Toon target top six!

Posted on July 24th, 2010 | 127 Comments |

Chris Hughton - Looking up.
Chris Hughton - Looking up.
Life at Newcastle is ticking along relatively nicely at the moment. There are still times of mild turbulence but certainly nothing compared to what we had to experience this time last year.

Come to think about it, the only real bone of contention this summer is over how much money we will, or won’t, be spending on new players.

New players, we have two of them. One of them, James Perch, would have probably come here anyway, regardless of whether or not we had been promoted, but he other one, Dan Gosling, wouldn’t have, no way. So why did he choose Newcastle then? Especially when you consider there was more than just us interested in the player. We don’t have a Kevin Keegan anymore, someone who can sell the club, the area, to a player and get them to buy into it, or do we?

It would appear that we do, only this time in the shape of Chris Hughton, well according to Dan Gosling anyway. He has revealed that Hughton has plans for Newcastle, and whilst they may be modest at the moment, they are by no-means trivial in the long-term.

“The manager has a vision of where he wants this club to go. I came up with my agent and my family, met him and Colin Calderwood, and we sat down and talked about how we’d like the next few years to go. He told us where he wants us to be, and I want to be a part of that,” Gosling told The Journal.

“I think the long-term aim is to establish ourselves as a top-six Premier League team in the next four or five years and I think it’s a realistic aim, and hopefully we can do it a bit sooner than that. It’s certainly a massive club with a massive fan base and I think the people around here deserve that.”

A top six team then eh? It would be nice and I will believe if it happens as I just can’t see it myself, but that is my personal view and I have been wrong before, only once or twice though. It’s an ambitious target to say the least, especially when you consider that we haven’t even survived one season in the Premier League yet, but it’s a target that aims to put this club back to where it belongs.

Fair play to Chris Hughton for selling that ideal to the player. At the end of the day, Gosling has said himself that he had the pick of a few clubs, and from the outside it looked like he was whoring out his services to the highest bidder in fairness.

West Ham, Sunderland and Bolton were all reported to be interested, and can you really imaging Ashley sanctioning wages that would be higher that what those three clubs would pay? I can’t. Gosling has said he moved here for footballing reasons, and the fact that Gosling wants to be part of where Hughton wants this club to be can only be a good thing.

Hughton is either a good liar and managed to convince Gosling that we could be in the top six in five years time whilst striving to ‘break-even’ without laughing, or he genuinely believes we can do it.

And why not I say?

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

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Comment on this post

127 Responses

  1. If you ask the majority of the premier league teams then they will say they are aiming for top 6/7 in the long-term.

    But its difficult with Man City spending widely and Spurs on the up. I can see being around Villa and Everton as long-term targets as they seem to have reached their peak in my opinion.

  2. Villa and Everton might have reached their peaks but we’ve got to get there!

    It’s not going to be easy over the next five years with little or no money available.

  3. I also think we need a more substantial coaching staff, consisting of 2 or 3 more specialist, experienced and top quality coaches.

  5. Tommy – I agree. Are we still waiting for a reserve coach?

    I think Hughton likes to get involved in the training aswell, so aswell as being a manager he is a coach, which isn’t to the liking of all managers.

    Makes you wonder why he bothers for £5k a week like. I’d love 5k a week, but I don’t work in an industry where that is below minimum wage :)

  7. I believe there’s no radio or tv coverage… hope I’m wrong but we may be stuck with Chronicle’s live blog.

    Harper’s not playing? From the official site:

    Chris Hughton has named the following team this afternoon:

    Krul, Tavernier, Enrique, Coloccini, R Taylor, Barton, Nolan (C), Edmundsson, Carroll, Best, Ranger

    Subs Alnwick (G), Williamson, Guthrie, Routledge, Smith, Xisco, Ameobi, Lovenkrands, Vuckic, Ferguson, Henderson

  9. I think we are. Hughton does seem to take charge of the training effectively, but I see him and Calderwood as being specialists in defensive coaching obviously with them both being defenders in their prime. That’s why i think it would be good to balance it out with possibly a specialist midfield coach and a specialist attacking coach to work primarily with the first team.

  22. toonsy says:
    July 24, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    “Not far off 100 followers on Facebook now. Not bad in such a short time”

    I’ve just put a link to that at the top of the NUFC Links section of the ‘blog, Toonsy. Keep on plugging it though.

  25. Oh thats a powerpoint link, it’s not a video stream. It’s just a hyperlink to a pay site to watch the game.

  26. tommy says:
    July 24, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    “Oh thats a powerpoint link, it’s not a video stream. It’s just a hyperlink to a pay site to watch the game.”

    Don’t touch it with a bargepole! I think I’ll delete the link.

