Mr Reliable?Derek Llambias has made a timely statement to suggest that Chris Hughton will be backed in his bid to bolster Newcastle United’s bid for promotion at the first attempt. Llambias has also spoken about his belief that the fans are coming around to some sort of acceptance of Ashley, due to the stirling work of Hughton so far this season and insisted that Mike Ashley is committed to giving Hughton everything required to get the club promoted.
Having been impressed with the start we’ve made to this campaign, it would appear that they do not want to jeopardise the good work and insists that there are no plans to let any players leave in January.
He also apparently revealed (though he’s not quoted), that they are close to finalising permanent moves for at least two players ahead of the January transfer window, with Sheffield United centre-back Matthew Kilgallon on the verge of sealing a switch to the North East.
“We have been absolutely delighted with the job that Chris has done,”
“There is a fantastic spirit in the camp and he has managed to change the whole atmosphere surrounding the club. It seems like a different place to what it was a few months ago.
“To see a crowd of nearly 50,000 people inside St James’ Park last weekend was tremendous and shows what a fantastic football club this is.(more…)
Decision time?Despite another three points on the board, with the loudest cries of the day demanding the owner to take leave of his current involvement at Newcastle, the latest article in the News of the World suggests Toon fans might get their wish sooner rather than later. The paper claims that Mike Ashley is ready to reopen talks about selling Newcastle next month.
Despite the no-show of funds from previous prospective buyers, NoTW claims that new parties, including one from America, have made contact. Their inference is that relinquishing control of the club would allow him to concentrate on the forthcoming case with the Serious Fraud investigation over alleged price-fixing. And presumably a selling point would be that new owners would have time to invest and help ensure promotion to the top flight. (more…)
Still a flying Frenchman?Well he might somthing like that if he turns down the recent pleas of former Newcastle favourite Laurent Robert. Robert is a free agent after being released by Larissa FC of Greece and had been training with Fabrice Pancrate at Paris St Germain. And it’s Pancrate who is acting as the go-between after Robert asked him to put a good word in for him with Chris Hughton.
According to reports in The Journal and The Times, Pancrate has passed on Robert’s phone number and left it up to Hughton to make a decision on whether or not to bring the former French international back for a second spell at Newcastle and Pancrate is quoted as saying via an interpreter:
“I had a lot of conversations with Laurent and he told me about how amazing this city was, how incredible the fans are and how much I would enjoy my time here.
“As soon as I walked through the doors I realised he was right.
“I think Laurent is in talks with Paris St Germain at the moment, but he told me that he would like to come back here.(more…)
Heroes or villains?Gathering my thoughts, my notes and my open mind, I ordered a pint of Deuchars last night and settled myself against the bar of The Strawberry at approximately 7.25pm, ready to listen to what the committee representatives of the Newcastle United Supporter’s Trust (NUST), had to say for themselves.
I was under no illusions that with a number of pressing questions sitting snugly in my pocket, that despite my ambivalence (bordering on enthusiasm), I would be seen to be playing Devil’s Advocate nonetheless. However, clearly they had been asked the same questions on a few occasions and have consider the same issues themselves. They answered my questions fairly candidly, although they could not digress on certain key aspects which will no doubt frustrate some people. Unfortunately, these same details are the ones which have led people to distrust the motives of the individuals within the Trust.
Having stood and listened to the commitee members, namely Colin Whittle of True Faith and a solicitor by profession, Mark Jensen of The Mag, Bill (unfortunately not sure of his full name or background) acting as compere. And I spoke at length to Tony Stephenson, who does a lot of the online stuff for NUST (I missed out on Ando doing his ex-player turn, and hope I didn’t put him off with my incessant chat to Ton).
This is what I gathered from the roadshow: (more…)
A lot depends on these twoNewcastle United are sitting pretty at the top of the Championship right now. It’s a good reason to be optimistic perhaps but what happens if we actually get promoted?
Even the most pessimistic of Toon supporters would probably entertain ideas of us at least making a play-off spot this season. Sure, we’re only a third of the way through the season and there’s always the chance that injuries could seriously affect our small squad, but it would be a brave man who’d bet against us finishing in the top 6.
Promotion, then, is a distinct possibility.
In terms of our squad, what we have is more or less the players we had at the end last season minus nine regulars and with the addition of a couple of players on loan. Some of the nine we’ve lost won’t be missed but some people would argue that a few of our better players were amongst the leavers, such as Bassong, Beye, Martins and maybe even Duff.
Arguably then, on paper we have a weaker team than the one that got relegated last season. That’s not the full story of course because one of the reasons we were so dismal last season was because we kept changing manager every 5 minutes. This season we’ve had consistency in that area and Hughton’s managed to motivate the team. I think consistency is worth a lot in terms of results but is it enough alone that the current squad would be able to hold their own in – and avoid relegation from – the Premier League? (more…)
