How do Newcastle compare in the transfer market?

Posted on July 28th, 2010 | 111 Comments |

Not many of these have taken place, yet.
Not many of these have taken place, yet.
I’m not sure how to view this transfer window to be honest with you. Not just from our perspective, but also on a wider scale.

To me things seem quiet, much quieter than usual anyway. Obviously you have Manchester City chucking cash at anything that moves, but beyond that there doesn’t seem to be a great deal going on.

Newcastle have now signed two players, James Perch and Dan Gosling, and Sol Campbell is expected to be the third signing at St James’ Park should the widely publicised deal go ahead. How does that stack up against the rest of the league though? Are we any worse off than the rest of the teams? Are we about average? Or are we holding our own?

Basically I was wondering earlier just which players had signed for which clubs as I can’t recall many off the top of my head. Maybe it’s old age creeping in? Of course there are transfers that stick in the mind, like Joe Cole going to Liverpool for instance, but what about the other, lesser known transfers? I thought I would take a look into it and compile a club-by-club list so we can have a look at the bigger picture and just who has signed for which team.

Arsenal – Laurent Koscielny, Marouane Chamakh.

Aston Villa – None.

Birmingham – Nicola Zigic, Enric Valles, Ben Foster.

Blackburn – None.

Blackpool – None.

Bolton – Marcos Alonso, Robbie Blake, Martin Petrov.

Chelsea – Yossi Benayoun.

Everton – Magaye Gueye, Jan Mucha, Jermaine Beckford, Joao Silva.

Fulham – Philippe Senderos.

Liverpool – Jonjo Shelvey, Danny Wilson, Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic.

Manchester City – Aleksander Kolarov, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Jerome Boateng, Alex Henshall.

Manchester United – Chris Smalling, Javier Hernandez.

Stoke – Florent Cuvelier, Carlo Nash.

Sunderland – Titus Bramble, Marcos Angeleri, Ahmed Al-Muhammadi, Simon Mignolet, Christian Riveros.

Tottenham – Sandro.

West Brom – Steven Reid, Pablo Ibanez, Gabriel Tamas.

West Ham – Frederic Piquionne, Pablo Barrera, Thomas Hitzlsperger.

Wigan – James McArthur, Ali Al-Habsi (loan), Mauro Boselli, Antolin Alcaraz.

Wolves – Stephen Hunt, Steven Fletcher, Stephen Mouyokolo, Jelle Van Damme.

Right, that is as up to date as I can make it, and I have to say that it really doesn’t look like there has been much activity at all.

There is still time for that to change of course, for all clubs, but looking at that list have we really done as bad as some make out in the transfer market? There are a couple of names in there that I would have liked, realistic names such as Martin Petrov, maybe even Jermaine Beckford, but I certainly won’t be losing any sleep over not getting them.

Anyway, I’ll leave it at that now we are all up to date. I will do another one of these when the window shuts to see just what has changed in the next 34 days. At the minute though, excluding Manchester City, I can only describe his transfer window with one word.

Underwhelming!

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

Related Posts:

Posted on by toonsy in category: Facts and stats and NUFC gossip and speculation and Toonsy and Transfers , with tags: , ,
Comment on this post

111 Responses

  1. I think you miss the point Toonsy.
    All the other clubs apart from Blackpool and West Brom are established Premier teams.
    We know how woeful we were last time and the squad in my opinion is weaker now, particularly on the striker front.
    I’m sure, those with their heads in the clouds, like Skint Flint and Goon Chicken will disagree but they clearly have no idea on life in general.

  2. Yeah its pretty average but I think the best we can hope for is one exciting player. I think we have made some decent acquisitions so far and I that we need to give them and Chris time to gel. I do hope we find one or two real quality signings this season and I would not be surprised to see them coming from Man C so we might need to be patient as I am sure there will come a time when they will simply post a list of players who wont be making the squad as they wont want to pay for them to be sitting at home

  3. Would anyone have minded a bit of pressure on Chris to sell? If he had to get three people off the books and loan two out what do you think he’d do? Purely hypothetical.

    I’d think we’d see Ranger and Foster out on loan and Xisco, Ryan Taylor and ….. uunnnmmm Shola? Cant see him giving up on Best

  4. Bobby Shinton

    You seem like the one who doesn’t have a clue about life. Yes, our squad may look weaker in terms of names on a piece of paper, but how many of that “better squad” actually performed in the 2008-2009 season? Exactly. Names mean nothing, only performances. We were relegated due to severe inbalance and an arrogant, “I don’t care” attitude throughout the team.

