NUFC Jam

NUFC JAM HAS MOVED

2009-07-02T15:38:00.003Z

NUFC Jam has been replaced by "The Rise of the Toon"

Why?

"As fans of Newcastle United, we get a pretty rough ride. Constantly taken the p*ss out of by the press, constantly taken the p*ss out of by the owner and constantly taken the p*ss out of by our players. The latter two were ultimately responsible for our thoroughly deserved demotion from the top flight.

We didn't slip out the trapdoor, we crashed straight out the exit. The fact that it went down to the last game, to be honest, made us look good. But, our failure to rival the questionable talents of Hull City was quite frankly disgusting. Phil Brown's on-pitch party karaoke after their defeat to Manchester United reserves finally confirmed to me that he is infact a deluded prat. After only one win in 2009, it is completely correct to say that Hull City only stayed up because we, Newcastle United, were just that little bit sh*tter. There were 13 poor teams in the Premier League last season (that's those who finished from 8th-20th) none more so than ourselves.

Mike Ashley and his pals have done a pretty horrendous job, and in some ways you can feel for the players with the departure of Keegan, the incredible arrival of Joe Kinnear and his subsequent demise. But, that 'team' display at Villa Park on the 24th May, with everything to play for against a team running in second gear, was absolutely nothing short of horrific. For those of us who live and breathe Newcastle United - it really hurt.

So what is this blog about? The answer is simple. We're at our lowest point for many years and following our relegation, the only way is up, right? Read here for celebrations of the departure of Mike Ashley, the appointment of Alan Shearer, the building of a fresh and hungry squad and finally, a title-winning season. Maybe. Here it shall be documented - the rise of the Toon!

The 'L' word ('Leeds') is banned."

On Holiday

2006-10-11T21:31:00.000Z

NUFC Jam is taking a well earned holiday and will return on Monday 30th October.

By then Newcastle will have played Bolton, Fenerbahce, Middlebrough, Portsmouth and Charlton. Who knows what state we'll be in by then?

Just a quick mention of Scott Parker, who started for England, well done that man!

Good bye and good luck.

When will we see you again?

2006-10-06T21:22:00.000Z

I'm happy at Cardiff and I want to be part of a team which earns promotion and run out at the new stadium when it's ready," said Chopra.

"One day, though, I would love to play for Newcastle United again. That would be my dream.

"I look at myself. I'm a Cardiff City player and happy to be part of what is happening here in South Wales.

"But I had to leave the club I supported as a boy just to get a regular game.

"I will do everything I can to help City earn promotion to The Premiership and I'll be proud if I contribute to that.

"But, eventually, I'd love to play at St James' Park again."

We want Wor Chopra back!

The long and winding road...

2006-10-05T06:16:00.000Z

Michael Owen is back in black, and white. He no longer needs crutches and was shown doing some knee exercises with a football at his feet on SkySports News the other day. So if he can do that now, why is he out for so long? I understand that his knee won't be ready for full use for a while because he will have lost a lot of strength in his legs, but if they operation is done, surely it is done...

"The Anterior Cruciate Ligament lies deep within the knee joint, connecting the thigh bone with the shin bone. Its function is to prevent excessive forward movement of the shin in relation to the thigh and also to prevent excessive rotation at the knee joint. The ACL can be injured in several different ways, most notably by landing from a jump onto a bent knee then twisting, or landing on a knee that is over-extended. In collision sports, direct contact of the knee from opponents can cause damage to the ACL."

I have read that there is not much pain involved in the whole thing. When the ligament snaps, thats all you feel, a snap. A player may feel able to continue playing until the ACL is actually put under strain, which would then cause the knee cap to become seriously unstable.

In the case of individuals who are involved in a high level of sport where a degree of instability is functionally unacceptable, surgical reconstruction of the ligament is the surest way to restore normal function. After the surgery takes place, the knee is not stable until five or six months afterwards. So hopefully we can expect our arguably most key player back in his boots for March, maybe returning to play in April.

This will take looong time.

Who are ya?

2006-09-30T16:38:00.000Z

"Despite representing England frequently at Under-21 level, he has yet to make the transition to the full team due to frequent unexplainable lapses in concentration whilst playing"

"Often in incredibly bad positions that simply cannot be explained"

"He was at the heart of everything Everton did well in the 1-1 draw with Newcastle. The Magpies defender let his man go on multiple occasions, failed to make key tackles, could have concede a penalty, stood and watched as Tim Cahill headed Everton's goal at the back post and then got sent-off......this is Team Of The Weak isn't it?"

"He always manages to make a crucial mistake at a time when any other team would beable to deal with the attack"

"His absence is a blessing in one regard in that he's always likely to make a mistake that costs a goal."

And who might those quotes be referring to? The malarchy that is Titus Malachi Bramble.

What has Titus got? The answer: Everything. He can tackle, he has pace, he has height, he is strong and is a menace in the opposition penalty area. Unfortunately he is a menace in his own penalty area too. Whenever Newcastle concede a goal the question is always "Where was Titus Bramble?"

His positioning is appalling at least half the time and judging by his body language and facial expressions, at 26, Titus Bramble is never going to be a dominant centre-half. Craig Moore must dread playing with the guy, he always, without fail, makes some sort of awful error which that I hold my breath and pray whenever he is on the ball or the ball is travelling towards him.

I know it isn't good that I'm taking this attitude about our own player and believe me I'd be delighted for the lad if he got his concentration sorted out. But right now he is not good enough and should be in the team never. He is coming to the end of his contract and although I'd wish him all the best and follow his progress, I would be pleased if he left.

It seems that his lack of concentration is an unrepairable fault. When I play football, albeit at a much, much, much, much lesser level, no matter what is going on outside of the game, all I am thinking about for the whole game is football. I might make some mistakes, but concentration is not a problem for me. In such a high pressure environment, getting it right can be the only thing on your mind.

Based on ability, he could be the first name of the team-sheet, but based on personality and concentration he shouldn't even look at the team-sheet.

Something must be done.

Justice is done

2006-09-29T15:52:00.000Z

The way it should be.

A well earned congratulations to Scott Parker who has finally got his England call up. I'm pretty sure he should be chosen over Carrick or Jenas every single time but our man is replacing the similar in style Owen Hargreaves, who I believe overall Parker is better than, though perhaps not as versatile. One thing has been clear since Big Mac took over, our new England boss knows what hes doing and hopefully this is the first in a long line of a call ups for our inspirational captain fantastic. In my opinion, he can do no wrong.

Scotty Parker now plays for the two best football teams on the planet, Newcastle & England.

Through and through

2006-09-28T21:31:00.000Z

Thats better, we scored some. Obafemi Martins with two great goals demonstrating his ability to head, shoot and somersault. Despite some people claiming otherwise its quite a common occurence these days that we score after a corner. Emre the usual provider. Emre was unlucky not to get man of the match tonight, but new boy Martins deserves some credit for his very neat double.

On nights like this I remember why I spend hours of my life arguing that Newcastle aren't sh*t. We played pretty well, especially the second half and Harper again responsible for a goal conceded despite being solid for the rest of the game.

If Martins scores three goals per month until the end of the season he will have 24 goals, we will see!

Titus Bramble wasn't really troubled tonight but still managed one mistake in his otherwise solid display. Steven Taylor slipped at an unlucky time but was otherwise fantastic and Stephen Carr continued his very good play. Peter Ramage proved that he is not left-back, and that is our biggest worry for Sunday. Thanks very much Babayaro.

NUFC Jam points update

2006-09-28T21:30:00.000Z

The top three are shown to the right, but here is the full leaderboard:

Scott Parker [24]
Emre [23]
Shola Ameobi [19]
Damien Duff [17]
Obafemi Martins [14]

Knackered

2006-09-27T21:34:00.000Z

NUFC Jam is still here and there will be an increase in posts over the next few days.

