Newcastle to sign Dan Gosling on four year contract?

Posted on July 12th, 2010 | 175 Comments |

Dan the man calling the Toon?
Dan the man calling the Toon?
Reports from various news outlets suggest that former Everton midfielder Dan Gosling has agreed to join Newcastle United on a four year deal.

I must stress that these reports are unconfirmed by the club so far, so that is something we should be looking to keep an eye on, for confirmation I mean.

Gosling has, apparently, been flitting around the country talking to various clubs to try and help him make a decision regarding his future after a clerical error with his new contract at Everton allowed the 20-year old midfielder to walk away from Goodison Park as a free agent. Last thing I heard, Bolton were the favourites to sign the midfielder, and that was pretty late night so who knows what has gone on in the meantime to make him apparently switch his mind and end up back on Tyneside, if this is indeed true of course.

Any deal would be subject to any appeal by Everton, who had 14 days to decide whether or not to appeal against the ruling that allowed Gosling to walk away for nothing without so much as even a compensation fee having to be paid.

As I said, it is only confirmed in the press, although it’s pretty universally confirmed in the press, but I’ll hang on to any excitement until we here something concrete from the club. Saying that, it does at least look hopeful that we have managed to sign ourselves a pretty highly rated box-to-box midfielder and utility player for nothing, which can’t be bad.

More to follow as and when…

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175 Responses

  2. No disrespect to Waddles Mullet like, but I’ll wait for proprer confirmation before I get the drums out. I doubt it will be announced until this appeal thingy goes away.

    Apparently, Newcastle were the only ones who would commit to signing him now. The others wouldn’t as they were scared about having to pay a fee. That fee could be £5 million – £4 mill to Everton and £1 mill to Plymouth.

  3. Trouble is even if he comes he has a bad injury and won’t be fit until December. Would rather have a fit player coming in.

  4. It was some football journo on twitter that was saying it was a done deal last night, all waddles did was relay the info here. Certainly the media think its a done deal, who knows.

  5. any ideas on why he seems keen to get away from everton? seems to be a bit of risk involved, both with the injury and the transfer fee.

  6. If we sign him & he’s not fit until December at least it’ll be like a new signing in December…which will no doubt coincide with Barton returning from injury & hey presto 2 new signings in December!!

  7. i’ve never seen him kick a ball and it’ll be a long time before i see him kick one – crock.

  8. Aye ditto Roy, is the lad actually any good or not?? Is he going to knock Guthrie/Nolan out of the starting 11?

  9. Personally although he scored goals against liverpool and manchester united in his time for everton, i never really thought he was gonna make it at the top level (no its not sour grapes). he will be a half decent player, but i never thought he would be anything more than a squad player at everton. it seems his ego is probably greater than his footballing talent and his selfishness even greater.

  10. Malchick-Everton have just cocked up massively. He was verbally offered 15k a week that he turned down and his contract was due to expire. There was never an offer provided to him in writing and he became eligible to leave for nowt. Everton tried to argue they had a gentlemans agreement infront of a pl tribunal but they ruled he was free to leave them if he wished and here we are.

  11. @ 9 if we sign him we’ll have more scousers playing for us than you have for everton – and not one of them owt special like.

  13. Wouldn’t rate him over Guthrie though to be fair we have seldom played him in his preferred central midfield role. He does have a knack of popping up in the box with handy goals.

    Plus he’s not a scouser..we pinched him from Plymouth.

  14. Actually, he’s from Plymouth. I’ll reserve judgement on his motives and, if he’s free, we can’t really lose. Apparently he can play pretty well in the wide positions.

  16. World Cup is over :(

    What an amazing time – I seriously hope you guys win your bid because you wont understand just how big it is till you have hosted it.
    It literally lifts the nation to another level.

    The closing ceremony last night left me with a tear in my eye. I thought it depicted Africa so so well.
    The elephant scene at the water hole was just magnificent!

    On the Gosling link. I seriously seriously hope we get him. He may be arrogant, but we need players with that kind of confidence if we are going to suceed.
    We miss a Bellemy type figure… And Gosling is far better than Smith or the outgoing Butt. So he’d be a fantastic signing. Even at 4Mil.

    Him and Guthrie could have a great future. Still we need a creative type playmaker to play in front of them.

  18. Let me ease all you’re pains guys…

    Steve Everton fan,

    Would you rate him over Alan Smith or Nicky Butt?

  19. He ain’t a natural replacement for Butt though JJ mate, nor is he the Smith type from what we’ve been told.

    Speaking of which I think we’re crying out for a decent defensive mid, could make or break us this season coming up against decent teams.

    What i’d love to see (which i may be shot down for – and probs wont happen anyway) is us let Hodgson take S Taylor to Liverpool for the 7mil he is (apparently) offering and whack it all straight on matching the mackems bid for Carrick.. surely hes on his way out of Man U and if it was between his home team and the scum??

  20. Steve Everton Fan..
    Ah well, guess we’ll have to see how he develops under Hughton, might not be a world beater now, but lots of people have seen potential, you never know which way thats goin to go. Wish it had been Rodwell like, looks an awesome player in the making that lad.

