Lampard is available.
he's not the man, but he is free and has name recognition
when city came into riches they made some marque singings that signaled intent: think robhino
will imagine newscastle will have a similar model - get some money-hungry big names there that dont have the drive to play for titles [else they would wait till newcastle were established] and some young talent.
once the brand is built and they are associated with big names, then pile the cash to bring in players near their peak.
the idea of them challenging for an mpabbe in the future is not outlandish.
shearer was a world record signing and owen was also a massive chunk of change for the time.
and they were able to compete for the worlds best young talent fairly recently
ferguson wanted to wait a year to sign rooney, but his hand was forced as newcastle had made a bid. rooney was far and away the most exciting talent in world football then. the idea that a player wouldnt prefer to wait a year for ferguson over going to newcastle seems strange now, but the previous two best english forwards had gone to newcastle - they had serious swagger then.
personally, i'm very excited, they are a one club city mad passionate people and it should be a great ride to witness.
the woman heading their team looks mental too. hoping for crazy times.