Another masked crusader?There was an official announcement today that Newcastle United have signed Queens Park Rangers defender Fitz Hall on loan until the end of the season. Having been courted by a handful of clubs, he’s decided to join the promotion race and will help plug the gaps left by our defenders who have started to fall like flies to various injuries.
Creatively nicknamed “One Size”, Hall nearly didn’t make the grade after being told he wasn’t good enough by West Ham. Having been given a chance at Barnet and then moving to Chesham, a ‘Dowie connection’ meant that Bob of Barnet allowed Hall to go to Oldham to join brother Iain. He impressed enough there, so that when Dowie took over at Crystal Palace, the former Toon assistant forked out £1.5m for him after Hall had failed to break into the Saints team following a move to Southampton.
A further move to Wigan Athletic saw him back in the Premiership but he was soon on the move again to QPR, where he has stayed since. Hall can play at full back and centre half and will provide Championship experience that may prove vital with current absences. (more…)
Cool as the come.Hot, spicy and more than worth the money, is a pretty good way to describe my pre-match scran. Unfortunately not words to describe Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. Nor disappointingly the debuts of Mike Williamson or Wayne Routledge, albeit the latter had little time to show what he can do, even considering his part in the last goal.
The best words to describe that display tonight might be “meh” or “ppffftt”, as it rendered me largely speechless. Which is no mean feat. But not for the first time, and probably not for the last this season, while feeling bitterly short-changed by the entertainment (sic) on show, we yet again managed to grind out the win and take all three points.
Some inevitable changes from the weekend game saw Harper replacing Krul in goal, Kadar moved out to fill in for the injured Danny Simpson and the suspended Ryan Taylor at right back. While Mike Williamson partnered Coloccini in the centre. Guthrire moved back out to the right and with Nolan dropping back into midfield with Smith, Pancrate made way for Lovenkrands to play upfront with Andy Carroll. Fellow ‘new boy’, Wayne Routledge had to make do with a place on the bench.
Crystal Palace were forced into a number of changes, partly through injury and partly due to their current administration process. As a result, Victor Moses and potentially some others may not be allowed to play while the transfer window remains open, as they are saleable assets. Palace could only name three substitutes as a consequence. (more…)
Take a bow lads?Newcastle United ‘new boys’ Wayne Routledge and Mike Williamson having been saying all the right things, as you’d expect, ahead of tonight’s game against Crystal Palace. Despite the fact that Williamson is yet to be officially unveiled as the board apparently deal with the complications of payments to Portsmouth and knock-on payment Watford, the player himself is sounding confident of the transfer going through. Workyticket sounds canny confident too, so I’m going with it.
The club are allegedly hopeful of the transfer being finalised in time for him to play a part in tonight’s game, though he’s not played a first team game in five months. The rumours are that should the paperwork come through in time and he is able to play, then Tamas Kadar will fill in at right back, with Williamson joining Coloccini in the middle of defence.
On speaking about his future at the club Willamson said:
“This is a dream move for me, and I can’t wait to make my debut at St James’s Park,”
“The fans here are incredible, and now I just want to go out and do my best for them.”
“It’s a great move for me, and I just want to get on with the challenge of promotion.”(more…)
Ready for a new challenge?Hot on the heels of the totally unexpected coup of Wayne Routledge from QPR, Chris Hughton has gone on record to say that he’s targeting Everton’s James Vaughan to fill the void left by Marlon Harewood. In view of missing out on Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford, it was expected that Hughton would turn again to the Aston Villa striker after his steady if unspectacular loan spell.
However, with news that Harewood has suffered a broken bone in his foot whilst training with Villa, Hughton has turned his attentions to Vaughan instead. Speaking to local press, including the Chronicle and Shields Gazette, Hughton had this to say:
“Everybody’s aware we’ve been looking for a striker,”
“We missed out on our main target, and everybody knows who that was, and I’d have taken back Marlon had he not been injured badly.”
“James Vaughan is a player we’re aware of, and one we’re interested in, but I don’t know if that one will happen.”(more…)
That's him there...Out of the blue, and out of the blue and white hoops comes a surprise transfer deal which brings Queens Park Rangers, Wayne Routledge, to Newcastle. Announced at lunchtime today on the official site, we’ve signed up the winger on a three and a half year deal for an undisclosed fee.
As the official site mentions, he impressed on his travels to St James’ early in the season and was one of a couple of diminutive and creative players seen on the hallowed turf in opposition colours, which had us hoping for similar styled recruits in the coming months. Routledge has completed a half century of appearances for the Hoops, scoring seven times since signing for from Aston Villa.
Having started his career at Crystal Palace, the fleet-footed wideman was courted by many suitors but following the relegation of Palace, Spurs snapped him up in 2005. Despite the obvious potential, he was unable to hold down a regular place, partly due to the unfortunate timing of injuries, and he joined Aston Villa three years after loans spells at Porsmouth and Fulham. While at Villa, and struggling to get in the first team, a loan spell at Cardiff City alerted QPR to his availability and he signed for them when his loan deal was ended. (more…)