  5. I’m with ‘El Toro’ on this one, all because we had names like Owen, Martins, Bassong, Beye etc etc, it didn’t make us a better squad in the field, that’s why we were relegated….:(

    I feel that the squad we have now are mentally stronger & more of a team than any squad we’ve had in the past several seasons, we don’t have an premadona’s out there who think they’re better than the rest & you can tell that by the way they play…

    Toonsy mate, you’re forgetting that the Muckems have signed 5 players so far this season which is 1 more than Manc Ali Citey, yeah I know they’ve not spent the same sort of money, who could but its quantity that counts mate :)

    I think CH has chosen well so far & if we can get Arfa in & maybe a striker, should have taken Kris Boyd imo, then I think we’ll be set until the Jan window where we can rethink who we may need to get in then :) HWTL

  6. f+++ knows what bs is on about, it seems to have took umbridge with us? Anyhoo, there’s still a month to go & i’m sure there’ll be further movement by clubs, but expect to transfers to be down on most years, like some have been saying for some time now. Nippy striker & creative mf’er will do for us. Mf’er- ha!

  8. At a more granular level, Cropper has a point. When you compare what is needed to be ready for battle, have we really plugged the gaps?

    The jury is out on Perch, so it seems, as most fans in the know are telling us that he was only ever-present and captain in League One. He wasn’t really part of the established team last season due to injury and so it’s difficult to call him even an experienced Championship player after one and a half seasons?

    Gosling looks like a decent acquisition but is knackered until at least the New Year and is without question a risk.

    Campbell would appear to be another solid acquisition regardless of why he’s actually here, if he can put a decent shift in for the season.

    Taylor’s injury ultimately meant that we needed to go for Campbell and I don’t disagree with having players like Perch and Gosling who can play as utility players but I think we’re still missing a quality right back, another creative midfielder (I rate Guthrie highly)unless Vuckic is ready and Hughton plays him, and we also need a proven goalscorer.

    If nobody else strengthens then it helps our campaign but it looks like it’s still going to be a hell of a struggle, particularly if the injuries ramp up.

  9. Bowburn-agreed, I also think we need lb cover and another winger. We can play routledge and jonas but the thought of having to stick Barton or Guthrie out wide again isn’t a pleasant one as it’s not where they’re used to playing. Guthrie loves to cut inside leaving the man behind him exposed and if that man is part of a makeshift defence..or Ryan Taylor..we could be in trouble. Im also hoping to god vuckic will get game time as we’re desperate for a bit of real creativity and a proven goalscorer is a must for me too. No offence to the lads we have up top now but none of them say to me “he will 100% score goals”..goals that could be needed in a fight down the bottom of the table. Look at the mackems. I’ll stand by my view that If they didn’t have Darren Bent last season they could have had a proper nail biter, his goals were invaluable to them, that’s what we need.

  10. eek! Such worry-laden cynicism bowburn. I’m sure other teams will get injuries too. Mot saying i’m super optomistic, but…

  11. The Sun hot above the clouds lads? It’s cold on the ground. Reality doesn’t half strike home down here.
    Oh how far have the Toon fallen under Ashley. For those who don’t actually know who Bobby Shinton was, or who have never seen him play, well I used to watch him in a half empty ground with no roof over the Gallowgate.
    Gordon Mckeag was the chairman. the similarities between Mckeag and Ashley are frightening. When he first took over from Seymour in the 70’s the club played in front of big crowds watching Supermac.
    Mckeag had no vision, was removed from the fans and clueless and tightened the purse strings.
    The team got worse, the crowds dwindled to the mid teens and we were relegated.
    Old stars like Peter Withe came to finish off their careers.
    We should not be satisfied with a forest reject, an unproven youngster with a massive injury and a 35 yr old. Full houses will be few and far between, will drop right off if we don’t do well, and infighting will hit.
    It’s easy to have a fighting spirit when things are going well.
    I’ve seen it over 30 odd yrs since I started going to the match.
    You can be happy with second raters but I ain’t . To be happy at getting Sol shows how far we’ve fallen.
    I really think you’s are gullible little people that need to realise Ashley does not understand football and will destroy our club.
    Within 10 wks of the season starting you will all start whinging.
    Seen it all before. The man is a billionaire !!

  12. Bobby Shinton number 9

    Who do you suggest we sign then? The Owens, the Kluiverts, the luques, all the big money singings that have always failed us?

