scoobos

Unbelievable, totally gobsmacked. Thats at least 7 hats I have to eat.

QFT , and perhaps his wife is depressed - life in South America to Newcastle Upon Tyne in the winter is a big ask for a housewife. How quickly some grind axes, we don't have a clue about the full story - and perhaps his wife doesn't want her personal life exposed to the public (especially if its mental illness, with the stigma that brings) But go on, keep telling us how hes suddenly not been our most key player all season this year, despite being out of form.

Why haven't the club sacked him? Surely by now we have him on so many gross misconduct charges.... He's an insult to our club. (I just watched his youtube videos which also make my skin crawl)

I think he may well be, given that anyone over 1mil euro in France gets taxed at 65% so in pounds that's 20k a week GBP to take you to 1 mil euro. (0.832 EUR to pound today) A lot of people seem to resent the french players being mercenaries, but given that the French want to tax 65%, you're going to get the money grabbers wanting overseas work and the "loyal" players staying in France. Especially given the hike to 75% on the cards despite the link. Isn't that why Ashley is in France? It's got bugger all to do with the ability of the players, its the ability to say come here and you pay at least 50% less tax. (Until recently they paid 0 tax due to dodgy avoidance antics in the way they were paid). If you're in the market to lure people concerned only about money, you're not going to get the loyalty for people to even stay long enough to have any kind of masterplan. Ashley completely flummoxes me.

Not sure Krul is better than Given, (best player in position in a decade) but otherwise agree totally with those points. I really hope we don't have another mass exodus , but it is looking a lot like the problems we had when Nolan, Barton et al realised that the contract talk was just that. Ashley isn't going to improve the team the way he appears to be leading players to believe. They wouldn't be getting annoyed at lack of ambition unless it was discussed on signing. I can see it now with Debauchy - "Come join us, I know we are a bit weak in certain areas and our league form is poor, but we've got Arfa, Cabaye, Tiote, Krul so far and there's more to come, we're building a dream team" Then within a year, there's 4 wanting out and no one coming in..

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/evening-chronicle-news/2011/05/12/nufc-stars-turn-out-at-cramlington-bingo-club-72703-28681218/ How long does pregnancy last?

It's looking like a story, quite a few papers running this one and no denials from the club or player. shit the bed, it just gets worse ...

Imagine what Obertan must be feeling, subbed off after all his industry to see Nile Ranger come on. What the fuck is Pardew playing at? I can't think of a better way to piss off the squad than to put that muppet on. We are missing one hell of a lot of talent though and it's showing. Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Taylor, Ryan Taylor would have made a massive difference today) I thought Cisse gave a much better account of himself too.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/9775933/Newcastle-United-will-be-better-off-without-Demba-Ba-the-ultimate-football-mercenary.html Spot on, I reckon and ashleys getting 4 mil back so at least we covered his wages and had him for free. Hope this doesn't fall through and the team pull together tonight.

I'm actually pleased this is happening, following the false alarm this weekend. Whilst he's undoubtedly able to score goals, I reckon Cisse will do just as well once he's a regular centre striker and that Demba has actually been a detriment to the team in the past few months. I've watched too many games now where Ba pays absolutely no attention to Cisse at all, with no attempt to link play and just a greed to score goals; which I suspect is driven by advice to get himself in the shop window and earn as much money as he can before the knee goes. It's worked out for both of us, but as many have said I also agree that Mike Ashley cares only about the bottom line and doesn't give too hoots about the club in respect of anything else.

QFT. Personally I think he plays a solid role for us, but he has been fairly substandard this year. He's always frustrated me, as I think he would be loved more if he wasn't afraid to shoot more often.

I think this talk is mental, now that FCB has handed him a 10 yearer - it'll cost us far too much to cut him off. I still wonder why he got this 10 yearer, did FCB think that england were coming in for him and saw a chance to make a profit on severance fees? To join this debate, I reckon all we're really seeing here is the fruits of a transfer policy that says buy potential, on the cheap. In other words, buy players that have failed medicals for the big clubs but attracted their attention - or players who need breaks for foreign campaigns. I believe we are just seeing a side effect to this policy. BA wants to go, I reckon - he probably saw this as a chance to prove his knees weren't going to explode and get in a bigger club. Cabaye's Abdomen, another medical known issue which resulted in a new contract with a release clause that we used to buy him Marveaux failed a medical at Liverpool, so expect him out for 4 months with groin operation Tiote has problems managing his aggression and is out with the african competions, along with the others. Ben Arfa is a surprise success story, having had documented problems with depression / team relationships. Gosling is another injury prone character, along with S Taylor, Obertan etc. I just think we're buying quality players, but all with a risk. As to whats going on with the performances, I'm no armchair manager - but i don't think its really down to AP when we're buying players without the resilience to play an entire campaign, let alone 3 or 4. My criticism of AP is I hate seeing him field 2nd strings in European competition, its not fair to the away fans and I also think it doesn't help in building our foreign reputation for potential players and fans.