OTF

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.

Unsurprisingly interest is being shown in Enrique from Spain. I have no doubts that if an official offer is tabled they'll take the £3-4 million, then won't replace him. Hopefully someone comes in to buy the club before then and realises that he's an asset worth hanging onto if at all possible.

...and replace him with... noone.

There isn't a Newcastle fan alive who'd let themselves be photographed like that. And that's just talking about his head.

No transfer fee and hasn't been horrible. We'd be silly not to offer some sort of deal to keep him (as it's obvious that noone else has come knocking).

That's that sorted then

Would we take Onyewu back now that we're in the championship? Was pretty ordinary with us in the initial stint, but is big and mobile, would come in handy in the championship?

Most of these players when we sold them we were thinking would be replaced with better players, sadly that hasn't happened, and so players who we happily get rid of we're now forced to look back on as what could have been players. Most on the OPs list were crocks anyway.

That's reasonably similar to my story. I used to read the football scores in the newspaper in the early 90s (was also checking the basketball scores). This would have been the early 90s (93 onwards). I chose out Newcastle as the team I supported as they weren't Manchester United or Liverpool and were in a decent position in the table. That and the fact that a few hours up the road from Sydney (where I live) is a city called Newcastle. My initial interest was only casual, but over time as my interest in football grew, so did my interest in Newcastle United. I'm officially hooked.

Difference being that we went down because we're shit, they went down because they were involved in a match fitching scandal. With them if they could keep the core of their team they were just about certainties to bounce straight back. In a years time they'd again be competing for the Serie A winners trophy. If Manchester United were stung for match fixing now I'm sure they'd be able to hold onto the majority of their players (with the exception of the heartless playing for themselves bastards like Ronaldo and Berbatov).

I'd have him sniffing around the first team for certain next season. I look at us being in the Championship as a good way of blooding and ultimately hanging onto some of the promising young players that we have signed lately. From what I've read Vuckic seems to be well and truly the pick of the bunch, and wonderfully he plays in the position that we are weakest. Match made in heaven TBH, get him on the bench and coming on to get some first team experience. 16 is not too young in Football anymore, by the time the season starts he'll be 17 anyway. Rooney was playing and scoring for Everton in the Premier League when he was 16, Milner was playing the Premier League when he was 16. We're not in the Premier League, so it's even more reason why we can't afford to be precious about the age of our players. Not saying to put him straight into the first 11, but on or near the bench early in the season with a view to getting him on the field towards the end of a few games. Mix in our usual bevvy of injuried and who knows where he will be half way through the season. Look at Bassong as an example of that. Give him a chance and he just might shine.

He's a cert to leave so the sooner something is sorted the better. Agree with some of what is being said in here. Has the physical attributes to be exceptional, except missing a footballing brain (though he has become a better short passer since arricing IMO). The biggest issue though is that he's yet another player who is constantly injured.

I believe that figure would include coaching staff, manager, scouts etc etc.

Those numbers are hilarious. £43.16 million pounds for those 13 players for one year.

If he goes we could still play him and he'd do as much as he did for us against Villa.

Yep. If everyone else on the pitch put in the effort that he did I don't think we'd be where we are. I'm keen to keep a hold of him. If he was to go, there's absolutely no guarantee that they would replace him, so I'll stick with the bird in the hand principle.

Xisco number 9!* Seriously, wipe the slate clean and get him in the team from the start of the season. He was a good player for Depor last season, and he's scored a fair few goals and had some good performances in our reserves this season. If we sold him now we'll have blown a big wad of cash. We may as well try to get a return from our foolish investment, it's not as though his value on the market could drop anymore if he performs poorly. * - Actually don't give the 9 to anyone at the moment. But have Xisco as a starting forward.

Yeah, I definitely liked having him in the team and I'd keep him around for next season, don't get me wrong - but when you're playing next to Coloccini it's pretty easy to look like the quickest, strongest, best tackling defender in the land. The hype surrounding him doesn't help at all. When he came here he was talking about doing his best to try and crack it into the first team, now it seems he's reset his sights in line with the beat up media stories suggesting the likes of Arsenal are after him. Hopefully not N'Zogbia the second in that respect.

Can anyone honestly see them staying up next year? There's no way they'll have the sort of start to the season that they did this time around, and that was the only thing that allowed them to stay up. They'll play atrocious football, slog their way through the season then ultimately be relegated - I'm most certainly not jealous of the season that they face next year.

Surely it is standard fare to write a relegation clause into any footballing contract. Just about all the contracts of note* were signed before Mr 'Due Dilligence' strolled into town. If that's not the case for us it's a bloody travesty. * - Eg. High volume of notes. I'll be disappointed when Enrique leaves, possibly when Bassong does as well. Bassong though was too highly valued by many here, he was still what I would consider a raw talent - gave away some horrible fouls and got away with numerous grabs/shirt/arm tugs that should have resulted in penalties.

How fucking annoying is this image?

Yet another example of our pathetic attempts at player recruitment - didn't really have anyone else who could play ther. Edgar is a centre half first and foremost, with bugger all experience, looked out of it and a class below for the whole match. Everytime he got the ball just wanted to get rid. I guess next season he'll potentially be one of our first team central defender (or at least 3rd choice).

I thought Duff looked pretty pissed/annoyed/sad as well, which would have surprised me earlier in the season, but not so much given the effort he has shown of late.

Great, I cant wait for the same thing to be said next season. Great, hop in your DeLoreon and tidy up this mess then will ya?

Feel for you mate.