The Rumour Mill can't help but feel how much easier it's job would be if more footballers used the medium of Twitter to keep us apprised of imminent moves, while tacitly pleading with other clubs to make them a better offer before they put pen to paper. While on his way to conduct transfer talks with QPR yesterday, Joey Barton used the popular social networking forum to keep his followers, current employers and – most importantly – any more glamourous prospective bosses to let us know that he was "Going for a medical now, still no contract offer from NUFC......think that just about makes my mind up."
Short of tweeting "Help me, please! I don't wanna go to QPR!", it's difficult to imagine how Joey could have made his feelings about his imminent move more clear, although he went some way towards trying to do exactly that soon afterwards, presumably after his initial plea for either the offer of a new deal from Newcastle or overtures from alternative suitors fell on deaf ears.
"Don't want to leave Newcastle....I've made that clear but my hands are tied," he tweeted, the 140-character limit presumably precluding him from adding that he still has a year left on his deal with the Magpies and could quite easily stay there till season's end, even if the offer of a three-year deal from QPR offers him more financial security.
At the time of writing, Barton had conducted his medical and agreed terms with Neil Warnock's side, but has yet to put pen to paper, presumably in the forlorn hope that his Direct Message inbox will be flooded with better offers from some of Europe's biggest clubs offering a last-minute reprieve when he wakes up this morning. We await developments with interest.
Having shown up selected members of football writing's finest for the know-nothing buffoons they are last night, Arsène Wenger will continue to go about the private business of strengthening his Arsenal squad ahead of the Champions League campaign quite a few two-faced hacks hoped his team wouldn't qualify for, if only because it would make for a better story.
Despite having spent 15 years in England, Wenger still hasn't learned or – one would hope – doesn't care that the best way for football managers working in north London to get the press on side is to offer them garrulous cheeky-chappy soundbites while feeding them a steady drip-feed of information of questionable veracity. That way, you can spend money hand over fist (while simultaneously turning your nose up at signing Luis Suárez) only to see your team slump to extraordinary levels of goal-shy mediocrity without fear of media criticism of any kind.
Anyway, according to the Daily Mail, Wenger has had a loan deal for Real Madrid striker Ricky Kaká rejected, and must now bide his time to see if the Spanish side change their minds or agree to sell the Brazilian who they continue to sublet from Jesus. Arsenal also remain interested in taking centre-back Raúl Albiol from Real, playmaker Eden Hazard from Lille and striker Mauro Zárate from Lazio.
Bobby Zamora won't have a monopoly on having his name incorporated into terrace chants adapted from Dean Martin classics featuring the moon hitting your eye like a big pizza pie if Martin Jol is successful in his attempts to bring Brazilian-born Italy and Juventus striker Amauri to Craven Cottage. Elsewhere in Italy, a queue of unmarked vans containing sinister, besuited representatives from Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City are parked outside Inter full-back Davide Santon's house ... listening, while Parma midfielder Danilo Pereira is attracting come-hither glances from Liverpool and Arsenal, while his Roma counterpart Daniele De Rossi could be the next high-profile superstar to suffer the excruciating embarrassment of being ushered into Manchester City suit Garry Cook's office, to be greeted with a ghetto-tastic handshake and the words: "How are you brother?"
And having failed to pull up any trees during a resolutely unsuccessful spell at Tottenham Hotspur, Ajax's Moroccan striker Mounir El Hamdaoui, could be off to Blackburn, where early-season performances suggest a similar lack of application could earn him plenty of votes as the fans' player of the season.
Short of tweeting "Help me, please! I don't wanna go to QPR!", it's difficult to imagine how Joey could have made his feelings about his imminent move more clear, although he went some way towards trying to do exactly that soon afterwards, presumably after his initial plea for either the offer of a new deal from Newcastle or overtures from alternative suitors fell on deaf ears.
"Don't want to leave Newcastle....I've made that clear but my hands are tied," he tweeted, the 140-character limit presumably precluding him from adding that he still has a year left on his deal with the Magpies and could quite easily stay there till season's end, even if the offer of a three-year deal from QPR offers him more financial security.
At the time of writing, Barton had conducted his medical and agreed terms with Neil Warnock's side, but has yet to put pen to paper, presumably in the forlorn hope that his Direct Message inbox will be flooded with better offers from some of Europe's biggest clubs offering a last-minute reprieve when he wakes up this morning. We await developments with interest.
Having shown up selected members of football writing's finest for the know-nothing buffoons they are last night, Arsène Wenger will continue to go about the private business of strengthening his Arsenal squad ahead of the Champions League campaign quite a few two-faced hacks hoped his team wouldn't qualify for, if only because it would make for a better story.
Despite having spent 15 years in England, Wenger still hasn't learned or – one would hope – doesn't care that the best way for football managers working in north London to get the press on side is to offer them garrulous cheeky-chappy soundbites while feeding them a steady drip-feed of information of questionable veracity. That way, you can spend money hand over fist (while simultaneously turning your nose up at signing Luis Suárez) only to see your team slump to extraordinary levels of goal-shy mediocrity without fear of media criticism of any kind.
Anyway, according to the Daily Mail, Wenger has had a loan deal for Real Madrid striker Ricky Kaká rejected, and must now bide his time to see if the Spanish side change their minds or agree to sell the Brazilian who they continue to sublet from Jesus. Arsenal also remain interested in taking centre-back Raúl Albiol from Real, playmaker Eden Hazard from Lille and striker Mauro Zárate from Lazio.
Bobby Zamora won't have a monopoly on having his name incorporated into terrace chants adapted from Dean Martin classics featuring the moon hitting your eye like a big pizza pie if Martin Jol is successful in his attempts to bring Brazilian-born Italy and Juventus striker Amauri to Craven Cottage. Elsewhere in Italy, a queue of unmarked vans containing sinister, besuited representatives from Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City are parked outside Inter full-back Davide Santon's house ... listening, while Parma midfielder Danilo Pereira is attracting come-hither glances from Liverpool and Arsenal, while his Roma counterpart Daniele De Rossi could be the next high-profile superstar to suffer the excruciating embarrassment of being ushered into Manchester City suit Garry Cook's office, to be greeted with a ghetto-tastic handshake and the words: "How are you brother?"
And having failed to pull up any trees during a resolutely unsuccessful spell at Tottenham Hotspur, Ajax's Moroccan striker Mounir El Hamdaoui, could be off to Blackburn, where early-season performances suggest a similar lack of application could earn him plenty of votes as the fans' player of the season.
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