I have been doing research into the injury sustained by Michael Owen and I have once again been frustrated by our, well, frustrating near misses. I am also planning a scathing attack on Titus Bramble and Celestine Babayaro.

I won't be predicting our team for tomorrow because Glenn is making some changes, finally Wor Steven Taylor will get a start.

Home time

2006-09-24T09:43:00.000Z

This is the team I'd like to see take on Everton. So after campaigning for James Milner to start, I've dropped him. The reason for this is tactical and not because I don't like James Milner (he's a cracking player). N'Zogbia tore Everton apart in this fixture last season and Duff looks equally effective down both flanks, so Milner will have to be content with a late entry. In my opinion Duff, along with Ameobi should be rested for the Tallinn game in midweek to keep them fresh for Manchester United next weekend. N'Zogbia also provides better cover for Peter Ramage than Damien Duff, who isn't a fan of going back. Duff and N'Zogbia also provide more of a goal threat to Milner, who despite playing very well looks out of place in the team whenever he shoots (except that incredible freekick against Ventspils). With the threat of Johnson, Steven Taylor should definitely play and Titus Bramble should not.

My preferred substitutes bench could not really avoid both Sibierski and Bramble, so I've chosen to avoid Sibierski, although I suspect he will be included.

The Relegation Issue

2006-09-23T08:13:00.000Z

I'm not a pessimist, I am a true fan and I don't think we will be relegated. But Glenn Roeder is on a hatrick when it comes to getting his club relegated after finishing 7th the season before, so it must be addressed. It keeps bugging me inside that a shock relegation could be exactly what this club needs to sort itself out.

What would become of our squad?

Players that could stay (including signing new contracts if necessary)

Shay Given
Stephen Carr
Nolberto Solano
Damien Duff
Steve Harper
Charles N'Zogbia
Craig Moore
Titus Bramble
Antoine Sibierski
Shola Ameobi
Peter Ramage
Steven Taylor
Olivier Bernard
Matty Pattison
Alan O'Brien

You may think some of those will definitely go, such as Given, Duff, N'Zogbia or even Carr but I think we'd have a reasonable chance of keeping them. Shay just signed a new 5 year contract, but whether it included a relegation clause I don't know. The situation is the same with Duff. Whether they'd feel obliged to help the club back up, even if they agreed only to stay for another season, I'm unsure. Playing in the Championship is unlikely to affect their Ireland international careers. N'Zogbia would be subject to a lot of interest much like Curtis Davies of West Brom, who stayed, so maybe as he's only young he would stay.

Players I'm unsure about:

Kieron Dyer - Who would buy him? Especially if his injury problems continue.
Michael Owen - How fit would he be? He might stay on until Christmas.
Scott Parker - Our brilliant Captain genuinely could stay.

Players who would run for the door quicker than you could say 'Oops':

Emre - Back on the plane to Italy.
Albert Luque - Back on the plane to Spain.
Obafemi Martins - Off to another Premiership club.
James Milner - Would go to Aston Villa.
Nicky Butt - Would probably go to a newly promoted Premiership side.

Who could we sign?

Michael Chopra would surely want to come back if we went for him.
David Nugent would be a useful signing if Preston don't get promoted.
Andy O'Brien might leave Portsmouth to join his Irish mates.
Liam Lawrence might be bored in S*nderland.
Charlie Mulgrew is a bright prospect.
Wes Morgan is a new star in the making.
James Coppinger is too good for his current club.
Robert Earnshaw is a decent striker.
Jason Shackell could add some depth in defence.
Gareth Bale is surely a future star.

There's just some ideas.

Hopefully a take over or a change in board will happen if we are relegated but that can't be guaranteed.

Glenn Roeder would surely be sacked and a manager with a history of changing things employed. Alan Curbishley, Bryan Robson or even the boring David O'Leary could give it a try.

Please note, we will not be relegated. But would it help us out in the long run?

However: (I apologise for the massive blank space below I can't avoid it, please continue to scroll down)

Would we be likely to come straight back up?

Club	Last Premiership season	Re-promoted?	Where are they now?
Barnsley	1997-8	No	Championship
Birmingham	2005-6	-	Championship
Blackburn	2005-6	Yes	Premiership
Bolton	2005-6	No	Premiership
Bradford	2000-1	No	League One
Charlton	2005-6	No	Premiership
Coventry	2000-1	No	Championship
Crystal Palace	2004-5	No	Championship
Derby County	2001-2	No	Championship
Ipswich Town	2001-2	No	Championship
Leeds	2003-4	No	Championship
Leicester	2003-4	No	Championship
Manchester City	2005-6	Yes	Premiership
Middlesbrough	2005-6	Yes	Premiership
Norwich	2004-5	No	Championship
Nott'm Forest	1998-9	No	League One
Oldham	1993-4	No	League One
QPR	1995-6	No	Championship
Sheffield Wed	1999-2000	No	Championship
Southampton	2004-5	No	Championship
Sunderland	2005-6	-	Championship
Swindon	1993-4	No	League Two
Watford	2000-1	No	Premiership
West Brom	2005-6	-	Championship
Wimbledon	1999-2000	No	League Two
Wolves	2003-4	No	Championship

This table shows every club that has been relegated from the Premiership and their last season in the Premiership and whether they acheived re-promotion the season immediately after being relegated. Only three clubs have ever managed it; Blackburn, Man City and Middlesbrough who are still there today. Birmingham, West Brom and S*nderland were relegated last season therefore their re-promotion is marked not applicable yet.

Relegation for thought.

Picture this, again

2006-09-20T21:18:00.000Z

Alonso scores from own half, only this time the 'keeper was actually there.

Kuyt scores his first goal for Liverpool.

2-0.

Beaten by the better team.

Confusing times.

Here we go

2006-09-20T06:49:00.000Z

I think (worringly) this is how we can expect our side to line up at Anfield tonight. With Shola facing a late fitness test and Rossi short on, well, height, Siberiski is probably looking forward to putting his head upfront for his. Nowt startling has happen at his feet yet. Milner looks set to keep the shirt after a very good performance against West Ham on Sunday. There isn't any choice in defence. Personally I'd stick Rossi (who can apparently jump to the same height as Peter Crouch) and use Sibierski as a late sub, we'll see what happens, Ameobi may yet make it.

Steve Harper will be between the sticks which isn't reallythat concerning. I would imagine he'll be keen to make an impression.

Kieron Dyer is now back in full training, and he truly challenges Emre for that position after playing very well there last season. He is due back in the side over the next few weeks.

My prediction is some good away team play, but an easy victory for the home side.

Geordies of the week

2006-09-19T15:52:00.000Z

First of all thanks to IMB Roy Keane for his choice of tie on Sunday as he muttered some irish-mackem on Sky Sports that noone really understood or wanted to. The muppet clearly has a lot to learn, I wonder what the mackems themselves had to say?

Well here is an example of a message board thread on Sunday evening*:

"What a f**kin prat what's he wearing that tie for, sack him"

"You're the prat, its just a tie"

"F**kin Geordie tie" "Idiot he's got to get his act together"

A mixed reaction down at the local zoo, but it seems even after winning three games in a row, Keano still has a lot to do.

Ramage sticks his fingers up

Back to the good part of the North East, next up is Peter Ramage. He explained that keeping a clean sheet is like "sticking two fingers up" at your critics in a what I thought was a well taken and slightly passionate interview.

This was the expression Steve Harper wore for a whole interview. He explained how he didn't really want to be replacing Shay under these circumstances and genuinely found it hard to admit he 'must be delighted' about getting a run in the team. He was very honest however as listed injuries he felt comfortable Shay Given getting:

"Maybe a bent back finger or a rock to the ankle, but not this"

I agree to a certain extent because I'll be happy to see Steve get a run out. It will probably be a busy night at Anfield on Wednesday.

