Turf ripped upPitch problems needed to be solved ahead of Newcastle United’s pre-season game against Orlando this evening.
It seems there are a few problems with the pitch at Orlando. Apparently the Orlando team usually play on astro-turf (not be confused with Astro Boy) but Pardew wasn’t keen on that idea due to its alleged proclivity for producing injuries. So Orlando owner Phil Rawlins spent a six figure sum getting real turf laid for tonight’s game.
However, after a pitch inspection today, both teams have agreed that they don’t particularly fancy the freshly rolled pitch after all.
It was thought that Rawlins might acquire a magic carpet from Orlando’s ‘Olde Shoppe of Inexplicable Items’ to play on but, alas, they’d sold out, so it looks like they’re going to have to put the astro-turf (not to be confused with Batman) back.
As a result, Pardew may have to rethink his team selection for tonight and it’s thought he may opt to leave Demba Ba and Steve Harper on the sidelines in case the synthetic pitch affects their troublesome knees in some way, although Bolton played on the astro-turf (not to be confused with Deputy Dawg) last week without any problems. (more…)
Man kicks football - whatever next?Newcastle United latest: Liverpool allegedly closing in on Enrique, Swansea City make improved bit for Wayne Routledge, the US tour gets underway tomorrow at Sporting Kansas City and the FA are awaiting reports about the pitch invasion at Darlington.
The whole Jose Enrique situation is beginning to grind on me at the moment, so I’ll be brief.
According to press reports, Liverpool are ‘closing in’ with an £11.5m deal for the player, which – if true – must be a very recent move by Dalglish’s mob because just a few days ago Alan Pardew said this in relation to the Enrique situation:
“We have had no concrete offers.”
I’ll be disappointed if he does go to Liverpool after all his crowing about wanting Champions League football although, if he’s clearly not going to sign a contract for us, I’ll be glad to see the back of him so that we can recruit a replacement left-back well before the new season gets under way. (more…)
Exit door loomsWith Enrique looking more and more destined to leave Newcastle United as each day passes and with Neil Taylor signing a new deal at Swansea, the left-back situation is now a priority for the club.
Newcastle are now pretty much resigned to the fact that they’ll have to hunt for a new left-back before the summer’s out. It seems fairly odds-on now that Jose Enrique will leave and last week Alan Pardew said:
“The noises coming out of Jose’s camp are that he wants to get a new club playing Champions League football.
“We cannot offer him that at the moment, so that seems to be his focus. Hopefully that will change. It is a moving feast. We have got to be ready because if he goes, it is going to leave a big hole in the team and we need to fill it quickly. But he does travel to the United States with us.
“It is not ideal for us, as you can imagine. It is difficult. We have offered him a massive contract for this football club and he does not seem to want to sign it, so it is a very difficult position.
“We have had no concrete offers, but we are going to try and have contingency plans in place so that if we do lose X, then Y comes in.
“We are going to have to give ourselves some sort of chance, so that the deadline-day struggle we had after selling Andy Carroll does not happen again. We not want to be in the same position as last time.” (more…)
Enrique: Showdown talks break down.Alan Pardew has now confirmed that Left back, Jose Enrique, is refusing to sign a new deal at the club.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United’s pursuit of Swansea’s Neil Taylor, who was, reputedly, being lined up as a replacement for ‘El Toro’ seems ever more doubtful as the Swans’ manager, Brendan Rogers claims that Taylor is “very very close” to signing a new deal at the club.
Speaking of the Enrique contract imbroglio after seeming breakdown in previously reported showdown talks on a new contract, Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew said this:
“He’s made it pretty clear that he still won’t sign a contract and that his future may be elsewhere.
“I’m not really comfortable with that, but we will have to deal with it.”
However Pardew refused to give up hope completely on keeping the player at the club adding: (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…)
