Aston Villa offer Harewood back to Toon, as Leeds play hard to get over Beckford!

Posted on January 10th, 2010 | 103 Comments |

Back for good?
Back for good?
Interesting article from the News Of The World, which reports today that Aston Villa have offered striker Marlon Harewood to Newcastle in a permanent deal. In all honesty, we probably would have signed him by now had Aston Villa not wanted a £250,000 loan fee plus player wages of £28,000 per week paid by us!

The Midlanders have pitched their price at £1.5 million, presumably to try and tempt us away from their target, Leeds striker Jeramine Beckford and get us to plump for the experience of our former loanee instead. Marlon Harewood scored 5 goals in his loan spell earlier in the season but has yet to win all the fans over yet, his seemingly lazy and lethargic attitude being a contributor to that.

I’m not sure what to make of Harewood? Can he score goals at this level? Yes! But is also 31 years old now, so we would be signing a player with a limited amount of fuel in the tank. Would we be better paying the loan fee for the rest of the season and look into signing him on a free transfer in the summer?

One thing it does mean is that we have options of whom to sign now, as news also emerged of fresh interest in Jermaine Beckford from Wolves and Sunderland. Sunderland see him as a replacement for Kenwyne Jones who could be on his way whilst Wolves need to boost their attacking options in their efforts to stay in the Premier League.

The proverbial inside source from Leeds said:

“If Newcastle think they can have this all their own way they’re mistaken. The sort of money they’re talking about is not enough and there’s interest from Premier clubs.”

The sort of money we’re talking about is £1.5 million. For me, any more than that for a player who is out of contract in 6 months time and has never been tried at Championship level is a bit of a rip off! This could all be games of course and Leeds could just be trying to push us for a bit more. On that basis, I think it could be a case of better the devil you know, and settling for Marlon Harewood.

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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103 Responses

  3. Rangerman says:
    January 10, 2010 at 1:40 pm
    Harewood or Beckford
    <<<< we sorta know what harewood can do in the prem so ide pick beckford because hes untryed in the prem

  4. So Mike is in vegas trying to win enough money to sign Beckford, meanwhile the Mackems use there pocket money to steal him under our noses. So we end up with a lazy below average prem striker. So business as usual under Ashley then.

  5. Harewood on loan it’s a good deal. And after that we can sing both Harewood and Beckford on free.

  6. please do not go for beckford, he is a huge attitude problem and if he was really as good as many toon fans seem to think why arent the likes of aston villa or fulham interested? He will not be able to cut it at premiership level, and just because he scored one goal against man utd does not prove that he can cut it.

    I HATE HAREWOOD, I’ll be the first to admit it however i would seriously recommend signing him as he can score a few goals in the premiership and wil have a good understanding of the league. In my opinion he will score more goals than Ranger and Beckford combined in the premiership. As much as i despise Harewood i would seriously suggest we sign him for around £500k-750. he is worth no more than that. We should supply him with a rolling one year contract on wages of around £20k. If he does not like that then he can take a running jump.

  7. I think Beckford is worth a punt esp for this league

    Harewood would be ok til end of season

  8. total disgrace that fat arse and lamearse are on a jollies in vegas,this shows they dont give a toss.

  9. Harewood is past it,beckford not sure about.What boils me is we have 2 young lads who given the chance might just make it.Carroll and Ranger,surely we should be trying these lads in the fizzy pop league because 23 and harewood cant cut it in the premiership.Hughton has a lot to answer for.He continued to play harewood instead of Carroll which to me was a massive mistake.If I was Carroll or Ranger I would want away, when rated so far behind them two numpties.If we go up how will we stay with 23 as our main striker.As for the rumour of bringing chopra back well that just shows how ambitious we are.It shows how much we rate Beckford when we bid 1.5 million, yet talked about bidding 2 million for chopra(sunday sun) or the same for a 31 year old donkey.
    No wonder them two fcb are in vegas

  10. I can’t say that I’d be ecstatic over us getting either of them, I still don’t think they are better than what we have already on the books. If pushed however I would go for Marlon on a loan till the end of the season. Beckford is a lot older than I thought and I do not think he is as good as Shola, I also doubt if Leeds are going to let him go till the end of the season anyway. If thats true then we should be looking at better players than them for the EPL next year.
    Funnily enough whilst I was watching the Arsenal/Everton game and seeing how Landon has signed for Everton for ten weeks,I was thinking why doesn’t the club have a look at some of the MSL players for short term loan purposes. And lo and behold Ashley is in the USA, somehow I don’t think it’s to sign players though.

