News today, in the Sunday Mirror, that Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan is trying to persuade club owner and billionaire Mike Ashley, to bring the Manchester City captain, Richard Dunne, to the club.
Richard Dunne – Man City captain available
If that is true it will be bad news for the club, because Kevin’s responsibilities are on the playing side, and if he is to get Newcastle up to 5th place next season, the club has to back him with the players he wants to bring in.
You cannot have it both ways, you cannot dictate who Kevin should buy, and then make him responsible for where we finish in the league next season.
However, we’re not at all sure Ashley wants to dictate to Kevin which players he should bring to the club, or even what age they should be, young or old.
That would be lunacy.
Keegan has already presented a list of targets to Executive Director Dennis Wise last week, with Dunne, 28, apparently at the top of the list.
But Ashley wants to sign younger players with future resale value. We think that’s true, but that doesn’t mean he will not also want to buy established stars, who can deliver results immediately for the team.
Dunne is valued at around £6M, but we think his availability may actually be short-lived.
There is news today that Manchester City’s Thailand owner Thaksin Shinawatra may give a reprieve to his manager Sven Eriksson, and if that happens you can bet Sven will try to keep Richard at Eastlands.
We think Sven would be better off leaving Man City and go to a club where the upper echelons are ready to let him manage the club his way, and not interfere with everything going on, as Shinawatra seems to be doing.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
47 comments so far
Nick Dryden
May 18, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Comment #1Dunne is not good enough for what we need
Zero Cool
May 18, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Comment #2but WAY better than what we have.
Tom4NUFC
May 18, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Comment #3Ok then Nick, If Dunne isnt good enough who is….
I mean after all he is only a proven premiership player, who is sturdy and solid, I think people have to realise, we are going to have to go for these types of players so we can get to Europe, then when in Europe we can push and start spending the millions on BIG players.
scottish mag
May 18, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Comment #4that is pandev really unhappy at lazio
and lazio could cash io on him before he buys out his contract
how about £7m plus rozenhal
http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=700517
Mehzeb
May 18, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Comment #5This is ridiculous.
Look at the players other teams are linked with:
Arsenal: Jean Makoun, Mohm Dabou, Samir Nasri
Tottenham: Samuel Eto’o, Richard Dunne, Dean Ashton, Adriano Correira
Everton: Joaquin
And now…
Newcastle: Arda Turan, and the news that Riise will ditch us for Schalke
Brilliant.
Bradley
May 18, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Comment #6Mehzeb, you obviously haven’t got eyes or ears.
Here’s a list of players we’ve been linked with
Elano
Cuellar
Dunne
Gudjohnsen
Crouch
Gomis
Ashton
Joaquin
Deco
Arshavin
Veloso
I could honestly go on and on and on…
nodrog
May 18, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Comment #7Arda Turan should be top of Kev’s list. Check him out on You tube along with Bafetimbi Gomis who would make a good replacement for Viduka.
Leo
May 18, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Comment #8not bothered to be truthful i would rather we got someone younger who is going to be hear for longer
hear come all the irish people saying- oh but he is better than we already have and he got 4 players of the season at city and player of the year at ireland(quite frankly that doesnt make me care any more of less because when voting people dont always vote on merit but on preference such as people voting for given because of PAST performances….)
rant over
craig chisholm
May 18, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Comment #9if keegan can not persuade the board to go after the targets he wants then it really means in effect that keegan is not in charge of anything right down to the team on the pitch. are we to believe that ashley is going to buy who denis wise says and not who keegan says and then just dump that player into keegans squad and say, here you go, these are who we have picked (cos they were all dead cheap), now you go on and get us sixth spot next season. is this really what is happening at newcastle now?? i do not understand the way we are conducting our buisiness but i am inclinded to put some money down on kk walking out in the close season due to total lack of backing from ashley and mortisha. i aint renewing my season ticket until i have a better picutre of what our structure is and exactly IF our owener is backing king kev at all. just seems kinda strange to bring back such an influential figure as keegan, then treat him like shit, not let him buy a single player and then be arsed off when keegan says we have no chance of breaking top four. i think that there are too many meadling twats in our structure now and it is starting to stink. we very rarley missed out on a target before, and it was hardly ever down to us offering the best money etc – with the exception of owen and shearer. we made our targets and had a good sucess rate. now it seems that we are not capable of signing anyone. even fat sam said the majourity of what he signed was not his first choice and not ideal. what is going on behind the scenes?? If i was a footy player i would want to meet keegan, the other players, get shown around by him at st james and at the training ground. its a personal touch and it seems missing these days. i think that the mort is trying to be a bit too buisiness like and its just not working. keegan has admitted that he has no idea what goes on and all he has done ever is given them a list…. a list that they seem to have chuked in the bin as it does not match up with wises. christ, i hope they arnt planning on putting wise into the hot seat. there will be hell on.
