The Newcastle United Blog

44 responses so far ↓

• 1 Andrew // Oct 7, 2008 at 21:48

  1st

• 2 Dan13 // Oct 7, 2008 at 22:04

  Nile seems promising.
  I’ll probably go to the next one at blue flames, canny good there.

• 3 Ganiyu // Oct 7, 2008 at 22:10

  viduka retiring?

• 4 Tom_Toon // Oct 7, 2008 at 22:10

  Ranger:

  4 in 4 for the ressies
  3 in 3 for the u-18’s

  sounds good, apparently the goal today was immense.

• 5 Ganiyu // Oct 7, 2008 at 22:11

  Hopes he makes it to the national team

• 6 Ganiyu // Oct 7, 2008 at 22:39

  Ed speed is equal to edharrison is equal to Ganiyu once. I just noticed that.

• 7 irish_al // Oct 7, 2008 at 22:53

  Tom_Toon

  i believe it is 2 goals in 4 reserve appearances

  and 4 goals in 3 under eighteen appearances

  but hey, who’s counting

• 8 Isaac Hunt // Oct 7, 2008 at 23:09

  Ganinyem: You are no relation so stop trying to be and Enigmatic Hunt!

• 9 John(indian toon) // Oct 8, 2008 at 0:55

  Guy read dis-http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Fleagues%2Fpremierleague%2Fnewcastle%2F3153057%2FKevin-Keegan-rejects-Newcastle-United-return-under-Nigerian-consortium-Football.html&hl=en&client=ms-sonyericsson&source=m&channel=bm

• 10 John(indian toon) // Oct 8, 2008 at 0:57

  http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Fleagues%2Fpremierleague%2Fnewcastle%2F3153057%2FKevin-Keegan-rejects-Newcastle-United-return-under-Nigerian-consortium-Football.html&hl=en&client=ms-sonyericsson&source=m&channel=bm

• 11 Ganiyu // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:28

  Old news indian toon.i hope bill gates buys the club

• 12 Ganiyu // Oct 8, 2008 at 2:50

  Best of luck ranger hope you become what we dream of.wonder kid

• 13 Ian // Oct 8, 2008 at 8:17

  What has happened to Fabio?? Is he injured or has he gone?

  They should get Niles Ranger in the first as soon as possible to keep his feet on the ground and see what happens, he might be the best outside of Martins and owen.

• 14 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 8:24

  Zamblera has had a few knocks, still played some games but not scored many goals

  In regards to Nile Ranger playing in the first team, i’m happy to leave the decision to the manager, he’s in a better positiob to jugde, it is a big step up, we might see him on from the bench at some point soon, same with the likes of kazenga lua lua

• 15 Born Again Geordie // Oct 8, 2008 at 8:54

  Here is a question for you.

  Why should these young lads always be viewed as ” one for the future”?

  When teams like Arsenal and Everton etc put the likes of Walcott, Rooney in the first team they are hailed as the next footballing genius and get picked for England etc, etc …. you know the story.

  Will JK have the balls to go with one of our young guns and let them shine ???

  Would like to know what anyone else thinks

• 16 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:02

  I have the players you mentioned, Rooney and Walcott not only showed potential, but their actual current level over ability was great enought to merit a place, Walcotts ability merited him a place in the Southampton team

  Rooney was worthy of his place in the everton team, in my opinion Rooney was alrady playing near his full potential at a young age as he developed physically earlier than most

  Rooney or Walcott at 17-18 had greater ability than any of our young players

  Glad to see you’ve joined a footballing conversation too Born Again Geordie

• 17 Tom // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:05

  I think with playes like Ranger and Lua-Lua, its best if you introduce them slowly into the first team picture, bench them and let them have a few sub run outs. Maybe play them in FA cup games, or when someone gets injured, but not throw them in at the deep end and expect them to swim.

  Hopefully, in a few years time, we’ll see people like Ranger, like Lua-Lua, like Kadar et al, all playing in the first team, and playing well!

  It will be nice when the future of the club becomes the present.

• 18 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:12

  Aaron Ramsey joined Arsenal for c £5 million

  he has ability and greater potential but is not getting much first team action as there are players currently showing greater ability

  Other teams have players with potential that aren’t getting played either, Jack Hobbs at Liverpool, Scott Sinclair at Chelsea, not because they are not good players but because on merit/ability their are other players at the club worthy of those places

• 19 Ganiyu // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:27

  If joe can give shola a chance i strongly believe he can give the youngsters a shot.

