Archive for tag: Joey Barton.

No.9 shirt – 17 year wait of expectation?

September 5th, 2011 | 18 Comments |

Camden Council: Scuppers No.9 hunt, for now.
Camden Council: Scuppers No.9 hunt, for now.
Right, so now as the dust settles on another tansfer window, where we made some great early progress with players such as Cabaye, Marveaux, Obertan, Abeid and Ba, and a couple of late window acquisitions in the shape of Elliot and Santon, we’re all set for the next big game in the stop/start beginning to this Premier League campaign.

The squads have been handed in to the FA and ‘set in stone’ until the January window creaks open for another round of harem scarem frittering of perfectly good cash on journeymen three-time losers and other teams ‘deadwood’. Can’t wait! (well, maybe I can as I can’t stand the way we have to do business these days).

Anyhoo, Yes, we could’ve done with a new striker to amply fill the legendary No.9 jersey here at Toon towers. But, it is what it is, so we have to just pick ourselves (jaws included) up off the floor, dust ourselves down and go with what we have now.

It’s a real pity actually, ‘cos i’d ’employed’ Mrs. FLiCK to ‘find’ us a new NO.9. A job she totally came up trumps with.

Alas, we couldn’t quite make the deadline in the registration of the ‘Great Black ‘n’ White hope’ in time for the squad lists. I put this down to the inefficiency of Camden Council and their collective inability to speed up the registry service down here in London Town. We were told that we had to form an orderly queue outside the Camden Town Hall and it could take as long as 6 weeks. I said:

“6 weeks? But the Toon need this lad now!” (more…)


The Joey Barton show continues! Newcastle United 0-0 Arsenal: Report, highlights, interviews…

August 14th, 2011 | 19 Comments |

Extended match highlights.

In what seems to be somwthing of a tradition now, Newcastle United faced their usual stiff test against one of the ‘top four’ clubs in their first game of the Premiership season.

Those who might have been expecting a repeat of the last fixture against the Gunners were to be disappointed. However, although our last game against Arsenal was a 4-4 rollercoaster and this was a fairly flat 0-0 draw overall, there were similarities besides both teams walking away with a point each. It was strongly arguable that Arsenal dominated the midfield in the first half with their 4-2-3-1 against our 4-4-2. As well as this, the Joey Barton show also played a key role in controversial circumstances resulting in an Arsenal player, the debutante, Gervinho this time rather than Abu Diaby, being sent off and changing the balance of the game somewhat. Plus ça change… (more…)


Will Ashley’s gamble pay off?

August 13th, 2011 | 23 Comments |

One throw of the dice
Mike Ashley: Playing a dangerous game at NUFC?
With the new season just a few short hours from kick off, Toon fans everywhere take stock of the events of the past few months and are no doubt wondering what kind of start we’ll have given the merciless squad upheaval.

Since the transfer window opened Geordies have sat around with baited breath hoping for some good news to pop up on the Sky Sports News Ticker. Needless to say, it’s been a rollercoaster ride. [Neil] Taylor, Gervinho, Gameiro, Cabaye, Erdinc, Nolan, Marveaux, Ba, Barton, Routledge, Enrique, Crouch, Defoe, Long, Beckford, Lovenkrands, Bendtner, Benayoun – and that’s just the players we’ve bought, sold, are supposed to be selling or been linked with that I can think of off the top of my head!

Toon fans are a rugged lot and we’ve put up with enough of the proverbial for us to be able to pick apart a rumour from a genuine story and gladly celebrate when we are linked to a top player; at least somebody out there thinks we can sign Messi for an estimated £8m.

Still, taken into account our outgoing transfers (Nolan, Enrique, Routledge) and comparing them to our incoming (Cabaye, Marveaux, Abeid, Ba, Obertan) – I’d usually say we’ve done pretty well! (more…)


Pardew’s happy campers

July 26th, 2011 | 22 Comments |

Happy campers?
Happy campers?
From what I can recall, at the start of last season, Newcastle United were seemingly going about their pre-season in reasonably quiet fashion.

We had of course, just dispensed of the Championship at a canter, and were looking forward to a return to the Premier League. At the start of that particular summer, we had a statement from the Newcastle board, citing mainly that:

“The first team squad that won the Championship this year will form the basis of the team for next season in the Premier League.

“There is no plan for new capital outlay on players.”

Well, that particular line certainly had a few people up in arms at the time. In the end though, Newcastle did do some business recruitment wise, bringing in Dan Gosling, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sol Campbell, Cheick Tiote and the majestic James Perch.

More importantly last summer, I remember the current crop of players being reasonably happy with life at St James Park. There was no moaning or bitching about the ‘politics’ of the club. This could be due to the explosion of ‘Twitter’ this past year (certainly in Newcastle United’s case anyway), with a fair few of our squad now signed up to the social networking site. (more…)


Joey Barton: “I love this club and everyone knows that.”

June 15th, 2011 | 60 Comments |

Wants the gold logo to mean something more than a colour.
Joey Barton wants to bring silverware to NUFC.
Danny Simpson once talked Joey Barton into joining Twitter, a place to express your daily life in 140 characters or less and has lived up to his outspoken personality in such a public domain, speaking about his frustrations at Newcastle with the hierarchy and, of course, the wonderful fans.

Today after talks of Kevin Nolan being at West Ham for a medical, Joey Barton responded in typical Joey Barton style, mentioning their friendship and stating in (hopefully) tongue and cheek fashion that he was to be sold along with José Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez. Of course, Enrique was punished for stating he would not make the team due to an injury so if there’s truth to what he said, he could end up being in big trouble with the club.

Talking to Sky Sports earlier, Joey reiterated his passion for the club and his desire to stay:

“I love the football club, without a shadow of a doubt, and I think everyone knows that, I have a great working relationship with the manager and a lot of the other players, obviously the other senior players who have been through the ups and downs – the likes of myself, Kevin Nolan, Stevie Harper and Smudger.” (more…)