Taken from nufc.com.....

Jermaine is a geordie: Bobby: I'm just a Jenas Guy Confirmation from a good source that a £4m deal has been struck between Newcastle United and First Division Nottingham Forest for midfield prospect Jermaine Jenas, and the player will sign for the toon sometime next week.

Rumours of the transfer have persisted in recent months, and it seems as if the recent decision by Jenas to be represented by agent Paul Stretford has been a key factor in oiling the wheels.

They are normally very strict and fast to have rumours denied, so do we believe this one.......personally I do !!!

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Answers

AsaP

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Hope they're not buying him to put him straight into the team....too risky imho....

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Do you think McClen would be a star at a 1. div side ??

And who is the better McClen or Jenas ??

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Why do you ask? is there some kind of swap deal going on?

Too early to call on McClen....I'd also like to think that any young 1st division player coming to our club when we're near the top of the premiership would HAVE to at least play some reserve team games/train with the squad over a period of weeks/months before getting a sniff at the first team...

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

No no, I just compared with one of ur own young midfielders (well 23 yo) and we have trown him in when needed.

I agree that Jenas, if bought, should come thru some reserve games and learn the other player thru training.

Then again he is the captain of the u19 England team, and is said to be "in a class of his own" there, so he might just do a job for us.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

If McClen shows the ability to play a role in the first team, we'd still need Jenas(or a player like him). Lee won't be around much longer, Speed is getting up there. It's looking like we might never be able to count on Dyer staying fit through an entire season. Hope this rumour is true.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Maybe someone has said it before but what kind of player is Jenas. A midfielder I understand but central? Right? Defensive? Offensive?

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Ok, read about him on .COM now.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Jenas is basically described as a "box to box midfielder".

This means he could turn out to be Rob Lee in his peak or Christian Bassedas, both of whom were described with the same phrase upon their signings.

Personally I think it's a great signing, the Forest fans love him to bits.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Jenas is basically described as a "box to box midfielder".

This means he could turn out to be Rob Lee in his peak or Christian Bassedas, both of whom were described with the same phrase upon their signings.

Personally I think it would be a great signing if it happens, the Forest fans love him to bits.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Double posting

Double posting

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

£4m is clearly a risk for a 19 year-old - assuming, of course, this story is accurate. However, given where the team have now evolved to, I'd much prefer us to take this kind of risk than take equally big risks on "established" foreign players eg. Andrea Anderson, Sylvia Maric, Marcia, etc, etc.

I certainly liked what I saw of Jenas playing for the U-21's. However, he was playing in the same side as Michael Chopra, and as with Chops, Jenas may not be ready to make the first team this season.

He has been playing regularly for Forest, but I just hope our injury situation doesn't cause us to push him in when he isn't ready. However, you have to trust BR in this situation and believe he will do whatever is required to groom the lad.

Certainly, it would be terrific to finally see some light on the horizon regarding the future of our central midfield.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Arsenal, Leeds, Liverpool, Celtic, Manchester United and Spurs were all serious about him, apparently.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

story breaking on SKY sports who seem to think he willsign on Friday

have to say I welcome this

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Do they have their own source or have they been perusing .com? ;-)

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

£4 million for a 19 year old a risk? We paid £6 million for a 20 year old - Dyer - and I don't hear you lot complaining!!

I know what you mean though, any transfer is always a risk but with younger players from lower divisions, the risk is greater.

This is what the PFA Footballer's Factfile says about Jenas:

"A hard-tackling midfield player who distributes the ball accurately."

What they write is usally rubbish though - see if you can identify these members of our squad from their descriptions:

a) A neat and undemonstrative midfield player with a sure touch and good technique, he is able to play anywhere across the line.

b) His form improved after he was switched to the left od midfield where he had more time and less exposure to the physical challenges from central defenders.

c) Sound in the tackle, he has a sharp positional awareness and is very effective when pushing down the wing to deliver crosses into the box.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

A) Gary Speed b)?? c)Marcelino

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

All wrong!

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

a - Lee B - bellamy c - solano

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

a) Bassedas

b) Bellamy

c) Elliott

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Well done Paul - 2 out of 3! The last one is Barton!

