Cooldude

All there's left to it now is us making a formal bid Hopefully we make one, we should, we certainly ain't going through all this trouble without firing a shot in the end.

Antonio Cassano, you mean the lad with an ego as big as his wages and that lazy unprofessional t*** who made Capello tear his ass out when he was at Roma? Oh right...

Exactly, some still thinks Owen's public statement was to put Liverpool under pressure on completing a deal with him, now it looks more like he has rejected Newcastle's bid before they even announced it If anything this shows that Owen wants to come to us first and foremost. And would've thought Real would've encouraged Newcastle to publicly state out their bid, too.

What Newcastle just did seems to explain a lot about Owen suddenly coming out publicly about his situation Seems to be a smart and calculated move from Owen and his advisors, we'd know from experience, of course, for the wrong reasons...

Also, what Newcastle bidded for Owen shouldn't affect our bid for him Owen already said he wouldn't join them on a permanent deal and would only look to us, so if Real doesn't smarten up and lower the price for us, then MO will go to St James' with them getting absolutely nothing while having to pay a part of his wages for a year. Real ain't in as good a bargaining position as some might think

That seems to make a good point Owen would've been informed ages ago that Newcastle put in this and this much for him, by coming out and say "I'd only join them on loan if worst comes to worst and I can't go to Liverpool", immediately kills off the suggestion that he wants to join them permanently So Barcodes think of a last ditch plan on publicly announcing such a bid's been made and accepted to put more pressure on Madrid and Liverpool

Have this feeling that Rafa's lying with a straight face, he does it quite often though, not in a bad way, of course, the truth ain't always what benefits Rafa and the club EDIT: Probably ain't even a lie, we probably haven't made a formal bid yet, possibly still negotiating the price, so Rafa might well be telling the truth, well the half truth anyway