Rossi set for loan move

Newcastle announced tonight that we are set to sign Manchester United starlet Giuseppe Rossi on loan until January. This is a good temporary solution which Roeder should be praised for, this guy is pretty good. He adds some depth to our attack and some skill.

Now, we have one day, and one day exactly from this post, to sign two defenders. Come on!

Running out of time

All then leads to nothing
Striving for some success, claiming victory,
Pretending to be better than the rest
Trying to comprehend things out of hand
Bothering ourselves from time to time
Don’t we all hope for a better day?
What good sense can we make out of it
Than live and let live
Spend time’s remaining ticks to the ones we adore the most

A little over the top but you get the drift.

According to SkySports we've had a bid rejected by Middlesbrough for Mark Viduka. Huth, Woodgate, Gravesen, Bridge, Neill, Diawara and Mido are all off the list. Here are some new names emerging:

• Wael Gomaa - Egyptian international defender, currently on trial at Newcastle.
• David Trezeguet - Juventus maybe sending him out on loan.
• David Nugent - Preston striker who I rate highly.
  
• Souleymane Diawara - Sochaux defender wanted by Charlton and Rangers. Update: Signed for Charlton.
  
  
• Andy Todd - Want away Blackburn captain (central defender) Good signing.
  
  
  Anything will do now Glenn, please, we need some defenders and a striker.

Another one bites the dust

Despite all those options yesterday, to my great annoyance it seems they are pretty much all gone. Roeder has kept his cards close to his chest so far, perhaps he has actually gone so far as to not tell the players he actually wants them incase, god forbid, someone hears him.

Maybe this guy in the picture is the answer to our problems?

• Thomas Gravesen: Looks set to join Celtic.
  
  
• Robert Huth: Roeder declared his admiration for the player and he is certainly available, but Boro want him too.
  
  
• Jonathan Woodgate: Boro seem confident he's going to them.
  
  
• Mido: Has signed for Spurs.
  
  
• Wayne Bridge: Now looks set to stay at Chelsea after his recent good form, especially as theres been no movement in the transfer market with Ashley Cole.
  

So who is there? Perhaps its not unthinkable that we take Ronaldo of Real Madrid on loan as we attempt to do our annual piece of business with them. Javier Saviola has been linked with a move away from Spain all summer and David Nugent is constantly linked with the Premiership. On the more pressing defensive side I have no idea. Hopefully we can stilll get Woodgate/ Huth and Bridge or any two of them. Back on the forward side, if Spurs do sign Mido, Defoe may become available?

As we did last season, we've signed a Chelsea player and an Inter player, so expect some movement from Madrid soon...

Can we borrow your players please?

With the transfer deadline creeping ever closer, Roeder has commented that "we are in pole position in all three". Good news it seems and 3 players certainly wouldn't go a miss. There are five players named today whom many people are convinced will be joining us.

• Thomas Gravesen: May now be off because of more pressing issues with our defence.
• Robert Huth: Roeder declared his admiration for the player and he is certainly available.
• Jonathan Woodgate: Coming to England on loan and we would probably make an attempt to sign him for this season.
• Mido: Apparently rethinking his decision to stay at Roma and could be set for another loan deal to England, with us fighting it out with Spurs.
  
• Wayne Bridge: Now looks set to stay at Chelsea after his recent good form.

Any combination of those is good, but the three defenders and Mido would be excellent signings.
Check the countdown clock to see how long we have to sign them.

Countdown

To the right and below is a count down to the transfer window closing.

If anyone has any ideas on what the clock can count down to after the window closes, please contact me.

Suggestions so far:

• UEFA Cup final
• FA Cup final
• Michael Owen's comeback from injury
• End of Luque's contract
  
  
  

Villa score Moore than defenceless Toon

The unbeaten run at an end at the unlikeliest of places. Two instances of poor defending in an otherwise reasonable showing mean't be lost 2-0 to Aston Villa today. It is the second game of the season, but it is unacceptable, enough said. Martins has been in training with us for two days and has never played in the premiership so I didn't expect him to make an immediate impact, he didn't. The poor lad was upfront on his own because the newly prolific Ameobi failed to shake off his knocks. I was distraught on 60 minutes when Obafemi Martins was stretchered off with a suspected knee injury, but thankfully its just a bad dead leg. We had already made all 3 substitutions by then, so we played the last half hour with 10 men, meaning a possible come back was off the cards. Babayaro was appalling, and N'Zogbia did a much better job at left-back after half time while Luque was simply not interested, and Glenn knows it. Glenn said afterwards that he is trying to bring in another striker, which is good news, but we really should concentrate on our defence. Bramble had a solid game with only one mistake, but his only mistake led to a goal in the 2nd minute of the game. Not good.

We need a left-back, centre-back and striker. I have to be harsh and say Albert Luque is simply not up to it. Babayaro needs sorting out.

Luke Moore and Juan Pablo Angel scored the goals.

9

Obafemi Martins, congratulations.

Newcastle have drawn Levadia Tallinn of Estonia in the first round proper of the UEFA Cup. Levadia Tallinn are the first Estonian team ever to qualify for the first round after beating FC Twente of Holland 2-1 on aggregate. A favourable draw from a favourable group, but the pressure is still on to make the group stage.

Newcastle 0-0 FK Ventspils - Wor Oba

Newcastle have signed a striker. Yes! £10million for the speedy Nigerian who will be unveiled on Friday after his first training session. Just before kick off, Obafemi Martins was introduced to the crowd, he jogged out the tunnel and circled the centre of the pitch waving his Newcastle scarf around his head, it was brilliant. He looked ever so slightly more pleased to be here than Michael Owen did last year and seems to have a certain fun factor about him. With Shola only rated 60-40 for the Villa game on Sunday, we needed a striker fast, and we have a good one.

