The one priority Newcastle had in this transfer market was to get a center-back in.
Adrian Mariappa – fee couldn’t be agreed with Watford
And Newcastle failed to do that, although it seems they came fairly close to signing Adrian Mariappa of Watford, as cover for Coloccini and Williamson, but we are no better off in defense than we were when the transfer window opened on January 1st.
In our book this is poor planning by Newcastle, because we are now at the mercy of suspensions or injuries to either of the two first choice center-backs, with no real specialist center-back to come in – with James Perch being the preferred replacement.
If both Fab and Williamson are both out, we suppose Danny Simpson could switch to center-back, although there’s also Tamas Kadar, who will likely leave Newcastle when his contact runs out at the end of June.
Injuries to Colo or Williamson could now seriously affect how high we can end up in the Premier League table, and it didn’t have to be that way.
These are the deals Newcastle made in the January transfer window:
In:
Papiss Cisse – £9M – SC Freiburg
Out:
Alan Smith – loan – MK Dons
James Tavernier – loan – MK Dons
And very late in the window, Glasgow Celtic came in to try to take Leon Best on loan to the SPL, but it wasn’t successful, and we were half expecting Fraser Forster to be transferred to Celtic, but that didn’t happen either.
Newcastle are in the driver’s seat with Fraser, because there’s no real need to sell the goalkeeper until they get a better offer than the £2M Celtic are offering, and we even think Norwich City could be interested in Fraser in the summer.
Late news that Ryan Nelson’s contract at Blackburn has been canceled so he is now a free agent, but it looks like he will be joining Spurs, and he can be signed at any time as a free agent. Late news that Ryan has signed for Tottenham.
It’s almost like we were last year at this time with strikers, when we couldn’t get a replacement in for Andy Carroll, who scored the first goal for Liverpool tonight at Wolves, in the 3-0 win that takes them above Newcastle in the league.
We wonder if Alan Pardew will now look at free agents to get some central defensive cover in – but probably not.
The good news is that we kept all our good players, and there were sufficient rumors about both Cheick Tiote and Demba Ba, that a lot of supporters were concerned the same thing could have happened this time around, as happened so dramatically a year ago.
That’s when we lost Andy Carroll to Liverpool, who came in with a late daft bid of £35M – cash up front – which Newcastle just couldn’t turn down.
So in that sense it’s been a good window, and there’s no doubt about it – the acquisition of Papiss Cisse for around £9M was a tremendous deal for the club – and we should see the benefits of that through the end of the season, in Newcastle’s enhanced ability to score goals.
However, it’s the defense that now may be the weakness, with very thin cover if any of the starters are injured or suspended.
How do you think this window has been for Newcastle?
Comments welcome.
270 comments so far
Thump
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:23 PM
Comment #1When aren’t we walking a tight rope? Arise Tamas Kadar…
Beattie25
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:24 PM
Comment #2When aren’t we walking a tight rope? Arise Tamas Kadar…
GeordieToon89
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:24 PM
Comment #3Fell sorry for Mariappa he was desperate to come here now he’s never going to get to play for us and he also rejected Wigan in the hope he would sign for us now he’s stuck in the championship
Spuggy
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:24 PM
Comment #4Yes spot on Ed, tightrope is a perfect metaphor.
Really pleased with Cisse, but we’re riding our luck now.
beddersmag
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Comment #5Risky strategy but shouldnt be surprised. Maybe we can pick up a decent freebie somewhere…
Spuggy
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Comment #6Put Ba in @ CB, he’d still score.
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Comment #7david weir? beattie u my boy are drunk
Dannyo
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:26 PM
Comment #8So Perch to be our makeshift CB then. Has been getting better with games, hopefully he’ll be at his best when called upon.
That said, i pray there won’t be anymore CB injuries. Not many matches for us to play.
Bright side, we’ll see Cisse in the weekend and Tiote will be back at the latest after Tottenham.
bye bye Shola
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:26 PM
Comment #9Who cares…. go back to the old philosophy of just scoring more than the opponent on the day
Dannyo
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:26 PM
Comment #10@GT89
Unless we get some news in the morning 😛
Good night.
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Comment #11this is gettin menual im outa here!
TimKrulFan
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Comment #12omg what prem team would have perch as 1st backup am better than perch
Londtoon
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Comment #13Can’t we use Ashleys chopper to get the Demba’s to the match tmoro from Gatwick. Could land them on the pitch like out of the end of Space Jam
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Comment #14sorry mental*
Beattie25
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Comment #15drunk on rage and dissapointment my good man. The taste of anger is bitter in my pallet where once victory so sweet once belonged
ToonHero
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Comment #16Let’s try not to spoil this window by getting all fizzed up about not signing a cb. We’ve made a terrific out of the blue signing in pappis cissé! Who would’ve thought that?! Let’s just all look forward to the future of Newcastle United.