Finally Glenn Roeder (although not technically a Geordie) deserves a mention for being the worst liar I can remember. As he chewed gum and lean't against the wall with a massive a grin on his face, he gave a drunken sounding interview in which he tried to tell everyone it would have just as special if it was any win. Yeh right!

"Maybe its a little bit special, but any win away from home is special, but yes very special"

"You know it was a great performance, I won't single anyone out"

"But Craig Moore and Stevey Carr were fantastic, Peter Ramage, Babayaro, the whole back four - I said I wasn't going to single anyone out (drunken laugh) but Jamesy Milner, Duffer, Scotty, Emre, Shola - Shola always shows the desire to be there, we're all delighted that Oba has his first goal."

That's everyone then...

The Geordies of the week are in no particular order.

* I did my best to translate the jibberish I was faced with

Get well soon Shay

2006-09-18T19:23:00.000Z

Six weeks out for Given after a bad challenge by Marlon Harewood. Purely accidental my arm, how you can say he went for the ball when our goalkeeper has a whole in his stomach is beyond me. He went in studs up and was sliding as Given caught the ball. The fact that it should have been a straight red is irrelevant, Harewood is well known for having a bad temper and this ref failed to take this into account. I wouldn't be so annoyed if people accepted it was less accidental than it first appeared. I'm not saying he wanted to hurt Given, but his version of chasing lost causes is a bit extreme and he should have been punished.

Marlon Harewood's boot is the blue Nike one. No, I can't see the ball either.

I'd also like to congratulate MOTD on getting a 0 out of 10 from me for their coverage and analysis of our game Sunday, it was absolutely pathetic.

Bubbles blown away

2006-09-17T17:53:00.000Z

West Ham 0-2 Newcastle

Obafemi Martins and Damien Duff off the mark in a game we deserved to win, and did win. Ladies and Gentleman, Newcastle United.

A good performance, with some nice one touch football it was blast back into the old Roeder days. Whether we can keep it up remains to be seen. But we're all on a high until Wednesday, when we face the trickier trip to Anfield although it could be argued this is the best time to play out of form Liverpool. I'm going to avoid the score by going to my nearby Doncaster to watch them against Derby, well away from any way of finding out the score.

I haven't watched MOTD or the extended highlights of the game yet, so there is more joy to come from me yet.

Sunday roast

2006-09-17T10:07:00.000Z

A truly daunting test awaits us. As we leave behind the three games we expected to win and enter the ones we'd forgive ourselves for losing, there isn't much light in the tunnel, never mind at the end of it. It is very important to get a win at West Ham today. Losing at Upton Park and then presumably at Anfield will mean four straight league defeats running into our tricky home tie with Everton and then a nice easy trip to Old Trafford...erm...

By the time the lads get home from Manchester in a couple of weeks time there will have been 21 points up for grabs, how many can we expect to have by then? I don't like all this doom and gloom, but patience will be the key this season. Again.

My XI today is a simple one.

---------------Given--------------

-Carr---Moore---Taylor---Ramage-
Milner----Parker--N'Zogbia----Duff
---------Rossi-----Martins----------

Bench: Harper, Bernard, Emre, Butt, Ameobi

I have dropped Emre to the bench because N'Zogbia is more of a goal threat. Emre insists on taking freekicks but they are usually poor. This my preferred eleven but I expect Roeder to put N'Zogbia on the left and Duff on the right, with Emre and Parker in the middle. Rossi could be very useful today, he should ensure we keep the ball on the deck and provide some nifty through balls for Martins.

Will we be hammered? Or will we make Pork and chips of them? Nobody knows but the Hammers will be pretty confident.

Rumbled

2006-09-16T10:01:00.000Z

Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets
BBC1 England
9:00 pm Tuesday Sep 19th

The Panorama team reveal the dark side of the beautiful game, spending a year undercover to disclose the extraordinary dealings taking place in the nation's favourite and wealthiest sport. On the eve of the official Lord Stevens inquiry report into alleged transfer irregularities, the secret-camera investigation names top agents, clubs and managers who have something to hide.

Yep, us included.

Caught read handed

2006-09-15T06:27:00.000Z

The Guardian on Wednesday:

Last week I revealed that Newcastle United had been found by a VAT and Duties tribunal to have systematically lied to the Football Association about the club's transfer dealings between 2001 and 2003. The tribunal also ruled that some of British football's top agents made false statements to the FA when registering transfers.

This week, I can name those agents. They include First Artist, run by brothers Jon and Paul Smith; Paul Stretford's Proactive agency; SFX, which represents Alan Shearer; Jonathan Barnett's agency Stellar, which acts for Kieron Dyer and Titus Bramble, and Key Sports, which represents Shola Ameobi.

On the official forms, G2 and H1, which clubs are required to lodge with the FA to register new signings or new contracts, Newcastle and the agents stated that the agents had acted solely for the club when in fact they were the players' agents. Newcastle did this to avoid being seen by the FA to have breached one of football's main rules governing agents' conduct, that agents are allowed to act for only one party in a deal. The rules were established by the world governing body, Fifa, to avoid conflicts of interest and to try to ensure fair dealing and it is the FA's responsibility here to uphold them.

The tribunal judgment could hardly have been more emphatic. It said the agents were: "In breach of [the Fifa] regulations, having failed to adhere to [the agents'] Code of Professional Conduct, by behaving untruthfully."

The tribunal ruled that 21 of 24 player deals were carried out in the same way. The club approached the player's agent, asked him to persuade the player to sign for a financial package which suited the club, then paid the agent according to how close he came. The player, signed up to be represented exclusively by his agent, did not know that the agent had come to such an arrangement privately with the club.

Newcastle took the view that having conducted deals in that way, the agents were acting for both the club and the player, even though this was a breach of the Fifa rule. However, to avoid the FA being alerted to this breach, Newcastle and the agents made false declarations on the official forms to the FA, claiming that the agents had acted solely for the club, and not for the player.

The tribunal explained how this worked in each deal, giving substantial details about one transfer, of a player who went to St James' Park in 2001. The players' identities were not given in the judgment but the agents were named. In that transfer, Newcastle paid £35,250 to First Artist, for, the club said, "acting for and on behalf of" the club.

The G2 form, to register the transfer with the FA, signed by the club and the agent, stated that Jon Smith, of First Artist, had acted for Newcastle United in the deal. There is another part to the form which an agent signs if he acted for the player. That was left blank.
Newcastle also made a "Declaration" stating that First Artist had acted as the club's agent and was being paid under a written agreement, another Fifa requirement. The tribunal said: "We find [that agreement] to be non-existent."

Following new contract negotiations for the same player, Newcastle paid First Artist a further £32,250. Another Form G2 was lodged with the FA, stating that Phil Smith had acted this time, again for Newcastle United. The part which would have been filled in had First Artist admitted acting for the player was again left blank.

A declaration was made to the FA, identifying First Artist as the club's agent under a written agreement, which again the tribunal found to be "non-existent".

Newcastle argued that the agents were acting directly for both the club and the players, and so wanted to reclaim the VAT on the fees paid to the agents. Russell Cushing, Newcastle's chief operating officer, argued in court that the Fifa rules are routinely ignored and "do not reflect the global business we are now operating in".

The tax authorities undertook an investigation into how the deals were done, as they have at several other clubs. They wrote to First Artist asking about the player transfer, in which all the official forms had stated that the agents acted for the club. On April 18 2006, First Artist replied to the authorities: "Please note First Artist Corporation were acting on behalf of the player."

Other deals done in the same way and involving what the tribunal found to be false statements on FA documentation included six deals by Stellar, the negotiation of a new player's contract by Key Sports and the signing of two players represented by Proactive, for which the agency was paid £200,000 and £300,000.

SFX, one of the game's most high-profile agencies, acted in three transfers. In two, the tribunal found the forms were falsely completed to state that SFX acted for the club alone, not the players, who were the agency's clients. In the third the declaration lodged with the FA said Newcastle had agreed to pay Tony Stephens, a senior SFX agent, £160,000 "in accordance with the written agreement" between him and the club. The tribunal found there was no such written agreement.