Newcastle 0-0 FK Ventspils

There was one mystery tonight, why didn't we score? United dominated from first whistle to last, our passing was good, our build up was good. You only need to look at the stats to see how much we dominated:

Newcastle had 35 shots - Ventspils had 2 (both blocked from outside the area).
Newcastle had 12 corners - Ventspils had none
Newcastle had 70% of possession.

Luque was to blame for many of our missed chances, he tried every shot with his left foot when sometimes it needed his right. Bramble, Duff, Emre, Parker, N'Zogbia, Luque, Carr and Babayaro all missed good chances, while Milner's 30 yard freekick crashed against the underside of the bar. It was a very exciting game that could have had 4 or 5 goals. Ventspils never once threatened without playing badly, to be fair they defended very well. Duff was an outstanding performer and thoroughly deserved his man of the match award. He tore Ventspils to pieces and created several brilliant chances only for Luque to waste them. We played very well and if we can play that against Villa on Sunday with a striker on two in the mix, we should win. But of course it will an extremely difficult game. The ever-evil Lawro predicting a toon defeat.

I am worried about the next game and I think we should all be happy if we remain undefeated.

Our new number 9

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, OK well he hasn't signed yet but Glenn revealed this morning that our striker to-be will have a medical on Tyneside today. The gaffer announced this morning that Obagoal will be offered the number 9 shirt but is under no pressure to take it. Obviously Mr Roeder has tremendous confidence in the youngster.

Some fans won't be so chuffed at first, but think about it. Alan Shearer is a legend who will never be replaced. Several unproven strikers have taken the shirt and excelled. Some haven't. At the end of the day there is no point reserving the shirt for legends, we've got some cups to win and we need strikers to do that, and the number 9 is the striker's shirt. The striker that will lead us to cup glory! Howay the lads.

You can almost touch it...

Martins in Shola's body...disturbing yes

Quotes from Glenn this morning:

"We have got club officials out there today in Milan trying to tie the deal up."

"I think we are virtually there with an agreement with the player, the club and agents."

"There is quite a bit of paperwork to be done today and we will be rushing around trying to get that all signed up."

"Hopefully, either very late tonight or first thing in the morning, we can bring Martins back with us."

"It's too early to say, 'Yes, he's signed up' because officially, he has not. But we are very positive over what's going to happen by the end of play today."

Roeder wasn't worried about interest from Portsmouth:

"I never worry about speculation at all. I only concern myself with what we are doing.

"As far as I am concerned, as long as the paperwork goes through today, he will be our man and not only Portsmouth, but any other club, will have to look elsewhere for a striker."
Glenn also confirmed the fee was £10million.

I will confirm the signing as soon as it happens and give my customary talk about it.

Important information

www.safc.info

This website tells you everything you will ever need to know about S*nderland on the very first page. Take a look.

P.S. If you don't like swearing or nastiness, then you won't like S*nderland, so take a look anyway.

Lets all laugh at S*nderland...some more

Exactly...

Kevin Phillips has turned down the chance to join his former strike partner Niall Quinn and has gone to West Brom. Ha.

Many followers of the famously rubbish red and white shirt had their hopes of lower league survival pinned on their former star man, now 33.

Hopefully the pathetic lot of them will realise that the club is truly and honestly, Sh*t.

Update: I was thinking, maybe they'll get their first win tonight when they beat the team bottom of League 2. They didn't, infact they lost 2-0. S*nderland had a player sent off in the fourth minute (violent conduct - not exactly unheard of in S*nderland), Bury scored near the end, Bury had a player sent off, then Bury scored again. Magic. Woohoo. Championship, you're having a laugh.

Boum! And he's gone...

Jean-Alain Boumsong has joined relegated cheating spaghetti boys Juventus for €4.8million plus future bonuses. Newcastle will also play Juventus in a friendly at SJP next summer.

This post neither merits a picture or much babbling. He wasn't very good, bye.

Almost Oba the line

Update: NUFC have confirmed they have agreed a fee with Inter and it is now up to the player and his agent to accept the terms on offer.

It seems Obafemi Martins is crawling over the line slowly but surely, with the club so far refusing to comment. It seems we have agreed a fee with Inter and offered a £45 000 a week contract, which has been accepted by the player. That figure is extremely similar to that of Mr Shearer, who reportedly refused pay rises when signing contract extensions. Should Martins finally make the gates, he will be less well paid than misfit Albert Luque, injury prone Kieron Dyer and the completely kaput Michael Owen. Doesn't seem fair does it?

Some SkySports quotes this morning indicate that Roeder has given up on Miroslav Klose, with his club Werder Bremen unwilling to sell.

Overall everyone seems to pretty confident, including my impressive source within the club, that Martins could make his debut on Sunday at Aston Villa (Villa park for once a very scary prospect).

Obafemi poised to join Shola

Obashola Martinobi?

From BBC Football:

Inter Milan striker Obafemi Martins said he is about to secure a move to Premiership side Newcastle United.

"I'm close to moving to Newcastle despite all the initial setbacks," the 21-year-old Nigeria international told BBC Sport on Monday.

"Eighty percent of the deal with Newcastle is completed."

Martins has been unsettled since the club brought in Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Argentine Hernan Crespo to strengthen their forward line.

Martins's agent Patrick Bastianelli met United officials over the weekend to complete transfer negotiations.

A fee of £10.9m (US$20.6m) is said to have been agreed between both sides.
Martins said Newcastle's determination to sign him had played a major part in his decision to join the Magpies.

"Playing in the Premiership has been a long-term ambition and I am extremely delighted with the prospect of concluding that in the next couple of days," he added.

Meanwhile our Irish contingent of Given, Carr, O'Brien and Duff have been called up once again for the Euro 2008 qualifiers next month.

Glenn working Obatime

It seems the deal is on with Inter striker Obafemi Martins. The forward can apparently fly (see left) run fast and finish. Good. I have a nasty feeling he'll be injured on his debut, don't ask where its coming from. That's assuming he arrives anyway. The Nigerian nicknamed 'Obagoal' has scored 28 goals in 88 appearances for the Milan side. From what I gather a good number of those appearances were from the bench.