• 20 Ian // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:33

  I think that some managers have made the wrong decision with some of our reserves, Roeder had it right, the likes of Pattison was played and all of the promise disappeared, O’brien, Edgar and Taylor looked and are good, Lua Lua was played early and I really rate him but he hasnt been given the chance lately.
  Others such as Carroll in my opinion have been wasted, as Carroll built the momentum in the reserves he should have played in the first to keep his feet on the floor, he levelled off in his talent at top reserve and doesnt appear to be progressing at all now.
  I used to compete in a sport and was always in the top three at club level, however as soon as I moved on in to the nationals I didnt even rank, so I dumped the club and trained in national competitions and private grounds so that I raised my level as I was always alongside regional, national and international champions. My belief is that everyone should get a taste of top competition level so they understand why they are training to such a high level, otherwise if they are the best in their little pond, why better yourself?
  It is hard to train every day, raise your level if you do not know what the level you have to reach is.

• 21 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:36

  i think i missed a better example, Danny Guthrie

  Not good enough to get passed Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano on current ability, Liverpool would of happily kept him due to potential

  I think it is hard to way up ability when watching the first team or even the reserve matches, you still don’t see the full picture like the coaches, they see how these players do day in day out in training, we can see first team football, reserve football, but hard to compare difference in levels between the two, during training senior players play with younger players so in such games it is easier to judge how these youngsters would perform

  A young player might look a star in the youth team, but be outclassed by the senior players, if this is the case you’re not likely to see them thrust into the first team

  I have a hope a good few of our young players break through either at Newcastle or other clubs, but i don’t think any of them show as much ability or potential as Rooney or Walcott, i think we are hyping them up a bit, a fair number of form newcastle youngsters litter league one and two, ie james copinger and lewis guy at doncaster, few newcastle youngsters that have not played much at first team level have been sold for great profit

  There are players in the premier league that didn’t really break though into the first team but went on to play successfully elsewhere, steve sidwell was at arsenal, jonathan greening was at man utd, but can’t think of any from newcastle

• 22 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 9:50

  Ian,

  Good point about certain players being blooded under Roeder, sort of like a make or break point
  both pattisoon and lua lua looked good at lower level, when they played in the first team lua lua looked ok where as pattison floundered, he’s not a bad player, afterall Roeder took him to norwich, bit he didn’t make the grade with ourselves

  In regards to your point about giving them a try at first team level or they won’t know what to aspire to, i do disagree with this point as younger players do at times train with the seniors, if we were to play a lot of young players we would effect the performance of the first team, which afterall is paramount, i would also argue that a number of those young players would then demand first team football, renewed contracts even if they had not looked that good in the first team, as they would now be on the radar of other teams around our level

• 23 Ganiyu // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:05

  I hope nicky butt doesnt start the game against city cos jo robinho and elano would really expose him.

• 24 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:08

  so you trained at higher level, that is still different to competing at the higher level

  assuming you were involved in athletics, the national, international champions comepeted rather than yourself on merit

  still, congratulations on the level you did reach, it is a great achievement itself

• 25 Will // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:08

  essay answers and double posting is a sin.

• 26 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:12

  Hello Will

  Guilty as charged

• 27 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:14

  Hello Will

  Tried to post same again and got the reply -

  Duplicate comment detected; it looks as though you’ve already said that!

• 28 Tom // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:24

  Incidentally, what about Aaron Spears? I know we signed him, but has he played for us at all, at u17, u18 or reserve level yet?

• 29 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:27

  he hasn’t appeared at under 18 or reserve level as of yet accorinding to stats on nufc.com, also isn’t shown on there list of transfers under keegan, may just be as it isn’t a professional contract, maybe it was a pre agreement to join newcastle, not sure either Tom

• 30 Ageordiedoonsooth // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:37

  Anyone know whats happened to Zamblera he hasn’t played for the resreves or youth for weeks is he injured?

• 31 Ageordiedoonsooth // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:40

  I think with Spears he is only 15 & I believe there is an FA rule that U17’s have to live within 50 miles of the club they are signed for. I believe he will stay with Plymouth until next season & then move up here. Unless of course his parents up & move north

• 32 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:44

  Mr Spears will probably be offered a job as groundkeeper, lol

• 33 Xiscore // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:49

  Guthrie _Modric
  Bassong _Corluka
  Spidey _Bently
  xisco _Goevani
  Compare and contrast and then tell me who is laughing now so far i think we are blinded by the whole KK issue that we cant notice the good of Ashley’s set up .Honestly i would love to emulate Arsenal in terms of recruitment and youth policy.Ashely should get partners to join him and in that case we will get a win win situation

• 34 Born Again Geordie // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:51

  Irish Al,

  I am glad to be talking about football again mate. Too much doom and gloom on here lately.

