Archive for category: Thoughts and reflections.

Bargain hunting for top strikers won’t work Derek

September 3rd, 2011 | 27 Comments |

Llambias: Understands fan's frustrations?
Llambias: Understands fan's frustrations?
Most of you will be aware by now that yesterday, Newcastle United’s Managing Director, Derek Llambias, issued a statement on the club’s performance in the latest transfer window. It read:

“Now that the transfer window has closed, we have had some time to reflect on the business we have conducted over the summer.

“Our aim was to secure young players who represented value for money and could add real strength to the squad. The majority of our transfer dealings were completed in the early part of the window and we feel we have signed some players of exceptional quality. Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Mehdi Abeid, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan were all brought in early and we have seen these players settle quickly into the squad and perform well on the pitch.

“Earlier this week we were delighted to sign Davide Santon from Inter Milan to fill our left-back position after the departure of Jose Enrique. Davide is an excellent young prospect and we’re sure he’ll be another superb addition to the squad. We also welcomed young goalkeeper Rob Elliot from Charlton Athletic who will help us retain healthy competition for that position after loaning out Fraser Forster to Celtic. (more…)


Toon to announce excuse later – Best to plug the hole for now

September 2nd, 2011 | 68 Comments |

Leon Best now Newcastle United's first choice striker?
Shush, just like the club
Newcastle United must now face post-transfer window life and we’ll just have to get on with it. Apparently the club are due to make some sort of announcement today to explain their transfer window failures.

Newcastle United Limited has so far remained silent about the club’s failure to recruit a much-needed striker during the transfer window. Even Alan Pardew – a man not known for being backward in the tongue-wagging department – has had nothing to say.

However, they will apparently make some sort of official statement later today.

Presumably they’ve now had sufficient time to think up an excuse, probably along the lines of “we tried our best”, “we’re not paying over the odds” and “last minute rejections by other clubs”. I think we pretty much know what it’s going to say. (more…)


Thoughts and reflections of our trials and tribulations

September 1st, 2011 | 37 Comments |

Our beloved club's crest.
Passion, pride, loyalty - NUFC
I’ve spent much of the morning nursing a hangover after yesterday’s debacle, and trying to organise my thoughts and come to some decision on what on Earth happened in the past few months.

Like all of you, I’m racked with disappointment, anger, frustration but most of all betrayal. We pay our hard earned cash for the privilege of watching those 11 lads play in the black and white stripes, to sing our heart out and ultimately to support the club we have stood by for so many years. There was one time when hell or high water wouldn’t keep me away from the Cathedral on the Hill that so dominates our skyline and now I’m finding it a struggle to check the news of a morning to find out how the board of Newcastle United are going to insult the loyal Geordie nation.

My daily routine is fairly basic. I wake up late morning, make a cup of tea, come back to my computer and check the usual blogs, News Now and then start checking my emails. Depending on the events, I’ll plan out an article for publication around evening time. During the transfer window, my phone becomes my greatest friend and I often don’t even wait to get on the computer to see what’s happening at this wonderful club. (more…)


How good was this transfer window?

September 1st, 2011 | 33 Comments |

An assessment of Newcastle United's summer 2011 transfer window.
The actual transfer window, allegedly
The lack of an incoming striker for Newcastle United has left many fans disgruntled, but how does it look all told?

Newcastle’s failure to bring in a striker in this latest transfer window has caused something of a furore with many fans and I’ll come to that later, but I just wanted to summarise the transfers and see where we stand.

Goalkeepers

We’re pretty much where we were in this respect, but with the addition of Rob Elliot. Forster wasn’t here last season and Pardew obviously took a look at him in the summer, decided that he could do without him and thusly allowed him to return to Celtic, which was what Forster wanted anyway.

I have no idea what Rob Elliot is like and neither do I know where he fits into the goalkeeping pecking order, although I assume it’s behind Krul and Harper.

I think we’re pretty much unchanged in this area, although I suspect we’ll find that Krul is now first choice ahead of Harper.

Defenders

It’s almost like a straight swap with Jose Enrique leaving and Davide Santon arriving. I think Enrique was a good player and his link up work with Gutierrez along the left flank was excellent and – by reputation at least – Santon should be an effective replacement. Whether this particular player swap works out better or worse for us remains to be seen. (more…)


Don’t be Krul!

August 31st, 2011 | 49 Comments |

Tim Krul.
Krul: Sparkling form.
After the victory over a very average Fulham team, it is still far from being all rosy in the NUFC garden.

Apart from the obviously self imposed transfer chaos, club policies, missing transfer revenues and off field dramas filling up the headlines before, during and after the game, some fans don’t seem content with another vital three points and are fault finding at every opportunity. I am dismayed at the criticism being directed towards Newcastle and Holland’s current Number 1 after arguably his man of the match performance on Sunday?

It is has been an excellent start to the season with the momentum picking up nicely on the pitch and we are looking in decent shape so i am quietly optimistic that with a few extra faces though the door before deadline day, we should be ok this season.

But am I in the minority when it comes to Tim krul? (more…)