  13. I just don’t get why all tus fuss over strikers. we’ve got Carroll, Ranger, Shola, Lovenkrands,even Nolan at a push.
    What we desperately don’t have is a playmaker of any description. Hughton said he wouldn’t do an Allardyce and play hoof ball but I don’t know what else you would call the rubbish we play. We are top a of a god awful league.

  15. We need more fire power up front all our strikers are the same we need someone who’s fast and willing to chase the ball so i’d go for beckford, but we also need a playmaker just so we can get away from the long ball that we keep going back to.

  17. for the style of football we are playing hoof the ball we might aswell start all games with carroll and ranger both strong and good in the air and can give the defenders a rough time. i agree with most a creative midfilder is whats lacking. the last time we had one of those was emre and then dyer before but both were always injured and hardly played. i think i said it on another post but giles barnes is available on a free and is fit he could do that job and has a bit of pace what does everyone else think??

  18. Let’s be objective. Harewood on a permanent deal is NOT what most Newcastle fans wanted but you have to look at the facts.

    He was coming off about 8 years of not playing, he had a niggling injury and he had no pre-season but still got a goal ratio of 1 in 3.

    If we get him for £1.5m, he WILL get goals and those goals will get us promoted and back into the Premiership. The added money we get from that surely covers a £1.5m transfer fee, right?

    Also, I’d have more faith in Harewood than Beckford getting goals in the Premiership. I’d happily take Harewood in this deal instead of being held to ransom over an untested League 1 striker.

    Love him or hate him – if you’re honest, you will know this is right.

  19. Also, I forgot to mention, Harewood and Lovenkrands were scoring goals for fun and Harewood was the best partner for Lovenkrands. Another reason to go for Marlon over Beckford.

  20. Wickywoowoo, you are not being held to ransom over Beckford, he has a price and you either pay it or you don’t – simple.

  21. I just don’t see that 31 year old Harewood as a £1.5 million permanent buy, PLUS whtaever wages he’ll expect, is a good deal. If Leeds are concerned about the cost of leaving Beckford to go on a free in the summer. what good is Harewood to Villa if they can’t shift him? He surely won’t get a game for them. Villa are also trying to screw us – and if he had set the world on fire here, then perhaps we would bite. But as people say, we have other striking options and we need PACE and SKILL somewhere in this team beyond the defence.
    Also will Harewood try as hard for us (so to speak!) when he gets a permanent deal? That may be doing him an injustice but he won’t then be “in the shop window”, will he?

  22. I meant in the context that his price has gone up because he scored a goal against Man Utd. The goal posts were moved because of one goal – he isn’t a better player for it so why should we pay more for him now?

    Harewood would be better for us than Beckford and Beckford isn’t exactly a spring chicken, he isn’t likely to improve so yet more reason to go for Harewood.

  23. wicky – Harewood is harldy a hatchling though, eh?

    I was never that impressed with Harewood’s attitude overall, nor his ability in the role he played. He may be better as a traditional centre forward playing with wingers, but without the supply we wouldn’t get the best out of him.

    I genuinely think his goal return flattered to deceive and he wouldn’t get many goals coming back. I believe we may need something different, and Beckford is worth a punt to see if he’s it.

    (edited) – I’d prefer to spend that sort of money on potential rather than someone Harewood’s age.

  24. I don’t think his price went up post OT, I think it’s always been around the £2m mark, personally I don’t see the value in that when you could get him for free in the summer. Question is if you are promoted would you want him? Also, will he score the goals to get you to the PL – who knows?

  25. @chris – 9.

    ‘What boils me is we have 2 young lads who given the chance might just make it.Carroll and Ranger,surely we should be trying these lads in the fizzy pop league’.

    WE ARE giving these lads more than adequate playing time.. they have done pretty well – but to rely on them – and in the case of Ranger take a massive gamble on his suddenly starting banging them in – would be to gamble with our hopes of promotion!? This is not a season for glory, experimentation or pinning our plans on the chance the kids break through… hughton is handling ranger perfectly.. bringing him on and giving him plenty of minutes to MAKE the shirt his.

