Free to do what he wants, any old time?Rumours coming from a number of sources including The Telegraph and The Sun in the last 48 hours, claim that Sol Campbell may be on the verge of joining Newcastle, now that his contract has officially been cancelled with Notts County. Now this isn’t exactly new, or ground-breaking news as it’s something the majority of us have been hearing about for quite some months.
But The Telegraph quotes Hughton:
“Well Sol would be one of a number of players that, of course, we will be assessing over the next month because come the end of January we have to make sure that we have the right squad and the right players. Of course it is not only us that know about Sol’s situation and it won’t only be us who are interested.
The most important thing for us is that in that last hour of the window that we have a squad in place that will take us through the last period of this season which will be a very demanding period.
“It will also be a period where the other teams will be strengthening and deciding what they need as they address that last period of the season themselves. We have to make sure that we are right come that last day.”
This could tie-in to reports that we’re set for a battle with Hull City to sign Matthew Kilgallon from Sheffield Utd in January. (more…)
Still a flying Frenchman?Well he might somthing like that if he turns down the recent pleas of former Newcastle favourite Laurent Robert. Robert is a free agent after being released by Larissa FC of Greece and had been training with Fabrice Pancrate at Paris St Germain. And it’s Pancrate who is acting as the go-between after Robert asked him to put a good word in for him with Chris Hughton.
According to reports in The Journal and The Times, Pancrate has passed on Robert’s phone number and left it up to Hughton to make a decision on whether or not to bring the former French international back for a second spell at Newcastle and Pancrate is quoted as saying via an interpreter:
“I had a lot of conversations with Laurent and he told me about how amazing this city was, how incredible the fans are and how much I would enjoy my time here.
“As soon as I walked through the doors I realised he was right.
“I think Laurent is in talks with Paris St Germain at the moment, but he told me that he would like to come back here.(more…)
Talking the talk and walking the walk.Following on from several others so far this season, next up to discuss Newcastle’s new-found team spirit and ‘togetherness’ is Jose Enrique. I’ll forgive Jose though because I think he’s a genuine legend in the making and his feet do most of the talking. Enrique has made a great start to the season, but he’s also been speaking about the expectations within the squad at the moment:
“It would be a disaster for us not to get into the Premier League now from the position we are in,”
“We are playing well so I would not be able to understand how we wouldn’t have got into the Premier League from this position. It’s good we are up there. Everyone wants us to win the league and it is good we’re in this position but the most important thing is to finish in the top two and get back up. That is most important.”
“Would it be a disaster to be in the play-offs? No, because you still have the chance to the get promoted but it is more important we stay in the top two positions. If we go up automatically the fans are happier and more relaxed.”
He then went on to elaborate about the morale and general good vibes amongst the squad at the moment, saying:
“The spirit is unbelievable, the team is doing well in the table and getting wins so the atmosphere is great,” (more…)
A cup...We’re still on course for some silverware this season after the reserves came through a tough test against their non-league foes, to reach the semi-finals of thecup. Newcastle Reserves lined up at home to Newcastle Benfield of the Northern League, in the quarter final stage of their defence of the Northumberland Senior Cup.
Last season saw the second string side beat Benfield 2-1, at the semi-final stage of the competition and at the same ground with goals from Mark Doninger and Wesley Baheng. Newcastle Benfield sit in 8th place in the Northern League and have a spattering of former YTs of various professional clubs (including United) on the books, including one who’s a physio at the town.
At a blustery Whitley Park, Benfield took an early lead, when a speculative shot from Shaun Bell was carried over the fingers of Robinson and went in off the underside of the crossbar, to put the Northern League side 1-0 up. The wind did it’s best to spoil the game but the youngsters of Newcastle tried to combat it with good interplay, though Benfield largely kept them at bay initially. (more…)
