England?The England football team play a friendly this evening, so I thought I might raise an issue which I have wondered about for some time – how many Newcastle United fans are also England supporters?
I realise to some of you, that might seem like a daft question, but I don’t think it is. I know the simple assumption, particularly in the media, is that because United are an english club, all of it’s fans must be England supporters. However I know this is not true!
I remember during the pre-match entertainment for Alan Shearer’s Testimonial there was some sort of competition, might have been a penalty shoot-out or something, and the guy on the mike was saying “Newcastle fans cheer for the english lad and Celtic fans cheer for the scottish lad” – and I remember thinking “it’s not that simple mate!”
For a start, there are a lot of fans come down to the match from Scotland. I remember having a drink with some Hibs casuals when I was working in Edinburgh and they explained that there were a lot of Newcastle fans in the Edinburgh area – who started supporting the Toon as their “English Club” because it was the first stop down the east coast line! And it’s not just from Edinburgh either, there are United fans all over Scotland, even if it’s their “second team”. (more…)
"I Want Curly Hair Too"One question which will hang around for United fans this summer – until it’s resolved – is the one about the future of Demba Ba.
Tottenham manager “Droopy” announced to the world before the last January transfer window that he had discovered Ba had a £7M release clause in his contract. Since then, United have pretty much confirmed it exists, although we are informed that it’s not quite in the form that Droopy thinks it is.
Ba has not said much, and there were rumours that United were trying to re-negotiate his contract with the club to take the offending clause out – but given the stance of the club on wages, I doubt if they have much room for manoeuvre, as they apparently have an upper limit on what they are prepared to pay individual players – any individual! From Ba’s perspective of course, his game is about goals – and he had scored 16 before he went off to the African Cup Of Nations, but didn’t score a single one when he came back, after his role was changed to accommodate the arrival of his mate Papiss Demba Cisse.
United manager “The Twice Chosen One” Alan Pardew has gone on record imploring the Geordie faithful to tell Demba they love him, as with Ba it’s not about money, he just needs to feel wanted – Howay Man Pards that’s a load of syruppy bow locks!! (more…)
For Sale?As we move into the perilous waters of the summer transfer window, rumours abound about which players are going where, who is available, who is unsettled and how much money players are valued at. For Newcastle United, it is a particularly worrying time on the “selling” front, as the players who were brought in last time have established themselves in the English Premier League and are now “household names”.
One such player is Cheick Tiote – United’s beast of a defensive midfielder. One of the reasons our defence did so well in the season just finished was that the opposing teams had to get past Tiote first – no easy task. So it was surprising, and somewhat puzzling to the Toon Army, that with 11 games still to go the ever popular Derek Llambias decided to hang a “For Sale” sign around Tiote’s neck.
As I’m sure you’ll remember, for whatever reason Llambias decided to bang his gums to the press in March and utter the words: (more…)
Wants to stay?The Sunday Mirror carried a story today with quotes from Newcastle United right-back Danny Simpson which suggest that he wants to stay at the club. As we know, Danny has one year left of his current contract but United are looking to agree a new deal now, rather than let him leave as a free agent next year.
An offer is allegedly on the table but Danny and his advisers currently do not feel it reflects his value.
Danny told the Sunday Mirror:
“I’m not a greedy player and I just want to be on par with the other players around me. In football terms, what I’m asking for is by no means outrageous, I want to stay at this club and I’ve been saying that all season. I’ve recently had a baby, I’m happy here and so is my family.
“Hopefully me and the club can find some solution. I want to stay but if I have to move, then I will accept it and move on. But it’s a great club with 50,000 screaming Geordies at the game every week. Why would I want to leave? There is speculation but I want to state, like I have all season, I want to stay.
“Over the last two years I’ve played nearly 80 games and started most of them. I’m not being greedy, this club is on the up, the manager and staff are brilliant – I want to stay.” (more…)
St Michael?The Newcastle Evening Chronicle has apparently started to run a Public Relations campaign on behalf of United owner Mike Ashley.
If you believe the Chronicle’s PR machine, the man has been forgiven, is a saint, walks on water and is now the most popular man on Tyneside. Well, not in those words but it seems to be the thrust of the message.
Quote from the Chronicle:
“Now Mike Ashley has won the backing of the Tyneside faithful after fans cast their verdicts on his finest year at the helm of Newcastle United.”
“Five years after he seized control at St James’ Park, our exclusive on-line survey has revealed the tide is turning on the billionaire sports tycoon.”
“More than 2,000 people logged on to take part in our end of season poll and voice their views on Newcastle’s season.”
“And – in a sneak preview of our full survey results – the Chronicle can reveal more than 65% of supporters who took part in the poll said their opinion of the Sports Direct owner had gone up.” (more…)
