This close season could be a really fascinating one.

Manure are reported to be preparing to spend another £40mm on top of the £19mm they've already spent on RVN.

Having won nowt in the last two seasons now, Arsenal look set to spend big on a goalscorer, and possibly the long-expected rebuild of their defence.

Leeds are girding their you-know-whats to off-load another £40mm of their Yorkshire brass - although interestingly O'Dreary is quoted in today's Times as saying "I see a figure of £20mm mentioned for Kieron dyer, and you can forget Leeds at that price. You accept that in the PL you are going to get screwed, but you don't want to get screwed that badly!!"

Spurs, fresh under Glenda's blessed hands, will be waving the cheque-book. Chewsee, as ever, will be doing their level best to inflate an already inflated market. Expect Villa to be buyers whether that is under Gregors or not.

Even Peyter is threatening to dust off his brief-case full of used fivers, and if SK does walk away they will be panic-sticken to sign an adequate replacement, even if it costs them £15mm for Fouler.

With Souness at the helm, promoted Blackburn won't let the grass grow under their feet in the acquisition stakes, and the real dark horses in the Spending Stakes could be Fulham fully supported by Al Fayed's bottomless money-pit.

The real question is where does that leave NUFC? Apparently stupifed until July 7 at the earliest appears to be the answer - by which time Rivaldo will be the only left, and possibly Sep Guardiola and his £60k per week net of tax wage demand, equivalent to ca. £100k per week gross! Greedy tosser.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2001

Answers

Clarky, out of all you have mentioned there..I think Blackburn could well be the team to do what Ipswich have just done this season. I'm not saying they will finish in the top 5( as Ipswich will surely do) but I think they are a sure fire bet to finish in the top half of the league next season...I've watched them on Sky a few times this season and they look pretty good.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2001

Second year student at Tynemouth High School, one year on from the infamous `skirt in knickers` incident.....we`re having a big fund raising event...an auction of home made `Gonks`. (Anyone remember them? Stupid soft toy craze - sort of cross between Humpty Dumpty and a Weeble.) I arrive clutching my pocket money, many of my contemporaries arrive clutching their parents (chequebooks in hand).

After watching all the best Gonks go for princely sums of £5, even £10, I finally secure my very own Gonk for 3s 6d. It was the most poorly made, cr@p excuse of a Gonk you could ever wish to see.

Now you`re expecting an upbeat ending aren`t you? Like `I took it to the beach one day and threw it to someone who was drowning and saved their lives`, or `I used it to staunch the blood when my best friend sat on the pointy end of her ice skate, thus saving her life?` Well errrr......no actually. After kicking it round the house for a couple of day (just to see how long the pathetic workmanship would last), Dad used it to wash the car!

Now why did that long forgotten memory suddenly surface, I wonder! (;o)

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

You've been at the coooking sherry again haven't you Gal?

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

You make a very worrying point Clarky....all these other teams that have cash to spend and which are possibly more attractive options than an ailing NUFC team.....

I for one am scared....we need to start making strides back towards the top 6 or else we will be continuously making it harder for ourselves to compete for the players we want....

Personally, I couldn't care less if the other teams pick up all the mercenary players who're just after cash, I want some grafters who're wanting to make names for themselves......I want some passion and commitment back in the team and I want Barton to be in the reserves all next season.....

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

No, Clarky, I haven`t been at the sherry. I am just worried about the same thing as you. Either all the good players will have been snapped up (and I agree with Gav that `good player` doesn`t necessarily mean `big name`), or, the dosh that is needed just won`t be forthcoming. I certainly believe that this off season`s transactions more than ever are crucial to our fortunes. At the minute I feel less than confident.

I also agree that I will not be getting excited about any player, until I see him signing his contract at the press conference.(:o|

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Earlier this year there were rumours that Robson had effectively signed three or four players on the assumption that this transfer system ruling would go as anticipated.

No talk of it now but Robson is keeping quiet about all transfer talk.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

But what did those expensive gonks ever achieve ?

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

My fear is that we'll panic buy. I always thought Cort was a panic- buy. Last year, waiting for gems to show up in Euro2000 was the excuse. This year, I don't see any excuse other than players' natural aversion to unstable clubs.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Teamtalk are saying that there are reports in Holland that we are interested in the Romanian left back Chivu. He looked a class act in Euro 2000 and at that time rumours were flying around that all the European Big Guns would try to sign him.

I've heard Stevo on here saying he's a great player and I'd love to see him at the Toon.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Better than Quinn ???

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Dougal, if teamsqawk are to be believed(yeah, I know), we're still using the transfer system ruling as an excuse. At least until July 7. I've no doubt they'll come up with another one after that. :-/

Galaxy...love the Gonk analogy! So basically, we should kick our Gonks around for another week then send them off to wash our cars. ;-)))

While shopping for new Gonks in the bargain bin, I'm sure. :-(

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Chivu is world class compared to Quinn and not far from it when compared with better players. Mix this with the Hergado story and I foresee achange in formation next year, moving to a 3-5-2.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

I hope you are right, DeB. Get in line though. I spotted this back when he started buying mobile South Americans to go with the other younger more mobile type Brits we were interested in.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

But we haven't seen the associated move towards playing with more pace and movement normally associated with this type of formation. In fact you could say we've been playing the exact opposite.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

I was very impressed with Chivu in EURO 2000. Young talanted boy, a future star I'm sure. If we could get him it would be fantastic. Dont have a clue how he has permoned in Holland since tho.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

I read on the msn footie board that Leeds will sign Dyer with Bridges and cash coming the other way. The source is apparently someon who works for their local rag. Apparently Dyer likes Leeds better than Manure.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Lads oh lads oh lads!! There are only two ways in which this transfer is going to happen, a) The club want to sell or b) Dyer makes it clear he wants to move. Read on below. I believe both of them because they are not intellignent enough to be that sly!

Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has again assured fans that Kieron Dyer will not be leaving St James' Park this summer. Shepherd is aware that England international Dyer is one of the hottest properties in English football, with Manchester United and Leeds both suggesting that they may try to tempt Newcastle with bids of around £20million. "I don't care what they're prepared to offer, Kieron is our player and he is not for sale. He is someone we want to build a side around and any team trying to sign him will be wasting their time," said Shepherd. Dyer is currently recovering from a shin splints operation and he claims not to be concerned about speculation over his future. "I'm aware of all the reports, but I'm happy at Newcastle and my priority is to get myself fully fit in time for pre-season training," said Dyer.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001