No trip for you my sonNewcastle United boss Chris Hughton might upset Diego Maradona over the availability of Fabricio Coloccini for World Cup duty.
The defender managed to strain his groin during the game against Ipswich, was absent for last night’s game against QPR and has already been ruled out of Newcastle’s game against Bristol City at the weekend.
However, Coloccini is due to link up with the woeful Argentina squad to try and help them salvage a World Cup place from their qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay, but Hughton is putting his foot down. Hughton said:
“If he’s not fit for the weekend, then no, and he’ll certainly miss the [World Cup] weekend.
“It’s one I need to check, but from our point of view, if he doesn’t play the weekend, then he’s not going. If we all had a choice as coaches, you’d prefer it if everybody stayed.
“At this moment Jonas is fit, and it’s his prerogative and privilege to go away with his country.” (more…)
I'm no puppet managerThese 3 gadgies sitting on the Tribunal panel finished listening to the respective Keegan and Newcastle United sides of the story on Friday and then wanted to give it the weekend to mull things over. Well they’ve had the weekend and two days now and we’ve heard nowt.
We simply want to know who won and how much was awarded to Keegan (assuming the general factivity of that statement). How hard can it be?
Don’t these tribunal judges realise how much speculation, scaremongering and general bickering fans have to put up with while they sit around deliberating on these things? If they think it’s hard being on a tribunal panel they should try being a Toon fan for a few months.
I’m suspecting Keegan won the tribunal and will be awarded about £9m although sources close to me suggest he may get a couple of million extra for all the mental anguish he’s suffered. And then of course the club will have to fork out for costs, which I would imagine aren’t trivial. (more…)
Toon v QPR. Kick off 7:45PMNewcastle United have a great opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the table but QPR will make for stiff opposition.
The three teams below us failed to win last night. West Brom suffered a surprise defeat by Barnsley, Preston lost at home to Reading and Middlesbrough lost at home to Leicester. Charmed results as far we’re concerned and if we can capitalise on them and get the win tonight we’ll go 5 points clear at the top of the table.
QPR are sitting in the middle of the table on 13 points but they have two games in hand over most of the teams above them and a win tonight would see them up amongst the play-off positions, so they have everything to play for.
QPR have only lost once in the league this season, which was away to Bristol City. They’ve notched up draws against Blackpool (H), Plymouth (A), Forest (H) and Peterborough (H) and wins against Scunthorpe (A), Cardiff (A) and Barnsley (H). (more…)
Jonas due to return thoughThe diminutive Newcastle United squad is about to be stretched further by injuries and international duties.
Fabricio Coloccini picked up a groin strain and Ryan Taylor picked up a calf injury during Saturday’s game against Ipswich. Danny Simpson is also sidelined with an ankle injury from the Plymouth game and is doubtful for this week’s games. These add to the longer-term injuries of Shola Ameobi and Joey Barton with the latter now expected to be out until Christmas with an ankle injury.
Hughton said:
“As ever we will be assessing everybody as we go along.
“Ryan has been suffering with a little tightness in his calf and is a doubt. But Fabricio looks the more doubtful of the two and we are probably more hopeful on Ryan.
“Danny Simpson has got a chance but he is again touch and go. And providing Jonas gets through the next few days without any problems, he could also be back against QPR.”
So it’s good news about Jonas but there’s going to be some defensive reshuffling needed. (more…)
Leader of the packHughton sings Newcastle’s praises while Keane thinks Ipswich gave Nolan an early Christmas present.
I was away this weekend. A close friend of mine is off to Australia for at least 3 years, so a bunch of us got together for beer and golf in Oxfordshire (and I use the term ‘golf’ in the loosest possible sense), but I did manage to watch 70 minutes of the Newcastle United match before I was prised away from the TV and man-handled into taxi on Saturday evening. And I must admit my 70 minutes of Toon watching put me in a good mood for the evening.
We’ve had little to celebrate in recent seasons, so I thought I’d milk this victory for all I could and quote some of the match reaction from the two managers. (more…)
