Passion, pride, loyalty - NUFCI’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…)
'Trying is the first step towards failure'Seven months after the sale of Andy Carroll, Newcastle United have, to the surprise of no one, failed to sign a suitable replacement to fill the void up front.
A day of deadline drama, in which saw United lodge a “bid” for FC Twente’s Bryan Ruiz, has ended up falling flat on it’s face as Newcastle, for reasons unknown, decided to try and bring in a striker by submitting a bid 4 hours or so before the close of the transfer window.
Mr. Ashley had a helicopter ready to swish our man from the clutches of Martin Jol’s Fulham waiting in the capital, but (shock horror), the inevitable news from David Craig was that “unfortunately” United just couldn’t quite seal the deal for Ruiz, and also defender, Liam Ridgewell.
This ‘bid’ seems slightly reminiscent of last January’s “attempt” of bringing in a player (Charles N’Zogbia) just hours before the window closed. So after fans have endured a summer of rumours or “smokescreens” as I’d prefer to call it, Newcastle have failed in their quest to find a striker.
Santon: Wage problems?Inter Milan defender, Davide Santon, is currently undergoing a medical for Newcastle United on Tyneside today.
However, though there have been some reports that a deal for Santon has been agreed in principle pending the medical, with a bid for 4.5 million euros, or 6 million Euros including bonuses being allegedly accepted by Internazionale, Italy’s Corriere dello Sport are reporting that while the two sided wing back is thinking seriously about a move to Newcastle United, an agreement on terms might be a problem, or as the Gazzetto put it:
“The ‘Child’, as Mourinho called him at the time of his debut, is thinking about it seriously, but there are problems of engagement.”
Meanwhile, another Italian sports journal, Calcio Mercato News are reporting on the “problems of engagement” thus: (more…)
Barton: Impressed with QPR's ambition.After all the fuss and bother of the past few days, the now ex Newcastle United midfielder, Joey Barton, has finally mulled things over, and signed a deal for West London club, Queen’s Park Rangers.
There seems to be some confusion as to whether Barton has signed for three or four years at his new club, on wages that have been estimated at around £80,000 per week, though nothing official or definitive seems to have been made public at the time of writing. If these figures are roughly correct, it would mean that Newcastle United owner, Mike Ashley has played right into the hands of Barton and his agent, Willie McKay, by offering the midfielder on a free transfer after his outbursts on microblogging site, ‘Twitter’. Both Barton and McKay could also be in line to receive a lucrative signing on fee in the transaction.
Speaking to QPR’s official website, the Barton said of his move to the capital:
“It’s been quite a whirlwind, so to get things finally sorted and draw a line under it all is a great relief.”
Who do you believe?In a rare interview, Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew fas come out to firmly defend the way Newcastle United conduct their business in the transfer market.
He told local rag, the Sunday Stun, that Newcastle United are no different from clubs such as Manchester United in their recruitment policy, and added that he wasn’t really disappointed to have missed out on any players, saying:
“I don’t think the process at Newcastle is very different from elsewhere in the Premier League.
“It’s exactly what I had at West Ham in terms of chief executive (Derek Llambias) trying to do the deal – and it’s as simple as that. The board, and in this case we don’t really have a board – it’s Mike to a degree, agreeing with the deal that the chief executive has done.
“That’s the same as every other club that I know and how it works. I keep hearing these things about this football club that are actually just not true. I don’t think the procedure is any different.(more…)
