Newcastle United have not won anything in 38 years and no domestic honour since the FA Cup in 1955. Their last league title was clinched in the same month that the television was invented – April 1927. None of this has stopped the stream of trophies flowing into St James’ Park. Obafemi Martins was the one for 2006 and Michael Owen for 2005. We are talking, of course, about trophy signings – not cold, hard, bankable silverware.

On Thursday, Sam Allardyce made Mark Viduka his first acquisition since succeeding Glenn Roeder. There was a certain inevitability about the transfer: new Newcastle manager ergo new high profile striker arrives. And yet the Viduka deal may have been misleading because Allardyce’s next bit of business was to activate the release clause in Joey Barton’s contract at Manchester City by faxing a £5.5m offer for the mid-fielder. He then persuaded Barton to choose Newcastle over West Ham, who also made a £5.5m bid. Allardyce’s next moves were to negotiate with his old club, Bolton, over Tal Ben Haim, and register an interest in Charlton’s Luke Young. Ben Haim – tired of waiting for Chelsea – may join Newcastle within the next few days.

Barton, Ben Haim and Young are hardly the flair player signings that usually pepper a summer at St James’ Park and even buying Viduka is as much about adding physical solidity to Newcastle’s ranks, particularly up front where they are short, as it is about bringing to the club exotic skill. His transfer activity suggests Allardyce might be the first Newcastle manager in more than a decade to prioritise team building over romance; he arrived, like Kevin Keegan, in a helicopter but no one has ever doubted Big Sam is grounded. Underlying his tendency of acquiring elderly, but still useful, foreign superstars at Bolton was a belief that when spending has to be rationed a manager is better investing in proven ability than potential. Sir Bobby Robson paid £23.5m for Hugo Viana, Carl Cort and Titus Bramble on the basis of the latter. That Bramble – freed by Allardyce – was able to find another Premier League club to take him (Wigan) was a transfer more miraculous than when Socrates agreed a short-term move to Garforth Town.

The glitch for Allardyce is that Barton’s switch cannot be sealed until he resolves a dispute with Manchester City over his extraordinary demand he should be paid a “loyalty bonus” of £300,000. Barton argues he is entitled to the sum because he did not make a transfer request; City say he did effectively ask to leave when he asked permission to talk to Newcastle and West Ham. It comes down to semantics but City believe they are on very solid ground and even Barton’s advisors are said to be keen he drops the matter. A source at City indicated last night that Alistair Mackintosh, the club’s chief executive, and John Wardle, its chairman, are willing to “dig in” and not only block Barton’s transfer to Newcastle but see the player in court if necessary.

Barton’s lawyers must be busy people: on police bail until July 11 while an alleged assault on a teammate, Ousmane Dabo, is investigated, he was also spoken to by the constabulary following a row with a taxi driver in Liverpool in March.

“City are not going to budge. We think we’re on solid ground with our fans who got sick of Joey a long time ago and are now saying why should their club be asked to pay for one of its best players to leave,” said the source.

One means of breaking the impasse might be if Newcastle paid the £300,000 but they are already committed to paying Barton £16m over five years, having agreed to triple the player’s City salary. West Ham offered Barton even more money to move to Upton Park and could reenter the scene should Barton’s move to the northeast break down. Alan Curbishley has already paid £7m to bring Scott Parker back to London and is in the bidding for Darren Bent, who will leave relegated Charlton. Liverpool, Tottenham and Valencia are also rumoured to be interested in the 23-year-old even though Charlton’s asking price is £15m. Bent would also command Barton wages of £60,000 per week plus bonuses.

The amount middle-ranking clubs are willing to invest in middle-ranking players such as Bent, Barton, Parker and Andy Johnson – offered £90,000 per week by West Ham to leave Everton – demonstrates the goldrush that is taking place. Granted an opportunity by the league’s new £2.7bn television deal, clubs outside the Premiership’s Big Four are determined to break the oligarchy. Everton bidding as much as £4m for Phil Jagielka, Aston Villa £7m for Nigel Reo-Coker and Portsmouth spending £7m on Sulley Muntari are further examples of the trend.

Takeover fever is also raising the market’s temperature. Villa are still flush following Randy Lerner’s purchase and West Ham following the arrival of new Icelandic owners. Should Thaksin Shinawatra be able to push through his attempt to buy City, the billionaire former Thai prime minister would ensure there would be serious money available to revamp the squad. For their part, Newcastle have a rich new owner, the sports tycoon Mike Ashley who has just paid Freddy Shepherd £37.6m for his shares in the club.

Shepherd, who has retained his £500,000 per year post as chairman, pointed out last week that Newcastle had spent £104m in five years with him in charge as if that, in itself, was a sign of his prowess. They reached no cup finals in that period, had four managers, and in the past three seasons had league finishes of 14th, 7th, and 13th.

At least Allardyce seems to realise that what St James’ Park needs is not the gesture of spending but joy of silverware.

The past week’s transfers

- Wigan went to Newcastle to make a double signing. They first snapped up defender Titus Bramble on a three-year deal and followed that with French forward Antoine Sibierski on a two-year contract. Both players were free transfers

- The most contentious move of the summer so far is Mark Viduka’s Bosman free transfer from Middlesbrough to Newcastle on a two-year deal with a one-year option

- Bolton signed Gavin McCann from Aston Villa in a three-year deal for an initial £1m fee. Sammy Lee, the Bolton manager, said McCann is ‘an experienced campaigner who knows the Premier League inside out’

- West Ham also raided St James’ Park, completing the £7m signing of midfielder Scott Parker on a five-year deal. West Ham manager Alan Curbishley said: ‘He’s been captain of Newcastle over the last couple of seasons and he’s the type of player that I wanted'

- Middlesbrough announced yesterday that they had agreed terms with Arsenal for 24-year-old forward Jeremie Aliadiere. Keith Lamb, Boro’s chief executive, said: ‘We have agreed a fee with Arsenal for Aliadiere and completed a deal with them’

- Tottenham yesterday signed Lens midfielder Adel Taarabt. The French under18 international had been on loan at White Hart Lane since January

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