A New Dawn

It may have bee 10 days since I last posted, but the have been many rumours and not too much action. But now we have a new board in place and there seems to be movement in the transfer market.
With Rozenhal pretty much in the bag, and Geremi expected to sign (potentially with Beye) later this week, Sam looks to have his squad in place. We would hope for further signings, but Sam will hopefully this week have a squad together to push the top 6 (prepare for a list below)...
GK - Given, Harper (Krul out on loan tbc)
RB - Beye (Geremi/Carr)
LB - Geremi (Carr/Babayaro)
CB - Taylor and Rozenhal (Beye/Ramage/Huntingdon/Edgar)
RM - Milner (Solano)
LM - Duff (Nzogbia)
CM - Barton and Emre (Butt/Pattinson/Dyer)
CF - Martins and Viduka (Owen?/Ameobi/Carroll)
That gives us a squad of 26 which is pretty strong, and the only obvious gaps being a natural LB and potential replacement for Owen.
There is a huge amount of speculation on a variety of other signings (especially the likes of Boateng and Richters, who would cost less than £2m), but the squad seems to be nearly there to start building on and that has to be a good thing.

The Stevens Inquiry

So we now have the published report and it shows us that Newcastle United are at the centre of many of the issues - or are we? Rumours are abound from FA 'insiders' that we will face a 3 point deduction next season, but there is barely and link to the club. For once, when you look at the detail, we are clean.

It has been positioned that our links could see us in trouble, but actually the only problem the club has is what role Kenneth Shepherd had when dealing with Willie Mackay. But this has clearly been positioned as a non issue for the club, so lets not worry about this.

What we should worry about is the fact that we are still dealing with a man who brought in Faye, Boumsong and Luque, and has some worryingly close links to Souness. Although we rate Barton it is still an odd choice of transfer for a club with the turbulent history of Newcstle - but Mackay was instrumental in this. I am not doubting the legal status of Mackay, as he has not faced any charge, but the players he has helped bring to this club are dubious, and seeing his name in this envionment brings further question marks over why the club deals with him so frequently.

I'm confident that Big Sam will be cleared of any wrong doing, apart from bad advice when directly dealing with his own son as an agent. What the club needs to do s be very careful who else they deal with. Even if this means missing out on some signings, it is increasingly important that the club makes itself clean at the start of the new era, and the first step is not getting involved with any situations, or people, we may bring question marks over the club.

Ben Hyem

Looks like we've missed out on Ben Haim to Chelski... damn it!

Lets see what Sam pulls out of the hat in the next day or so.

Is he g-Owen? (and how many bad puns can I get in over the summer?)

With reports today on Talksport of Sam stating that he can't keep any player who wants to leave while discussing the future of Michael Owen, we have to think that there is something in this. Owen has yet to make any public statement on his future despite fans, chairman and manager asking for clarity.

Any player who has had close to £30m of our money invested in him doesn't seem to see why people are demanding clarity on his future. Loyalty is something which is important to football fans, and many players seem to forget this. In future years players will trade on their careers, and the likes of Lee, Shearer, Given etc will be seen as great servants to the club. Owen, who is already distrusted by the Liverpool faithful is in danger of being seen as a money grabbing letch by the Geordie fans.

Owen is a great finisher, but we have invested time, effort and money in him and he is showing nothing back. I hope to be proved wrong in the coming weeks, and Owen will see out his contract banging 20 goals a season and go down in history as one of our greats. Unfortunately if anyone shows a vague interest in him I feel that Owen will chase the money.

On a positive note if he does go and we get £9m back in the bank then maybe we can bring someone in who really wants to play for the club.

In a busy week on Barrack Rd, we have reached a position where Newcastle United look to have already sorted themselves out for next season. While most things are yet to be rubber stamped I'm pretty confident about next season, and haven't been able to say that for some years.

Ownership - While Freddy stays Mike Ashley is now in control. It seems more and more certain that once Mr Ashley hits the 90% mark that he will look to replace FFS, and that in the meantime Big Sam will have the ear of the Owner and that Mr Shepherd will not have a huge influence on the club.