  13. BS mate, I think you’ll find the team were struggling years before Ashley took over, in fact I’d go as far to say it was since FFS sacked Sir Bob that we’ve been on a roller coaster ride to oblivion :(

    Why fans still harp on that we were fine before Ashley came along is a worry, we were well over £100m+ in debt, had premadona’s sucking the life blood out of the team & seeing us finish lower in the league every season, it was just the wrong time when Ashley took over, the recession hit & anyone with money started to hide it, so to say that Ashley was to blame for our demise is diabolical, he just didn’t help stop it happening by throwing literally 100’s of millions at it like Abramovich did with Chelski that’s all!!!

    The guy has already spent over £300m on the club, yes we’re supposed to owe him well over £100m but as long as he’s in the club, that’s a debt we don’t have to worry about but if he hadn’t have come along & done what he did, then we’d be in greater trouble & free-falling into the oblivion!!!

  14. I think what happened at Pompey has been a reality check on clubs+Man City are causing huge transfer inflation-if Milner goes for 30m-every other club with a similar player will want 30m no matter who the buyer is.
    There will be surplus players at Man City but their wages are beyond us.
    The striker situation is interesting-we have 6 strikers but will probably only play 1 up front away+i just feel the club are not going to get another with 6 allready on the payroll.
    Then as has been mentioned we lack any real cover at LB or in the wide areas.
    What strategy does the club have-probably to be the new Everton.

  15. I think we’re looking good. Decent first few signings. If we were gonna get a CB, & clearly that’s more pressing after Tayls injury, then Campbell is a good bet on a free. Still has prem credentials & and can tutor Kadar in the short term we’ll have him for, thus not representing a huge obstacle to his progression into the team.

    Seems we might be keeping a decent wedge in reserve for our creative, pacey wing/ forward signing – Djalo, Arfa etc… This will be the toughest signing to pull off & we might have to wait the longest for this one, but hope we can nail it.

  16. Regarding finances we’ve all had major grief with Ashley, but we must be realistic too & realise that things might have been different without the credit crunch. That forced our huge debt (nice one Fred) to be addressed, as it has to others, and was a major factor in ruining Pompey. I’m not suggesting Ashley would have splurged millions but the move towards financial consolidation would have been smoother than the current extremity. Many credible commentators consider that it isn’t over yet and part two of the crunch will be here soon with a vengeance. At least this time we might be more ready for it.

  17. If we are to follow the ARSENAL Blueprint, we need to be signing young promising players, but be willing to spend big on a good experineced player should they become available!

    Arsenal do it every year.

    I dont want any trophy signings, or mercenaries, I just want players who are willing to come and play for the cause, and if a good proven player becomes available, who is proud to pull on the black and white stripes, then we should compete for him!!!

    Ben arfa (Though unlikely) would be great along with maybe Bellamy (more unlikeley) and that WILL see us through woth a decent season i believe!!

  18. If we got both of them, we would have 5 positions coverd across the front!!!!

  20. I’m not asking to spend ridiculous amounts of money. It was only 2 yrs ago during the january transfer window that fans were pleading for him to spend a few million to guarantee survival. He sold players of quality and brought in dross. Again, if there’s a team that needs strengthening more than others then it’s a newly promoted team.
    With almost every transfer hooters makes they are of a poor quality with no premier pedigree excluding Sol if we get him.
    Routledge never made it, best, Williams, perch, gosling, to go along with those who left and made no impact, pancrate, Fitz hall, the villa striker who’s name escapes me.
    I blame Ashley for starving Hooters of cash and hooters for not demanding more from Ashley .
    And you lot for being understanding to a man who refuses to even communicate to his customers.
    I clearly have higher standards than you. Deal with the facts as you wish.

  21. Morale Officer for Bobby Shinton please – I fear this one may be terminal! :( ;)

  22. bobby,i have to agree with you mate,i started watching newcastle in the early 80’s,the regime of mckeag etc,is no different to the ashley regime,apart from ashley has a hell of a lot more money.i keep hearing about the credit crunch,but whenever i hear anything about ashley,his profits are going up all the time,infact in an article in the chronicle his profits are up by 50%.
    looking at the other teams dealings,i think most of them looked like they are strengthening apart from one or two,even wolves seem to be having a go.
    the trouble with us though,what i can see,is hughton seems to be bringing in faces just to cover and prop up his squad.he seems to hell bent on keeping the players happy,who were part of the promotion squad.this will be a big mistake imo,he needs to be looking at players who are going to improve them,all i see is hughton propping up his plodders.

  23. since ashley has owned the club more or less any window,we’ve never stacked up against other clubs,it’s not just this window.

