Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today in no particular order of priority.
Sam gave quite a lengthy interview with Sky Sports News last night and most of the stories emanate from what he said during the interview.
Certain players like Heinze and Queudrue will not be coming to Newcastle and Sam is still pursuing defensive reinforcements.
News of the raid on three Premiership clubs yesterday morning is still covered widely – with Newcastle being one of the clubs raided.
- The first story we run today is related to Sam’s long interview with Sky Sports News in which he basically rules out Franck Queudrue and Gabriele Heinze coming to the club. We add Habib Beye to this list since less than a week ago Habib said he was staying at Marseilles. So there’s three players we can rule out – but don’t think these moves will not be resurrected in the press despite Sam’s statements last night.
Gabriele Heinze
- Sam also speaks about the defenders he still wants to bring to the club before the season starts on August 11th at Bolton. Sam’s looking for big strong defenders but he admits almost every other Premier club is into the transfer market now – which makes things more difficult since there is now more competition for each player made available.
Sam Allardyce
- Good news today in that Sam has met with Oba Martin’s agents and they assure Sam there is no truth in the rumors that Oba wants to leave Newcastle. Sam is still nervous about the release clause in Oba’s contract which means that a club could come in before August 31st – make a big enough bid and Oba could be off. We also discuss the possibility of Edmilson arriving in January from Barcelona – which we still think is a strong possibility – and obviously Sam thinks very highly of the Brazilian.
Oba Martins
- Sam also speaks about the defenders he still wants to bring to the club before the season starts on August 11th at Bolton. Sam’s looking for big strong defenders but he admits almost every other Premier club is into the transfer market now – which makes things more difficult since there is now more competition for each player made available.
Sam Allardyce
- For the first time Sam expresses some frustration at the new board and their slowness in going after transfer targets. Sam has to explain to the board – who are all nearly brand new to football why he is after a certain player – and from what Sam says it has slowed down progress in the transfer market for us. That’s becasue we are often too slow in pursuing targets. Sam is not patient as far as transfer targets go and he is extremely motivated to build a good squad for the coming campaign – which may explain some of his frustration.
Deputy Chairman Chris Mort
- We did cover the news of the Newcastle raid last night and also gave some additional background on the findings of the Steven’s report. While the reports say the two investigations are not linked – the evidence garnered by the Steven’s inquiry was apparently handed over to the London police force and seem to have formed the basis for the raids. We beleive it’s the agents involved who are under investigation and not the clubs – but you wouldn’t believe it by reading some of the reports.
St. James’ Park
- Other stories that are reported today:
- The squad numbers have been released this morning for next season. Czech defender David Rozehnal takes over the No.4 shirt, while fellow new boy Joey Barton will be wearing No.7. Mark Viduka, who was Big Sam’s first signing as Toon boss, will don the No.36, and most recent arrival Geremi will be sporting the No.20 jersey.
Elsewhere in the squad there are new numbers for Nobby Solano (15) and Albert Luque (19). - Joey Barton talks again about coming to Newcastle to win trophies – and he seems excited about the prospects for next season. Hopefully – before too long Joey can help us win that trophy that hasn’t happened for almost 40 years.
Joey Barton
- The Journal reports that Newcastle have held talks with a second French left-back. Both Newcastle United and Wigan Athletic are both said to have been in contact with Franck Signorino of Nantes – as a possible alternative to Franck Queudrue – now that we know that move is not going to happen.
- The squad numbers have been released this morning for next season. Czech defender David Rozehnal takes over the No.4 shirt, while fellow new boy Joey Barton will be wearing No.7. Mark Viduka, who was Big Sam’s first signing as Toon boss, will don the No.36, and most recent arrival Geremi will be sporting the No.20 jersey.
- Here’s some funny football quotes for today from one of the funniest managers – Ron Atkinson – this is to lighten up the day – which we all need at some point 😀
“I know where he should have put his flag up, and he’d have got plenty of help.”
“That’s not the type of header you want to see your defender make, with his hand.”
“You don’t want to be giving away free kicks in the penalty area.”
“Liverpool will think ‘we could have won this 2-2.’”
Ron Atkinson
We always appreciate your comments on these stories.
31 comments so far
LiamBirchy8
Jul 17, 2007 at 11:48 AM
Comment #1wow i just found out that ivan helgura and pavon have been released from real madrid. helgura is a bit too old but pavon is a class defender and nearly agreed to join bolton this summer when sam was there. maybe he will come to the toon, what do you think?
P.collins
Jul 17, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Comment #2So far we have let 7 players go and brought 4 in on Saturday it’s 2 weks till kick off we now have a smaller squad than what we had last year.Were finding it hard to attract anyone at the moment, their have been a few silly ones mentioned but i’m sure we could get CURTIS DAVIES and Gudjonsen and Even Wright Philps Dig deep Sam don’t leave it to late!
paul p
Jul 17, 2007 at 11:58 AM
Comment #3well lets face it, we are not going to get any one big now. big sam has just admitted that the board are not releasing funds until the take over is complete. so his targets who he wanted are gone or are going to have signed for clubs, so this is not good so forget the likes of edmilson, davies, baines, shorey, canavarro, ronaldinho, eto-o, gudjohnson, etc. yet again, we have all been sold a dummy us loyal fans who pay all that money every season. prepare for another under achieving season me feels. we will never get anywhere near man u, liverpool, chelsea, arsenal and now spurs and west ham are leaving us behind.
