O'Brien said:

"I know through experience of four years of football at Newcastle how heavy the pressure weighs on the mind of the players at the club. And the longer that continues, the more difficult it becomes."

"Don't get me wrong, the supporters are fantastic on Tyneside and remain extremely supportive of the team but understandably they are frustrated at the lack of the success. The main problem is the pressure is intense and continues to intensify while a trophy eludes the team."

"I can't deny that it certainly preyed on my mind while I was there because the reminders of our failure to succeed were constant."

"If you went out of a cup people were too quick to remind you how long it had been since the club were last successful in the competition."

"And eventually it gets to you and starts to prey on your mind."

Svetoslav Todorov - Portsmouth to Cardiff City - Loan

Henri Camara - Wolves to Wigan - £3m - Deal back on

Dickson Etuhu - Preston to Everton - £750,000

Michael Brown - Tottenham to Middlesbrough, Wigan, Manchester City - £3.5m - Spurs ready to sell to raise money to make £10m bid for Jenas

Andy Gray - Sheff Utd to Sunderland - £500,000

The striker had been in talks with Premiership new-boys Wigan Athletic, but the move fell through after Wigan would not match his £25,000 a week wage demands.

Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric said:

"Our concentration was on other players as we felt he was going to go to Wigan.

"We will have to revisit the situation again and make another decision."

Milan Baros - Liverpool to Aston Villa, Everton - Villa reported to of made a £6m+ bid for the player

Joseph Desire Job - Middlesbrough to Crystal Palace - £1m

Julien Rodriguez - Monaco to Portsmouth - £500,000

Olivier Bernard - Un-Attached to Sunderland - Player set for the Stadium of Light after failing to impress while on trial at Birmingham

Nicky Butt - Newcastle to Birmingham - £2m

Marcus Bent - Everton to Wigan - £1.8m - Deal could be completed today

Luis Boa Morte - Fulham to Newcastle - £5m - Newcastle set to make improved bid today

Hugues Ateba Bilayi - Paris Saint Germain to Newcastle - Player has joined the club on trial

Steffen Iversen - Valerenga to Wigan

Svetoslav Todorov - Portsmouth to Millwall

Anthony Le Tallec - Liverpool to Sunderland

Marcus Bent - Everton to Charlton - £1.5m

David Fernandez - Celtic to Sunderland

Dan Agger - Brondby to Aston Villa - £1.25m

Petr Mikolanda - Viktoria Zizkow to West Ham

Email your transfer rumours to rumours@football-latest.com

Nicolas Anelka -  Fenerbahce to Newcastle - New £6m bid reported

Jason Koumas - West Brom to Cardiff City - Move close

Ricardo Fuller - Portsmouth to Southampton - Fee agreed

Andrei Shevchenko - Milan to Chelsea - £60m - Move denied by London club

Luis Figo - Real Madrid to Inter Milan - Talks under way

Walter Samuel - Real Madrid to Inter Milan - £16m - Talks under way

Shunsuke Nakamura - Reggina to Celtic - £3m deal agreed

Alexei Eremenko Jnr - Lecce to Manchester City -£1.4m

Daniel Alves - Sevilla to Liverpool - £7m

Darren Purse - West Brom to Cardiff, Southampton - £800,000 - Player has agreed to join Cardiff over the Saints

Jason Euell - Charlton to Birmingham - £1m

Matt Holland - Charlton to Portsmouth, West Ham - Bowyer or Damien Francis could come in to take his place

Habib Bamogo - Marseille to West Ham

Jorge Andrade - Deportivo to Liverpool - £?? - Deal could involve Milan Baros in part exchange.

Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink - Middlesbrough to Fulham - £??

Michael Ballack - Bayern Munich to Man Utd - Player has stated he will stay at Bayern till next summer.

Artim Sakiri - Un-Attached to Burnley - Trial

Olivier Dacourt - Roma to Arsenal - Gunners boss Arsene Wenger wants Dacourt to replace Vieira

Azar Karadas - Benfica to Portsmouth - Loan

Steve Lomas - West Ham to Crystal Palace - Trial

Phil Neville - Man Utd to Arsenal - £3.2m

Nicolas Anelka -  Fenerbahce to Newcastle - £??

Hugo Viana - Newcastle to Stuttgart -  Newcastle spokesman: "Stuttgart have come in for Viana and we are currently talking to them." (Evening Chronicle)

Clive Clarke - Stoke to Sunderland, West Ham - West Ham to up Sunderlands offer of £125,000

Antti Niemi - Southampton to Portsmouth - £2m

Yossi Benayoun - Racing Santander to West Ham - £2.5m - Benayoun: "I had many offers, but West Ham attracted me most. My dream has come true. It is not about money. I want to be part of the club's adventure back in The Premiership."

Jared Borgetti - Pachuca to Bolton - £950k deal completed

David Pizarro - Udinese to Inter Milan - deal completed

Jon Dahl Tomasson - Milan to Benfica - Fee reportedly agreed

Michael Ballack - Bayern Munich to Man Utd - £10m

Robert Pires - Arsenal to Galatasaray - £2.5m

David Pizarro - Udinese to Inter Milan - Move reported to of been agreed

Ryan Taylor - Tramere to Wigan - £1m - Wigan set to beat Everton to the signing

Grzegorz Rasiak - Derby to Sunderland - £1.5m

Traianos Dellas - Un-Attached to Fulham, Portsmouth - £Bosman

Louis Saha - Man Utd to Tottenham - Loan - Player has rejected to re-join Fulham on loan

Guti - Real Madrid to Tottenham, Everton - £5m - Everton have now joined the race to sign the midfielder

Mbesuma, nicknamed "The Hurricane" had been on trial at Bolton Wanderers this week but boss Sam Allerdyce decided not to make a move to sign the player after he failed to impress during the trial spell.