  21. @ JJ

    He is certainly a better propect than Nicky Butt however he is not a defensive midfielder. Smith is a little more tricky to compare to! Smith has probably, due to injury, never realised his potential. dont get me wrong Gosling is a decent prospect and will be a decent player, but he will never be a great player. He is well liked (up until now) amongst evertonians mainly for his cup goal that knocked liverpool out. but having seen him regularly over the past couple of seasons i have seen nothing that would make me believe he is destined for greatness. The apparent reason for gosling engineering this move away is that he believes that he hasnt had enough playing time in his preferred central midfield role. However, there is Arteta, Cahill, fellaini, Rodwell, Osman, Heitinga and Neville all vying for that position, who are all better than gosling. I’m quite sure that had everton not had such serious injury problems over the last season or so gosling would not have figured so much.

  22. Cullen – we have a great defensive ball playing defensive midfielder… his name is Joey Barton. He jut needs to stay on the pitch.
    Gosling can also play in that role.

  23. Ross says:
    July 12, 2010 at 9:58 am

    yeah ross i get all that side of things. still, he could stay on at everton if he wants, they’ve offered him a deal. he’s choosing to leave, is it purely financial reasons or is he not getting a fair chance under moyes? maybe steve will enlighten us?

  25. Not much to complain about here, a young English midfielder coming in for free is always a welcome move.

    From reading forums people were laughing off our chances of getting him when we were first linked as if we had no chance, now it turns out to be true people are moaning.

    To pull of the signing of someone like Gosling in a summer where people accepted we had little or no money for transfer is great news.

  26. If Gosling isn’t realy that good then this could be a bad signing in that he could take games away from Vuckic.

  28. JJ
    I rate Barton highly but is that really is preferred role? He’s more box to box, same as Gosling I reckon. Point being I think we needed someone who was going to do what Smith did last season and just sit for away games. Just a thought though, who knows maybe we won’t need it and Barton/Guthrie will work with Nolan behind Carroll away from home. Who drops to the bench for home games though?

  29. summerof69
    Aye thats another point, if Goslings main reason for leaving is that he wants game time, we must have offered him that when hes fit, so will that lead to us cashing in on Vuckic has (if you’re to believe all you read about him) the potential to become even better than Gosling? When was the last time you head Gosling say he was flattered by interest from Man U?

  31. “It was the worst World Cup in living memory. The atmosphere was spoilt by one-note horns; 60 games that produced only 3 or 4 memorable games; and the most boring panel of pundits EVER!

    WC

    Take away Germany, Spain and arguably Argentina, and we have to admit no side produced anything like a memorable competition.

    The top stars (Rooney, Ronaldo, Drogba, etc) failed to produce anything like their best, and Messi couldn’t find the back of the net despite almost 30 shots at goal.

    Many of us are glad to see the back of it.

    Was it wrong to hold the competition in Africa? Personally I would say a big YES.

    The adverts will return to our TV screens asking for £5 a month to feed an African kid – when hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on new stadiums that will now go to wreck and ruin”

    NUFC Mad … who writes this drivel…

    Ask 80% of the fans that actually made the effort to come out they’ll tell you they’ve never enjoyed a World Cup more than this one! And that includes the Germans who held the last one.

    Our country has more than enough funds to build stadiums. Our economy is more stable than 90% of Europe. And they stadiums will be used in Cape Town, Durban, and Soweto for centuries to come. Not get neglected. The other stadiums were original stadiums that were just upgraded.

    The Green Point Stadium in Cape Town is used by Ajax Cape Town, the Soccer City stadium is used by Kaizer Chiefs and Olando Pirates who have around 10 million supporters each. Durban’s stadium is used for music concerts, they have a bungie jump off the arc, and its the only major football stadium in the whole of Natal.

    The opening and closing ceremonies were world class.

    And the money brought into the continent in infrustructure built created over 140 000 jobs for people.

    Seems like sour grapes to me because England played so shite… Also, the Jabulani ball was made in Europe! Not Africa.

    Also, people need to remember what is at stake during World Cups these days. teams arn’t going to go out and play cavalier football. Not even Brazil does anymore.

  32. Malchick-the only thing that worried me is whether the news he was ready to sign for Bolton was true or not. If so, we’ve seemingly just offered him more cash and that’s made the decision for him. I’d rather he actually wanted to play for us over Bolton rather than just seeing the money.

  33. Vuckic would not be startinf anyway. He’d be a replacement for Nolan who sits just behind the strikers.

    We dont need Smith sitting in front of the defence. Half the time he gave away free kicks. There rest of the time he wins the ball and passes it straight back to the opposition.

    I’d much rather Barton played an Alonso type role of deep lying play maker. With the likes of Gosling, Guthrie, Nolan, and Vuckic having more licence to get forward.

