The Newcastle United Blog

86 responses so far ↓

• 1 Spyro // May 4, 2008 at 11:20

  Riise, Bent, Dunne…after all the players we have been linked with we are probably going for players like this. I hope it is just blind speculation. i hate this ‘premiership experience’ crap the managers spew, it just shows a lack of global knowledge on players.

• 2 Slam Dunc // May 4, 2008 at 11:29

  This does not quite fit with Martin O’Neil saying yesterday he had been offered Pennant, Riise and Scott Carson as part of the deal for Gareth Barry.

  That said, Keegan has said he wants to sign a left back and Riise is certainly in the mould of full back he likes, the John Beresford of old.

  But a £4 million fee for an aging left back is ridiculous, we’ll never pay that amount.

• 3 Taiwantoon // May 4, 2008 at 11:29

  I am truely getting worried. Lack of action with Owen’s contract, continously connected with top four and Spur rejects…etc. I now hope Ashly saves his money of buying everyone a pints on new players.

• 4 Hadji // May 4, 2008 at 11:29

  Spyro..Couldnt agree with you more.But lets wait and see.I’m really worried about Owen’s and Taylor’s contract.Something’s not right here i can feel it.Maybe i’m being paranoic but time will tell.

• 5 ToonDaft // May 4, 2008 at 11:34

  we need things to start and happen - Tayls and Owen’s contracts should be tied up NOW, BEFORE the season end for crying out loud!

• 6 Warwick Toon // May 4, 2008 at 11:35

  I hope not - the guy’s not good enough.

• 7 Hadji // May 4, 2008 at 11:42

  With these contract delayings we are sending a clear message to the other teams which means”Come and get me”

• 8 GraemeR // May 4, 2008 at 11:42

  Why does this not excite me ????

  Oh yes - hes well past his best, lost his pace and will no doubt be on a forture (see also Carr)

  Come on Newcastle we are better than this !!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 9 figsdad // May 4, 2008 at 11:44

  no thanks stay away he’s on the slide and liverpool know that…

• 10 Leo // May 4, 2008 at 11:48

  i thought MON had said that he was offered some random players basically. i heard they were not them though.

  30k a week in a 4mil pound deal isnt bad i suppose compared to a while back when it was 60k-80k at 6-8mil

• 11 Punk Skunk // May 4, 2008 at 11:52

  OMG!..

• 12 Gooderz // May 4, 2008 at 11:55

  He’s only 27 so he’s not that old for the experience he has. And if 30k is what he’ll be on then he has taken a paycut to join us.

  Remember the end of last year where one of his payslips was found on the web, revealing he was earning about 35-40k a week.

  I don’t think TomToon is going to be too pleased if this move comes off.

• 13 ToonKing // May 4, 2008 at 12:13

  bloody hell ….. april fools day is long gone yet i am seeing joke’s today. Riise ?? Bent ?? F**K OFF
  We can get better players then these for god’s sake…….

• 14 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 12:27

  im not that bothered to be honest rise is not brilliant but he is not useless at the end of the day it was euther rise or bridge. Id pick rise. hope this is true.

• 15 Faustino // May 4, 2008 at 12:29

  Words now fail me…. waht a miserable bunch of players to be linked with of a Bank Holiday weekend!

• 16 RayNUFC // May 4, 2008 at 12:36

  He won’t make or break our season but would be a good addition to the squad. We’ve paid more for unknown donkeys who’ve done nothing.

• 17 RayNUFC // May 4, 2008 at 12:38

  He won’t make or break our season but we’ve paid more for unknown donkeys who’ve done nothing at the club.

• 18 Toon1978 // May 4, 2008 at 12:43

  The thing is we need to be realistic here, we are not going to be in Europe so we ain’t going to get the likes of VDV or ARSHIVAN,HUNTELAAR or any players like that why would they leave their respective club who are playing in the CL and have a chance of winning their domestic league for a club that ain’t in EUROPE or in the top 4. As much as i hate the players we have been linked with today ie BENT and RIISE i have thought about this properly and come to the conclusion we are lucky to have a chance to be signing the likes of BENT and RIISE because look at their clubs in CL and UEFA competitions. What have we got NOTHING at all no attraction what so ever. We need to start somewhere and if that is signing players like BENT and RIISE then so be it. WHEN we are in the CL then we can look at the VAN DER VAARTS and the ARSHIVANS,GOMIS and players of this calibre but at this present time it is not possible. We need to get behind KK and respect the acquisitions he makes and be realistic. HUNTELAAR lovely jubly if you are MANURE,CHELSEA,LIVERPOOL but not NUFC we have no chance why leave AJAX for us where is his ambition if he does you cant blame the lad for not being up for NUFC or any player like that. Being in Europe is the only time you can sign big players and even then you need to have a chance of winning it. BENT , RIISE not huge names but why not we need to start somewhere and maybe its a step in the right direction because after all its better then SIDWELL,NOLAN who Big Sam was keen on.

