Late this afternoon Joey Barton finally sealed a 5 year deal at Newcastle United.

There were ranglings about a £300,000 fee that was to be paid as compensation as Manchester City argued that Barton had deliberately ended his contract with them.

The fee, reluctantly, has been paid and now Barton is the second player to join the Big Sam rejuvenation of the St. James Park outfit.

The deal - which went through as £5.8m - sees Barton arrive at Newcastle after a torrid few months in which saw Barton in court for attacking Ousamane Dabo whilst in training with the Man City squad. Recently Barton has been under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Hopefully Allardyce - who has a great reputation for taking on troubled players will straighten out the rough edges whilst keeping the skilll and commitment that deserved Barton his recent first England cap.

Great news for Sam Allardyce and Newcastle fans today which saw another of Sams targets - Tal Ben Haim - sign for Chelsea, after looking good for signing for Newcastle - it transpired that Chelsea was too good an offer for Ben Haim to refuse.

Sam was disappointed not to sign him but will now turn his attention to other targets.

It is reputed that Sam will get in a new back four as well as utilising Steven Taylor and Peter Ramage et al.

At least it is early enough for Sam to look elsewhere and, hopefully, we will not see any last minute deals go through as per the last manager Glenn Roeder.