Sky Sports are reporting we could confirm this tomorrow:

"Martins’s management team are flying to England and will meet with a Newcastle delegation, including chairman Freddy Shepherd.
Skysports.com has learnt that a deal of €16 million (£10.9 million) had been struck between the Premiership club and the Serie A giants.

Newcastle have been locked in talks with Inter and Martins for a few weeks over a possible move to Tyneside.

Manager Glenn Roeder scouted him over the summer and highlighted him as one of his preferred transfer targets.

Now, after missing out to Liverpool for Dirk Kuyt, Newcastle finally look set to add a new striker to their squad.

If all goes well on Sunday, Newcastle could announce Martins’s capture as early as Monday."

We will see...

There was a clue yesterday when Roeder said during a post-match interview, "We'll be in tomorrow and we'll be in Monday" in reference to transfers.

Boumsong is set to join relegated cheaters Juventus for £2.5million. Representing a £6million loss in 18 months.

Heart set on pace

To the right is the man I want to see in the black and white of Newcastle. Arouna Kone. He tore us apart when we played PSV in preseason and had a major part in all of their attacks. This guy has a real talent and he so fast, I think he'd do the same to any defence in the world. Roeder commented yesterday that so far 'everyone had got it wrong' about the pacey striker we are close to signing which shows there is hope we could be welcoming this star man although its unknown whether he'd leave the Dutch champions. If there is such a thing.

The Ivorian is just one of the names mentioned of my list in the post below. Nicolas Anelka is continually linked with moves away Fenerbahce and part of his game is his pace, Glenn may think he can tame the Frenchmann. Jermain Defoe isn't the world's slowest striker and nor is Klaas Jan Hunterlaar from Holland. Miroslav Klose has a burst of pace and its widely known that our target Obafemi Martins is handy when it comes to acceleration. Hopefully we will see over the next week.

Reports today are saying that Arsenal have offered Newcastle Ashley Cole. These will of course turn out to be false. Even if we have the money to spend on England's first choice left-back, it would be better spent on some strikers. There would probably be enough change leftover for a decent left fullback too.

Toon no match for Match of the Day

Once again BBC1's Match of the Day failed to do Newcastle (or Wigan to be fair) any justice in their opening day edition. Consistently last season they failed to provide any decent analysis on our matches, even when they shockingly showed our home game against Arsenal last season first. Alan Shearer clearly had plenty to say tonight, but the show ran out of time. Meaning that games requiring less highlights and analysis wasted air time with useless banter. If this was the first time that had occured, or it was rarity, I wouldn't mind. But the fact that it is consistent really annoys me. Some of the things worth seeing from our game today, for both the home side and the visitors weren't even touched upon. Some Wigan fans will have been extremely frustrated at the fact that they didn't even see any of their seven new signings on the field for the simple reason that MOTD failed to show it. Infact fans of Newcastle's opponents shouldn't even bother to tune in, because they seem to have something against us. I know I'm not the first to touch upon this subject and I am one of many who has emailed them about it.

With transfers expected in the next few days, here is a list of names that I would welcome through the SJP gates in a black and white shirt...

Robert Huth
Lucas Neill
Wayne Bridge
Olivier Bernard
Pascal Chimbonda
Curtis Davis
Jonathan Woodgate
Joris Mathijsen

Mikael Arteta
Tim Cahill
Thomas Gravesen

Miroslav Klose
Obafemi Martins
Dean Ashton
Marlon Harewood
El-Hadji Diouf
David Nugent
Henri Camara
Jermain Defoe
Collins John
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink
Klaas Jan Huntelaar
David Trezeguet
Julio Baptista
Nicolas Anelka
Arouna Koné

Injury update

• Butt (head) had a migrane after clashing with Emre's knee
  
• Moore (knee) knee was feeling understrength and felt he couldn't do his best job
  
• Ameobi (hip and hamstring) hip was agony and hamstring was sore - doubt for Thursday
  
• Babayaro (tbc) possibly a dead leg although unconfirmed
  
• Emre (dead leg) thankfully only pain and no muscle pulls
  
• Carr ('small injury') possibly the hamstring injury picked up on international duty..tbc
  

Man of the Match was the ever-brilliant Scott Parker.

Roeder commented after the game that three signings are at the negotiation stage and that he expects some activity to be concluded by the weekend, including the signing of a pacey striker.

Newcastle 2-1 Wigan Athletic

I've tipped Wigan for relegation, but fair play to them, they did very well today. Thankfully for the most part we defended well. On 38 minutes newly appointed captain Scott Parker fittingly opened the scoring for this season. On the hour McCulloch pulled one back for the entertaining Wigan, curling his shot past Given. But 8 minutes later Duff's clever backheel sent N'Zogbia free but his shot was well parried by England international goalkeeper Chris Kirkland however Shola stayed composed to slot home the rebound on the half volley. We didn't even get any bookings until Luque came on. This game was a very good advert for the Premiership; three goals in open play, the captain scoring, tension and a win for the best team ever. But thats just the beginning, we still need a striker to partner Ameobi, but for now, a good enough performance against a team who should do well this season. The Latic's seven new signings all featured and looked good, and our one new signing was also impressive!

I'll try and find out who Man of the Match was. Also good news that our irish trio made it through the 90 minutes, unlike Butt who got a head injury. I hope his replacement N'Zogbia did enough to win his place back in the team.

Away from home next week, it would be nice to have a new striker at least.

Frustratingly, the injury situation is starting to take hold, hopefully none of the following injuries are too serious:

Butt (head)
Moore (tbc)
Ameobi (slight knock)
Babayaro (limping)
Emre (limping)

Other results that amuse me:
Sunderland were battered 3-1 by new boys Southend.
Boro were 2-0 up Reading, but ended up losing 3-2.

