Thank you Reagan

No worries?

but why? where is the logic?

unsettling players perhaps?

Although it's the official website there is no actual direct link with the club, so the information on the site is not directly from people associated with the club. So they print speculation to attract attention etc etc...it's just more commercialism.

how can it not have a direct link with the club?

it is the clubs vocal point to the fans. the people who run the site are employed by the club are they not?

its still a supid idea whatever anyone says!

These are commercial people......nothing to do with the REAL life football side of the club. I believe the people that run it are a separate company called IMG Media......they are nothing to do with Manchester United. They obviously have direct contact with the club because most of the stuff on the site is directly related to the club itself......however the site is run by IMG Media on behalf of Manchester United.

What is the big deal steely. So what if the website displays the rumours from the papers. I always look the rumours up anyway so it sort of saves me checking a few websites. I don't see why it should bother you. They are sometimes correct as well.

calm down!!

im just questioning it thats all! seems weird to me!

roon has answered it sufficiently i feel.

if you dont ask questions young jack, you will never learn anything.

thats cool. i was calm by the way lol

Steely was making a very valid point JJ. He was suggesting that the football club itself is helping to perpetuate rumours which can undermine the position of their own players.

I know, but its not like the website are making up rumours. I don't like the way the website (nufc.co.uk) is run anyway. Whoever writes it is pretty poor and if they could come up with some proper stories then they wouldn't need to talk about rumours. I don't mind nufc.com doing it but i agree that nufc.co.uk should be able to find better topics to write about. They get interviews with players and that which nufc.com don't get.

Do any other club websites make you pay to get decent news?

There's always something to do with Newcastle for people to have a dig at isn't there. How about we leave the website out of this, and leave the thread for transfers and rumours?

It is one week untill Newcastles first pre season match so i thought i would take a look at our squad and look to where we should add.

Keepers - Shay Given, Stephen Harper.... This is one area of the team where i think we are as good as any team in the EPL. I know that most people will dissagree with me but i don't really care. Shay Given has showed us time and time again that he is one of the best in the Prem and i don't think there is a number two who is as good as Stephen Harper. He came into the team last season and played great. One downside is that both Given and Harper will not have many years left. However, Newcastle have two pretty good replacement ready to fill in if he is needed. Some of you might know about Tim Krul (20 years old). He made his Newcastle United debut in the UEFA Cup game in 2006 away to Palermo. He was amazing on that day and won the game for us. If it wasn't for him we could have been hammered.

Defenders - Habib Beye, Steven Taylor, Abdoulaye Faye, Jose Enrique.... We are very weak on numbers in this position, this is all we really have for our first team. Our player of the season was Beye. It was his first season and he quickly became a fans favorite. Hopefully some of you will know how could he is. We also have Steven Taylor who has just signed a new deal to keep him at the club for a few more years. Although Faye did good at times last season i would still like to see keegan buy an experienced first choice CB. Our only left back in the squad is Enrique. He was pretty poor at the start of last season but as time went on he started to play better and better. IMO Keegan needs to buy at least two defenders. An experienced CB and a defender who can fill in at both right and left back. Most of you will not know but we have 3 promising defenders in our reserves. These are, David Edgar, Ben Tozer and Tamas Kadar. I believe we will see maybe two of these at some stage of next season.

Midfielders - James Milner (RM,LM), Jonas Gutierrez (winger i hear), Joey Barton (CM), Nicholas Butt (CM), Damien Duff (LM), Charles N'Zogbia (LM), Geremi (clueless), Danny Guthrie (CM)..... I think our midfield is missing one key player, a creative one. This was what we were missing last season and we will not do very good next season unless we get a major creative player. I am quite happy with our two players who we have bought already. From what i hear Gutierrez is a good, strong and gifted winger. He works hard and his nickname is Spiderman, great. He bought his contract out so it will only cost us a few million. Although there has been one or two comments about Guthrie i think it is a good move. He will only be a squad player and if he works his way into the team then great. He is a young english midfielder and i hope he does a good job. There has been a lot of talk about whether we are going to keep Joey Barton. If we replace him with a better player then i'm all for sacking him, but there is no need to sack him if we are not going to relace him. So i expect we will get get a creative midfielder and maybe a replacement for Barton.

Forwards - Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen, Alan Smith, Mark Viduka....I have left Shola Ameobi because i don't class him as a footballer. I think our attack looks great on paper. But it doesn't always pay off. Martins gives his all for the club and is well liked by the fans but is hit and miss. There is loads of talk about Arsenal wanting him for 15million and i would find it hard to turn that down. Depending on who we could get as a replacement. I would like keegan to buy a forward but i have a feeling he wont. IMO we need a new target man. Viduka was good at times last season but he is getting on and losing his movement. He can still do a job but will never play a full season. I would have loved to get Crouch but times have changed. We are no longer as powerful as we once were. We also have a young player called Andrew Carroll. He has impressed at reserve level and i hope he doesn't turn out to be another Shola!

At this moment in time it doesn't look like we will do anything special next season. However, it is still early days. Although business has been slow i think we have got two useful players in and hopefully more will soon follow. The key player i will look for us to get is a creative midfielder. I know we also need cover at the back but this player could make or brake our season.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Geordie JJ.

Everyone copying my signature. Glad ive added something to this forum.

Great post JJ. I can't really give you an argument on anything you have said there. It's a very good summary of where Newcastle are at with players. Some may feel that Owen and Viduka are now a little past their best.

When you say past their best then i have to agree. But that doesn't mean that they are not useful players. Owen seems to get quite a bit of stick which is i personally feel is a bit unfair. He is a model professional who has always put his country first and yet some people love to have a dig at him. Unlike a certain Beckham. When he is fit he can be pretty damn good. However, getting him fit has not been easy over the last few seasons. If he does a season fully fit he will score at least 20 goals. We seen the kind of run he can go on at the end of last season and hopefully he can continue into the new season (Man United better watch out). Saying this he is past his best. It looks like he could have lost his place in the England team and he is only getting older. This means he has something to prove and i know he would love to come back with a bang next season. It could be a big season for Owen and Newcastle. There are talks set for next week over his new contract and i hope he signs.

I agree.....Owen IS a model professional. I hope he has a blinding season and gives the toon fans something to sing about

Mickey Owen's a bleedin' scoundrel.

Obviously the signing of Danny Guthrie is not a major coup by any means, but he looked like a decent and controlled in the midst of a very poor Bolton side last season, he's till quite young and I believe they've signed him on a relatively cheap deal. Under further guidance I think he could turn into a tidy little player.

From what i here, Guthrie has joined for £2.5m.