  24. Bobby – just don’t turn up then, man. Nobody wants or is about to go back to what you’re suggesting.

    If you want to jump in with Citeh and Chelski and be the beyatch of a spoiled, amoral billionnaire until he gets bored and drops you like an old toy, go do it. But don’t drag our club into that pit.

    Toonsy – nice article; balances yesterday’s doom-laden one! I agree with lots of the suggestions above, especially in terms of the need for pacey players and especially wing cover. Like many, I’m seeing the same sensible approach from CH and co this window as the last, and I have confidence that we’ll kick off against Manure with a squad capable of keeping us up, but probably not much more.

    Steady, sustainable progress. A team with something to prove, all in it for the right reasons, and a decent, intelligent manager who talks nee bull.

    Happy camper here.

  25. Hughton claimed he would be looking to bring in players that would improve the team and were better than what we have already, but the signings so far don’t really fall into that category. Just bringing in two flair players would be enough for me. Still a long way to go, but I get the feeling it will be a nervous final day to the transfer window as usual

  26. So BS, none of the players we’ve signed so far have previous PL experience except Sol, if we get him yeah??

    Gosling has played 22 games for the Toffee’s scoring 4 goals in the PL!
    Williamson wasn’t allowed to play due to Pompey being unable to pay for him!
    Routledge has played in the PL but wasn’t played in the right position as he is now & seems to be a great signing!
    Perch & Best are projects in motion, give them a chance they may surprise us all!

    As for the rest of us for not agreeing with you on Ashley, I find that everyone has their own opinions & if we all agreed, then Blogs like this wouldn’t be worth looking at, never mind writing on :)

    As for your standards being higher than our, if you support the Toon like the rest of us, then your expectations should be the same, hopeful that something or someone will save our club from oblivion, which it seems they have!!!

  27. whumpie,read his article,he’s says he doesn’t want ridiculous amounts of money spent.

  28. Tell yer what – glad I’m not a Blackpool fan. No signings to me says they’re just going for the profit from a single season…

    Oh, and I feel sorry for Titus. I know he makes some hooning mistakes, but he’s a nice lad who deserves so much better than a year sharing a changing room with that lot, then playing in front of the sound of belming mongs to the smell of 4-day-old KFC stains.

  29. Trojan, it sounds as if all you want is for Ashley to spen multi-millions every window & not worry about how much money goes out compared to how much comes in??

    In that case, would you mind paying twice as much for yoru season ticket (if you have one)& shirts, scarfs, Hats etc etc as long as we spent say £30m on players every summer???

  30. Trojan – I know he says that, but he supplies no suggestions as to how you do it. He sees CH signing the likes of Perch and Gosling, which for me represents the best way to end up with decent players without “spending ridiculous amounts of money”. And he moans.

    He then seems to suggest that we should be getting players (and I may be interpreting wrongly here) that I would see in the £7-15m bracket. Sorry, but if you want to sustain a club within its means – which we must – that IS ridiculous money.

    The club may show similarities to the disaster in the McKeag era, but THE REST OF THE GAME HAS CHANGED. We have reacted earlier than other clubs, which is why we’re in good shape compared to most.

  31. I also object to anyone having a go at the players and management team that just romped us home 23 points clear of the play-offs. What the hell more do you want from them before you get off their backs?? What more evidence do you want that CH and co are better at this than we are??

  33. Sports Direct profits have certainly increased this year, unfortunetly they had a terrible year the previous one. Effectively all they have done is get back to the level they were at 3 years ago. Currently ashley has approx 25% of his fortune stuck in the toon & the only way he is ever going to get it back is if he can keep us in the prem & sell us, problem is that there are not any buyers.

  35. cyprus toon,do you think what hughton has brought in so far,will improve the teams chances of survival?i know they have 40 odd days left to do this,so when the window closes we can judge then.the players he has brought in thus far=campbell good experience,but if taylor hadn’t got injured would we be interested?gosling unavailable until january,perch dont know,but he’s a defender so i think he’s just cover atm.all three signings so far are just prop up what you have saignings,that are no going to improve the squad,although on the face of it,looks like extra bodies,i remember mick mccarthy at sunderland spending 12 million on a job lot of players,upshot was lowest points total ever.hughton needs players who are going to improve the team and not just sustain it,bit like our frontline apart from lovenkrands,our strikers are too similar.during a game if chris was looking to get us back in a game even our midfielders are too similar,so whenever we try to freshen things up,it’s just going to be like for like.

  37. Good points, Trojan; I’ve got the same concerns – but also some faith that CH knows more than we do and it’ll be fixed.