Yay its the Premiership

Boredom or a sad attempt at being professional? I'll leave you to realise...Welcome to NUFC Jam's super-duper countdown to 3pm, the time when the Toon kick off against the Latics of Wigan.

I am considering doing live match updates to keep my self entertained during the day, however I will only have the motivation to do this if we are winning. Not only that I might just sleep during/ ignore the match in order to get a pleasant/ nasty surprise when I switch on the TV at 5 o'clock. I probably won't be able to keep away.

Before the game the line-up and formation will be here as soon as it is available.

--------------------------------------LIVE-------------------------------------

12.05am - You can see live text commentary on today's match by clicking HERE or listen live on BBC Radio Newcastle HERE.

12.49pm - The Premiership is under way as newly promoted Sheffield United host Liverpool at Bramall Lane.

1.30pm - Bramall Lane erupted after the ball went in the net, but it was judged to be offside. No goals in the Premiership yet.

1.36pm - Its 0-0 at half time in the first game of the new season. Sheffield United are taking a physical approach on their return to the Premiership. Two Liverpool players have left the field injured as a result of bad challenges and a few have had lucky escapes.

1.53pm - The first goal of the season is scored immediately after half time. ROB HULSE gives Sheffield United a shock lead against FA Cup holders Liverpool.

2.07pm - Ex-mag Keith Gillespie comes off the bench for Sheffield United.

2.17pm - Sheffield United pay the price for their physical football and give away a penalty. ROBBIE FOWLER equalises from the spot.

2.23pm - Team news is in - Newcastle will line up as follows:

Given, Carr, Bramble, Moore, Babayaro, Butt, Solano, Parker, Emre, Duff, Ameobi (4-5-1)

Subs: S Harper, A Luque, C N'Zogbia, J Milner, S Taylor

Wigan: Kirkland, Hall, De Zeeuw, Scharner, Baines, Landzaat, Boyce, McCulloch, Valencia, Camara, Heskey (4-4-2)

Subs: M Pollitt, M Jackson, G Kavanagh, D Wright, D Connolly

2.41pm - Sheffield United are smiling as they draw with Liverpool on opening day, the game finished 1-1.

*3.00pm* - And we're off! United! United! Newcastle kick off, playing towards the Leazes End.

3.17pm - Butt gets a head injury and is replaced by N'Zogbia. Presumably Parker will play the defensive role. I like our 11 better now than at kick-off.

3.42pm - SCOTT PARKER SCORES !!! 1-0 TO THE GEORDIE BOYS.
Ameobi does well, cutting inside the Wigan defence and crossing for NUMBER 17 AND CAPTAIN SCOTT PARKER to head home.

3.47pm - Half time at SJP, where Newcastle are leading 1-0 thanks to Scott Parker. Please win.

3.57pm - Notable half time results: In lower league S*nderland are losing 1-0 to newly promoted Southend. Ha. Boro were 2-0 up after 20 minutes against also newly promoted Reading, but Reading scored twice in 2 minutes just before half time and its now 2-2. Ha.

4.33pm - LEE MCCULLOCH equalised for Wigan on 59 minutes. However 8 minutes later SHOLA AMEOBI RESTORED LEAD after a neat backheel from Duff sent N'Zogbia away, who's shot was well saved by Chris Kirkland, however he couldn't stop the rebound from Ameobi.

5.00pm - Newcastle have won! Newcastle 2-1 Wigan.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Opening day

Thankfully no injury worries ahead of our curtain raiser, only Dyer and Owen are out for now.

My head says we may well start with the team that beat Ventspils, but this is the line-up I would like to see:

---Given---

---Carr ----Taylor---- Moore ----Ramage---

---Parker ---
---Milner ----Emre --------N'Zogbia----Duff ---
---Ameobi---

Although I would be almost as pleased if we used a 4-4-2 formation using both Ameobi and Luque. The important factor for either of the formations is that Ameobi must not be isolated. I know Glenn and many fans want to see Parker in a more attacking role, at the moment we really need him in front of our back four. We must be compact and defend well, the back four I've chosen seems to be the one that will make the least mistakes. The midfield is full of pace and is full of players who like to create and score. Ameobi should be able to feed off balls from these midfielders.

The build-up will be live here tomorrow afternoon! That's how much time I have to use up.

Scarves - not good enough

Sample scarf ------>-----Scarf produced


Not good enough is becoming a common theme running into the new season although this time it doesn't appear to be the club's fault. An angry statement of the official website informs supporters that the club have been 'badly let down by the supplier'. Above you can see for yourself the difference between the scarf the supplier were supposed to produce and the scarf they eventually did. Freddy Shepherd has a fair point I suppose. I think giving out the scarves in a good idea and part of me is pleased they haven't managed to get them in time for tomorrow because I can't get to the game, hopefully I will beable to get to the match where they hand out a free scarf. Woo hoo.

Today is the day the countdown to season rescue finishes. Roeder again saying he hopes to have 3 more players by the time the window closes.

Just on the off chance that Mr Roeder may somehow come across this blog (it could happen you know?!) here are some striking ideas:


Obafemi Martins- £10million

Age: 21 / 28
Nationality: Nigerian
Club: Inter Milan
Position: Striker

OK so even he doesn't know how old he is. But he is fast, strong and can finish.


David Nugent- £3million

Age: 21
Nationality: English
Club: Preston
Position: Striker

Fast England U21 international who scores and scores and scores in the Championship. Destined for the Premiership.


Henri Camara- £4.5million

Age: 29
Nationality: Senegalese
Club: Wigan
Position: Striker

Classy striker who has struggled to make an impact in the past. However he was really good for Wigan last season.


Marlon Harewood- £8.5million

Age: 26
Nationality: English
Club: West Ham
Position: Striker

Continues to successfully make the steps up. Scored goals last season, some crackers included.


Fernando Torres - £15million

Age: 22
Nationality: Spanish
Club: Atletico Madrid
Position: Striker


Alexander Kerzhakov - £6million

Age: 24
Nationality: Russian
Club: Zenit St Peterburg
Position: Striker

Scores at the moment, maybe be a risk in the Premiership, but who isn't?

