed back to Tyneside after the game, the likes of Beye, Fabricio Coloccini and Xisco all set off for European destinations. The Chronicle reported on Monday night how Hughton had gagged the players and how crisis talks had taken place afterwards as opposed to the usual warm down. A United insider said: “There were some strong words exchanged afterwards at Orient, and it was made clear that even those players who are likely to leave have to give it everything each and every time they pull on a Newcastle shirt. “This hit a raw nerve with some players who felt that their professionalism was being questioned. “And with emotions running high, Hughton decided to prevent his players relaying this to the media.” Tonight’s clash with Leeds will offer fans cash turnstiles and prices are as low as £10 for adults and £5 for children. The lowest crowd at St James’s Park in the last 10 years was a friendly with Yeading when only 6,151 fans turned out, but due to the current turmoil at United it remains to be seen whether that attendance will be bettered tonight. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About 12m for the three of them I reckon, plus about 100kpw off the wage bill.

...the majority of which could be sorted in a few hours, if only he wasn't a totally inept fat cunt.

SOCCER was rocked last night after a mega-rich sheikh revealed his family is poised to pour millions into . . . lowly BANGOR CITY. The billionaire Arab - whose uncle owns MANCHESTER City - said he owed it to locals to "give something back" after going to university there. Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, 26, declared he was not put off by the Welsh minnows' average crowd of just 400. The economics graduate insisted as he returned from oil-rich Abu Dhabi to pick up his doctorate: "I don't see any reason why my family wouldn't want to invest in the club. "We love our football. This is something we will definitely look at in the near future." His pledge stunned the sixth-placed Welsh Premier League side, nicknamed The Citizens - just like Man City. It comes after a string of superstar signings at that club - including luring Carlos Tevez - as a fortune is spent creating a new powerhouse in the English top flight. Meanwhile an Arab consortium has installed Sven Goran Eriksson at League Two Notts County. Bangor chairman Dilwyn Jones, whose players at Farrar Road are on as little as £150 a week, said: "We'd be very happy to talk to the sheikh." Elwyn Owen, of the supporters club, said: "It'd be fantastic." Fan Danny Parsons, 44, said: "A new stadium would do for starters - ours looks like it's held together by superglue."

Have a good'un fella

Sales through the roof apparently. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8166024.stm

I would be surprised if you had seen the yellow shirt on the streets, since it hasn't been on sale.

All of a sudden we look a much weaker team, despite KP being in poor form. A 3/4/5 of Bopara, Bell and Collingwood hardly fills you with confidence, especially when Australia have Ponting, Hussey and Clarke.

Impossible to say, fully depends on the 'takeover'.

http://twitter.com/PH408 Philip Hughes on Twitter

Nolan with the goal

1-0 to us

Beye twatted the Hudds lad according to my mate at the game

22 man brawl on the pitch apparently

I wanted us to go in for Malbranque a couple of years back.

Speaking to someone who works at Boro yesterday, they've sold around 16,000 season tickets. Junior tickets are 100 quid for them, 'young persons' ones are 200.

If it is true, I reckon we're looking at 32-35k a game, inc away fans and people who buy on general sale. If we get taken over it could be up at 40k.