Bobby Robson jetted out on a well-deserved holiday to America today - but he left a list of players he wants to sign with chairman Freddie Shepherd.

Robson wants players in four positions - left-back, centre half, left-sided midfield and a striker.

A complete new left hand side of the team will take some getting used to. Presumably the centre half is going to be the commanding bloke we've needed for a while.

So, Robson must be happy enough to leave the transfer dealings with Shepherd, possibly contributing on the telephone, whilst on holiday. Robson has probably spoken to most of the players in an effort to test them on their willingness to play for the club and it should only be a matter of sorting out the financial side of things now. Shepherd has shown he can do this excellently before in selling many players, buying should be an easier task surely? I mean if he gets £2million for Maric!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Answers

ASAP!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Sounds good but if the figures in the papers are right and Robson has £15M it will not be much money for each player. I hope they still are good. Maybe Elliot is one of them and he will be for free.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Didn't we get the Sky money yesterday or something? Surely outside of the Sky money we could raise £10 million for transfers putting the kitty at around £20 million.

It's not the money spent but the quality of the player and although the two tend to go arm in arm, hopefully we can pull out a couple of bargains.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Ciara, so it's confirmed then Bobby is spending three nights with you and two nights with me, will you remind him to bring his medication.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Tell him to keep his phone on as well will you? Freddie may want a word now and then, Rivaldo speaks Spanish and Freddie can only ask for a beer and a woman in Spanish!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

He mustn't rate that Spanish Stalwart Marthalino then, if he got a few games together he could be Staap Jam in the making.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

TribalFootball.com are reporting that we have signed Robbie Elliot on a free transfer and that Lee Clark has decided against a return to the Premiership and opted for another comfortable season in Division One with Man City, the fee said to be around £5 million.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Surely the £20M TV-money already have been taken into consideration for this summers transfer money. Hope you are right of course DeB and we have at least £20M to spend.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

I think a new Lear jet for the Halls is much more important than new players at the club. The figure of £20 million will be the total amount given by Sky to Newcastle and after the new Lear Jet/company Rolls/ executive suite refit/Corporate prostitues have been payed for there will be around £15 million for new players.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

don't forget wages, and macbeths lap dancers to keep him from 'squealing' club dirt,er, i mean business.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

their lips are sealed

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

That usually costs extra ;-)

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Has he not realised that the centre of midfield is crap, that is the priority surely?

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Robbie Elliott, Ramon Vega, Craig Bellamy and AN Other S American. Inevitable. 100 million my arse.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Do you know Softie, I fear you're right, one of those major signings will be Bellemy, he was in a slanging match with Cov over the last few days but that was over an alleged injury.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

I'd rather not buy a centre back if it meant we got a decent holding midfielder. And I'd rather we didn't sign a striker if it meant we signed a decent creative midfielder. As you can see, I don't rate Speed, Lee, Acuna or Badass all that highly. If they could run a game better, we could play a left winger. As it stands, a left winger makes our overall midfield too weak. We seem to need three down the middle because two won't hack it.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

softie, i've been dreading that scenarion for weeks, if Robbie

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

softie, i've been dreading that scenarion for weeks, if Robbie Elliot is my favourite signing then we are in the shit...

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

There is a faint hope that now that Glass has naturally turned down a 1 year deal that we will try to "swoop" for Kachloul. When he misses 12 games at the African Cup we can all congratulate ourselves on our amazing business acumen. Great hairy bunch of arse.

Simple fact is that if we had any cash they would need to sign somebody before the season ticket renewal deadline. The fact that they haven't suggests that the new players will considerably underwhelming and they reckon on selling more through folk being optimistic than announcing any of these "swoops" ("scrapings" would be a more accurate description).

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

It hasn't taken you long to turn into a bitter, suspicious person Softie :))

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

How many of us have renewed our season tickets yet?

The club needs an inspiring player or two in the next few weeks if they want the money off us.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

'if Robbie Elliot is my favourite signing '

Sounds like a bit of realism creeping into your thinking Swifty.

At the same time though, if you aim for infinity and fall short, you could still end up quite high.

If you aim just for what you think is realistic and fall short you could be in deep sh1t.

We're in the second category IMO.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

I just don't understand why you would unsettle the current "talent" by claiming to have pots of cash and a desire to buy "the sort of quality players who will return us to the top". This tells the existing players that they are considered sub-standard. When some paltry amount of cash is made available and some more "prospects" are bought, you are left with no new players who can turn things around and an embittered group of players who feel unvalued.

Surely you would be better off convincing the squad that they can do it and try to get them focused on next season instead of taking away what tiny amount of loyalty or pride they might have had? We seem to be intent on following the Gerald Ratner guide to selling your product: it's no good us calling our players crap if we want to either sell them or get people to come and watch them next season, because let's face it, there won't be anyone new worth singing about. Maybe we should reduce the quality of our shirts as well and advertise them with a naked fat lass...

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

I've sent off my ST renewal form, although by the sounds of it, if we don't sign big names, I may be sitting all alone next season

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

Give us a wave, I'll be the one at the top of the Leazes.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2001