The Newcastle United Blog

68 responses so far ↓

• 1 HonoraryGeordie // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:15

  I would cry!

• 2 Danish_Magpie // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:17

  We should NOT sell Martins! He is quality, passionate, quick, strong, scores goals and seems to love playing for us. What more could we want?? If we end up having 35-40m to spend after selling players, fine by me. That’s enough for the 6 or so quality signings we need.

• 3 Andrew // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:19

  so would i! lol

  selling Martins would give out the wrong signs and confirm were selling our better players i hope not though.

• 4 mark // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:21

  anotha pointless article… news now is just pants.. bring back “no news is good news” sites like nufc.com… nufcblog is one of those sites that just adds to the speculation…no decent news but gossip…

• 5 scottish mag // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:21

  we need to keep martins, he is pure quality.

  all we need to do is get some creative players to give oba and owen some chances to score,

  also the whole arshavin thing has gone quiet hasnt it hint hint hint

• 6 meiny_obano9 // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:22

  we cant sell martins. he is our best player nd he can only get better.

• 7 Egar // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:26

  It will end when the season begins, Ed. Judgement Day! All that silence (ain’t golden) from NUFC sure is deafening with the trash we’re hearing.

• 8 craig chisholm // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:27

  i think ashley would sell his kids for the right price.
  However, i dont think martins is being sold. sold for what exactly? so we can buy another striker to replace him with, now theres some serious Mirror logic for you! shit southern paper. not even good enough to wipe ya arse on. they said we were close to selling milner etc just last week, its obviously martins turn again this week.

• 9 Clive // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:31

  Sounds like anouther humungous pile of bovine feces yet again from the inbred element of the media.

• 10 Ross R // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:31

  The sunday mirror is full of shite. Dont belive a word of it, he’s not going anywhere.

• 11 Beastie // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:33

  oba is a leg end well he will be in a few years he is class, if we sell him we may aswell hope for a md table fi

• 12 ToonKing // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:35

  wish someone would come out and end all this stupid speculation.

• 13 Matt // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:36

  We won’t sell Martins, the mirror is toss.

  Even if Kevin does only have 20m it’s plenty enough to get a couple of good players just to bolster the ranks. We need to build slowly and not just go for the kill in one season because it won’t come off. Look at Liverpool, they went for a big hit with little or no pay off. We need a spare RW, a new CB, a new CM, a LB wouldn’t go amiss and we will be fine for about 7th place in the league I think.

  If we’re paying more than 20m for those 4 positions I’m worried.

• 14 WIGAZ // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:37

  I wish these soft sothern shandy drinkin twat journalists would just piss off & stop toon bashing! we took a chance on oba when no top teams were interested & it paid off! he’s a good player who will be great! & he’ll do it in a black & white top! he loves the club & we love him! i hope we have a great season & play some great football! up yours jounalist twats!

• 15 Nev // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:38

  best player at the club and arguably the most most popular with the fans.

  if we sell him to “raise funds” there will be an outcry of anger against MA … billionaire my arse

• 16 Dev // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:38

  Lee Ryder from the Chron started this with yesterdays headline ‘Keegan Dealt Transfer Funds Blow’….with the story being about Shola’s move to West Brom….

• 17 The Entertainers // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:38

  Couldnt agree more with Craig, the paper is drumming up the same old rubbish.

  Newcastle for a change (one for the better) are conducting their business within th walls of SJP and not in the press. There appears to be no ‘insider’ anymore, or at least at the moment and the southern press are struggling. Lets face it when the papers do have a story worth printing about Newcastle i bet their sales go up dramatically!…..no story, lets make one up!

  Oh and throw in the lack of funds Newcastle have as well. Why? to provoke someone within Newcastle to come out and appease the fans with ‘dont worry we have significant funds’ remarks like the Mackems!

  Thats right we have sold a number of players to an already small squad and we are going to blow all our cash on Modric! Pull the other one.

  There are strongly rumoured bids for Gomis and potential bids for others. All these players would cost a huge transfer fee. Dont believe it folkes Ashley will come through and Newcastle will be the better for it……

  Put it this way do you think Keegan would still be here if not?

• 18 Reformed_Mumbler // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:41

  Stop perpetuating the rubbish and the press don’t just have it in for Newcastle, they print rubbish about all clubs, and it is not disproportionally more or less than say Spurs or Liverpool. Yes it is annoying as hell, but time to drop the persecution complex.