Kash
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:11 PM
Comment #4Paul, you’re a barrell of laughs, aren’t you!
paul p
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:23 PM
Comment #5wish a was kash! just disapointed after the start we made in the market that we have’nt brought anymore in. its really p’s me off that the likes of spurs, pompey, west ham are buying players, better quality than us, when really we should be the one’s who are closest to the top 4, like we were when bobby and keegan was in charge. a do hope we get this resolved and get big signings made like, then we all might have a positive attitude towards the season. next we will all be getting phone calls asking us to sign for the toon haha!!! we wish!! lol!! just hope the board read all our postings and see how we feel.
aaron d
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:24 PM
Comment #6The squad numbers have just be released, so the players meantioned are basically our squad. 28 players listed including Krul, Foster, Troisi, Carroll, Huntington, Edgar and Pattison. Who are not ready for 1st team just yet in my opinion. Leaving 21 players (2 GK, 1RB, 1 LB, 3CB, 3MR, 3ML, 4CM and 4ST) babayaro, ramage, carr and amoebi not good enough, leaves 17 players!! What do you think?
I think that we only have 2 decent defenders in Taylor and Rozehnal, and geremi, solano can fill in at right back. Need 3/4 defender asap.
aaron d
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:27 PM
Comment #7Even fulham have spent more than us so far, they have spent £19million.
Dave Wyllie
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:28 PM
Comment #8who’s surprised NUFC are being investigated over corruption involving the transfer of Boumsong – the manager was I believe still a shareholder at Rangers when we bought him and we had tried to sign him earlier on a FREE and then paid an outrageous sum for a flop – conflict of interest or what!
paul p
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Comment #9aaron. this squad at the moment is only a mid table squad. not a one which should be challenging for europe and tropheys. we need another right back, left back, 2 centre halves, another midfielder who has class to go with barton in the middle. wot is anyone else’s thoughts
paul p
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:32 PM
Comment #10but we are not going to get any quality players as we have no money due to the takeover. !!!
JimD
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Comment #11There is stil plenty of time left in the transfer window.. Remember Roeder had only got duff by now- a position that didnt need filling. We have let seven go and only four in so far but the players brought in are of much more quality than those released.. bramble, bernard, srnicek, onyewu.. all deadwood. I have full confidence in Sam to come through… everyone should chill out!!!
aaron d
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:46 PM
Comment #12i agree it looks like a mid table squad at the moment, although we have a number of good players, still no where near enough. Hopefully this will change soon. If there is £50million to spend, ( Pavon CB free if available, LB £6, RB £6, CB £10, CM £15) £37 million. £13 million left for january.
kash
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:53 PM
Comment #13You know Real have made other players including Salgado and Emerson available too. I think Emerson would be class for our DM, and Salgado is a tough Right back, better than Carr!
nightfall
Jul 17, 2007 at 12:54 PM
Comment #14we must get baines or shorey, fanni as RB and if we get berzahli, cannavaro could follow… then all we need is another DMC (appiah, diarra)…
kash
Jul 17, 2007 at 1:04 PM
Comment #15Aaron, I disagree with you about Ramage and Ameobi. I think Shola still has lots of potential, but he’s put the club before himself for 2 year carrying that hip injury. Now that’s commitment. Ramage is a complete battler, he would die for the cause. I’d have these 2 in my squad any day, and spend time in making them more complete players. They have the enthusiasm and desire to be successful Newcastle players, so why get rid of such reliable players?! But I also think we haven’t been allocated any transfer funds yet. If Sam really liked Barzaghli, he would have signed him! But he doesn’t have the money available. Ashley is yet to finish his review, but once he does (hopefully today, so we can sign some players this week, PLEASE) i’m sure the physios will be busy performing medicals!
The Big P
Jul 17, 2007 at 1:18 PM
Comment #16A change in the boardroom may be making things difficult, but we may be again the biggest laughing stock in the premiership if the situation isnt resolved. No defence will mean no confidence in the team. No team wants to to score in every game just for the defence to crumble and hand the win to the opposition. It’s a pattern at NUFC is it going to continue?? We have a Mickey Mouse defence right now, not because of a lack of quality but because of a very real lack of depth. There is time left???? Rubbish!!!! Get it done now, before we are looking down the barrel of a gun on deadline day.
No excuses, this club is going nowhere unless a minimum of three strong and consistent defenders come in.
