Stop twatting about and sell Baines and Fellaini and give RM the cash. If it happens at 10:59 pm on transfer Deadline Day, I will explode.... [Does that also sound familiar? (eg, Arteta)]

Bad news that we cant get a 5 million player that the NEW manager wants but may be good news if we're going after a more capable goalscorer which remains to be seen.

There is no doubt our biggest squad weakness is a proven goalscorer so watch this space!!!

It's all well & good for a club like Newcastle who have some financial clout, but without a pot to piss in, it would/will be a bad idea in my opinion.

Yes Martinez claims Kone is a 'young 29' and all that, but really, the guy did OK last year scoring 13 for Wigan, but I don't rate him and we need to buy players that also double-up as an investment.

Kone has zero resale value.

Our new manager identified a £5m striker - and as usual, the club couldn't close the deal, forget about whether you wanted the player, or thought it was good deal business etc. that's irrelevant.

We will end up with a demotivated manager, who has only been behind his desk for two days!!

For that reason, I hope we can come to an agreement with Wigan.

It's all bollocks because we don't have the money - if we did, where has it magically come from?!

I reckon we'll have Alcaraz at some point, but he's free so....

And quite frankly, who can blame them.

In my opinion, it represents a poor return financially; we're unlikely to recover any of our outlay. He's 29, and while 11 goals in the PL is a decent enough return, if we want the Big Push to the CL, we need to plump up the cash and buy an £18-2M Striker.

We should have £10M in the coffers from January plus the new TV deal money, and the expected sale of Heitinga. (Personally, I think he should be kept; one bad season with limited game time does not make a bad player in my opinion – although that's a discussion for a different day.) We should be able to afford a striker capable of this...

This to me is Priority Number One, we've lacked a Striker who puts them away for fun for years now. Under Moyes, we always had grafters and players that could contribute from other parts of the pitch... why he stuck with Anichebe all this time, I'll never know!

But if this is a repeat of the Fer fiasco, whereby we just come up with a magical payment plan, when we knew the terms required to close the deal, well that's just makes us a laughing stock - again.

it could be a smokescreen to keep other clubs on their toes while Martinez lines up his real targets.

It's all recognisable Kone has a minimum fee clause, and it's easy to see that Newcastle need a striker. All Newcastle have done is offered 5 million and are going to talk him.

First, it's still noted from all of the football journalists, that we're still heavy favourites to get him. Second, maybe Kone's holding the deal off, so he can talk to Newcastle.

There's no basis that we cant afford him, it is clear we have offered for him and have got a deal accepted.

So why all this crap before anything has actually happened? It's stupid and a lot of people here are very emotional.

If Kone is there posing in a Newcastle shirt, then I will be annoyed, but until then, nobody can really factually comment because no one knows what's going on, other than that Newcastle has got a bid accepted.

Not once has anyone said any deal was actually in place. Smacks of us offering shirt buttons & crisps again.

Andrew Spirit of Shankly never got rid of Hicks and Gillette the RBS bank got rid of them.

If the fact a player clearly on good relations with his ex manager (and wanted) can't be attracted due to money it might wake a few up.

Doubt it though - only the threat of relegation will rouse the sleepy heads.

"There's no basis that we cant afford him"
Ben, that is the sort of comment that makes me shake my head in dismay. As a club, with Bungling Bill in charge, we struggle to afford anything. People who, for whatever strange reason, try to deny that we are paddle less up the financial shit creek are fooling only themselves. We messed the Fer deal because we had no money. We couldn't afford him. Now Martinez has apparently declared an interest in signing Kone and yet again, we are dragging our feet. If we have the money and Martinez wants him why isn't he standing at Finch Farm with a shirt in his hands?
" it is clear we have offered for him and have got a deal accepted." Where do you get that information? If we have had a deal accepted, why have we not seen a report saying that Kone has begun talks with Everton, after all, he HAS stated that we are his preferred choice of club. I haven't, personally, seen a report stating that we have had a bid accepted. Have you?

