I've got the 35m in my pocket and the contracts in my hands. -Transfers-

I'd rather we spent £8m on players who are worth it and are paid a sane wage than shooting our proverbial load on players who we over pay for and who are only after a nice fat wage. I present Michael Owen as exhibit 1 for this argument.

Looking at the players we have signed and the players we have sold, we are a better side. If we can sign a decent replacement for Jose, who isn't worth £60k a week after 1 good season, then we are a stronger side. Yes we still need a replacement for Carroll but the club isn't in a position where it can go out and sign a direct replacement. There is still time left in the transfer window and teams who are wanting or willing to sell will be more open to a reasonable offer as the window closes.

 

Sun has us interested in Rodallega.

With his pace, he would be a good compliment for Ba/Sham-eobi. He scored 10 and 9 the past 2 seasons with the service Wigan provided. I think with our team he could get to 15 for the season and Ba can hit that as well, that's two very serviceable strikers right there.

 

Newcastle have reportedly made a 7 million pound offer for Sochaux striker Modibo Maiga. The offer was turned down, but rumors are they will make a second. But Maiga was so upset about Sochaux not accepting the offer that he refused to play a league game for Sochaux over the weekend. Just what we need. Should fit in well with Barton.

 

Wouldn't mind Macheda in on a one year loan deal with the first option to buy at agreed price (6mil?)

Some decent links, I like the sound of this Maiga, but obviously the attitude seems to be an issue.

 

Heard from my French connection. Here is what he told me about Maiga:

 

speed is what we need.

 

According to NUFC.com:

Seems to me (again) that Pardew has absolutely no idea the direction of the board. He comes out and states interest in a player that had already been shot down dead in the water by Charlton. According to "club officials" the talks were over and wouldn't be aired in the press. Evidently word didn't filter down to AP, who has been in the press all week chatting up transfer targets. Signs of serious lack of communication between the manager and the board, but this is nothing new in the Ashley regime.

Is Pardew becoming restless at the obvious constraints that have been in place at the club since before he joined? Is he expressing his frustration in public with all these comments about wants & needs and supposed chats about promised investment? Increasingly it's looking like Ashley's gambling buddy is out of the loop and he's only now realizing that he was never going to be in on the decisions as much as he thought when he took the job. And he's only now coming around to the position that he needs to get his thoughts on the record so as not to lose any more face with the Geordie Faithful.

Will this frustrate him enough to pull a Keegan and do a runner? Albeit without the payoff at the end because I'm sure enough Llambias & Co. weren't stupid enough to tell him he has autonomy over players like they did with KK. At least it doesn't seem like they are buying players he doesn't want, yet. Transfer window ends in ten days and there are plenty of Spanish second division players pining for a paycheck.

Thx,

Jay!

 

I think it's just because we are cheap. Though it's interesting, I hadn't thought of that much.

 

According to NUFCBlog we've rised our bid...............who knows.

 

The thing is, as much as it frustrates us as supporters, it could be argued that from a purely business perspective, Ashley is behaving completely rationally.

Signing another player or two, such as Pieters and/or a striker, is not going to suddenly make us a top-six club. From Ashley's pespective, there is not much difference between finishing 7th or 17th, since as long as we don't get relegated, he's going to make roughly the same amount of money regardless of where we finish in the table.

So unless he is prepared to invest enough money in the team to into the to enable us to complete with the current top six (i.e. Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man. City, and Man. United), it is perfectly rational for him to invest no more money in the club than is necessary to avoid relegation.

And the tragedy for English football is that the financial gulf between the top clubs and the rest of the league has gotten so wide that many other respectable clubs (Everton, Aston Villa, etc.) are in the exact same position. Even Tottenham, who has clawed their way into the top six by spending a huge amount of $$$ to improve their team, has no real shot at winning the title.

So hate it as we do, it's hard to fault Ashley for behaving like a rational businessman...

 

And to add one more data point to my previous post...outside of the big three (Man. United, Arsenal, Liverpool), and teams bought by billionaires (Chelsea, Man. City), no other club has finished higher than 4th OR within 15 points of the title since we finished third, 14 points off the pace, in 2002/2003.

 

The sad thing is that I don't know if we'll ever really know how badly that ******** nut Fat Freddy screwed the club over financially.