Shaun
Jul 17, 2007 at 1:20 PM
Comment #17Well if things stay the way they are it’s going to be a struggle, we can only hope for the January window to build the squad, hope were up the top of the table are we won’t get anybody. Lets hope Big Sam keeps pushing the board.
paul p
Jul 17, 2007 at 1:26 PM
Comment #18nightfall – i agree with shorey or baines for left back. fanni maybe a good signing, although i have heard lots about him, i have not seen him play. diarra would be good for the holding role but for me, we need someone who can actually pass a ball or make a telling threw ball. xavi from barcelona would be my choice to go with joey barton, ramage and shola, well, shola has proved he can actually do it in the champions league and europe, 2nd top all time newcastle centre forward in european comp, so he cant be a bad player can he, lets see what he is like now he is injury free, as for ramage, yeah he will fight tooth and nail for you, but lets be honest, if you are getting skinned off bentdner and harewood, like he did, then its a sorry state of affairs aint it.
nightfall
Jul 17, 2007 at 1:41 PM
Comment #19xavi? don’t think he’s avalible 🙂 the best DMCs are essien, vieira, gattuso,…appiah is not far from being one of them…and he’s avalible for only 5 mio…
berzagli and zaccardo??
http://www.fansfc.com/newcastlefootballclub/news.asp?newsid=170139
Ed Harrison
Jul 17, 2007 at 1:49 PM
Comment #20I’m still upbeat on things at the club. It’s to be expected that there’s a little hold up in things but hey – we have 4 good players into the club – and spent almost nothing. We like the fact Sam will not bring people in (Queudrue etc) who he doesn’t want – although we think Franck would be a good addition to the squad – keep the faith. I’m also not sure where news came in about Queudrue – it was his agent – maybe he just made it all up about talking with Allardyce yesterday.
paul p
Jul 17, 2007 at 1:51 PM
Comment #21he is a good player. was very impressed with him in the world cup. if xavi was, then ad get him me like. infact, ad do everything i cud to get him. he’s awesome and the type of quality we need at newcastle if we are ever going to win stuff. i dont fancy travelling home and away again like i do every season to watch steven carr, babayaro, ramage play. ad rather boil my own head haha!! all it needs is 4 defenders and a good midfielder who can pass a ball and another forward, something different to what we have got now. then i think we will be good.
aaron d
Jul 17, 2007 at 2:31 PM
Comment #22where did everyone hear about the players real madrid are going to let go? can’t find that story.
aaron d
Jul 17, 2007 at 3:26 PM
Comment #23The best bits of amoebi still think he’s good enough???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJG3boMpY_M
Pete
Jul 17, 2007 at 4:35 PM
Comment #24lol arron
aaron d
Jul 17, 2007 at 4:41 PM
Comment #25I think we should go for Finnan as right back. Was rated best defender by opta last season, and shorey as left back was in top 10 defenders last year.
kash
Jul 17, 2007 at 4:45 PM
Comment #26Lads Lads Lads Lads Lads. Apparently Kluivert was supposed to be a world class player, what did he do? Sweet FA. Now Shola, plays his heart out for us, the Newcastle shirt, team and fans. To me, that means alot. It means alot more considering he’s one of us. I played football against him at school, spoke to the guy a few times. He’s Newcastle through and through, yet some “alleged” fans give him grief. He’ll come back next season and Sam will get the best out of him. Go on Shola son!!!!
Breaking news, Bolton are trying to sign some Brazilian bloke from Fenerbahce. If Sammy Lee knows about him, it’s probably from BSA’s scouting network, which would imply that BSA knows about him. Could be a possible link, apparently he’s highly rated (if that bares any weight)!
As for our DM position, not sure about Diarra (failure at liverpool, didn’t he play for Roeder at WH?) but Emerson from Real Madrid is available. He’s a playmaking DM i.e. he’s tough, he’s experienced, he can pick a pass and he’s brazilian (world cup medal). Sign him Sam, sign him!!!!!!!!
I’ll be pissed off if Newcastle don’t have a decent starting squad in Pro Evo 7 and FM08!
aaron d
Jul 17, 2007 at 5:30 PM
Comment #27the Brazilian is probably Alex he’s their captain, looks pretty good, he’s got a sweet left foot and takes free kicks, penalties and corners.
nightfall
Jul 17, 2007 at 5:32 PM
Comment #28aaron d & kash – good choices/comments
Soren
Jul 17, 2007 at 9:51 PM
Comment #29I will agree with Kash. Too many, I think, is being ignorant and unfair over Shola’s ability to play football and score goals. But the fact is, he has scored a few in european matches, and quiet a few in the premiership as well, and keeping in mind that the also have been injured the last 2 years. I think with his passion for Newcastle, and that he’s got a brand new hip 🙂 He will be a quiet pleasant suprise this coming season.
toon 85
Jul 17, 2007 at 10:03 PM
Comment #30Paul p, you havnt got a clue mate, why would xavi leave the mighty barca for a team with no european football???
AB
Jul 17, 2007 at 10:25 PM
Comment #31Just heard that Chiellini’s wanting to leave Juve, so how about him? Young and experienced left back with 6 full caps already. Liverpool are thought to be interested so we might not have the best shot, but on the flip-side, what about that cheeky bid for Riise? Chiellini and Aurelio (albeit an injured for now Aurelio) competing for left back, we might be able to coax him up north. Just what we need.