Mike Ashley: Playing a dangerous game at NUFC?With the new season just a few short hours from kick off, Toon fans everywhere take stock of the events of the past few months and are no doubt wondering what kind of start we’ll have given the merciless squad upheaval.
Since the transfer window opened Geordies have sat around with baited breath hoping for some good news to pop up on the Sky Sports News Ticker. Needless to say, it’s been a rollercoaster ride. [Neil] Taylor, Gervinho, Gameiro, Cabaye, Erdinc, Nolan, Marveaux, Ba, Barton, Routledge, Enrique, Crouch, Defoe, Long, Beckford, Lovenkrands, Bendtner, Benayoun – and that’s just the players we’ve bought, sold, are supposed to be selling or been linked with that I can think of off the top of my head!
Toon fans are a rugged lot and we’ve put up with enough of the proverbial for us to be able to pick apart a rumour from a genuine story and gladly celebrate when we are linked to a top player; at least somebody out there thinks we can sign Messi for an estimated £8m.
Still, taken into account our outgoing transfers (Nolan, Enrique, Routledge) and comparing them to our incoming (Cabaye, Marveaux, Abeid, Ba, Obertan) – I’d usually say we’ve done pretty well! (more…)
Yohan Cabaye in WaterworldIn a match that seemed more suited to swimming trunks and armbands rather than a football kit, Newcastle and Fiorentina braved the atrocious weather in order to win the final friendly of pre-season.
Plumes of water shot up from every foot fall, a wake of rain tracked the ball through it’s journey around the hallowed turf and most annoying of all, the ball had a tendency to stick with each pass. Not the best of days to play football, then.
Contrary to popular belief, rain makes for amazing weather to play football in. You’re constantly moving to keep warm and every tackle gives you a new mark of war as mud tracks along your body and clothes – nothing better on a Sunday afternoon if you ask me. On the other hand, when you’re playing a match against the purple clad Italian giants, a kickaround with your mates doesn’t really seem to come close.
From the kick off Newcastle looked to put the opposition on the back foot and short of a beautiful passing display by the Italians, they never really looked like scoring. There were times when we overcommitted and almost conceded but Tim Krul showed some very safe hands to keep the scoreline level. (more…)
Not a hope in hell?This is old news as we all know but there seems to have been an interesting development regarding this outburst by a certain Barry McIntosh.
In a slightly amusing twist of fate, and if North East football correspondent for the Sun Steve Brenner is to be trusted, Mr. McIntosh doesn’t even represent the player! This actually makes a lot of sense as Swiss TV was reporting Barnetta was on a £27k p/w deal – whether or not that is converted or in funny money, I have no idea – nor do I know the difference.
The words the spook agent used were:
“They have made an approach, but their offer equates to somewhere in the region of £40,000-a-week – which is just ridiculous. Why on earth would Tranquillo move to Newcastle for less money?”
“No offense to Newcastle, he would possibly consider going to Arsenal, Liverpool even Tottenham for less – but not Newcastle.”
If truth be told, that’s a rather scathing attack on us for very little reason but, seemingly, to get his name in the press. Personally I think this is all hilarious now the truth has came out – and it certainly appears to be true as Sky Sports have pulled the article from their website. (more…)
Wayne Routledge off to Swansea.It seems Newcastle United have decided that Wayne Routledge simply does not fit into the Newcastle squad and have sold the lad to Swansea for a reported £2m.
Wayne hasn’t had much luck in the Premier League and received criticism when he left Crystal Palace for Tottenham Hotspur from the then owner, Simon Jordan. Last January the powers that be decided that Routledge was fit to be loaned to his former club Queens Park Rangers where he helped the club to automatic promotion with 19 appearances and 5 goals.
Loaning the lad out was a surprise to us all has he was our only designated RW – an area we have sorely lacked bodies in for a long time now. Perhaps it was the bicep in his jaw that prompted the decision – who knows?
Talking to the Swansea City FC website, he had this to say:
“I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s taken a couple of days to get everything agreed, but I’m excited about getting started.
“I’ve had a good chat with the manager and he really impressed me. I had heard a lot of good things about him and the chat only reinforced my belief that moving to Swansea was the right thing to do.” (more…)
City fans inspired by Lech PoznanA group of fans have hit upon a way to protest against Ashley, without damaging the team. It has garnered a fair support so far with the likes of United for Newcastle (NOT to be confused with NUSC) taking an active role in spreading the word and it may be worth considering if you’re interested in protesting against the board.
Recent events have shown that our owner and “provider”, Mike Ashley, appears to be very worried about a little known thing such as “player power”. The general gist of this is to show Ashley that his priorities are woefully wrong and that it is us, the fans, who truly hold the power.
It was the fans who kept singing despite being 0-4 down at home to Arsenal that gave the players that extra strength to kick it up a notch. It was the fans who showed up time and time again to matches in the Championship, giving us the third highest average attendance of the season in English Football and it was the fans who signaled to Mike Ashley after relegation to sell up – admittedly, there were no offers but the point remains that we got our message through to him.
The statement on the Facebook page reads as follows:
I’ve had enough, we’ve had enough. So what do we do now? Try something new: (more…)
