Quote of the day

"It was a really good idea to move the fans, it means the Sunderland fans fill the stands all around the stadium. You can certainly hear the difference with the atmosphere. A lot of the time when you had the big back row with away fans you could hear them and it maybe gave their team a lift. Now they're at the top tier you don't hear them as much and I'm sure the Sunderland fans will make sure they aren't heard."

Mackem midfielder Jack Colback on how the Great Unwashed have received underhand assistance in their attempts to drown out the visiting fans. They'll certainly need all the help they can get this Sunday.

Meanwhile, it's good to see that Davide Santon seems to appreciate the importance of the derby and Big Lad's talismanic influence over it.

Touchline tackler gets more than he bargained for

Something you may have missed from the Fenerbahce friendly: Davide Santon showing signs he's developing into a hatchet man, regardless of who gets in his way...

Saint Michael

After the aerial mauling we got at Norwich last weekend, Mike Williamson's return to fitness really couldn't have come at a much more opportune moment. The lanky centre-half, sidelined with injury for the whole campaign thus far, featured in a behind-closed-doors game against Bolton on Tuesday, and so now looks likely to be involved for Saturday's visit of Swansea.

Better still, we may also be able to call upon the calming and assured influence of our skipper Sideshow Bob alongside him. The Swans are as poor on the road as they are effective at home, but the presence of both players in the side to help stop Danny Graham from scoring against his hometown club would be most welcome.

Who will pay the price for the Carrow Road calamities isn't totally certain, but I'd expect the Silver Fox to drop James Perch and Davide Santon and restore Raylor and Danny Simpson to the full-back positions they'd occupied all season up until our injury crisis bit. Santon may have "enjoyed" an inauspicious full Premier League debut but may not have to wait too long for more regular first-team action if, as has been reported, Simpson has rejected a new deal and is inching (or being inched) towards the exit door. (Anyone else get the impression from that Ronnie Gill article that Lee Ryder's trying to plead on Simpson's behalf? Surely he's got an agent for that sort of thing, Lee...)

Quote of the day

"He is absolutely a footballer I would be happy to manage, he is a top, top player. He is a maverick and every club carries one or two of them who will have their moments. It is about managing those moments."

Angling for a reunion with Carlos Tevez, Alan?

Following his refusal to come off the bench against Bayern Munich on Tuesday (something Pardew claimed is more common than you'd think), the Argentinean outcast looks to have finally burned his bridges with Roberto Mancini and Man City. I wouldn't be unfurling the "Welcome to Newcastle" banner just yet, though - Jabba would have to have a seriously funny turn to even contemplate coughing up the kind of cash that City will no doubt demand.

Meanwhile, Davide Santon completed 90 minutes for the reserves as they beat Swansea in a 5-3 thriller - I can't see Pardew changing the starting XI that beat Blackburn for the trip to Wolves, though - and Belgian genius Philippe Albert, whose name everyone knows, is the subject of a profile piece on blog The Belgian Waffle.

A draining experience

Fluidity: usually a good thing in football - except when it's related to knees. We (and by that I mean everyone apart from Ryan Taylor) are now clinging to the hope that draining off some of said excess fluid will spare Davide Santon a session under the surgeon's knife.

It's interesting to note that Alan Pardew has once again been undermined by the club, who sought to correct his initial assessment that "it's an injury [Santon's] had previously" by declaring the opposite in a statement. Who knows who's telling the truth? I'll just say, though, that the club would lose face if it transpired we'd signed a player without undertaking a careful assessment of his injuries. Santon wouldn't be the first player to have joined the club this summer with question marks over his injury record - Demba Ba and Sylvain Marveaux have also been the subject of some speculation.

It's knee laughing matter

Guess what? With just 70 minutes of reserve team football under his belt for us, Davide Santon is already busy acquainting himself with the treatment room. The injury, sustained in training, is a particular worry because it's one he's had twice before. It would be just our luck to have eagerly bought up damaged goods - but here's to a swift recovery for the lad. One consequence of the development, of course, is that Ryan Taylor can continue to cling to the left-back spot, despite giving a new definition of hapless against Shaun Wright-Phillips on Monday night.