Signings - Barton and Viduka are in, with Ben Haim and Rozehnal expected early next week. With a total spend of £8.8m and income from Scott Parker at £7m, its pretty good business (assuming Barton keeps out of prison and off his team mates!).

Future Signings - Sam is looking for two players in each position. Boateng is expected to be a squad player to join for under £1m. We still need full backs and while Baines is lined up, it still isn't anywhere near certain that he will be joining us. Wes Brown is also being touted for the RB berth, but this is where work needs doing.

Pre-seasons - Havng been ommitted from the Ajax tournament we really need to be getting some top class opposition lined up, and this is something which Sam knows he needs to do (as reported in the Chronicle).

Training Ground - again something which has been discussed over past seasons due to our 'wrong grass', but Sam is even more scathing of the facilities, so this really needs sorting urgently.

Staff - again something to do with the squads fitness, as Sam is looking to bring in these specialists in the coming weeks. Its good to see that in a couple of weeks when the players return Sam will have a staff in place to apply 21st century methods to our squad (a good few years too late).

The greatest montage of Newcastle moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlVMdjCydFw

Who's in control?

As Mike Ashley takes control of Newcastle United, it is looking increasingly likely that Freddie Shephard will remain at St James'. I applaud the efforts of Mr Ashley to take control of the team, and see this as a new dawn in the history of NUFC. My major worry is that this will all be on hold for the first 12 months, as FFS sits in the hotseat.

The comparison to the Abramovic situation has been made, but this is a significantly different one. When Roman took his position at Chelsea it was very much out with the old, and in with the new - the transition period wasn't one where Ken Bates hung round in a position of power. Although it wasn't a clean break, there was no hostility, and Ken took his money and ran.

Freddie is a very proud man, who truly believes that he can add something to the Newcastle cause, but this is clearly not the case. Since Freddie took control in 1996 we have seen the club fall from grace both on and off the pitch. A period of success with Sir Bobby saw the fans get behind the Geordie chairman, but realistically he was never able to replace Sir John Hall.

While making a comfortable profit on his shares from Mr Ashley, Freddie has also invested much of the clubs funds in poor signings (Boumsong, Luque, Marcelino and more importantly Souness and Gullit). He has also happily taken £500k pa, and will continue to take my money while sat in the 'Fat Controllers Chair'.

He may be passionate, but he should leave with dignity, and not force the situation to keep NUFC in limbo for a further 12 months or so, by forcing the matter of being Chairman. If the agreement is made it would be very difficult for the owners to get rid of him prematurely and this scares the hell out of me.

I think this is proof alone that Fred is in this for himself. And if you consult their profiles on wikipedia (as highlighted) these show clear differences between the personalities involved at the helm over the past 15 years.

Please Freddie - just leave us to take this great club forward!

The original story came from the Evening Chronicle.

Two In - No Defence

So the controversy is about to start as Barton signs and Viduka agrees to sign. Big Sam has already made an impact with two 'big name' signings this week, but what about the defence.
Its great to see movement in the squad, but we need to start looking at defenders. The word on the street is that Rozehnal is happy to join if we match the £3m asking price, but as you will see below there are many plays we are linked with in the key positions, without any sign of movement.
I trust in Sam, but have an over riding fear that we have gone out too early on the midfield and attack, which could leave us struggling to sign defenders if the boardroom situation doesn't sort itself out quickly.

PAUSE

Ok, so Joey ain't quite here yet. But it is still looking as though he will sign within the next couple of days unless greed takes over and West Ham offer him Parkers reported £73k a week as a cheaper option.
The good news is that Rozehnal looks to be following for around £2.6m, which would see the both coming in under the reported £8.5m we are expecting for Parker.

Here's Joey!!!

So St Scott has gone and the evil stepchild has now arrived. On this basis we need to look forward, and work out how to best deal with Mr Barton.

The bad old days...

... so Joey Barton is here carrying more baggage than... well something with lots of baggage.