Spuggy
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:28 PM
Comment #17Summer transfer window is gonna be brown pants time as we’re almost guaranteed to be losing a star player. Krul, Tiote and Ba.
Football ruined by money.
MacToon
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:29 PM
Comment #18Another gamble but as we know Ashley likes a gamble.
I can kind of understand waiting and making do with strikers as they have such an important role and getting the right one (or two) can take time and can be costly
however
getting a no-nonsense defender, even another Campbell fgs shouldn’t be too much to ask.
We’ve bid £1.9 mil for one, had our fine scouting team not found alternatives, some that were available now…… the mind boggles
Rosted Pork
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:29 PM
Comment #19guess we didnt get any1 today is mayb we hav talkd wit our summer targets. vertonghen? for free in the summer?
TimKrulFan
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:29 PM
Comment #20lol watching MOTD and wigan making are defence look world class
spitfire_
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:30 PM
Comment #21I really want to hear Pardew’s stupid explain about the CB hunt… I bet the guilt will be in high winter prices… What a pice of shit. We gave 2.5 mill for Ridgewell in august, now he is wba player for 2 mill or less… It’s pathetic.
Beattie25
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:30 PM
Comment #22How much is Douglas on? Can he buy out his own contract? And then we can reimburse the costs with a signing on fee.
I reek of desperation
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:30 PM
Comment #23oh fcuk off spuggy u c u n t theres a way to end the night
euanpolo
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:32 PM
Comment #24Vertonghen and Zaha in the summer please and maybe a left-back and a non-ACON striker. If no one leaves (apart from Lovenkrands and Smith) that would do me, although I accept that’s a big if.
TimKrulFan
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:33 PM
Comment #25lol at sammon!!!
NUFC STEVE
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:33 PM
Comment #26Showed a LACK OF AMBITION tonight 1 m extra wud have seen mariappa Here ages ago.Mariappa is a CB with a bright future ahead of him while Mike Williamson is a 6″4″ hash who is a covering CB at best yet we chose the latter.Don’t get me wrong cisse signing showed nothing but ambition however we should have followed it through with possibly two more signings.
Jail for Ashley
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:33 PM
Comment #27I don’t have the energy to moan or rant about proceedingsat SJP at the moment,I would like to think it a very clever five year strategy plan,yatter,yatter,as to why we havent got any defenders and that we dont win every time we play without two centre backs,there’s obviously a much bigger picture that I am too short sighted, narrow minded,and more than likely, not intelligent enough to grasp.
GeordieToon89
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:33 PM
Comment #28Dannyo – Ano mate =[ haha
Beattie25
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:34 PM
Comment #29Where is my badger? My lonliness heats me none
TimKrulFan
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:35 PM
Comment #30heard padrew coming out of retirment help out the defence!!
GeordieToon89
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:35 PM
Comment #31We dont need Zaha mann he’s no better than Sammy plus weve got Marveaux aswell… if we must get a winger then it has to be Hoilett
MacToon
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:35 PM
Comment #32SO team news for tomorrow?
Is Colo fit? fingers crossed!
GeordieToon89
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:36 PM
Comment #33Just be our luck that we didnt manage to get a defender and Colo’s injury is worse than first thought
SurefootedShola
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:36 PM
Comment #34Hoilett, Douglas and Pieters in the summer please, for starters.
Edd Case
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:37 PM
Comment #35Not too bad a window…we didn’t lose anyone.
Would have like more signings both in and out, but overall, looking forward to seeing Cisse and Ba.
Players like Perch, Willo and Kadar will have to stand up and show themselves to be worth the contract now.
The best way to look at this window is;
1. We kept our best players
2. Not signing anyone like Mariappa means we BETTER sign much better players in the summer
bye bye Shola
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:37 PM
Comment #36I’m not going to whinge about no cb cover apart from Sir James Perch maybe chuck streete into the deep end if we are desperate. I only care about getting 3 points tomorrow and i got a good feeling about that.
GeordieToon89
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:37 PM
Comment #37There are still a few deals to be confirmed!! Piernaar has joined Everton
Jail for Ashley
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:38 PM
Comment #38MacToon,
I am tuly,truly mystified
Jail For Ashley 2
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:38 PM
Comment #39Even beating him to a bloody pulp with a wet salmon is too good for Ashley
GeordieToon89
Jan 31, 2012 at 11:39 PM
Comment #40surefootedshola – A would get either Mbiwa or Vertonghen aswell mate..a dont think Colo will be staying