• 19 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 12:48

  hit the nail right on the head toon1978. riise aint perfect but he is better than enrique for now anyways

• 20 Tom_Toon // May 4, 2008 at 12:49

  Hopefully not.

• 21 toonlover // May 4, 2008 at 12:54

  this deal is cool. just get cuellar and our defence will be

  beye cuellar taylor riise

  i like the look of that

• 22 figsdad // May 4, 2008 at 12:55

  is he hell enrique miles better than that ginger wannabee scouser….

• 23 geordie in taipei // May 4, 2008 at 12:56

  Think 4 million alittle bit much for Riise, but hes not a bad player and with Enrique being very young, good to have an experienced left back - of course we dont want lose Enrique so to have an older left back who may just be with us a couple of years and who would create good competition , may not be a bad idea. Also we have to look at our buys being to get us back to Europe - and then we can continue to build on them, with better players. I still expect Keegan to pull at least 1 pretty top draw signing out of the bag !

• 24 Marguerite // May 4, 2008 at 12:57

  Underwhelmed again. I would much rather have a younger hungry player who would die to play for the Toon not a scouse has been.

• 25 Sean // May 4, 2008 at 12:57

  I think enrique is a better defender than riise, so i wud play riise in midfield coz we all know hes a better attacker than a defender. Cum on Riise whack a few thunderbolts next season! Also i’ve herd valencia are willing to sell david villa for £16M cud be the big summer signing we need.

• 26 Frankieboy // May 4, 2008 at 13:37

  Would be happy enough with Riise but don’t want Bent he is shite.
  His time at Tottenham tells you that.They paid £16m for him and want to offload after one season, that tells its own story I think.
  Been on SSN that Cuellor was Rangers player of season.

• 27 Midjew // May 4, 2008 at 13:44

  I think Riise is a good player.

  Maybe not AMAZING but come ON, we are not amazing at the moment.

  He will be a good buy, and 4m aint that much for 27 year old.

  ALSO… Everyone is comparing him to this years peformance which isnt really fair as he aint been playing that much, same senario as Crouch.

  WHEN they both played regular they seemed to REALLY perform.

  SO get him and play him regularly and i reckon he will win the Geordie Crowd over.

  Also i go with same reasoning for Darren Bent.

  GET THEM!!!

  GoOD PL Players

• 28 Toon1978 // May 4, 2008 at 13:58

  Well said Midjew i had my reservations when i first heard of this about RIISE and BENT but givin our current league position and have nothing to offer ie EPL title or CL football we are lucky to be linked with these two players after all they are at clubs offering CL and UEFA cup football so maybe we need to put our feet on the ground and forget all these super stars. I believe Geordie fans deserve to see these big players more then any other fan but its not to be ATM KK go us promoted with players NOT with super star status ie CLARK, KELLY, FOX, PEACOCK all these players were not big stars but KK took his time and eventually brought big names through the door. We need to be patient and let KK do what he does best and hopefully WISE and co can bring in quality youngsters unknown like Arsenal seem to do. If we can get the best out of strengthening the first team AND young blood from around the world then we wont go far wrong. We need to spot the VAN DER VAARTS of this world at 15,16,17 years of age bring then in and watch them grow into world beaters, ARSENAL are the best at doing this.

• 29 Midjew // May 4, 2008 at 14:04

  Toon1978 - I AGREEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 30 micepie // May 4, 2008 at 14:07

  I have to say that I’ve only seen Huntelaar and Van de Vart play a couple of Live games on tv. I wasn’t especially impressed with either. When I saw Daniel Alves play a live televised game - another highly rated player - he wasn’t much cop either (constantly gave the ball away).

  Most of all, I hope we keep Owen and Martins and take it all from there. That is very important. And I’ll trust in KK’s choices after that.

