Coloccini went through a really tough season when he first arrived from Deportivo in Spain in August of 2008.
Coloccini – a top player on Tyneside – will he soon be bald?
We had been watching Colo play for Argentina in the World Cup in Germany in 2006, and thought he was very good, and would make a great Newcastle center-back.
When he eventually signed for Newcastle, he was told the club were pushing for the Champions League in Europe, with Kevin Keegan the manager, but that season didn’t exactly go as planned, and Newcastle were relegated.
It is also history that Colo struggled at Newcastle in that season, and especially towards the end, when Alan Shearer dropped him when he became the Newcastle manager on April 1st of 2009.
But Colo persevered and it could be that the Champions League is now on the cards for next season.
This is what Colo told the local press today:
“When I came, I said I would like to fight to be in the Champions League – everybody looked at me like I was crazy!” “They said ‘Do you know what it is like around here?’
“We’ve had some not so good times, but now we’re fighting for that.” “When I came, I hoped I would play in the Champions League with Newcastle, so hopefully I can do that next year.”
“It’s the dream and it’s now up to us to go out and get it.” “We’ve got a chance if we keep going like this.” “The Champions League is the most important competition – and we want to be in it.”
“I’ve played in it before when I was at AC Milan and we played Celtic, but I really want to taste more of it.” “Nobody wants to be relegated.” “But I learned about the English game in the Championship.”
“It helped me become a better player if anything.” “It was a fantastic experience actually. I had never played in the second division.”
We think that season down below toughened Colo up, and he became a more physical player and better for it too, and of course he was named on the PFA Championship side back in 2010, along with Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll and Jose Enrique.
The fact that he has been named in the PFA Team of the Year (for the Premier League) this week, says that he has come full circle, and he is currently at the top of his game.
Long may that continue.
And one last thing – didn’t Coloccini say a few years ago that if Newcastle ever got into the Champions League – he would shave his head?
What a sight that would be.
Comments welcome.
235 comments so far
CODARM (The poster formely known as Ibizatoon)
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Comment #1The stats say he will be bald come the end of May
ToonDownSouth
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Comment #2I appreciate why you put all the advertising on here Ed, and usually have no problem with it.
But some of them are getting a bit annoying at the moment – being redirected to other sites, blasting out songs etc. I’m having to pause what I’m listening to every time I load a page on here.
lewytoon
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:26 AM
Comment #3reading between the lines, the stats say coloccini is from optimism valley
CODARM (The poster formely known as Ibizatoon)
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:27 AM
Comment #4Lewy…Collo is a god of OV.
tarie4
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:28 AM
Comment #5LewSpi
It was indeed Ollieh51 who said that, but what U shud knw is that me and I am sure Beattie do not dispute he is statistically the best rb in the league..tge article posted by Ollieh51 shows the figures, what we dispute is people using that to base their arguments!!! A la mc-toon. That was my original argument with Ollieh51.. That they should find a better argument other than stats.. That is the debate here mate not that he is the best rb in the league…
ToonDownSouth
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:28 AM
Comment #6I do hope he doesn’t shave his head. If some annoying journo decides to bring it up, there’s going to be hell to pay.
Pardew's fist pump
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Comment #7http://adblockplus.org/en/
This does the trick, TDS, providing your browser is either Firefox or Google Chrome. Takes 10 seconds.
PietersIsBad
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Comment #8Sorry to be a bit of a bumder here, but Pieters is AWFUL. He’s slow, gets beaten all the time and is like Simpson, he can’t dribble and attack. And for you people that hate Simpson, he’s been one of our best players this season.
lewytoon
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Comment #9there should be a coloccini barber shop in OV
WWJBD
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Comment #10Don’t care if we win the title Colo should not be shaving his head! It would ruin one of the few song that really rings around St James these days!
Colo keep ur hair son as far as am concerned
tarie4
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Comment #11WWJBD
Aye I don’t mind that, I wud love simmo to stay he is never injured and is solid and he has done well this season… I would keep him
baztoon
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:32 AM
Comment #12Amalfitano wonder goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZey-jMQyeQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
CODARM (The poster formely known as Ibizatoon)
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Comment #13I think if you asked most toon fans, they would want the hair to stay! Surely it’s a good deterrent against opposition strikers…that mop must block out their view of the goal a lot of the time
Pardew's fist pump
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Comment #14Baztoon
That’s his bro.
Toon_Tom
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Comment #15The stats say that Colo is looking for a barbers in Newcastle!
ToonDownSouth
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Comment #16Thanks for that mate. I’ve tried a fair few out and none have been decent. This one does the trick though.
lewytoon
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Comment #17i want the hair to stay, its like a icon for the new newcastle as he’s the captain 😛 and i do like the song
ToonDownSouth
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Comment #18baztoon
We’re after his brother, not him 😉
southafricantoon
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:35 AM
Comment #19Why would anyone want Sampson to cut off his hair?