He first hit the headlines when City considered sacking him after an incident at a Christmas party where he poked a cigar in junior player Jamie Tandy's eye. The following summer Barton was sent home from a pre-season tournament in Thailand after becoming involved in a fight (with a child), as well as getting involved in an 'altercation' with team captain Richard Dunne.

In March Barton was also arrested in connection to an incident with a taxi driver, prior to the recent 'Dabo incident' (which I'll avoid discussing in detail considering the legal implications)!

And this is apart from the ass flashing incident on the pitch (which I think is more Gazza than Gaza, so nothing to really worry about).

The major worry on the signing must be that Barton is still on bail for a very serious assault, and this could seriously impact on his availability for the coming months - I'm assuming his contract will cover this eventuality???

The good stuff...

Having started in the Everton youth team, Joey Barton signed pro terms with Man City, making his debut aged 19. In the following 6 years Barton wracked up 130 appearances and 15 goals, with international recognition finally coming earlier this season.

Aged 24 Barton has been hailed as one of the most passionate and combatative midfielders in the country over the past couple of seasons. The shining light in a poor team, Barton has been looking to move his career forward for the past 12 months, but has been held back by personal problems. He needs to start scoring more goals to start challenging Lampard, Gerard, Carrick and Hargreaves at international level, but that said has his best years ahead of him.

A move to Newcastle, with the guidance of Big Sam (and away from his family on Merseyside) should see the player flourish. It is a huge risk, but at £5.5m you will not find another player with his quality on the pitch.

There are many opponenets to his signing, but Barton IS a quality footballer. He IS also a very dubious character who needs sorting. We have the history of what has been described as 'Bobby's Borstal' and we need to be re-assured by Sam that Barton isn't going to come in and embarrass the club in the same way that Kieron Dyer has done for the past 8 years!

Please Sam, tell us your plans.

On a lighter note...

Just found this link - genius!

www.safc.info

The Case For The Defence

So with the exodus of Day One, and no signings as yet there are many names being banded about for the Newcastle defence. Baines and Ben Haim are expected, with Rozehnal and Hyppia also possible, but today are pals at the NOTW have identified Claudio Cacapa and Jean Sebastien Jaures.

Claudio Cacapa (thanks to UEFA.com)
He seems a strong player, with a good reputation, but his lack of games over the seasons must be a worry. Maybe Sam sees him as a third Centre Back behind Taylor and Ben Haim, as I can't see him as the new heart of our defence. Could be a very good squad player who would allow us to rest Taylor on occasions, and only need Ramage during injury crisis or cup runs? Especially as he seems to be available on a free.

"The leader of the Brazilian pack at Olympique Lyonnais, Claudio Caçapa's game is all about power and doing the simple things well. A solid, muscular and versatile presence in the heart of the defence.
ClubCaçapa joined Lyon on a six-month loan from Brazilian side CA Mineiro in January 2001 and after impressing while helping the club win the French League Cup, was snapped up on a permanent contract for €6m that summer. Caçapa was deployed both at right full-back and centre-half in his early days in France and made 15 appearances in 2001/02 as Lyon won their first French title. He made the central defensive position his own the following season as Lyon retained their crown. Knee injuries restricted his appearances over the course of the next two seasons, but he was back with a vengance in 2005/06 when he began to establish himself as the charismatic figurehead of Lyon's miserly defence. The ferocity of his tackles are respected as widely as the kindness and courtesy he displays away from the pitch. Caçapa, who won the last of his three caps for Brazil in July 2001, is one of only four players to have played a role in each of Lyon's five successive title triumphs between 2002 and 2006."

Jean Sebstien Jaures
This fella is a fringe player at Auxerre, but is a utility defender. Most importantly he is primarily a left back, and if the Baines deal doesn't come off it is good that Sam is already looking for back up. While the NOTW reckons he'd cost us £700k, thats got to be worth the investment for a fit and experienced defender. Obviously Babayaro SHOULD be doing this next season, but it is looking unlikely that he will ever wear a black and white shirt again, and at present is our only left back in the squad.

Newcastle United?