Give me that one over there with a kipper like Joe Bugner,the one drinking the glass of mild over a cheese on toast,I can take her on to the Formula 3 hotel on the dock road.

I would have the time of my life,a never to be forgotten night with one of the best looking women in the world.
Fuck that get the owld boot over here.She has some resale value to my wallet.

Norwich, Southampton, Swansea and others seem to just get on with recruitment with only a minimum of hassle. What do they have in common? They all have money to spend which unfortunately we don't. Another thing that bothers me is not the staff leaving to go with Moyes specifically but the fact they seemed to jump ship very quickly when you throw in David Weir going to Sheffield United then you begin to wonder exactly what is happening at Everrton FC. Which reminds me have Roberto's staff actually signed deals at the club and are they actually at Finch Farm?

Its exactly the same impact that barcodes fans had on Mike Ashely when he was trying to sell them.

The same impact that Utd fans had on the Glazers before they loaded collossal debt on their club.

The same impact that Cardiff fans have had on Vincent Tan and his rebranding of their club completely changing their identity.

The same impact that huge numbers of Villa fans had on Lerner when he hired McLeish.

Look for the pattern.

The Blues are finalising negotiations with the Latics over a deal for the Ivory Coast forward, who is expected to sign in the next 24 hours.

“Three clubs have made offers for him – Everton is definitely one – as he had a clause in his contract that he could go if someone paid £5million,” Whelan said.

So in sum - we're putting a deal together. For that you can likely read, "Everton want to pay in instalments"

Nobody has said any offer has been accepted, only that an offer has been made. There's a big difference, though of course, this is all speculation...because we're still in talks with Wigan over the deal. That seems like a long way from signing the player - whereas it would appear that Newcastle have perhaps made a firm bid for the full amount and therefore are now speaking to Kone.

Same old story.

He said: "They have both made the offer that could buy Arouna and now we are just sitting on the fence waiting to hear where he will go. We gave permission for Everton to speak to him and our first thought was that's where he wanted to go but Newcastle have now come in and I believe his representatives are speaking to them."

On a similar but separate note, anyone else remember getting grumpy the year before last about not competing for N'Zogbia after the papers said we were favourites for him? Lots of discussion about whether he was or wasn't a good signing followed the paper talk. Then a lot of angst when he went to Villa for £10M. I remember at the time feeling pretty depressed Villa had beaten us to a player who, deep down, I wasn't that fussed by. Can't help feeling it's like that again, at least, I hope so.

Redmond on the other hand seems like missing a trick. I've liked him since I saw him during that pre-season game a couple of years ago (even though he did have handbags with Cahill). Given what he said about Hughton on signing, maybe Norwich was the only place he was ever going.

Smells like trying to get a better deal. We don't need that kind of player.

Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan is happy with both offers from Everton and Newcastle United for striker Arouna Kone - and it is now down to the player to decide which club to join.

He said: "They have both made the offer that could buy Arouna and now we are just sitting on the fence waiting to hear where he will go. We gave permission for Everton to speak to him and our first thought was that's where he wanted to go but Newcastle have now come in and I believe his representatives are speaking to them."

Imagine if things didn't work out for him at Everton and he'd previously told the barcodes to piss off. You think they'd welcome him with open arms?

If you don't want such players at the club, we'd need to get rid of probably every player we have, Everton fan or otherwise.

Furthermore, I don't believe for one second we can't afford the £5M like some appear to be whinging on about - assuming that is what the acceptable bid is.

If we don't get Kone, its more likely because:

a) We don't want him at all, or
b) Martinez thinks he can get better value elsewhere for £5M.

I'm amazed how people start slagging off the club based on tabloid heresay. or slag off the manager before he's even got his feet under the desk.

Are we now the only Premier league club yet to sign a single player? No surprises there!

On the plus side he did bag more goals than any of our players last season in a poor team which eventually got relegated, and I was impressed with him in the three games we played against Wigan last season.

