Cathcart signed on loanToday is of course deadline day for the transfer window, so what can we expect?
Well I’m not convinced we’ll actually buy anyone but I would hope there’ll at least be one or two loan signings to strengthen the squad.
Hughton told The Journal:
“We have good players here and it’s only right the young lads are given an opportunity in this squad because they deserve it.
“But we need some players in before 5pm because we realise that the squad is not strong enough to compete for the whole season. The club are aware of that.
“Once we have injuries, the squad is going to be stretched. (Fabricio) Coloccini was missing against Leicester, Jonás (Gutiérrez) has a hamstring problem and will be out for four weeks and Shola Ameobi has a stress fracture in his foot which needs to be monitored.”
Dan the man.Black and white, sitting on top, doing alright! That’s Newcastle United, after another win in front of the watching Sky cameras puts us in the driving seat after five games. Leicester City came to town and although The Foxes showed wily endeavour in the first half, it would be hard to argue that the result was anything but a fair reflection of the game overall.
Having secured some match company for a change, I managed to borrow a season-ticket from an old mate who couldn’t make it. He still sits in the same seat we secured when the Sir John Hall stand first went up and so it was a flashback to my younger years as my temporary match mate managed to buy a ticket for my old seat.
Managing to break the car parking ticket machine at Durham station, we jumped on the 18.35 train, hopeful that we wouldn’t return to a £60 fine. The train got us into town with plenty of time spare and by the time we collected his ticket and made our way to the Sir John Hall stand, we also thankfully missed the downpour that some unlucky punters didn’t!
A couple of beers and a pie later and we took our seats just below the Leicester fans and below and to the left of ‘the noisy section’. The atmosphere cranked up as the players lined up and with both sets of supporters in decent voice, everyone, including the players, seemed keen to defy the elements. (more…)
Spanish hitman on year loan deal. News has come in from the website of Cantabrian La Liga side, Racing Santander that a one year loan deal has been arranged for Toon striker Xisco.
23 year old Xisco (full name: Francisco Jiménez Tejada) signed for Newcastle on September 1, 2008, for a fee thought to be around £5.7 million, rising to over £7 or 8 million depending on appearences according to various reports. He is also on a very long 5 year contract which extends to 2013. However, despite injury problems with the Tyneside squad, Xisco has only made a handful of first team appearences for United, scoring one goal, and was a relatively high earner at around £45,000 per week. (more…)
Barcelona-style Toon.Remember Graham Roberts and his plan to put Newcastle United in the hands of the fans?
I thought that had faded into oblivion. In fact I thought it was a complete non-starter and imposed a reporting embargo on myself about it, but I’ve lifted it in the interests of amusement.
It seems this bid is still simmering away and Sky Sports are reporting that Graham Roberts thinks his chances of turning the Toon into a Barcelona-style club are 75%. Things didn’t get off to a good start though. Roberts said:
“There’s a few people who have put some money together, we went to meet the Newcastle board but they didn’t turn up. [Derek] Llambias didn’t show up, we had the financial director and the club secretary.”
That doesn’t sound too promising, although I suppose they could have sent the tea lady. (more…)
Exit rumoursRumours abound that Andy Carroll may leave the Toon before the transfer window closes tomorrow.
As far as I can tell these rumours emanate from The Mirror, which might be good news if we apply the oft used yardstick that the red-tops can be taken less seriously than the broadsheets, but they claim that Carroll is wanted by Wolves and Bolton.
Apparently Carroll is involved in some sort of tug-of-war between two agents who are trying to find him a Premier League home and both Mick McCarthy and Gary Megson have made enquiries as to his availability.
The Mirror claims that Carroll is ‘keen to go to the top level as soon as possible‘, although I’ve never read about him expressing any desire to leave the Toon before now.
Hughton recently said that he was ‘very confident’ that there would be no more players lost before the transfer window closes. I believe Hughton but (more…)