    Also – i am sick of the constant talk about players being good in this league and not in that league, blah blah… if Rooney was playing for leeds or cardiff do you think he would get 100 goals or something!? No of course not.. I’d more than welcome the return of chopra – we know he can score goals – as for next season!?!? lads we aint even promoted yet – nowt else matters.

  26. half of yees sound like spoilt brats.. ‘don’t like this, don’t like that – he hasn’t got the first touch, the pace, the hunger, won’t cut it on the premiership,,,,’ WE AINT PROMOTED yet..

    Will they score goals? YES/NO The ONLY THING that matters… you could sign aguero and he could take months to settle – we know harewood will score for us now – beyond that who gives a damn?

  28. Harry says:
    January 10, 2010 at 2:58 pm

    “Question is if you are promoted would you want him?”

    Harry, I suppose it would depend on how well he played in the Championship.

  29. boater – Chopra though, seriously?

    The kid has hit a brickwall so could quite easily fail to hit double figures from now until the end of the season.

    Hence we could be paying somewhere in the region of £2-3m in total for a fella we’re fairly sure isn’t good enough for the Premiership and we sold for £500k.

  30. bowburnmag – always eh.

    I agree – Harewood and loven seemed to do well together.. would like to see goala and lovenkrands given the same chance.

    I think we have done well up front and in defense been almost awesome – as every one seems to mention where we are lacking is in a mobile and technical midfielder who can lift the tempo and with an eye for a quick penetrative pass… without that we are creating very few chances for the strikers – so it’s irrelevant which combination you go with. as has been the case this season…

    I think we could do worse than look to bring in a decent playmaker like snodgrass- hughton seems to like his tough midfield game – but we still need more chances created up front to turn the draws into wins.

  31. There has to be another young-ish striker who we can get for about £1m – £2m that has potential.

    I’d still pick Harewood over Beckford if we had to choose (unless we got Beckford cheaper or free) but there must be better options going.

  32. bowburnmag – well Chopra is a funny one I knaa.. I know he did nowt in the prem but he was playing for a very bad scum side and never got the chances with us- not even as much time as ranger. I just think we need to think who can do a job this season and nothing beyond that… you may be right with chopra though…

    Reet the player I would go for.. ambrose. Always rated him and think he’s just what we need from a midfielder – goals, pace and a good football brain.

  34. Hey boater, it’s all about opinions. I could be horribly wrong. worky will point out that everytime I criticise someone, they seem to do well. Obviously they’re reading the blog and my blessing must mean that much to them…

    Good to see you about, can’t remember seeing you around here much ;)

  35. Ha, I forgot about Xisco. We never gave him a real chance so we still don’t know what he can offer and next season will be his third with us, lol.

    I just saw Hughton on screen at the Leicester/Ipswitch match on Sky Sports – what do people think about Matty Fryatt?

    He was too good for League 1 and is still scoring regular in the Championship. Could he move up 3 divisions with us to the Premiership?

    I guess the issue would be Leicester will be even with Nottingham Forest if they win their games in hand and may well get promoted themselves.

  36. Apparently West Brom are after Fryatt?

    Hey we could do worse than getting Xisco back you know!…

    We could give Rob McDonald or Frank Pingel a new contract.

  37. He made his debut for the club in the 2–1 home defeat by Hull City on 13 September, scoring in the game.=)

    whatever it is,I do feel we need more cover for the left-side.Prefered left foot players For eg: Left-back,Left Winger,Left Midfielder.

    Just for joke,Arsenal needs target Man,and we do have a few,sent ranger out on loan????=)

  38. I’d just like to put forward this to all those who are worried about Beckfords attitude…Look how well Ranger has settle with us, do you realise what kind of background he had before we snapped him up? He was far worst than Beckford, and he’s now looking like a player that WILL cut it in the EPL, when we get there :)

  39. It’s a different sort of attitude problem though, isn’t it?

    Nile Ranger was hanging about with spastic idiots – he separated and got himself on track. By all accounts, Beckford is an arrogant tosspot who thinks he is Fernando Torres.

