Window slams shuts with Toon playing big part

To be fair to Big Sam he got most of his business done earlier in the summer and after bagging the likes of Joey Barton and Mark Viduka early on, which now seems like a life time away, before David Rozehnal, Geremi, Jose Enrique, Cacapa and Alan Smith entered the fray and then Abou Faye and Habib Beye also followed.

OK, perhaps the Toon squad is still lacking depth but you get the feeling that most of the bad eggs are long gone and the remaining players are all tapped into Allardyce's vision for the future.

And while Sky Sports Jim White got his knickers in a twist while Steven Naismith and Gary O'Neil were making late moves to Rangers and Boro you couldn't help but applaud the efforts of our manager for making sure the bulk of his transfer work had been completed before the late rush.

The late rush is a bit like going to Tescos just before closing time, the bread is cheap but it's a bit hard and isn't really worth eating unless you warm it up in the microwave and the milk will last but it won't last too long, but then again it is 14p for a gallon.

Sour grapes?

You bet it is. This time last year it could not have been a more desperate situation and nobody wanted to go through that again.

Glenn Roeder had signed just Damien Duff and Oba Martins before Man U reserve Seppe Rossi and a man called 50p head in Antoine Sibierski came through the door with minutes left on the transfer clock after a failed night of trying to sign players that nobody else wanted.

The team was already struggling and as much as Sibi gave us the odd smile in his time in Toon, we were never going to win anything with the Frenchman leading the line, remember the miss against Sheff United?

This time around Allardyce has his solid looking if not superstar set of troops ready for the next few months.

And on top of that Big Sam has managed to hold on to Michael Owen and Oba Martins, which has to be a big plus for the Toon Army.

Going out today was West Ham bound Nobby Solano - on an afternoon flight from Newcastle Airport to the smoke - and Paul Huntington, who is on his way to Leeds.

The Peruvian is gone for good this time and the young defender clearly not assured of a future with the club despite showing decent progress in the last nine months after making his debut at Blackburn at the end of last year.

But while the rest of the Premiership clubs traded their bit part players late into the night the Toon Army prepared for Wigan knowing that the squad should be more than capable of challenging for a place in the top six up until January when perhaps more additions - possibly Edmilson - will arrive to seal a return to Europe.

Whey at least that's the plan like!