Not good enough

The one striker who really could replace Alan Shearer is now almost a Liverpool player. As you will gradually realise over the course of this post, I am less than happy. With two whole days to go until the start of the Premiership season (which is quite an important part of the NEXT YEAR) we have ONE striker. Not only have we only got ONE striker, this ONE striker is possibly the worst at playing upfront on his own in the league. With Michael Owen injured since July, and Chopra gone since June along with the knowledge that Shearer is retiring for OVER A YEAR - the fact that we have no new strikers is frankly pathetic. This is Newcastle United, famed for stylish attacking football in the 90s with only Shola Ameobi for a front line. No disrespect to Albert Luque but he isn't setting high standards for himself is he?

"We're working hard" is becoming rather common for a manager who 'doesn't use excuses'.
It is not that hard to find a decent striker. IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE A BIG NAME, just a decent presence upfront now.

Newcastle United - Get on with it.

Season Rescue: Now unlikely

P.S. Stephen Carr got a hamstring injury and joins Duff and Given on the treatment table. Is it something with the Irish or just Newcastle United back to its old wounded self??? *Distressed moan*

Kuyt flies as Carr goes off the road

Not quite as dramatic as the title suggests. Stephen Carr made it through the night and Alan O'Brien came off the bench and was only denied a goal by a very good save as Republic of Ireland stumbled and lost 4-0 to visitors Holland. Kuyt played 45 minutes but didn't score. The watching Glenn Roeder will have secretly enjoyed an entertaining game but don't tell Wor Irish lads. A disgracefully Parker-less England easily beat Greece also 4-0 at Old Trafford, all the goals coming in the first half and typically all the subsitutions in the second.

No fresh rumours today. Reports saying we've made a £5million bid for talented Fulham striker Collins John appear to be unfounded.

Season Rescue: 2 days

NUFC Jam - Premiership Guide & Predictions

Great news ! NUFC Jam will has produced a team by team guide to the coming Premiership season. It contains all the notable transfers for each team and my (controversial in some cases) predictions for their season ahead. Give it a look by clicking HERE.

There is also a link in the 'More Newcastle United' section on your right.

This blog will contain my Premiership opinions throughout the season and updates on how my predictions are looking. Oh the joy.

P.S. If you find any spelling mistakes on my new blog, you may keep them.

Newcastle defender makes mistake! Surely not!

Steven Taylor's dodgy pass let Moldova U21 equalise for the first time in an exciting 2-2 draw at Portman Road in the U21 Euro qualifiers. Thankfully for him, Preston's pacey striker David Nugent equalised immediately and later on an even worse mistake from Manchester City's Micah Richards grabbed an undeserved draw for the visitors. Many sources will claim Moldova deserved the draw because of their ball posession, but England's quality on the ball was much higher with Theo Walcott's goal especially created and finished with genuine quality. Moldova simply pounced on defensive mistakes, although the chip over goalkeeper Scott Carson looked spectacular, the Moldovan striker could have passed it into the net just as easily and was lucky to score the way he did.

Glenn Roeder took part in an interesting interview on Radio Newcastle. These were the main points: (I've copied these quotes from NUFC.com to save me writing them out again)

On Kuyt: "Having seen him a couple of times now myself- although he's not the quickest - there's no doubt that in the Dutch League he knows how to score a goal. "His body language on the pitch suggests he's the sort of player you'd like in your dressing room - fully committed to the team effort."We are not the only club interested in him - there is another club that's in the top four that's very strongly in for him as well as we are."We'd like to find the possibility of bringing this particular player to Newcastle."

On Martins: "If there was a difference in age then surely that has be reflected in the price. "But that would not mean that he wasn't a very good player and he could do a very good job."We have to decide whether we believe what we are being told."

On Gravesen: "It's a possibility. He's a player I certainly admire. There is a possibility that he could become available over the next few weeks and I'd be silly not to be involved in trying to bring him here."

On Bridge: "We will continue to look at a potential defender we could bring in before the transfer deadline. "

On Beckham: "no enquiry made".

On Campbell: Discussed making a move with backroom staff but checked his record and was surprised how few games he'd played in the last couple of seasons.

On a Shearer replacement:"We needed to be looking at potential targets as long ago as 12 months ago."

"At the end of last season we should have been in a position to have gone and sourced three or four potential signings. But for whatever reason we were not in that position to do that. "And that is why through the close season, myself and the backroom staff have been working very hard to playing catch up and try and find a player or two of enough quality to wear our shirt. It is proving very difficult."

"It's not just us finding it difficult. There doesn't seem to be a lot around at the moment and the few that are, seem so ridiculously priced. You have to pay way over the odds for someone who may be OK, but not special."

"We certainly haven't given up and we're in a position to be looking at three or four more players over the next seven days."

"But with the transfer window coming to a close at the end of August, a decision or two is going to have to be made very quickly."

"I'm confident we will have signed at least one striker before the window closes. Whether that one striker wears the number nine I can't say."

"It's a shirt that's not for a youngster with little experience trying to make his way in the game - it's for an experienced man who is confident enough in himself to put that shirt on again."

"We believe there are only two possibly three potential strikers in the Championship who could come and play in the Premiership and we are constantly monitoring them. We don't feel that any of those strikers would be right to come in and take on the mantle of being our main striker, week in week out."

"The few young strikers that we've got (at the club) will be given every opportunity, but at the moment will fall short of the quality that is needed. We'll just have to see how they develop over the next couple of years."

On a lack of quick players:"We could definitely do with more pace in the side and that is one of the first things that I'm trying to identify when I'm bringing in new players."

On Current players:

Milner: "I'm looking forward to working with him. He's a young English talent."

N'Zogbia: "There's no reason why he shouldn't feature as often this season as before - competition for places is vital."

