Winging his way to Lancashire?According to reports on Sky Sports News we’ve received an estimated £4m bid from an unidentified Premier League club for Duffer. And in keeping with recent activity it seems we are considering the offer for the Irish international.
As we expected, the fire sale is well and truly underway and we were always likely to lose players with Premiership experience. Duff is also one of the higher earners so the board will be keen to let him go for a decent price. Losing a million from the price we paid for him, all things considered, probably looks like good business to Ashley and co.
Despite stating his desire to stay at Newcastle, the likelihood is that a return to the top flight is sure to turn his head. Having scored in our draw with West Brom, Duff will have done wonders for his appeal to potential suitors and he arguably has a couple of years left in him if he can regain his form. (more…)
Sick as ****Once upon a time, comparisons were made between the clubs based on positive notes such as the club history, the passion of the fans and their desire for success diluted with a realistic and humorous outlook on the game. Instead, the familiarity these days is apparent for a different reason. It doesn’t take a genius to draw a parallel between our decline and that of our old friends down the road, Leeds United. That’s why people have been doing it for the last couple of years or more.
Mismanagement and poor finances off the field together with mismanagement and poor performances on the field led to the downfall of the once great Leeds. A club who, less than 20 years ago (just less mind), were the English Champions. Holding off the challenge of their bitter rivals across the Pennines to take the 1991/1992 title, while the destiny of Newcastle United was being re-charted dramatically by a certain messiah (ahem….). (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…)
Visitor's BeyeUndoubtedly, the most exciting thing to happen at our game last night wasn’t the actual football. It was the handbags at half time and at the end of the game.
The first tussle involved Habib Beye who was incensed enough to remonstrate with Huddersfield skipper Peter Clarke following an earlier disagreement. Whether that was something said at a free kick or a challenge either one of them didn’t like, is unclear.
Certainly I didn’t see the flashpoint because I was halfway up the stairs to get my pie (which incidentally were out of stock!). But both players looked fairly agitated and keen to get at each other. Which resulted in a 20-man melee (I love that word) that involved police and stewards and continued down the tunnel. Beye didn’t reappear for the second half but as I suggested in my earlier report of the game, I got the impression that was the original plan regardless.
The second incident involved Coloccini and former Gateshead forward Lee Novak with the striker reportedly suffering a cut to his chin. It came as a surprise to me just how close these two actually got and that there was physical damage as it was dispersed relatively quickly and there didn’t seem to be much in it. The exact cause of that incident is also unclear. What is clear though is that this was a relatively bad-tempered affair considering the nature of the game. (more…)