Of all these agencies I contacted, none would comment except Jon Smith of First Artist. He would not talk directly about this case, but said that in general, First Artist tries to abide by football's rules. "However, the rules do not always work," he argued. "Very often we do act for the player and the club quite legitimately, yet the rules say we can't and they are unworkable."

Cushing admitted in his evidence that the forms lodged with the FA were "technically incorrect", and even that the club did this to avoid the FA seeing that its rules were being broken. Newcastle's argument is that the regulations against agents acting for both sides, and the official paperwork, do not reflect the reality that agents do act for player and club simultaneously in this way.

In a statement last week, Newcastle insisted that in all these deals they had "engaged the services of the agents" and the forms to the FA were filled in "accordingly".

The club are adamant they intend to appeal the tribunal's decision that the agents in law acted solely for the players and that Newcastle's £550,000 VAT payments cannot be reclaimed.

The FA is responsible for upholding football's regulations, yet the governing body is still reluctant to comment because Newcastle are planning to appeal. This despite the fact that Newcastle freely offered the evidence that they routinely broke the Fifa rule and made false statements to the FA itself.

An FA spokesman said: "We will wait until the matter is concluded before looking into any possible breach of the rules."

Uh oh.

Tallinnsman

2006-09-14T20:54:00.000Z

Sod's Law n : humorous axiom stating that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

What went wrong? Sibierski scored on his debut. I said he wouldn't score, I said he was a very poor signing. New boy Antoine played alright and will be heureux comme Larry after getting himself on the score sheet just ten minutes into his United debut. Sibierski is obviously good in the air, but the rest of his play is a bit rubbish to be honest. He continually gave the ball away with poor one touch passing and only once or twice did something impressive with his feet. Martins showed incredible pace tonight and had a couple of decent efforts, one producing a good save from the Estonian second choice international goalkeeper (can't remember his name). It was a satisfying victory and a comfortable one at that, with Levadia's best and only clear chance being wasted by the captain Jimmy Bullard lookalike. Parker was magnificent, Emre's passing in open play was stunning and Milner did well. Most impressive was our three-man back four (helped out by Duff at left-back during opposition attacks) who snuffed out everything limiting the Estonians to long range strikes which were all poor. We do need to put more chances away, but that should come in time.

I like to think that Spurs have Newcastle to thank for their victory, Jenas getting their only goal and a fine strike at that.

We looked much less precarious when Bramble left the field, Ramage, Moore and Carr did a fine job at the back. Take note, we defended well. I might not beable to say that again for a while.

Positively ashamed

2006-09-13T17:11:00.000Z

Due to the laws of time difference I am, thanks to unavoidable commitments going to miss our game's TV coverage tomorrow. I am ashamed. I will of course be recording it so I can run rule over the performances of our new signings in order to satisfy anyone who lives, works, or spends time with constantly negative fans . I will fill you with my super positive thoughts.

I leave you with...we're gonna win ten-nil, we're gonna win ten-nil...

"Don't wanna be beat by some Estonian little club" - Green Day

Tallinted

2006-09-12T20:51:00.000Z

A game where a performance is expected. According to Roeder Tallinn are slightly better than Ventspils, so hopefully our performance will be better too.

We have finally broken our 06/07 tradition of playing as well as the opposition and narrowly winning or drawing, only to lose twice in a row. We have played reasonably well in both games but failed to score enough or defend well.

I've had a new idea for the team, here is the players I'd like to see line up on Thursday night:

---------------Given--------------
Carr---Moore---Bramble---Ramage
--------Parker------Emre---------
--------------N'Zogbia--------------
-----Milner---------------Duff------
--------------Martins--------------

Just as a bit of an experiment. When Martins starts scoring this formation will be pretty credible. Shola has done nothing wrong, but we can't include him because of that. If Milner, Duff and Martins are all upfront when we are on the ball, thats real pace. Emre isn't a defensive midfielder but his hard working nature makes him a good presence alongside Scott Parker infront of the dodgy Titus (who wouldn't start in my opinion).

(Wednesday: Roeder confirmed Titus would be starting)

Can't defend, won't defend.

2006-09-11T21:43:00.000Z

All hell is breaking loose at Newcastle United! Not only has Shay Given told of problems behind close doors, but Stephen Harper has dramatically signed a new two year deal to keep him at the club until 2009.

All good news, but its not quite as interesting as all that. The problem being the defence, which is being sorted out behind closed doors according to Shay. Lets just hope we don't get too cocky over in Tallinn and end up being sawn apart by Argentina at Upton Park on Sunday, I'm pretty sure they won't cry for us.

Winning at West Ham (perhaps a laughable thought after Saturday) would make me use a very loud yet positive set of expletives that resemble how I would imagine a cup triumph. That's how desperate I am.

Is Relegation on the cards? Yes, but those cards are at the bottom of the pile. We are on the up.

Captain Fantastic

2006-09-10T12:42:00.000Z

Yesterday's stunning defeat to Fulham did little for us but show that Scott Parker is one heck of a captain. Scott Parker ran the show for us yesterday and his substitution collapsed our midfield and allowed the Fulham midfield out the blocks and exposed our defence that is on the brink of complete meltdown. Our captain took a heavy knock below the knee and was unable to carry on for the last 10 minutes. Whilst Nicky Butt was OK, Fulham seized the opportunity to impress before Butt did and within two minutes of Scotty's standing ovation when leaving the field Fulham had an unlikely equaliser thanks to our stationary defence who left Routledge to wrong foot Ramage and whip in a cross (which wasn't that good) which somehow found its way THROUGH EVERYONE to the foot of Brian McBride. The second goal was even more of a mess. Titus Bramble left McBride (the best header in the Fulham team) to nod the ball against the crossbar where it bounced off Bocenegra on the line to shock the home crowd and indeed the visiting support. We weren't singing anymore.

Fulham did nothing for the whole game and we continually probed without making too many clear cut chances. Obafemi, Shola and Rossi were all quiet whilst Milner was mysteriously left out in favour of Sibierski. If he isn't injured, I am very angry.

Thanks to Match of the Day who showed our game at the appropriate time this week and provided adequate analysis, long may it last!

Unreal

2006-09-09T20:52:00.000Z

Newcastle 1-2 Fulham

The End.

Muddle, puddle, toil and trouble

2006-09-09T09:26:00.000Z

It seems we are one of a number of clubs under investigation for giving too much money to agents and claiming the VAT back illegally. I doubt we have done anything wrong, surely Freddy is not that stupid. I don't actually fully understand what is going on but nothing big has been made of it yet. I think Glenn would be ever so slightly peed off if we got a points deduction, as has been suggested. We have strongly denied it like any club would.

Fulham (h)

This game should be the easiest of our season but it never ever is. Fulham have won just once at SJP in the Premiership but that was a freakish 1-4 battering and they drew here last season when Owen made his debut thanks to a late Charles N'Zogbia beauty of a freekick. Our now-Captain Scott Parker was sent off that day just as we had the chance to win it. Our squad for this game is arguably a lot stronger bar the Owen disaster at the World Cup. Only Bernard, Owen and Dyer aren't available, the first and last there looking to build up match fitness over the next few weeks. Shola and Taylor face late fitness tests after the latter picked up a bruised foot on international duty. We have quite a few options upfront today especially if Shola is fit, but hopefully Sibierski has not done enough in training to convince Glenn to give him a place on the bench or even worse the starting line up, I think we need a win under our belts and a few whisky's before fielding the frenchman. The word is that Sibierski was good in training at Man City but then crap in a match. Apparently Rossi can jump to match the head of Peter Crouch, how they have measured this I don't know, but if Shola isn't available I think Wor Loan Pepe should get his debut having been "breathtaking" in training according to the big GR.