"Charles has got a huge future at Newcastle. We don't want to burn him out."

"He's a joy to work with.... it's only a matter of time before he becomes a senior member of the French squad and I'm very happy that we were lucky enough to secure him."

On Owen: "I couldn't say whether he'll play again this season, we'll just have to wait and see."

On Dyer: "Kieron is very important to us - one of the few players who runs with the ball as quickly as he does without it."He's had an extended recovery time this time around - he will have been out just over five months by the time he gets back to playing in the first team."

"It is very possible that the two and three months breaks he's had before haven't been long enough."

"He's doing very well at the moment - I know our supporters have heard that before when he's come back and broken."

"There won't be any excuses. He needs to stay fit when he comes back in the middle of September."

"All the signs are extremely positive that when he comes back this time he will stay fit. Every test that's put in front of him he's passing easily. He's running at full speed and he's not having any problems the next day."

"We will continue to work him extremely hard to take him to breakdown point - and the important thing is that we cannot get him there. We will continue to be like that for another month or so and when we see Kieron we like to think that within 7-10 days of returning he will be up for selection."

On Luque: "Albert has found it difficult to play at the tempo that we need him to. He's had a good pre-season and worked hard. His English is improving all the time and slowly but surely I'm hopeful that he'll be able to pick up the pace of the Premiership."

Roeder also said he has his team for Saturday picked and if new blood does arrive by then, they are unlikely to play.

Season Rescue: 3 days

No news from United front

Zilch, zero, none, nothing, naught, nix, nowt, love, nil, zip.

Season Rescue: 4 days

This time next week...

...we'll be top of the league...ish.

Just 6 days to go until the start of a promising-looking season. Our opponents have successfully arrived into their second ever top-flight season having impressed in their first. Having beaten us twice in the Souness era at the JJB, we made easy work of the Latics upon their first visit to SJP during the Roeder revival, despite going behind early to a spectacular Jimmy Bullard freekick. Man of the match that day was a certain double-scorer Mr Shearer and Mr Owen had just resumed proper training. No such striking luxury this Saturday, as of yet anyway, but Shola will be hoping for better luck this time after being forced off the pitch with broken teeth not long into a first half that brought an incredible five forced substitutions due to injury.

The key this Saturday is to start fast, and in an ideal world, which being a Toon fan doesn't generally allow, we'll be 2-0 up by half time and we'll finish it off sometime during the second. I am aware that it is very dangerous to be optimistic for the first game of the season, although bar last season's Souness-hindered opening day at Highbury (where we were actually robbed by a 32nd minute sending off and a penalty that shouldn't have been in the 80th minute) our record on opening day isn't so terrible.

I had an enjoyable Saturday, not only watching ex-Mag James Coppinger's Doncaster Rovers at the Earth Stadium that hosted and saw off Premiership opposition last season, but coming home to see news of S*nderland's third straight lower league defeat and extend their point-less home league non-winning record to a somewhat unbelievable tally, even for them.

Season Rescue: 5 days

Season Rescue

I'm going to start a countdown to a transfer, based on the lower end of Roeder's six to ten day estimate yesterday. How sad is that? I'm going to call it, countdown to Season Rescue. Despite the fact the Premiership hasn't started and we have 2 wins and 1 draw in other competitions so far...

Season Rescue: 6 days

Out and out goalkeeper

Shay Given has dropped out of the Republic of Ireland squad due to the back injury sustained in Thursday's victory over FK Ventspils in the UEFA Cup. No news on whether he is participating in training or not, but he is hoping to be fit for our Premiership opener against Paul Jewell's Wigan on August 19th. I don't wish any injury on our top goalkeeper, but I do believe in our back up boy Steve Harper.

Good news for you today, I have no new transfer gossip to babble about. It seems the media are settled on the trio of Bridge, Martins and Gravesen.

Close, but who?

Glenn Roeder fueled the Tyneside transfer talk today by admitting Newcastle could be as little as a week away from two or three signings. The general nitter-natter over the last few days has been of the possible arrivals of Obafemi Martins (Inter), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea) and Thomas Gravesen (Real Madrid). Originally paper-talk, but now widely regarded as expected moves - NUFC.com have told readers to expect movement with those three players, and stories don't find themselves on that website if there isn't some substance of truth.

Roeder has also confirmed that frustrating centre-half Jean-Alain Boumsong might well be going out on a 12-month loan. Will he be replaced by another central defender? With the departure of Elliot and Boumsong, of which we had need for last season, well, defence is the last place we need to find ourselves lacking in.

Ventspils 0-1 Newcastle

Still nowt upfront, but then came Titus
Overall a professional performance away from home, but along with putting us in good stance for the home leg, it showed that we really need signings. Shola demonstrated he isn't quite the full predator yet. He was too often at the end of the defender queue, instead of in between it, and therefore didn't get the goal scoring chances that his overall play deserved. Man of the match was Emre, who worked tirelessly in midfield and provided some great tackles and runs forwards. His corner was once again perfect as he set up Titus Bramble to head home and send us back to Tyneside one nil to the good.

Big defensive worries, it needs working on. They represented nil-threat upfront meaning mistakes largely went unnoticed, on the plus side they did weather a late storm well, helped out by a capable and lively midfield.

I'm very pleased we won, I was getting stressed at the telly.

Message to Titus: You cannot do long passes, so please stop trying.

Roeder reveals targets

For once Glenn Roeder has decided to tell us a couple of the players he's been looking at. He confirmed to nufc.co.uk the official website that he was impressed by Dirk Kuyt and Obafemi Martins and would be taking a second look. He also said that, thankfully, we will be signing players for other positions, not just strikers.

Very nice, so lets get on and get some bids in!

Pictured to the right is Dirk Kuyt, already used to wearing Black and White. I am a big fan of his and he has been the player I would most like to see at Newcastle since last summer, although signing Owen made me forget that. Until he lost his knee.

Ventspils tomorrow! Come on lads! Hampden Park here we come.