• 31 geordie_jordan // May 4, 2008 at 14:16

  these players we are linked with are not that bad.
  1) riise: we need someone to challenge jose, who won’t be seen as too much of a threat by jose. a 27 year old experienced lb who can also play lw? doesn’t sound too bad to me even if he is past it, he can do a job if jose is knackered
  2) bent: good player (his goal against us is evidence) his premier league goal scoring ability is documented but where would he fit???

• 32 Dom4Toon // May 4, 2008 at 14:20

  i like riise, i know many people say he has lost it and is crap these days, but if you have talent then you never lose it

• 33 ObaFan2 // May 4, 2008 at 14:20

  Riise,Bent,Dunne and Smith all in the same team……… WOW

  Lose Owen and Oba along with Zog n Duff ……. more Wows.

  I’m generally not interested in all the speculation but it seems like April 1st atm.

• 34 roy morten // May 4, 2008 at 14:45

  i come from norway and i know all about riise,he is so hated in norway and not only because he is playing for liverpool… please don`t buy that guy.

• 35 Paul // May 4, 2008 at 14:50

  Riise at that fee and salary OK
  He must understand tho that he will only get the odd start and will be Enrique’s stand-in.
  If he can accept that fine-if not there are others out there

• 36 lee // May 4, 2008 at 14:53

  all these people that doubt risse it was only a year go when he was absolutely brill a liverpool friend of mine says he was the best left back in the world fair enough ,was, but that was only a year ago and at the age of 27 he cant be passed his best if anything he should be coming in to his prime and arent we forgeting the most important thing whoever keegan signs will be absolutely fantastic can you ever remember a manager so good at bringing in players to take a team in to the next level

• 37 ArtyH // May 4, 2008 at 14:56

  At least Riise is an established fullback, and would slot in if Jose got injured. Unlike now where we have to have a CB or youngster drafted in. don’t forget we NEED a few more squad players! Given our public humiliation this last few years really do you think any self respecting “Star” is going to want to come to the toon now??? I don’t think so , unless we pay extortionate wages AGAIN for some money grabbing mercenary who will be on the physio’s table ala Luque/Marcelleno/Babayaro et all.
  Give Keegan time to build his own side, his way like he did first time round, and when/if he does, hope he will extend his contract, cos at the moment I think it will take more than three years to get us within touching distance of European football. I have to say, I hope I am wrong there and we make it next year or the year after, but how long have we been saying THIS???

• 38 ObaFan2 // May 4, 2008 at 16:00

  Don’t get me wrong, I think Riise is ok player and would be a good stand-in for Enrique especially for the wages mentioned.

  Just dissapointing that Oba and Owen have not had negotiations yet (or so it appears) and the players mentioned are like a side-step rather than a step forward.

  I am one that has and will have faith in KK, just after reading this blog news today it seemed a little dissapointing.

  Bent for £12 million is a joke tbh and reminds me of SBR worst buy!

• 39 Toon Al // May 4, 2008 at 16:05

  i’ve said for a while i thik riise would be a good addition to the squad, think of it like this…

  Geremi and Beye on the right hand side provide a brilliant partnership as they both have the ability to play as cover for eachother in a game situation. the reason Jose Enrique hasnt been setting the world alight this season is because he hasnt had a left sided partner who is descent at defending to over-lap with meaning when he does go forward he can get cuaght out of position… people say he dosnt get forward enough then when he does they say how he always gets caught out of position. with Riise there to work in the same way geremi does in midfield we’d have a really balanced side

• 40 liam // May 4, 2008 at 16:36

  If true a think its a good buy. And a good start to bringing in top premierleague players

  now lets try and rebiuld a good top class team ready for next season- so optimistic cant wait

  haway the lads for tomorrow

• 41 toonbarmy // May 4, 2008 at 17:02

  riise and crouch are not in liverpool squad v city and no injury reports. both could be signing for the toon.

• 42 micepie // May 4, 2008 at 17:36

  When I see all those dissatisfied posts on here – dissatisfied with who we’re rumoured to want to sign – I just think that I’m grateful we’re still in the Premiership. We should ALL be, and stop griping. It irritates me how quickly many fans have taken our big improvement and survival for granted

  Of course we all want the best possible squad for next year, but the reason for the recent massive improvement these past two months is not a change in team personnel but in KK inspiring the players we have, and finding the right formation/combination. I;m very pleased with what we have as a nucleus. If we add players like Riise and Bent without letting players go in those positions then I’ll be quite happy, thank you. I’m still quite excited by those kinds of signings because we might easily have been playing teams like Blackpool and Preston next season and we certainly wouldn’t have had a chance with the likes of Bent and Riise!

