Newcastle United – News Roundup – 23 July 2009.

Posted on July 23rd, 2009 | 17 Comments |

Oba returns.
Oba returns against Orient.
In a day that appears largely bereft of Newcastle United news, I’ll have to pick out our reserve win over Whitley Bay as the headline news. Apparently Hughton and Calderwood were amongst the 1,075 crowd that saw us win 3-1 with two goals from Brad Inman and one from Wesley Ngo Baheng.

According to The Chronicle, Oba Martins and Geremi are set to make a return against Leyton Orient on Saturday, although Bassong is complaining of a ‘muscle ache’ and remains doubtful.

I have to admit to being a bit nonplussed about such news because I’m guessing that all three of these players will be clearing off as soon as Ashley’s transfer embargo is lifted. I’m not sure what we’re gaining in the long run by getting them into the pre-season squad and wonder if we’d be better off giving more of the youngsters some first team time – at least they’ll still be here for the rest of the season.

The article also explains how Hughton has been left to contemplate starting the season the season without Nicky Butt. He told The Chronicle:

“We’re hopeful it might be less than four weeks, but he’ll be out for a few weeks, which is a big blow for us.

“It was something that was quite innocuous.

“He’s a big player, and not only that, but he’s rarely injured.

“We have been fortunate pre-season, and we haven’t really had any injuries.

“We’ll have to work round that.”

Lee Bowyer appears to be bearing a grudge against the club in relation to his famous boxing match with Kieron Dyer. Following his recent move to Birmingham he told The Express:

“They hung me out to dry. The club tried to get Dyer off the ban because we were in the FA Cup semi-final, so they said, ‘Look, hold your hands up and we might be able to get Kieron off’.

“So I took the blame. So then I got fined six weeks’ wages, Kieron got nothing. I got a six-game ban, Kieron got what? Did he get a ban?

“They said I can’t really get off, but they might be able to get Kieron off. I said it was both of us, not just me, but if it looks worse on my part then I’ll do that. People don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. I tried to do the right thing.”

He’s clearly still quite bitter about the whole incident.

That’s it for today – have a good one.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

17 Responses

  1. I’m not Bowyer’s biggest fan but then I can’t stand Dyer either.

    Hate to say it but the longer he goes without getting involved, the more apparent it becomes Bassong is on his way.

  2. …on Bassong – let’s face it, we all know he’ll be off as soon as it’s ‘financially possible’. The Columbo part of my brain is telling me that he’s sitting out in preparation for a move dairn sairrf. His “muscle ache” is probably down all the leg-pulling that’s been going on for the last 7 or 8 months.

    …on a lighter note, if it’s true he’s sitting back in anticipation of our luvverly cockernee ex-counterparts whisking him off on a horse and cart to the old smoke – then either a takeover, or at least managerial appointment could be imminent (?)

    Assumptions assumptions………

    P.S. McMahon has gone suspiciously quiet, he must be constipated

  3. “In a day that appears largely bereft of Newcastle United news”

    There was the big NUSC meeting in Blakelaw yesterday evening, Hugh. They’ve issued a press release signposting the way forward for Newcastle United.

    “Latest NewsNUSC signpost the way forward for Toon – Press Release

    Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC) today released their latest membership figures which show a sharp surge to pass 2000 making it the largest Supporters grouping in the North East. NUSC who have recently converted to a supporters trust with the aim of ‘buying a stake in the club’ have been at the forefront of the fan campaign to back Alan Shearer as manager and stand ready to work with the new owners. Steve Hastie from the Supporters Club said ‘Its clear that our message of a positive move forward for the club and consigning the Mike Ashley regime to the dustbin of history is chiming with the mood of supporters. We’ve had nearly 1000 names in less than a week back our campaign ‘the clock is ticking, Mike – time to go’ which is unprecedented. We’ve had geordie expats from the four corners sign up and join the supporters club – from Singapore to Ghana, Italy to the States. We believe that its time to for Mike Ashley to pack his bags and leave with the shred of dignity left and its time to get on, appoint Shearer and finalise the sale. The club have failed to sign anyone but NUSC and the supporters are leading the way and signing up for fans representation at the top levels of the club’ Anyone wanting to find out more should visit http://www.nusc.org where they will find more info about the club and the petition that aims to make supporters opinion very clear to Mike.”

    Haven’t they ever heard of paragraphs?

  7. I’ll probably get told to shut up as I’m not a member of the supporters club, but they really are a waste of time. From their press release and their web site they are all about self promotion. Who cares if they are the biggest supporters club in the NE? Who cares if people from far and wide are part of their group? Nice to see that they aren’t immune to stating the bloody obvious too. And not being able to get their own website address correct is very, very amateur. If they were a bit more professional then just perhaps they might attract people who can make a difference at the club. Large numbers does not equal clout.

  8. Micky Toon says:
    July 23, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    “I’ll probably get told to shut up as I’m not a member of the supporters club, but they really are a waste of time…”

    It doesn’t make sense at all, Micky.

    They say that Ashley must sell more quickly, but then they try their best to frighten off potential buyers by dictating to them who should really run the club (them and Alan Shearer).

    Then, they inform the potential new owners that they will eventually have to relinquish some of their financial stake in the club when the NUST want to buy in. How much will they want? How much will they want to pay for it? What will they do if the new owners refuse? Or if they think the price is too high? Will they try to drive them out too?

    It’s as if they’re doing everything they can to deter someone from buying the club, which is the exact opposite of what they claim to want.

  9. Workey Ticket :

    I can exchange links if you want to, I wrote this in the last article but you must’ve missed it.

    A wee’ old link exchange wouldn’t go far wrong :D

  11. geordie deb says:
    July 23, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    “NUSC = waste of space”

    Deb, It’s ‘NUST’ (Newcastle United Supporters TRUST) now.

    Doocey, will sort something out once I’ve finished getting a few other things out of the way.

  12. Regarding the NUSC press release – whoever wrote it should not be given that responsibility again. It contains so many errors and yet they expect us and more importantly the club to take them seriously? They have achieved nothing except to make us as a group of supporters sound like a militant bunch of halfwits. The link to the North American football club is classic, they can’t even get that right.

  13. Doocey says:
    July 23, 2009 at 3:15 pm
    Workey Ticket :

    “I can exchange links if you want to, I wrote this in the last article but you must’ve missed it.

    A wee’ old link exchange wouldn’t go far wrong”

    Doocey,

    Your link is up now. It’s a proper one too, none of this rel=”nofollow” rubbish! ;-)