  28. BBC Norfolk have the highlights on but its gash as they play music etc most of the time

  30. icedog says:
    July 24, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    “WORKY finding it hard to shift off comp”

    Did you install anything, Icedog? Or was that just a general comment? :-)

  32. From what Lee Ryder says, we signed Edmundsson already last season???

    I didn’t know that,OMG. I am wols. :(

  34. Icedog – I would seriously get your lad to scan your computer asap mate, and don’t do anything too personal on it until he does.

  40. The official site is terrible for keeping up with play. One update every 10 minutes and its 10 minutes slow as it is. Sounds like Norwich have been the better side though, Taylor reliving his backpass that saw Manure nick in and steal a winner then.

  43. icedog says:
    July 24, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    “at last got it off phew”

    Icedog, I was just checking it out for you. Did you get rid of it properly? Or did you just hide it?

  44. FSOTC-cheers mate, didnt realise Lee Ryder was doing this again for the pre season games

  45. Lads on blog on the tyne saying SSN have just shown the goal and that it was awful from us

  46. WORKY not a whizz on these portable window-boxs m8,think i have removed it, running search/destroy spy check at the moment,son is good on them will get him to check when he comes in from graft,thanks m8

  55. icedog says:
    July 24, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    “WORKY not a whizz on these portable window-boxs m8,think i have removed it, running search/destroy spy check at the moment,son is good on them will get him to check when he comes in from graft,thanks m8”

    Icedog, http://www.malwarebytes.org/

    Try free version and do a sweep with that.

  60. Xisco seems to be playing well… Lee Ryder says

    “Xisco played another good ball to Ameobi on 69 minutes and he hammered a shot at goal with Ruddy forced to save with his legs.

    A good chance.”

  69. Nutmeg is 1870 Victorian slang for a prank that leaves somebody looking foolish.

  74. No way mate, toonsy offers me lifts to matches, can’t cheat on a man that kind.

  80. Well done Canaries :lol:
    Not bad against a TOP 6 premiership side.
    YAWN.ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

  81. Jay Jay be careful mate that he doesnt offer you any other extras he has been known to be like that theres no back doors in Toonsy ;)

  82. SJT-change the record mate. We made 8 changes at half time and if your comment is a sly dig at Goslings comments you’ll see they said they want to be a top 6 team in 4 or 5 years time, not that we’re a top 6 team now. Results aren’t important in pre seasons, we’re trying different things.

  84. Cannot really take much out of a result in a friendly.

    Although if I remember rightly, everytime we rested first teamers last season we struggled.

    So I stick by my views that were desperate for more players. The under belly of the squad is full of young kids who cannot even win their own league against the likes of Hartlepool. So can we really expect them to come in and do well in the PL?

  85. Villa just lost to Bohemians with a stronger team.

    So, the result doesn’t concern me but Taylor, Perch, Simpson, Kadar being out at the same time is worrying and exposes the lack of depth at the back.

    And, although Shola scored again – he is looking really heavy. I think he can still make an impact in the premiership- he has with the right run of games- but needs to get much fitter.

    I think we’ll gradually put out better and more settled sides over preseason and hopefully the team can get some fluency and confidence.

  86. Toonsy-There were people on that Lee Ryder live chat coming up with stuff like “FFS they’ve scored again, Hughton has to go, what is he doing”. Some real gems in there, was quite amusing.

    I just dont see the point in constant whinging. The first goal fair enough was terrible, some strange defending but apart from that its only a pre season friendly and they made a point of saying we did look dangerous going forward.

    In saying that, I dunno how much i trust sky. The lad commentating from the game mentioned Everton’s back four whilst talking about us, and the reporter at SSN has just commented on how Shola Ameobi’s goal was narrowly not given for offside, before the camera pans in to quite clearly show Nile Ranger. A good finish aswell and he looked like he could have been onside.

  93. Good grief, has anyone seen Krul’s display on the Sky Sports highlights?

    He doesn’t make a good claim for no. 1 with his performance in the two Norwich goals. Christ almighty. People will still want him over Harper too, that’s the scary bit.

  94. WWW the lad needs regular games it was the same as last year he played for us in a game and was flapping about like a sealion, no doubt he has the potental but not just yet we should loan him out this year if possible and let Foster do back-up

  95. Krul is still very young, he’s had very little first team football and therefore will be inconsistant and make mistakes. That’s life.

    I feel Forster will turn out to be the next number one but Krul might catch him up if he too goes out on loan and gets some experience.

  97. WWW-it’s a shame but he does seem to get dragged to the front post for the first goal. In saying that there’s nee one in the box with the goalscorer, he has the keys to Newcastle as he just stands by himself and quite literally walks the ball into the net. As for the second one he probably could have tipped it round the post, seems to fumble it and it ends up going in. He needs game time to stay in form though.