    I suspect Vukic is part of the plan, but so is at least one new, quick player. Just a hunch.

  39. Cheers, Cyprus. I’m on form this morning! Must be the dullness of the doc I’m writing right now…

  41. cyprus toon,i’ve never advocated big spending either,my problem with ashley is he doesn’t even spend an adequate amount.even now he’s willing to gamble on the future of the club with his brinkmanship philosophy towards running a football club.i think if he had of gave hughton 20 million budget plus money raised through outgoings is not too much to ask for imo.

  42. Trojan mate, the signing we have so far are as your say squad players who’ll fill in for injuries & the like, we’ve spent maybe £1.5m on 3 players, so not bad business for what we have :)

    There are 34 days left for CH & Ashley to get more players in but you have to remember the new PL rule too, that we only have a squad of 25 players & at present, we have 25 players over 21 & 8 players 21 or younger, so if CH brings in anymore players, he’s got to drop a few of the players that, as Whumpie pointed out, romped us to a 23 point victory in the fizzy… I can think of a few I’d get rid of like Shola, R.Tayls etc but not many :( the rest did a job & for that I’m glad because they could have just sat back & let us rtt in the fizzy for many seasons…

    I would like to see some new, flair players in but not at the cost of seeing my club relegated because they were only here for the wage packet :(

  43. Trajon, if you remember Ashley said when he first took over that he had a 5 year plan & would put £20m in each year to buy players… now that was laughed at by most of us, me included who thought he should put more but after seeing the state of the clubs financies, I know understand why he’s isn’t, as he’s already put 5 years worthof money into the club to pay off the debt & still we’re in debt due to over expediture & losses totally nearly £80m over the last 2 seasons…

    So yes it would be nice to have a warchest of £20m each year but I bet you that CH has something not far off it right now due to the new spopsorship we got from Northern Rock & Puma, plus shirt sales etc…

  44. I agree with Bobby Shinton I don’t think that Hughton is getting the right amount of cash to even compete with the bottom half of the league. Nobody is saying we should be signing the Ronaldo’s and Messi’s of this world but at the same time we need to have enough quality to progress this year. I am not a bog fan of Freddy Shepherd either however I do no think we were in as big a financial crisis that has been made out. The majority of the £100 million debt that came about was through the Stadiums mortgage which was self financing. It only became an issue when we got relegated under Ashley because then the bank would not loan that amount to a championship club. As far as I am concerned Ashley is scum I feel to many people defend him and say he is our saviour when in fact I feel it is the opposite.

  46. cyprus toon,i know what he said,but have we seen this 20 mill?or does he mean 20mill that includes running costs?if i owned newcastle i would do my utmost to make sure they stay up,and not gamble as we could go straight back down and lose that premiership revenue again.
    if at the end of the window chris get’s 20 mill,then fair enough.

  47. Looking at the progress of our competitive sides, it looks like we should finish above, West Brom, Blackpool, and Blackburn on paper.

  50. Trojan – ta for the clarification. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that number, that’s all. Given what happened last season and looking at the rest of the PL, I just don’t think 20m is necessary or realistic for our club.

    As some have said, I’d be delighted with just one flair player – preferably a quick winger who scores. But if we don’t get him, I still think we’ll survive; it just won’t be as comfortable or as pretty to watch.

    But fair play, fella – you may be proven correct, who knows? At least you’re not slagging off the players.

  51. someone was saying earlier that this group plays as a team and I agree with that. For that reason, I’m confident we’ll stay up. This season needs to be about consolidating our spot in the Prem. I think the current squad can do that fairly comfortably.

    Just to “take the temperature” here, how many of you think we’re serious relegation candidates?

  52. some people on here have said we have got weaker squad. well they are missing the point the prem is more weaker then are squad was 2 years ago.yes city have improved so have spurs but the others are more weaker.blackpool west brom wolves they are weaker then the teams we played 2 years ago.every1 keeps saying every1 can beat any1 in this league. top teams dont get beat but it is happening why.this is the most settled newcastle have looked 4 5years. the thats the most important thing.

