Played today against Barnsley. Are we looking at Chris Morgan from Barnsley again?

NEWCASTLE UNITED could be set to increase their South American colony with the news that a number of Paraguayan internationals are currently on trial at St James' Park.

With nine South Americans on the Newcastle books, Bobby Robson has used his worldwide contacts to try and strengthen a team that was left virtually penniless and with severe morale difficulties following the reign of his predecessors.

Details are sketchy on exactly who has arrived on loan, although planetfootball.com can exclusively reveal that they played in a behind-closed-doors match on Thursday against Barnsley.

The North-Eastern giants are currently transforming themselves into the Chelsea of the region with the recent arrival of players such as Daniel Cordone, Cristian Bassedas, Clarence Acuna and Facundo Bonvin.

However, Robson has already conquered Paraguay with his move for young starlet Diego Gavilan (pictured), the winger who is currently recovering from a knee injury.

With Gavilan's national captain, Jose Luis Chilavert moving to Strasbourg, it appears that Northern Europe is currently the latest place for Paraguyans to settle but despite Newcastle's need for a squad striker, Chilavert is unlikely to fit the bill.

Players that are likely to interest Robson include: Pedro Sarabia, Arnaldo Espinola, Jorge Britez and Miguel Dominguez.

It was apparent after their defeat to Birmingham in the Worthington Cup that Newcastle desperately need to strengthen their squad, which has been decimated by injuries.

Specifically the defence, which has traditionally been a weak spot for the flamboyant geordies, needs bodies, with Warren Barton having to fill in at left-back, whilst Aaron Hughes and Stephen Caldwell remain the only fit central defenders, whilst Alain Goma looks set to leave having handed in a transfer request two months ago.

Alan Shearer and Gary Speed are both carrying long-term injuries to their back and neck respectively and with Carl Cort now expected out till the New Year, it would not be a surprise if a new forward would arrive in Newcastle.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Answers

"The North-Eastern giants are currently transforming themselves into the Chelsea of the region..."

F**k me, I hope not!

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Wouldn't mind winning a couple of cups though, but as you say the similarity ends there.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

"Players that are likely to interest Robson include: Pedro Sarabia, Arnaldo Espinola, Jorge Britez and Miguel Dominguez".

That's just what we want to hear right now! What's wrong with Bridges, Jansen, Pahars, Burchill, or Beattie?

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Price. :-(

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Not content with the current lot losing our club some respect, they try to undermine us even more by signing people like this.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

With an N and an E and a wubble-yew C and an A and an S and a T L E and an I and an O...Newcastle-io United-io F.C. (IO)

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

despite Newcastle's need for a squad striker, Chilavert is unlikely to fit the bill. Would that be because he's a goalkeeper?

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000

just catching up:

I know James Beattie's girlfriend [no joke]. D'you want me to have a word?

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

yes, please.

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

And see if he could maybe bring Pahars with him

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

ciara - i'll see what i can do. She'd hate Newcastle though. Good enough reason to stir things a little...;-)

BTW - i worked out that we only lose games when you don't contribute to the match thread as you're watching it on TV. STOP IT!

;-))

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

That means you'll have to get a LapTop with a cell phone modem if you want to go to SJP Ciara. Ooooh - expensive - pyut it to the board and see what they say, eh?

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Right, someone talk to the board and see if they'll stump up for one. It'll have to be one of those super thin and light jobbies, however. And need custom rubberized coating for when it goes flying after our goals. ;-)))

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

rubber fetish eh ciara? ;))

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

I could always ask - mine's suffered a bit this last week. American beer, dropped on the floor (in it's bag, mind) plus all the usual verbal abuse. Tough little beasts these new T20s. Even Bill's stuff (Win2000) isn't as bad as it used to be (wash my mouth out - I can't believe I said that!).

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

It's what supporting the Toon has done to me. Rubber (rooms) and masochism. mmmmmm! ;-)

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Screacher - you ARE joking aren't you? tell me you are. I just had no end of trouble with ANY MS 'programmes' - i use the term loosely. Which is one of the reasons i use an Apple Mac.

Ciara - why need rubber when you've got NUFC? ;-)

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Well Min, Win2k is a lot more tollerant than '95. OK, so an ap might crash (often does!) but you don't have to re-boot to recover.

Still, I've had enough of 'puters for this weekend. Been surrounded by the buggers - and few of them behaving like they should - mind, I guess that's what a development lab is all about. It'll be allright on the night - honest.

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Glad to hear WinY2k is better - it should be! I've finally got IE5 up and running again after a clean install. Trying to find MS bits on this system is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, an andreas anderrsson goal in a B&W shirt, a penetrating through ball from JDT...they put it everywhere but where it should be - GRRRRR!

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2000

Screach, I've got an app that crashes after variable times and locks my laptop - Win2K - only solution is a reboot. It's The Conquerors (Age of empires II) - a Microsoft game!

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2000

Mine comes up with a memory dump (blue screen) before re-starting and it slows everything down, I think I'll try win 98

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2000

I use a Mac G4 at work, and for pc progs I use Virtual Pc a PC emulator running 98 beleive it or not this crashes less than my Pentium II 500 at home.

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2000

kennyboy,

no surprise there. After my IE problems, i had to use Netscape to navigate to a few tech forums to find out how to fix them. After numerous searches of MS site for troubleshooting/FAQs with details, i found the answers on an independent BBS much like this one. They might be big but their half-arsed, two-bit products are so lacking in quality, i couldn't imagine actually PAYING for one.

Attention to detail is everything.

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2000