• 19 beye the great // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:43

  martins is brill but one of his best aspects is that despite being one of our best players and could play for any of the top 4 he has said that his main goal is to become a legend not just a well thought off player or a gary speed type legend dont get me wrong i think the world off gary speed but he wants to be held in the same light as shearer , keegan, milburn, robson and y because he loves this football club

• 20 mark // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:47

  lol. this site removed my mail because i called its gossip type articles… controversy..

• 21 Terry Macs Crossword // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:48

  Off topic, but i think juan arango (real mallorca) could be our new nobby. many assists last season and not a bad scoring record for an AM. maybe we’ll see him in preseason when we play Mallorca? anyone care to p**s on my chips?

• 22 ToonKing // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:50

  except he’s half as good as those guys…..

• 23 robertsa // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:00

  id rather sell owen.either way we need a striker to go in place of viduka he is the weak link in our stike force i like the look of zigic and chamakh who we have been linked with

• 24 Egar // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:00

  Come on, ToonKing, he’s not that short.

  On a serious note, Oba’s one of our current best and it would be foolish to let him go.

• 25 Hadji // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:02

  I hope this is just a bad dream,I thought they learned the lesson from Andy Cole’s case but obviously they havent.Its ok,life is about learning.

• 26 Hadji // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:06

  Lazio got Zarate,so one less target to worry about……NEEEXT.

• 27 Geordie Nick // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:08

  what wud be the point in sellin oba for 15mil to raise transfer funds, when wed hav to then raplace oba, and we’d hav to spend the full 15mil to buy a striker good enough to replace him. seems pointless to me

• 28 Egar // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:10

  You’re right, GN. The little dynamite is one of a kind. Keep him!

• 29 mozza // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:14

  i was at an evening with malcolm mc donald the other night and it verified my suspicions that he’s about as far gone as he’s first shite, opinion number 1 oba is worse than useless, that’l be why that hopeless coach arsene wenger rates him so highly then

• 30 CRAIGG // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:15

  Has anyone noticed that the Owen stories have gone really quiet this summer, After he come out on telly and said he was signing a new contract.

  Taylors links to the ” BIG 4 ” have died down since he said the same and was negotiating a new contract.

  Milners liverpool link has died a death as has N’Zogbias urge to dress in pearly clothing and eat jellied eels has waned as well.

  So as no one believed them i doubt anyone will ever believe this crap story as the gutter press have recycled it every month for the last 2 years and Arsenal have never made any move.

  Anyway Im looking forward to seeing it again next week.

• 31 chuck // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:15

  A quality player, who seems to have a good rapor with the fans and vice versa.
  Yes he probably gets paid well and he would also bring in a decent price, but to be replaced by who ?
  players like Arshavin are allready on fifty grand a week with bonus`s added and no one is coming for peanuts, face it the ball is in the players court (and their agents)
  I am sure Ashley would like to have a situation like Everton (reputed to have a fifty grand wage cap in effect) but its not gonna happen.
  Take Ronaldo(please) if he can up and leave Man. U. and Abador can tell The arse to go pound salt or pay me, yeah even a successfull teams like Arsenal and Chelski can`t hang onto players unless they pay big bucks.
  Looks like Mr ashley is ether going to have to compromise or head for the Champions League, which could have quite easily have happened last (forget about) season.
  Your choice !

• 32 Mad_Magpie // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:16

  An interesting piece here on transfer targets. Guillem Balague is an as reliable source as you can get.

  http://www.guillembalague.com/rumores_desp.php?id=28

• 33 Hadji // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:17

  Yes GN you’re right and i agree with you.They wont replace him with adequate replacement,instead they’ll bring some cheap imitation for 3-4 mill.

• 34 Egar // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:20

  You’re pure sunshine, Hadji.

• 35 CRAIGG // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:24

  @ Spyro when you come on here.

  i was reading a thing you wrote the another day and i couldnt help but take offense at something you wrote about Lassana Diarra being so superior to Nicky Butt.

  Butt:-

  39 England caps
  Peles player of the tournament in World Cup 2002
  1 Champions League title
  6 Premier league titles
  3 FA Cups
  1 Intercontinental Cup
  1 Intertoto Cup

  Diarra:-

  10 France Caps
  1 FA Cup

  Yes Diarra is younger but he at his best he wouldnt have been fit to lace Butts boots when he was at his peak, If Diarra has a 10th as good a career as Nicky Butt has then he will have done really well.