If I was manager today:

---Given---
---Carr---Taylor---Moore---Ramage---
----Milner---Parker---Emre---Duff----
-------Martins---Ameobi-------

Bench: Harper - Bramble - N'Zogbia - Butt - Rossi

If Shola and Taylor are absent then Bramble goes into the centre of defence and Rossi goes upfront. Babayaro rises to the bench and Luque or Sibierski follow suit. Shola, though, could be fit enough for the subs list.

The best thing that could happen today is that we emerge rampant and win 6-0. The worst is that we lose three strikers to long term injury. One of those is more likely, and it ain't the first one.

Four months to go

2006-09-09T08:26:00.000Z

Due to my strange obsession with listing things to do with Newcastle United I felt compelled to write down the squad list that is ours until January.

Shay GIVEN
Stephen CARR
nobody
Nolberto SOLANO
EMRE Belozoglu
nobody
Albert LUQUE
Kieron DYER
Obafemi MARTINS
Micheal OWEN
Damien DUFF
Stephen HARPER
nobody
Charles N'ZOGBIA
Giuseppe ROSSI
James MILNER
Scott PARKER
Craig MOORE
Titus BRAMBLE
Antoine SIBIERSKI
Lee CLARK
Nicky BUTT
Shola AMEOBI
nobody
nobody
Peter RAMAGE
Steven TAYLOR
nobody
nobody
nobody
nobody
Paul HUNTINGTON
Celestine BABAYARO
Olivier BERNARD
Matty PATTISON
Kris GATE
Alan O'BRIEN
nobody
nobody
Tim KRUL

U21 stars of the Toon

2006-09-06T22:31:00.000Z

Giuseppe Rossi arrived on Tyneside this morning after playing his part in a 1-0 win for Italy U21 yesterday night. While the messed about James Milner grabbed a dramatic last-two minute winner for England U21, that's our lad!

It seems Martins and Shola are fit for Saturday against Fulham, who along with new signing's Rossi and Sibierski (not forgetting misfit Luque) create some actual have some depth in attack.

Good news on Owen as he begins his recovery after a successful knee operation in the US of A. Our other casualty Kieron Dyer is due back in 2-3 weeks. So things are looking up. As if they were ever looking down?

The 8th goal

2006-09-05T16:23:00.000Z

Whilst watching a video of Emre's goal against Birmingham last season I noticed that the ball may have been deflected off Michael Owen taking it past Maik Taylor. Above is a picture of the ball apparently about to hit Owen, you can decide for yourself. In the picture the ball appears to be heading towards the diving Maik Taylor with only Owen left to hit, and the ball ends up deflecting away for Taylor after this point. It doesn't really matter because any goal is a goal, but its kept me amused over the last day. At first it seems Owen has claimed the goal before accepting that Emre will get it (see below). But is he celebrating his own goal, or Emre's?

Numbers up

2006-09-04T21:23:00.000Z

Despite Bernard being given the number three by the official website and Evening Chronicle, he's actually been given number 34. Wor Antoine Sibierski has been given the cursed number 20 shirt (more to follow).

Bernard played 45 minutes for the reserves tonight in a 4-3 win of Benfield Plastics. Ramage and Pattison scored two of the goals, as well ex-mag Marc Walton for the Plastics.

Time for a change?

2006-09-03T21:23:00.000Z

Many people are starting to question Roeder's appointment. I think this is wrong.

If I was Roeder, I'd feel I deserved the chance to manage the team full time after my run as caretaker manager. I don't think the manager and the players (most of them) are the problem. Its just the overall running of the club.

The way the club conducts its business is a cause for concern. Is Freddy Shepherd really a positive force?

Perhaps we need a Director of Football to replace the involvement of Shepherd in the clubs transfer and football (mis)planning.

A deep analysis may not be necessary, maybe our chairman is too high profile and prone to sounding stupid to make people believe in our club. Look at Charlton, they are going nowhere fast but noone criticizes them and most of the fans are happy as larry, they are such a well-run club. Look at the situation at West Ham, if Tevez and Mascherano came to Newcastle in such circumstances, everyone would be suspicious - but they are such a well run club, with a low profile board, that everyone is simply pleased for them. Chairmen such as Bruce Buck (Chelsea), Peter Hill-Wood (Arsenal), Daniel Levy (Spurs) and Terence Brown (West Ham) are relatively unheard of and keep themselves to themselves. They don't brag about the amount of money they've spent on a particular player and they keep themselves out the public eye. They never come out and say "and once again we have signed a massive player for the fans because we are such a big club". Which it seems is all that matters to Freddy Shepherd. Where is the stability to match our (rapidly decreasing) status as a top premiership club? Maybe Freddy's problem is that he is too passionate and loves having all the big names at his club rather taking the time to see where it is really going wrong. He throws money at the club and lets the manager get on with it, leaving the manager to get all the stick when it goes wrong.

The £10million spent on Albert Luque could have gone to improving our scout situation. We are relying too much on bringing in proven players because our scouting network is so poor. Look at some of the players Spurs and Bolton bring in, they aren't stars but they all turn out good because they have been well found by their scouts. Why don't we sign players like Rob Lee and Andy Cole anymore? We need players who are hungry for success, not world class stars who have nothing to prove. Hunger for success is behind the impressive resurgence of Spurs and West Ham.

Although I do feel sorry for Roeder and the players, their progress is being hindered by things beyond their control.

Freddy admits failure

2006-09-02T21:24:00.000Z

Freddy Shepherd annouced today that there should be no transfer window and that players should be allowed to move at any time. That translates as "I didn't have time to get enough players in" - he had two months. If there was no transfer window then he would be moaning when our star player was snapped up in October stating, "There should be a system in place to stop transfers happening during the season". Pure rubbish Freddy.

Given and Carr completed 90 minutes for the Republic of Ireland against Germany, while Duff was substituted near the end, I am unsure if he was injured or not as looked away for a few moments and missed it. O'Brien came on late on and provided a couple of bursts of pace, but again proved his isn't quite ready. He is obviously highly rated by Steve Staunton however.

England continue not to miss Owen as they rattled five past a rubbish Andorra side, will he ever be the first name on the team sheet again? Crouch and Defoe both scored twice.

Our three last minute transfers are set to be unveiled this weekend, but I don't know when.

Partial redemption

2006-09-01T12:33:00.000Z

We signed Olivier Bernard on a free. A left-back. Thats what we needed. However I feel we have still failed overall.

NUFC.com summed it all up to day as follows:

"The club don't just take the piss, they sell it - so why not go to Shearer's bar?"

In reference to Roeder commenting that Sibierski's strength is in the air, they commented:

"Aye, so is Michael Owen's helicopter - and that won't bring us any goals this season either"

Exactly right.

Lets break down how we faired in the transfer window:

Alan Shearer replaced by Obafemi Martins
Lee Bowyer replaced by Damien Duff
Michael Chopra replaced by Giuseppe Rossi
Robbie Elliot replaced by Olivier Bernard
Amady Faye replaced by Nicky Butt (returned from loan)
Martin Brittain replaced by James Milner (returned from loan)
Daryl Smylie replaced by Antoine Sibierski
Tony Caig replaced by Tim Krul (from academy)
Jean-Alain Boumsong not replaced.

Overall we have strengthened, Smylie and Brittain never really counted as first team players. But not directly replacing Boumsong could cost us this season.

Yes it really is true, we have signed Sibierski. He sounded as shocked as we are in his welcome interview. Photo of Bernard and Rossi soon.

Window shuts, here we go...

