Newcastle United's last-minute scramble has left a bad taste and £68m planning questions

We live in changing times as the years march on. Many for the better of course as new and exciting discoveries are made but not all bring glowing pleasure. Football has I'm afraid fallen foul of its own relentless tinkering.

The unseemly rush to comply with FFP rules that saw Newcastle United jettison two of their bright young players has left a bad taste in every fan's mouth. Certainly mine anyway.

I wanted to watch Elliot Anderson especially and, yes, Yankuba Minteh grow encased in black-and-white but United were left with no option other than to tout someone, and primarily them, round the country with ever increasing urgency.

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The only consolation for the Toon Army, apart from the surety of no points being deducted, is that exchanging Anderson and Minteh for £68m will hopefully mean that bigger-hitters Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, whose names had been alarmingly bandied about, remain fighting the cause.

That United had to even consider selling Isak and more likely Gordon to Liverpool is disturbing. What mess had the Magpies owners found themselves in and how? If FFP is in need of binning, and it is, then nevertheless the lasting feeling is that the club were apparently not as clever as they purport to be in their transfer dealings or there would have been no blind panic with virtually every first-team member at risk.

To lose anyone of their like would be to abort all plans for a trophy-winning future. Club legend Alan Shearer has warned about letting Isak go and he speaks for all with a Geordie voice.

Frankly I have not seen anywhere near enough of Minteh to get too upset at his departure though a growing reputation worries me that perhaps a star is waiting to burst forth, but I am extremely sad to see a Geordie kid of genuine talent who loves the club being forced to leave for the greater good.

His grandad is United's 1969 European Fairs Cup winger Geoff Allen, of course, and when I spoke with him 24 hours ago he was in no doubt over what brought about the deal.

"Elliot took one for the club," maintained Geoff. "He loves Newcastle United as I do but if he had been awkward and the transfer hadn't gone through they would have been in real trouble."

That Anderson 'took one for the club' is supported by the evidence of how the transfer unfolded. I can reveal that Elliot actually left a family holiday to get the transfer done in time. He was in Portugal with mam, dad and his girlfriend when Forest got in touch. They hurriedly flew them by private jet to Nottingham to complete transactions with the clock rapidly running down and then on Monday afternoon put on a car to return the whole family to Tyneside as they had no transport having flown direct from Newcastle to their holiday resort.

Allen went on: "United will sadly find out what they are missing because this will be the start of a great career for Elliot. He is only 21 and you never lose genuine talent."

Football can be laced with irony - Allen's career finished at Nottingham Forest and now his grandson's is about to begin there. Geoff's was tragically cut down at the age of 23, only a couple of year's older than Elliot, when he was badly injured against Forest shortly after his sensational performance smashed Feyenoord in United's first ever European tie back in 1968. He had played only 26 first-team games.

The league match had actually been switched to Notts County's ground across town because of a dressing-room fire at Forest. Geoff never blamed Peter Hindley for the tackle that finished him - he insisted that it was a pure accident - but by a strange twist of fate his grandson will now wear those Forest colours.

I know how proud Allen was that Elliot, the son of his daughter Helen, was a footballer and breaking through at his old club but if there is a consolation it is that grandad will be able to watch him much more regularly. Because by yet another coincidence Geoff lives in Mansfield which is only 18 miles along the M1 from Nottingham. Allen's last coaching job was as assistant to former Newcastle defender Stuart Boam at Mansfield and he has continued to live in the area.

"Aye, I am only half an hour away so it will be easier for me to watch Elliot," smiled Allen who used to hoof it up north whenever Anderson played in South Yorkshire for Newcastle at under 13, 15 and 16 level. Now it will be like popping out for a bottle of milk.

No doubt Allen will find himself rubbing shoulders with his Fairs Cup team-mate Frank Clark at the City Ground. Frank lives just outside Nottingham and has a unique tie to the club having been a European Cup winner as a player with them, manager, chairman and ambassador. Eddie Howe would have much preferred Anderson and Minteh to have remained but he accepted the inevitable. I had my rant about FFP in my Monday column and I stand by every word. The sooner it is kicked into the long grass the better.

Still United require a top signing of some financial outlay to offset a slight feeling of negativity. May it come sooner rather than later to allay fears that somehow the Mags have had to redress their transfer market thinking having seemingly reduced the level of their goalkeeping recruitment. They started off wanting Georgia's Giorgi Mamardashvili who was valued at £40m, then dropped their level to James Trafford at £17m, but now have recruited 30-year-old Odysseas Vlachodimos from Forest for a modest £5m and John Ruddy at 37 on a free to sit as third choice.

Meanwhile as the transfer roundabout takes one more twirl I wish Elliot Anderson all the very best for next season - apart from Forest's two games against us!