According to Sky Sports News, Newcastle United have received an offer believed to be in the region of 4 million, for Damien Duff.

Duff, who has another three years left on his contract is one of the players on 50k p/week (or higher). It seems like Toon fans are divided to whether we should accept it or not. Some are saying he could prove to be a valuable player in the Championship and we should hang on to him, while others are saying he’s not getting any older and we should take the four million quid.

I tend to agree with the latter. However, I think there’s something else at stake here. If the offer for Duff was accepted and it meant that Mike Ashley would leave the club then I would accept. But if Duff goes and Mike Ashley stays, then I would have to question the motive of getting rid of a player who could be a good player for us this year (considering Ashley wouldn’t invest in other players).

Verdict: Accept the bid – but only if it hastens the departure of Mike Ashley and is significant in a takeover deal being completed.

Newcastle’s first game back, and the entire nation were waiting for them to slip up against promotion favourites West Bromwich Albion. The prelude to the game saw Alan Shearer go on record to say that he would “dearly love” to be manager of Newcastle United.

Rumours of a bust-up within Newcastle’s camp saw Joey Barton (surprise surprise) demoted to the subs bench. The first half was pretty even with both sides having chances to take the lead. It wasn’t until Martis put West Brom ahead a few minutes before the break – Ameobi managing to take a kick at his own keeper in an attempted clearance and making sure Harper didn’t return for the second half.

All credit to the Toon though, they came out after the break looking determined to get back in the game and the equaliser came with Damien Duff being put through by Ameobi. The Newcastle squad looked absolutely knackered though and mid-way through the second-half Chris Hughton made an odd change bringing Joey Barton on for Andy Carroll. Tim Krul kept Newcastle in it with a fine display of three or four top notch saves and stand in captain Alan Smith put in a gritty and determined display at the centre of Newcastle’s midfield.

This was a decent display against the promotion favourites. However, if Newcastle don’t get in any additional players, then they’ll be in deep trouble. Coloccini looks way out of his depth even at this level, and Jonas’ final ball was very, very average. The starting eleven today had no pace whatsoever, and whoever the next Toon boss is, finding players with pace should be a top priority.