Taylor signs new long-term Newcastle deal.It’s old news now, but I’ve been out in the pub all day so now is the first chance I have had to write about the fact that Steven Taylor has signed a new five-and-a-half year deal at Newcastle.
This will hopefully end speculation regarding the future of the player and will allow the press, the club, the player and the fans to move on.
Taylor had been on the transfer list since late last summer when contract talks between the club and Taylor’s agent, Paul Stretford, broke down. There was a lot of rumour and speculation with regards to why the talks broke down, but I guess we will never know now why they did, not for a while anyway. Love him or hate him, Paul Stretford has done his job and got his client the deal that was required for Taylor to stay at the club for the forseeable.
Apparently Taylor wanted to see signs of the club moving forward and signs of stability at Newcastle before committing himself to a new deal. He has obviously seen enough of those signs since Alan Pardew took over three weeks ago to warrant him signing on for the long term, although I would argue that a lot of this stability was instilled under Chris Hughton back when any agreement with Taylor looked to be dead in the water. (more…)
Barton - The key player for us?The inevitable transfer speculation has begun, which is perhaps unsurprising as the January transfer window is just around the corner.
A lot of the speculation seems to be regarding our players, which you could put down to a number of reasons.
Perhaps it seems that way because it is what most of us look for? Maybe some of our players have performed well enough to warrant such attention? Or could it be because the press know they are likely to get a reaction out of us?
I would hazard a guess at it being a combination of all three to be honest, particularly when it comes to the latest target of rumour mongering – Joey Barton. The rumour is, according to The Daily Mail (hehehe), that Aston Villa are interested in securing the services of Joey Barton in January. I don’t think there is any merit in that, at all, purely because, in my view, Barton has probably been the most important player for us so far this season. (more…)
Talk of a longer deal for Tiote?I’ve found a bit more newspaper gossip that could be of interest to you guys regarding Steven Taylor and Cheik Tiote.
Don’t worry, as ever on NUFCBlog.org we will endeavour to inform you of which is the wheat and which is the chaff with regard to news reporting. On that basis we’ll start off with the chaff.
The News of the World is reporting that talks with Steven Taylor are scheduled for the start of next week, and that Taylor is set to put pen to paper on a new long-term five-and-a-half year deal that will keep him at the club until the grand old age of 30.
The paper claims that the club have been impressed with how Taylor hasn’t been looking for a move in January and see this as an indication that he really does want to stay on Tyneside. On a similar note, it has also been reported that Taylor has been impressed with what Alan Pardew has had to say during meetings between the player and the manager. (more…)
St Andrews - Home of Birmingham City.Newcastle head to St Andrews on Saturday afternoon where they will come up against a tough Birmingham City side.
Newcastle will have to be at their very best of they are to beat a side that doesn’t generally give much away, especially on their own turf.
Birmingham are a physical side who work hard for each other. They chase and harry the opposition when they haven’t got the ball and can be a real threat when they do have the ball. The league table may suggest that Birmingham are struggling at the moment, but it will still be a very tough game.
Still, Newcastle have to go to The Midlands believing that they can win the game. The importance of three points, or even a point, can’t be understated, especially with tough games against Manchester City and Tottenham coming up over the festive period. Building on the impressive 3-1 victory over Liverpool has to be a high priority for Alan Pardew and the lads. (more…)
Is Ashley selling up?I’ve noticed that there seems to be a bit of momentum gathering pace with regard to the Qatar royal family wanting to buy Newcastle.
Questionable source after questionable source has now reported the ‘news’, but I personally remain sceptical of the whole thing to be honest.
Many of these stories are cooked up with the intent of causing unrest amongst fans in the hope of us supplying them with their next story – we’ve been here before remember. This is why it is amusing me when I read comments from people who are getting all starry-eyed at the prospect of a mega-rich tycoon takeover. My message is simple – be careful what you wish for!
I’m no fan of Mike Ashley, but then who is to say that the next owners would be any better? There seems to be a view that any potential new owner would willingly splash the cash, and that same view was shared when Ashley took over Newcastle three-and-a-half years ago. See my point? (more…)