  34. Agreed mate i dont want to see a five man defence, but if thats the way Hughton wants to play it away from home, i’d rather have someone better than Smith on the books to do the job right

  37. To me I also want a better right back still, but I’d play S Taylor their for now.

    S Taylor——Colocini——Williamson——-Enrique

    ———————-Barton————————

    —————Gosling——–Guthrie—————

    Cleverly—————————————Jonas

    ———————–Carroll———————-

    Id hav this formation. Nolan could play in Gosling or Guthries place. Smith could deputise for Barton when defending a lead. Lovenkrans for Jonas, Routeledge for Cleverly. Just think its suits us better than other formations right now. 4-4-2 is pretty much a too predicatable strategy now.

  39. Also with Krul in goals… It’d mean that not one player is over the age of 28. And most are under 22. Which is great for the future. considering we still have Ranger and Vuckic and Kadar coming in.

  40. Fingers crossed we can pull the Gosling signing off – certainly puts a new spin on a summer we thought would be less fruitful than this. I always hoped one day Carrick would come home but if we can get young players like this then I think Carrick, on the wages he’d expect and at his age, does not fit into the new Toon policy, which I now fully support. Much better value from the likes of Gosling.

    As for the World Cup, I don’t know what is to moan about. So what if the big stars didn’t perform, it’s great to see others step up and good team play come to the fore. The group games were admittedly uninspiring but the later stages have provided great entertainment from the likes of the finalists, Germany, Ghana and Uruguay. Football won in this tournament and the best team in the world was victorious, which beats a boring cattenacio Italy winning every time. I was there for the last 3 England games and had a great laugh, clearly not because of our football but for the incredible welcome and atmosphere. It is brilliant that the African people have had this treat and it is not just a cash sum game – it adds so much hidden value for a continent deprived for so long and every foreigner I met will go away with only great things to say about the country of South Africa.

  41. JJ – Just out of interest, what will happen to those 140,000 jobs now there is no need for them?

  43. I said it a while back, and I’ll say it again. Gosling will never be quite good enough because he possess no pace. He is technical and skillful yes, but too slow and that is something we don’t need considering the lack of pace we have in the middle already.

  46. You tell us Waddles!?!?!

    I for one wouldnt be all that fussed to see the back or Harps. Sure he has stayed with us for ages but is that to do with loyalty to us or because he has played so little that ne bugger else wanted him? I think although a touch risky we have two really promising goalkeepers and Harps has only 2-3 seasons left in him anyway. I wasnt 100% happy with his performances last season, bit flappy on crosses etc and the fact we were a level down meant that he wasnt tested as much. I think on balance the time is right for Krul and Forster to step up.

    I think Gosling would be a good addition and I actually think Vuckic will get alot more game time this season despite his arrival. Vuckic is the CAM we need and frankly I think Nolan may be off anyway so it would be a win win for me. I would be happy to see Nolan go, but that shouldnt come as a suprise to those who know me!!

  47. While the football hasn’t been the most exciting at this world cup, i think it’s been great for s africa & africa in general to host a wc.

    Must say, i think the zuluvulvas have got in the way of the atmos a bit, but hey, each to their own on that one.
    Just think it took something away from hearing the surge of the crowd.

    The stadia & pitches looked excellent.
    A fair few silly/bad ref decisions.
    Chronically bad punditry over here & some terrible & dull
    commentary(esp. itv).

    Well done Spain, great to see a new name on the cup, about time. Hard luck The Nederlands, 4 time lucky, maybe?

    Again,
    Well done South Africa.

    jj, btw mate, it’s GOAL not GOALS.
    :)

    Right,
    now back to proper football!
    Whey hey!
    Toon Toon!
    Howay the lads!

  49. Alreet ice, not bad mate, you?
    Aye, he never really got control of that game.
    Though how the spanish could say he was against them after he tried to help them win that swiss game is beyond me like.
    :)

  50. Er…Soz like, but,
    Harper formed part of the best defensive record in the leagues last season.
    He obviously creates a solid foundation for the back 4 to get on & play.
    He inspires confidence in them.
    Great servant to the Toon, be gutted if he left, as the to young ‘uns don’t have tons of experience.
    But because they have great potential, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
    Although, hoying a bairn in ‘GOAL'(no ‘S’) is not what i envisaged on our glorious return to the top flight like.
    ;)

  52. CLINT aye m8 ime good,always felt the guy from japan should have had the final,on harper felt he lost it in latter end of season when pressure was on,if fact when i was at sjp for last few games he shocked me flapping at high balls put in with a bit pace

  53. I agree Ice mate, though I understand what your saying Clint, I just thought he didnt look assured enough really.

  54. cool your jets lads until it is announced by laurel and hardy,or the new wife,it’s just spec.

  55. RAFFO i could be a mile wrong but watching krul closley he reminds me a lot of the big sod m/u had between the posts and won them the title a couple of times, in his early days like

  56. He looks good yeah, but he needs games now. If Harps is indeed off, then he deserves his chance as he has also shown great loyalty to us. If Harps stays then I think Krul should be the one to go out on loan and then come back to us with a few games under his belt and see what he can do.

