Ex-Newcastle United forward Michael Chopra insists current Magpies boss Steve Bruce doesn’t play football “the Newcastle way” as he urges the club to bring back Rafael Benitez.
Despite keeping the Magpies safe in mid-table like his predecessor, getting into the quarter finals of the FA Cup before football was so rudely interrupted as well as getting some positive results against big clubs, such as home wins over Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premier League, North-East born Bruce still hasn’t managed to win over the Newcastle faithful this season with his defensive style. (more…)
Newcastle United top goal scorer Kevin Nolan takes the October 2009 award for Championship Player of the Month.
Nolan seems to have settled nicely into his attacking midfield/backup striker role and managed to pip Leicester City’s Matt Fryatt to get the award. Furthermore, Alan Smith claimed 4th place in the voting.
The full results were – Keven Nolan: 24.56%, Matt Fryatt: 21.85%, Peter Wittingham: 12.21%, Alan Smith: 9.63%, Michael Chopra: 3.66%, Others: 28.09%.
Gary Speed, speaking before the Blades game, paid tribute to Nolan:
“We don’t need to be reminded how dangerous Kevin is. He’s got a great eye for a goal.
“He is a great player and I speak to him quite a bit. I enjoyed the couple of years that I played alongside him and I thought we complemented each other well.
“He is a leader on the pitch and gives 100 per cent in every game and on the training pitch. He is a good footballer and it is no surprise to me than he has been banging them in this season.” (more…)
In a country well known for it’s love of lamb (easy tiger), there’s a new Chop on the menu. It’s not of the woolly variety though, it’s the history-making Michael Chopra and his scoring boots that has the city of Cardiff salivating.
Chops was breaking down the barriers back in 2006, when he became the first player of Indian parentage to grace the Premiership with both appearances and accompanying goals. Back in the day, he looked like the rightful heir to Shearer’s throne as being a local lad, not only did he attend the same school as Big Al but he also knew where the goal was.
However, with a pile of high profile strikers in front of him, Chopra struggled to make a starting place his own. While he will remain a Geordie legend forever for both his (quickest Premiership) goal in the 4-1 mauling of the Mackems at their dump and his inability / unwillingness to put the goal in the Leazes End net, sadly it was inevitable his future lay elsewhere. (more…)
Basically what they’re saying is that Moat can’t get the money together to buy the club but Ashley plans to take the club off the market and appoint him as chairman. Moat will then apparently appoint Shearer as manager and take charge of the day-to-day running of the club with Ashley taking a back seat.
The Star then goes on to say that Shearer plans to bring £6m rated Michael Chopra back to the Toon as his first signing.
And all this will happen within the next 48 hours.
The Star’s short article contains no direct quotes from anyone, not even from unnamed ‘sources’ or ‘insiders’, so the temptation is to treat the story with as much scorn as the one about Naughty Noirin’s views on how to save Big Brother (not that I’ve read it of course). (more…)