As you may know already, a team of Newcastle United’s younger players led by Academy coach Willie Donachie will be competing once again in the seven a side “Hong Kong Soccer Sevens” this weekend, which is being held in (you guessed it) Hong Kong.
They will be defending their title for the main trophy, having won last year’s final against a side of Aston Villa youngsters (a video of that final is below). Here’s hoping we can make it two in a row! (more…)
The night of the long knives at SJP.Newcastle United announced their list of retained players (players who’s contracts have expired but are being renewed) earlier this evening.
Of course though, these lists are usually at least as notable for the players are being released as much as those who are being returned.
Firstly, the once seemingly never ending saga which was Alan Smith at Newcastle United is finally over. The player who admitted that he would “never be the same player again” even before he signed a £50,000+ per week 5 year contract for Newcastle after (not quite) recovering from a horrific leg break is finally an ex-Newcastle United player.
However, he isn’t the only notable squad member to be given the push. As has been widely speculated in the football gossip columns for some time, Danny Guthrie and Peter Lovenkrands will also be leaving, along with the once much hyped Hungarian hog harrier, Tamas Kadar, who never quite lived up to expectations in a black and white shirt. (more…)
Congratulations to the Newcastle United youth team players on winning the Hong Kong “Soccer Sevens” seven a side Championship in er, Hong Kong.
It was the first time Magpies had participted in the competition, and after beating Celtic and Blunderland on their path of glory, they triumphed 2-1 over a team of young Aston Villans in the final. Midfielder, Brad Inman, in particular seemed to have a very good game, assisting Adam Campbell’s opening goal for the Mags before banging one in himself.
If you want to see the Toon stars of the future, look no further!(more…)
Haris Vuckic - Edging closer to the first team?Well here we are, a third of the way through our season, sitting in eighth place. Arguably we could be even higher, but eighth place isn’t bad at all, and is more than I expected anyway.
Of course, being a third of the way through the season also has it pitfalls. It’s a well used cliche, but it is a long, hard season, and injuries and suspensions soon mount up.
Newcastle are going through a little spell of injuries and suspensions themselves at the moment. The suspensions to Joey Barton and Chieck Tiote have added to what seems to be a growing injury list, with Andy Carroll being the latest player to encounter some form of injury problem after he picked up a groin problem in the 0-0 draw against Fulham at the weekend – An injury that could hamper bigger lad making his England debut on Wednesday night.
Few can deny that losing Carroll will be a massive blow to the team, if we do end up losing him to injury of course. The Gatsehead lad has established himself as a key figure in th Newcastle side, and losing what he brings to the team is far from ideal. The exact same thing can be said for Cheick Tiote who has been largely excellent since his he made his debut against Everton back in September. (more…)
Defensive cover?Well, it’s the weekend, which obviously means the papers crank up the printing press and churn out that little bit more speculation and gossip.
In spite of that though, it is actually pretty quiet on the Newcastle transfer speculation front today, which is surprising and not what I want to see when I wake up on a Saturday morning.
Ultimately this time of the year always leads to speculation from fans across the country. It’s a little bit different this year due to the World Cup, but the focus of fans of clubs across the country remains on their respective clubs for the time being. One new link today has been regarding Chelsea player Slobodan Rajkovic. The controversial defender has been on loan for three seasons and has spent the majority of that time in Holland, with the pinnacle so far being a league winners medal won last season with Steve McClaren’s FC Twente. (more…)