  59. thats true Ice, and whilst I agree with that wasnt that a big arguement for Harper geeing the gloves? He has stayed with us for so long so deserves his chance? I for one wanted Krul to get more games last season

  60. Ciaran – You’ll get nowt like that off me mate, not until it’s official anyway :)

    Personal plus points:

    Car passed it’s MOT, neede two new tyres so it cost £180, but it’s through now.

    Negative points:

    Lost an evelope with £400 whilst out walking the dog :(

    Plus:

    Found said envelope, and if anyone is looking for an adrenaline rush I suggest you try doing the same.

  61. Aye Ciaran – also notice a rumour we are talking to Dan Sturridge as a potential loan is mentioned in that blog. I mentioned him a while ago as a potential loaner a while back, but I dont think he is any different to what we have. Either way it is exciting and CH is proving to be shrewd isnt he?!

  62. TOONSY owt in this harper thing,seems to me we heard this doing the rounds couple of weeks ago?

  63. Icedog – Last I heard was direct from Hughton stating that he was our No1 and was going nowhere.

  66. Toonsy – I wish I had £400 to try your little game but I shall see if it works with a fiver!!

    I would be very suprised if Harps did go having stayed here for so long and now he is back in the EPL and is number 1 then why leave, but strange game this football

  67. Raffo- i havent heard of that,Plus i dont really rate him anyways.
    We got Nile Ranger :D

  68. lol though hes also mooted to be on the way out somewhere on loan according to newsnow, which I think would be a good option for a period!

  69. Ciaran @ 64 – I like to deal in facts mate. Sure, paper speculation is fine, and a bit of fun, but I won’t be insinuating that a player has signed for us when he actually hasn’t. It’s not my thing and is a recipe for making me look silly if he goes to Bolton etc :lol:

    Supposed be my day off today :( Haven’t stopped so far :(

    :mad:

  71. Took my words right out of my mouth,Toonsy.Are you Saying that Ed Harrison look like a right tit if Dan Golsing sign for Bolton.

  73. Ciaran – No, as he is just peddling what the papers say, but we all know how accurate the newspapers are don’t we?

    I just prefer to wait for confirmation rather than porclaiming that it’s done deal (perhaps there is a reason for that ;) ;) ) when actually it isn’t :)

  74. he would look a bit of a plum wouldnt he Ciaran!! I think a full season in the championship would be good for Ranger, as long as he plays games. A move to someone like Forest or maybe Pompey would be a good thing for him.

  75. Ranger needs to go somewhere where there isn’t a nightlife for him to get distracted by.

    He should come to Rugby :D

  76. Oh true Toonsy,So I take it he is believing the newspapers :D.

    He would Raffo.Ranger deserves a chance this season,I dont know why he didnt last season,hes better then Shola.

  78. & Harper let the least in.
    So,
    scoring goals & stopping goals obviously isn’t the criteria with which we judge Toon players by.

    Only at Newcastle?
    ;)

  79. would like to see shola go,any bloody where,burnley might be just the place for ranger

  82. CLiNT – Aye, tis true. I’ve always said Shola does score goals, when he is fit and on a run of games. Unfortunately he has lacked both parts throughout his career.

    The fact that he appears lazy doesn’t help his case at all though ;)

    Just titering like a 5 year old saying the word ‘boobies’ over my next headline :D

  83. defo needs a kick square up the jacksy does dutty custard aka nile ranger,haven’t been that impressed with lad to be honest,another one who holds the ball up well,but other than that never looks like scoring.

  84. Clint – yes those are indeed the stats, but I am sure you have said it yourself that we were the biggest fish in that pond last season, and therefore would expect to be high up on the list of stats.

    If we want to look at the stats from the season we were relegated in, where Shola and Harps both played alot of games in then what do those stats say and how do they stack up against other teams?

  85. We only judge so highly because we had enough of good players playing shit and not playing for newcastle only playing for the money.When you wear the Black and white shirt you wear it with Passion and Proud,Its a not right to wear it,Its a Honour to wear it and over the years some players have’nt done that nor respect the club or the clubs history.
    Thats why Clint Flick

  86. toonsy,therein lies the trouble for the not so great amoebi,never been fit for long enough.also he is as soft as claggy s***e,the continual wearing of the gumshield boils my slash.

  87. I know some players get derided by certain elements of the fan base, then others join in & run with it.
    Though i still like to base an opinion on facts/stats.

  88. i reckon shola found his level in the championship,could leave newcastle and go on to have a career elsewhere.i think he needs to do himself a favour and move on,i’m sick and tired of seeing him floating around picking up his wages.

  89. TROJAN – If you spent as much time falling over as Shola does, wouldn’t you want a gumshield? :lol:

  90. Raffo,
    i get what y’saying mate but,
    if you check the stats in the relegation year, i think you’ll find that Harper did better than Given, when he played.
    All i’m saying about Shola is that he was in fact best mins-goals last term out of all of our players, regardless of opposition/league whatever.
    I ain’t saying he’s a world beater or owt, just stating last season’s record, which is a fact.
    Soz like.

  91. Ciaran,
    with all due repect mate,
    i don’t need a history lesson on what it means to play for/support the Toon man.
    In entering me 5th decade kidda.