  98. Damn we were rubbish today, not the same team that won the championship!

    Hughton is going to embrass us in the PL.

    Hughton out!

  99. Thats now two different reporters on two different occasions that have claimed Nile Ranger is Shola Ameobi. Also, the goals dont get better for poor Krul the more you see them, bit of a nightmare for him sadly.

  102. whats all this doom! if we won nobody would be saying nothing but good result lads. we did get beat last year by orient and won the league. fact taviener played centre back he is crap right back anyway and talyor at right back. hardly any body in the right postions.3 up front in the first half had enough chances to win get a grip lots of teams lost liverpool city chelsea villa.

  106. Bit harsh to say Tavernier is a crap right back, don’t you think.

    I think it does show that we need a centre back still. Might as well be Sol Campbell I reckon.

    I still don’t know who are best right back is either because we have basically got 3 championship standard ones.

    Again, the result doesnt matter but it is clear from the lineup that Hughton is still going to be very busy in the market (hopefully).

  107. I don’t think Tavernier will ever make the first team. Not the lads fault he just isn’t at that level. Will probably make a decent championship of league 1 player.

  108. VuckicHaris-I think Campbell has confirmed he is signing another year long deal at Arsenal.

  109. I saw nufc.com running the Campbell thing again this morning – I’m not sure he’s decided either way for sure and in truth I’d prefer a younger option really.

  110. Got some highlights up on youtube if anyone hasn’t seen them. ;) These ones look a bit dodgy though. :(

  111. trust me he got pace nothing else. and ch puts him at centre back cant defend for toffe. and r.tlayor who is worse with a good right foot at right back cant even run.why not play carrol at centre back and switch ferguson at right back its only getting your fitness up.the way he set up the team up was horrible.

  112. Donaldson’s playing for the u19s at the minute. I missed the first half but at the start of the 2nd the commentators have said how quiet he was first half. Looks like he is playing centre forward with Nouble and Delfouneso either side which seems strange.

    Just set up Delfouneso well, mind.

  113. Technically we only have one PL proven defender. It’s a risk, without a doubt.

  114. Whothevuckic – surely today should show the need for experienced reserve players, and that r Taylor simply not food enough

  116. Don’t get me wrong, I rate Krul and he is a great shot stopper already but he is not anywhere near a complete goalkeeper. He needs to go out on loan and the fans who want him as first choice really need to be quiet.

    The result isn’t important – the Leyton Orient result last season set us up for a good one so we may get that again here, but Krul botched the second goal like Rob Green. We can’t ignore that because he is young. His job consists of nothing but keeping the ball and he messed it up.

    My concern is that he actually does go above Harper, that’s all.

  118. a know it was just a friendly n the result means nout, but this has got to prove we NEED more cover i know hughton wants to be patient and get the right signings but every player weve been linked with hes denied,, just hu has he been looking at then,, hughton is still the man for me but even tho this means nwt am nt exactly feeling too confident especially considering how thin owa spuad is

  119. wickywoowoo

    Do you think its a good idea to lambast Tim Krul. Could the goals today have been something to do with the fact he had an 17 year old and Ryan Taylor protecting him. At the end of the day a keeper is only a last line of defense and if a team are given chances there is little he can do about it. I remember the first game of the season against West Brom when he saved us a point.

  120. Raffo, I don’t think Hughton will bring another right back after signing Perch though we obviously still lack any quality there. Personally, I’d go for Shorey and Luke Young if possible for both full back positions.

    Left back and centreback are a must.
    I think Williams from Swansea would be a good option at centre back – Birmingham bought two from the championship and did very well last year.

  121. Lads we just need to chillax as CH says its all about building up fitness, we will be fine the only thing we need to worry about is CH getting poached by England or the ROI ;)

  122. There is no defending the second Norwich goal. A young defender doesn’t cause him to push the ball into the goal basically. It was a poor game and showed that shot stopper is still his only real skill at the moment.

    He’s still a rookie goalkeeping wise and is really just on course for his age – we have set too high a standard for him and when reality sets in, he seems the worse for it.

    Another case of Newcastle fans being too demanding and optimistic about the players, I fear.

  123. yes! every1 was going on about joe hart! he made a bigger clanger with the first goal last night nobody said a word.

  124. At the end of the day in games like this where it doesnt really matter, I think we should be encouraging our young players and giving everyone a run out. Yes young players like Krul, Ranger, Ferguson ect are just learning the ropes at a very high level but that is why people like Barton and Nolan earn 15x more than them.

  125. howay the lads top half finish isnt out of this teams reach,, just look at the quality we have we just need a few numbers to strengthen the squad and challenge for places

  127. Asim makes a good point. I notice the deflection the ball took for the Norwich winner is being conveniently forgotten? How come?