Taiwantoon
May 18, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Comment #10Tired of the speculations really. Just hope the board and the owner is sensible enough to let KK to do his job as it should be.
Buying talented young players is a good thing to do, but a club as big as NUFC can not afford to give up next season before it has started.
Exiled Geordie
May 18, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Comment #11Dunne has done well this season and i think we have to accept although you cant call him world class he is the type of player we will have to go for given our league postion and the fact we wont have european football next season.Its a building process and will take time if we can bring in a few players next season and sneak into europe then we can look a the next level of players.
CRAIGG
May 18, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Comment #12Spurs are according to the papers signing E’too, Adriano, Arshavin, Bridge, Dunne and Ashton for a combined £68m to go with the £16m modric and previously bought in January £7m Woodgate, £9m Hutton and £3m Gilberto.
And best of all their trying (apparently) to sign Owen.
They have a manager that looks and probably smells like a toad and his success buying can only go the David O’Leary Leeds Utd Way and we all know which way that is.
Ramos sacked from 8 out of 11 clubs, soon to be 9 out of 12 as they are destined for failiure.
Theres only one Kevin Keegan…
Toon1978
May 18, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Comment #13Is Spurs and M.Ashley taking the p.ss out of us geordies…..i can see KK walking if he cant go for the players he sees fit. This is getting worse and worse. 5TH hahahah dont be silly the way CASHLEY is going we will be lucky to stop in the PL. A nd by the way i dont appreciate the fact he is trying to bring in quality youngsters only to sell them on in the future. That to me is an insult to the die hard fans of NUFC this bloke Ashley is really starting to grate on me why wont he release the funds for KK to get us into a decent position. Up to now Ashley is nowt but a fat ugly greedy self ildungent w…er. Looks to me he is only interested in profiting from us and has no interest in getting us into europe. Seems he doesnt even want to let 6 million go for DUNNE beggers belief.
Bill F
May 18, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Comment #14Either he is the manager or a hyped up coach and should be told where he stands even if we end up getting rubbish players like Dunne. Or was that was that meeting all about. In which case he should either bite the bullet and stay or tell Ashley and co. to stick the job.
spen27
May 18, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Comment #15any player that clubs get linked with it becomes a matter of time before spurs do also.they surely cant keep buyin players theyv got a bigger squad then liverpool. i just hope they become the new leeds.
players we need
turan
campbel
diarra
diego
giles baines
gomis
shorey
players to sell
smith
amiobi
duff (sorry to say you just no zog will be world class if we were to sell him)
butt- did well last season but we need the extra bit that barton and emre have
ToonKing
May 18, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Comment #16lol i’m not even reading these articles anymore Ed, they are all bollox.
Not one transfer news that has any kind of truth to it has yet popped up. it’s all speculation. pffff i;m tired of it all ready. I’ll comment when i see quotes from the club or news from some reliable source and that excludes Sky, Mail etc and crappy sites like , goal.com, tribalfootball, caughtoffside.com and so on.
CRAIGG
May 18, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Comment #17Dunne is far from Rubbish i rate him higher than any of our CBs
ELFER
May 18, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Comment #18DUNNE should absolutely be number 1 signing! We need somone like him! Maybe he can buy out his contract (1mio) – we can offer him handmoney to do so?
After that go for cheap Nicky Shorey at LB.
ToonKing
May 18, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Comment #19Dunne is decent, imo Faye is better then him…………..but Taylor is not…. get him in.
spen27
May 18, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Comment #20evry 1 here who thinks dunne is half decent has a very short memorey a few season ago he was the prems titarse bramble a did a better job missing tackles and keeping players onside i’d rather bring back roz and save some cash for the midfield flair we’v lost.taylor and faye are better thn dunne full stop
CRAIGG
May 18, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Comment #21No their not, He has been one of the best in the league for ages and would be the best signing we could make.