  92. howay toonsy,i could understand if he was playing rugby,but how many footballers wear gumshields?he only had a fracture to a tooth ffs.
    my problem with shola is his lack of ambition as a footballer,he’s hung around since he was 18 sometimes way down the pecking order,where other players would have moved on to further their career.his attitude whilst on loan at stoke was a disgrace,he just seems quite happy to hang around picking up money,he turns up to train for coin,very hard to have respect for someone like him to honest.

  93. “JJ – Just out of interest, what will happen to those 140,000 jobs now there is no need for them?”

    Well Toonsy. Probably leave a few unemployed but its still a positive because they managed to earn a living for a couple months they otherwise wouldnt have.

    Also, a lot will remain employed because of new toll roads, rail stations, public bus systems, stadium staff. etc.
    As well as the massive boost to tourism we will get with people wanting to return to tour the country.
    On the whole, a lot of jobs may be lost now, but many will remain employed.

  96. Clint – thats fair enough mate and I dont disagree with what you were saying at all, just dont want to be labelled as one of those who just attack players for the sake of it. I am happy with the keepers we have just wouldnt be that bothered if he went thats all. And as for Shola, I think as others have said he just appears not to try, although that may be his way as you get that with other strikers in the league. If he can stay fit then he will be an assett to us and maybe even better than carrol, who I think is being put on a bit of a pedastol too soon to be honest

  97. JJ – on the world cup thing:
    – SA have much to be proud of, and I just hope that those crooks at FIFA come good on their promise to leave a good legacy. I really hope this is a boost to Africa in general and that the usual corruption doesn’t ruin it.

    – FIFA and Blatter, however, should be ashamed. To me (not normally a conspiracy theorist) it’s now plainly obvious that everything under their umbrella is completely bent. Lord Triesman was right, and the fact that the FA marched him out to gag him rather than investigating his claims shows how bent they are too.

    The ball was obviously engineered to negate the talents that usually make a world cup, which is why we saw so many misfiring geniuses like Messi, and so many dull shut-outs when inferior teams were no longer prey to clever, skilled football. Spain were the only team who came close to mastering it.

    The flat refusal to follow other sports into replays, for me, can only be for one reason: it makes it far, far harder to hide deliberately dodgy decisions (like our 2nd goal against Germany).

    So – well done to South Africa for defying expectations and putting on a great show. Shame FIFA ruined the football side of it to line their own pockets.

  98. Raffo,
    i wasn’t having a go mate, far from it.

    Some players just look like that, i remember toshak along side kk, looked like a stiff legged Shola. :)
    Waddle looked knacked most of the time, but had long legs & could move when he had to.
    I agree with you about him & Carroll.
    & Shola does know how to hold the play up ’til others join the attack, better than most, sadly!
    I’m not lauding him, just playing devils advocate like.
    I just don’t like fans slagging our own players, once they’ve moved on they’re fair game.
    But anyway mate, i think you’ve got a balanced view.
    ;)

  99. I generally agree there whumpie.
    fifa are crooks that should have their power taken from them.

  100. Anyhoo (coming down from rant) – if Gosling comes in, that’s good as far as I’m concerned. All we can do is trust that CH and his team will continue to sign more hits than misses, and we’ll slowly build toward a really good squad without huge risks.

  101. Clint

    on the subject of Shola looking leggy, I know someone who trains the nufc boys and he said that they have done numerous tests on Shola and he reckons that because of the way his legs are made up its impossible for him to sprint!

    Thats what he said anyway, nee bull…

  103. ILM,
    & long legs don’t need such a high cadence to cover the same ground as shorter legs.
    Both is great like.
    But guys with lcg look quicker, though aren’t necessarily.

  104. Maybe one long leg & one short leg is the way to go?

    Ok, maybe not?
    :)

    Though they could do a ‘scott parker’ circle quicker.
    :)

  106. look at crouchy!!!

    ILM – I am defo going to use that excuse, nowt to do with being a chunky sod at all!!!

  108. What gets me is that Shola sometimes pulls off those audacious little backheels another tricks which you just don’t expect to come from someone who looks like a 5-minute old foal learning to walk…

    He gets some stick, but he does pull off some game-winning moves sometimes. A lot of the stick is probably because he often looks like he’s not trying, and when he does try to sprint it’s like that bit in Bambi when he’s on the frozen pond…

  109. I like Shola. I know he’s getting on and will probably never become a 20-a-season striker. But most of the teams in the prem get away without one of them; why should we be any different?

    I think we tend to win when he plays, partly because he confuses defences and tends to end up occupying two defenders at ones. It must be like trying to tackle a giant set of bagpipes.

  110. I see Martins is off to play in a Gulag. Nice fella, but we’re well rid there. In fact, the only player I can think of from our relegation squad who’s done ok is Duff. The rest are either in career freefall or fringe players now. Can anyone think of any other exceptions?

  113. Owen’s done well for himself at manUnited(the well known gay dating site).
    Money wise.
    :)

  114. & milner has managed to plod his way into the england team & potentially a massive money move into limbo.

