Friday: Shearer and the England gossip ..

Alan Shearer says he is stunned to be linked with the vacant England manager's role.

Not as stunned as the public would be if he got the job.

Don't get me wrong, Shearer is a Newcastle United legend, but one step at a time Barwick.

Bizarrely, it seems that Shearer has more chance of getting the job that Sam Allardyce, who came so close 15 months ago. NUFC Blog gets under the skin of Big Sam's quotes yesterday and draws some interesting conclusions ..

Barton escapes ..

Looks as if Joey Barton will escape punishment for his horror tackle on Dickson Etuhu at the weekend after the FA admitted they were powerless to act.

Meanwhile, he hasn't had the easiest of starts to his St James's Park career, but Alan Smith has found himself under the spotlight at the NUFC Blog. Check out the interesting piece on the former Leeds and Manure man here.

Monday: Barton in the dock ..

Joey Barton looks like he could find himself in some hot water following his impetuous stap on Dickson Etuhu at the weekend, as The Independent reports.

The Toon are crying out for squad reinforcements, and there's no point Mike Ashley hiding away his cheque-book now after FourFourTwo magazine published it's annual footy richlist in the latest issue.

As the Sunderland Echo confirms, the Toon supremo is positively loaded. Maybe the club will do something they've failed to in most previous seasons then, and sign someone who can defend?

Wednesday AM: Serb dishes out gentle letdown ...

There's nothing like a "thanks but no thanks" to make you feel better. Only problem is, there's is nothing like it - literally - if you're Sevilla defender Ivica Dragutinovic who blasted the Toon's ambitions in rejecting a move to St James' Park. Eat Sleep Sport details his gentle let-down.

Meanwhile, Sunderland supremo Niall Quinn is at it again ahead of the weekend's big derby-game, proclaiming that Mike Ashley might be in trouble if he wears his Newcastle shirt at the Stadium of Light. Come on Quinny, this is as ridiulous as you accusing Harry Redknapp of inflating the transfer market ... (shortly before you paid £5.5million for Kieran Richardson). Ahem.