Little Vurn: NUFC's "marquee" signing in this window.As you no doubt know only too well, the Summer transfer window ended at 11pm on Friday evening. But are you happy, or not, overall, with the comings and goings at the club?
Reviewing the ingoings and outgoings at Newcastle United during this particular window (see table below), nine players have left the club and four have come in. I have included Ryan Donaldson and Phil Airey in the nine outgoings as they both enjoyed at least one or two outings for the first team in the past, though I have omitted several other Academy players who were released by the club in the infamous “night of the long knives” at the Benton Academy, when at least seven young prospects were axed in one go, plus the slightly older Kadar.
Though the figures are approximate, the overall spend for the club seems to be a figure of around +£2.64 million to +£3.14 million. Looking at the individuals involved will always be something of a subjective thing, but having a bash at some kind of assesment, I would say that the club has lost three squad members who had been very handy for the club when the inevitable injuries occured, or when more regular choices were fulfilling international commitments in major competitions such as the Africa Cup of Nations. We also lost the all but redundant Alan Smith (and his huge wages), the talented but constantly on loan Fraser Forster, the once regarded as highly promising defender, Tamas Kadar, who never quite failed to live up to earlier expectations, as well the two bairns mentioned above. (more…)
Koura: A bonny lad who certainly knows where the goal is!In the last game for Newcastle United’s Reserves clash against a Hamilton Academical 11, it was a young French trialist (named only as “Trialist” on the team sheet) who undoubtedly stole the show.
He scored two goals, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory for the second string Mags.
Newcastle United’s club reporter, Dan King, wrote of the mystery Frenchman:
“Two well-taken goals from a French trialist helped Newcastle Reserves start their pre-season campaign with a win against an experienced Hamilton outfit at the Magpies’ Benton training ground.
“The teenage winger, who has played for his country at youth level, scored twice in the first-half and Marcus Maddison added a third from the penalty spot before Alister Crawford netted a late consolation for the Scottish First Division side, who beat Sunderland’s second-string 3-1 earlier this week and included a host of senior players. (more…)
Newcastle United’s series of pre season fixtures starts this evening in Chemnitz, as the Magpies kick off their European tour, playing six games (if you count one against the Dutch Den Haag which is yet to be officially confirmed). Two of the games will be played in Germany, one in Hungary and two in Portugal, though not necessarily against local sides.
The teams will be Chemitzer at their place in Saxony, AS Monaco in Bavaria, Fenerbahçe in Hungary, Olympiacos and SC Braga at Braga’s unusual Estádio Municipal de Braga, which has a huge rockface at one side of the stadium instead of the usual terracing. Finally the as yet unconfirmed one against ADO Den Haag will be played at Den Haag’s Kyocera Stadium in the the Hague. Although not officially confirmed by NUFC, the game has been definitely been confirmed by Den Haag.
Finally (for the moment), back in the UK, there will be another “Battle of the Birds” as the Magpies take on the Bluebirds of Cardiff City at their place, and the reserves / bairns will also take on Gatesheed at the Intenational Stadium. (more…)
Nile Ranger: A reformed character on the comeback trail?The somewhat unexpected inclusion of Nile Ranger for Newcastle United’s ill fated League Cup encounter with Blackburn signals something a second chance for the young striker.
Although he is still way back in the pecking order, with Alan Pardew suggesting in a phone in on BBC Radio Newcastle’s “Total Sport” that even 19 year Sammy Ameobi has overtaken Ranger in the manager’s thoughts, he’s now back training with the first team and that’s a start. It’s cerrtainly something of an improvement on the previous situation, where he found himself completely out in the wilderness with the club simply itching to offload the recently troublesome young gangster striker permannently at the earliest available opportunity.
Whilst there could be several reasons for the club’s change of heart on Ranger, reasons such as the forthcoming loss of Demba Ba, and possibly Shola Ameobi to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, a rumoured improvement in his attitude in training, a recent impressive performace for the Reserves against Liverpool where he scored two goals, or possbly a lack of interest in a permanent £1 million move from other clubs due to his reputation preceding him, he still has some way to go to make up for lost ground. The question I will be asking in this piece, or specifically, the poll below, is can he make it? (more…)
Should I stay or should I go?On his return from an injury picked up in pre season, Newcastle United’s most senior goalkeeper, Steve Harper, was looking forward to a return in Newcastle’s League Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.
However Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, decided instead to select his old Charlton goalkeeper, Rob Elliot, instead. This came on top of previous reserve goalkeeper, the highly talented but less experienced and sometimes mistake prone Tim Krul seemingly claiming Harper’s old place in the Premiership. This was more or less confirmed when Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, said a few days after the Forest Cup tie:
“There is no situation with Steve. Harps and Rob are here as back-up to Tim at the moment because Tim has the jersey. It is as simple as that.”
Now, in a more recent development, Pardew has now revealed that he intends to hand Elliot the substitutes jersey for Newcastle united’s next Premiership game, and rotate the backup keepers to create some “competition” between Harper and the former Charlton Athletic “Player of the Year” runner up. Pardew said of the decision:
“We want to give all of them involvement. It creates competition and it gives us a different voice in the changing room.(more…)
