Bassong AwayThe weekend has of course been largely given over to the sad death of Sir Bobby Robson and the rest of the news seems less important now. However I’m going to try and catch up a bit today.
In our final pre-season friendly we managed a 1-1 draw with Dundee. Our goal came from Andy Carroll and then Dundee equalised from the penalty spot late in the game. There are reports on the club site and on Sky Sports.
There seems to be a little bit of confusion about the Bassong transfer situation. According to Sky Sports, Harry Redknapp admits interest in the defender but is unaware of any bid having been made, yet the same article claims the Newcastle have rejected a £10m bid. Redknapp said (of the alleged bid):
“It is not true. Not since I have been here today.
“He is a player that I was interested in. I like Bassong, he is a young player with a good future and a good central defender.
“I don’t think we have made an offer as far as I know. I am sure the chairman has not made an offer.” (more…)
Oba returns against Orient.In a day that appears largely bereft of Newcastle United news, I’ll have to pick out our reserve win over Whitley Bay as the headline news. Apparently Hughton and Calderwood were amongst the 1,075 crowd that saw us win 3-1 with two goals from Brad Inman and one from Wesley Ngo Baheng.
According to The Chronicle, Oba Martins and Geremi are set to make a return against Leyton Orient on Saturday, although Bassong is complaining of a ‘muscle ache’ and remains doubtful.
I have to admit to being a bit nonplussed about such news because I’m guessing that all three of these players will be clearing off as soon as Ashley’s transfer embargo is lifted. I’m not sure what we’re gaining in the long run by getting them into the pre-season squad and wonder if we’d be better off giving more of the youngsters some first team time – at least they’ll still be here for the rest of the season.
The article also explains how Hughton has been left to contemplate starting the season the season without Nicky Butt. He told The Chronicle: (more…)
Butt InjuredAfter just a couple of friendlies we’ve picked up our first injury of the season. According to the official club site, Nicky Butt will be out for 4 weeks and will have a hand operation to repair the partially dislocated thumb he received during the Darlington game. This of course means he’ll miss the start of the season.
I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. We seem to have had a particularly injury-prone squad in recent seasons and I was beginning to wonder whether that’s just down to bad luck or whether there’s something wrong with the training / physio regime.
According to The Chronicle, the players have been told that they can expect Hughton to be in charge for the start of the season, which is no real surprise given the way things seem to be dragging on. The article also suggests that the Malaysian consortium that was recently given a tour of St James’ Park has fallen by the wayside, although I’m not sure how The Chronicle knows that because all that Ashely’s PR man had to say on matters was: “we can’t give out anything on the record“. (more…)
A more palatable form of happy slapping from JoeyA Shola juggle and finish, a cameo from veteran Dean Windass, a terrible away strip, a rare goal from Jonas Guiterrez and seven goals from the boys in yellow. This one had almost everything. No wonder the travelling contingent thought it was “just like watching Brazil”.
Newcastle ran out 7-2 winners at a sparsely populated Northern Echo Arena but the harsh reality of it, is that Darlington were distinctly average and Newcastle barely got out of second gear to roll them over.
My day started by scrapping around looking for some company to take to the game with me. Alas, due to last minute organising I had no takers, so made the short but lonely trip down the A1 from Bowburn. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to this and as I turned on the multi-disc changer in the car and I came across The Stone Roses, I started to enjoy myself.
Parking up opposite the Copper Beech pub I hurried down Neasham Road anxious to get to the ticket office, after warnings of queues for ‘tickets on the day’. I needn’t have worried, as they were relatively small queues. Standing in line, I managed to duck out of an interview for Look North but couldn’t get out of camera shot when they asked the guy in front. I hope my hair looked ok. However, due to some bad advertising and organisation, a number of Mags managed to stand in what looked like a generic ticket queue, only to be told after 15 mins they wouldn’t sell us away tickets!! A short irritable while later I had my North Stand ticket in hand and followed some black and whites round to the turnstiles. (more…)
Profitable Group logo. City of London sources pouring cold water on claims from a Singapore-based company, the Profitable Group, that it has held talks with Ashley about a £100m buy-out, a UK-based consortium and an American grouping remain the two parties most likely to buy Newcastle. (Michael Walker – The Independent) Link>>
John Gaunt, the Chief Exective Officer of Singapore’s “Profitable Group” has said on his companies reported wish to buy Newcastle United “We are aware of the reports but we have no comment to make at the moment” (Ossian Shine – Reuters UK). (more…)