We're not the only ones having trouble with summer signings, though - Swansea have been denied international clearance for both Darnel Situ and Rafik Halliche. The former came close to signing for us, even scoring twice while on trial, but we couldn't agree terms - it remains to be seen whether we'll be back in for the Frenchman in January, should he still be available.

Meanwhile, long-term transfer target Modibo Maiga has been banished to the reserves by angry Sochaux chairman Alexandre Lacombe until he's "ready to be serious and reliable". With the relationship between club hierarchy and player clearly having broken down, it's remarkable that we weren't able to conclude a deal for a player desperate to join us before the transfer window closed.

And speaking of relationships between chairmen and players souring, the deal that took ASBO to QPR has been back in the spotlight this week amid allegations of a dubious and substantial sum being paid to Willy McKay. It baffles me how someone can claim to be a player's agent and yet then act for the buying club rather than the player when a transfer is negotiated. We might not have heard the last of this.

Staking a claim

While the shot-shy first team toiled to a fortuitous 0-0 draw on Monday night, the Reserves thumped their Norwich counterparts 6-0 yesterday. It was quite literally men against boys, our line-up featuring several experienced fringe first-teamers including Steve Harper, Danny Guthrie and Dan Gosling while the visitors fielded no fewer than four first-year scholars.

Most prominent among those hoping to elbow their way into Alan Pardew's plans was Gosling. Not even named on the bench at Loftus Road, the midfielder bagged a brace and was only denied his hat-trick by the woodwork. Gabriel Obertan and Spidermag, ineffectual against QPR, should feel their places are under threat. The other goals came from Greg McDermott, Michael Richardson (back from his unsuccessful loan spell at League 1 strugglers Leyton Orient), Ryan Donaldson and substitute Yves Moyo.

Meanwhile, Davide Santon enjoyed a comfortable debut at left-back as the Reserves emulated the first team in achieving a shut-out. Surely he'll replace Ryan Taylor sooner rather than later?

A fragile "phenomenon"

This article by Guardian writer Paolo Bandini on our new signing Davide Santon is interesting for a number of reasons:

* It paints a portrait of a mentally fragile player who was initially lauded by opponent Cristiano Ronaldo and manager Jose Mourinho upon breaking into the Inter side, but who has suffered from a lack of self-belief since his form has dipped. Clearly we've got ourselves a very promising young footballer, but here's hoping he makes a good start to his Newcastle career - if not, he might find life in the "goldfish bowl" too much to cope with.

* Bandini notes that Mourinho's approach - build Santon up as a "phenomenon" when he played well and then knock him down when he turned in a poor performance - didn't work. He comes across as a player who needs to feel valued and wanted. Alan Pardew is reputed to be a good man-manager (though ASBO was possibly more than even he could chew), and it sounds as though he'll need to wrap his new signing up in protective cotton wool. High maintenance, then, but, with any luck, helping Santon to settle and feel comfortable at the club will reap handsome rewards in the not-too-distant future.

* There's a cautionary tale in there for us. While Santon was only converted to a left-back under Mourinho, he quickly established that as his best role. However, his versatility apparently caused problems; asked to fill in wherever necessary, "the lack of certainty undermined him." So, while he might be able to fill in at right-back (or elsewhere) for us if absolutely essential, we should be wary of asking him to do so. In truth, it's a left-back we so desperately needed, and so I can't really see us deploying him in any other capacity.

Santon is coming to Toon

Confirmation, last night, that our quest for a left-back has now been completed, with the arrival of Davide Santon for around £5m from Inter Milan. With 'keeper Rob Elliot also arriving yesterday for an undisclosed fee from Charlton (who presumably will drop their tapping-up claim), we've filled two of the gaps which recent departures have left in our squad.

With less than 14 hours to go until the transfer window closes, .com report that we're still looking to add a couple of players to the squad. Logically one must be the striker we've been lacking since the closure of the last transfer window.

Whether the other is a midfielder to replace the departed ASBO or further defensive cover following Mike Williamson's recent injury remains to be seen.

Here's hoping we're able to report on further arrivals and no departures as the day unfolds.