Chris Hughton has come out today and said that he does not think significant changes will be needed with the Newcastle squad this summer.
Mike Ashley with Chris Hughton
That may alarm a few Newcastle fans, who believe significant strengthening in some positions will be necessary, but let’s see what Chris has told the Newcastle Journal this morning.
“I don’t think significant changes are needed. Stability is the perfect word for this club going into the Premier League,”
“We do not want to disrupt the balance too much – we have a team with great momentum at the moment from winning a lot of games this season.”
“We also have a lot of players who have developed this season and have had really good seasons. Those are the things that you can’t ignore.”
“Of course there will also be decisions on where we need to strengthen, where we need cover – those decisions will be taken over the next few weeks.”
“But I take great encouragement from what other teams have done going from the Championship into the Premier League.”
If Chris means that he will stay with players like Harper , Coloccini, Taylor (S), Enrique, Nolan, Gutierrez, Carroll and Lovenkrands to be his core of players, we have no problem with that at all.
And of course the side has done well this year without the services of Steven Taylor and Joey Barton, and Joey is beginning to show what a good player he could be on Tyneside, if only he could stay fit.
And we have some youngsters coming through like Danny Guthrie, Tamas Kadar and Tim Krul, who will all be pushing for a first team start next season.
But we still expect players to leave and players to come in – the question is how many?
Chris continued:
“What has happened and will continue to happen is there a group of yo-yo teams who will spend some time in the Championship and some in the Premier League,”
“But at the lower end of the Premier League there are teams where the gap is not so great with the teams at the top of the Championship.”
“Of course you see now big teams like Boro, who are pushing for a play off position, teams who have gone down into the Championship, striving to get back up again. I see that happening over the years.”
“The aim for us is to stay in the Premier League now. What that entails, and the difficulties we will have, everyone is aware of – but that is what this club is striving to do.”
The figures of £20M to £25M being banded about in the press as the amount Mike Ashley will give Chris during the summer for transfers may be made up numbers, but the Journal says today that around £25M is the transfer kitty that they understand will be provided to Chris.
Since Chris brought in Williamson, Routledge, Best and Simpson for around £4M in January, we have to think there are more bargain buys out there for players with Premiership level quality.
Let’s hope we can bring some of them to Newcastle this summer, and the sooner the better.
Comments welcome.
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26 comments so far
Toon-Army
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Comment #11st
Toon-Army
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Comment #2i think we will max get 15mill. but i think that will be enough. 🙂
Toon-Army
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Comment #3any1 else there?? wake up u lazy people
Chris F
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:27 AM
Comment #4he’s saying what i’ve been saying for weeks.
we finally have a good, hard working squad of players that want to play for the club and to take us to the next level all that’s needed are a few quality additions to that core squad, not a total rebuilding from scratch.
even without any additions i would feel reasonably assured that our current squad could easily stay in the premiership next season if they apply the same work eithic and drive that they have shown this season in the championship.
people calling for wholesale changes to the squad are, in my opinion, completely mental. it’s that sort of chopping and changing that destroys team morale and would frankly undo all the good work that hughton has done this season.
jimmymac
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:29 AM
Comment #5I tend to agree with Chris, except maybe for a classy striker who could get us 20 goals a season.
Potential bargains:
Joe Ledley – Free (i think)
Jermaine Beckford – Free with low wages so no real harm in giving it a go.
Tom Cleverley – Looking good, and low wages
Jim Karacan – tortured liverpool in cup this season, looks quality
Chris Eagles – If Burnley are relegated
Belhadj – Pompy are gone and need the money
Albin – Maybe worth the risk, looks a class act
I know i havent mentioned a quality striker:
Piquionnne
Rodallega
I’d say 3 or 4 of these players, or similar would represent good business!
3-1 to the toon today, Carroll, Loven x2
Toon Graeme
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Comment #6Morning Ed. Long time no blog.
Glad your back. Missed you for a short time.
Aint been on for a while and just need to add that the atmos last Monday was the best ive been to in a long while. But im sure thats been covered in the blog before now.
I do hope routledge progresses into a bullet down the right for us in the prem.
Im personally thinking that if we can hold our own and finish top 15 im happy.
Dont care about europe tbh. Sure ambission but lets get our feet back in the door of the prem and leave dust in the smoggies faces!!
🙂
Purely Belter
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:32 AM
Comment #7i think a pacey striker would be a good buy, someone who can really motor and get in behind and cause defender problems
jimmymac
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Comment #8I also think we could do with a utility defender like Aaron Hughes, but cant reallt think of many good (cheap) ones.
If we have £15m i think £10m should go on a proven goalscorer!
NewcastleMole
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Comment #9@Chris F
One thing is certain we need some real quality injected into the squad in the transfer window.
The step up in class is great. Look at Burnley as an example last season. They had brilliant team work and were a united team. In the premiership they carried that on and started brilliantly but then a few bad results and the team work & unity counted for nothing.
We have a good core squad we need some new additions.
IMHO we need 5 new first teamers of premiership quality.