  If we splurge on one player, an outstanding talent, then it should be a central mf but let’s see if that’s possible or not.

• 43 Lawman // May 4, 2008 at 17:37

  risse yes, crouch no

• 44 Tom // May 4, 2008 at 18:39

  i think evry1 needs to grow up a bit and get off football manager. riise would be a good back up for young jose. We’ve already got a good young left back - we dont need to spend loads there. keep the faith!!!

• 45 Spyro // May 4, 2008 at 19:38

  i suppose you right Tom, if he is only back then i dont mind.

• 46 toonlover // May 4, 2008 at 20:04

  come on guys a month ago this would be fantastic. 1 own goal later and we are gutted he is coming riise is an entertaining player who scores craking goals. he would be perfect with cuellar taylor and beye. keegan knows what he is doing next season toon will get intertoto atleast

• 47 toonlover // May 4, 2008 at 20:06

  enrique will be great but he aint great yet give riise 2 years of starts let enrique adapt never loan or sell him but it isnt the right time for him to be at the highest level

• 48 Tom_Toon // May 4, 2008 at 20:06

  Got to say in my defence personally ive been saying he was crap a long time before that own goal.

• 49 toonlover // May 4, 2008 at 20:09

  we now know the base line of keegans 5 targets any players worse than riise are a waste of money expect better lads cos we will get beter signings lets secure cuellar and work from there

• 50 toonlover // May 4, 2008 at 20:12

  ok thats your opinion tom toon but all the games like fifa rate riise much more hjighly than enrique.

  ps im not sad im only 14 playing on fifa is all i do

• 51 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 20:14

  news today linking newcastle with stephan ireland

• 52 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 20:16

  im happy with riise good signing this could be

• 53 ScottyT // May 4, 2008 at 20:18

  think some people need to chill here. if some of these stories make you miserable then i suggest you ignore them like me. i just find these stories about players we are linked with pretty boring tbh. if we sign players like these then no i wont be happy but this is just rumours and nout is confirmed.

  modric was a big blow but being linked with riise and bent is just tedious speculation which bores the sh1t out of me really.

• 54 Tom_Toon // May 4, 2008 at 20:23

  And Rooney is rated higher on Fifa than Messi.
  Alan Smith is the same as Santa Cruz on there.

• 55 toonlover // May 4, 2008 at 20:31

  yer but anyone can tell riise is beter than enrique at the moment.

• 56 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 20:34

  id have to agree with the little 14 year old

• 57 toonlover // May 4, 2008 at 20:35

  im actuially 6foot 2

• 58 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 20:38

  hahaha i do think you are right but fifa 08 doesnt give you corect answers.

• 59 Tom_Toon // May 4, 2008 at 20:42

  Enrique is superior to Riise.

• 60 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 20:43

  lost is back on sky thank god i need something to light up my day

• 61 mark // May 4, 2008 at 22:23

  considering left-backs (decent ones) are hard to come by, i’d be v happy having Enrique and Riise challenging each other.. if there are so many good left-backs out there.. name them, ones that we feasibly could buy.. 4 mill is a good price in todays market. hes only 27. Shola might cost 5mill & he IS s**t..

• 62 scott9 // May 4, 2008 at 22:27

  riise wud be an ok signing nothing special but il tell u if enrique carries on playin well i think we wud all agree why replace him

• 63 mark // May 4, 2008 at 22:34

  if we can afford to have riise on the bench then why worry. At least we would have cover if Enrique was injured. who else could play there. we had duff and Babayaro playing there last season so the newer option of enrique and riise is much more appealing.. you cant have enough defenders. let keegan do his thing..

• 64 marcus owen // May 4, 2008 at 23:44

  Riise if only 2mil & Bent if only 5mil.

  After our last few games performance, they are a lot of good player out there would like to join us.

• 65 IrishMan // May 5, 2008 at 0:00

  roy morten, why is Riise so hated in Norway?

• 66 Jamie G // May 5, 2008 at 0:27

  I think riise would be a great signing. good defender and a wickedly good shot and also offer real strength down the left because of his versatility in terms of defence and midfield.

  why are pople saying things like..’we can get better than this’

  fact is, unless we rapidly improve we are a midtable side and i could name many clubs who have played better than us over the last 5 years who would be delighted to have bent and riise.
  lets not pay over the odds though…

  btw…..does any1 know if we are getting a new strip….because i imagine northern rock wont want to keep us…and we signed with carling last year didnt we?

