NUFC Blog on metro.co.uk It was disappointing yet sadly predictable to see some fans at St James’ Park booing Yohan Cabaye on his to action on Saturday, even though they still didn’t know the exact reasons for his absence from Newcastle United’s first two Premier League games. But now I’ve got that off my chest, it’s time to tell you that my latest blog on metro.co.uk is now up!
Entitled “The Yohan Cabaye affair: What the fans think” most of it was actually written by you lot out there! As some of you know already, I posted this blog last Friday asking readers of the site to give your thoughts on the Cabaye transfer imbroglio, and as usual, you gave some excellent responses! They ranged right through the spectrum, from those who believe he actually went on strike, should be banished to the reserves and made to publically apologise to fans, right through to those who thought the strike story was yet another trick to put the blame on the player instead of the club like as they did with the Andy Carroll transfer and several others. (more…)
NUFC Blog on metro.co.uk As some of you already know, I am currently the Newcastle United blogger for metro.co.uk, the website for the free newspaper distributed in London and several other major cities throughout the UK.
This time, I want to prepare two pieces for my Metro blog with your views. The first will be to reflect the views of my fellow Newcastle United fans on the current Yohan Cabaye transfer situation, and the second will be on Wonga’s sponsorship of Newcastle United now that the season has started. You can express your views on both topics or just one if you prefer but please read the note on word limits below if you want to contribute.
Like the previous one, they won’t be an epic pieces overall as they word limited, so it would be great if you could keep your entries to around 50 words for each topic, or 60 if you really must! To give you an idea, the paragraph after this one is 65 words, so something just a little shorter than that would be fine. If you don’t have Microsoft Word or something similar with a word counter and can’t be bothered to count the words one by one, you can find a very good online word counter here. (more…)
Cabaye: The soap continues…There have been many baffling comments so far from Alan Pardew on the current Yohan Cabaye situation which have been about as clear as mud.
There have also been conflicting reports about Cabaye being on strike / Cabaye not being on strike, with Pardew speaking of Arsenal trying to drive his well maintained Cabaye 2.8 away from the car dealership (NUFC motors presumably) without agreeing a price, suggestive comments about how “there has to be a way back for Yohan,” how he is protecting the player and the club, how the club always comes first with him and much more…
Now, in his latest suggestive statement on the imbroglio, Pardew says that he “expects” Cabaye to be playing against Fulham:
“What I have said to Yohan Cabaye is I expect him to play this weekend. Until another bid comes in from Arsenal that is accepted or not that will be the situation.”(more…)
In it, instead of my views, there are the views of several NUFC blog readers, all expressed within around 50-60 words. There are views from nufc bloggers Joe Sharpe, Tony Toon, GS, Pete Toon, Steve P, Joe Hawkins, Tunyc, Sampdiago and Dokky on what the current season might hold in store for Newcastle United and it is well worth a read, with views ranging from the cautiously optimistic to gloomy premonitions of impending catastrophe.
Hope you like it and many thanks to all of you who contributed! (more…)
Wonga: Sinking their teeth into the North East. A radio programme which is well worth listening to if you’re a Newcastle United fan is BBC Radio Four’s “the Lending Game,” a 40 minute look at Wonga’s controversial sponsorship of Newcastle United.
This is what the online blurb for the programme says:
“As Wonga moves into the mainstream with its sponsorship of Newcastle United, is the so-called payday lender responding to, or shaping, changing attitudes on money and morality? Chris Bowlby goes back to his teenage home on the Tyne to look at the rise of Wonga through the lives of the Toon Army.”
Amongst other things, it contains a fairly revealing interview with Newcastle United financial director, John Irving, who told Chris Bowlby that the clinching factor for working with Wonga was the company’s desire to “work with us on fans, the Academy and the Newcastle United Foundation,” who work with the Wonga customers of the future, youngsters from underprivileged families in the North East. However, the interview with Irving is abruptly halted later in the show by a female press officer (possibly Wendy Taylor) when the interviewer brings up controversial subject of former refusenik, Papiss Cisse, who was still in discussions with the club over wearing the shirt when the programme was being made. (more…)