  115. yeah wasn’t lying lads, he reckons its physically impossible for him to sprint

  117. ILM,
    That Shola thing is a bit like gerrard’s literal, inability to smile.

  118. toonsy,
    bassong looked a bit sus for spuds a few times last term though.
    Did he play for the macaroons at the wc?

  121. Still, Toonsy has a good point – the boy’s done good. But he was a bit different because he was a punt on a youngun that came good. The others were mostly well-knowns who failed to live up to their price tag. Like Owen, Martins, etc.

    I like this new approach. More exciting to have a Perch or a Gosling who can exceed expectations, than a Martins who can only either match them or fail.

  122. whumpie,martins was bought with the same intention as perch etc,young player with potential to improve.
    bobby robson did the same,signed young players with potential,bramble,cort,bellamy etc.i dont understand why people think ashley is doing anything revolutionary,in a nutshell he isn’t.i keep hear people talking about superstars,it’s bollox,the only real big money we’ve spent in on players we thought would kick us on,fair enough a lot of them didn’t work,but we’ve still tried to bring in young talent over recent times.
    dont be fooled by ashley’s talk,because that’s all it is,every club tries to get the best young talent yet fatty is trying to kid people on he’s doing something different,when he isn’t.

  123. Didn’t Martins cost over £10m?? That makes him a bit more than a Perch or Bassong…

  124. big money on superstars the so called boom time started by keegan,people like ginola were only bought for 2.5 mill,and we got lots of other good players without ganning daft,the only real big money we forked out was for shearer and owen,other than that we mostly paid the going rate.

  125. Sorry, Trojan, but I must disagree, ol’ bean!

    While Sir Bobby did get young unknowns, he paid ‘known name’ prices – usually upwards of £5m – with his bosses blowing money they didn’t have to fund it. What Ashley is trying to do (and thank gawd CH seems to have the talent to actually do it) is buy at a fraction of that.

    Good example – Carl Cort. Wasn’t he several mil?

    In fact, I’m having trouble thinking of any SBR signings that are in the same bracket we’re recruiting now. That’s not a dig at Wor Bob; it’s just pointing out the huge difference in strategy. SBR did what was right at the time; so is CH.

  126. aye,wumpie but we thought we were buying a future star,you can’t slag them for that.he came with a good reputation,and how much did we sell him for?we didn’t make much of a loss.

  128. whumpie,newcastle were only paying the going rate of the time,and lets be honest they were not fortunes in football terms,they were about the going rate.

  130. when he first bought the club that’s what he said,young players with a sell on value,it’s all there in the mag,and the chronicle editions of the time,his own words.

  132. the same way they bought hugo viana for 8.5 million,they thought they were buying a possible star of the future,and he was classed as a bit of a wonder kid.

  133. Anybody know what Cort, Dyer, Bellamy or Bramble cost? Pretty sure they were all north of £2m, even all that time ago before Abramotit turned up and prices shot up.

  134. Sorry, the going rate for Carl Cort should never ever ever have been anywhere near £7 million, but that is my opinion.

    He wasn’t even prolific when he arrived at Newcastle FFS!

    79 league apperances, 17 goals. That is not worth £7 million 10 years ago. It was the theird most expensive signing of that summer.

    I know what your saying TROJAN, but on Cort it was an indefensable amount of money to wax on a player that was shite, and continued to shite with the added bonus of being injury prone.

  135. Whumpie – Click that link @ 129 and click on the Newcastle link down the side. They are all there.

    Bramble was £5 million, think Dyer was £6.5 million, Bellamy £6 million, and Cort at £7 million

  136. toonsy,at the time though a lot of clubs were interested in him,i know it did’nt work out for him in the end,and his career was knackered by injuries.like people have mentioned recently sometimes they dont work out,look at now didn’t jonas cost over 5mill in the end,collicini 10 mill,alan smith ashley’s favourite player 6 mill.is ashley any different in wasting cash?.

  137. Luque £9m got next to nowt back.
    marcelino £6m+ nowt back.
    boumsong £9m 1-2m back.

  138. There’s a massive difference when it comes to wasting money before MA & under him.
    The list is endless before.

  139. TROJAN – No he isn’t, Ashley has paid too much for some players aswell, but I guess that is what people want to continue happening judging by the furore being kicked up?

    End of the day, we have bought a utility player (Perch) and look set for a highly sought after young English midfielder (Gosling) without spending much. There are also bids going in for players, some that we “know” about, others which we probably don’t know about, but the bids are there. A judgement can pnly really be given after the window slam shut, and perhaps after the season finishes. Just my opinion mind

  140. the point is clint,another player at the time who came with a good reputation in marcelino.a lot of clubs were after his services,you cant blame the club for them getting injured.

  141. So are we saying the same thing? You can’t say that buying Cort for £7m and Viana for £8.5m is anthing near our current strategy. It represents precisely what our current strategy tries to GET AWAY from.

    If you buy six at £1m a pop, fourare flops, 1 does ok-ish and one comes good, your hit rate is lousy, but you still do a lot better than spending £7m each when half of them still fail. The two strategies are diametrically opposed!