Top of the mornin'

Liverpool have a tendancy towards Spanish players and Arsenal are very french but it seems Newcastle are steadily collecting the Republic of Ireland squad. All four of our Irish first-teamers have been selected for the friendly against Holland next week. On top of that, three of the Dutch squad could be Newcastle players by the time the window shuts. Ex-magpie Andy O'Brien is joined by previous transfer target Robbie Keane in the squad, who we regrettably failed to swoop for and who is now enjoying life at Spurs.

Our boys headed to Riga this morning with Roeder stopping to tell reporters that theres slow progress in the transfer market and that he hopes to have everything sorted by the Wigan match, if not, definitely by the time the window closes until January. Impatience is creeping in.

Notable players in the Republic of Ireland squad to face Holland on August 16th:

Shay Given (Toon)
Stephen Carr (Toon)
Alan O'Brien (Toon)
Damien Duff (Toon)

Robbie Keane (Ex target)
Stephen Elliot (S*nderland - yes an international player there)

So out of their four best players, three of them play for Newcastle plus a future star and the other nearly almost might have come...we can always dream.

Double Dutch

Naturally Roeder's visit to Holland has brought about speculation. Not only are we strongly linked with Dirk Kuyt, but it has 'emerged' today that we want Tim De Cler and Joris Mathijsen from AZ Alkmaar. We're just going to walk right in there and take two of the core members of their defence right before the Dutch season starts! Maybe. There's no doubt that both these players would be good acquisitions, but again its all rumours.

My first choice centre-back Sol Campbell is about to join Portsmouth, while we're almost a man down in midfield now Faye has pretty much joined Charlton.

Shola Ameobi has explained how he wants to be the top scorer in England soon, interesting idea Shola! But if he's confident then who knows? He still has plenty of time to be the club's record goal scorer, Alan Shearer didn't join the club until he was 25, Wor Shola is still only 24 and has a 45 goal headstart.

Can you imagine a statue of Shola Ameobi outside SJP?

Let's go round again

Maybe we'll turn back the hands of time...

That's right, Kieron's almost back again! Not only that Roeder wants 30 starts from him this season...

Our hamstrung midfield man will be useful in this UEFA Cup season, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

The vibes been given out by NUFC.com are that Thomas Gravesen could be joining us, while in the opposite directions it looks like passionless Amady Faye is on his way to Charlton, he is currently in talks with them after we agreed a fee.

Meanwhile Dirk Kuyt was on target as Glenn watched Boro lose 2-0 to Feyenoord. Lets av' him.

Someone on a Newcastle message board claimed today Freddy Shepherd was at Thierry Henry's house (he knew this because his mate is Henry's postman!). Utter rubbish. In other rumours Fatpie has been dining with Ibrahimovic and Torres over the last 2 days...he obviously likes to eat a lot but all these meals out all over the continent...no chance.

Newcastle 3-3 Villarreal

Nowt upfront, Butt there was a hero...

Booed onto the pitch as he replaced the busy Emre, Nicky Butt turned in a 23-minute man of the match performance. During this 23 minutes, he ruined several Villarreal attacks and netted twice. Yes, really.

We started well, keeping possession and creating a couple of chances. But then Titus Bramble put a fantastic ball through for Diego Forlan, who thankfully only managed to hit the post. For the next 10 minutes our Spanish visitors found their feet and ended up scoring thanks to some more non-defending from Titus Bramble. We switched on a bit after that, with an accurate Nobby Solano freekick finding the head of Shola, for him to net is fourth goal in three games. Just before the break Stephen Carr got caught of out position and Forlan was away with only Titus to beat and Robert Pires in support. You can guess who got the better of that...Two-one to Villarreal at half time.

Now then the second half! Roeder took off Shola for Milner and changed the centre of defence by sticking Taylor and Boumsong in. It worked. Our second half defending, though far from perfect, was almost good enough. We pretty much had control of the game, but were set back on 62 minutes when an unmarked Rodriguez made it 3-1 to the visitors. At last we switched on and created a good few chances, with Damien Duff looking impressive and Milner popping up everywhere. But then, Luque went off (who hadn't had a bad game, putting a shot inches wide and not making any mistakes), Babayaro went off, and Emre was replaced by Nicky Butt. At this point I had almost given up, we now had Alan O'Brien and James Milner upfront. On 79 minutes a Milner corner looked to be floating in at the near post, but Nicky Butt jumped in and nodded past the keeper to make sure of it, game on. Just one minute later, Milner delivered from the opposite corner straight to the head of Nicky Butt, who flashed a header across goal and into the far corner. Get in! Nicky Butt not only scored, but was awarded man of the match for some excellent ball winning and superb long passes.

We really do need a striker, because sometimes there was just noone there. Ameobi is becoming a bit of a predator, but he can't do the job on his own. Luque isn't one for tap ins and is probably more suited to the left wing. Roeder seems to have his heart set on wide-play and if this going to succeed, we need two decent goal snatchers in the box, as well as some better crosses. Substitutes Ramage and Milner providing the best of Newcastle's. Duff played well in the second half, but doesn't go out wide to cross and rarely defends, hence Babayaro being caught out of position, which was slightly his fault, he never was quite in line with the other three defenders.

Its worth remembering that Villarreal are a very good team and provided tougher opposition than PSV today, and drawing with them is no shame. But some of the defending was worrying and I can't help thinking we would have won the game if we had a fully fit Michael Owen upfront.

"We're many things, but we're never boring" - Freddy Shepherd (yesterday)

Disturbed...

Ladies and Gentlemen, sometimes bad things happen which are beyond our control. It is important that when these things happen, we must all stick together. We must pray for the shaken soul of Robbie Elliot who has accepted a one-month deal at S*nderland. Questions must be asked of why he is so desperate to play for them, that he would sign a deal that ends outside the transfer window. Let us all hope that he doesn't do enough to secure an extension, for then he may released from their grotesque, devilish meat hooks.

