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…)
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 with the good luck 'stacheJoey Barton recently heeded Danny Simpson’s advise and decided to join Twitter. Joey has been known to be quite forward and somewhat outspoken and of course wasted no time pondering whether or not his biggest fans Robbie Savage and Piers Morgan would be as vicious in a logged and public manner. Of course they were and I assure you, it’s great fun bullying Mr. Morgan but after being bombarded with tweets from fans requesting he sign a new contract, Joey broke his relative silence.
Now I’m not in the habit of reporting the usual waste you hear on Twitter but, as they say, this is from the horses mouth.
I tend to be fairly positive and patient in regards to this club primarily because I understand knee jerk reactions don’t help us in the slightest. I like to wait for all the facts before I make a solid judgement and until then try to remain as calm as I can and stay as level headed as is humanly possible… but then something like this happens and that Zen-like state goes out of the window. (more…)
Every player has a price.If we were to listen to the naysayers and those in desperate need of a long course of anti-depressants, the starting XI will be gone come the summer transfer window.
We have always been a selling club, will always be a selling club and unless Ashley leaves, we will remain a selling club. After all, the proof is in the pudding and so far Ashley is just looking to line his pocket with gold. A nugget of truth that somehow ties into todays gutless performance – everybody is for sale. Or something.
The fact is, we aren’t. I know, it’s incredible to think that, but we aren’t a selling club. This season we have sold Andy Carroll.
No, that isn’t a pause for dramatic effect; that’s actually the only sale we’ve had this season. Yes, players have been sent on loan. Yes, players are ‘rumoured’ to be leaving, but if paper talk was 100% true then we’d have Messi and Ronaldo roaming the midfield with Podolski knocking in 80 goals a season and a bench made up of Gervhinho, Hulk, Robben and Shola Ameobi. (more…)
And the winner is...The goalposts are down, the World Cup is just around the corner, and the summer sun will soon be upon us. Yes it’s the end of the season, so what better time to announce the NUFCblog.org Player of the Season result?
It has been down to you, the reader, to decide the destination of this much coveted award. It’s only fair that we are the ones to pass judgement on how a player has played for us throughout the season, we know much more than the experts anyway. So it gives me great pleasure to announce that the winner of this award, as voted for by you and with 28% of the final vote is….. Jose Enrique.
I’m sure he is ecstatic knowing that he is now the proud owner of our coveted award, but as yet I have been unable to track down the Spaniard to ask him how he is feeling at what must be an emotional and triumphant time for him. Unfortunately he will have to wait to be presented with the widely respected trophy although I can give everyone an update on the progress of it’s construction. I can reveal that the finishing touches are being applied and all I need now to finish the trophy off are some nails, glue and some tin-foil. And to think my mother never rated Blue Peter and wondered why I used to watch it as a child, who’s laughing now eh mother? (more…)