With so many changes going on at the moment we need to also consider the players who are staying. Now we have lost our captain to West Ham, there is something very important to consider when chosing a replacement.

One option is that a new signing will take his place, but I realistically can't see a new manager doing that at a club as unstable as Newcastle. That is why I believe that there are three candidates for the role.

Nicky Butt

Undoubtably developed into the fans favourite last season, as the heart of our midfield. With his experience and being a central midfielder some are seeing Nicky as the only sensible option. My worry is that at his age the extra year may have an impact on his form next season when we are looking to push on to the next level. I have faith that he will put everything in next season, but don't feel he will be in the side week in week out, and they key for us next season is getting consistency.

Steven Taylor

Our hyperactive future England international is a great talent who has shown maturity in controlling our defence at the back end of the season. My feeling is that we should allow him to develop into a captain rather than force this on him at such an early age.

Shay Given

For me the only real option. Shay will be an ever present next season, and is the one truly world class player in the squad. He has the experience of Newcastle (313 games!) which will help the new manager settle in during his first weeks and months.

Lets just see what Sam thinks.

So below I've listed whats going on, and by the looks of things Sam is on the right track. If we can pull in the players who are looking likely (Ben Haim, Baines, Boateng, Viduka and Barton) the we are shaping up for a decent squad. These guys will cost around £11m, which is £4m+Scott Parker - not a bad kick off point. If Dyer and Owen follow then we can expect another £15m in the pot for 4/5 further signings.

Its true to say that on paper our squad next season will not look as good, with less 'big names' but this could be exactly what Newcastle needs. If Sam can locate a decent right back from somewhere then we will have an XI to really challenge the top six again. This will then make us a much more attractive prospect for the real big names in 2008/9 when Mr Ashley can show us the money and hopefully see us back where we belong in challenging for the Champions League!

Things are shaping up for a very exciting summer - lets just hope the season which follows is just as entertaining!

Player by Player

So in a busy week at Newcastle here's a quick summary of where we are with each player (much thanks to nufcblog for this)...

Nothing sealed but the chat is

In - Viduka, Boateng, Ben Haim, Rozehnal, Baines, Barton, Reo-coker

Out - Parker, Dyer

Not sure - Carr, Babayaro, Owen, Emre

(click on players names for stats)

Mark Viduka

Well it looks as though the pie man is on his way to St James. You can't argue that he'll add much needed strength up front, and despite a significant wage, a 19 goal striker on a free is a great piece of business by Sam to open up his account. His role will depend much on the Owen situation, but a good addition and the sort of signing we could have done with in recent seasons (such as when Jimmy Floyd was available on a free and we threw £10m at Luque!)

Derek Boateng

This fella is exactly what we expected from Big Sam. We don't know much about this 25 year old midfielder, who is currently based in Israel, but everything seems to be positive. Goo attitude, hard working. This is a player who will come in to bolster the squad (realistically as back up to Butt) but in the sort of position where we really need it.

Ben Haim

I've already posted enough about this fella. Good signing and free - hopefully Sam can seal this by the end of the week.

David Rozehnal

This is the new news, but seems to be a strong lead. Dortmund are interested in this highly rated Czech PSG defender, but it sounds as though he would be tempted by the challenge of the premiership, and to join up with Sam who already showed an interest in the player while at Bolton. I'm sure the usual strands of news update will carry this story as the week goes on.

Given the fact this story is coming from the players agent we can't be too sure on it. Also, there is no sign on how much PSG would want, but you have to assume around £5m?

Leighton Baines

The young left back looks like he'll come, but with no real signs of Newcastle making an approach so far we can only assume that the U21 tournament is getting in the way. We're desperate for full backs as we know and this guy is a good english prospect. Even those who aren't sold on him must admit that at under £5m (given what we've spent in recent seasons) is worth a crack.

Joey Barton

Love him or hate him this guy is a very good footballer. With SP off the WHU we have to hope that the big fella knows what he is doing bringing in this 'rough diamond'. I have huge reservations about bringing a player with this history into a place such as circus St James' but we'll have to see. At £5.5m the price tag screams value, but there are so many moral issues arond this which I may cover seperately if he does sign.

