The boyo done good

Setting transfer window issues aside, congratulations to Paul Dummett, whose elevation to the Newcastle first-team squad has resulted in a similar elevation to the senior Welsh squad for the forthcoming international fixtures. Whether he makes his bow alongside the world's most expensive player remains to be seen.

Fellow left-sided player Shane Ferguson has been enduring a tougher time at Birmingham. Despite creating the opening goal for Matt Green with a delicious cross in the 3-2 defeat at Leicester, the Northern Irishman was dropped to the bench for Saturday's visit of Ipswich. Blues appear to have continued last season's form, much to Lee Clark's dismay, and the picture is even less rosy off the pitch, as detailed in a recent post on The Two Unfortunates.

Meanwhile, Mehdi Abeid scored a somewhat fortuitous goal for his loan club Panathanaikos at the weekend. Scoring is something that Adam Campbell wasn't given the opportunity to do on loan in Cumbria - he's already back on Tyneside, a clearly disgruntled Silver Fox commenting "That didn’t work out at Carlisle, and he won’t be going back there". He may only be back temporarily, though, with a move to hook up with Conor Newton at St Mirren a possibility.

Steve Davis may have talked up Brad Inman's future, but his recent past at Crewe has been far from encouraging. He played for 21 minutes off the bench as the Railwaymen lost to League One leaders Leyton Orient, and was then handed a start for the trip to Swindon last weekend - only for the home side to romp to a 5-0 victory. The identity of the Robins' first scorer? Inman's former club colleague the Lone Ranger.

On the subject of familiar faces, the Reserves were beaten 5-4 by West Ham yesterday, despite taking a three-goal lead through a Jonathyn Quinn hat-trick. You ain't seen nothing like the mighty Quinn? Well, the Hammers had - one Elliot Lee, who grabbed a hat-trick of his own, two goals coming from the spot. The onlooker with conflicted loyalties? That would be his dad, Rob Lee.

Brad's for the drop

After weeks of protracted negotiations, Brad Inman has finally been confirmed as a Crewe player on a permanent basis. By the sounds of it, we've been able to get the fee we wanted for the Aussie midfielder - a fee the Railwaymen have gone out on a bit of a limb to pay, judging by manager Steve Davis' grateful acknowledgement of the support he's received from his board.

A clearly delighted Davis claimed: "Not many players turn down a Premier League club to drop down to League One. It takes a lot of guts." You're perhaps getting a little carried away there, Steve - when you're at a Premier League club but have next to zero chance of breaking into the first team, then a move to a club where you've previously done very well on loan and where you know you'd be welcome doesn't really take much guts at all. Clearly they have high hopes for him, so it'll be interesting to see how he does and if we come to regret the sale as a mistake.

Abbott pins hopes on Adam

Gradually fading from view as Reading dominated and forced victory in Monday night's U21 game was clearly no impediment to Adam Campbell, who today - as had been rumoured - signed a loan deal with Greg Abbott's Carlisle. In fairness, any watching scouts will have been impressed by the deft touches and awareness he displayed in the first half. He joins a club where morale must be rock bottom, after 5-1 and 4-0 defeats in their first two league fixtures. At least it shouldn't be too hard to make a positive impression...

Meanwhile, Brad Inman's future still hasn't been resolved - though it looks highly unlikely he'll be plying his trade on Tyneside for much longer. Crewe are keen to sign the Aussie after his successful loan spell there last year, but it remains to be seen whether a transfer fee will be agreed or whether both parties will allow a tribunal to decide.

Another loan leaver

Following the announcement that Shane Ferguson has rejoined Lee Clark's Birmingham on loan, it's been confirmed that fellow fringe/reserve player James Tavernier has agreed a temporary hook-up with League One outfit Shrewsbury - the pair having come face-to-face in a friendly meeting of their new sides last Tuesday. Our decision is a tad surprising, perhaps, given that we're quite light in the full-back positions, with Danny Simpson having left for QPR and Raylor still injured - but it's only until 1st September (initially, at least) and no doubt we've reserved the right to recall him at short notice should the need arise. (And let's face it - with our track history of injury crises, it probably will...)

Meanwhile, one youngster who looks set to leave on a permanent basis is Brad Inman. Having performed well on loan to Crewe last season as they won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, the Aussie midfielder has rejected his parent club's offer of a new deal and now appears to be on the verge of signing for the Railwaymen. Already in the employ of a new club is striker JJ Hooper, who has signed a deal with Northampton following his release by Newcastle.

JPT just the ticket for Brad

It's a sad state of affairs when the only way you seem to be able to get your hands on silverware as a Newcastle player is to go out on loan. Not to be outdone by Toon colleagues Conor Newton and Paul Dummett, who lifted the Scottish League Cup with St Mirren last month, Brad Inman was able to celebrate a similar feat yesterday as his Crewe side beat Southend in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.

