Mike Ashley bought this club from Freddie Shepherd, a man who according to many respected financial companies was on the brink of causing us to do a Leeds, that is bankruptcy.  Shepherd paid transfer fees that were well over what the players were worth, buying Michael Owen for £16m to stop Liverpool buying him, who had reportedly said £9m was the most they would pay.  Along with transfer fees Shepherd would give them astronomical wages, and would then complain they weren’t worth the money, something that Ashley put a stop to when he took over the club.

Mike Ashley has a plan, people said it would never work and we would be relegated, which we were but look at us now and the amount of money spent to get us to that position.  We have players who want to play for us, we got Demba Ba for free and he is banging them away game after game, Yohan Cabaye who was £4m but looks like a £12m player, and Tiote who cost us £3m that is receiving bids from top teams that are willing to pay over £20m.

The stadium is forever St James Park to the locals, whatever the name, and people may feel angry but I ask why, why is it people are complaining about the name of a stadium when we could be in the position of Glasgow Rangers fans, or Portsmouth fans, we have an owner who is ensuring we are financially stable while fighting for Europe, not an owner who is being investigated for fraud.

Overall which fan would you rather be right now, a Glasgow Rangers fan or a Newcastle fan, I know I’m happy I’m a geordie because we don’t have any such financial problem and we also have emerging talent that is exciting pundits.

Today I feel I have to comment on the game, because we finally have a strike force to be proud of, with Demba Ba & Demba Cisse both creating a lot of excitement at St James park.

Due to the African Cup I really think we have lost points, against Fulham we would have destroyed them had not only the Demba’s but also Tiote playing.  Today it showed how badly we needed true class international strikers, it felt like an age since Demba Ba played for us.

I think the first half of the game was terrible for us, Villa should have went in at half time a few goals up, luckily for us Darren Bent isn’t a complete striker otherwise we would have been made to pay.

The second half we played a lot better, and when Cisse took the ball on his chest and then struck it with sheer class into the top right corner I believe the Gallowgate End wet themselves.  I thought at first Cisse hadn’t fully caught the ball with his foot, but it was a sublime strike that showed we finally have a No9.

Tim Krul played outstandingly yet again, it is worrying what will happen in the summer with Spurs splashing as much money as they can with the rubber faced Redknapp not being able to manage a team.

I think Leon Best would do well in Scotland, and he would do well to sign for Celtic, though he did fail to agree personal terms which shows he believes his future lies elsewhere.

In the past 16 games for NUFC he has scored only 4 goals, that is not good enough considering the amount of chances he had, especially against Brighton in the FA Cup.

I would thank Best for his goal against Arsenal, that game will be remembered forever, but other than that I can’t wait to see the back of him.

I would be very happy about this had we been making a bid to sign Carroll alongside Ba, but we are replacing a player in form with one who has had a terrible time since leaving Tyneside.

NUFC have been very shrewd in the transfer window lately, and I hope they do what is right for NUFC and not the bank balance.

This suggests to me that we will be selling Krul this transfer window, which will no doubt make the squad see that nobody is safe regardless of how well they play.  Also what does this send out to our targets, why would a player come to NUFC if we are selling our best players when we get a decent price for them, because to me Krul is far better than De Gea who cost Ferguson an absolute fortune.

It remains to be seen whether we do sell Krul, but knowing NUFC I think we can safely say he is off out the door.

Everyone Newcastle fan would look forward to the window opening, remember the days, we’d sit back in anticipation wondering who Shepherd would splash the cash on.  Nowadays it is different, we have became a selling club that will give players a platform to a bigger club.

Tiote has been linked with a move to several top clubs in the Premiership, his form for NUFC has seem him catch the eye of mega rich Man City so no doubt he’ll be off there with the recent results they have had.

Krul is off to Spurs if we believe the papers, although they do have a problem considering their 2 keepers combine the age of over 80!  I believe selling Tim Krul would be the worst decision we could make, alongside Ba & Cabaye he should be untouchable.

If we are to buy someone I hope we go for a central defender, I think having no backup cost us 6 points, and also another striker because at the top of his game Leon Best is a championship player.

The past couple of games have showed, and especially against Norwich, that we have a very thin squad that needs adding to in order to secure a top 7 finish which is plausable.  With Taylor, Williamson, and captain Coloccini all on the sidelines it is essential we ensure the defence is stable.  The worrying part of this is that Coloccini may be on his way to Liverpool, who are reported to be making a bid, this would be a disaster for Newcastle.

The strongest rumour is Tiote being sold to either Chelsea or Man Utd, who are both reported to be offering over £20m for a player we paid £3.5 for, is this too good to turn down?  Personally I wouldn’t sell Tiote, but does Ashley rate him enough to laugh at an amount like that.  If a team such as Chelsea or Man Utd offer an amount for a player then you know he is the business, so hopefully NUFC will turn down the offer until at least the summer.

The saga of Simpson will no doubt rage on, a player who turned down a contract offer in order to push through a move to QPR, a team thats never going to do any well with Warnock in charge lets face it.  Would I like to see him go, well I wouldn’t be upset if he did because I think we can do far better, just a shame Beye decided to drop down a league.

The form of NUFC has been outstanding, being one of only a few teams who have yet to lose a game so far this season, but we haven’t really faced a threat yet.  In my opinion we will struggle against Spurs who have 2 fantastic players in fine form, both Modric & Bale are deadly on their day and will prove a hard pair to handle along with Defoe for the Newcastle back line.

I fear for NUFC because of the injury to Cabaye, he has produced some magical performances that have carried Newcastle along the way, we don’t really have a player who can take his place which is worrying.  The return of Ben Arfa has excited the team, I know he is far from match fitness but still can be a real problem for the Londoners defence.

I am hoping for a win of course but more realistic is a draw, if we are to win this game I would jump for joy because I can’t see Liverpool getting a result this weekend so we would be getting daylight in 4th position.

NUFC

I’ve always liked Alan Pardew from his time at West Ham, to me he has a quality that Keegan had in man management which is essential for getting the best out of players, he also has a good tactical mind which has shown this season already.

Regardless of the teams we have played, as there are no easy games in the Premier League, to be 4th is a fantastic achievement and Alan Pardew needs to be congratulated on this.

NUFC