  53. Trojan mate, I said he was willing to put in £20m until he discovered the £100m debt which he paid off, that would have been 5 years of £20m paying the debt off :)

    If what was written in the crap-loids is true, then CH will get a quarter of the Northern Rock & Puma sponsorship deals, which I reckon will be around £5m per year for the next 4 years, on top of that is merchandise sales, TV money etc etc… so CH should get around £10m-£15m for transfers, that money will be used to buy players & cover wages too, so that’s why we’re looking at spending £5m on this Arfa guy :)

    Look at it this way, Campbell just sign for 1yr on £35k, that’s £1.8m, say we got Perch & Gosling on the same deals, then that £1.8 x 3 = £5.4m already spent, so £10m-£15m doesn’t go a long way does it :)

  54. Fans should own the club , i dont think we will be in a relegation battle at the end of the season , i think the best we could do be 11th ( and that would be some achivment ) i think we have the basis of a good prem team next season. Think our back 5 ( bar maybe right back ) is very strong. We do lack going forward and scoring goals will be a problem for us but i can see Carrol mclovin n ameboi getting enough goals between them to keep us up

  55. Fair, Johno Toon.

    I feel like the midfield is not especially creative, but maybe Barton can provide some attacking spark. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him play, to be honest… what the hell is he like? Box-to-box guy with occasional goals, if memory serves. Do we start Nolan next to him?

    Anybody else? Do you really think we’re relegation material? Or is it a case of “not as good as we’d like to be”?

  56. I don’t think we’ll struggle as much as some clubs, yes we’ll end up in the bottom half but I think they’ll be at least 4-6 teams below us by the end of next season :)

    As for goals, well if each of our strikers can pull of between 10-12 & then our midfield adds about the same, we should be ok but I think we defo need a striker in & maybe loan out Ranger & Best to other PL clubs like Blackpool & sell Shola, then we would have Carroll, Loverns, Xsico & one other to do us… we just need our defence to conceed less than we score, thats the best option :)

  57. I see bottom five like this –

    Newcastle
    WBA
    West Ham
    Wolves
    Blackpool

    with us on about 39.

  58. cyprus loan out ranger to blackpool are u mad mate. only player in are squad who can hold the ball up.he starts scoring for blackpool and win games how does that help us.shola is way better then lovens and xsico.

  59. I doubt Ranger on his own will stop Blackpool from getting relegated mate, as for Shola being better than Lovenkrads, are you his brother or summit, Lovenkrads is way more experienced than Shola, scored way more goals than him & is a way better player all round :) lol

  62. We have to beat the teams that are bound to be around us-Blackpool/W Brom/Wolves/Bolton etc-dont get to disheartened if we lose 8 times to the top 4.
    The 20m-Ashley said he would put that into the club every year-which he has but because the expenses were always more than our income it just got swallowed up.It was never earmarked just for transfers.

  63. Yep, I’m in about the same spot. We’ll end up somewhere between 11th (going some) and 16th, with the occasional coup against a big team. I think a lot of clubs are bordering on the situation we were in a few years ago, and there will be melt-downs going on in unexpected places.

    If we can just stay stable and avoid any classic NUFC blow-ups, we’ll not be serious relegation contenders.

  64. As long as the fans understand that we’re not going to win every game & still back the boys even if we’re on a bad run, then we should be able to keep them from lowering their heads & wanting to give up :)

    I say ‘NO BOOING OUR PLAYERS’ no matter what the result, give them standing ovations at the end of every game, show them that we’re behind them all the way!!!

  65. I’m hoping that if we do loan players out, it’ll be to lower-end Prem teams like Blackpool. Best way to get them up to speed quickly and avoid needing silly money each window.

    Ranger may be good at holding up the ball, but he showed his inexperience too, and that in the CCC. He still needs a season on loan to be ready for the frontline.

  66. Ive done the BBC league predictor thingy 3 times and we finished in 12th or 13th each time, Obviously not gospel but i can see us winning or taking enough points out of home games against Blackburn, Wigan, Stoke, Bolton, WBA, Blackpool, Fulham, Wham, Wolves, Brum, Sunderland ETC. the sides who dont travel well or are in our scrap.

    I also dont think we will need 40 points as i just dont see this best league in the world shite, 8 would have finished with less than 40 points last season if you took the points away gained off Hull, Burnley and Portsmouth and i think ourselves and West Brom are far better sides than them lot.

  67. see this is some of the arrogance that exists,oh i think birmingham,stoke will struggle,if those two clubs will struggle what does that make us?those two for a start are a little bit ahead of us.

  68. @ Trojan 69

    We are clearly far too experienced and switched on than these shmooks.
    I shall wait til a few games in the season for them all to realise we were right .

  69. Stoke have found a formula-we cant out pass the top teams as we cant afford the best technical players so we will bully/out physical the rest-something Bolton have been doing for years.Trying to play good passing technical football when you dont really have the players is usually unsuccessfull against these type of teams.
    You do need physical presence to survive in this league.

