It's Pimms O'Clock for Pardew.Well, Wimbledon born Alan Pardew loves a bit of tennis (or so he said), and often attends the Tennis championship his birthplace is famous for.
So, Radio 5’s Richard Bacon pulled him in for an interview during the station’s coverage of the latest Wimbledon tournament for a chat. In it he talked about tennis, the recent European football championships in Poland and the Ukraine, as well as some things which undoubtedly be of interest to Newcastle United fans about his tactical thinking for next season, as well as Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba, and also Leon Best’s move to Blackburn Rovers. Here, I’m dropping in at the point where Bacon “grilled” Pardew (sorry for that) on what he can take from the Spanish national side’s performances for his work with Newcastle United.
Take it away, Richard!
Richard Bacon: “As a manager, do you look at Spain and think ‘Do you know what, let’s nick that, whatever they’re doing, I’m going to borrow that’?” (more…)
The Premiership fixture nerve centre today.Well, the Premier League fixture list was released this morning, with Newcastle once again taking on the might of North London in our opening fixture.
Last time it was Arsenal at home in our opening fixture, but this time the Magpies will be greeting Tottenham at St James’ Park on the 18th August. Tottenham, of course, drew 2-2 in the corresponding home fixture at St James’ Park last season, with our opening game against the other North London titans ending as a 0-0 draw. The London theme will continue after that with the Magpies making the trip to West London’s Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in their second Premiership game of the season.
Other salient points include the fact that the Magpies will be playing no less than a visit from Chris Hughton’s turkey pluckers of Norwich on the 22nd September. Another point of interest is the games taking place during yet another African Cup of Nations, which will be taking place for a second year on succession. This time the competition will be taking place in South Africa between 19 January and 10 February. This will almost certainly see us without key players, Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse and Cheick Tiote, if indeed they are still at the club by that time! Hopefully, the unstoppable force that is Shola Ameobi will be inexplicably passed over by Nigeria once again for this competition. (more…)
Ba: Cold shoulder from Turkey.Well, the latest “silly season” non-story about Galatasaray making a “daring raid / swoop” for Demba Ba seems to be dead in the water, with Galatasaray’s Chairman, Ünal Aysal coming out and saying that the club will not be making a move for the Toon’s Senegalese hitman.
Claiming that the striker wasn’t a big enough name to replace ex Liverpool striker and bouncing Czech, Milan Baros, if he leaves the club. Baros can currently be seen strutting his stuff at the ongoing European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine. Of course, when he suggests that “Ba” isn’t a big enough name, it probably has nothing to do with the fact that it is only two letters long (sorry, I’ll get me coat…).
Anyway, Aysal told the meedja:
“Ba’s name was suggested to us by a committee member and we opened negotiations after approval from (coach) Fatih [Terim].(more…)
Demba Ba interview.The latest interview from Demba Ba in which he looks back on his season with Newcastle United and Senegal, the goals, the fans, the excellent season on Tyneside and more… (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…)