Bill F
May 18, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Comment #22Seems to me that Dunne is a marmite player you either love him or hate him, Iv’e made it obvious where I stand although I do love marmite.
paulthepom
May 18, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Comment #23micah richards made dunne look good.look at man city results after richards was injured.woeful.dunne lasted 15 mins of the last game.sent off.he has no pace and richards does.who would compliment him in our centre halves?imo he is another taylor and faye.
spen27
May 18, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Comment #24haha 1 of the best in the league u surely dont mean that
he’s worst then all the top 4 CB
worst then melberg,lescott,king,taylor,faye,distan,cambel etc
the bottom line is if we buy dunne we buy no better then we have i really cant beleev people would be happy with more average rated players HE IS NO BETTER THEN WOT WE HAVE
CRAIGG
May 18, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Comment #25Thats right Bill F, Its the same with Shorey the other day a lot said Yes and a lot said No
I just think that with a quality CB and LB in to stiffen the defence we could take more points away from home.
I believe we will always score with Owen, Martins, Viduka, N’Zogbia, Milner, Barton, Emre, Duff and Smith (Joke) but despite improvements i cannot see us keeping enough clean sheets away from home.
So for me Dunne and Shorey would be great signings, But everyone is entitled to their opinion.
CRAIGG
May 18, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Comment #26That is the opinion of a number of managers, Players and fans including me.
Nick Dryden
May 18, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Comment #27As Spen 27 says people seem to forget how ropey Dunne was. He was / is still very Bamblesque and if he has improved so much, why does Torres, Ronaldo etc run past him like he’s not there. Edgar has done a better job on Ronaldo than Dunne. I would rather promote Edgar than spend 6M on a journeyman like Dunne on inflated wages. If we have to buy someone, then it should be someone who is a bit classy and on the way up, like Amorebieta, Kompany, Barzargli etc. Surely our new scouting system could find us a nugget.
Ian
May 18, 2008 at 11:58 AM
Comment #28It is just speculation, everyone is guessing.
Youngsters are a very big gamble, it looks like we are keeping Carroll, well that is one big gamble in my book, we should put Lua Lua in the first team, but that is also a gamble, Edgar in and that is also alow risk gamble, to buy more youngsters for the first would be a step too far, we need a very solid goalscoring midfielder, an old established striker who will bring goals and has some pace and height for the Viduka type position if we are playing three strikers and a big strong established centre back minimum.
Many youngsters can be flash in the plan performers and unpredictable.
I dont see where the youngster idea fits in, unless they are brought through the reserves with the likes of Fabio, Baheng and co.
CRAIGG
May 18, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Comment #29Yes i suppose, We just gave away a measly 17 goals against Man Utd and Liverpool this season and i think youll find that man Utd lost home and away to city and liverpool drew and won them only due to city having a rearranged back 4 with Ball at CB and Sun Jihai at LB .
On Edgar yes he played Ronaldo well at LB but at CB against Reading and West Ham he was very dodgy.
Dunne has been Citys player of the year 4 years running now, Why if Richards made him look so good didnt he win it ?
This all in a team including Richards, Petrov, Elano, Johnson, Ireland, Hart and Hamman
Clive Rutter
May 18, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Comment #30Like The Daily Mail the Mirror is nothing more than a sh*t-stirring rag. I cannot remember a season when the press has laid into a club so much. The new regime, unlike fat fred, keep their cards close to their chests, I suspect the reporter who wrote this article knows no more about the goings on at SJP than I do. I would ask all Newcastle supporters to stop buying the national papers, get your info online for free. And don’t take their bait and leave comments on their websites eg Martin Samuels in the Times writing in his blog that “Newcastle is not a special club”, which is the journalistic equivalent of Adrian Durham on talksh*t radio winding up morons to generate plenty of calls to a premium rate phone line. Basically the all lie and print any old rubbish.
spen27
May 18, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Comment #31on paper our squad is well up ther 5th 6 th best easy but we miss the edge and fillin the viods with more average players we can hope for no better then 7th 8th in the prem and that would be at a push.pleeeease buy some quality we need it the foundations are ther for us to return to a big 4 team.just need that lil bit more like we have in the last few seasons
Tom Cairns
May 18, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Comment #32i cant believe how seriously ssome are taking this article! lol it is all guess work and suddenly we’re back to the stupid conclusion that ashley is only in it for the quick profit.why cant most of the poeple on here stops sensationalizing. there’s proof that ashley has pumped lots of money into the club over the yr he’s had it and it is only the beginning of the summer so hold your horses over how much we’re going to invest. KK has handed ashley a list, this we know, beyond that we’ve no reason to think otherwise than ashley will be pursuing these names.
i for one think that dunne would be a very good buy and him and faye at the back would be very strong partnership for yrs to come. a good creative midfielder/defensive mid, a left back, a cf and some young talent and we’ll be a much stronger team.
with teh players we already have we should be up in the top 8, with some strong, sure additions we can consolidate that and hopefully challenge for 5th.
