Recently by Paul Dixon

TO the surprise of nobody, the deadline was again extended for the sale of the club. This ensures that it neatly equates with the closing of the transfer window, and therefore not allowing any substantial strengthening of the paper-thin squad.

The fact that Mr Moat requires all this extra time to accumulate funding doesn't inspire confidence. What is it about this club at the moment that puts off potential buyers? In recent weeks we've seen the sale of Notts County, Southampton and could add Portsmouth to that list any time soon. What is their selling point compared to ours?

Yes, they're cheaper, but can any of them match the potential earnings for investors better than us? Maybe their grounds are built on former conquering Roman Emperor's gold-encrusted holiday homes?

AMEOBI scores three, now there's three words I wouldn't normally associate in the same sentence, much like 'Victoria Beckham eats' and 'Britain's got talent'.

In the pub post-match, I was dared to use Goala Ameobi as part of the summing up, but as this is The Journal, and not the Daily Jordan, I'll resist the temptation.

Considering the turmoil at the club, the 3-0 win was a heartening result. Although to put in perspective, this was Reading team you could most charitably call 'limited'.

WOULDN'T you have taken that score before the match? Considering the turmoil and doom mongers circling, we acquitted ourselves well.

If West Brom are favourites to go up, then we have nothing to fear. That is what makes it so frustrating. Saturday's game proved that even a modest investment in the squad could see us challenging to go back up.

Krul proved we're OK with keepers, Carroll proved a handful, although pairing him with Shola (and his stupid girly headband) isn't a long- term option.

BEFORE I start to crow about us being the 17th best team in the Premier League, I must congratulate Gateshead and Whitley Bay on their excellent achievements last week.

I hope the extra crowds they generated because of the interest go back to support them next season.

Right, to the crowing. In a week in which it was revealed that it's cheaper to maintain Sellafield than an MP, the trials and tribulations of a football team seem pretty small beer.

AT the risk of turning this week's column into a Carry On script, I have a complaint.

Buoyed by the real prospect of an actual victory last Monday, my feelgood factor was further increased by the lure of a free scarf or flag! As ever with Newcastle United, though, there was a caveat. Apparently to get a scarf, you had to sit on level 7, and for a flag, you had to sit facing the TV cameras in the East stand.

All the steaming proletariat got at the back of the Gallowgate was a black-and-white card with some writing on. Marvellous. Forty-two unstinting, largely unfulfilled years of support, and my first freebie is junk mail.

ONCE again, this time at Tottenham on Sunday, a poor first half is our undoing. Yet again we need to go a goal down before we wake up.

That said, with Martins, Viduka and Owen, we looked a different team. A bit more luck - and composure - from Martins, and we could even have won the thing.

Hopefully we'll start with the three of them against Portsmouth on Monday and try to take the initiative from the start.

Maybe the return of Barton will also add some punch, so to speak, to our desperately ordinary midfield.

DO you know the most worrying thing about the Chelsea game this weekend? It isn't whether Taylor and Bassong will be fit, or even if we have the guile to breach their defence and then keep them out if we do.

No, the most worrying thing is that I thought, incorrectly as it turned out, work commitments would keep me away, and I couldn't even give my ticket away!

A home game at three o'clock on a Saturday, no television coverage - and my seat would be empty.

YOU didn't expect a victory did you? Despite battling gamely and trying the audacious tactic of leaving our only genuine goalscorer on the bench, we slid to another defeat against Arsenal on Saturday.

Even with the benefit of a home team penalty we couldn't win. Maybe Obafemi Martins should try to head the next one in, instead of using his "wrong" foot.

At half time I was dangerously bordering on the optimistic. Arsenal weren't at their best and we were more than holding our own, winning 50/50s and generally going about our work well.

DID you see that converted dodgem car driving around the Haymarket before the match against Everton on Sunday, complete with pole on the back?

I looked out of the pub window and my initial reaction was "Nice, someone's had a whip-round to buy Cristiano Ronaldiver a new car".

Or, as a lad next to me said: "All it's missing is some bloke hanging off the back taking your fare".

AH, so we're on another five-year plan! Like an unsuccessful dieter, every time we eat that huge pie, we try to convince ourselves that it's all part of some spurious plan.

Were you won over by Derek Llambias' conversion from child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Court Jester? I know I wasn't.

I don't intend to pick over the bones of his Q & A session, as you've doubtless come to your own conclusions. But this three-pronged PR campaign all seems conveniently close to Kevin Keegan's tribunal hearing next month.