Ready to sign on the line?It looks like Steven Taylor is set to be offered a new contract by Newcastle United during the summer in an effort to persuade the possible future captain that his future does lay at St James’ Park. Manager Chris Hughton will urge Mike Ashley to sit down with Taylor and thrash out a deal that will tempt the defender into putting pen to paper on a new improved contract.
I have my own very cynical view of this, of which I will go into in more detail later on, but it does look like a very positive move from the club as they look to secure the future of the lad who has spent nearly his whole life on Tyneside. It also moves to quash any lingering doubts surrounding whether Steven Taylor and Andy Carroll can put any differences aside after their now infamous bust-up a while back. Unfortunately it looks like we won’t see Stevie Taylor in first team action again this season as playing him at QPR is deemed too much of a risk for the 24 year old, but few can deny that up until the knee injury suffered back in January he was a very integral part of what has turned out to be the meanest defence in the division. (more…)
Carroll: Could be the key to survival.The coming months are sure to be full of speculation about transfer targets and new arrivals on Tyneside as Newcastle United prepare for their return to the top flight of English football.
We have already noticed the keyboards and printing presses of various news outlet cranking up their output in the past few days as the clamour to be the one to get the holy grail of all press reporting – the ‘you heard it here first’ exclusive – increases. Of course much of what is reported will be false as the media adopt the ‘scatter gun’ approach in the hope that one of these rumours will come off, but that shouldn’t stop us fans speculating on targets and there has indeed already been some healthy debate and some great players mentioned that could improve the team. People have their own ideas about which areas of the team need strengthening, and there has already been some form of concensus as to which areas are a priority and which ones aren’t. (more…)
Part of the Fab four!It’s that time of the season where awards start getting dished out, both to recognise personal achievements and team achievements throughout the season.
We have already had Kevin Nolan named as the Championship Player of the Year, but last night it was time to announce the PFA Championship Team of the Year. The PFA awards were held at a glittering ceremony in London, and whilst Wayne Rooney must be pleased to have walked of with the PFA Player of the Year award, it doesn’t really interest me so much. What does interest me is the Championship Team of the year, which turns out features four players from Newcastle United this season. They are Fabricio Coloccini (as pictured), Jose Enrique, Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll. (more…)
Have they put their differences behind them?Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor resumed full training yesterday with the hope of playing some part in the last two fixtures of the season.
Indeed it took some people by surprise as early reports of Taylor missing the rest of the season with his knee injury looked to be spot on, whilst the alleged broken jaw suffered in an alleged altercation with, allegedly, Andy Carroll seemed to have snuffed out any slim chance of him returning before the season drew to a close. This lead to many speculative questions being asked about the potential problems the alleged incident could cause in the dressing room and behind the scenes, with the answers generally being nothing more than speculation themselves. One thing most people agreed on however was that it would be a shame to see either player feel that they have to leave the club that they both sweat blood and guts for. (more…)
