Well it never rains but it pours with Newcastle United. In a bizarre twist a deal has been struck between us and the recently demoted Championship side West Ham for the transfer of club captain and top scorer last season Kevin Nolan.

Thats right a team in the league below us…

It was understood a bid of £1.5 million was rejected out of hand last week shortly after Kevin rejected our contract extension offer based on performance related bonuses and a year shorter than he was after.

Well since then something has changed. Either the Hammers have upped their offer to a more acceptable amount for a 12 goal scoring midfielder and captain from the Premier League or as we see it this is part of the deal for us to get Demba Ba.

It’s a worry indeed that the nucleus of the team which generated such a hard working team ethic in our promotion season and our first season back in the Premier League is being dismantled. Nolan’s legs are going now yes we all know that but he’s still a capable squad player and a strong voice behind the scenes.

But lets look at the other side of the coin.

Are Nolans best years pretty much behind him now? Maybe so. We managed to get him at his peak so it seems and even the 2nd half of the season his form dipped off and then came a long term injury to his ankle.

Well selling him to West Ham is good business for them no doubt as Nolan is more than capable of banging them in that level and will help them get promoted no doubt about it. But the injury risk and his twilight years on a big contract is now theirs.

Now lets look at the pattern emerging here. Any player who has spoken out against the club or had any form of bad off the field publicity brought upon Newcastle United is being shipped on. Carroll – nightclub brawls, burnt out cars, linked to drug fueled orgies with no other than Kevin Nolan.

Then you have Barton who has been in prison for bashing people up, has had various on field problems one example with Blackburns Pederson and various outbursts in the national media inflating his ego and rants on Twitter.

Then we have been told Ranger has been told to find a new club after pictures of him posing with a replica gun. Only just recently Nolan has been banned from driving for being clocked at 106 MPH in his Audi.

Is Ashley wanting a decent image for the club? Well it would make sense commercially if Newcastle United are to try and go globally to increase revenues to the levels of the likes of Liverpool and attract players from the continent. Off top of head I believe when Sir Bobby was here we had revenues the same as Liverpool now we have gone a bit backwards and Liverpool have doubled theirs to £200 million. Something went wrong… but thats another topic.

There is no denying it makes complete sense to ditch players entering their twilight years and getting peak money for them before its too late. Arsenal and even Man United at times have been known for doing it. It works but only if suitable replacements come in.

That is difficult. To bring in 7-10 players in one season is a tough job to integrate let alone it be a bigger risk because there is no guarantees those players can settle. That number by the way is what we need to be looking at if these players go out the door. We wanted another 5-7 to progress this season as we were light weight at times.

Im not blaming Barton and Nolan for wanting the very best final pay day deals on their new contracts just not here. We have had too many players like this in the past and be lumbered with them. Just look at Alan Smith for a current. Then take Butt and Geremi and you know it makes sense. We would all do the same to get more money for our futures and families but sometimes as a Joe Bloggs you wonder how much money these guys want.

Its a big ask of Pardew and slightly unfair to get these players in and integrated. We all trust Graham Carr to pull out some rabbits but the scouting network really need to have done a cracking job if they are to fill the holes opening up in this squad. A real worry.

Still its early days. Transfer window is open until end of August and its going to create a long waiting list for the Belgravia hair loss clinic for us Geordies never mind waiting lists for season tickets.

It certainly looks like good business by fans to have held off their season ticket renewals until we have seen the true ambition and plans of Mike Ashley. He certainly does things different to any other football club owner and continues to keep us Toon fans his customers in the complete dark. Maybe even Pardew is in the dark…