Transfer Deadline Passed

In: Lovenkrands Signed on a three year deal.

Out: Xisco gone to Real Santander on a season long loan, good bye to the £5.7m flop.

Cup Date Set

The date for our Carling Cup tie away to Peterborough United has now been confirmed and we'll travel to London Road on Tuesday September 22nd @ 7.45pm. 

Overdraft Reduction

from The Guardian

Barry Moat's hopes of taking control at St James' Park hinge on Newcastle United either reducing their overdraft with Barclays by Monday or the bank relaxing its rules on lending to Championship clubs. Moat was yesterday offered another week to secure the funding required to purchase Newcastle by Mike Ashley, the current owner, but the Tyneside property developer has not yet convinced Barclays, the club's bankers, he is worth the risk of underwriting. If Moat's bid collapses, Ashley will remain in control for another season before attempting to find a viable buyer next summer. Newcastle have a £40 million working overdraft facility, of which, according to club sources, they owe Barclays approximately £20m – but that arrangement ends on Monday night (Aug 31st). As things stand, Barclays will renew the agreement on Tuesday but with a reduced overdraft ceiling of £10 million, the maximum sum the bank is generally prepared to lend to Championship clubs. Should Newcastle, currently making stringent efforts to reduce their liabilities by selling three players before the transfer window closes next week, fail to halve their current £20m debt level by Tuesday,

Barclays will demand an immediate repayment of £10m. For every day it goes unpaid punitive rates of interest will be charged. Ashley has the funds to meet that debt, but such a demand would scupper Moat's hopes of buying the club and installing Alan Shearer as the new manager. The property developer and his backers are already struggling to meet Ashley's basic £100m asking price. He and his advisers are trying to persuade Barclays that Newcastle is a special case, worthy of the sort of significantly higher working overdraft facility they need. Moat and Seymour Pierce, the investment bank endeavouring to broker the sale, were encouraged when Barclays in the North East indicated that a larger loan may be possible but this idea was vetoed by senior management in London who are now reviewing Newcastle's position.

Moat is proposing that the club's capacity to draw large home crowds – almost 44,000 watched their win against Sheffield Wednesday last Wednesday – demands different financial treatment. Ideally Barclays would be most comfortable if £10m was raised in the next week and the club could then conform to the Championship lending ceiling. This though would impact severely on Moat's hopes of fulfilling Shearer's managerial ambitions.

Buyers Beware Update

From The Press Association, Monday:

Representatives of a New York-based consortium claim they hope to hold talks with Newcastle over the next 48 hours with a view to buying the club.

The group have have flown into the country and say they are ready to hold substantive discussions with owner Mike Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias rather than investment bankers Seymour Pierce.

Their mission comes a week after prospective buyer Barry Moat was given extra time to put financial arrangements in place before launching a formal bid for the club.

With the summer transfer window due to close at 5pm tomorrow, the club remains up for sale more than three months after Ashley decided to put it on the market for the second time in less than a year.

All the indications in recent days have been that none of the many parties which have expressed an interest has yet come up with the money to mount a successful takeover bid.

Fans who have seen more than one false dawn will greet tonight's claims with some scepticism, and it remains to be seen if anyone will write Ashley the £100million cheque he wants to end his disastrous tenure.

Indeed, sources on Tyneside revealed tonight that they are aware of the American group, but insisted they have yet to prove they have the funds to strike a deal.

Captain Alan Smith Excellent Display

Chris Hughton talking to nufcTV

"It was an excellent display, What we've got with Alan is that he's enjoying a run of games for the first time in a long time. He's going to get fitter and fitter and better and better. His commitment is outstanding and I thought he really set the tone tonight."