  Also Diarras attitude stinks, You seem to have forgotten when Big Sam tried to sign him and he demanded £90k a week or he would stay sat on Arsenals bench and when he says every month or so how he will leave pompey when a better club comes along, great attitude to have.

  Compared to Butt who despite doing everything and more comes back two months early to compete in the intertoto cup (twice), Can you imagine any other players who have achieved what he has at Man Utd and with England doing that ?

  Most would refuse to play in a 2nd rate piss pot cup like that but Butt never moans and gets on with his job which he does bloody well and is constantly let down by his team mates.

  Yet still having the will to win that he shows every week and amazing attitude that Nicky Butt has shown to win our fans over twice.

  Despite unwarrented abuse on this website has been our most consistant player for the last two seasons.

  He is a better player and man than Diarra can ever wish to be.

• 36 GDP // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:25

  I always thought McNally was a toon supporter but he continues to write speculative nonsense about the club. He is becoming as bad as Comical Olly in his attempts to wind up the Geordie Faithful - especially drawing in comparisons with the mackems. Mind you the club is not helping itself with the current vow of silence…. talk to us please!!! This is the longest King Kev has kept quiet too!

• 37 mozza // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:31

  mc donalds opinion number 2 and this was worth paying the enterence fee for, mike ashley is ploting world domination with spurs as that is the club he supports and he has only bought newcastle as a feeder club to sell spurs the youth we are going to develop ha ha i know theirs a silence at st james’s at the moment but this kind of speculation is beyond a joke

• 38 euanpolo // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:34

  We should be selling Smith etc. NOT MARTINS!

• 39 Gareth // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:38

  My. Arse.

• 40 Gareth // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:42

  Spot on CraigG - and in addition, the way Butt turned it round and got (most of) the fans back after that dodgy first season and being sent out on loan is remarkable. I think some people just still think of the FA Cup semi-final and convieniently ignore everything since.

• 41 51times // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:49

  mozza - That’s not so far out there.

• 42 HATE PRAWN SANDWICHES // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:50

  Players the club should be selling on instead of our quality are the crap and almost finished such as
  Smith, Duff, Geremi, Viduka, Cacapa, Ameobi

  Come on wake up and smell the coffee!!!!!

• 43 scottish mag // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:51

  so basically balague is saying we have been offered barnetta, frei, behrami, zhirkov, zyrianov and had put enquiries in for arshavin and pavlyuchenko b4 the euros and also aimar

  well i would be well happy with any of them,
  just with those players our team coud be

  gk. given(harper)
  rwb. beye (behrami)
  lwb. zhirkov (enrique) lol zhirkov lb
  cb. faye( taylor)
  cb. new cb (cacapa)

  rm. arshavin(milner)
  lm. barnetta(n’zogbia)
  cm. aimar(geremi)
  cm. zyrianov( butt)

  st. owen(pavlyuchenko)
  st. martins(pavlyuchenko)

  i think that is a quality team, going just by wot balague says, wot do u guys think

• 44 xfer // Jun 29, 2008 at 11:59

  20 mil? You got to be kidding me.

• 45 mozza // Jun 29, 2008 at 12:00

  @51 times he did say something of interest keegan and terry mc were watching a player in spain 2 rows behind them dennis wise and jimenez were there to watch the same player and report their verdict on him, keegan didn’t have a clue, if there is truth in that then something stinks at st james’s, lets hope it’s crap eh

• 46 Hadji // Jun 29, 2008 at 12:02

  Egar….Thanks,i come from a sunny country of Macedonia.Atm its 36 degrees outside.

• 47 Soren // Jun 29, 2008 at 12:18

  When will people stop envy us from having Martins?!?!? No we wont sell and no you cant have him.

• 48 Ian // Jun 29, 2008 at 13:04

  it worries me that Newcastle seem to take his loyalty for granted, they should mention him more often.

  The club has never been the way it should all of the time Martins has been here, yet he has always kept his enthusiasm.

  None of us know what he is capable of, he was messed around something terrible by Allerdyce, away at the ANC, injured slightly, then moved in to another position which he plays well for keegan, yet still managed to score a very respectable amount of goals.

  If he gets a clear run through next season then we will have a good idea of how good he is, I really dont know he could be 14-18 premiership goals, more if he was in his favoured position which is down the middle.

  Really Martins and Bye are probably our two best players excluding keepers, both reliable and both quality so we should expect clubs to sniff around him more, if he didnt like the place so much I think there would be a lot more interest in him.

