Have a little patientsSo, as ever, the situation at St James’ is as clear as the River Tyne. One minute we hear Rob Lee lamenting the missed opportunity as Big Al is apparently certain to walk away in frustration. And already we hear those claims being rubbished on the same day by our favourite fellow ‘the source’.
The source said:
“There is no chance Alan will give up on becoming Newcastle United’s permanent manager. He will not walk away and he continues to wait for news regarding the sale of the club.”
Being brutally honest, it sounds like the wishful thinking of a fan. In fact, it’s not far off from what I’m thinking or at least hoping, despite a previous article in which I implied that Shearer will be reaching the end of this tether. After all, how long can Shearer sit around waiting for a decision one way or another before it gets just a little bit silly? Yes, he’s black and white through and through but that loyalty should not be abused. (more…)
Biting his tongue?Does anyone really know what’s going at St James’? According to Big Al’s big pal, Rob Lee, even he hasn’t a clue.
Talking to the press, Rob had this to say:
“I speak to Alan every day and he’s frustrated to say the least. He’s coming to the end of his tether now. He’s waited for ages and been told that things were due to happen, but nothing has and he’s very frustrated.
“He organised all the pre-season games at the end of last season but he also had targets in mind that he wanted to bring in to the club. Now it looks like he will miss out on them.
“I’m amazed he hasn’t already told Newcastle that he doesn’t want the job any more, but there will come a point where he says, ‘You’re too late’.
“He still wants the job desperately but you can’t expect someone like that to wait forever. He’s not daft and they’ve had ample time to sort something out. (more…)
Wizard from Oz?I guess you’ve got to look out for some positives in all of this uncertainty. Well we could look no further than the fruition of our glorious leader’s preference to ‘develop’ rather than ‘dabble’. Our new youth policy has been one thing which most fans, albeit some begrudgingly, have recognised as being a beacon throughout this whole sorry affair.
Pre-season friendlies are an ideal opportunity to blood youngsters and this term has been no different with several of our kids getting decent run-outs against Darlo and Huddersfield. Kadar was impressive in his centre half role in the latter game and Lua Lua’s willingness and ability to get at the opposition in both games.
Last night, admittedly against lesser quality but no lesser willing opposition at Hillheads where we were entertained by Whitley Bay, Newcastle gave more of our youngsters the chance to impress in front of the watching management pair Hughton and Calderwood and the pie-purchasing Peter Beardsley (I assume he also ate it but that is unconfirmed).
Aussie-born and highly rated Brad Inman, in particular, stood out in an eagerly contested and entertaining game. (more…)
Oba returns against Orient.In a day that appears largely bereft of Newcastle United news, I’ll have to pick out our reserve win over Whitley Bay as the headline news. Apparently Hughton and Calderwood were amongst the 1,075 crowd that saw us win 3-1 with two goals from Brad Inman and one from Wesley Ngo Baheng.
According to The Chronicle, Oba Martins and Geremi are set to make a return against Leyton Orient on Saturday, although Bassong is complaining of a ‘muscle ache’ and remains doubtful.
I have to admit to being a bit nonplussed about such news because I’m guessing that all three of these players will be clearing off as soon as Ashley’s transfer embargo is lifted. I’m not sure what we’re gaining in the long run by getting them into the pre-season squad and wonder if we’d be better off giving more of the youngsters some first team time – at least they’ll still be here for the rest of the season.
The article also explains how Hughton has been left to contemplate starting the season the season without Nicky Butt. He told The Chronicle: (more…)
Butt InjuredAfter just a couple of friendlies we’ve picked up our first injury of the season. According to the official club site, Nicky Butt will be out for 4 weeks and will have a hand operation to repair the partially dislocated thumb he received during the Darlington game. This of course means he’ll miss the start of the season.
I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. We seem to have had a particularly injury-prone squad in recent seasons and I was beginning to wonder whether that’s just down to bad luck or whether there’s something wrong with the training / physio regime.
According to The Chronicle, the players have been told that they can expect Hughton to be in charge for the start of the season, which is no real surprise given the way things seem to be dragging on. The article also suggests that the Malaysian consortium that was recently given a tour of St James’ Park has fallen by the wayside, although I’m not sure how The Chronicle knows that because all that Ashely’s PR man had to say on matters was: “we can’t give out anything on the record“. (more…)
