Timmy, Timmy Krul. Timmy, Timmy Kruuuul.Contract talks have featured fairly frequently over the summer so far, although admittedly they have only made brief appearances in the news.
Steven Taylor, Andy Carroll and Tim Krul have are three players that have been linked with signing new deals at St James’ Park, although in fairness the Andy Carrol deal is not of the highest priority.
The deals regarding Tim Krul and Steven Taylor are of a high priority however as they have both entered into the last 12-months of their respective contracts. Talks have supposedly been ongoing between the club and all the relevant parties, and those talks appear to have come to fruition today as Tim Krul committed himself to a new four-year contract on Tyneside. (more…)
Who gets the privilege?The Newcastle captaincy is still up for grabs for this season, but who will be the likely heir to the captains armband?
The full-time club captain is yet to be named although it seems likely that either Alan Smith or Kevin Nolan will get the honour of the captaincy this season.
The next captain won’t be Sol Campell anyway, as Chris Hugton has ruled out that particular avenue, so that leaves us with options that are within our current squad, which isn’t a bad move in my opinion.
“I can categorically say that Sol will not be captain,” Hughton told The Chronicle. “I can completely rule that out and there is no truth in the talk that he will skipper this season. That is still to be confirmed.”(more…)
Our magnificent support.It’s an easy thing to say, especially when your view is a little biased, like mine for example, but Newcastle do seem to still have a bit of pulling power about them.
It would have been easy to lose it after our season out of the top flight. It would have been easy to lose it after all of the shenanigans of the last few years, yet still that pulling power remains.
Players still recognise Newcastle, they know all about St James’ Park, all about our fans, Alan Shearer, Bobby Robson and so on. Those are all things that won’t be forgotten by just having one year away from the top flight of English football. (more…)
Ben Arfa - Would have been a great signing.Sol Campbell became signing number three of the summer as he completed his move to St James’ Park earlier on today.
Campbell will no doubt beef up our central defensive options and his signature will leave us looking pretty solid in the middle of defence, well in my opinion anyway.
With everyone fit we would have Steven Taylor, Fabricio Colocinni, Mike Williamson, Tamas Kadar, and of course Campbell himself who are all central defenders. Then we have James Perch who can also cover in the centre when called upon, or so we’ve been told he can anyway. So where does that leave us now? I would suggest that the centre of defence is now done, in fact Chris Hughton has said much the same thing, but where should we be looking to strengthen now? (more…)
Time is running out.Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, goes the sound of transfer window clock.
Yet whilst the time ticks on, Newcastle don’t, well not in the transfer market anyway. Sure we have signed James Perch and Dan Gosling, but the latter would not have been a pre-planned exercise as nobody thought he would be available, especially on a free transfer.
So just what is the hold up? I was under the impression that with us sealing promotion early-doors that we would be able to steal a march on our rivals in the transfer market.
It seems not, and with only 35 (guesswork) days of the window remaining perhaps now is the time when Newcastle should actually begin to try and make some proper tracks with the recruitment drive. We are desperately short of numbers in some key areas, and they will need addressing if we are to be fully prepared for long and arduous season ahead. (more…)