For £5m he probably represents a fair deal, and for that reason I'll be quite happy if he comes here. The other worry would be if we failed to deliver on the new manager's first transfer target when we appear to have so many things in our favour. Wouldn't be a good start to the Martinez era would it?

With regards to Newcastle, I think someone high up there pulled the plug due to the concern over what word Kinnear could use which sounds similar to Kone to describe their new signing from the Ivory Coast....

I'm actually dead against the signing because of his age and resale value, but that's not the point. It shows we are right up the shit creek if we can't pull this one off.

Someone mentioned the other day on here that we don't dawdle over transfers, nothing could be further from the truth. How long did it take negotiating the deal for Pienaar from Spurs? Its a good job we were the only club he wanted to join, because we would of lost out there too.

There's the Fer fiasco, where a top player wanted to join us and we didn't have the money, so we invented some phantom Knee injury excuse.

When is this fiasco ever going to end? I'll tell you when - when the board have sold our club and stopped stinking out the place, that is'nt going to happen anytime soon though.

September 1st will reveal whether myself and others may be jumping the gun a bit. I'm starting to believe we cant buy anyone now, if other squad members aren't sold

There's a new character for Andrew LLoyd Webber's production of the Wizard of Oz.
There's the usual Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow. But the Tin-Man has been replaced by Plastic Man

The Plastic Man’s song is as follows:-

Just a few bob in the kitty
Not quite as much as City,
some big bucks I could splash

I could fund the next big transfer
without the bank to answer
If I only had the cash

I could rebuild the Grand Old Lady
with money that's not shady
I could give it a good bash

I'd be so highly regarded
and not seen as Mr guarded
if I only had the cash

I could be a Blue Boys Giant
If I wasn't so reliant
on fellows who are flash

I could make everybody happy
they wouldn't be so snappy
if I only had the cash

The harsh people called the webbers
are out in force to get us
I think they are all trash

They think it's all so easy
to be so smug and cheesy
but I'll say anything for cash

If I hadn't been so smitten
like a small child with a kitten
I would've been less rash

I would sell to any buyer
Everton they may be higher
If I only had the cash

Don't take it too serious it's just a bit of fun.

Does he sound 'not interested'?

It's a tad fawning considering the guy hasn't signed yet. It's like one of Bill's interviews.

Finlay just posted Mr Dave Whelan saying that we have a bid accepted.

And you've clearly misread the first quote - it's can't, not can!!

That quote was supposed to mean that I have not seen anything in this transfer saga that makes me say we cannot afford him, other than snippets from sports direct and the mirror - hardly reliable sources.

What the post is to say is wait until whatever transfer has taken place, and don't bitch and moan beforehand. By all means, I think Kone will be a good buy, and if Newcastle beat us to him, I will be as equally as annoyed as you.

But at the moment, we're favourite and nothing has happened yet! So Im not going to reserve any judgement until the transfer is finished. Its a common thing on ToffeeWeb - everyone gets emotional and insults whoever far too early.

So we are not the only ones being pessimistic

.............Oh God, is it going to be one of those seasons.

I don't care if we don't get Cone, given the scarcity under which we operate, personally I think we need better value for money, and his age is a bit of an issue, my bigger fear is best described by the sentence that separates the paragraphs of this post.

Whelan came out and said both Everton and Newcastle had met the price they have asked for Kone, so the "We can't even seal a deal for £5M etc etc" is crap isn't it. He has decided, it would seem, that he wants to find out how much wages they both have to offer and will then decide. Seems quite sensible to me if you are after a big last payday (probably) before reaching your mid-thirties.

Martinez obviously wants the guy (he's been waxing lyrical yesterday about him); if he was desperate to come, no doubt he would take any money we offer because he wants to sign for Roberto, as this clearly isn't the case the 30-year-old Ivorian is finding out how much dough the skunks want to offer him. If he chooses them over us then good luck to him and I hope he enjoys finishing below us every year he's there.

I'm sure all our players are mercenaries. I'd be utterly shocked if one of them when given a choice between playing for Everton or playing for a team for twice the salary wouldn't choose the big pay day. In truth how many of us would stay loyal to our employer if offered a big pay rise elsewhere?

