C'mon Mike - what's the deal?What is Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley up to and is it time for him to let us in on his plans?
Mike Ashley still divides opinion at Newcastle. Some people like him and think he’s good for the club and others hate him and would have him hogtied, marched to the Bigg Market and placed in the stocks to be pelted with projectiles of choice. Then there are plenty of shades of grey in the middle of that – people who either think some of his ideas are bad and some are okay, or folk that are deferring opinion for now.
One thing Ashley rarely is, though, is predictable. Who, at the beginning of Ashley’s term of office, would have predicted he’d usher in the return of Keegan, precipitate Keegan’s unfair dismissal, put the club up for sale twice, receive accusations of being both cockney and Mafioso, appoint Chris Hughton as manager, sack Chris Hughton for no obvious reason, appoint Alan Shearer as manager, dig up Alan Pardew and make him manager, replace Chris Mort with a man of the owlish persuasion, oversee the team’s relegation, oversee the team’s subsequent promotion, rename St James’ Park to an email address and the plethora of other things he does that keep us guessing?
He’s certainly caused a fair bit of unrest in his time and I understand the sales of bedsheets in Tyneside shops have never been better. (more…)
Tough acts to followOn arrival at Newcastle United Demba Ba was handed the number 19 shirt, leaving the number 9 shirt vacant. Does this indicate that there are plans to recruit another striker to fill it or is the shirt going to be retired for a while?
The Newcastle United number 9 shirt is of course sacred. Leaving it unfilled for a while – after Obafemi Martins moved to Wolfsburg – was a deliberate ploy by former manager Chris Hughton who said:
“It’s something I’ve done deliberately. We have a lot of strikers here and I’m quite sure that every single one of them would have wanted to wear the No 9 shirt. As soon as I came to this club I knew what it meant and it’s both my decision and a combination of a few things.
“It can be a heavy number to carry, a burden, and wearing it is an achievement which I want somebody to grow into. I want somebody to earn the right to be Newcastle’s No 9. I don’t want to suggest that the strikers here aren’t worthy of it because each of them has a real strong value.
“I don’t anticipate years going by without one, but I know what the number nine is and I don’t want it to be an issue. The only issue I want is the normal stuff of the team performing well or not performing well, winning games or not winning games, and that’s very much team based.” (more…)
160,000 reasons to smileSol Campbell will depart from Newcastle United in bitter circumstances.
It seems that Sol Campbell may be leaving Newcastle under a bit of a cloud.
He was signed in a free transfer last summer on about £40,000 a week and after 4 starts and 3 substitute appearances the club had rather thought he might just walk away at the end of the season.
It seems however that a clause in his contract allows him to draw another month’s salary and get paid for July, thus earning him another £160,000. Sol, apparently, is going to hold the club to this clause in his contract.
The ubiquitous ‘club source’ has said:
“Sol has not really been involved and is clearly winding down his career, seeing out his time and being clearly unhappy with his injuries.
“The club offered a settlement on his contract so that he could walk away after the season ends but he refused. Instead, there is a clause that allows him to take another month’s money and he is going to eke out his final pay cheque in July for another £160,000.
“It leaves a sour taste. He clearly doesn’t need the money and, if he had any honour, he would go in June.” (more…)
Is the jury still out?A comparison between Chris Hughton and Alan Pardew, the two Newcastle United managers in the 2010/2011 season.
It is said that you can’t compare apples with oranges, although I think that’s bunk. I compared apples with oranges the other day and oranges are clearly better.
The point, though, is that if you’re going to make any sort of comparison between things, the circumstances of the comparison should be fairly similar or you’re not really going to be able to make any sort of valid comparison at all. It would be like comparing a bulldozer to an Amazonian tree frog: they’re such vastly different things that comparisons are pointless.
If, for example, we wanted to try and judge Alan Shearer’s ability as a manager we’d be hard pushed to do so. Forget for one moment his lack of experience and the fact that he spent most of the time since retiring from football sat on a sofa, we can’t compare him to another manager unless that manager took over the same team in the same circumstances. Which of course is impossible, so it would render any attempted comparisons subjective.
So please bear that in mind as I make an attempt to compare Alan Pardew with Chris Hughton. There is a lot of subjectivity and opinion in it. (more…)
Resuming the Chris Hughton’s interview with Richard Keys and Andy Grey on ‘Talk Sport’, this final section begins with more memories of Newcastle United, including what Hughton thinks of Colin Calderwood, did he realise how good Cheick Tiote when he signed him, working with Andy Carroll, did he always think that he was going to leave in January and more.
Richard Keys:“Here’s one from a Hibs fan, you’ve partially answered this. ‘Irish’ and Andy would just like to ask Chris what he thinks of Colin Calderwood?”
Chris Hughton:“Colin was very, very good for me, and I think that with all managers that you will speak to it’s so important that you have somebody alongside you not only that you trust and you like, but you know is very good at his job. he had a difficult start at Hibs but I was incredibly confident that what he would do is turn it around, and that’s what he has done. I think for any Hibs supporters that there is certainly bigger and better things from him. He’s not only a very, very good football man but a good person as well.”
Andy Gray:“Anthony asks did Chris realise just how good Cheick Tiote would be when he signed him?”(more…)