  40. id take harewood at 1.5m over beckford at 2.5 plus (which is what leeds want and he is not worth that)harewood at least is a proven goalscorer at this level and to a lesser extent the prem, beckford is neither

  41. Here we go again, we could quite possibly have signed two players who were available for a decent price, being both would be out of contract at the seasons end.
    So instead of paying a normally lower price than their worth, the dumb duo of MA & Llambias want to play hard ball and get them for nothing.
    Guess it`s hard to get rid of that gambling mentality.
    Look Strachan is about to spend around 8m. on players, S`land 11m. plus may also put in a bid for Beckford.
    With W/brom, Forest and possibly Boro giving us a run for promotion, it`s essential that we strengthen the side now.
    Not gaining promotion this season is something no one wants to contemplate, a disaster waiting to happen.
    Harewood ?
    A 31 yr. old tank, no thanks!
    Moses would be a brilliant move, think down the road Moses and Ranger up front and it`s all about a few million.
    On thinking about what`s going on it becomes more apparent that Ashley `s goal is promotion and sell at the lowest cost to him.
    Of course I feel bad for Hughton who will bear the brunt of any criticism.
    As far as Boro and S`land., do they have owners worth as much as Ashley ? dont think so!
    As far as crowds does either team get bigger attendances, dont think so !
    Well possibly another gamble like last year that could turn brown, thanks Mike !

  42. All of the strikers we currently have are too similar, we need a pacey creative striker to mix it up a bit. We’ve reverted to long balls again, because other teams have started to figure us out. Signing Harewood would just be another step backwards. Gazz

  43. Go for Hooper at Scunthorpe,younger than Beckford and scoring regularly in a tougher division.
    No thanks to Harewood unless the situation becomes desparate, which given our previous window record suggests that we will become desparate………

  44. CHUCK;well said son but we are last people they will take any notice of i thike he loves it i tend to lean battys way,somebody to ——- in

  45. chuck says:
    January 10, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    “As far as Boro and S`land., do they have owners worth as much as Ashley ? dont think so!”

    Chuck, S_______d are owned by a billionaire Yank called Ellis Short.

  46. I’ve seen enough of Beckford to know he WILL get goals in the Championship. He’s in a different league to any striker in League 1. The lad has skill, bags of pace and best of all he is a natural goal scorer. At the moment he is the most prolific striker in the country, with a better goals per game ratio than Drogba, Torres, Fryatt etc. He has 64 goals in 93 starts for Leeds, what more does he need to do to prove he’s better than league one? If he can get goals against the likes of Charlton, Huddersfield, MK Dons etc do you really think he’s gonna struggle against the likes of Scunthorpe, Derby and Peterborough?? For £2m the lad will get us out of the Champoinship. If he doesn’t notch in the Premier then sell him back to a championship club!!! Probably at a profit! Everyone is going on about his attitude. The Leeds coaches i have seen interviewed agree he’s a hot head on the pitch but off it he’s a total pro. Messrs Bellamy and Cole were knobs on the pitch but if you take that part away you lose half the player! MA needs to wise up an realise this could be the best £2m gamble in the history of NUFC.

  47. What would Villa say if we asked for Nathan Delfouneso on loan until the end of the season?

    He is well thought of at Villa and regular first team football instead of occasional substitute appearances would do him the world of good.

  49. I have watched than goon harewood for more than enough. I’ve now accepted we are a moderate side but harewood is one step too far.
    The strikers we have in Shoala, Carroll, Ranger and Lovenkrands are good enough to get out of this league. The problem in recent weeks is the lack of creativity in midfield. When Butt and Smith play together there is none. Nolan never delivers the killer pass. Guthrie is useless. Spidey only passes to Jose. Pancrate has not had enough time to be judged. The young flair players Lua Lua and Vuckic have not been given a chance.
    Priority a right hand side of midfield player with pace.
    Not a donkey called harewood

  51. Chuck @41
    Just read your blog. Middlesbrough challenging us for promotion. They won’t even make the play offs they are that bad.

  52. joseph;dont agree one bit harewood is 31+ he had 1 good season villa dont rate him west ham didnt hes playing in v poor cc if we go up or not you cannot sell him on,ime not saying sign bexford,but with 5years on harewood and has a sell on value if he fails

  54. wickywoowoo says:
    January 10, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    “What would Villa say if we asked for Nathan Delfouneso on loan until the end of the season?”

