In demand?Newcastle United captain Fabricio Coloccini is allegedly on Liverpool’s Christmas shopping list whilst Steve Harper might be off for a spell at Brighton.
Shockingly, it’s only 10 weeks until Christmas, which for a humbug like me is a disturbing thought. And shortly after that it’s the January sales, although in this case I’m talking about the transfer window rather than the mad squeeze to get into Harrods (where I’m sure all Toon supporters shop) for a cut-price pair of socks.
If reports in the weekend press are anything to go by, Liverpool intend to do some shopping at St James’ Park by way of Fabricio Coloccini. Apparently Kenny Dalglish is keeping a close eye on Colo’s contract situation and is ready to make a reported £12m bid for the player if Colo has not signed with Newcastle before the end of the window.
After they’ve recently taken Carroll and Enrique from us, you could be forgiven for thinking they see us as some sort of feeder club for them, but in this case I say enough is enough and they can keep their grubby mitts off our captain. (more…)
Happy to wait his turnNewcastle United goalkeeper Steve Harper says he’s content to keep the bench warm for now and has nothing but praise for Tim Krul.
My esteemed colleague recently wrote an article about Steve Harper asking whether he is content playing second fiddle to Tim Krul at Newcastle or whether he may consider moving elsewhere.
And yesterday Steve Harper gave his reply. When asked if he’s prepared to sit on the bench, Harper said:
“Of course. The club made the decision to start with Tim at the start of the season and he has been outstanding. You can’t take that away from him.
“Some games he has been quiet but against Fulham, the cup game against Scunny, and Wolves he was outstanding.
“He has played a big part in the start to the season and I will continue to help him. I know he’s said that. But I will help him as much as I can.
“He is a big player for the future and if I can help get the best out of him then it will only benefit the club.” (more…)
Should I stay or should I go?On his return from an injury picked up in pre season, Newcastle United’s most senior goalkeeper, Steve Harper, was looking forward to a return in Newcastle’s League Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.
However Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, decided instead to select his old Charlton goalkeeper, Rob Elliot, instead. This came on top of previous reserve goalkeeper, the highly talented but less experienced and sometimes mistake prone Tim Krul seemingly claiming Harper’s old place in the Premiership. This was more or less confirmed when Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, said a few days after the Forest Cup tie:
“There is no situation with Steve. Harps and Rob are here as back-up to Tim at the moment because Tim has the jersey. It is as simple as that.”
Now, in a more recent development, Pardew has now revealed that he intends to hand Elliot the substitutes jersey for Newcastle united’s next Premiership game, and rotate the backup keepers to create some “competition” between Harper and the former Charlton Athletic “Player of the Year” runner up. Pardew said of the decision:
“We want to give all of them involvement. It creates competition and it gives us a different voice in the changing room.(more…)
New keeper at the ToonNewcastle United sign a new goalkeeper after loaning Forster out to Celtic.
It appears we have actually signed a new goalkeeper. Or are about to, depending upon which newspaper you read. There isn’t yet any official confirmation from Newcastle United but I get the impression this is a done deal.
The keeper in question comes in the shape of Rob Elliot, who currently plays for Charlton Athletic. He’s actually played for them since 2004 but was loaned out between 2004 and 2007 to, variously, Bishop’s Stortford, Notts County and Accrington Stanley.
Scaling Elliot would take a 6ft 3in rope, he’s 23 years old and has just over 140 league appearances to his name.
Apparently Ben Hamer has been handed the number 1 shirt at Charlton this season and a lot of Charlton fans expected a possible exit for Elliot.
There have been no reports of a fee yet but he was contracted with Charlton until 2012 so I presume there was one, although I can’t imagine it was much. (more…)
Scotland boundCeltic reach an agreement to take Newcastle United keeper Fraser Forster and Toon wannabe Maiga speaks up about his omission from Sochaux’s European squad.
Celtic claim to have reached an agreement to take Fraser Forster off our hands. Apparently it’s along the lines of a season-long loan with some sort of option to buy the player after that.
Celtic manager Niel Lennon said:
“A deal has been agreed. There are a few little snags to overcome but we hope to have him registered in time for tomorrow night.
“If that is the eventuality of things, we would be absolutely delighted. He has been the main target since the end of last season.
“We did put a bid in but it was knocked back but we worked hard in the background to try to bring him in so I’m very, very pleased.”
Forster was loaned to Celtic last season and broke the club’s clean sheets record while he was there and was also quite good in goal. Forster had previously expressed a desire to return to Celtic this season although Alan Pardew was keen to see how he measured up against Krul and Harper between the sticks during pre-season before letting him go. (more…)