Listening just now to some Martinez soundbites on the OS; he doesn't sound in a hurry. He says he'll take his time to get the right players in who'll offer us something different, not rush around and buy just anyone to add numbers.

My gut feeling is that he'll probably pick up a couple of players towards the end of July or in early august after he's had a good chance to see what kind of players we have and what kind we need. He's probably got a decent idea of the first team, but I suspect he'll want to look at the fringe players and the reserves too.

Look at Lescott: three times the wages for less work (doesn't play half the time) I'd love that if it was on offer...

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-united-cool-interest-wigans-4868992

Personally I will not be too disappointed if he goes there. I read when Martinez first came that one of his aims was to reduce the overall age of the squad? Seems like that 'project' as Brendan Rodgers would say has been well and truly bombed.

As someone said before if we want to make that extra push to finish 4th then we need to be spending £10-20 million on a striker. Considering we supposedly had money available for Fer and then Negredo in January, and now we are linked to an average £5 million pound striker and the deal is dragging, does make me worry a little.

Martinez needs to make use of the youngsters we have at the club and add to that. Barkley, Lundstram, Stones, Garbutt, Long, Duffy and McAleny should be joined with the likes of McManaman or Ince (although not a chance would I pay £8 million for him) that would bring down the average age and would also be exciting to watch, although they would need to be given time.

Newcastle are a complete joke. I feel sorry for their fans

I would hate to be the one to have to explain release clauses to another daft clod.

Ben, if you look at the time that the BBC updated their article re Kone and
Newcastle's interest you will se that it is after I posted my comments,and it
is the first time I personally have seen it in print. I would suggest that I am not alone in that.
"There's no basis that we cant afford him" . I would suggest that the Fer fiasco and the common knowledge that we have little or no money until whatever TV money arrives is just that. A basis that we have NO money , ergo, we CAN'T afford him. It is a situation that has existed since Kenwright and his cohorts took control of our club, and will continue until they go.
I'm not sure if Kone is the right man for us, if we do sign him we'll just have to trust in Martinez and his judgement.
.

Does anybody think though that during negotiations to take over, Martinez must have been given assurances on transfer budget? I just can't see him going in to it if he knew all that Bill`s wallet stretches to is free transfers and scrap heap merchants.

Spot on.
That crowd across the park would have rioted if they had Kenwright as chairman.
If Evertonians gave Billy Liar the same treatment he would be gone.
Instead he gets applause when the camera pans on to him.....just after we have scored and as he wipes a tear away.

My problem is they bring NOTHING to the club, and have NO plans to address the problems we face.

The fact they are getting off scot free with this "business model" makes my blood boil.

On top of that, they cannot even bring in the outside expertise to find a way forward ( Well, they did try, but he fucked off after 6 weeks )

How they are still here is a complete mystery.

It is a mystery.
How grown men can be so gullible to fall for the bullshit time after time is beyond me.

Newcastle United look set to pull out of the race to sign Wigan Athletic striker Arouna Kone, 29, because he does not fit into the Magpies' "blueprint" — Full story: Newcastle Chronicle

So why talk to him then........

Or did Kone point out the differences twixt his own talent and the barcode blueprint?

Barcode Blueprint:

1) SIGN ANYONE
2) Pay 'em MEGA bucks
3) Sell 'em within 12 months for as little as possible
4) Mention Alan Shearer
5) Mention Alan Shearer
6) DO NOT WIN A TROPHY!
7) Mention Alan Shearer
8) Cry like Paul Gascoigne, at the mention of Alan Shearer
10) Mention Alan Shearer

Fair point again, but none of the players we have on our books have anywhere near the ability Deulofeu has. Seems like a win/win to my mind.

Unlikely it'll happen anyway one would imagine.

Last in the P.L. to make a signing. (If we ever do)

http://www.soccernews.com/soccer-transfers/english-premier-league-transfers/

I wouldn't get too excited.We win that title every season