Graham Carr: A harder road ahead?You may have noticed that Newcastle United’s chief scout, Graham Carr, was very much in the news recently, and much of this was centered around him being given an eight year contract by the club’s managing director, Derek Llambias.
Usually, when a club renews an agreement with it’s chief scout, it hardly gets a great mention. However at the new Newcastle United rounds of interviews were arranged by the club’s press department, it “trended” on Twitter and was even covered in the national press. It was as if the club had renewed the contract of it’s manager. So what was behind this?
Graham Carr is now 67, with a long career in both coaching and scouting behind him, including scouting at other large, high profile clubs such as Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. So why now, in the autumn of his career, is he attracting so much attention? what is it that has made him emerge like a Butterfly from a Chrysalis on Tyneside? (more…)
Of course, there are lots of NUFC videos on YouTube and the like, but if you seen any by the dynamic duo of Ross and Affy, collectively known as “Gallowgatetoon,” I think you’ll agree that theirs are amongst the very best.
Here’s what they have to say about their work:
“Back in January we set up a joint channel on YouTube (Gallowgatetooners) with the idea that we would work together to produce Newcastle videos. Beyond the obvious season review videos, we didn’t really know what to produce, so we bounced ideas about, and ‘The Goals’ video was conceived, as was the ‘Ben Arfa Wondergoal’ video. We were very surprised by how well the season review videos went down, and all of the feedback gave us a massive boost to continue with what we were doing. (more…)
"I Want To Stay"First the good news – Papiss Demba Cisse wants to stay at Newcastle United for “many years”. And what’s more, that news is actually backed up with direct quotes from the player speaking to Sky Sports. So this isn’t “a source close to the player” or “a source close to the club”, this is Cisse himself, on the record, saying he wants to stay.
He told Sky Sports:
“I am very happy in Newcastle and I want to stay there for many years.”
“We were close to a Champions League position so next season hopefully we will qualify for that and everyone will taste the Champions League.”
“I am looking forward to next season.”
This news is particularly heartening given the recent press speculation that clubs like moneybags Manchester City are apparently keen on stealing our star forward. A bid might still come in of course, and it might be of sufficient size to tempt the United “Board” to cash in. But it’s always a good start if the player himself wants to stay and is happy here. (more…)
“Gallowgatetooners” aka Ross & Affy are the best makers of Newcastle United videos, and here’s their latest, “Newcastle United The Goals 11/12.”
Here’s what they say about it:
“Every goal of the 2011/2012 season. A season which produced European football, and a season which re-ignited belief within the fans that maybe, just maybe, silverware might be closer than we think. The 5th place is the highest finish since the era of the great Sir Bobby Robson.”
As a special bonus feature, here’s their version of Hatem Ben Arfa’s superb goal against Bolton too.(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…)
