The day The Bull finally saw red

Enrique made it clear he was unhappy way back in February with the lack of investment during the winter transfer window and that relying on youngsters was not the way forward.

He stated that he would wait until the summer to see if any further progress would be made before deciding on his future.

And after jumping at the chance of going to Liverpool, Enrique's verdict was pretty clear: he wasn't convinced or impressed by the Toon's summer signings.

Fans have rightly concerned about the summer dealings too, and nobody will be holding their breath regarding more new faces.

They've been told to wait until August 31st to judge it all then.

Yet after seeing Carroll, Enrique and Kevin Nolan all flogged, they won't hold much hope.

Selling Enrique was a difficult situation for Alan Pardew - who copped more stick in the aftermath of another sale.

Enrique made it clear he didn't want to stay at Newcastle and spent a large part of the summer moping around.

If he'd been kept on against his will, he would only have left for nothing next summer leaving Newcastle with no option but to take the money and smile through gritted teeth.

The build-up to the opening game of the season was then discussed by football's jury on Soccer Saturday with Jeff Stelling, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thompson (who let the cat out of the bag to start with re Enrique) and Champagne Charlie Nicholas all delivering a unanimous verdict that the £35million and the Nolan and Enrique money, had not been invested properly into the team.

Of course they have a point and are simply stating what the Geordie punters already know.

The emphasis though will always be on the players who are STILL here and WANT to play for the club.

Therefore step forward Demba Ba, Slyvain Marveaux, Yohan Cabaye, Mehdi Abeid and Gabriel Obertan and put into practice what you have preached in a summer of interviews.

Dan Gosling and later Hatem Ben Arfa will also have points to prove this year while the clutch of exciting youngsters like Haris Vuckic, Shane Ferguson and Sammy Ameobi have a superb chance to make a name for themselves.

Then you have the complex but classy footballer that is Joey Barton,

Last season Barton was oustanding and correctly won the Chronicle player of the year.

His trophy remains in wait to be picked up due to Twitter-gate.

But perhaps playing football is the best (not the only way) way for him to project his image as one of the game's true thinking players.

Quite how we'll all be feeling come the end of 90 minutes against Arsenal is anybody's guess!

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