Robbie keen on Tyneside switch?Much of the news today appears to be centred around Robbie Keane and his alleged preferance of joining Newcastle in the January transfer window.
Of course, it is all speculation until proven otherwise, and the closest that any of these reports can muster with regard to a quote is from the proverbial inside source from Tottenham, who claims that a move to Newcastle is something that Keane would seriously consider.
But would it be a good move for Newcastle? With Tottenham wanting a reported fee in the region of £6 million you have to seriously consider whether or not a deal would be worth it. Add the wages on top of that and you would probably be hard pushed to justify a move for the 30-year old.
Keane has made 24 club appearances this season, athough the fact that 20 of them have come from the substitutes bench would seem to suggest that he has indeed slipped down the pecking order at White Hart Lane. He has two goals for Tottenham so far this season, plus two goals in two appearances for the Republic of Ireland. Seems to me like we could be talking about a player who is on the decline. (more…)
Carroll and Barton set to stay.The good news today, even though I personally expected it, is that the rumours linking Joey Barton with a move away form Newcastle appear to be false.
Alan Pardew has today reiterated that no players are for sale in January, and that includes the likes of Joey Barton and Andy Carroll – both of whom have been targets for speculation in the last few days.
This will no doubt come as a blow to the press who will now have to suffer the fate of stirring up some new rumours, but the mantra of the club should, and will, remain as it was under Hughton the Great. The lines back then were to not believe everything you read in the papers, which is common sense to some, but that mantra looks set to be continuing under Pardew.
Joey Barton is happy at Newcastle, or at least he claims to be, and that is part of the reason why Pardew is confident that he will be losing no players in January. (more…)
Barton - The key player for us?The inevitable transfer speculation has begun, which is perhaps unsurprising as the January transfer window is just around the corner.
A lot of the speculation seems to be regarding our players, which you could put down to a number of reasons.
Perhaps it seems that way because it is what most of us look for? Maybe some of our players have performed well enough to warrant such attention? Or could it be because the press know they are likely to get a reaction out of us?
I would hazard a guess at it being a combination of all three to be honest, particularly when it comes to the latest target of rumour mongering – Joey Barton. The rumour is, according to The Daily Mail (hehehe), that Aston Villa are interested in securing the services of Joey Barton in January. I don’t think there is any merit in that, at all, purely because, in my view, Barton has probably been the most important player for us so far this season. (more…)
St Andrews earlier today.Not much to report today. Just the frustrating fact that this miserable December day has hindered football across the country.
Not that I particularly care that the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal are no longer playing their fixtures. The only fixture I really cared about was supposed to be taking place at St Andrews this afternoon.
The fixture looked as if it was going ahead despite the heavy snow fall in Birmingham. However, at around 12.00pm our game was called off along with several other games throughout England and Scotland. Grrrrrrrr! Luckily enough for myself, Toonsy and Jay Jay, we live in The Midlands so we didn’t have any problems transport wise. But I bet a few of you good people made it a fair way down before the game was officially postponed.
Considering it’s quite a trek from the North East to The Midlands the game was given the no-go a little late on perhaps. It wasn’t the state of the pitch that was the concern, but the persisting snow in the area made the game a health and safety issue. I hear that roads near the ground were closed and all sorts. (more…)
Are Newcastle interested in Young Boys striker?Talksport seem to be reporting that Newcastle are winning the race to sign Emmanuel Mayuka from Young Boys Bern.
Quite how they know that is beyond me, but that is what they are saying anyway.
Now most of you know by now that I like to cover speculation when a new name crops up, regardless of whether or not I have any faith in the report or not.
It’s all part of my plans to put together a database of different players we get linked with over time, and my primary plan of all round world domination! That was sarcasm of course, maybe, but we do get linked with an awful lot of players.
This latest one has me a little bit interested though, mainly because I’ve never really heard of him. Talksport claims that Newcastle have sent scouts to several of his games and that Newcastle are at the front of a queue to tie up a £2.5 million deal for the 20-year-old. (more…)