Harper
New RB – New CB – Colo – Enrique
New RM – New DM – Nolan – Jonas
New ST – Carroll
=Subs=
Krul
S.Taylor (Unless he wants to leave) / Williamson
Simpson
Guthrie
Barton
Routledge
Lovenkrands
=Fringe=
Kadar
R.Taylor
Ranger
Lua Lua
=Sell=
Smith
Ameobi
Xisco
Best (Doubt it though)
nden85
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Comment #10buy some of the following and we should be fine:
defence: figeroua, shawcross, gary cahill
midfield: larrsson, s. hunt, belhadj, lee chung-young (bolton), etherington,
striker: kris boyd
NewcastleMole
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:52 AM
Comment #11Valon Behrami
Alessandro Diamanti
Carlton Cole
Hugo Rodallega
Maynor Figueroa
Gary Cahill
Tal Ben Haim
Nadir Belhadj
Steve Sidwell
Nigel Reo-Coker
Toon1978
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Comment #12Two full backs, a winger, a creative midfilder or two and a striker.
Perch
Fox
O’Hara
Skjelbred or Cleverly
Larrson
Albin (worth a punt for free)
I know we aint got a chance in hell but Bendtner from Arsenal would be awesome hehee dreaming i know but on a more realistic note let go for Tuncay.
Toon1978
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:54 AM
Comment #13nden85
Cahill will end up at one of the top 4 clubs imo.
nden85
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:55 AM
Comment #14are you being serious toon1978? i seriously don’t rate bendtner, if he can score so few goals for a team like arsenal, then imagine how few goals he would score for us.
Toon1978
Apr 10, 2010 at 10:57 AM
Comment #15nden
I really do rate him maybe there is something i have missed but what i have seen of him he has impressed.
Chris G
Apr 10, 2010 at 11:19 AM
Comment #16‘…and Joey is beginning to show what a good player he could be on Tyneside…’
Really?
Sorry, but he still looks like a very ordinary player to me
Geordie-Gerrard7
Apr 10, 2010 at 11:22 AM
Comment #17bendtner is a horrible player, he has started scoring now, but he needs 15 attempts to score one, and iv not seen him ever score a good goal
moonmoon
Apr 10, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Comment #18seb larsson has not signed anything with birmingham , not even a one year extension,so those stories arent true.i think thats really a player we should go for as he can even be played at rb as he sometimes play for the swedish national team.
as i am from sweden i would love to see Kallstrom from lyon in cm for newcastle.great attitude,no nonsense,powerfull shot with his left foot and good crosser and thru passes.
Chris F
Apr 10, 2010 at 11:34 AM
Comment #19sorry, but the burnley comparison isn’t really accurate.
they totally played above their level to make the playoffs, then win them.
the comparisons hughton himself alluded to are better, birmingham and wolves both invested cleverly to improve their squads on a limited budget and have both performed very well in their first seasons back up.
i’d agree we need 5 or maybe 6 new additions to bulk out the squad with some quality and creativity, especially in central midfield, but these players will be additions, not replacements per se.
totally agree about a striker though, and i’ve said that all season. as good as carroll could be, he isn’t there yet and we need someone with a bit of prem experience and quality to bag us some goals.
i would seriously like to see us sign kevin doyle, i think he could score a hatful for us as he’d undoubtedly get better service than he does at wolves, where he has been easily their best player this season.
Solaidback
Apr 10, 2010 at 12:41 PM
Comment #20Personally I would preferwe look at getting quality players who’re ona Bosman & pay them a decent wage, then buy average players who’ll sit on the bench & not bring anything to theteam in general!!
Larsson, Boyd, etc
I agree we need 5 or 6 players to bolster the team & if the crap-loids are correct in what they’re saying, there will be quite a few players from teams like Villa, Spurts, Pompey etc looking for new clubs due to them cutting back, so who knows what the summer will bring, we may get a few bargains while the bigger clubs are looking at the World Cup players… 🙂
Chris F
Apr 10, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Comment #21i’d take larsson like, he’s a good wide player and has a decent shot on him too.
boyd would be worth a punt on a free, and i suppose lovenkrands could always try and sell the club to him (think they were at rangers at the same time?)
not sure who else is on a bosman this summer, but maybe this year will finally be the window where we make a move for skjelbred, as he fits the young & relatively cheap criteria ashley seems to be aiming for.
he may be unproven in the prem, but with a strong midfield around him he should settle in well enough.
Darling27
Apr 10, 2010 at 1:33 PM
Comment #22For starters i’d like to see the following:
RW Sebastian Larsson
CM Joe Ledley
DM Jamie O’Hara
LW Morten Gamst Pedersen
Then we need to bring in a RB LB and a CF
Howay The Lads!!!
Solaidback
Apr 10, 2010 at 1:42 PM
Comment #23It seems Madjid Bougherra will be leaving Rangers this summer due to them needed to cut back on players wages, maybe worth a punt if he’ll except £20k a week wages.. lol
euanpolo
Apr 10, 2010 at 2:06 PM
Comment #24Some players that could be good signings:
– Albert Bunjaku
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=123454&cc=5739
– James Perch
– Jimmy Kebe
– Anderson Nene (I think)
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=36805&cc=5739
OR Marek Matejovsky
– Antar Yahia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antar_Yahia
The-Ciaran8
Apr 10, 2010 at 4:42 PM
Comment #25What about Nathan Delfonsou ?
If not to buy what about a loan
Hes very quick Would play well with carrol
Sgt. Heagerty
Apr 10, 2010 at 7:12 PM
Comment #26I agree with Chris F….No need to butcher the squad and build a whole new club. We have a good core group of quality lads who love NUFC and wanna be here. Add a few world class players and some young promising stars to that and we are good for next season