In August we wrote that Chief Scout Graham Carr was an important cog in the Newcastle wheel.
Graham Carr – responsible for French Legion now at Newcatsle
And nothing that’s happened this season dims that view one little bit, as the new French players on Tyneside seem to have given new life to a club that was reeling from losing four of their best players this year.
Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique and Joey Barton all left the club, but new players like Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Gabriel Obertan and youngsters Mehdi Abeoid and Davide Santon, look to have made the squad stronger, if anything.
And with Joey Barton having gone, we now no longer have to be concerned about the tweets he still sends out, with the latest one calling Karl Henry of Wolves a Sunday League player.
We wonder when the FA is going to act on these social networks being used by the players, and put in some restrictions, to save the players from themselves.
You cannot have Joey mouthing off after every game, like he did after the Wolves game, and all the headlines were then subsequently about him, and the great QPR performance almost went unnoticed – at least in the gossip press.
We think Joey’s even bringing the game into disrepute, and if the FA had any guts they’d do something about it, but we will not hold our breath on that one.
The dressing room at Newcastle seems very solid, and the set plays on the field, that Barton used to take, have been assumed by Yohan Cabaye, and the French International is doing an excellent job too.
A stat that stands out from Yohan’s performance at Villa Park last Saturday, is that he made made 91% of the passes he attempted in the game, and of course he was Newcastle’s star player and almost scored three times to get Newcastle the victory.
Yohan Cabaye looks a wonderful player and the season is still young.
But the other lads who were scouted by Graham Carr and brought to the club, are also starting to look good, and you throw in a certain Hatem Ben Arfa to that mix, and Newcastle have some excellent French players in their ranks.
And they even look to have filled the rather large void left by our four former star players leaving the club.
Wonder who Graham is scouting these days in the French league – any ideas?
Players come and go, and managers come and go, but Newcastle United will go on forever.
Viva la Newcastle!
18 comments so far
CuPiD
Sep 22, 2011 at 9:59 AM
Comment #11st
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:01 AM
Comment #2its kelvin henry get it right ed ha ha
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:01 AM
Comment #3congratulations stupid oh sorry cupid.
sweendog
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:10 AM
Comment #4Carrs choices do looks good, stand out players are Tiote/Cabaye.. Arfa was a no brainer as he was known as a top top player, still can’t believe he’s at St James .. if he stays injury free, ie isn’t targeted by the Stokes/Wolves/5cunder1ands then we’ve a good chance of top half of the table and a good cup run.. maybe even europe next year.. I’ll give it another 5/6 games before really believing in a top 8 finish though.
geoff777
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Comment #5Marveaux looks good too, at last we have a winger who can cross the ball.
Abeid looks fantastic, a future star.
If Mr Carr continues to find 2-4 players a year like these boys we’ll be a very good team in two seasons time.
Hugh Jorgan
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:31 AM
Comment #6Boom Boom
It’s Karl Henry
voodoo85
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:37 AM
Comment #7@6 – please tell me your not actually correcting Boom
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Comment #8holy christ i knew some idiot would say that did u not read the ha ha part jesus whats goin on here this morning between safe hands boychuck szezny and mr get it right jorgan i dont know i really dont HELP SOMEONE PLEASE HELP.
toon-hendy
Sep 22, 2011 at 10:46 AM
Comment #9Perfect season:
Newcastle beating the scum at SJP
Newcastle finishing top half and above the scum (them just staying up so we can continue to embarrass them season after season)
Good cup run, Pardew took west ham to the FA cup final, got a feeling he could do the same with us in the league cup of we avoid the big teams – would love a Wembley day out.
OUT: Alan Smith, Xisco, Ranger, Lovenkrands?
IN: Pieters, Hoilett, Gomis (from Lyon, is he out of our league? Would be a perfect striker! Absolute ANIMAL and scores for fun) Maybe another CB? (Maybe Williams from Swansea when they get relegated, he’s top quality, been a rock at the back for them this season!)
Ben arfa to stay fit for the season, youngsters to continue to impress/ go on loan/ challenge the first team.
NUFC FRENCH REVOLUTION!!!!
Sav
Sep 22, 2011 at 11:18 AM
Comment #10Err…what’s the topic?
Graham Carr?
French Revolution?
Joey’s Tweets?
I don’t want to be a pesimist, but I can’t take all the ‘Boom and Bust’ on here, either, so please bear in mind that the Prem season is just 5 games old. We could yet regret letting go of Joey. We still lack a top notch striker (sorry Bestie) and having signed a RB with a history of being crocked, guess what? He’s crocked again. So Raylor continues playing LB. And if anything happens to Colo or Saylor, Perch is next in line at Centre-half. And Benny has played just 5 times for us in 18 months so please stop piling the weights on his shoulders. Give the lad a chance.
Ian Magpie
Sep 22, 2011 at 12:22 PM
Comment #11Lads, great great start but the season hasn’t woke up yet so don’t get carried away! By all means enjoy every minute of it but there is a hell of a long way to go!!!Remember this is Newcastle United so where there is an up there is usually one hell of a down. So when we do, don’t start throwing ya rattles out of the pram! Dont forget we are very much a work in progress with a hell of alot of work to do! Great feeling though!!!
Sir Alan
Sep 22, 2011 at 1:14 PM
Comment #12Lets Be honest, Kelvin Henry is a poor excuse of a football player. Last season when we played hem at molineux was shocking.
moonraker
Sep 22, 2011 at 1:41 PM
Comment #13Sav @10
Get a f***in life FFS look on the bright side man!
beefman13
Sep 22, 2011 at 4:00 PM
Comment #14ben arfa ,tiote, cabaye, marveux, abeid, santon,, all signings put together what liverpool paid for jordan henderson, nobody can surely argue with those facts, its been very shrewd and very good business all top players apart from henderson ha ha
beefman13
Sep 22, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Comment #15marveux was very good the other night and his ball in for lovens goal was pure top drawer, jonas who does a good shift for the toon but he has not put a ball in the box like that in 3 years also marv`s run to get us the penalty was top notch.
scottdavies9
Sep 22, 2011 at 5:21 PM
Comment #16@ 9
Im from cardiff and watch a couple of swansea games and I will defo be there to watch the mighty toon and Neil Taylor has been their worst player!!! If you watched the Wales V England game he was awful!!!
HWTL
scottdavies9
Sep 22, 2011 at 5:24 PM
Comment #17hahahah amazing how you read what you want to read, yeah ashley williams is good, i just hate that taylor and hes welsh!!! haha my bad @9
Wandering Geordie
Sep 22, 2011 at 6:04 PM
Comment #18Things are looking good for the ‘Legion de Toon’ .Great signings and boy have we got flair.Never been so excited since the days of the entertainers.
I can see this team going far.And once the Jan transfer targets are signed we will go on to win trophies at last.
Top signing…? Graham Carr…. Keep up the good work