Glad that they're trying to get players in quickly but I have to say "we won't be held to ransom" set a few alarm bells ringing for me.

Obviously I'm not advocating irresponsible spending but considering the injury list and the time it takes players to settle in, we really can't afford to leave it until the last minute this time.

Have to wait and see I suppose.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

That's for sure. We score most games, we have kept one clean sheet. SA will be concentrating on clean sheets outscoring was APs plan better to watch less likely to succeed.

Back to the Wilde quotations - take note, transfer negotiators, of Oscar's definition of a cynic:

"a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing"

Don't let this be your epitaph!

When you struggling like we are, the January window is a brutal place to be in.

It's hard to attract players to get involved in a relegation scrap.

Other clubs take advantage by raising their prices, especially those under no pressure to sell.

It's not going to be an easy market.

Old, Ungifted and White

I still think it was, but I have been disappointed that Townsend has gradually deteriorated. Hard to say what's gone on behind the scenes, but on paper it was a good window and now I wonder whether it was just a bit of a failure on Pardew's part to actually gel that team together.

One thing you can't blame Pardew for though was having a first team player in a serious car accident. We seem to have ended up with a makeshift back four for a lot of games and that's never got at this level. I guess, having now thought this through, my only criticism from the last transfer window, and I can only say this in hindsight, was that we didn't accumulate a deeper squad. At the time though, and without being able to forecast injuries, it looked like a good window.

I don't remember Oscar Wilde saying that?