    Hmmm, yeah, that’s good thinking wickywoowoo. He’s a very good young prospect, but there have already been numerous loan and permanent signing requests for him, and Martin O’Neill tells them all to go to hell!

  55. Chaps, we wont be signing anyone until the boys are finished their gambling bender in Vegas, with such a short window im amazed they have found the time but it may also be a sign that there will be no business done at all.
    Best we can hope for is the renewal of the loan deals.

  58. point takenworktick,but harewood is past it as i said ime not saying sign bexford,but harewood wouldnt even get in leeds side, my choice if i had one would be snodgrass,or whitingham,can score and create,younger to

  59. worky have some respect and divent back chat ur elders icedog hes got 20 plus years on y :lol:

  61. Big Dave says:
    January 10, 2010 at 4:54 pm
    Well young Batty you time served WUM whats up with your mate ED lol.
    <<<< dave he sed the 12th now cos hes spending abit of time with ashley and lambsarse at the casinos

  62. leicester held at home by Ipswich.
    If we keep our head and nerve and pick up points the other challengers will allow us to be promoted.

    Just thought I mention that Rafa said in the press today that Torres and Gerrard might be sold in the summer.
    Were the both of them not boyhood newcastle fans

  63. Workey
    As the unofficial PC police on this blog, gonna let that slide.
    What`s the bit with S——-d, dont tell me you belong to the hate your neighbor crowd ?
    After all they and Boro. provide a great four game series during season`s we are in the same division to-gether.
    Was @ The Stadium of Light a couple of seasons ago, nice ground.
    And I would venture to guess there`s quite a few who attend games at both Stadiums.
    Never really understood the vitriol directed at them, always liked to see both teams do well as long as we beat them on a regular basis.

  65. budalovesa patsy I think they would turn us down but you could sus them out see if the fancy it, and if so tell them to get some video’s uploaded onto youtube for our scouts to check out lol
    Batty I see you have a stalker on ED’s

  67. How things change in a few days, was Beckford not the best thing since sliced bread last week? The guy has scored around 80goals in the last 2 1/2 seasons at leeds and just because you haven’t got him on the cheap (like you did with many previous leeds players)and Leeds are holding out for a less laughable offer (1.5 million jokers!) you are all suddenly saying he is crap. You really are a fickle bunch supporting a club with the worst management structure than dare I say it Leeds with Ridsdale. Listen to you all going on about this player and that, granted I would not like it if leeds were trying to sign a player for a lot of money when they had only a few months left on contract. But the fact of the matter is that leeds wanted to keep Beckford until the end of this season to help secure promotion. We don’t need the money like yourselves and so why should we sell him on the cheap just to benefit some other club with no tradition of bringing on talent.
    By the way, I am not a Beckford fan but do realise how hard it would be for Leeds to replace a 30+ a season goalscorer and his value has certainly not increased because of one goal at scum, Grayson knows his worth and Newcastle have not met it, simple! Good luck for rest of season and hope to see you in the premiership in a couple of years and I very much doubt that Beckford will be with either of our clubs.

  68. chuck says:
    January 10, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    “What`s the bit with S——-d, dont tell me you belong to the hate your neighbor crowd ?”

    Chuck, you mustn’t have been around when I broke down and made my miserable confession about S________d.

  69. well lads ganning for some chinese,batty ill see if i can get you a pudding for you,will ashley crumble do you kidda catch yous later

  70. i am sick to def of us giong about strikers we dont need them in this league!we need a centre midfield player with legs and pace who can pick a pass out? r midfield r slow and when nicky butt plays the other teams must lick their lips. i think we should play 2 wingers and 3 centre midfield players and 1 up front.we r always going 2 play smith and nolan so another midfielder with pace would make us even stronger because other teams would be scared of us running throu the midfield instead of thinking if we stop r left hand side we stop newcastle does anyone agree with me

  71. Stonemonkey says:
    January 10, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    “How things change in a few days, was Beckford not the best thing since sliced bread last week?”

    Er, no, not really, Stonemonkey.

