Prepared to say noChris Hughton claims he will fight to improve Newcastle United’s squad in the January transfer window.
Since being made permanent manager it seems many people think he’ll just be a ‘yes man’ – a puppet and apologist for Ashley’s regime – but Hughton was keen to dispel such rumours, indicating that he’s strong enough to get his own way.
When asked if the accusations of being a ‘puppet manager’ bothered him, Hughton said:
“Does it hurt if people say I am a yes man? No. I have one responsibility and that is to manage this group of lads, my remit is simply that. At this moment we are sitting on top of the table so we must be doing something right.
“We have to make sure that continues. I can only work within my brief, and that is to manage this group of lads and football club. We know we have had financial restraints for obvious reasons and all I can do to is work around them.” (more…)
Master and discipleChris Hughton has asked Newcastle United fans to put their disagreements with the board behind them and support the team.
Fans are, of course, particularly upset that Ashley plans to peddle Sports Direct on the back of – or, to be more precise, on the front of – the St James’ Park name. Hughton evidently fears rebellion is in the air.
Praising our supporters, Hughton said:
“There are two ways of supporting a team.
“There is no support in this division which has turned up as consistently as our fans have. That is something that is vital for us.
“It is the supporters’ prerogative [to protest], it is their club. My concerns are that they get behind the team and from that angle they haven’t let us down.”
We’ve averaged just over 41,000 this season, which puts us in 6th place in the entire football league. (more…)
Due back at the end of the monthThe Newcastle United squad will be boosted by the return of 3 players coming back from injury.
Chris Hughton reckons Shola Ameobi should be back in contention by the end of the month, which could mean the game at home to Swansea on 28th November or the following game, at home to Watford on 4th December.
After scoring 5 goals in 5 games at the start of the season, Shola has been sidelined with a foot injury, but Hughton said:
“We’re very much looking forward to Shola Ameobi hopefully coming back towards the end of the month.
“That’ll give us a big boost.”
It’ll be interesting to see what becomes Hughton’s first choice strike force when Shola’s fit. I’m presuming Ameobi will be the first name on the list and I would guess Carroll will partner him. (more…)
Fans @ St James' ParkWith an average attendance of 48,750 last season, Newcastle United are the 18th best supported team in Europe.
In England only Manchester United, who top the whole league, and Arsenal manage to beat Newcastle’s average attendance, although Celtic managed 9th and Rangers managed 16th.
Given the mess we were in last season and the fact that there were boycotts of some games, that’s not a bad showing at all, although we are down from the 12th position we achieved in 2007-2008.
Realistically, give the capacity of St James’ Park, the absolute best we could have achieved would have been 13th or 14th. (more…)
Wandering about a move in January?It’s a bit early for Christmas shopping, although I’ve seen some decorations up in Spennymoor when passing through recently(I mean howay……..). And of course we’ve started the panto early up at The Stadium Formerly Known as St James’ Park, but according to the rumours, it hasn’t stopped Bolton gaffer Gary Megson adding Andy Carroll to his early Christmas list and is willing to offer the Newcastle striker a return to the Premier League in January.
With old battering ram Kevin Davies on his last legs, it seems that Megson regards Carroll as a long-term replacement. According to The Sun (hehe), Bolton will offer somewhere in the region of £4 million ,when the January transfer window winds open.
Despite my honest critique of Carroll recently, I do think he has potential to be a big player (what else, have you seen the height of him?). He needs to be refined but the raw talent is there and it should be nurtured. There will, as per the norm, be rumour upon rumour from now it would seem until the window closes at the end of January. But I’d hate to think this is anything more than just that, a rumour. (more…)