The Aussie midfielder was instrumental in the Railwaymen's passage to Wembley, scoring two crucial goals in the first leg of the semi-final at Coventry, and played his part against the Shrimpers but, despite a couple of decent skidding efforts from distance, couldn't find the net and was withdrawn with twenty minutes remaining.

Final fantasies for Brad and Curtis

Congratulations to Brad Inman, who - unlike any of our first team - will get the opportunity to strut his stuff in a club competition at Wembley this season. His Crewe side made it through to the final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy last night at managerless Coventry's expense - though they came close to throwing it all away in spectacular fashion, conceding twice in injury time (including a calamitous own goal) and ending up clinging on for a 3-2 aggregate victory. Their opponents at Wembley will be League 2 outfit Southend, who overcame Leyton Orient in the other semi-final.

Our other Aussie youngster was already lined up to make an appearance on the Wembley turf, of course, with Curtis Good's Bradford taking on Swansea in the League Cup Final on Sunday. Best of luck, lad.

France flop but Brad bangs 'em in

Wednesday was a disappointing night for our French internationals, as the Germans beat them for the first time since 1987. The home side took the lead in Paris, too, our man of the moment Moussa Sissoko setting up Mathieu Valbuena with a header after Karim Benzema's free-kick had struck the bar. But two second-half goals condemned the French to defeat, and while Dreamboat played the whole game, Sissoko was withdrawn and club colleagues Mathieu Debuchy and MYM sat kicking their heels on the bench all evening. Proof, perhaps, that Sissoko isn't superhuman after all.

Meanwhile, closer to home, loanee Bradden Inman continued to impress for Crewe, scoring two fine goals as the Railwaymen romped to a 3-0 first-leg lead over Coventry in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday night, watched by a staggering 31,000 people. The prize is a big day out at Wembley against either Leyton Orient or Southend, the latter holding a 1-0 advantage from their first-leg encounter. What an experience that would be for the lad.

A bright future and a dismal past

So it wasn't quite the deathly quiet transfer deadline day we'd been expecting. There was another arrival, for a start: Servette's Kevin Mbabu. Surely some mistake, though - the dreadlocked defender is Swiss, not French... Also unlike our other transfer window signings, the 17-year-old is very much one for the future - albeit a player who, according to the Journal at least, we've nicked ahead of Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs.

Meanwhile, the Xisco Kid is no longer a drain on our resources, his contract having been terminated by mutual consent. No sooner had he been released than he'd signed up with Spanish second tier side Cordoba. And thus ends his unhappy history on Tyneside, one which started promisingly enough with a debut goal. But that came in a dreadful home defeat to Hull and turned out to be the only time he hit the net for us in eleven measly appearances over four and a half years. £5.7m per goal - even 'Appy 'Arry's eyes would water at that sort of statistic.

Also continuing to ply their trade away from St James' Park, though only temporarily, are Curtis Good and Bradden Inman, whose loans at Bradford and Crewe have been extended until the end of the season. Mehdi Abeid is our latest loanee, farmed out to St Johnstone in the SPL and with plenty to prove, you'd imagine, following the Silver Fox's recent comments about the failure of our young players to suggest they're able to make the grade. (Incidentally, whatever happened to the Silver Fox's opinion that the SPL is too weak for our players to learn much there? He'd already sent Paul Dummett and Conor Newton to St Mirren even before Abeid's move.)

Inman in form

Belated acknowledgement that, fresh from his first goal on loan at Crewe, Brad Inman was at it again on Saturday. Handed a starting role, he left it late, prodding in with two minutes to spare for the only goal of the game against struggling Bury. Judging by his subsequent comments, Alex manager Steve Davis has been impressed by what he's seen so far - and, given the Railwaymen's superlative track record of bringing through youngsters, there are far worse places the Aussie could be gaining first-team experience.

Good bad news for Bradford

Curtis Good's loan spell at Bradford has got off to an unusual beginning. While the Australian defender is eagerly hoping to be involved in tomorrow night's League Cup clash with Arsenal, he's found himself the reason that the Yorkshiremen have been booted out of the more prestigious FA Cup. Good made his Bantams debut in the Second Round tie against Brentford, only for the FA to decree that he hadn't been registered in time to play. Not his fault, of course, but hardly the most auspicious of starts.

Happily, Saturday brought cheer for three of our other loanees, with Paul Dummett, Marcus Maddison and Good's compatriot Brad Inman all scoring for their temporary employers. Even then, though, it wasn't all good. Inman's goal (and an earlier assist) may have set Crewe up for a comfortable away win at Preston, but Maddison's strike was Blyth Spartans' consolation effort in a 5-1 drubbing at Marine, and Dummett's St Mirren couldn't find a winner against nine-man visitors St Johnstone and remain second bottom of the SPL.