...and yet we still lack depth.Interesting scenes today as Newcastle United fans chanted “If Sammy scores, we’re on the pitch”… and then Sammy Ameobi decided it would be a great idea to score.
Needless to say, on fled hundreds of Toon fans, some of which travelling all the way from Newcastle upon Tyne, forcing the referee to actually postpone the game. During the madness, a steward was hit in the face by a Darlington supporter, which I’m sure we can all agree is simply out of order.
Newcastle United were at the Northern Echo Arena for the second time in as many pre-seasons to open up their pre-season campaign. Fraser Forster began between the sticks with Hatem Ben Arfa making his first appearance since his horror tackle by Nigel De Jong. Joey Barton scored after just 3 minutes and at some point afterwards (relying on Twitter for information here!) Sammy Ameobi dared the Newcastle fans with his goal. (more…)
Tiote chuffed to be as Newcastle United.Newcastle United midfielder Cheik Tiote says he has committed himself to the club and has a positive attitude towards the coming pre-season games.
I can only presume all the gloom with Toon supporters is due to my unplanned absence from article writing of late (more of which later). Or possibly not.
Anyway, there is some good news coming from the mouth (which is presumably attached to a head and body in the usual fashion) of Cheik Tiote. The Ivory Coast superstar is nuts about Newcastle and would chop off his left leg to play for them, although of course that would perhaps hinder his footballing capabilities.
First, Tiote addresses the rumours that might be heading to another club, specifically Chelsea:
“It is only the journalists who have talked about Chelsea – I haven’t said anything.
“I am a Newcastle player, and I will do my job in Newcastle. I have a contract, and that’s the most important thing for me.
“I’m happy – if I wasn’t happy, I wouldn’t have signed for six years.”
So that should be the end of any speculation about a move anywhere else. (more…)
What's a 'huge fee'?Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has indicated that a huge amount of fees go to agents for transfers and such, but just how much classes as ‘huge’?
One of the things I picked up on in Workyticket’s transcription of Alan Pardew’s interview is that he (meaning Alan Pardew rather than Worky) claimed we pay huge sums of money to agents as part of any transfer agreement.
What Pardew said was:
“I was listening earlier when you was talking about the money being spent and I just want to sort of make something clear. When you sign someone like Demba Ba and someone like Marveaux there’s huge fees involved in that, it isn’t just transfer fees. This is unfortunately how the Premier League works and a lot of money in those deals doesn’t come back through the system. Ideally, in the old days we would sign someone from the Championship and it would go back into the English game but this money’s going out through agents and stuff like that.”
So I thought I’d do some investigation to try and find out just how much money is spent on things like agents’ fees. (more…)
Barca interest may be unfoundedBarcelona may not be after Newcastle United left-back Jose Enrique and Mevlüt Erdinç snubs Newcastle transfer.
It seems that recent rumours about Barcelona’s interest in Jose Enrique may be unfounded. Enrique’s representative (and brother) Salvador Sanchez said this about any alleged links between his brother and a move to the Nou Camp:
“We know nothing, only what has appeared in the press.”
Barcelona are known to want to strengthen their left side and, after recent attempts to sign José Ángel from Sporting Gijón fell through, it was thought they might turn their attentions to Enrique. However, it seems that Valencia’s Jordi Alba is actually their preferred target.
Some sites are saying that Barcelona have actually come out and said “We will not be trying to sign Enrique” but after a thorough search of the Spanish press for statements from Barcelona I can’t find any evidence of this. That’s not to say it isn’t true of course – my failure to find it might just be due to my incompetence with both the Spanish language and Google. (more…)
The sound of two-hand clappingIf we cast a yardstick over the comings and goings at Newcastle United during this transfer window, have we done enough already to achieve Alan Pardew’s aim of ‘getting a reputation and moving forward’?
Confusion abounds amongst Toon fans as to exactly what’s in store for us during the remainder of this transfer window. The less speculative fan might suggest we “wait and see” but there are others who like a bit of speculative ranting or raving – good or bad – about how things are going. And why not?
The Dalia Lama once told me that the root of all suffering is craving; specifically craving to want things to be different to the way they are. Stop that craving, he said, and all suffering will cease. I have it on good authority that the Dalia Lama is a Blackpool supporter though (orange kit you see) and I tend to feel if he was a Newcastle supporter he might have hoyed his prayer wheel out of the window in frustration by now. (more…)