Francesco Tava-No

OK so maybe not, Tavano's agent lied and Glenn Roeder has never even heard of him. Glenn isn't off for any talks this weekend, he's going to the Amsterdam tournament to watch Inter, Manchester United, Ajax and Porto. In a press conference this morning, Glenn also admitted that he would interested in signing Thomas Gravesen if he became available (this is undeniable as I saw it with my own eyes!), this comes as a surprise to me because of Scott Parker being the player he is at Newcastle, as well as being captain.

You see, I'm now starting to repeat myself from other posts, that is how little is going on at Newcastle United. Theres the open day today, which I would have been at, but its my Dad's birthday and he has other plans which I am involved in. I bought my Dad a ticket for the match tomorrow, so he'll not be getting out of that one.

More later! Yawn.

Big Mac could take away Scott's hunger

New England boss Steve McClaren will be in attendance at our pre-season friendly against Villarreal on Saturday in search for players to fill his squad with. The most obvious being captain Scott Parker who narrowly missed out last season due to glandular fever and Sven's crazy selection criteria. The squad for the nearest Euro 2008 qualifiers probably comes a little to early for James Milner and Steven Taylor, who still turn out for the U21s. I guess while he is there he may as well assess the potential of Shola, who will be hoping to get a look in at some point during his career. Geordie-boy Peter Ramage isn't really there yet and Titus...well...anyway...Owen won't be involved in the Euro 2008 qualifiers and this first visit from Stevie comes to quickly for Kieron Dyer who is yet to start pre-season training. It would be a travesty if Nicky Butt got picked ahead of Parker, so lets assume he won't be.

An interview with Scott Parker this morning saw him admit his desire to play for the three lions while underlining his commitment to the Magpies.

Speaking of Scott Parker, before the match last Saturday, I was early into Toon and so waited by the SJP gate to see players driving in. Mr & Mrs Parker arrived with their son, who was sporting his new Newcastle kit, which was good to see. After putting a mini bag of toys on his Son's back, Scotty took the time to do some autographs, which was nice, but I didn't have a pen on me. It is worth pointing out that Emre has a stunning, beast of a Jag which I love only slightly more than the woman who got out of James Milner's car and stormed off round the front of the Stadium after grinning shyly at some confused supporters. That was slightly strange but nevertheless a talking point while we waited for the next car to cheer at. Also making an appearance with the players was a woman who appeared to be Albert Luque's mother and the N'Zogbia crew, who arrived in Charles' Chrysler watching MTV in the back of the car. The biggest cheer went to Damien Duff, who also took some time to sign some programmes.

10 out of 10 to the steward who revved up Peter Ramage's Aston Martin before parking it.

Francesco Tavano

There's nowt else to talk about so until there is I'll be talking in hope about all the days Toon transfer talk. Today Empoli striker Francesco Tavano's agent confirmed that Newcastle are intrested in capturing the 27 year-old and that talks will be held this coming weekend (along with some other Premiership clubs). I am assuming that its us UEFA Cuppish clubs that are interested, although this player has been strongly linked with Real Madrid in the past. Rafa Benitez has said he wants one more striker, but is thought to be interested in another of our targets Dirk Kuyt. Manchester United are pondering a new striker and with Alex Ferguson admitting that there aren't many options out there, he maybe tempted into going for Tavano. All that said, Spurs are always looking for players and Blackburn have a centre-forward addiction. Everton tend to enquire about everyone, including Michael Owen, while West Ham could be interested if one of their target men could be on the way to Toon. He is £7 million rated and so would be quite a risky investment, but we do tend to be wary of foreign talent after some the stars of Europe have spectacularly failed to live up to their reputations when joining Newcastle. In most cases though, it turns out alright. I think.

Another link with former-Everton star Thomas Gravesen, with the ever-reliable Daily Star reporting that we may attempt to hijack the Smoggies' £3 million move for the midfield maestro.

"Believe and it will happen." - Mars Bar advert

A Real shopping spree?

According to reports today we're about to welcome back former defender Jonathan Woodgate along with fellow Madrid team mate 30 year-old Danish international Thomas Gravesen. An unnamed striker is also coming if this speculation is based on truth. Woodgate is a good idea as we need a quality centre-back ASAP. However, I begin to doubt the truth of the story when we are linked with Gravesen, a defensive midfielder, while we still have Amady Faye and Nicky Butt at the club plus captain Scott Parker who is doing a fine job in that position and isn't likely to be moved. We simply don't need him, he's getting on a bit and he'd be fighting for the captain's position. Although he is a good player who would add incredible depth to our midfield. More important than any either of these is the unnamed striker, who we need quickly if we are to get a good premiership position and a good run in the cups.

Oh what the heck, lets buy all of them...

Legend prefers beeb

Alan Shearer turned down a job coaching the England squad (yesterday) because he'd already promised the BBC he'd sign a new contract with them. So instead of helping them , he's just going to talk about them, which puts you under a lot less pressure, a very understandable decision.

“I want some time away from the pressures of football - I am currently on my longest ever family holiday and enjoying every minute of it." - Big Al

I am frustrated at our apparent non-interest in Sol Campbell. We need a new central defender with experience, as Craig Moore is set to leave at the end of this season. Sol Campbell is a capable England international, from what I've heard he's a nice bloke and he would be in the Arsenal starting line-up if he hadn't chosen to leave. So why haven't we signed him? Maybe we are waiting to offload Boumsong so we can offer Sol his wage demands, which are high, but acceptably so. And if its true he's asked to come here, what are we waiting for? Worringly today's Guardian reported that we have turned down the chance to sign him.

Our away UEFA Cup tie against Ventspils has been moved to the 8 000ish capacity Skonto Stadium in Riga apparently after help from Channel 5 who will show the game live from this bigger stadium but not from their small home ground.

Newcastle till I die, I know am that's why, I know I am, I'm sure I am, Newcastle till I die.