hold on. you were bigger than us, now you command more tabloid inches because of your whale of an owner and the fact you employ gentlemen like joey barton. hypothetically, if we were to go in for the same player, which i think is what you are trying to get at, it's more likely that we would come out on top (i believe last time that happened we ended up with kilgallon, so not like it's the best thing in the world anyway...). you were in europe what, nearly a decade ago?? no-one outside of ne1 gives a toss i'm afraid. what a player will see, is that we have been in the premier league four years now, and come on fairly well the last three. you will be going into just your second consecutive season in the prem, missing a player who was very important to your early season form.
at the end of the day, players will come to who offers them the most money. short has backed bruce every year since he came, there is no reason to think he won't again. will ashley?? his track record here is not good. you talk like you're the nostradamus to ashley's chequebook, but you have no idea if pardew will see a penny of carroll's fee.