Possible return this season?Newcastle United’s Dan Gosling looks like he might finally be making progress towards fitness.
We signed Dan Gosling on a 4 year contract from Everton in July 2010 but has so far only made a solitary substitute appearance for us against Sunderland back in January.
Gosling has been plagued by a knee injury he picked up while at Everton and the announcement of his return to fitness in January was premature.
Although he only played for a few minutes during the Sunderland game, the knee started giving him problems straight away and he had to have more surgery.
Gosling said:
“The swelling never really went away, so I was constantly fighting an uphill battle really.
“I was back and I felt good, but every day was the same that when I was training or playing it would get really stiff. The fluid on my knee kept coming back and it was preventing my thighs from working, so I was losing muscle all the time.(more…)
Belly flopster.Shefki Kuqi joins Jermaine Aliadiere and Ewerthon as a potential striking option for Newcastle United.
Finnish striker Shefki Kuqi is the latest free agent to be linked with a short-term contract at Newcastle to provide front line support until the end of the season.
The chunky 6ft 2in, 34 year old striker has done a recent stint with Swansea scoring 5 goals in 20 games for them before being loaned out to Derby County where he picked up 2 goals in 12 games.
He’s also played for Stockport County, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town, Blackburn Rovers, Crystal Palace, Fulham, TuS Koblenz and a few Finnish teams early on in his career. Kuqi has played for Finland 62 times and has scored 7 goals, although he is not in the Finland squad for their upcoming game against Belgium.
Kuqi’s career totals have him on 147 goals in 512 appearances, which is only a 29% strike rate although at 34 he does undoubtedly have a lot of experience. (more…)
Short-term solution?Thierry Henry looks like being a non-starter but Jermaine Aliadiere might be an option to shore up Newcastle United’s striking options.
According to some press reports Jermaine Aliadiere is in talks with Newcastle about joining the club until the end of the season. Admittedly the reports seem to have started in the Daily Mail as far as I can tell, but if they can spare column inches from telling us we’re all going to perish horribly then maybe there’s something in it.
Thierry Henry was allegedly a target to bolster our depleted striking options but Alan Pardew has pretty much written that one off, saying:
“I don’t think getting Henry is possible.
“I haven’t even thought about it, if I’m honest, but we will do over the next 48 hours.
“There are one or two players we are looking at.
“I don’t think we are going to get anyone who could impact on the first team, but on the bench, I need to turn round to that bench and have people who can affect the game.
“We will look, perhaps, to that market for maybe one or maybe two if necessary.” (more…)
Caused the banking collapse?Alan Pardew comments more about Newcastle United’s 4-4 draw with Arsenal, Joey Barton get the blame for all the world’s ills and Interpol deny being Arsenal supporters.
The remarkable 4-4 draw on Saturday certainly caused a stir with some Arsenal supporters, even to the point of them blaming Joey Barton for all the ills of our society. I’m surprised the Gooners haven’t blamed him for the Afghanistan war, the troubles in Egypt and possibly even the flood that had animals two-by-twoing into Noah’s Ark. I hear one disgruntled supporter has demanded an inspection of Joey Barton’s head to see if there’s a 666 on it anywhere.
There was also a brief rumour that Interpol were investigating the game on some sort of match-fixing charge but that has since been proved unfounded. Inspector Clouseau of Interpol said:
“Interpol is not aware of any request for assistance and any investigation would be conducted by national authorities. Interpol’s general secretariat has not been asked to provide any assistance in relation to this matter.”
Anyway, Alan Pardew has had some more to say about the game. After the first half, he took some stick from a particularly vociferous fan behind him, about which he said:
“I was aware of him. That ain’t the first time it has happened.(more…)
The realities hit homeAlan Pardew appears to accept that Newcastle United are a selling club at the moment and could struggle to hold on to the likes of Cheik Tiote if a good bid came in.
After insisting that Andy Carroll will not be sold and then having subsequently seen that happen anyway, Alan Pardew appears to have accepted the realities of Newcastle United a bit more now.
Speaking about his hopes to hang on to Cheik Tiote if a big bid should come in, he said:
“I am hoping there are no bids, otherwise we will have a problem.
“Tiote is a very important player, very talented and someone we want to be a big part of our future.”
Pardew then goes on to reveal more about the club philosopy as he understands it:
“When I became manager, Ashley and Llambias made me aware that they wanted to get the club on a financial footing, which gives them a chance to build it.(more…)
