Mike Ashley: Playing a dangerous game at NUFC?With the new season just a few short hours from kick off, Toon fans everywhere take stock of the events of the past few months and are no doubt wondering what kind of start we’ll have given the merciless squad upheaval.
Since the transfer window opened Geordies have sat around with baited breath hoping for some good news to pop up on the Sky Sports News Ticker. Needless to say, it’s been a rollercoaster ride. [Neil] Taylor, Gervinho, Gameiro, Cabaye, Erdinc, Nolan, Marveaux, Ba, Barton, Routledge, Enrique, Crouch, Defoe, Long, Beckford, Lovenkrands, Bendtner, Benayoun – and that’s just the players we’ve bought, sold, are supposed to be selling or been linked with that I can think of off the top of my head!
Toon fans are a rugged lot and we’ve put up with enough of the proverbial for us to be able to pick apart a rumour from a genuine story and gladly celebrate when we are linked to a top player; at least somebody out there thinks we can sign Messi for an estimated £8m.
Still, taken into account our outgoing transfers (Nolan, Enrique, Routledge) and comparing them to our incoming (Cabaye, Marveaux, Abeid, Ba, Obertan) – I’d usually say we’ve done pretty well! (more…)
Wayne Routledge off to Swansea.It seems Newcastle United have decided that Wayne Routledge simply does not fit into the Newcastle squad and have sold the lad to Swansea for a reported £2m.
Wayne hasn’t had much luck in the Premier League and received criticism when he left Crystal Palace for Tottenham Hotspur from the then owner, Simon Jordan. Last January the powers that be decided that Routledge was fit to be loaned to his former club Queens Park Rangers where he helped the club to automatic promotion with 19 appearances and 5 goals.
Loaning the lad out was a surprise to us all has he was our only designated RW – an area we have sorely lacked bodies in for a long time now. Perhaps it was the bicep in his jaw that prompted the decision – who knows?
Talking to the Swansea City FC website, he had this to say:
“I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s taken a couple of days to get everything agreed, but I’m excited about getting started.
“I’ve had a good chat with the manager and he really impressed me. I had heard a lot of good things about him and the chat only reinforced my belief that moving to Swansea was the right thing to do.” (more…)
Williamson: Settled Toon nicely.Mike Williamson has been somewhat of a revelation since his arrival on Tyneside, which is more that can be said for other more high profile names that have had the chance to wear the famous Black & White stripes of Newcastle United.
Williamson was signed by Portsmouth in September 2009 but was subsequently forced to play in the reserves as the financial rot set in at Fratton Park. That meant that the South coast club couldn’t afford to pay any more of the fee owed to Watford if he made a first team appearance, which was a shame on a personal level for him but ended up being beneficial for us.
When the new season starts and August rolls around it will see Mike being given the chance of playing top level football for the first time in his career. Again, the ability of Mike to be able to make the step up has been cause of debate between some fans. Some argue that he hasn’t played top flight football for a reason, others say he was just unlucky at not getting his chance last year with Portsmouth. Given that he hasn’t put a foot wrong, other than on his surf board, since he has been here then surely he deserves his shot at the big time, and I will be backing him to succeed. (more…)
Has been a key player for us.Having already taken a look at our goalkeepers and defenders, the focus for the next edition of our player review moves up the pitch again to see how our midfield have performed throughout the season.
It’s been a strange position for us this year. On one hand, some say the midfield has been our achilles heel, it lacks mobility and creativity. On the other hand though, it has been a position that has yielded a return of 30 goals from the season. Without checking, that is probably a damn sight more than what we have had in return from the past few seasons. Of course 17 of them have come from Kevin Nolan which has helped improve that figure, but despite the criticism that has been aimed at them from time to time they have chipped in with their fair share of assists aswell. After all, strikers need service from somewhere, right? (more…)
Routledge: Key man since his arrival.Now the job of promotion has been achieved we can pick start to pick through it and have a look at what we have done right and wrong throughout the season.
The very fact we have won the title would indicate that the right outweighs the wrong through the course of the season, but it’s January that held the key to promotion for me. In the first half of the season we tended to wear opposition down and never really looked like a balanced team, with most of our play coming down the left side with Jonas Gutierrez and Jose Enrique whilst virtually nothing coming down right through Danny Guthrie. That sounds harsh on Danny G, but it wasn’t meant to be. What I was trying to say is that Danny Guthrie is not a winger, although he did get his fair share of assists from crosses and free-kicks out wide. Guthrie is a central midfielder, that is his favoured position which meant he tended to be drawn into the middle of the pitch, forcing us to look more lopsided as a team. Anyway, he was just doing as he was told and it was a case of needs must, so credit must go to him for giving it a go and playing where he is needed, Kieron Dyer should take note! (more…)