  72. Stonemonkey you make some valid points re our woeful management set up and the inability to bring through youngsters. In fact Nile Ranger is a case in point, rather than give him a lengthy shot in the first team we’d rather go out and spend money on Beckford. Hopefully they also have some representatives watching the African Nations Cup where they could get 1 or 2 creative ideas for buying players rather than loaning out journeymen like Harewood and Khizanishvilli.

  73. To hear you lot babbling on about him you would have thought so, even though we were doing our best to highlight his inadequacies workyticket.

  74. r league 2 lose! all the top teams have got 2 come to us west brom forrest cardif blackpool and play off teams at least 8 of the 12 teams at r end of the table got 2 come 2 us and we have got 2 play the so called dead wood away if we cant go up from that then we dont deserve 2

  75. asim – I agree. I think if we can beat West Brom, Cardiff and Forest at SJP then it will be hard to stop us going up. On paper our toughest away game left really, is Leicester. Its a shame footie isn’t played on paper though :)

    stone monkey – I see Leeds are lining up Harewood if Beckford goes. Personally you can have both, even though Harewood is the better player.

  76. Shot bru,
    I am sure that Newcastle have some very good youngsters, as the north east has always been a good source for young talent. It would be great to see, not just yourselves but many other clubs putting the nippers to some good use instead of trying to buy everyone elses. I am not aware of many of your youth players and it seems that many on your own blog don’t seem too aware of them either, put them in and let them have a go, at least they will play in the black and white with pride, which from an outsiders point of view is all you need to get back to where you belong (so long as they are good enough of course).

  77. Toonesy,
    I don’t bother reading the Tat. Grayson likes to keep his business quiet until it is a done deal so we shall just have to wait and see, Hooper is favourite! Just sounds to me like lazy journalism and a fairly obvious statement to make.

  78. alright lads, whats this crack with fat mike and llamby being away in vegas?…is it confirmed they’re off on a bender like?

    Looks like our squad size wont increase too severly over Jan then. I could see us just bringing back Khizan, Simpson and Harewood, with them saying

    “well look, we’ve made 3 signings”…which is true, however we’re only then just back to square 1 as far as squad size goes.

  79. Totally agree Stonemonkey, if they’re good enough they’re old enough. All nufc fans would enjoy seeing youngsters comin through the ranks and playin for the club with pride, because for too many years now we’ve had to endure dozens of footballing mercenaries from all areas of the globe including some English ones like a certain Mr Owen.

  80. Stonemonkey, so which fans are not fickle then, most fans would like to see us sign Beckford but we have no faith in our board to deliver.
    What i find strange is Leeds stance, why allow the players contact to run down and then moan when he wants to move.
    If you price him out of a move, you are cutting off your nose to spite your face.
    Michael Owen was available for 1m in the same circumstances last January so why start an auction if you dont need the cash?
    Anyway, good luck for the rest of the season, i was really impressed by the Man U result, cheered me up no end.

  81. Ross says:
    January 10, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    “alright lads, whats this crack with fat mike and llamby being away in vegas?…is it confirmed they’re off on a bender like?”

    It’s just a piece of specious tripe in the Sunday Stun, Ross. Nothing to get excited about.

  82. Exactly what Shot Bru says. In an ideal world i’d think thats what we would all like, a trpohy chasing team made up of local lads. It’s never going to happen though as managers (not just at Newcastle but in general) are only ever really a few bad results away from having people calling for their heads and playing the kids versus the risk isn’t worth it for them. Sure there is the odd exception but not too many.

    Out of our current drop i’d say Krul, Forster, Alnwick, Kadar, Vuckic, Carroll, Ranger and Spear have potential, but to play them all at once is too much of a risk as we seen at Peterborough – I hope we smash them in the league at their place! 1 or 2 at a time is fine.

  83. Ross – As worky says, the Sunday Sun is not the most reliable paper and is probably just trying to stir something up to sell copies. I was either going to write about that or this, i think i chose the sensible option :)

  84. toonsy, message 81,

    Does “Jak Alnwick” actually exist or is he a regen on Football Manager? I’ve never seen any mention of him until that game came out.

    Also, of the 3 you listed as potential youngsters, 3 of those were goalkeepers, lol.