  142. Trojan,
    i agree, it’s not anyone’s fault that a player gets injured, but some of those were never gonna make it & cost a bomb, in wages too.
    If you splash millions on a player, they get payed millions too.
    Conversely, spending smaller amounts means less wages too.
    So like whumpie says, there’s more than one way to skin a monkey.
    Ok, maybe i’m paraphrasing there?
    :)

  143. we paid 2.5 million for ginola in 1996,it ended up costing us over 5 million for jonas,i know who i’d rather have.
    nearly 2 million spent on leon best,waste of money,give it time and mike ashley will waste money on absolute dross.was collicini worth 10 million,not as far as i’m concerned so is ashley wasting money?

  144. Can anyone think of a previous regime that primarily signed up-and-coming players at up-and-coming prices? I can’t. I think this is genuinely different, and the first time we’ve seen Ashley’s original strategy actually working… perhaps something to do with NOT having Wise and other useless hangers-on trying to distort it to their own ends.

    Shame it’s taken him nearly two **%&*! painful and cocked-up years to get it working, eh.

  145. Trojan – two good examples of when Ashley kept on getting it wrong, although I’d argue that our two Argies may yet prove their worth. Just. But that’s my point – at that kind of outlay, the best you can hope for is someone just about justifying their cost, no more.

  146. what’s working so far though under ashley two relegation battles,subsequent relegation,and a promotion campaign with a rag tag army,but it’s okay because this set of lads have got team spirit.

  147. Jonas wasn’t supposed to cost owt though, was he?
    Colo, argentina CB, he’s ever present & should be cool now he’s settled in, some overseas players take a year.
    Ginola had plenty of crap games & was off to london quick as. & £2,5m was a lot in ’96 for ‘damaged goods’.

  148. whumpie,the club always tried to bring players to kick the club on,sometimes it didn’t work,but we also got some good players like bellamy for six million,who gave us some exciting times.look at some of the crap we have playing for us now though,i would rather spend money on good players,who can get the club into europe etc than maybe buying cheap and bringing in crap like ryan taylor even if the guy was free,i wouldn’t pay him wages.
    imo jonas will not improve,and we’ll get the same old,same old from him next season,same with collo too slow,caught out of position too much and not too good in the air,he will struggle again.

  149. Trojan,
    mate, even you know that we probably ‘had’ to go down to have a proper clear out. At least we can start again now.
    I couldn’t give a monkey’s who owns the club tbh, i just want it to do the do.
    Everyone makes mistakes & for me MA tried to win favor with us lot by allowing divs like FSA spend wedges on players, bring back kk, when it couldn’t possibly turn out well.
    There is a certain stability at the club now, with a totally different approach to transfers, gobbing everything to the press mongs, driving up prices when we go looking for new players.
    We are now under the radar again.
    Let others underestimate us, i prefer it.
    Though if we kick on, they’ll all act like they didn’t.

  150. whumpie,i’ll take david ginola every time than that heedless chicken jonas,he’s not in the same class.jonas is not fit to tie ginola’s bootlaces.

  151. whumpie,we have not had a clear out though,we have utter garbage playing for us,we only have a couple of good players like,enrique,and i think carroll will become a good target man.for the most part we have championship written all over us.

  152. How many goals did Ginola score for us?
    I know he scored 2 or 3 blinders, but ain’t weren’t many, was it?

  153. But everyone was completely wrong last season, saying we would struggle in the champ, we didn’t.
    Why should it be that different this season?
    We’ve still got a better squad than a lot of prem clubs. & some would kill for some of our players.
    Yes, we ain’t world beaters, but we are blatantly NOT champ level either.
    Or we would still be there now.

  154. Harper, Krul, Enrique, Collocini, Williamson, S Taylor, Routledge, Jonas, Guthrie, Nolan, Carrol, Lovenkrands, Vukic – utter garbage?

    :roll:

  155. ginola was a better player going foward than jonas but only half the work-rate so its what you pefer manager wise like

  156. how many has jonas scored whumpie?i’ll bet in terms of assists ginola’s record will be good,he could cross a mean ball with both feet.whumpie though imo jonas is not in the same class as ginola,whether ginola played for the toon,spurs nee comparison for me.

  157. trojan

    Do you not think Enriques improvement is in no small part down to Jonas who has helped him with the lingo, Tracks back and stops him being exposed, Links really well with him and cuts inside to provide the space for him to overlap.

    Enrique would be as shaky as he was when he first joined if someone as lazy as Ginola was playing infront of him.

  158. PSG have just signed a forward £4mil,wonder if that means the toon bid might might for there guy come good

  159. nolan,finished at the top level two seasons back,lovenkrands,useful but not the player he was,never looks fit,routledge two time loser at prem level,taylor got the tools,i already mentioned carroll will make it,vukic no one knows,harper,looks shaky at times,ryan taylor,garbage,guthrie liability at times,and for the most part can’t hit a barn door,leon best,you’re having a bubble,enrique,best player on the books,barton overrated,and injury prone,collo,lacks pace may possibly struggle again,jonas,good work rate but no end product,williamson dont know,krul,will be a good keeper,simpson,i think can man manage at the level.

