Newcastle: No News is Bad News.

Things have been going well on the pitch for Newcastle lately, but seemingly not so well off it.

With over half of the transfer window gone Newcastle are yet to secure the services of even one of the three or four players they badly need to shore up an ailing team.

And while, with signings like Martins Roeder has proved a canny dealer in the transfer market when he does get his man, it does seem that there's a problem getting players to sign.

Just why this is remains a matter for speculation. Is it our relatively poor league position? Are we not willing to match the selling clubs' valuation of or targets? Will we not match our targets' wage demands? I could go on and on listing questions but the fact remains. Newcastle need to sign players.

It's true to say that the youngsters that have come in have done well but you can't expect them to turn in consistent top flight performances week in week out. It's also true that a number of players will be returning from injury in the coming weeks but the team needed strengthening before this present injury crisis.

We knew before the last transfer window that Michael Owen would be out for most of the season yet we still failed to sign someone to cover for him. We also knew that our back four was weak and lacking in experience, again we failed to make the needed signings. It`s starting to look like we'll let another transfer window float by.

I hope that Roeder goes out and makes me look very foolish by making three cracking signings in the coming days but if he doesn't you have to wonder if Newcastle will be able to keep up their momentum for the rest of the season.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.