  85. Bigbadbob,
    Leeds offered Beckford a contract last season but his agent advised him to hold out for a better deal, Mr Bates, I believe in his shrewedness and as we had been stuck in the third tier for the second season, told him to take it or leave it and placed Beckford on the transfer list. Throughout this period Beckford continued to score goals at a more prolific rate than anyone else in the team, so at the start of this season a decision was made to take him off the transfer list (having recieved very little interest) and play him throughout this season to help ensure bloody promotion and then we would be in a better position to offer him an improved deal. This would have been a good case scenario for both player and club I believe, but I feel his agent has got on the wrong side of the Leeds Management and so now Mr Bates is being stuborn and will not allow external dictatorship. He will leave on Leeds terms even if that means FOC but hopefully we will be out of this godforsaken league.
    Glad you enjoyed the scum game we have waited a while for a lift like that.

  86. worky u should know that people beleive what they want too while reading papers like u say most prob made up

  88. wickywoowoo – “3 of them are goalkeepers”

    I know, we seem to be fine in the goalkeeper department for a good few years yet!

  89. The writing is on the wall for all to see, was waiting for this window for an indication of what our owners intentions were.
    Well it`s obvious, regain PL status with what we have and sell to the first bidder who comes close to his asking price.
    As far as bringing in people, had he paid a fair price he could have got both Kila. and Becks.
    Would have liked Kila. Becks ?, nah!
    If I had my druthers,without breaking the bank.
    Moses most definitely, with Coleman on one wing and McGeady on the opposite, sell Jonas and Smith to finance the moves.
    Actually we could use a coupla extra midfielders, but we are stuck with R. Taylor and Guthrie, can get rid of them later.
    Coleman can do winger or RB so can track back, McGeady can take people on, can provide the pass or score, a creative player, something we lack badly.
    Still need strikers as ours are shit.

    ____–HARPER–_______
    Simpson–Taylor–Colo.–Enrique
    Coleman–Joey—Nolan–McGeady
    Moses—-Shola
    Kila
    Krul
    Kadar
    R.Taylor
    Guthrie

  90. Workey
    Yeah guess I must have missed your S—–d, mea culpa !
    In which case I probably mis-judged your tude.

  91. Chuck,
    From what I have read Sheffield accepted our 2m offer, It was Killa who refused to come to the Toon as Everton have tapped him for the summer where he will go for nowt and receive better wages.

  92. CHUCK;take some points but,def no McGeady showed well early doors,i said before i have a few mates up scot,and a few still playing, they sussed him, a couple good whacks early on and he hides, there words not mine,whens the last time he had good game?

  93. I think there will only be a couple of new additions this month and I wouldn’t be too confident that they will be permanant signings either.

  94. At last someone else mentioning Victor Moses. I was beginning to think I was the only one! Moses and Beckford would be good.

  95. MT,

    Moses is going for at least £5m!

    We don’t have the money and why would he choose us before half a dozen PL clubs?

  96. chuck says:
    January 10, 2010 at 7:46 pm

    “In which case I probably mis-judged your tude.”

    Nope, I still hate the dump, and the Stadium of Blight too! :-)

  97. Stu – Dont mention that we cant afford Moses, you’ll be accused of turning this into a financial blog! ;)

  98. toonsy says:
    January 10, 2010 at 8:04 pm
    Stu – Dont mention that we cant afford Moses, you’ll be accused of turning this into a financial blog!

    Or a sane blog.

  99. We can’t afford Beckford never mind Moses.
    It will be loan signings again as Fatty will not invest to ensure promotion.

  101. Yep, get rid of Smith and Jonas, to partially fund a move for McGeady, Moses and Coleman, three youngsters who could be a big part of our future and the total outlay would not be that great ,with probably the same wages for all three as we presently pay for Smith and Jonas.
    There`s a lot of potential there, more than i can say for Jonas or Smith.
    But then what do I know, there`s obviously great minds at work right now and in the great scheme of things whats my opinion worth.
    As for the nonsense about just kick McGeady early on and he`s outta the game, get real !

  103. Appreciate the need fro economy in commiting transfer fees etc but if we’ve bid £1.5m for Beckford and Leeds appear to be digging in for £2m it seems ludicrous to run the risk of missing promotion with all its financial rewards for the sake of £500k!

    Is it me or have I missed something here?