  160. if you watch jonas he does the same thing in nearly every game he plays,he runs himself into the ground in the first half,come the second half he’s knackered and spends his time wandering around.

  161. i’m going to start calling jonas,clint eastwood,every time he comes into possession of a football you get the good,the bad,and the ugly in one move.

  162. I agree with the assessment of a few of the players TROJAN, but quite honestly theres not the money there anymore to go and spend big on players so why cant you grasp that? It is this sort of attitude that gets us labelled deluded by all those fans who just cant wait to stick the knife in. We simply cant afford to spend over £10million anymore on players and I would like to think that the strategy we have in place at the moment will see us through these times until fat boy sells up. We simply are not going to challenge for the top half for a good few seasons, the sooner people realise that the better, and maybe stop all the pricks having a dig

  163. Exactly, Raffo – Trojan’s just not grasping the reality. Trojan – sorry to have a go, fella, but if you’re asking me which I’d sign right now – a Jonas or a Ginola, the answer is simple…

    NEITHER OF THEM! WE CAN’T AFFORD THEM!!

    Get it yet?

    A valid question would be “who would you rather have to address our current issues.. one Ginola or five in the mould of Routledge, Williamson and Best?” Even if Best fails to come through, the answer is.. the latter. Every time.

    We just ain’t got the dosh for another Colo or anyone in that bracket. But we do seem to have a team capable of finding people like Williamson for a twentieth of the cost.

  164. RAFFO a lot of what you say sounds like sense,do we really want to spend 10mil on a player we need a few players imo,i know a lot will say you only get what you pay for,yes i belive the toon fans should get the best but lets just walk before we run,mind ive being saying that for years

    still waiting :(

  165. But we KNOW we don’t get what we pay for. If you look at the hit rate with known names, it peaks with your mid-range people like Nolan, but drops off sharply once you’re into 8-figure ones.

    On the other side of the coin, recent experience has shown that our return on investment in what CH comes up with on his shoestring budget is far, far better. Look at our January signings now – already a fat profit, but more importantly – a group of lads who can do a job for us across the pitch.

    So no, you don’t get what you pay for – quite the opposite if you have the recruitment team we have right now. We are in good shape, but just don’t seem to want to see it!

    I’m off to play in the hills. Gniggut, all.

  166. Thats it. I think really we are still in the middle of a rebuilding phase and need to be looking at stoke and boltons and dare i say it the SMB’s to re-gain our status as regular established EPL members. We have been in a period of decline for a while, last seasons relegation was just the culmination, itd been coming for a while. We need to have stability, get a grip on the finances whilst performing as a team. I think it will be a good 3-5years in terms of a strategy to then push for the bigger names again and perhaps look to pushing to europe. In that time Krul, Ranger, Vuckic, Airey, Carrol, Guthrie, S Taylor may all very well be hitting their peaks and we can be a force again, but in the Man U mould of the Beckham era where we had a great team assembled from our own academy instead of paying over the top in the hope of acheiving something. And of course having the players is one thing but I think CH is a good coach to mould these kids.

    I hope after a full season ‘cutting his teeth’ he may well have the skills and balls to make a decent fist of management.

    Trojan – dont get me wrong I would love to get big names in, but whos to say Gossling, Erdinc etc may not prove to turn into these guys?

  167. WHUMPIE what i said was SOME will say,i didnt I am saying that,just trying to read others mind in advance

  168. RAFFO,when the time is right ime all for buying big for TEAM players,ie A.S.,L.F.ect,mould but the time is not now

  170. Toonsy, looking at that list of players Kenny Dalglish brought it. He is quite possibly the worst judge of a player ever to manage Newcastle.
    Sold quality, bought utter rubbish.

  172. Need a couple of guys like Scharner, experienced pros.,
    not a bunch of cheapo kids that no one`s heard of (Perch)
    But as y`all are firmly on the Ashley bandwaggon and carefully watching the penny`s, not much chance of anyone agreeing.
    Looks as if Gosling could cost us £4m.and £25k. per week (never understood why it`s a weekly rather than an annual salary)not exactly within prior mentioned guidelines.
    In which case I guess Mike still has a few bob left.
    Either that or big things are expected of Gosling.

  173. In regard`s to the W/C, surprisingly, not a lot of good football, enjoyed the South American sides, nice attractive game, though have to say both Brasil and Argentina were dissapointing.
    The Spanish side were just pure quality and deserving winners.
    Sorry to see the African sides fail to make an impression.
    Though the world`s best leagues are in Europe, the national sides of Germany, Italy, France and England proved to be incapable of matching up.
    The less said about the Dutch (how to kick your way to a world cup)the better.

  174. to set the record straight to whumpie,raffo,i have not once mentioned newcastle spending loads of money on players.i was merely pointing out that we have not wasted as much money as people think.
    if mike ashley cannot fund newcastle united though,he should get out end of story.this man wont even spend the bare minimum,so what’s going to happen is a guaranteed relegation fight,hardly the actions of a man with ambitions for his club.

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