And we’re off! Taylor rumour kicks off silly season.
Posted on April 27th, 2010 | 71 Comments |
Things are very different down in this league, and I would hope that the experience of the Championship will make us more mindful as fans with regards to just what other teams face in this division, particularly relegated teams who are used to stories in the media and TV coverage on pretty much a weekly basis, there isn’t much of that down here. Far too many times over the years I have picked up a newspaper only to see Newcastle United involved another scandal or linked with another star. You soon learn to ignore them and disregard them as rubbish. It’s been different this season though, and whether it is through our actions as a club to reduce the amount of headlines generated, or through lack of media interest in anything other than the Premier League or any other combination of reasons, I have been happy that we have been allowed to just get on with the job without being the targets of media frenzy.
However, that has now changed and it now appears that the media are planning our next step before the current season is even over. Silly season is upon us, and the silly transfer rumours have returned. I would urge people to not take any rumour they hear too seriously. We are bound to be linked with a vast amount of players throughout the course of the summer, and it appears today has been launch day for some quite laughable stories.
The most laughable story concerns Steven Taylor, and it’s the evolving story as it turns out. Now when you usually see a report of Steven Taylor moving away from Tyneside, you can be reasonably assured that the words Aston Villa or Everton are not too far away from the story. Well this time they are, nearly 1,000 miles away from the story in fact. It appears on the face of it that wor Stevie is a target of interest for Spanish giants Barcelona. Yes that’s right, Barcelona. Not only that, but the rumour has evolved over the course of the day and has ended up incorporating some form of swap deal for two-time Champions League winner and Barcelona captain, Carlos Puyol. Quite frankly I am lost for words with that ‘rumour’.
Then we move onto some more realistic rumours. A deal for Stephen Hunt at Hull has been mentioned although it is unclear how much he would cost after Wolves had a £5 million bid turned down for him in January. That figure will almost certainly have dropped due to Hull having been relegated but by how much is a rhetorical question. He has scored six goals in a struggling season on Humberside and his work rate has been witnessed at Premier League level for a few years now. Jimmy Bullard is also still being linked with us whilst we are talking about Hull.
How about striker Jason Roberts? Would he be a steal for a £1 million deal? The papers seem to think so and are lining him up for a move over the summer. From a personal point of view, everytime I watch Roberts I always think he works hard and chip in with his share of goals. unforunately I think he is one of those players that would immediately become a target of the boo boys as he wouldn’t be deemed classy enough or have a high enough profile.
Watch out for a link to any West Ham player over the next few days. Their whole squad, apart from Scott Parker, has been put up for sale so that will surely be a source of rich pickings for the media. Although to be fair there are some players from West ham that I would love at Newcastle. Anyway, pinches of salt needed.
After our January window, I am quietly confident that the club will continue in the same direction and the first we will get to hear of new signings will be through that little yellow bar at the bottom of the screen on Sky Sports News or through hearing it on the official club website, which kind of makes any newspaper reports redundant. If they keep trying they may eventually get a rumour right, then they can claim an exclusive I suppose.
The fun has just begun!
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
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