  70. I think the Sol thing is going to help our recruitment, and that’s part of why CH went for him. After our last 2-3 years it’s easy to forget that we are back in the prem, with a huge profile, famous spirit, some unexpected stability, players saying how much they love the place and so on.

    So stories about Stoke wanting Taylor are utter flange. Why would he go there? Same with (but no disrespect to) Wolves, Wigan, West Brom, Bolton, Blackpool, Scumberland and Birmingham. If the terms were identical, which player would go for them over us?

  72. What so when we unsurprisinglly lose to Man Utd and more than likely Villa you are going to be gloating are you ??

  74. bobby,them bbc predictors,if you do a worst case scenario,i can only see us getting 18 points,may not happen as it’s all hypothetical,but a lot of these gamea against the so called lesser teams,are real 50/50 games that can be easily lost.some of the arrogance towards other clubs is astounding,you say people call us deluded,make no mistake we will be in relegation battle,even williamson said they’d take 4th bottom.
    we can’t go around with the attitude,that we are head and shoulders above these teams because we are not.

  75. trojan agree with u about brom anmd stoke!but their is always a team does well like brom.it could be us finish high lets just see how the season starts b4 we start saying this and that.gosling is a big coup for us even if he is injuried nobdy would have thought we would be getting players like that.

  76. the brummies finished 10th last season,there much stronger than us,as for stoke there no push overs eighter

  77. @ Macas: Think it’d be unfair to doubt Chris’ eye for a player TBH. Routledge & Williamson had a great half-season in the Championship & look like they could both manage the step up to the Prem. Perch & Gosling may well be in the same mould. If the need arises to slag them off, let’s do it when they’ve had a chance to prove themselves. Not crucify them beforehand…

  78. Did anyone actually watch Birmingham last season they were woeful most weeks, Any other year they would have been in a proper scrap, Lets not start saying that because they finished 9th that makes them a good side look at Reading a few years back.

  80. cc,did you watch us last season,we were not exactly pulling up trees were we.newcastle were no better than birmingham,and played a similar style,a lot of footballing sides played us off the park at times,but lacked the finishers to put us to the sword,we will not get away with it this season.

  81. Trojan

    Where did i say we were great? but people saying we these sides are so far ahead of us are wide of the mark, Outside the top 8 in the premier league there is a bunch of shit sides including us.

  82. Imo I think Pulis is very similar to CH when buying players & he’s done very well with Stoke so far so I wouldn’t bet on them as a sure win, as for the Brums, McLeish has been spending quite a bit of money this summer but not sure how well his squad is copying, yes they did well last season but as it’s been pointed out before, some clubs who go upto the PL are unknown quantities to the main PL clubs, so they get away with a lot but fail miserably on there 2nd year, so watch this space….

    Us on the other hand having 16 seasons in the PL, are not an unknown to other clubs, they know our style, our plays etc, so it won’t be as easy as we may think but I still think we have enough to stave off relegation under CH as long as we the fans stand behind our team all season, not just the games we win but all games, win lose or draw!!

  83. trojan u are right mate.we did have lot of teams who played us off the park.when ch had jonas injuried he played 5 central midfield players who i slagged off ch get out u dont no what your doing.thats why we got over run too slow.but when he got routledge we then took over and overran teams hence we only lost 1 game the last part of the season.we need a winger must.so when or if either jonas or rout get injuried he can play to keep the shape.5 man midfield with 1 upfront.the big thing is nolan has to play for goals.so we cant play 442 with him in the side then we will get punished by the prem teams in that midfield area.

  85. @T69
    Every word you write is straight from my hymn sheet.
    We were woeful last season and came away from countless games wondering how we never got thrashed.
    These people are totally deluded.
    If there’s on position that needs strengthening more than any is someone of quality to partner Carroll . I feel sorry for him already cos he is gonna get some stick from the same deluded people. I’m all for him getting the number 9 shirt but he has zero chance of being successful with the 3 players who will partner him throughout the season.
    Sunderland survived last season thro investing in Bent. £10m well spent !

  86. thats why i say to newcastle push the boat out and get this lad for cheap! ben arfa is streets ahead of milner and could be anything! if he fails. but lets take the chance.

  87. cc,there not streets ahead of us,but just slightly as we’re having to jump up again.

  88. crap! goals in midfield get you safe mate.we are not going to buy torres rooney or how ever scores goals.we had owen martins viduka and went down .

  89. Thats because Owens, Martins & Viduka weren’t playing for the shirt mate, they played for the wage packet!!!

    Lovernkrads did well for us at the end of PL season & we got him for Free, I personally think we should have gone for Kris Boyd, others don’t, so who is available that won’t cost us the earth & can score goals too???