• 35 Ian // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:21

  Irish al, I dont disagree with much of what you say, but I also trained with nationals at club level, I used to get down to the semi finals and even occasionally but very rarely beat them at club level, but then going in to national level against internationals was a totally different ball game, I could raise my game to be 70% of the top guys, but after that it took very very serious training and a national coach.
  While I do not think, unless needs must that a youngster should be thrown in as a permanent feature of the first team, I think they need to be given 15 minutes of the occasional match to realise where they really are, not ridiculed but shown why they need to train all the time take everything on board just to creep up in ability inch by inch.
  It is to easy to be good in an easy environment and stop learning and improving.

• 36 Tom_Toon // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:35

  Even when Zamblera was fit he was on the bench and only scored 1 goal! He barely played for the reserves, noly really the u-18’s.

• 37 Ageordiedoonsooth // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:47

  Irish Al you got the wrong player Ramsey was signed by Arsenal from Cardiff Aaron Spears played for Plymouth and as far as I know has signed a contract with the Toon

• 38 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 12:06

  Ageordie downsouth-

  the reference to Ramsey was a different discussion on wanting to see more chances for youth players in first team appearances

  Ian-

  i think we’ll need to agree to disagree to a small extent, however thankyou for an enjoyable debate, out of interest what event(s) did you compete in?

• 39 Ian // Oct 8, 2008 at 14:06

  Irish al,

  Clay pigeon shooting, seriously competitive at high levels. I did sporting, Olympic Trench and Skeet. It was easy to stay at the level you were at if competing at club level, if you won you won, there wasnt much more you could do.
  At national level a decent shot could easily get themselves up to 70% but then from 70% in to the nineties was like crawling up a mountain, having a few different people behind you trying to understand what your problem was with certain targets, eyes, clothing, joint movement, feet positioning, chokes, cartridges the list was endless, had to practice twice a week and get professional coaching not to win at national level just so I hit a reasonable amount of targets to justify bothering!!!

  It wouldnt have mattered how good the coaching was at club level, it wouldnt have improved me to national level, you have to stand in front of a large crowd in unfamiliar surroundings on your own to understand why the coaching is needed and why everything is so important. I think that could be a problem with our reserve team, if they are the best or one of the best in their position without ever playing in a competitive game with large crowds watching they will not know what they are aiming for, when you are king in a tiny pond you are convinced that nationals or internationals are within your grasp!! How wrong can a person be!!

• 40 swederic // Oct 8, 2008 at 14:26

  A pal of mine made an intervju with Ole Söderberg, who atm is injured, for the swedish newcastle fan site.

  He had some quite intresting things to say actualy.

  Like who he fought had the most ability in the reservteam, he said just Nile Ranger. Nice to see we have got a true talent! Who plays good in the games, and shows he is better than what we had before!

  The friendliest player in the A-team he actualy said Jose Enrique of all.

  And on how many goals he had let in from Ameobi, he laughed and said not many =)

• 41 irish_al // Oct 8, 2008 at 15:17

  I have never been shooting, have a couple of friends who go regularly

  Valid points but i still feel we need to draw a line between training and competion

  Using the Arsenal model (again) they have seniors, reserve and youth players all train together, helping as you said bridge the gap, but to appear in competition requires to be there on merit (their exception would be the carling cup but it seems arsenal are in a better position to win fielding youngsters than we are), you wouldn’t see lesser athletes take places of better athletes at the olympics due to the fact it might make them better, those that compete are there on merit

• 42 Heavy hitters // Oct 8, 2008 at 20:36

  I like to see the young kids get on for the firsts, this is the only way they will develop unless they go out on loan. If they dont get the experience that Taylor was lucky enough to get their game will suffer. Its a lot different playing in front of 52,000 fans as opposed to 1,000 and it takes time to get used to this, some may never be able to cope with the pressure. I do dislike idiots slating the young kids on the net forums when they come on for the firsts and dont look like world beaters, many who havent even been to a first team game never mind a reserve match.

• 43 Brutooooon // Oct 9, 2008 at 0:10

  those young players we can pkay them 15 mins from the end, replace those ageing legs such as nickybutt…play geremi mid and let lua lua do his stuff on the right.

  Look at arsene wenger, he trust his youngster and didn’t put pressure on them. look at fabregas, he play for arsenal against man utd at the age of 15…

• 44 Ian // Oct 9, 2008 at 9:41

  Irish al, agreed except the analagy isnt good, the olympic athletes wouldnt be replaced because it is like giving a youngster a trial in a cup final, I wouldnt recommend that!
  The athletes can compete in other real races where they brush up against various other international stars and they do enter in various other races as long as they arent professional ones.
  Like Brutoooon says Arsenal give them a run out without applying pressure, so does Man Utd I think we should do more of it, it doesnt hurt to see if they are already fist team standard or bring htme back down to earth if they already think they are superstars, personally I think Carroll has been kept in the reserves to long and has lost his way, when he was on fore in the reserves he should have been trialled in the first and maybe the enthusiasm and confidence would have carried in to the first team, the hunger seems to have left him.

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