I couldn't help myself!I swore to myself I wouldn’t get involved and would stay away from this fight as Ashley has got the fans at each other throats with the current state of affairs at SJP but after reading a recent ‘blog by my colleague on here, and the fairly large response to it, I couldn’t hold my water any further!
I had decided i would reserve my judgement on the current regime and thought it would be fair to see where we are at after the window has closed and we are a few games into the season, hopefully with a new striker and some sensible investment in place, I had hoped we wouldn’t be having the Ashley argument again as we all just want NUFC to move forward with sensible investment. But after the appalling lack of squad strengthening and ambition from the current regime, the nonsense printed in the Chronicle’s Q&A and amazingly some fans actually backing Ashley as a master of business and Professor in the school of running a football club, I feel the need to point out a few things missing from this boiling pot. What immediate springs to my mind is:
What about the fans feeling more interested and enthused and therefore more inclined to forking out more money to support Newcastle United as well? (more…)
Passion, pride, loyalty - NUFCI’ve spent much of the morning nursing a hangover after yesterday’s debacle, and trying to organise my thoughts and come to some decision on what on Earth happened in the past few months.
Like all of you, I’m racked with disappointment, anger, frustration but most of all betrayal. We pay our hard earned cash for the privilege of watching those 11 lads play in the black and white stripes, to sing our heart out and ultimately to support the club we have stood by for so many years. There was one time when hell or high water wouldn’t keep me away from the Cathedral on the Hill that so dominates our skyline and now I’m finding it a struggle to check the news of a morning to find out how the board of Newcastle United are going to insult the loyal Geordie nation.
My daily routine is fairly basic. I wake up late morning, make a cup of tea, come back to my computer and check the usual blogs, News Now and then start checking my emails. Depending on the events, I’ll plan out an article for publication around evening time. During the transfer window, my phone becomes my greatest friend and I often don’t even wait to get on the computer to see what’s happening at this wonderful club. (more…)
'Trying is the first step towards failure'Seven months after the sale of Andy Carroll, Newcastle United have, to the surprise of no one, failed to sign a suitable replacement to fill the void up front.
A day of deadline drama, in which saw United lodge a “bid” for FC Twente’s Bryan Ruiz, has ended up falling flat on it’s face as Newcastle, for reasons unknown, decided to try and bring in a striker by submitting a bid 4 hours or so before the close of the transfer window.
Mr. Ashley had a helicopter ready to swish our man from the clutches of Martin Jol’s Fulham waiting in the capital, but (shock horror), the inevitable news from David Craig was that “unfortunately” United just couldn’t quite seal the deal for Ruiz, and also defender, Liam Ridgewell.
This ‘bid’ seems slightly reminiscent of last January’s “attempt” of bringing in a player (Charles N’Zogbia) just hours before the window closed. So after fans have endured a summer of rumours or “smokescreens” as I’d prefer to call it, Newcastle have failed in their quest to find a striker.
Coloccini: Domino effect?As we fumble, twist and turn our way though this current transfer window, is it me or can August just not end quick enough now?
As transfer windows go this has certainly been a roller coaster ride of emotions, ranging from optimism that we might invest and strengthen the team with those early signings, to realism that we are Sports Direct the football club, and will be run that way accordingly with every player up for grabs at the club, with cheap foreign bargains being the way forward in Ashley’s eyes.
After a fantastic start to the season I have tried to reason with myself that surely we wont sell anyone else? As we could build on this start to the season, and with a couple more additions to the squad we might stay clear of trouble this season. But with rumours pretty much every day about comings and goings i find myself cringing as I read the daily news feeds, expecting to see rumours turning into bids for our top players with Ashley seemingly happy to sell regardless of the team. (more…)
Vacancy: apply withinNewcastle United are still in the hunt for a striker 6 months after the sale of Andy Carroll. And now they need a left-back too. So just why is it taking so long to recruit new players?
What, you might ask, is the problem? We’ve had six months to replace Andy Carroll and still haven’t, unless you happen to believe that Demba Ba’s that man. And, although Enrique’s actual departure is relatively recent, we’ve pretty much known he’d go for a few months now (the clue was in his refusal to sign a contract), yet we haven’t got a replacement for him either.
Let’s allow some leeway with Enrique. He has only just been sold and we must surely know by now that players don’t come in unless Ashley’s 100% sure he’s getting the dosh for the outgoing player. It might not be a proactive way to run a football club but we seem to be stuck with it.
Some might argue that selling Carroll so late in the January transfer window left us no time to bring in a replacement, which is true. And let’s even be generous and say that £35m was too good to refuse and that it was actually worth limping through the second half of last season without a first choice striker. Surely, though, in the months after the Carroll sale we should have had plenty of striker targets lined up, ready to make bids for them as soon as the transfer window opened.