Nigel Reo-Coker

Ok, so I don't like his attitude on the pitch, and this season has seem the Hammers fans turn against him, but a player who at 23 has already captained a team at Wembley and was club captain at 19 must have something about him. Maybe if he comes in as a replacement for SP Sam can bring the best out of him. I will hold judgement once he's in a black and white shirt.

Also he has quite a cool full name, and we could adapt the Shola song for him (Nigelio Shola Andrea Reo-Coker)

Out

With regards to players leaving, I don't think Parker has developed as well as we would have wanted. A good servant to the club for two seasons, but disappointing last year when the pressure showed. I don't feel that he would be a huge loss to the squad and see the money he'll bring in as an opportunity to re-shape the midfield. I hope he does well at West Ham though as he's always looked to be a solid pro where ever he has been.

Talking of pro's... Dyer. Kieron has managed to live a charmed life at Newcastle. When the fans wanted him out for disgracing the captaincy Souness doubled his wage! He is undoubtedly a great player, and the perfect number 12 for England, but has failed to blossom at Newcastle. On occasion brilliant, but we need consistency which he lacks. His attitude also stinks, with the amount of reports of him down the Quayside or on Jesmond Rd while injured not reflective of an £80k a week wage. Kieron, you won't be missed (although I expect he'll still be seen retrospectively as a very good talent in his years at the club.

????

The big one is Owen, with further reports coming out of a lack of commitment from St Michael I still feel we might be best just getting him out. He is costing us too much and with Oba Martins we have the perfect player to fill that role. Having spent £26m (ish) on this guy and seen little return on investment (both physical and emotional) I feel we are in a position where we can make a sensible business decision.

Talking of business decisions, lets just get rid of Carr and Babayaro! We'll get some cash for Carr and Baba is just a waste of a good wage.

Emre on the other hand is a clear talent who we should keep hold of. He had a tough season last year, and with a string of clubs having lined up for him (with a fee alledgedly agreed with Hertha Berlin a couple of months ago), we could cash in, but there is much more to get from this guy. I think in a better coached team we could really see the best of Emre next season.

New boy, but who?

So Big Sam is now closing in on his first signing as Newcastle manager, but who will it be? With no real money available at present we must assume that the Chronicle are correct in their assumption that its a free signing.

With Mark Viduka currenlty avoiding being harpooned on a beach in the southern hemisphere somewhere, surely it is Sams old pal Tal Ben Haim?

The 25 year old is recieving great reviews from Bolton fans, and seems to be the perfect partner for Stevie T - fingers crossed come the end of the week we will have one of the four defenders we are desperately in need of!

The last day of the season

So today is the final day of the English football season, so I decided it was time to start my Newcastle United blog for the summer. I often feel that I have plenty to say on football, especially during the summer months when there is no football to watch, so what better way to start my summer ramblings than to kick off my blog as West Brom (with dirty Kevin Rat Man Phillips) and Derby are fighting for a place in the Premiership to play against the might of teams such as Newcastle United FC.

I'm not going to throw all of my feelings on one page at the same time, hopefully over the coming months some people will read my thoughts and agree/disagree on various subjects, but its probably worth setting out my current position.

I fully support Mike Ashley and his attempt to take control of NUFC. I believe that we need a leader off the pitch, and that combined with a new manager we have an exciting season ahead of us. This is something which needs to be considered though. We have tried to throw money at the problems in the past, and what we need is a season of stability. Apart from the back four we have a side capable of a top 6 finish, and with a solid centre half to play alongside Taylor next season, and a couple of full backs (primarily Baines), we should be able to take this club forward.

Hopefully Sam will bring in solid right back, Baines and Ben Haim and sort out our 'forward situation', whether that be with or without Owen. If that can happen over the coming months then we will be in for an exciting 2007/8 season.

Having said that as the weeks go by you'll see my views changing, and being a typically passionate Geordie I will come out with nonsense at times, but thats why football and the soap opera that is Newcastle United FC will always be entertaining!