  The club needs to make sure he knows how much we all think of him as a player.

• 49 Geordie Nick // Jun 29, 2008 at 13:28

  ian- i dont think ashley etc really think a lot of martins tho, the fans love him, and keegan likes him, but dnt think the board really think much of any one of our players and wud be willing to sell ANY of our players for a decent price. thers goin 2 b a LOT of stick and pressure coming ashleys way soon if ther isnt andy signings or at least something from the club, as at the minute it seems like nothing is happening at all, keegan coming bak to work was supposed to be the start of the transfers but its gone even more quet since he came back and im not so sure thats a good thing

• 50 WIGAZ // Jun 29, 2008 at 13:35

  Change of subject, anyone else think we should put a bid in for Guiza! he’s looked good for spain when he’s come on & i think he would play well with oba & owen! seen in the people that the mackems are supposed to be after him for £10m doubt he would go there but think he would come to us like!

• 51 Kaler // Jun 29, 2008 at 14:00

  Guiza to the mackems?? Not a chance in hell. We have more chance of signing him, but its still a very thin chance.

• 52 WIGAZ // Jun 29, 2008 at 14:14

  Thats what i thought to Kaler! we should put a bid in tho! see on news now it says Aimar is waiting for a call from either everton or us coz he wants move to PL! also says Barca haven’t bid for AA yet & us & everton are still in the thick of it! not sure whether it’s BS or not! would love to Sign Guiza/Arshavin/SWP & Bridge within the next few weeks! not very likley tho! think Aimar could be a very realistic possabilty!

• 53 iain // Jun 29, 2008 at 14:18

  LOL@the press, so martins doesnt have a 13m buyout clause anymore as they all stated he did, or maybe as we all know its complete bull.

• 54 Spyro // Jun 29, 2008 at 14:25

  Diarra is a much better player than Butt, not sure about better man, but Diarra is far better technically and an awesome player defensively.

• 55 ScottyT // Jun 29, 2008 at 14:29

  gd to see some people dont just take current performances into light when analysing a player. for example milner, butt, taylor all got slated at some point on this site this season and were said to be sh1te and should be sold etc..

  but when looking at a player take into account what they can do and have done over their toon careers. milner butt and taylor had been our most consistent players the past season nd eventully some people realised butt wasnt so bad after all. viduka is another 1 who gets slated on here cos hes lazy.. yes he is but hes also got quality imo and scores important goals. hes getting on like butt however but both arent as bad as most ppl on here give thm credit for.

• 56 iain // Jun 29, 2008 at 14:34

  sums up the situation with the press nicely imo…

  (lifted from nufc.com)

  Part of former Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder’s recent press conference at Norwich, after realising that the “club insider” has followed him from SJP to Carrow Road:

  “One of the silly things is, I guess most of you here want us to do well next year so why advertise who we are interested in so everyone else can see? Because you can miss out on players like that. There are not that many good players around.

  “I have seen a lot more of the papers than I would normally do during the close season and plenty of you have hit the crossbar and the post with the stabs you have had.

  “Some of those that have hit the bar and post will go in the net and others will come back into play, but you are giving away a lot of clues to other clubs, because you haven’t got the information from me, you have trawled the websites and you have your little moles here and your little ants there and the thing that never ceases to amaze me is how human beings who have a secret can’t wait to tell someone.

  “It is a real failing in human nature and the reason they do it is because they like to think they are big, they are important. ‘I know something you don’t. I’ll tell you because you’re jealous I know and you don’t’. It’s like kids innit? And indirectly it wounds you or can wound you.”

• 57 Hadrian // Jun 29, 2008 at 15:04

  these stories are great arent they , kev having to sell oba for poxy 10-15 millions .
  kev also being pushed towards 10-15 million pound signings of the likes of gomis .

  anyone who has seen them both play will tell you they are worlds apart and you would rather oba in your team any day .

  written by
  “Brian Mcnally”

  sure ive heard that reporters name before , dont think this is the first time he’s stirred shiite at newcastle .

• 58 Bob // Jun 29, 2008 at 15:23

  Great words by Roeder.

• 59 bigpeaovtheweab // Jun 29, 2008 at 15:25

  this site is quickly turning into pure doom and gloom why dont u put some happy storys up instead of all the negitive things going on last year i enjoyed comeing on this site now am not so sure!

