OTF

I think the gold actually works on the third strip. Damn. The home strip made it easy for me to have no interest in picking one up. Those jackets look quite nice...

Training jacket and third strip both look good. Much better than the home strip.

Surprisingly there was a few games where Nolan covered a fair bit of ground this season. I think he's capable of being more mobile but is too lazy to do it without good motivation. Whatever the case no side is ever without injury so options are needed in all areas.

No criticism can be directed at Enrique. For starters the club haven't technically signed anyone apart from a young guy that didn't even play for his French side. Enrique is clearly a player who has the ability to choose where he plays, he's been a spectacular performer for us if his ambition now exceeds that of the club then there's no reason why he shouldn't challenge himself elsewhere.

He's the type of wanker that would be on ridiculously low wages just so he can be associated with a team that's winning titles.

Sums it up nicely.

Precisely what is it that FIFA are required to do apart from organise the World Cup? If it's to promote the game internationally then they're failing spectacularly.

Time for a new Official Signings thread!

He's won every club medal available barring the Champions League so not that many failures. On a personal level obviously. I'm sure there's plenty of players out there who are shit who have managed to pick up loads of medals.

Completely despicable. So keen to attach himself to the success of others because his career has pretty much been littered with failures.

If England, Spain, Italy football associations take a stand, I think the others would swift follow suit. I just don't think that would happen. It's a huge undertaking, and I don't think anyone of those organisations would put their hand up to get the ball rolling so to speak. No doubt the far reaching tendrils of FIFA extend deep into some of these FAs (or some of the people with these FAs) so there would be some that resist. It's obvious, and has been for some time that some sort of shake up and reform is required. It would be great if someone deep within could reveal in detail the true undertakings, underhand deals, lavish wastes of money and the like that so patently underpin the foundation of the current FIFA regime. Were that to happen then there would be no choice but to excercise the change required. Sometimes you need something really bad to happen to start the process of rebuilding a-fresh. I don't know whether the Qatar debacle will be enough for that, though I wait in hope.

My ITK tells me that he wants to play in the Champions League, but really likes the Premier League also. His decision will be heavily influenced by these with the net result being that he either will or won't sign with us or another club. Further news will come out today. Or another day. Keep it on the quiet though, there's big names involved and I don't want to get anyone in trouble.

Does he have to come out with any anti-Ashley stories? Ashley and Llambias do a good enough job of that themselves. Joey Barton has always said what he thinks, this is not a new trend. Nothing he has said has been that controversial and I'd be willing to bet that everything he says has more of a grounding in reality than what comes out of the club. If Mike Ashley wants to stop people pointing out stupid things that he has done then he should stop doing stupid things, not try to silence people speaking out. Getting rid of Barton because he's said something that got someone offside is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Has another 2 years to run on his contract anyway. Why couldn't the club have shown this sort of foresight in resigning Enrique before he was in the final year of his?

Pace, athleticism and quality ;)

But if they're immune to it themselves then it could have a positive effect by only upsetting opposing players.

In the end Joey Barton would be the first name on my team sheet, but if the club don't offer him a new contract it's the right thing to do because he could have a sulk and upset the strong team spirit that he helped to build.

Possibly only being linked because the media think he is French based on his temperament.

The good news is that now that there is absolutely nothing good about Blatter he can be taken out the back and appropriately shot. The pompousness and untouchable status of FIFA currently is a fucking joke and is completely against the spirit of the game, being a game for all people.

Obviously nothing to do with the question I was asking. More angling towards peoples thoughts on having an English football side with a largely French speaking core, and whether tthis could offset or affect the current team spirit. More to the point the departures of key players is likely to affect that balance. ...and Moore and Viduka were never at the club together.

In this dream reality Berbatov with Gameiro I think would be a better fit up front. Gervinho could be in there as well but in a wider role, with Ben Arfa down the other side.

---------------Eng--------------- ---Eng----Eng---Spa----Spa--- ---Eng----Eng---Fre-----Spa--- -----------Eng---Eng------------ That's the team as it is, allowing for Ben Arfa as injured, a strike 'force' of Best and Shola. ---------------Eng--------------- ---Eng----Eng---Spa----Fre--- ---Eng----Fre---Fre-----Fre--- -----------Eng---Fre------------ I kept the formation the same to make it easier to compare. Left back there I've included Cheikh M'Bengue. Ben Arfa as left wing/midfield, Tiote and Cabaye in central midfield, Barton on the right, Shola up front alongside Ba/Gameiro or with Ben Arfa behind and Gervinho on a wing. If you wanted to be even more extreme it could be two French speakers up front (Ba + Ben Arfa, Ba + Gameiro etc). Obviously it's a long way off happening, but would make an interesting dynamic and would be far and away the most French speaking starting 11 in the league.

I'd hope that we wouldn't swap out any of the Spanish speakers. As unlikely as it is, it would be a mouth watering prospect to see them added to rather than replaced. With Jonas and Coloccini contracted until 2013 there's no reason for them to leave just yet, that is unless the owner wants to replace them with lower wage earners.

With all of the talk of interest being almost exclusively in French speaking players, what do people think the implication will be for our side? Would you have a problem with the core of our team speaking French? The Cabaye signing is all but assured and he represents the fourth French player to be permanently signed since the January window (Hatem Ben Arfa, Yven Moyo and Mehdi Abeid). Coupled with another key signing from last summer (Cheick Tiote) the number of French speaking players in our side has certainly spiked. In addition to these the most seriously linked players are all either French or French speaking - Gervinho (French speaking), Sow (French born), Gemeiro (French speaking), Ba (French speaking), N'Zogbia (French born). As many had predicted the club are looking to plough the talent of the second tier European competitions (with England, Spain and Italy the top tier), with a particular focus on players from high performing sides. Financially it seems to be a viable option, with the lure of playing alongside compatriots no doubt a significant lure to players stepping up to a more competitive competition on foreign soil. If these players do come over in the numbers that are being rumoured then it could impact upon the positive spirit amongst our players that has carried them up from an extremely tumultuous period. That kind of spirit has not come easily for Newcastle of late, so it could be a dangerous game to mess with it. Whilst they'll no doubt arrive with the best of intentions there's no telling what the disposition of these players would be in trying times, something of a common ground at St James' under the ownership of Ashley.

Their long ball reliance is not just because of Davies (though it helps to have someone who makes a good target), but also because they don't have players who can play the ball out of defense. If Enrique and Coloccini go for us our long ball numbers will jump exponentially. Can you imagine a back four of Perch - Saylor - Willo - Simpson? I suppose it we be worthy or rejoice when they cleared the ball rather than stuffing it up somehow.