OTF

This story will: [A] Prove to be false Prove to be untrue [C] Slide off the face of the planet into obscurity with no further comment from anyone [D] Be denied by JFK who will claim to be the leading bidder [E] Come true Question: Why would the times be privy to this sort of information?

I've been resigned to this for some time. Bring on the season so we can just concentrate on the football rather than all this pointless speculation/shit.

I can't help but feel that something will go horribly wrong for us in this match. Whether it be a penalty, a red-card or an embarrassing loss - the whole build up in the off-season seems to suggest that this match will be the first of many banana skins we encounter this season. I'm really hopeful that this won't be the case. I haven't been following West Brom's personnel changes over the off-season but last season despite their position on the table they were a team that liked to play football (as opposed to the likes of Stoke and Hull). Here's to hoping that it's still the case now. I don't think some of our players will react well to physicality (can see Barton striking out, Coloccini retreating into his hair, Jonas feigning injury and looking diinterested, Smith committing cardable tackles Raylor giving away pens, and Saylor pointing double time).

10 million is not that much for him, when you consider what losing him could cost us. I know it's a pretty forlorn hope, and not one I'd be laying any hard earned down on, but ultimately we'd like to at least be challenging for a playoff spot with the potential to go back up to the Premier League. Bassong is a player who will be a great asset in an attempt to do so (if he doens't get too far ahead of himself). Of the good players that we do have he's the one that is on the lowest wages - probably one of the only players in the team that is on appropriate wages for the championship. If we sell him for 10 million and try to bring in anyone of lower but similar quality/athelticism we'll be behind by a significant amount on wages alone. He is contracted to us for a few more years, so at the very least they should hang onto him for a while and use him to help bring us back up. If that doesn't work them they can think about selling him, when there is ample time to replace him. His value may have slightly gone down at this point (possibly not is you use Lescott as an example) but the value he will have provided in the meantime will be far in excess of that.

Didn't realise I had wandered into the Butt family reunion. I'm not doubting that Niucky Butt tried harder than other players in midfield. My problem is that he flat out is not good enough. I know you can't fully assess someone's positional play when watching on television - but you can certainly see enoiugh to give a good indication. There was several goals last season that could easily have been averted if Butt (and others) had tracked back harder from midfield. In Butt's case he should never have been pressing so high. I know he was doing so in order to try to create or get goals - but as we all know that didn't work. You have to know your limitatio0ns to get the most out of what you can offer - Butt doesn't. I maintain that I'd have much rathered to see us give some younger players a chance last season in midfield. We were relegated anyway, so there is nothing really worse that could have happened. Butt is well and truly on the way out as we should all be able to admit. I'd have him in the squad for his experience and professionalism, but use him to help bring through the younger players - not to hold up their progression. Of late we've been shit at bringing young players through and giving them experience.

That's utter bullshit to be honest. He talked the talk on numerous occassions but continuously failed to walk the walk. Pushed upfield much higher than he should have been and consistently failed to get back with sufficient urgency. If you don't have the legs to get back, then don't push so high up. It's not like he was creating or scoring goals. Some people think he didn't go missing because he made 'hard' tackles. Quite a lot of the 'hard' tackles that he had to make were because he couldn't keep up with the pace of the game.

Him leaving would be good in my opinion. He stopped any of our younger players getting a run last season, and they reAlly couldn't have done much worse with the upshot being that they would be more experienced for this upcoming season.

RIP Sir Bobby. Legend and gentleman.

You don't become the 4th richest man in the world by chance. Ergo the fourth richest man in the world does not buy possibly the worst managed club in the world. ...<commence dream sequence>... Unless he has the vision and foresight to realise the potential of this club. Already has an iconic World Class stadium just begging to be filled each week. An instantly recognisable strip and a canny ability to get in the headlines, even when they're only 'reporting' (and I use the term loosely) on a pre-season friendly against a league one side! </spin doctor>

Can't agree with that. Martins is the type of player where it doesn't matter how good the defenders are. His most potent opposition is himself, and his inability to finish. More concerned with trying to kick the skin off the ball, than beating the keeper. When it comes off it's spectacular - the other 99% of the time be thankful you don't have to wait for the ball to be retrieved before the game gets going again. He had IMO improved his possession of the ball and even his short passing game in his time with us. His injury record is woeful though, so I only see this as a great sale. Wages reduced and 9 million pounds - Plus the intrinsic suggestion that we're a little closer to having some sort of resolution to the absolute shambles that we're in now.

