Permanent move?Chris Hughton might attempt to sign Danny Simpson permanently at Newcastle United when his loan contract comes to an end in January.
Sources in Manchester have allegedly claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson has written off Simpson’s chances of making it big at Manchester United, so he may indeed be available.
Last week, Derek Llambias said that Hughton could sign players for “£1m-or-so, if it was on the right player, who preferably would be under the age of 23” but whether or not Ferguson would accept £1m for him is another matter. Also, Newcastle may not be the only club interested in signing Simpson, which could force the price up beyond what Ashley’s willing to pay.
Hughton has been impressed with the 22 year old though, particularly with his versatility and willingness to play in any position as necessary to plug the gaps in a thin squad. (more…)
Here to save the world!With the air thick with takeover talk, real or imaginary, now feels like a good time to throw in a spanner, or two. It is widely acknowledged that, under impossible circumstances, Chris Hughton and his staff have done an astounding job thus far managing Newcastle United. With a pre-season filled with doom-laden mutterings of “Doing a Leeds”, crashing though the divisions and into financial meltdown….while nothing of the sort has transpired. There’s still time yet, of course, but to the untrained eye all in the garden looks rosey.
Let’s make an assumption. Let’s assume that Barry Moat’s bid goes sailing through and, within minutes, we have the mighty Alan Shearer at the helm. How do the collective feel about that? Is he a white knight riding in to save us or an egomaniac sating his need for attention, and doing us more harm in the process? As Stardust (and David Frost on ‘Through the Keyhole’ ) would say….”Let’s look at the facts”.
His managerial record:
Played 8, Won 1, Drew 2, Lost 5.
….it’s not great, it’s not even mediocre. But, is he really to be judged on eight, end-of-season, scrambled bunfights with a dispirited squad, and a ton of behind-the-scenes pressure? Arsene Wenger said, at the time of Shearer’s appointment, that any manager coming in, with 8 games left, and expected to turn things around. Well that man wouldn’t be a manager, he’d be a magician. (more…)
Owen - Can't stop smiling now.As you all probably know, Michael Owen passed his medical and signed for Manchester United yesterday in a surprising swoop by puce faced supremo, Alex Ferguson. After a season in Toon hell, rejection by Don Fabio, and sly putdowns from the likes of Dave Whelan, and not forgetting of course much scorn for an alleged poor attitude in times of need from a significant proportion of the NUFC fanbase; the pint sized assassin must have thought “back of the net!” when he heard a recognisable Govan brogue on the end of his receiver. The result is apparently a two year, performance related deal at Old Trafford.
Ferguson said on signing the hitman; “Michael is a world-class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level”.
After a very busy day completing the formalities of signing for the North West titan, Owen describes what happened in an exclusive interview with MUTV’s Mandy Henry. Here’s the transcript.
How does it feel to have signed for Manchester United?
“It feels great. I never even had it in my wildest dreams really but then I got the call from the manager to come and meet him. It was a shock but I’m obviously really happy and things have moved quickly since then.”(more…)