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Barton and Elliott are essentially the same player though, except one wears a wig.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

GREAT NEWS!!

I've never see him play but with all the attention he's been geting he must be good. I hope this turns out to be true though.

We really need a bit more depth in midfield. Defence is OK, 3 terriic center backs, Bernard covering for left back, Griffin covering for right back. Forwards are fine as long as Cort is back we should be OK with Ameobi, Cort, Shearer and Bellamy.

We got LuaLua as an option for right Midfield. Benard for left Midfield. But not too many options for Center midfielders, So with Jenas we'll win the title!!!!

We should take 9 points from our next 3 games, This should have us Top, but if not, then we've just got to get a point or more from Arsenal, 3 from Liverpool and then we don't play another top 6 side until the end of the season.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

I've got a couple of Forest supporting mates and they reckon he's terrific. He also captains Forest which speaks volumes for him given that he's only a kid - speaks well for his attitude. They were convinced he wouldn't go this season but I can recall being convinced that Waddle wouldn't go..... and Beardsley..... and Gascoigne.... Whilst I would have been delighted if we'd spent the money on someone like Graveson who could go straight into the team, it's great to see us investing heavily in young players to build for the future.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Must be getting senile lately cos for the last year on here Prutton has been flavour of the month with this jenas kid just coming thro of late to rave reviews, In fact I was led to believe Prutton was the skipper despite his tender age , does Prutton still play for Forest?? To explain an earlier post, some are saying at least YBR is building for the future, very commendable, the problem being the position our team is in both financially and the league it does not take a genius to work out that the future is NOW. If we need a replacement and most agree we do to help us cross the finishing line to the treasure trove that is the CL , IMHO that we need a time served tradesman to fill the gap till....?, a guy who will do the job,week in week out, a man not for all seasons, end of this one will do me.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Agree to a point, Buff, but....who would fill that role that is a) available and b) in our price range?

If Bobby thinks Jenas is a better prospect than Prutton I'm ready to trust him. He didn't go wrong with Bellamy. ;-) I don't think 4mil is really that much in the stratospheric world of English players. Doesn't seem likely we'll be able to buy someone of quality for much less, unfortunately.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Also, just a wild theory of mine....I wonder if Bobby might have an easier time getting the money out of the board when saying he's buying a player who can fill in when needed now as well as being one for the future? Would they be as willing to spend the money if we were just going to buy a stop-gap player? Whether that's wise, I dunno, but how often is the board accused of being wise? ;-))

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

post one Ciara a) and b), of course that is the rub and I was not going to furnish any names. rest assured that no teams in the top 6 will sell/help us out at our stage, who would have ever thought that the abscence of Speed would cause such a turmoil?, If we were sitting comfortably mid table I doubt if there would be so much concern, more a case of `go with what we got`,see what next season brings. I now detect a groundswell of change within the club of which YBR deserves so much credit,we are going in the right direction , the journey should be uneventful, but with Newcastle that will just be boring , sod the league , Macbeth we need a scandal or somfink,arrange one with the FLC please, this is not the Newcastle I know and love.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

YBR sorted PSV by building a young squad. youngsters normally do OK for a few games and then need a break. That's all we need until Speed & or Lee are fit.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Latest: £5m bid accepted.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Buff, there may be some poor press over the next few days, very much depends on an individual's reaction to events, he said teasingly !

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Jenas was born in 1983 !!!! I find this totally unacceptable. I struggled with the likes of Clark, Watson, Howey having birth days in the early 70s but 1983 is just ridiculously recent.

This means he wasn't born when Peter Beardsley first played for us

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

It's on forests website now...

http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/today/view/breaking_news_detail/0,,1 0308~165418,00.html

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I bet the mackems are loving this.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Jenas sounds like a good player for the future, but if we stick him in the team now and we go through a bad spell of games, his confidence will go and our view of him will not be very positive.

