Spot the difference.In the top photo, you can see an example of a £7.50 training T-Shirt from the existing Puma “Spirit” range side by side with the new Newcastle United change shirt with an almost identical design.
Now before I proceed, please don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to try and suggest that the two are actually the same items with just very minor changes in detailing as I haven’t examined them side by side. Nor am I trying to make the general point that replica team football shirts are a rip-off either, Freddy Shepherd and many others have made that point already.
However, writing as a designer myself, it is but one example among many of Puma’s lazy, poor and rehashed designs. The standard of the design is the same as you would expect to find from one of Mike Ashley’s sweatshop brands, and the same is true of the quality too, especially so if you remember the shirts of Newcastle United’s previous supplier, Adidas. For a supposedly premium product, they are an insult to Newcastle United’s fans, not to mention those of other clubs they supply. Then again, I am not a big replica shirt buyer personally, so I would very much like to hear the views of those of you who are.(more…)
Pardew: Blaming extra games for failure.“This was our 50th game today, which goes a little bit unnoticed. With all the travelling involved as well, that’s tough. Clubs will look at us and the impact it can have, because it’s not only the extra games but the injuries we’ve had on the back of that. There’s no doubt that our league position would be greater. We’ve had to pay a heavy penalty on the Sundays, not just for Sunderland but for previous games. Swansea are going to find that next year – it’s difficult, unless you really increase the size of your squad.” – Johnstone’s Paint trophy winner Alan Pardew after Newcastle United’s game with West Bromwich Albion.
“I know one year that Barcelona played with 19 first-team players, as well as a few younger players, and they played every three days. It is possible.”– Swansea manager Michael Laudrup, winner of 15 major trophies as a player and 5 as a manager on Swansea’s entry into European competition next season.
“We have a short squad, but it is my decision that the squad is short because I want a squad of 20 players, no more, with the risks a short squad has, but also with the good things a short squad has. The good things are that the side is competitive, everybody feels part of it. So I hope I don’t read again “Mourinho wants more players,” because I don’t want more players. I’m happy with the short squad I have, with the good things and the bad things.”– Jose Mourinho, winner of 20 major trophies as a manager and whose Real Madrid team played 58 games last season. (more…)
NUFC: More ‘hoof’ than a Tesco economy burger.“We were tighter as a team. We kicked the ball longer. We tried to get as many bodies around the ball as we possibly could to make it difficult for their passing game.” – Newcastle United first team coach Steve Stone praising a route one performance against Swansea City (which we lost).
“Alan Pardew will tell you that he tries to play good football – That’s rubbish, he plays long ball football. It’s very direct, there is no creativity in midfield, he just wants to play route one football. Every time I’ve seen his teams play, they play that way but he’ll say in the Press ‘we play good football.’ At times he can be a conman.”– ex player and pundit Stewart Robson when Pardew was appointed as Newcastle United’s manager.
Although Newcastle United have never been what could be described as a “pass and move” side, in their early season games I noticed Alan Pardew’s sharply increasing reliance on the long ball as a tactic in early season games against teams such as Aston Villa, Everton, Norwich and Reading. Because of this, and also because of Alan Pardew’s previous reputation as an old school “hoofball merchant” before he joined the club in December 2010, I decided to track Newcastle United’s performances in this respect. (more…)
NUFC Blog’s latest piece on metro.co.uk is out now!This is a fairly brief note to let you all know that my latest blog for Metro.co.uk is now published.
Entitled “How the Wilfried Bony to Newcastle United story started,” it takes a look at how a piece on this site extolling the virtues of Vitesse Arnhem’s prodigious striker eventually led (via the Telegraph) to a full blown Newcastle United transfer rumour which even incurred the wrath of Derek Llambias according to the Journal (which made my day incidentally).
It is not a rare occurence by any means, with so called journalists from virtually all the major media organs constantly taking their inspiration for specious transfer stories from the most unlikely sources, then trying to give them a veneer of respectabilty by using stock phrases such as “sources close to the club,” “it is understood that…” or whatever. (more…)
NUFC Blog’s latest blog on metro.co.uk is out now! Just a quick note to let you know that my latest piece for metro.co.uk” has now been published.
Entitled “Alan Pardew says the funniest things sometimes,” it is a brief (they’re only supposed to be around 500 words in there) reflection on some of Pardew’s words after Newcastle’s victory against Stoke, where he marked the cards of foolish romantics who prattle on about how teams need a “fantastic spirit” to win a game once they’ve gone behind. Instead, he insisted that only teams with “world class players” like Yohan Cabaye can change a game once they are a goal behind.
Just to refresh your memory, his exact words were:
“People get them mixed up sometimes, they talk about the spirit of the side and ‘You must have a fantastic spirit to come back from a goal down’. (more…)
