I remember talking to my son Neil about three years ago, when we were watching Manchester City play, and we agreed how great Stephen Ireland would be at Newcastle.
Stephen Ireland – in action for Newcastle United
And although Stephen’s had a difficult in the last 18 months or so, with Manchester City and Aston Villa, he’s now at Newcastle, and trying his very best to get a permanent deal with the Magpies.
There’s little doubt that Ireland is extremely talented and all we need to see in the next four games is some of the form he showed in his prime at the Eastlands club, and then we’re fairly sure Alan Pardew will want to sign him permanently.
We mentioned a couple of days back that if Newcastle do sign Ireland they will already have essentially three new players for next season already, in Ireland, Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling, because they’ve played only a total of about 8 appearances for the club this season, between them.
Ireland has so far played in only two Newcastle games, but we expect him to play in all the four remaining games, and maybe even get a couple of starts for the side.
This is what the Newcastle manager said about the Irishman today to BBC Newcastle:
“Stephen’s a little match-shy at the moment,” “But we’ve got a week, and we need to see him now, so there’s a good chance he could play at Liverpool.”
“My view of Stephen is that he’s an outstanding quality player,” “On a really horrible pitch at Blackpool, somebody of his technique, he kept the ball, moved it and created a couple of nice situations.”
“He slowed the game down when he needed to, and could have had a goal, I felt he should have shot at the end rather than set up Shola Ameobi.”
Stephen has also waxed lyrical about the Newcastle club and their famous fans since he’s been on Tyneside, and had lots of troubles with injuries.
But he got a great reception from the Geordie fans, when he was brought on against the Red Devils, and that seems to have really lifted him, as he wasn’t sure how the fans would have reacted to him being out for so long, while on loan.
In our poll we launched a couple of weeks ago, 41% say Newcastle should signg him and 35% say no, but that was before the lad had played played for Newcastle – so we are going to relaunch the poll – and you can vote on the home page.
Or vote here:
I’ll find out if having one poll in two places on the site works – I’m learning about this stuff all the time. 😀
This Irish lad seems just so determined to get a permanent contract this summer on Tyneside, and play for the black and whites.
We think he’s going to be successful in doing just that.
Comments welcome.
46 comments so far
bills-son
Apr 27, 2011 at 7:23 PM
Comment #41Injuries at your own club are often played out of proportion. We all know who the good players are at other clubs – but we rarely know who is injured.
For example; the scum haven’t got one fit first team forward, Everton had a horrendous injury list for the half of the season, Gerrard and Torres have missed many games for LFC in the past two seasons, West Ham had three out of five new signings crocked within weeks (Dyer was one) a few seasons ago, Wolves lost Kightly for most of this season and Doyle has been out for the last six weeks … and so on.
I’m not saying we don’t get more than our share … we do … but so do other teams.
shabunkin
Apr 27, 2011 at 8:48 PM
Comment #42no , irelands made of biscuits , altho i spose hed give the physios summit to do , we need players not malingerers
Oleg G
Apr 27, 2011 at 10:02 PM
Comment #43In the beginning I said no, and in the poll, later when he played I said, we should give him more time, to see what he’s worth.
Now that he is injured. No one, this is called injury prawn no? (or something like that).
He is not good enough and he is all the time out, what is that? Don’t sign him, many like him and better out there.
Oleg G
Apr 27, 2011 at 10:33 PM
Comment #44LAST 10 GAMES
W D L Points
1 Chelsea 7 2 1 23
2 Liverpool 6 2 2 20
3 Everton 6 2 2 20
4 Man U 6 1 3 19
5 Tottenham 4 5 1 17
6 Bolton 5 1 4 16
7 Fulham 4 4 2 16
8 Arsenal 3 6 1 15
9 Man C 4 2 4 14
10 WBA 3 5 2 14
11 A. Villa 3 4 3 13
12 Stoke C 3 3 4 12
13 Wigan 3 3 4 12
14 Wolves 3 3 4 12
15 Newcastle 2 5 3 11
16 B’gham C 3 2 5 11
17 West Ham 3 2 5 11
18 Blackpool 1 3 6 6
19 S’land 1 1 8 4
20 Blackburn 0 4 6 4
Oleg G
Apr 27, 2011 at 10:35 PM
Comment #45LAST 6 GAMES
W D L POINTS
1 Chelsea 5 1 0 16
2 Man U 4 1 1 13
3 Liverpool 4 1 1 13
4 Everton 3 2 1 11
5 WBA 3 2 1 11
6 Man C 3 1 2 10
7 Fulham 3 1 2 10
8 Bolton 3 0 3 9
9 Tottenham 1 5 0 8
10 Stoke C 2 2 2 8
11 A. Villa 2 2 2 8
12 B’gham C 2 1 3 7
13 Wigan 2 1 3 7
14 Newcastle 1 2 3 5
15 Wolves 1 2 3 5
16 Arsenal 1 1 4 4
17 S’rland 1 1 4 4
18 West Ham 1 1 4 4
19 Blackburn 0 3 3 3
20 Blackpool 0 2 4 2
Luzern Geordies
Apr 27, 2011 at 10:45 PM
Comment #46I think he could be a cheap summer signing, and he can play for us. sign him, we would be foolish to let him go as when he’s fit he’s a decent player in going forward from midfield.