(please stop believing these stupid stories)
Sav
May 18, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Comment #33Hang on.
Half say Ashley’s tight for not signing Dunne.
The other half say Dunne’s crap anyway.
Make yer bloody minds up – its worse than shoppin’ wi’ the missus.
If 80% of turnover really goes on player wages, then we’re going to have to take a dose of reality at NUFC. If our new hard-up regime means its Spurs supporters’ turn to be led by the nose when any agent has a player to flog, good luck to them – we’ve had that long enough and its a mugs’ game.
In my opinion, Dunne is a very good CB and a decent lad. But if its a choice between him and Johnny Evans who is just 21, almost as good, plays fullback as well and would cost the same money but less wages, I’d have more trouble choosing. Are we willing to wait a year or two until these youngsters improve and mature? On the balance of this thread, it doesn’t seem likely.
Eric
May 18, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Comment #34I hate to admit but the likes of Dunne and Shorey are going to be the likes of players we will get. We have a bad press – deliberately created by the arse-wipers of the national London based media. Riise apparently wants to go to Germany. That is it – he is a glory hunter. We will not get Sol Campbell now even though his days at Pompey are nearly over. They all want to play for “big” teams like Villa, Spurs, Wigan, Portsmouth and Blackburn! Let’s hope Turan signs for us. When the smoggies and mackems are touted by London reporters as better options than us we know it is a deliberate piece of shite stirring. Only way to sort them out – get 4th or 5th next season and bring the FA cup back to St James.
Mehzeb
May 18, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Comment #35Bradley, I meant today. :~S
spen27
May 18, 2008 at 1:04 PM
Comment #36i really dont think ashley will be tight and its not wishful thinking.after the season we just had and surrounding teams intending to spend ashley will be realistic and do so and as i said before we are closer then most teams( on paper) then returning to big 4 status.just a few additions and kick out the dead wood. turan would kickstart the rivival. long live the king……….
Exiled Geordie
May 18, 2008 at 1:07 PM
Comment #37Spen as much as i hate to say it top quality players arent going to come to us mate as we dont have alot to offer them at the moment.I would lovre to see cuellar from Rangers come personally but again we have the problem of not been in euorpe.To much rubbish is written about who we are meant to be chasing but nobody really knows accept those in charge.But one thing i know is we arent going to compete for the really top players at the moment but hopefully we can improve in the sqaud,get rid of the likes of smith and roz and fight for a top 6 then look again.
Bradley
May 18, 2008 at 1:11 PM
Comment #38Oh today… i take that back then.
I think we just need to sit tight and wait though.
Gareth
May 18, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Comment #39Hey, let’s give the Newcastle top brass the benefit of the doubt for the moment – the London based media is constantly trying to get the fans to turn on those in charge at the club, and reading some responses on here they seem to be succeeding – don’t let them win! We don’t really know what’s going on, the summer has barely begun and the transfer window hasn’t even re-opened yet! Let’s just see what actually happens and support the club at all levels for the moment.
macca
May 18, 2008 at 7:25 PM
Comment #40Dunne is very underrated. Whenever he plays, be it club or country he leads from the back, by example, he is absolutely fabulous, would be a fantastic buy, he’s 100 times better then anything we have now, you wont notice how good he is until he’s actually is in there in the thick of things, he’s always probably about the only defender that Given would trust fully, they play fabulous together whenever both has missed a game, like the Cyprus one, they get torn to shreds. Fantastic leader, fantastic player. Would be a sin to let him go by just because he’s not that young or as highly rated by the media. Facts speak for themselves and there’s a reason he’s won player of the year for Man City a couple of years running now and he’s the current Irish player of the year as well. He’d improve our defence significantly and like I said, 100 times better then anything we have.