I think it would be better if we'd gone for a loan signing of a mature central midfielder to see us through till the end of the season and then completed the deal for jenas.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

If your good enough your old enough.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

This is great news!!! Bobby was obviously interested in him with a 4 million bid that was rejected. Probably thought 'Okay, I'll wait until the end of the season and get him then' Dyer gets injured so the need is greater and goes back for him. We are building a skillful squad and in the close season we'll sign Emerton and get rid of barton and lee. Bobby is doing a fantastic job and I havent felt this much excitement about Newcastle for about 3 years. Bobby is going to top what Keegan did - maybe its time to get some silver polish on standby!!!! AM

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

"we'll sign Emerton and get rid of barton" Thank you Mystic Awaymag.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I think it's fantastic news. If he's good enough, I can't see that he'll have any problem slotting into the team. YBR will be able to assess him after a few training sessions and choose when to play him.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Any guesses on shirt numbers ....

2, 19 then everything over 40 available, would be nice to give him the number 7 but don't want to upset Robert Lee.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I just wish he'd fecking sign...

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

What's the delay?

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Can we stop getting hung up on this age thing. Pele won the blinkin' World Cup for Brazil when he was 17. Michael Owen scored that cracker against Argentina when he was 18. How old was Duncan Edwards when everyone said he was the best player in the world? Didn't Shearer score a hat-trick on his debut against the Arse when he was only 17?

If Jenas is considered mature enough to captain his country and be captain of a team with a considerable number of older and more experienced players in it, I think we can agree that the date on his birth certificate is irrelevant. It's not a question of whether he's old enough - it's a question of whether he's good enough. We won't know this until we see him in action.

By the way - he's cup-tied!

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Sporting Life now saying Jenas has agreed personal terms. He's ours!

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Alright...almost ours. He's got a medical Monday morning and a press conference has been scheduled so it looks to be done except for the poking and prodding.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Mac - re shirt no - isn't 40 the max ?

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I have a fancy he'll be in the 1st team faster than most people believe. This lad is not agreeing to come here if it means rotting in the Reserves for 12months.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I'm all in favour of this signing. Realistically, we'll not win the league this year, but someone like Jenas with the bit between his teeth coukd help us to silverware, domestic or European, next year. Great news.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I wouldn't be writing off the league just yet - all the contenders have significant weaknesses:

We're lacking in squad depth and could struggle if we have injuries to certain players (Shearer, Robert, Dyer, Speed, Solano etc). Leeds have loads of injuries & several suspensions coming up. Same for Arsenal. Liverpool are too defensive against the weaker sides and will continue to drop points. Man United are shaky at the back and have struggled against all the good sides and still have a number of tough games to play. Chelsea are probably too far behind to overtake all of the top 5.

The winners will be the side that manages to overcome those weaknesses and we're as likely as any of the others to do that.

Then again, I always was a bt it of a blind optimist......

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2002

I know, we COULD do it but I am refusing to let myself believe this. I have hypnotised myself to stay calm until we are at least into the last 3 or 4 games :-)

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2002

Christ, he's only 9 months older than me.

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2002

Spoke to my Forest supporting pal yesterday.

He says Jenas looks good in the Forest side, but that isn't the greatest achievement in the world. Physically he's either Gerrard or Carlton Palmer, which made me smile, nervously. Jenas has time on the ball, never wastes a pass, and seems at ease with what's going on around him. There is no idea whether he has any pace at all, because he never has to show that side of his game. We compared that with Batty, for example, does anyone have any idea whether Batty has pace ? I suggested that he was the Robert Lee/Didi Hamann replacement and yes, he probably is. When I said I'd been hoping we went for Carrick, I was told that was exactly the player we'd bought.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2002

That's more or less what my Forest mates said too - and that he's effortly stepped up to every level from youth team to reserves to first team to England youth. Let's hope he can make one more transition from Div 1 to the Premiership.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2002

Has just signed according to Century Radio - £5m

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2002

Let's hope he can make one more transition from Div 1 to the Premiership

Two more transitions I think you mean ADK or don't you think he'll be able to cut it in the CL? :-)

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2002

LOL was thinking 1 step at a time, but you never know, he might not get into the team until next season..... Charity Shield might be his first game!!!

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2002