    Bellamy,
    Keane,
    Zamora,
    Carew,
    Heskey,
    Harewood,
    Fletcher,
    etc etc!!

  90. Fernando

    Why would it be unfair? Routeldge and Williamson did well in a poor league but Best and Simpson didn’t really impress me that much. Hughton has done a good job so far but let’s not get carried away, the hardest part of his job starts now

    And I haven’t slagged anyone off, just that i don’t see the signings we have got so far really improving the first team, as Hughton stated he was after

    Campbell is a good deal due to the injury with Taylor, but we haven’t signed anyone yet that’s excited me

  92. I partly agree with Macas. We have not signed anybody who is better than what we have already. The squad is bigger in numbers but that will change when the youngsters are loaned out.

  93. Good grief. I have to ask again of these doom-mongering, never-happy-unless-unhappy eyores again:
    Just what could CH and his team have done last year, beyond what they did, which would cause you to give them any credit and admit that perhaps they know more than you and may just be more on top of it than you think?
    Break every record in the book? Oh, sorry – did that.
    You were totally wrong about last season, totally wrong about the last window, and here you are, repeating the same mistakes and lusting after the point where “your team” fails miserably so just for once you can come on here and say how you were right.
    I just don’t see why you bother, if everything is so damned hopeless and miserable. Why don’t you just go do something else??

  94. Macas – see what you’re saying, fella, and I kind of agree. But bear in mind:

    1. CH hasn’t finished yet. Sol shows he’s being clever and flexible. Have some faith.
    2. His job is not to excite us. It is to stay in the prem. That probably won’t involve exciting players.

    …on the other hand, I’d like to see this Ben Arfa fella… :)

  95. Macas – on CH’s signings that you’ve mentioned @ 90, think of it this way: we ended up with 2 good players and 2 for whom the jury is still out, for an outlay of about half what one ‘established’ player would have cost in transfer and salary. So in my view, that’s much better value and shows why our new strategy is just a lot more sensible.

    (As long as he continues that hit-rate, anyway, which if course isn’t guaranteed!)

  96. Transfer season is a long way from over.

    When Man City opens the flood gates, lots of dominoes will start falling in different directions and players will begin to move. That will be a big chance to scoop a few players from different places. I have no doubt in my mind that Hughton’s got a little nut squirreled away to pick up a surprise signing from the mayhem that will be unleashed.

    Transfers start flying willy-nilly as the window closes. We’ll probably get a few more in.

  97. saddo @ 95 – give me your address and i’ll get a signed photo of CH sent out for you.

  98. Somehow I don’t think any of Manc Ali Citey players will want to drop their wages to £35k a week :(

    So that drops us out the running straight away :(

  100. Trojan 69@80 Spot on
    I think our signings always seem to be cheap ” papering over the cracks” type signings There is no indication of a plan of what type of football CH is aiming for and last seasons won’t do this season Even with all the team spirit in the world.Avioding relegation from day one is not my idea of ambition.

  101. Avoiding relegation is the prime objective for any newly promoted club. What makes us so different?

  102. Because we are the TOON and it’s not what we do… blah blah blah….

    Nutmeg mate, you need to get with the times, we’re not a big club anymore, we’re not in the market to buy expensive players & even if we were, do you really think any of them would come to us, as we’re not in Europe???

    To answer those question for you, the answer is NO!!!

  103. There are lots of ways of avoiding relegation The KK Gungho way if they score 5 you score 6 The pack the defence and midfield way or park the bus away from home and hope to do well at home.What are we going to get?

  105. mike williamson has already stated in an interview,if you offer them fourth bottom now they’ll take it,expect chris to get together a big set of lads to try and out muscle teams,it will not be pretty.that is what they will have to do again.

  107. Cyprus-Toon
    Who said anything about expensive signings? Are the signings we are making better than what we already have?
    Are there players we can lose to raise funds for new players?

  108. toonsy says:
    July 28, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    “Worky – Got it from here;”

    Fixed now, Toonsy. The Sky thing must be out of date or something like that.

  110. Nutmeg – You tell me who we could have gotten into our squad for the same money we’ve spent on the current players brought in, that’s about £1.5m so far???

    Remembering that a) We wanted them! b) We could afford their wages! c) They would have come to us anyways???

  111. BS9 @11 agreed Mckeag was a complete tosser but for those of us who do know and have seen Bobby Shinton play,he was long gone when Mckeag became chairman I think(apologies if wrong tho mate)