2006-09-01T08:28:00.000Z

And so the magic window has shut. Its an end to our stress, oh wait...no. Unfortunately this window I'm unhappy to say that we have failed. We have failed. It all looked so sweet when we signed Damien Duff back in July but since then all has been quiet. Then we signed Obafemi Martins, another good signing and things looked up once again. And so on the last day, every club seemed spoilt for choice as they helped themselves to players who could have done well at Newcastle. OK so we have starlet Rossi until January when presumably we'll be making some more signings. But taking Antoine Sibierski is quite frankly useless and confusing. Pretending for a moment that Luque and Sibierski aren't crap, we have depth in attack and midfield now, but in defence is another matter. We have spectacularly failed to sign a defender despite there being endless amounts of available ones over the last two months. At this I am afraid I am very angry at Newcastle United. Now obviously its none of my business and I have no right to be angry, but we needed defenders before the previous season finished and since then we have lost two. Its going to be a long four months. I'm waiting in hope that Newcastle will confirm another deal in the next couple of hours. NUFC.com said we were trying to sign another one or two players after Sibierski, but had retracted that statement within 20 minutes.

A very good thing that happened today was the break down of talks between James Milner and Aston Villa. I was furious when I saw he was travelling to Birmingham for talks, but thankfully Newcastle had some sense and retracted their permission. Milner, for me, is now better than Solano and it is essential we keep him. Hopefully we haven't annoyed him to much over the last two seasons.

We may have a good attack, but unless we defend well and avoid more than two injuries at once in defence we will not finish in the top six. West Ham have signed Tevez and Mascherano from Corinthians which is incredible. West Ham will be finding it hard to finish outside the top five with the incredible squad they've assembled over the last two seasons. This season is about sticking together, staying fit and loving every minute, otherwise we aren't going to be in a happy position.

Here is my opinion on the players to attack the league and cups for the next four months:

Goalkeepers

Shay Given
Fantastic goalkeeper and a great bloke, we are very fortunate to have him.

Steve Harper
Very reliable keeper who puts on a good show when he gets the chance, would be our number one if Shay Given wasn't so amazing.

Tim Krul
Tipped as a future star. I haven't seen much of him, but I have heard some glowing reports and never anything bad.

Central defenders

Craig Moore

I like him, he is usually reliable and adds a cool and experienced head to our dodgy back four. He needs to stay fit this season, end of story.

Titus Bramble
Titus has all the quality in the world, but he loses his concentration too often, it needs working on if Newcastle are too succeed.

Steven Taylor
Surely a future England regular, he is already our best defender and can play across the whole back four. It'll probably turn into a bit of Jamie Carragher situation, where he is veteran and hero of his hometown club, but limited internationally.

Peter Ramage
Promising and good at football. Technically a centre-back but has performed admirably at full-back in my opinion. He has a mean cross and will have good chance to shine this season.

Full-backs

Celestine Babayaro
A very talented footballer, but has no sense of defending. He needs to find his defensive soon or he will be dropped. His effort could also be questioned.

Stephen Carr
I think he's a good defender who has recently lost his ability to cross and shoot. He will need to keep his head with his position not under threat this season, he also needs to stay fit.

Olivier Bernard
Seems glad to be back and should put all his effort into a game, unlike our other left back. His signing makes much more sense than that of Bald-one Sibierski.

Defensive midfielders

Scott Parker
Our fantastic captain is everything you want from a midfielder. It seems he's going to be playing more forward this season, but his work at the back will be essential this season.

Nicky Butt
Quality player who seems to have woken up to the fact he now plays for Newcastle, I firmly believe Glenn Roeder is responsible for that. Well done on something there Glenn.

Attacking midfielders

Emre
To me Emre is a Geordie and a cracking player at that. Carries out his defensive duties magnificently and has already scored as many goals for Newcastle as he did for Inter in less than half the appearances. Fitness is once again the key.

Charles N'Zogbia
A brilliant young talent who scores lots already. We may even need him at left-back this season. Another adopted Geordie.

Damien Duff
Has settled in nicely already, does lots of running and creates lots of chances but has yet to find his shooting boots and despite his 30 odd shots since arriving, none have tested the goalkeeper. Still a fantastic signing in my opinion.

James Milner
Our best right winger now. He is another future England player, possibly so far hindered by his slender frame. Nearly went to Villa for the second season running, but I am so glad he didn't go.

Nolberto Solano
A legend but not getting any younger. Nobby is good back up now, but Roeder still sees him as first choice. Still very good at set-pieces, but Milner's two corners to set up Butt and his freekick that almost broke the bar suggest Milner is ready to take over.

Kieron Dyer
If he can stay fit this season, Kieron will have massive roll to play, both in midfield and further forward. Kieron is like the talented Sibierski.

Antoine Sibierski
Can also play as a striker but due to the lack of goals in his career and his listing as a midfielder on the Man City website, thats what I assume we've bought him for. I am mystified at this signing, it just pushes our academy talent further down the pecking order. But still, we have him (I'm sure Glenn will explain in the morning).

Matty Pattison
Exciting prospect who will be a first team player somewhere, one day. Put on a good performance against West Brom last season.

Alan O'Brien
Very fast winger kept out the team, everyone is waiting to see how he develops over the course of his contract. In my opinion he needs to learn to use his pace. He is clearly skilled.

Forwards

Michael Owen
May not feature this season but still a squad member. Good to have around, fantastic striker.

Shola Ameobi
Scores with chances and has become an important player. I have noticed his interviews as well as his play maturing and he no longer the youngster. There shouldn't be any more problems with Shola, oh, apart from fitness.

Obafemi Martins
Great signing, hopefully fitness won't be a problem with our new number nine.

Giuseppe Rossi
Talented loan signing who I rate highly, pity he will only be better for Man U when he leaves. I just hope we don't miss him too much when he returns home.

Albert Luque
This is surely his last four months here, he just isn't very good for Newcastle.

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

Well thats everyone. A great depth to the squad, apart from in defence. Please God, let us do well.

Well weird

2006-09-01T05:09:00.000Z

Newcastle have signed Antoine Sibierski on a one year contract from Manchester City. This should be an April fool's prank, has Glenn gone off his rocker?

Despite our long lingering defensive frailties, we have signed four players who never enter their own box.

In a conversation with a Man City fan just like week, I said:

"You'll be lucky to get rid of Sibierski on a free, he is the worst Premiership footballer I have ever seen in my life"

And he here is...

My opinion? This 32 year old non-international frenchman is a complete joke. As is our defence.

Rossi set for loan move

2006-08-31T06:59:00.000Z

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

2006-08-30T15:39:00.000Z

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

2006-08-29T13:10:00.000Z

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?

2006-08-28T12:56:00.000Z

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

2006-08-27T21:22:00.000Z

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

2006-08-27T20:56:00.000Z

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

2006-08-25T10:23:00.000Z

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

2006-08-24T22:52:00.000Z

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

2006-08-24T09:51:00.000Z

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...

2006-08-23T18:15:00.000Z

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

2006-08-23T07:16:00.000Z

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

2006-08-22T18:03:00.000Z

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...

2006-08-22T16:45:00.000Z

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

2006-08-22T10:53:00.000Z

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

2006-08-21T14:40:00.000Z

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

2006-08-20T21:35:00.000Z

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

2006-08-20T20:27:00.000Z

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

2006-08-20T16:10:00.000Z

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

2006-08-19T19:39:00.000Z

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

2006-08-19T16:24:00.000Z

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

2006-08-19T07:05:00.000Z

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

2006-08-18T16:03:00.000Z

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

2006-08-18T12:54:00.000Z

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

2006-08-17T13:07:00.000Z

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

2006-08-16T21:55:00.000Z

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

2006-08-16T01:43:00.000Z

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!

2006-08-15T22:53:00.000Z

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

2006-08-14T23:41:00.000Z

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

Season Rescue: 4 days

This time next week...

2006-08-13T21:14:00.000Z

...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

2006-08-12T22:47:00.000Z

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

2006-08-12T22:07:00.000Z

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?

2006-08-11T18:59:00.000Z

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

2006-08-10T20:36:00.000Z

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

2006-08-09T11:05:00.000Z

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'

2006-08-08T15:40:00.000Z

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

2006-08-07T11:40:00.000Z

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

2006-08-06T17:22:00.000Z

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

2006-08-05T19:26:00.000Z

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...

