Alan Pardew, “I’m just hoping that, fingers crossed, that when we come out of the other side of the (January transfer) window, we have got a stronger squad”.

Maybe Alan Pardew is reflecting on the fact he made it clear that he desperately wanted the likes of Douglas and Debuchy in the summer, only to be undermined by his bosses.

Needless to say we are desperate for at least one more quality midfield player but maybe the story starts to fall down when it says Newcastle would look to start the bidding at £5m.

Alan Pardew stated in the summer that he was desperate to bring in at least a full-back and a centre-half at the very least, so on that basis he knew we were going into the season at least two players short.

With Lille’s league position and being out of Europe, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the French club also happy to deal on the player now, with maybe even some compromise on the asking price which could satisfy Mike Ashley’s need for a hard bargain.

Watching Herbie last year was a great adventure and we all very much enjoyed the ride but this year has been very different, the scriptwriters are still scribbling away and who knows where we’ll end up. However, he definitely needs an overhaul and unfortunately only one man is in control of that.

Tiote back in the middle of a settled 4-3-3 formation, with more midfielders supporting him, then he’ll settle down again and be as pivotal as he was in his first 18 months at the club.

With Lille only in 8th in the league and their Champions League dream over, surely it will suit all three parties to see Debuchy at last get the move he ‘fought for’ so strongly in the summer.

The problem comes when you expect players like Simpson to play first team football every week but not pay him as a first teamer.

At Toulouse as man and boy he will not be on great money, though his team currently sit second from top, behind free-spending PSG, they are still only averaging sixteen thousand crowds.