Staff required

"Staff required" read the signs in Shearer's Bar - though they might as well be plastered all over the stadium.

Despite Gary Megson's mutterings about Wednesday's skipper Kevin Nolan and the continued rumours of interest in other members of the first-team squad, Chris Hughton has told the Journal he's "very confident" that the Newcastle firesale is over. But then this is the same Chris Hughton who's previously declared himself "confident" of getting the manager's job on a permanent basis and that the club would stay up, so it was probably wise of him to preface his comments by saying: "It would be wrong of me to say it would be an impossibility anyone could leave"...

But whether or not there are further outgoings, it's incomings that are now becoming increasingly essential. Big Lad and Spiderman are almost certainly out of Monday's meeting with Leicester through injury and may both be sidelined for a month, while The Xisco Kid is also nursing a knock. If you take into account Bigger Lad's injury too, the situation up front looks very grim indeed. Nile Ranger may be a promising talent, but he struggled as a lone striker on Wednesday before Big Lad's introduction. Still, unless we get someone else in, he's likely to be leading the line again on Monday night, with Danny Guthrie or Nolan in support and ASBO back in midfield.

With the deadline fast looming, I suspect we're either going to miss out on reinforcements altogether or panic-buy (or panic-loan). So it's apt too, then, that last night saw Shearer's hosting a singles night called Plenty More Fish (which was attracting an alarming number of hen parties). Desperation all round...