2006-08-05T12:27:00.000Z

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

2006-08-04T09:29:00.000Z

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

2006-08-03T12:57:00.000Z

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

2006-08-03T10:57:00.000Z

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?

2006-08-02T11:38:00.000Z

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

2006-08-01T13:32:00.000Z

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.

Goodbye Toon

2006-07-31T18:08:00.000Z

Although I live in Retford mostly, I spend a bit of time in Newcastle with the other half of my family. But today we moved from Toon to Durham which means each match day is going to cost £4.80 more, not that cost matters on such days. The excitement of walking through Kenton to Fawdon Metro station is now a thing of the past.

The Chronicle continued to make us feel warm and fuzzy today by 'revealing' that we aren't going to sign any of our supposed targets:

"Newcastle United have rejected a plea from Sol Campbell, who has made it clear he would love the chance to come to St James' Park.
And on a weekend when United were linked with the likes of PSV midfielder Jefferson Farfan, Jonathan Woodgate, Wayne Bridge, Miroslav Klose, Jermain Defoe and Juventus's Croatian defender Robert Kovac, I can reveal that none of these players will be finding a peg in the St James' Park dressing room."

However not mentioned in our star-studded black-list is Holland striker Dirk Kuyt, who would be a welcome addition. Roeder did reveal today that Farfan is not a target of ours, but hinted that we are talking to clubs and players. Always nice to know, but where are the players?

Quotes from Luque this morning telling of his renewed confidence and fitness. Speaking to other Toon fans, I've come across a lot of 'Maybe Luque is class after all' after his recent fine finishing and Saturday's revelatory performance. All good stuff but lets hope Glenn and Fatpie don't get distracted by his backheels and concentrate more on SIGNING SOME PLAYERS.

Disgraceful.

2006-07-30T18:24:00.000Z

An artist's impression of what should happen to Robbie Elliot

Having turned down a contract at Newcastle, old git (and Geordie) Robbie trained with S*nderland and subsequently played in a friendly. Not only that, he was the first player to applaud the sad mackem followers at the end of the game upon a rare victory for the colourblind felines.

I admired his effort last term, but now, as I have made apparent, I hate him. I hope they choose not to offer him a contract, then he will be stuffed.

These are words that could be used in relation to the subjects in this entry:

Diabolical, deplorable, dreadful, shocking, pitiful, pathetic, unbelievable, dismal, feeble, useless, awful, appalling, abysmal, shameful, atrocious, inexcusable.

One possible for replacement for this traitor is Sol Campbell who if rumours are to be believed, contacted SJP saying he is keen on a move to Toon.

Newcastle 2-3 PSV Eindhoven

2006-07-29T20:43:00.000Z

We went 3-0 down and I for one felt a little bit miffed at that. We weren't playing superbly but neither were we playing badly. Scott Parker put in a great performance and I was left mystified when Stephen Carr picked up Man of the match. Duff, N'Zogbia, Emre and Steven Taylor all looked good, the latter seemingly picking up an injury and removed at half time. The introduction of Craig Moore did sure up our defending a bit though. The fact of the matter is, there was noone to take the chances because Shola really cannot cope upfront on his own. The arrival of Luque and Milner on the scene sparked Shola to life and he pulled one back with a header from Milner's accurate cross. Albert Luque was fantastic, he had a cracking game showing some great touches, clever passes and scoring well placed penalty for our second. The penalty decision was wrong, however we had already been denied a spot-kick three times by the frustrating referee. Overall we were unlucky to lose, with a draw possibly a fair result by the end. I left St James' in a positive mood despite the defeat.

Hopefully we will have a striker to take part in the UEFA cup game at the latest, despite Luque putting on a show thats as deep as our strike force goes and we cannot survive a UEFA Cup season with two unproven strikers. What are the bookies odds on Shearer coming out of retirement? Might be worth a bet. We also need a centre back, because Titus Bramble was the weak link in our team today.

PSV striker Arouna Koné was simply amazing, I have never seen a footballer who is so incredibly fast, but this guy was not just fast, he was so skillful on the ball. He caused all our problems and played a key role in tearing us a part for all three of their goals. He has been at PSV for one season, would he move to the Premiership? I think we should buy him just so it means we never have to play against him again.

In conclusion, our midfield is class and Albert Luque looked £10mil today, but our defence is lacking and our upfront there is nowt. So hopefully signings this week. Please.

PS: That's four goals in four games for Luque. And yes, his performances are improving... and it's a Spanish team next.

Ventspils ... pardon me

2006-07-28T20:31:00.000Z

A cure for the common cold? A french defender eliminating drink? I wish. Its our UEFA cup opposition from Latvia. FK Ventspils currently lie top of the Latvian Premier League and are the only team in the league that are unbeaten since the season started in April.

News today that Damien Duff will start against PSV tomorrow. In other news, Ameobi and Luque are both fit to play, news which would be insignificant in an ideal world. Babayaro joins Owen and Dyer on the treatment table, but in less serious circumstances.

We've been linked with Marlon Harewood, Dean Ashton and Wayne Bridge today, wouldn't complain at all. Amady Faye seems set to move to Charlton according to some sources, while disturbingly Juventus want Boumsong in exchange for one of their defenders, just a rumour, but whoever this other defender is, YES PLEASE.

I'm annoyed that Canaries World subscribers get to watch the delights of N'Zogbia's testimonial effort but I don't. I am still yet to see the goal. Speaking of young Charles and over-expensive video subscriptions, I saw an interview with him today. He speaks perfect English contrary to reports last season, that he only knew the word s**t. Maybe he drove through S*nderland and found that he was locked in a constant spasm of truth for a couple of weeks while he recovered from his terrible expedition.

Looking forward to PSV tomorrow.

Owenly Dyer straights could keep Luque Duff from Debut

2006-07-27T19:46:00.000Z

Absolutely no news or interesting rumours. Although there was a very disturbing suggestion in today's Sun that we wanted Juan Pablo Angel from Villa, but thankfully the move has fallen through due to Villa's funny problems.

Speaking of funny problems, mackem Chairman Niall Quinn has successfully installed himself as S*nderland manager after failing to find anyone for the job. Presumably because they are s**t.

Pictured above is Glenn Roeder preparing his team for the visit of PSV on Saturday. I am pleased to announce that my ticket arrived today and I am now staying in Newcastle ahead of the PSV, Villareal and Wigan games. I'm sat in Row A of the Johnny Hall stand middle if anyone wants to find me and say hello. Didn't think so.

Back to the repulsive subject of S*nderland, Robbie Elliot was apparently spotted training with them today. That's right, he turned down a contract from Newcastle and hopes to play for them. He is one poorly Geordie.

Norwich City 1-2 Newcastle

2006-07-26T21:07:00.001Z

A goal from Norwich's Paul McVeigh wasn't enough to come back from strikes by Peter Ramage in the first half and Charles N'Zogbia in the second as Newcastle spoiled Craig Fleming's testimonial party.

I am very impressed with this win for a few reasons;

1) There was no striker in our starting line-up, and only the 65th minute appearance of reserve centre forward Carl Finnigan changed this, by which time we 2-0 up.
2) Our starting line-up was by no means our best 11, with Given, Ameobi, Emre, Luque, Babayaro, Duff and of course injured boys Dyer and Owen all left out.
3) In the second half, Roeder introduced no fewer than 7 academy products, most of which are regulars in the reserves.
4) We were away from home against a perfectly decent team on a testimonial night.
5) N'Zogbia scored a cracker.

A good night for the lads that played especially the reserves. The night did end 1 minute prematurely when torrential rain and thunder storming caused the referee to give up and call the game to an end.

The lads were wearing the new retro away kit, very nice.