His agent, Mike Makab, told Portsmouth's official website that the deal was subject to Mbesuma getting a work permit.

"There were no hard feelings with Bolton and the manager was great - but they just wanted to look at Collins for a three or four days," said Makab.

"There was enough interest from other clubs for Collins.

"I think Pompey's gain will be a few other clubs' loss." 

Damien Duff & Eider Gudjohnson - Chelsea to Newcaslte - £19m double deal

Antti Niemi - Southampton to Celtic

Kostas Chalkias - Portsmouth to Un-Attached - Player is to be released having only been at the club for 6 months

Patrick Vieira - Arsenal to Real Madrid, Juventus - £15m

Robbie Blake - Birmingham to Leeds - £1.3m - Deal could be completed today

Shunsuke Nakamura - Reggina to Celtic - £??

Emre Belozoglu - Inter Milan to Newcastle - £6m - Move to be complted on Monday

Julio Baptista - Sevillia to Arsenal, Tottenham - Spurs reported to of upped Arsenal bid by £1m to £12.5m

Mickael Essien  - Lyon to Chelsea - £16m+ - Move to go ahead next week

Ronaldinho - Barcelona to Chelsea - £83m - Reported bid lined up

Carlton Cole - Chelsea to Portsmouth  -  Portsmouth chairman, Milan Mandaric: "Carlton would select us after Chelsea but he wants to give himself a chance at Chelsea first." 

Sylvain Distin - Man City to Aston Villa - £7m - Villa to up bid from £5.5m to £7m

Anthony Gardner - Tottenham to Charlton - £1.6m - Player has reportedly failed a medical

"I have seen racial abuse in almost every stadium. The worst thing has been how my wife has been treated. I almost quit in the middle of the season because of it."

"I'm not going to hold on to people who don't want to be here because it isn't going to do them any favours - and it isn't going to do us any favours either," said the Ulsterman, who guided Norwich to the First Division title two seasons ago.

"I just want players who want to give their all for a Norwich City shirt. That is the most important thing.

"Anyone who doesn't think that way is entitled to leave - but that will be at this football club's discretion.

Championship sides Leeds and Crystal Palace are also interested in Clark, but the player would prefer to stay in the Premiership.

Southampton are also said to be interested.

"We had structured a pay-as-you-play deal that was the same kind of deal as he had here.

"His knee might need an operation at some stage, but it could be next week or it could be in the next five years. Everyone knew that was the case.

"It is surprising that this has happened after Sunderland knew the facts anyway. It is frustrating, especially for Ricardo.

"I am sure someone will take him because he has proved with us that his knee is okay, because he appeared in more games for us last season than almost anyone."

Clark is set to sign a 1 year deal at Ellend Road after previously turning down the move earlier in the summer because of the huge pay drop.

Clark joins fellow Geordie Steve Stone at Leeds who completed his free transfer from Portsmouth earlier in the week.

Phillips, who has admitted his desire to stay in the Premiership after suffering relegation to the Championship with Southampton has attracted several clubs including Old Firm duo Rangers and Celtic aswell as Premiership clubs Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers.

Subject to the medical, the player is expected to complete the transfer sometime today.

Sidney Govou - Lyon to Liverpool, Newcastle - Striker could be available for around £8m

Damien Francis - Norwich to Portsmouth - £1.5m

Yossi Benayoun - Racing Santander to Newcasltle, Tottenham, Bolton - £2m

Ian Walker - Un-Attached to Portsmouth - £Bosman

Carlton Cole - Chelsea to Portsmouth - £2m

Luis Boa Morte - Fulham to Newcastle - £3.5m

Olivier Bernard - Un-Attached to Newcastle - Manager Greame Souness could be tempted to bring the defender back to St James Park

Nicky Butt - Newcastle to West Ham - £1.5m

Luis Figo - Real Madrid to West Ham - £Free - The hammers could be set to offer the player a £60k a week deal

Robert Green - Norwich City to Portsmouth - £3m

Ian Harte - Levante to Blackburn - £Free - Move denied contrary to reports in Irish Media

Dirk Kuijt -  Feyenoord to Liverpool - £8m - Talks set to take place

Dean Ashton - Norwich City to Blackburn - £3.5m plus Paul Gallagher & Michael Gray

Mark Viduka - Middlesbrough to Newcastle - Swap involving Craig Bellamy or Kieron Dyer

Shay Given - Newcastle to Arsenal - £6m

Damien Duff - Chelsea to Newcastle - £10m-£15m

Sean Wright-Phillips - Manchester City to Chelsea - £15m-£22m

Kevin Phillips - Southampton to Aston Villa - £1m

Alan Stubbs - Everton to Aston Villa - £Bosman

John Carew - Besiktas to Blackburn - £4.5m

Magpies boss Graeme Souness tried for the Portugal International in January and may go for Boa Morte again this summer as he seeks a replacement for new Portsmouth signing Laurent Robert.

Newcastle will probably face competition from Liverpool, where manager Benitez is a big fan of Boa Morte's and could turn to the winger should talks with Middlesbrough's Bolo Zenden break down.