smoggeordie

KEVIN KEEGAN insists that he is ready to pay up to £25 MILLION for a player this summer. Despite the desperate disappointment of losing out to Tottenham in the big-money race for Croatian wonderkid Luka Modric. But Keegan – who has now lost a top transfer target to Spurs twice in three months – last night warned Newcastle fans that the club faces a perpetual struggle to persuade foreign stars to opt for a move to Tyneside over London. The United boss has no fear of staking his reputation on a deal which would shatter the club’s transfer record. “Spending £25 million on one player doesn’t frighten me one bit,” said Keegan, who paid a then world record £15 million for Alan Shearer in 1996. “You have to target big players. If you have a budget, it’s like any budget: if you have ‘X’ million, you can divide it into one or two players, or four or five. “We’ll be in there pitching for some very good players. If you don’t bowl, you can’t knock the wickets down. We might get hit for six, but we might get a wicket.” But, having lost out on Modric, Keegan sounded an understandable note of caution. “We may end up on July 7 with no one because we don’t offer them enough – and I don’t mean just financially. “You hear Thierry Henry say he wants to be back in London, and that is a well known fact with a lot of foreign players,” added Keegan. “It helps Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal and works against us. “But we are where we are. We’re not going to move this franchise like they do in America. “Players have to move here, they have to live here, they have to put up with the weather and they have to enjoy playing in this stadium.”

Under the thumb tbh

Thanks to all Had a mint day yesterday, paying for it now like...

Cheers people

Happy St George's Day everyone Even chose George as me confirmation name a few years back because of these reasons.

Get in

Even better save from Cech.

Lush picture, shame about Cousin IT in the bottom corner.

Did anyone see Taylor try to do "a Tino" at full time by putting his shirt on the corner flag. It fell off and he just went round carrying the flag instead

Not the most convincing interview, no. What did he say? .cock: "The manager called me into his office a week ago and told me about his plans for the future," said the ten-goal striker. "He discussed the kind of players he wants to bring in and what ambitions he has for Newcastle United. "I was really enthused by what he had to say. Everyone connected with the club is looking forward to next season with great anticipation. "These last few weeks have given me a real appreciation of what Newcastle is all about. It has been my best spell since I arrived." And, of his contract situation, Owen added: "At the moment there is nothing on the table for me to consider so it's hard for me to make a statement about my future.

Quality interview with KK there on SSN.

6-3 win tonight, could have double that for us tbh, but wasn't to be through a combination of good keeping and hitting the post about 4 times. Yours truely saving his third consecutive penalty

2nd game of the season tonight, really need to bounce back after a poor team performance last week.

Could finally get a Toontasic vs Newcastle Online game on Yee in goal, me up front, 9 other positions to fill, that Mancmag is supposed to better than shite, so at least we'd have a chance with us three even if the rest were pure dides. I'll come up for a last minute corner to score the winner

Could finally get a Toontasic vs Newcastle Online game on

Can still do it at county championship matches like.

Can't believe he's being credited for the Owen one...he knew fuck all about it, it just hit him. The best save he made was the Martins one low down at the post, all the others were regulation.

Link OBAFEMI MARTINS has snubbed a £15million move to Arsenal — because he wants to fire Newcastle back into Europe. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger suffered another blow when Toon’s in-demand striker played down interest from the Londoners — insisting he is happy on Tyneside. Manchester United and AC Milan are also willing to spend big on the speedy 23-year-old, who has more than two years left on his £60,000-a-week deal. Martins arrived at St James’ Park in 2006 in a £10m move from Inter Milan. He came close to quitting under Sam Allardyce but wants to help new boss Kevin Keegan steer the Toon into a European place next season. Martins’ advisor Chris Nathaniel said: “Several top clubs have made contact but Obafemi hasn’t indicated an interest in any of them and he has no intention of quitting the club.”

I honestly thought Arsenal were the better team over the two legs. Torres' finish was sensational.

He's got a quality free kick game on his website: Clicky

NEWCASTLE United goalkeeper Fraser Forster has put pen to paper on an improved contract that keeps him at St. James' Park until 2010. The promising 20-year-old has been a regular for the Magpies' reserves this season and has won numerous plaudits following a string of top drawer performances. And the Hexham-born stopper was this week further rewarded for those impressive displays with improved and extended terms. Speaking to Newcastle World TV, the 6ft 6ins goalie told of his joy at securing his Toon future: "I'm absolutely delighted to sign my new contract at a club as big as this. "I've worked hard at my game over the past couple of years and I definitely feel an improvement. "It's nice to hear other people say that I'm the club's most improved player, but I know there's still plenty of work to be done and I'm looking forward to doing that with the people at this club." And boss Kevin Keegan believes that the sky is the limit for the young goalie. "Fraser has come on leaps and bounds and could become an outstanding goalkeeper," he told World. "He has worked extremely hard and I was very keen to get him under contract. "We will look for him to continue his development here and there is no reason why he can't go on to represent his country at under-21 level."

New league starts tomorrow night for us...hopefully we'll get a good start this time round. Our poor first four games cost us any chance of promotion last time round.