Milner left feeling Duff

2006-07-25T21:08:00.000Z

Our new winger Damien Duff was given the number 11 shirt today at the expense of James Milner, who reverts back to his previous number 16. It remains to be seen if the club receive or accept any offers for Milner, but hopefully for the sake of squad depth he won't leave. In my opinion he really is a quality player and a star of the future on the right wing.

Roeder named the 20 man squad for the friendly against Norwich tomorrow, this morning. The squad is:

Harper, Krul, Carr, Cave, Ramage, Bramble, Moore, Taylor, Huntington, Pattison, Solano, Parker, Milner, Butt, Faye, N'Zogbia, Gate, O'Brien, Atkin, Finnigan.

The game is likely to be chance for the fringe, reserve and needy of fitness players to prove themselves ahead of the coming season and the challenging friendlies against PSV and Villareal. It will be interesting to see if our new number 3 goalkeeper makes an appearance and how he fairs out.

Duff unveiled at SJP

2006-07-24T16:02:00.000Z

Our new £5 million (not 1o as first thought) was unveiled at a press conference in St James' Park at about 2.15 this afternoon. He says his heart told him to come to Newcastle and that he hopes we can win some silverware at last! No change there. Wor Glenn also said that we are trying to bring in some more players off our list of targets, whoever is on it. This guy is surely a bargain? I wonder what his first injury will be...

Damien Duff Definitely Done Deal

2006-07-23T10:36:00.000Z

And so late last night it was confirmed that Newcastle have made their first signing of the summer. Damien Duff has signed a five year contract after we paid around £10million to Chelsea for his services, because they really need the money...

The club are yet to announce Wor Damien's squad number, but he will be presented to the media as a Newcastle player on Monday afternoon. Newcastle United is now home to an amazing 13 midfielders plus 3 more players who have slotted into midfield during their time at United. Worringly that means we still only have two out and out strikers, one of which isn't due back from injury until 2007. It does appear we have a 28 man squad, but the quality available from our bench is very limited, the players ranging from promising reserves to expensive misfits.

Yesterday I watched an impressive ex-Newcastle player James Coppinger playing for Doncaster Rovers as they outplayed a rubbish Real Sociedad first team to win 1-0. I don't think even S*underland played that poorly during their entertaining downfall last season.

Lillestrøm 0-3 Newcastle

2006-07-22T18:14:00.000Z

After all the worry, the thoughts of going out and starting off a disastrous season, we won quite easily. Shola Ameobi scored twice on his return to the starting line-up before Emre scored his third goal in black and white. I haven't seen any hightlights yet, but the match report suggests that Shola tapped in after N'Zogbia's freekick was parried for his first on 29 minutes. On 36 minutes Scott Parker ran down the right and crossed for Shola to tap in again. We were pretty much in control for the whole game despite Lillestrøm picking up after half time. On 90 minutes Emre scored a powerful shot from 20 yards.

So all that worry was unnecessary. However when the draw comes through for 3rd qualifying round on Friday, once again the threat of going out of Europe hangs over us. But for now, lets be relieved that Newcastle played well, scored goals and kept a clean sheet.

Also confirmed today, Damien Duff will be a Newcastle player by Monday as long as there is no problem with the medical, which Roeder doesn't expect there to be. Wor Glenn also commented that there are several more players to come and that over the next few weeks they'll be attempting to get one at a time.

Vi møtes igjen...

2006-07-22T09:13:00.000Z

Today is the day that not many people care about, but the Toon Army do. News that we are signing a player with the quality of Damien Duff is very good news. Today, for the second time in 3 months, Newcastle United must win a match in order to get into Europe and you would have thought this task is a bit less stressful than the thought of beating Chelsea on the last game of the season, but it seems after last week, Newcastle once again are leaving it late.

Over the past week there have been endless video interviews from our 'confident' stars telling us that Newcastle will be the UEFA Cup come tea time today. Glenn Roeder, Peter Ramage, Titus Bramble, Steven Taylor, Celestine Babayaro, Craig Moore, Nobby Solano, Scott Parker, Nicky Butt, James Milner, Emre, Michael Owen and fitness coach Paul Winsper have all told of the squads postive attitude and confidence of progressing. Don't get me wrong, this is great in two respects. For one it is good to see the squad speaking out in positive way and for another, the 'Newcastle World' service is expensive and at the moment I feel I'm getting my money's worth!

Reports this morning saying that West Ham have discovered that we will sell Milner for £3.5 million and are ready to make a bid. With the imminent arrival of Damien Duff, it would be understandable if he chose to leave, which would also free up the number 11 shirt for Duff (the number he currently sports at Chelsea).

I have chosen not to listen to the game on Newcastle World or purchase Setanta Sports because to be honest I am too nervous. I am nervous about an Intertoto Cup game against a Norwegian team! It just shows what our beloved football club chooses to put us through, even though I believe everything will be good soon. Instead of sitting nervously in front my computer or TV, I am going to watch a pre-season friendly between Doncaster Rovers and Real Sociedad having already seen Doncaster annihilate my local team Retford 7-1 (Ex-Newcastle defender Karl Colley scoring Retford's only goal while Ex-Tooners James Coppinger and Lewis Guy appeared for the visitors).

Up the Duff?

2006-07-21T12:58:00.000Z

Update : Newcastle are now officially up the Duff! Newcastle have agreed the terms and he is currently undergoing a medical!

Reports today suggesting Chelsea winger Damien Duff is on his way to St James' for about £10million. Apparently the deal will be completed today and not based on whether we make it into the UEFA cup or not! Is he mad? Still, would be a good signing though. I still think its unlikely.

The first babble

2006-07-21T12:42:00.000Z

OK, here we go. One day to go until Glenn's army attempt to get us in the UEFA cup. Am I worried? Yes. Not only am I worried that no UEFA cup football this season will plunge us into a downward spiral of misfortune, I am worried that without a European adventure this campaign we will we lack the finances and the attraction necessary to bring in players capable of helping us succeed. For the last few seasons Newcastle United has been a club about to break through and become successful, but I feel that this season we have something to prove. Fans of other clubs and pundits alike are no longer predicting great things for us, we are fizzling out of the football experts' mental list of big clubs. This season is about playing good football, winning and staying disciplined. We must make some good signings, not big names, players who didn't arrive for huge fees and have less pressure on them to perform. Personally I would like to see the likes of David Nugent from Preston, Robert Huth, Steed Malbranque, all quality players who can be obtained for much less that £10 million each. I also think fat Freddy should swallow his pride and take some players on loan, the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge, Javier Saviola or dare I say it, Theo Walcott? My preference for a replacement to Alan Shearer would be Feyenoord's Dirk Kuyt, but it seems Liverpool are leading the race to sign him and maybe we don't have the financial firepower.

Lillestrøm. A team I expected us to beat. I didn't think it would be easy because of their superior fitness, but I thought one or two nil wouldn't have been too much to ask. However I'm not upset at the performance, the fitness and sharpness obviously played a part in our failure to win. They have the away goal so we now find ourselves at a disadvantage playing away from home, whether this pressure with spur the players on is yet to be seen. Part of me wonders whether going into the UEFA cup would be a bit of distraction like it was Middlesbrough last season, and I also remember the agony of watching our UEFA cup dream of 2004/5 slip away as Sporting Lisbon banged in the goals to complete an astonishing and truly heartbreaking come back. I am the first admit that, that night was the first time I cried at the end of a Newcastle game. And as we sank out of the FA Cup just three days later, the end of the season was just some sort of numb haze as it floated ungracefully to its insignificant close.

Maybe this season is the season that every new manager talks about, or maybe we will be confined to another 'almost' cup run and a bottom half premiership finish. Then there is Roeder's habit of taking a team to 7th place in the league and successfully relegating them the next season. Yes, it's happened twice. Third time lucky?

NUFC Jam

2006-07-21T08:02:00.000Z

2006-03-23T23:29:00.000Z