Rayvin

Fucking get in!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That in itself concerns me as well.

We should destroy them, our quality is apparent. Still though, I worry about their breaks...

Surely as well, we've got sufficient new signings for Villa to not really know how we're going to play - our players should be something of an unknown to them, making preparation harder. And we know how we have to play to beat Villa; Set pieces high into the box. If Bradford can do it...

Hahaha!! I sympathise with Hazard like, the kid was being a right prat about it. Don't think the referee could have done much else though...

Yeah but Gouffran isn't - I said one up front, him and Cisse. I concede that some of the players there aren't all signed yet however.

True from the first team, but with a bit of rotation you could get to a point where we had three French in defence, four in midfield and one up front. It's not worlds away (assuming these signings go through). Krul Debuchy Yang-Mbiwa Colo Haidara Marvaeux Cabaye Ben Arfa Obertan (in some formation or another) Gouffran Cisse Unless I'm missing something in there. They're all French right? I suppose the midfield would probably never happen though given the similarities of the players involved.

Really pleased with this one, by all accounts it seems we've signed quite a player. Nice to see some decent money thrown at our defensive problems - from here we just have to hope that he adapts quickly I guess. Is he eligible for Europa? Not that I think anyone is too worried about that any more given our league standing, but even so. Montpellier must have been in CL so I'm guessing he'd be ok?

^This - Has any team in the PL ever fielded an entirely non-British team before where they're all from one country?? We must be getting close! I'm a little concerned about how desperate this looks, but at the same time, I suppose I'm reasonably confident that we will have researched at all of them previously. If this turns it around it could be a really positive step for the future I guess, cementing some kind of relationship with France where all their good players 'graduate' Ligue 1 and join us.

Watching Villa last night was probably the high point of my year watching football so far. If we don't manage to beat this shambles then that's it for us. That said, I'm pretty confident - we should have a new player based morale boost. Kinda feeling 0-2. Can't really see them scoring.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this! I was certain that he'd be off after all this song and dance. I just hope his form is maintained until the end of the season at the very least. Our defence is actually looking pretty acceptable now - if it continues to go wrong from this point on, the problem has to be tactical...

What did Cabaye do to this ballboy?? I haven't got the full picture yet and I'm actually quite curious as to what could have provoked Cahill's reaction?

I doubt we'll sell him so soon. Plus, which of the 'bigger' clubs actually needs him? Arguably the only one is Spurs, and I doubt they could afford him frankly. Man Utd, Man City and Arsenal all don't need him. Chelsea also unlikely given Torres and Sturridge, but I wouldn't rule them out totally. I reckon we'll have him for another season at least - and if we do sell him, it'll be for crazy money.

I think there's a chance you know. Arsenal and Spurs had just as much reason to believe they had to win this weekend just gone as they will next weekend, and both failed. They're mentally not in the groove, and we are. Kinda torn on Chelsea and Liverpool this week though. On the one hand, if Chelsea win, Everton are assured finishing above Liverpool and thus have nothing to play for. But then we might have to win to protect our position from Chelsea... On the other, Liverpool win and Everton play harder. I guess I'd go for a Chelsea win.

Yeah but how many of their crap results could have been turned around by genuine support from their fans instead of vitriol? I understand why they're so annoyed, but they have definitely made it harder than it had to be - the fans backing in key matches might have kept them up. On the other hand, I suppose relegation might rid them of the Venkys and Kean, which will doubtless be a good thing.

Their fans have been absolutely shocking, I'd agree that they deserve it.

Y'know, it's actually been kinda painful watching Blackburn fall apart this season. At least this might facilitate the change to get rid of their management so they can get back to being shit on their own terms, rather than what they've created here. Anyone think they'll come straight back up? I'm thinking no...

ManU fans really backing us for the win here =D They've got more faith in us than they did in their own tbh. I'll be ecstatic if we do this, what with Arsenal's result yesterday - it'd be like it was fate or something o_O

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a strike so much!! I was so sure this was gonna unwind for us as well =DD

I was in China when the World Cup was going on, and I stayed up till 4am to watch England play Algeria. I stopped following England after that - so I can relate to this.

I saw a Villa fan on the BBC report tonight refer to McLeish as McRelegator - I actually think that's pretty good! Fitting too...this would be what, 3 relegations in 4 seasons? The bottom teams are playing with enough urgency that it could happen.

To be honest, I enjoyed seeing someone finally beat Barcelona. Even the best team in the world can't win that cup three times in a row. That aside though, while it's a blow for our Champs League hopes, we can't seriously see Chelsea with half of their first team out or suspended overcoming Real Madrid can we? Bayern might be a different story though. As long as they don't win the final, this is actually a better scenario for us than if they lost. Might keep our lads focused too, knowing that they could lose Europe altogether.

I don't want to wade into the middle of...whatever the above is (especially as I'm new), but I feel the need to share the following: I don't know if anyone has linked to this previously, and I apologise if so, but the guy who writes this blog would seem to be well informed about providing financial appraisals for football clubs. He has done many besides Newcastle so it's not biased in any apparent way - I've seen people link to him previously on this forum although not this one as far as I can tell: http://swissramble.b...thern-town.html I think it makes for interesting reading as it coves many different aspects of the clubs position and success. I think a key point is that Ashley's loan to the club would be repayable with 0.5% interest - this has been made interest free in more recent times. This is actually showing that the club's sustainability matters more to Ashley than the repayments and loan interest he was owed - he could just just gotten that loan through a bank... From what is being put across here, it would seem that the club was very close to ending up in administration under the previous ownership. As much as we would all have loved to continue spending as we did, and buying the players we did, I would not have been thrilled if we'd ended up in administration. Notably, Portsmouth are about to get relegated from the Championship as a result of that. I would also like to point out that this is all worked out based on the company accounts, which are, of course, public. The guy writing this blog is just transforming the numbers into words. If you guys have previously outed this blogger as a nutter, then please just ignore the post. I found this quite heartening though. I also think that this is a key piece of information: The previous ownership had mortgaged Newcastle to the hilt, securing loans on virtually all the club’s assets (training ground) and future income streams (TV, sponsorship), and also left Ashley with deferred transfer payments of £36 million, some of which was owed on players who had left the club. Following the implementation of a new policy whereby transfers fees are paid up front, the club is now owed £5 million.

If Chelsea win the Champions League then 4th place get bumped down to the Europa League. So that could still mess things up; it isn't going to happen though. This has benn confirmed by the all knowing Google =P Even if they did though, they'd probably fall away in the league while trying to sustain it.

As much as I hated rooting for Liverpool against a team I actually quite like, I'm glad that bastards won. Takes the pressure off us now, and we can look forward to Europe next season =)