Surprised to see Coloccini showing any sort of emotion on the field. They were wrestling over his wallet apparently

Surprised to see Coloccini showing any sort of emotion on the field.

What a complete and utter shambles. I wonder who they have up their sleeve when we're staring down the barrel of a second consecutive relegation in 9 months time.

WIll be handy if played alongside the right person. Defenders will hate him.

It looks fucking awesome when we're winning 7-2

... QFT The sad part is that he was one of our best players when he was available. There's plenty of other who should be feeling the same way (Owen, Butt etc etc) but you would never see them come out and take ownership of their own shortcomings. He then goes on to say this, which gives every indication that he is on a hefty wage. Anyway, I like the lad (not in the Xisco way) and his attitude. Will be gutted if he goes.

Can't dispute the fact that he's a huge physical presence. More of an athelete than a footballer. I have no doubt that he will improve drastically from being at AC.

A bit more like buying a car off someone for 10 grand, finding a few skeletons in the boot (that you didn't check for first), then failing to get any repairs or servicing done despite it needing a complete overhaul before finally having it fail in spectacular fashion, crashing and burning in a wreck. Then slapping a new coat of (yellow and cream) paint on it and selling it back to the same smirking bastard for a grand.

The rumours were better with Shepherd in charge.

Believable piece of media, except for the fact that it's something mildly positive.

Yep, all these, plus the Emre free kick vs Sunderland, and the Nicky Butt winner vs Spurs (same match as the Martins vs Spurs cracker). N'Zogbia's goal vs Blackburn in 2005 was a nice one as well, dragged it calmly across the keeper and slotted it away.

I'm also warming to it (with some hot fudge and ice cream). It was shocking when I first looked at it, but now doesn't seem as bad. I think the light yellow should have been white, and the shorts should have been white with black stripes and yellow trim along the bottom. At least that way they wouldn't look like bananas from head to toe. It's going to be a horrible seller though, will look rubbish with jeans.

Sure we do. Plenty of speculation (perfectly believable considering the simian level of management we have here) that we'd owe an additional fee if he made a certain number of appearances. Yeah that's great and all, but there's nothing to gain from undertaking that whole process, just less to 'lose' in the short term at the expense of the long term investment (which is what he would have had to be considered at 21 years of age coming from Spain).

And therein lies the problem. Why does it feels as though nothing is happening? Because more likely than not that's exactly what is happening. Ashley has zipped up his purse (or it's fucking empty and all he has left are 'assets'). Can see it now; He knew he was in financial trouble quite some time ago, but at the same time he was blabbing on about how he was going to be here now to take the club forward in some misguided attempt to make it appear that the ship had been steadied so that we were more appealing to potential buyers. In the meantime, he ensured that anyone who was close enough to see the rot that was eating the club away from the inside was corrupt, stupid or some combination of the two. It was all slipping away though, so in a desperate attempt to salvage the premier league status of the club he fronted with some actual money to slip Alan Shearer in at the helm of the sinking ship. It was too little too late and so the inevitable happened and Newcastle were relegated, negating any illusions of stability that Ashley had created (largely in his head). Queue the next desperate measure - listing the club for sale at a reduced price (from the bloated unrealistic figure he was asking not too long prior). A big discount it was, but Ashley has no credibility and with the world's economic climate in the state that it is noone was willing to throw any sort of line his way. All the while, the bills are piling up as Ashley attempts to not have to put anything else towards something that he desperately wants to get rid of. The ongoing stalling around the appointment of Shearer is just another way that Ashley was trying to put a fresh coat of paint on the mess without actually having to front with any additional money.

Won't be here next season. They'll take a big loss and ship him back to Spain (along with Colo and probably Jonas). Shame though, don't know why they'd buy a player and then not give him a chance. He was always going to be a little bit of a long term prospect, but Newcastle is clearly not the place to nurture players. Even with a largely injured frontline Xisco barely got a sniff, ridiculous treatment that is yet another testament to the complete and epic failing of this club at every level of management.