• 67 neeraj // May 5, 2008 at 0:47

  would love to have another carr(no loss no gain), than have another luque or babayaro or bramble (big loss)

• 68 dcbashore // May 5, 2008 at 3:02

  This would be an OK signing. Not a wow factor but someone who would be serviceable.

• 69 Morten // May 5, 2008 at 8:34

  IrishMan - Riise is hated in Norway for three things:
  1- His self-created “I am a superstar”-image. Flew in his Ferrari to drive around in Oslo for a night, flashing off.
  2 - After his former wife left him, he send sassy text messages to ALL 25 hottest girls in Norway…trying to pick them up. We had lotta fun with that.
  3- Whole family being full of themselves. So everytime they approach media they f**k it up somehow.

  As a Nufc fan and a Riise hater, I still think Riise would be a good addtition to the aquad. He is a good modern wing-back, and he has lotta top-plevel experience from Monaco and Liverpool. Started his professioal career in Monaco at 16.

  He’s also cleaned up his media relation the latest year, with toning down his media exposure. As for a guy with no social antennas this is good for him.

• 70 Faustino // May 5, 2008 at 9:43

  Northern Rock we’re confimred last week until Summer 2008.

  Rise isn’t a bad singing he just isn’t a hugely exciting one.

  I’m going to ignore the Steven Ireland rumour, but my god what a vacuous tw*t he is. Don’t care if he’s Pele in a wig I would cry if he came here.

  An argument appears to be rising here - Given we DO sing Cuellar, it seems alot of you would start Taylor ahead of Faye. Why for gods sake?

• 71 Mark // May 5, 2008 at 9:45

  How do you lot know if nowt is going on behind the scenes with Owen and Taylors deals? things take time, theres middle men, it takes 6-8 weeks to sort contracts out ya muppets. We have allllll summer.

• 72 Bmore // May 5, 2008 at 9:52

  Remeer we need to build a squad up. Both FSA and KK agree that we have a small squad.

  Therefore if 4 or 5 leave we still need to bring in 6,7 or 8 together with some reserve players to have a pool of talent capable of competing on all fronts.

  If that means some versitile players with experiance then Riise is ok with me. Our other alternative is playing Carr?!?!?

  Shorey might be available next weekend…..

• 73 robertsa // May 5, 2008 at 10:03

  riise will be a good signing but mike ashley could afford someone like cordoba

• 74 michael // May 5, 2008 at 10:07

  How can you be negative about a left back who goes forward so much he often plays in midfield, has been good enough to play in two CL finals, and win one. And at the age of 27 is probably in his prime.

• 75 robertsa // May 5, 2008 at 10:09

  keegan is interested in signing fulham midfielder steven davis who has impressed on loan at rangers

  daily mail

• 76 robertsa // May 5, 2008 at 10:11

  i agree micheal riise probly would be our best defender if he came in now

• 77 NUFC_GT351 // May 5, 2008 at 10:20

  C A L M D O W N people its all bollox

• 78 Greek Toon // May 5, 2008 at 10:27

  I decent aquisition really. he has lost his way with Liverpool but things stink there at the moment. It could revitalise him.

• 79 Faustino // May 5, 2008 at 10:28

  er…Beye?

• 80 Greek Toon // May 5, 2008 at 10:29

  and another thing, Norwegians are big toon fans.

• 81 robertsa // May 5, 2008 at 10:47

  beye taylor cuellar riise

  i cant see a weak link there

• 82 Scott H11 // May 5, 2008 at 13:18

  Taylor’s the weak link imo. Otherwise fine. He will sign and get a five year deal for what he wants, I just hope I’m wrong.

• 83 chuck // May 5, 2008 at 14:32

  Though not exactly thrilled with Riise (think we could do better) @thirty grand aweek and still only twenty seven its a decent deal.
  Bent I like, young, size,can score, perfect partner for Either Martins or M.O., its when we are linked with the likes of M.Johnson & Davis I begin to feel sick.
  Especially when you read about the class of players being touted for other clubs,including S`land.

• 84 michael // May 5, 2008 at 15:10

  Either Darren Bent or Eidur Gudjonsen wreak of quality. Both would be better than Viduka who although better than other members of the squad (i.e. the midfield) is not as good as either of these two.

• 85 robertsa // May 5, 2008 at 18:04

  get riise now cos enrique just played shite

• 86 IrishMan // May 5, 2008 at 19:55

  Morten, Thanks for that - I see now!

Leave a Comment