• 60 ObaFan2 // Jun 29, 2008 at 16:14

  More BS from the Sunday “bog” papers.

  Geordie Nick , post 27 says it for me too.

  If this is true (lol as if?) then we are not going to do anything next season of any note, ie £20 million transfer fee and having to sell our best player(s).

  So very little has been spent on our first team so far under MA but plenty is spent behind the sceene on staff.

• 61 gallowgatecorner // Jun 29, 2008 at 16:31

  Hadrian- You will have heard of Brian McNally if you have been supporting the Toon for a fair period of time.

  McNally is the Sunday Mirror’s northern football correspondent, but is based in Newcastle.

  He has been variously accused of being a Magpie and a Mackem, but I am told he is actually a big Celtic fan.

  McNally used to be chief sports writer with both the Sunday Sun and The Journal where he won a lot of awards for his outspoken columns.

  When Keegan quit in 1997, McNally had the exclusive story of his departure and in recent weeks has broke the new contract for Steven Taylor and the Shepherd wants to buy Real Mallorca story.

  I hope he is wrong on Martins, but usually he is on the money or near abouts as he has been around Newcastle a long time.

  Strangely enough I had heard the figure of £20million bandied about at a sportsman dinner I was at recently with the crack being that KK could raise more by selling some of the big wage earners.

  Martins probably makes some sort of sense as I can’t see clubs falling over themselves to but Damien Duff or Alan Smith.

• 62 MAG PIE // Jun 29, 2008 at 18:34

  I wouldn’t want to see Martins sold but I don’t think that Keegan sees him as an ideal partner for Owen. I’m guessing we will revert to 442 next season and, if so, Martins could find himself surplus to requirements. Unless Owen does a bunk over wages first?

• 63 Michael Parker // Jun 29, 2008 at 20:53

  We would easily blow more than £15 million on a string of duff Smiths to replace Oba. Selling good players never makes economic sense, money’s wasted buying replacements and revenue is lost in piss-poor team performances.

• 64 daiv // Jun 29, 2008 at 21:49

  Ed,
  Its all very well criticizing the press for make believe stories. All it takes is a simple statement from KK saying we shall not sell. The silence from Newcastle is deafening which means that these stories will continue. Is there some truth in it?
  What is a fact that NUFC is selling players like they are going out of fashion and we are buying nobody. We seem like a club hell bent on relegation. Being linked with players like Konchenskt and Malbranque is so disappointing. Where is the ambition in this club. It reminds of the era 10 years ago when we sold quality like Sir Les and brought in cheap old has beens. That was the start of the club’s decline and it is getting worse. So much for MA being a saviour. Massive disappointment from him. Hide your shirt and clear off into the director’s box.

• 65 Ian // Jun 30, 2008 at 8:46

  Agree with daiv and many others above, why not simply come out and say he is not for sale, it makes the player feel better, us and anyone who might join the club, new players always mention Martins, the press seem to steer them to saying something about Owen but they mention Martins themselves.

  Like others have said, it is all very well getting £15m for him but there is a good reason why other clubs will pay that much money for a player like Martins, young and cheaper ia a gamble, i also do not see Arsenal so eager to let go of their striker and buy a youngster to replace him, yet Arsenal is the example that is constantly given regarding cheaper players and their striker wants to leave, because of the low wages??

  Surely if Arsenal are thinking about buying him then we arent basing the way we run our team around their model, otherwise they would be looking for Gomis types and not our martins?

  We need to get closer to the top of the heap, then starting dictating our terms when we have a lot of leverage to negotiate with.

  until then we are in with the rabble trying to get the best we can however we can.

• 66 bailey // Jun 30, 2008 at 10:05

  Hope it is not true but think NUFC should put out denials or confirmation when these type of rumours start.
  David Moyes was quick to deny Andy Johnson was not for sale so why cant KK do the same about Oba.
  Must admit that for some reason I feel really uneasy about NUFC at present.

• 67 cespa // Jun 30, 2008 at 18:26

  First apologize to be gloomy I do have a feeling that Martins will be sold for nothing else but to recoup some of Ashley’s “investment” in Newcastle. I think what he is trying to do now, is to keep Newcastle in the premiership and then sell the club on to another investor for a profit. To be honest I don’t have a good feeling about this guy.

• 68 Ian // Jun 30, 2008 at 20:04

  cespa, apparantly they have been spotted in Dubai where people usually go to raise finance or sell part or all of their businesses.

Leave a Comment