Phil

We've only been linked with him in the summer. I dont think we were ever after him, our scouts were looking at Aubameyang

Kinnear is a fool. However telling Cabaye he can leave is hardly something to get up in arms about.

What on Earth do you want from the club??? Cabaye went on strike, so what if Kinnear told him we'd sell him when a decent bid came in. Cabaye has been in the best form of his career since. Wihtout that talk we'd have had a sulking player on our hands.

A direct quote from Pardew surfacing at 11pm at night is rather suspect. Can you provide the source?

That'll depend a lot on what add-ons were included.

Lyon have never accepted a bid, he'll change his tune if Lyon accept an offer. The part that particularly stands out was "Is Clement really worth half of Yohan Cabaye?", which is a reference to what we offered Lyon. I also thought he over used Cabayes name, four times is quite a lot!

It's the agents job to work the media. When a bid is accepted by his club he'll change his tune. Agents only get their fees when players move clubs!

Lyon are massively in debt and havent came out and said he's not for sale, which speaks volumes.

The FA are publicly backing players to play act, bit of a joke really.

Very good point. Looks like the club are happy with the money and de jong. Anything else is a bonus. Pretty sure they'll still be work in another deal.

That's a fairly harsh assessment 1. After the summer antics Cabaye was always going to be sold as soon as a decent bid came in. If Kinnear had said anything else people would be up in arms saying he's touting our players around 2. The offer for Cabaye has only just come in. The club have acted quickly to push it through and leave plenty of time to line up additions, the timing of De Jong photos and Cabaye press conference suggest they were done in tandem. Also, I doubt we'd have bought anyone if Cabaye had stayed, so we can't really line anyone up as agents etc make it rather difficult to get a good idea who's really available. I think most would agree an extra midfielder is a fair trade off.

Pardew said in post match interview the coming together was enough for the ref to send them both off. So looks like we wont be appealing.

Exactly, it was petulant. That Norwich fella taking a dive forced the refs hand. Not sure if we can get it over turned as I'm not sure how aggressive Remy was being. An appeal may see Remy available for the Sunderland game

They got booed off so it wont take much for their crowd to turn on them again

HBA thinking about his goal celebration before he hit that!

HBA pulling the strings in midfield

A leading scout (whatever that means) had this to say about him http://www.teamtalk.com/newcastle-united/9131711/January-targets-assessed-by-leading-scout

That's Ashleys relentless pursuit of a good deal. We make an offer that usually gets rejected. Then we wait for the selling club to come back with their tail between their legs. Cisse was offered to us for 15m, but we got him to 8m in the following Jan. Debuchy was pushed back a window over 500k. I'm pretty sure we've walked away from loads of deals over tiny amounts - Gomis and Remy stick out in the last year. It could be said this has weeded out the mercenaries, but cheap skate is more accurate.

Is that true though? Luuk de Jong is coming in for a medical. He was being touted around for 10m in the summer - a tad more than Guthrie. Cabella also seem s a top draw player. Moreover, I doubt we'll be looking for a like-for-like replacement as Sissoko is much better centrally and his work rate will allow someone HBA to play.

Ashley's history suggest he'll buy wisely or not at all. Beckford and Mariappa (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16811091) stands out as a good example. Luuk de Jong seems to be on his way in for a medical. We wanted him in the summer, so he's been well scouted and isnt a panic buy. I guess only time will tell.

Difficult yes, but the fact we bought them confirm the current setup can do it. The Cabaye sale hasnt come out of the blue and we've not signed anyone for nearly a year, so we should have a massive list of targets.

Anyone seen Luuk de Jong play? Fella on radio said he does lots of running. So i guess similar to Dirk Kuyt?

Cabaye has 2 assist in 19 games this season, so there is plenty of room for improvement.

Why on Earth are you quoting something that happened nearly 30 years ago, when we sold Carroll 3 years ago in exactly the same circumstances. After selling Caroll for 35m we bought... Following Summer: Cabaye, Ba, Marveaux, Obertan & Santon Following Winter: Cissé ...and had 15m left over! It could be said the players above were replacements for Nolan, Barton, Enrique - and only Ba/Cisse were Carroll replacements. But we still came out with a much better team, which is all that matters. For me, I think selling Cabaye echos the circumstances surrounding the sale of Enrique, neither sales came as a massive shock. Santon came as a nice surprise and a lot better than most expected - we were linked with Liam Ridgewell in the papers. Ashley main fault is he's happy to walk away from a deal if it doesnt meet our terms. So I hope he lines up the replacement in tandem, or sellers will put their price up!

He's a great player who wanted to move on in the summer. Clearly we sat him down and said he can go when a good offer comes in. That day has come. Ashley no mug, selling Cabaye will cost us five league places, which is around 5m. So I highly doubt he'll leave without anyone coming in. We bought no one in the summer and will have this cash to spend, so I would expect us to bring in at one or two players.