OTF

Don't know where you get the idea that Joey is frustrated. TBH I'd say he comes across as relaxed, calm and ultimately confident in his own ability at the moment. Age and experience. I don't think we'll have any problems on that front. It will be good to see some pictures of the team back in training. In particular Ben Arfa, hope he and the new players can settle in quickly and properly.

Well there you go. I'm stretching a lot but it would make me feel better that we're not in for Sturridge if Chelsea don't want to do business with us.

I still think for the 1M we paid for him he's good value. Limited player but can have a good impact through his pace and trickery. Whilst he had some forgettable games he also had some decent ones, one in particular where I felt he was possibly our best player. Would have been valuable late in the season when we were short of wide options. In short, I'd keep him as backup.

It's frustrating if we're not interested, but I think 10M is out of the scope of Ashley's intended spend on incoming players. It would limit the ability to on-sell for a profit down the track. Looking at the price of Wickham, Carroll and Henderson 10M for Sturridge in comparison seems like good value. He's a skillful player and we have noone like him on our books so it makes sense on all fronts. Maybe Chelsea don't want to do business with us if the rumors are true that we set the price for Torres through the Carroll sale (+15M)?

if absolutely no one else left then I would be fairly happy. Me too, to be honest. Sturridge in, Enrique and Barton still here and (unrelistic) signed to new deals.

Why not counting Carroll? Being sold in January is not an adequate answer. The club have stated that they did not have time to replace him in that window. Might as well mock up a mock CT first 11 next season that wouldn't have included Nolan, then you can claim 4 in none out. Intrigued by your logic or lack thereof. Intrigued how you can start a thread on the outcome of a transfer window over 2 months before its closed. Being an idiot is not an adequate answer. I'm speculating based on the great many events and indicators before that suggest that this is a likely outcome. Everything that has happened so far has been in keeping with that down to the latest statements from the admittedly clueless manager. I'd like nothing more than to be completely wrong, but I don't think it's realistic to think that this owner is going to spend the money that they directly inferred would be spent on the team. Do you think that the money will be spent? BTW - I'm not suggesting that the money should be spent for the sake of it, but we've had a hell of a long time to search the market for targets and to then scout those targets. We're far from the finished product as a team with many obvious weaknesses that could and should be addressed using the money made from selling our most promising young player despite statements from the club to the contrary regarding keeping local talent being a priority.

Why not counting Carroll? Being sold in January is not an adequate answer. The club have stated that they did not have time to replace him in that window. Might as well mock up a mock CT first 11 next season that wouldn't have included Nolan, then you can claim 4 in none out. Intrigued by your logic or lack thereof.

Just pointing out facts. Carroll wasn't replaced because they say they didn't have time to. For all intents and purposes then this is their first chance at replacing him. If you consider Ba as his replacement then you either need to include Carroll's departure in your in/out calculations or exclude Ba's arrival. I'm only interested in the strength of the team, but I also like to take into account the incomings and outgoings. Even with Carroll we were in my opinion one forward short of having a good pair up front. The expectation was that we'd bring in players during the January window, but instead we ended it with fewer options for the first team than when it started. That's in the past, no need to wait to have the truth available there.

2 out, Carroll wasn't replaced. ...and Abeid is 18 and coming into the reserves.

I don't buy that. Our squad is no bigger than last season and we're shod of Campell and Nolan's hefty wages in addition to Carroll's. The total for the three new players may exceed that, but only marginally if it was the case.

...penny starting to drop yet? Hopefully 1 or 2? Hope, could... sounds very promising. From the Carroll sale onwards there has been a profit of £33.5M in transfer fees including the business that has been wrapped up thus far in the summer. Source Edit - Realised this was posted elsewhere. Oh well.

Pretty dull at the moment in the middle of the window. Most activity either at the start where teams are keen to get their business done, or at the end where teams are holding out trying to get the best prices. I think they'll find if they're trying that with us that Ashley won't pay 'best prices', preferring instead to take chances on bargain signings or failing that will do a PR job promoting a player we already have on the books.

Not express pace but I hear he has a good kick on him.

WBA shirt is fugly. Their away is better than their home. As a shirt ours looks better, but as a Newcastle Utd shirt it's hopeless simply for the fact that it doesn't have stripes.

If you can't spend 35M in a decent way then you need better scouts. There's loads of players out there that would improve our team. There's no excuse for not having identified a plethora of targets allowing for the fact that not every club is a selling club and that some players will be in demand and will prefer to go elsewhere. They've had since January to do so. Of course I'm not gong to pass full judgement until the window is closed and of course not every signing is going to turn out to be a perfect fit but you have to go for the ones that your team of scouts and manager recommend then hope for the best.

No doubt a stunning 0-0 draw with Blackburn in the second division on my Birthday.

Who dissed it?

Australian to UK comparison. Born: Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz (UK) Antmusic - Adam and the Ants (AU) Winner: AU. Bucks Fizz - oh dear. Starting School: When the Going Gets Tough - Billy Ocean (UK) We Built This City - Starship (AU) Winner: Splitting hairs 10th Birthday: The One and Only - Chesney Hawkes Joyride - Roxette Winner: AU. Can honestly say I'd never heard the UK song or the artist. After watching/hearing it on youtube I wish I could still say the same. Guy looks like David Spade and Gareth Southgate's love child. 18th Birthday: Perfect Moment - Martine McCutcheon (UK) Baby One More Time - Britney Spears (AU) Winner: Britney (AU). Defined pop music at the time. Who could have predicted her spectacular rise and fall? Everyone. Martine McCutcheon never cracked the Australian market, song is pretty insipid listening now as a first timer. Marriage: Promiscuous ft. TimbaLand N - Nelly Furtado (AU) Hips Don't Lie - Shakira (UK) Winner: Both songs are kind of annoying, probably in part because of ovarsaturation. If I was to rate them with the sound turned down they're suddenly much better and I'd have to give this to Shakira.

Did anyone take any snaps of this epic battle?

When is he contracted to? Far from done or even a real possibility, but if it was to happen we'd find out who is the better prospect out of Krul and Forster. Financially if they offered a couple of million could see Ashley green lighting it. Whether Harps would want to go is another poorly soy Ed made up story altogether.

Hope they sort out all the useless ok this and ok that that you need to do to do just about anything in the menus.

I've enjoyed our onfield performances over the last two seasons as well. The 2008-09 season was painful watching for the most part.

Problem being that they seem thick as thieves. And I'm sure Ashley is happy to let him be the villain.

Make N'Zogbia wait. When we've conducted the important business of the summer - ie. sorting out the Enrique predicament and signing some more strikers then we can look into what would be a luxury player who plays in positions where we're quite strong already.

Mismanagement of money. The sale of Andy Carroll for 35M is only a good sale if we end up with a better team as a result. We've been lied to over and over again, about money, player retention, you name it. This is just another one of the lies, another con that the gullible will seemingly gulp down eagerly. If the core of the supporters stopped acting like mugs then they'd have to stop treating them like mugs.