The Newcastle United Blog

Newcastle waited until after the transfer window had officially closed to announce that Senegalese players Faye and Beye had both moved to Newcastle United on 3 year contracts. The transfer fees were not announced but we think they were both in the region of ₤2M.

Just before midnight the transfer of the great Nobby Solano to West Ham United was announced and we’re very sorry to see Nobby leave the club.

The one surprise last night was that 19 year-old Paul Huntington was sold to Leeds United.

Only one thing to do today - and that’s to beat Wigan Athletic and hopefully we can keep a clean sheet. Certainly every member of the defense will feel under pressure to keep their place

• The article on Abdoulaye Faye finally moving to Newcastle was put out about 15 minutes after midnight - we must say with some relief. Since Nobby had been sold about 30 minutes before that, we were hopeful that the deal for Faye had indeed been accomplished. Faye is a great acquisition and has joined Newcastle on a 3 year deal for a fee about ₤2M. While he will probably be a back-up probably he is so versatile he’ll force his way into team somewhere.

  Abdoulaye Faye - deal announced at 12:15 this morning - finally

• About 5 minutes after the Faye announcement came the really anticipated one which was the signing of Habib Beye from Marseilles. A terrific defender who will immediately force his way into the first team with all his European experience as captain of Marseilles. Habib will solve our right-back position which has been a weakness for a while and another 3 year deal we think for a little over ₤2M. It’s very exciting to sign such a top player for such a reasonable fee.

  Habib Beye - signed last night for Newcastle from Marseilles

• One deal we were sad to see go through - although it signaled we had probably signed both Senegalese players was Nobby Solano moving to West Ham. Big Sam had said he would try to get Nobby to London and Big Sam (as usual) kept his word and allowed the Peruvian to move to London. Big Sam would have loved to have kept Nobby at the club since he was showing excellent form. But as we know Nobby moved for personal reasons. Nobby’s been a wonderful servant to this club. We thank him for all the great memories he has given us and wish him the best in London.

  Nobby Solano- leaves for West Ham - thanks for the memories

• The real surprise last night was 19 year-old Paul Huntington leaving the club. We wonder if we have let him go so early since he still had some development to go before he was the finished product. Seems like Big Sam is not as impressed with some of our youngsters as Glenn Roeder was. Strange club to join since Leeds United are bottom of division one with -6 points. But the positive side of this is that no doubt Leeds will be coming back so Paul will get plenty of games to help them do that. Apparently Dennis Wise was at the stadium of light for the reserve game with Sunderland and ran the rule over Paul - we assume he liked what he saw. Paul will be a good player for Leeds. However, we would have preferred a season long loan for Paul - and then see how he had done next summer.

  Paul Huntington - left the club last night for Leeds United

• We have our preview of the Newcastle Wigan game tomorrow and expect a win. A clean sheet has to be the aim tomorrow following our decent performance on Wednesday against Barnsley. We expect Cacapa to start and Steven Taylor to be at right-back with Harper retaining his position in goal. Newcastle favorite (and fan) Antoine Sibierski has a hamstring problem which may keep him out of the game but Titus Bramble is expected to play some part in the game.

  Newcastle vs Wigan Match Review on the Forum

• Now that everything is done and dusted we run an article on who left and who came in during the summer. Turns out Sam let 9 players go and brought 9 in and the net outlay was about ₤10M. What was that about Sam having only ₤10M to spend this summer? We cannot think of a better use of ₤10M in transfer money than what Sam has achieved this summer. It’s going to be so exciting next summer, and even in January, when Newcastle hopefully are at least back in Europe and Sam looks again looks to strengthen the squad. We expect money will be more available to him once Chris and Mike clean up the finances of the club. They have done an excellent job so far in making the club a lot more financially stable.
  As we’ve said before Sam is almost the perfect manager for Newcastle at this time in their history.

  Sam Allardyce - the perfect manager for Newcastle at this time in their history

• Just a great story about Mike Ashley’s celebrations following the win against Bransley on Wednesdy night. Turns out he and Chris Mort went to a local night-club in the Bigg Market and was refused entry because his attire wasn’t suitable. He was wearing the famous black and white stripes of the club he owns. Needless to say the dress code at the club was changed for that particular night (good call by the owner) and Mike bought everybody there (300) a drink on him. Best story I’ve read in a while - we try to put a comedic twist on it. By the way it’s just a great thing that Mike is always seen wearing the strip - and doesn’t he seem to enjoy himself - good for him.

  Mike Ashley - wearing his dress attire of late - the famous black and white stripes

• Our new site has been nominated for ‘Best Sports Blog’ as part of the Bloggers Choice Awards. If you would like to vote for us you can do so here. You can also browse through other nominations you can vote for.
  Ahmed Bilal’s site SoccerLens was also nominated and you can vote for Ahmed’s site here.
  I don’t know too much about these awards to be honest and certainly don’t consider myself a professional journalist - I’m a dedicated Newcastle fan writing about the club I’ve supported all my life after finally retiring - and loving it.
• Finally here’s some choice football quotes - today again from the great Uncle Bobby (there’s so many) - one of our heroes - to lighten up the day
  

  “Gary Speed has never played better, never looked fitter, never been older.” - Bobby Robson

  “If we start counting our chickens before they hatch, they won’t lay any eggs in the basket.” - Bobby Robson

  “I said to the lads at halftime, I said, there was nothing to say.” - Bobby Robson

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