You mean you're not THE Raul?Yes I know, the headline is as subtle as a brick but it may as well be the Raul, because the latest rumour is that we’re after Espanyol hotshot Raul Tamudo, capped by his country, all-time top goalscorer for his club and generally the sort of fella that a) we’ve been told we’ll not be going after and b) would extremely unlikely to get, if we were.
It might explain things better if I mention that the story comes from the Daily Mail. And to add interest to the speculation, he has been close to ripping up his contract with Espanyol, but has now turned to the board to plead that he be loaned out for the remainder of the season. That being with a view to a permanent move in the summer. Contract issues and a season long loan? Seems like an unnerving combination of the hassles we had with Gutierrez and Gonzalez.
If that wasn’t enough spice, our old foes (by this I mean the baffling ill-feeling that seemed to exist between the two clubs over the last few years), Tottenham Hotspur, are apparently after him as well. The insinuation being though that Redknapp’s desire to sign a centre-forward may be determined by his ability to offload Pavlyuchenko. Apparently Wigan were also after him back in the summer but are no longer thought to be in the reckoning. (more…)
Bringing home the bacon?“The wild boys are calling
On their way back from the fire
In august moon’s surrender to
A dust cloud on the rise”
It’s been a while since I made any musical references in a headline so I thought this was as good a time as any, and it’s mainly for MT’s benefit. Of course there’s a slight play on words, it’s subtle but I’m sure you’ll get it…
But it’s based in a fairly serious story, following reports that Newcastle United’s young Hungarian U21 international Tamas Kadar has been in the wars after his car collided with a herd of wild boar while back home in Veszprem.
Kadar had been playing in his side’s victory over the Italian U21s, and he came away with some slightly bruised ribs but though he will see the medical staff on his return, it’s not thought he is doubtful for the Preston game. His dad had been driving the family back home and fortunately Kadar and his family were unscathed in the accident but the car was a write-off and two of the animals were reported as having died.
‘Tis a sad day for the boar population but no doubt Kadar will have been relatively untroubled by the incident, having had plenty of experience with wild boar when he came up against Dean Windass down at the Darlington friendly. (more…)
Best of pals!Barry Moat still thinks there’s a chance of him buying Newcastle United in the future.
Apparently, whilst Moat has no immediate plans to launch another bid, he will continue to think about how he might wrest the club for Ashley in the future.
Speaking to Sky Sports News he said:
“For one reason or another it didn’t come to pass.
“It’s extremely disappointing. It’s something we’d given up a lot of time and effort and abortive costs with so I’ve been feeling pretty bruised by the whole process.
“As my wife keeps telling me, ‘No one’s died’ so you’ve got to get on. That’s fundamentally where I see it now.
“I think from my perspective I don’t think Mike Ashley wants to stay at St James’ Park for the long term, so I’ll never give up.
“I’ll keep beavering away in the background and hopefully one day we’ll get there.” (more…)
More goals at homeNewcastle United manager Chris Hughton thinks we should be scoring more goals in our home games.
Having not lost at home, perhaps Hughton thinks it’s time to entertain a little more. He said:
“I don’t think that it is necessarily the case that someone is due a beating, but we know that we can play better in front of our own fans.
“The Peterborough game was a big step forward on that front. We would like to have scored a few more goals at home and really imposed ourselves on opponents. We have done very well in terms of results and I am delighted with that but I think there is certainly a feeling within the squad that there is more to come from us with our home performances.”
Maybe there’s a bit of the Kevin Keegan in Hughton. He is however quite happy to just grind out results when we’re away:
“Away from home, I think we will continue to grind out results and that is fine. It is a long season and you don’t complain if you pick up some hard-fought points here and there.”
The return of Ameobi should help in terms of the goals scoring and apparently Hughton will spend this week finalising his January transfer targets. According to The Journal his main targets are Sol Campbell, Andy O’Brien and making Danny Simpson’s move permanent.
Ukra - Toon target?Newcastle United are interested in Portuguese under-21 forward Ukra.
Well, maybe. It comes from the Daily Mail, which is to newspapers what ‘Snakes on a Plane’ is to film history, and it doesn’t quote anybody saying they’re after anyone, so take a large pinch of salt with your porridge this morning on this one.
Ukra, whose real name is André Filipe Alves Monteiro currently plays for Sporting Olhanense, on loan from FC Porto, and has scored 7 goals in 51 career domestic games. He has also recently been included in the Portuguese under-21 squad where he’s bagged 2 goals from 4 (or possibly from 8 depending on what you read) games.
Sporting Olhanense aren’t having the best of seasons so far, currently languishing in the bottom half of the league.
The Mail seems to be basing the Toon’s interest in this player on the fact that our scouts were at the U21 England v Portugal match on the weekend and my 6th sense (I have 9), which specifically tests levels of dubiousness, is tingling.
So, who knows? Maybe there’s some truth in this and maybe not. As Hughton said on the weekend, there’s going to be speculation about our interest in various players and most of it will be nonsense.