Look, in the beginning CAshley listened to the wrong people when it came to transfers and dealing with the squad. Then came the whole Joe K mess. I think if CAshley actually brought in a person who really understood the game and business and just got out of his/her way that the club would go places. Do I believe that CAshley is trying to fix all the messes behind the scenes and update and improve the club...yes. Do I think he has a tighter grip on his wallet than Barton does on sanity...yes. CAshley is losing money trying to fix the mess that ******** nut Fat Freddy put this club in and the problem is he can't come out and say it because teams would just jack prices up till we walked to keep us away from transfer targets. Look at the team's strategy, fixed price of FA targets. The outgoing amount is controlled that way. CAshley already implemented a salary cap and scale, now he is trying to fix the team's transfer practices. The only problem, and this is where having a better Pres than Lambnuts would help, is there is no fixing or controling the transfer market. Its Pandora's Box and you either go in with a plan or get burned. Problem is CAshley is so affraid of getting burned, he is too cautious and that amounts to being just as stupid as being wreckless when it comes to Transfers.

On a side note, anyone here anything about those two French defenders that were on Trial here. Did we sign them or send them back to France?

 

Barton in talks with QPR

If he does end up moving there, I'm interested to see just how much he ends up getting and for how long.

 

Someone ponied up enough cash to get the F1 head honchos outta there, so they've gotta be fairly loaded.

 

The fact he resumed his song and dance on twitter...good as gone. Love the club and would only leave for Champions League my shiny metal ass!

 

Barton loves the attention and has used Twitter to make himself out as some kind of martyr for the fans. He's as much to blame in all of this as Ashley and co.

That said, it's another good player leaving the club who I can't see being replaced. Way to crush the feel-good factor of a derby win!

 

He wanted a long term, high paying contract and he didn't get it. He shouldn't get it. Man City just signed Nasri who is 24 today, they only gave him a 4 year deal. 3 crap seasons and 1 decent one doesn't mean Barton deserves a long term high paying contract.

All this bull about him loving Newcastle and not wanting to leave the club are just crocodile tears trying to force the clubs hand. I think it shows just how pathetic him and his agent really are.

 

If he goes that is 50K+ off the wage bill. A fair chunck of salary for a new striker/LB/somebodyanybodyplease.

For my part, it will lower the drama and let this gel as this year's team and not be a hangover from last year's team. Go already. And STFU while you are at it.

 

This should have been the summer where we spent £35 million adding to the squad we've already got. Yeah, we've brought players in but they're not guarenteed to be a success (I think Cabaye and Marveaux will be fantastic in time, FWIW). However yet again we're going to leave this window with a thin squad, with people like Alan Smith, Lovenkrands, Perch etc within a reasonable shout of making the team.

I'm not the biggest Joey Barton fan. He's essentially a central midfielder who can't play central midfield. Not the quickest, not a dribbler, his short passing game and composure is poor. He played well last season (and he DID play well, very well) because we played him in a position and in a set-up that got the best out of the qualities he does have... crossing, passing ability when given time and space. As much as he's no world beater, he's a good mid-table player that is proven to be effective and we know will do a job. ********ing him off for free, IMO, makes absolutely no sense. Not offering him a ludicrous contract, fair enough, but why strengthen one of the teams we're hoping guarentees a relegation place for absolutely NO gain? It's laughable man, and it's indicitave of the amateur nature inwhich these mugs run the football club. Every decision made on a whim, without so much as a second thought to the effects on the team or the fact that football players are humans not merely commodities to be bought and sold. This is not Football Manager.

I have no doubt Barton and that disgusting agent of his have played a massive part in this, in setting up the Twitter account to play the fans off against the board. But frankly nobody comes out of this well - except QPR.

I honestly couldn't give a shit he's gone if I woke up tomorrow and saw we'd signed Cissoko/Pieters, Maiga and Barnetta. I just can't see it happening. The closer we get to the close of the window I can't see us bringing in what we need to compete. We're going to be left with a starting XI deficient in a few areas and a squad full of youngsters (some who I am excited about, don't get me wrong) and players who are simply not good enough.

It's a depressing state of affairs. Mainly because this whole scenario is completely avoidable, if they'd just make decisions that had a modicum of SENSE.