LewSpi
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:35 AM
Comment #20tarie4, and that’s fair enough, I wasn’t looking to get into the debate, just mediate slightly as I felt Mc-Toon may have been mis understood.
3 months ago I would have agreed that Simmo was definitely out weakest link (all stats out of the argument), but recently he has proven very effective indeed, particularly in defence, he’s still limited on his creativity going forward, but I think him and Benny create a good balance on the right, and Simmo allows Benny to focus mainly on attacking.
Weser the opposite on the left, where Santon attacks more and more often than not Demba, Cisse or Cabaye has to fill in that position, te balance isn’t quite as good on the left as it is on Simpsons side, is what I’m saying. (nevertheless, this is just my opinion)
With regards to the article, Ed maybe you should have a poll to see whether the fans want him to shave it off or not?
CODARM (The poster formely known as Ibizatoon)
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Comment #21Lewy…it’s right by the town hall. Simply named Collo’s Cutters. He doesn’t believe in cutting so much, a lot more curling and styling goes on.
Pardews fist pump, thanks for the ad blocker – life saver!
ToonDownSouth
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:38 AM
Comment #22LewSpi
I definitely agree about the balance on the right. It’s perfect in my opinion.
Simpson does make overlapping runs, which draw the defenders away from Hatem to an extent, but we all know he’s never going to pass to him haha.
rich_toonfan
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:38 AM
Comment #23Mc toon
The argument about Simpson is annoying….. He is not statistically the best right back in the league.
Some of his stats are the best but that only a small picture, it doesn’t show goals, assists, amount of times beaten by opponent, amount of crosses coming into the box from his side etc.
Stats are useful but you need every stat for every variable,… What the chronicle printed was a selection of stats to make Simpson look the best.
IMO he is a good right back, but the weakest in the top 6 teams, hence why we need to improve during the summer.
sirtoongospel
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:39 AM
Comment #24All toon fans should want the hair to stay! Otherwise we will be singing “I want shaven hair too!” …….Not the same!
Colo has been immense for 3 seasons now. Hardly ever injured and looks better and better. He still has 3 or 4 seasons at least as he looks after himself brilliantly.
As for the Simmo debate, the lad has played every game, done a great job, and most would love him to stay. If we sign better, great, if we don’t then it’s not a problem as we are where we are in the league with his input (Willo’s too) and we have only conceded 1 goal in 6 games.
Come on guys, reality check. We are doing ok, but wholesale changes aren’t needed. Add 4 or 5 players to give us depth, and we can be a consistent top 6 team. That was always the aim for a few years, to be a consistent top 4 team is insanely difficult, look at Spurs, Chelsea , Liverpool, all think they should be there. 6 teams other than us all feel as though they should be CL every year.
Just be grateful we have the team we have, I for one would happily watch the same 11 next season, with hopefully better strength in depth.
WWJBD
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Comment #25Right so its decided! We want Simmo to stay but if he leave we will cope however until he loses his spot or leave we will support our player everyone agreed?!
Now on to something far more important to us all Colos hair! 😉
Ollieh51
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Comment #26@ LewSpi – 100% agree on the balance thing.
Perhaps another reason why it’s good that Simo is a good defender and doesn’t get forward too much?!
(I’m doing that to wind people up, please don;t start another row!)
And NO – Colo shouldn’t cut his hair, it’s going to ruin his song for a start!
sirtoongospel
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:44 AM
Comment #27And by the way, Rafael has been crucified several times this season, and has looked far from a championship winning RB. He is young, and learning, as is Simmo.
Don’t see Ferguson hitting any panic buttons. Rafael was woeful against Everton. Very very poor.
Nufc-83
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Comment #28Lol just had a look at some of the comments yesterday about simmo people like billson saying they know nothing and have been proved wrong all season about ashley, pardew etc.
Well i was one of the few people on here who supported what generally ashley was trying to achieve. I said give pardew a chance, i said Ba will be better than Carroll when everyone was going on about spending the 35mill on this blog day in day out and got hammered for it.
I support the team including simmo but if i dont think he is good enough fb to play in a top six prem side then that is my opinion and i have yet to be wrong on anything i have said on this blog. Just like i think Gosling will be a championship player at best.
sirtoongospel
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:47 AM
Comment #29By the way, will there be any chance of Neymar playing for Brazil at SJP? That would be awesome.
sirtoongospel
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:50 AM
Comment #30NUFC-83 that last paragraph is hilarious. You have been right about everything, so you are clearly the oracle on all things NUFC. CAn you tell me how Simmo isn’t good enough for a top 6 team, but he has played every game for a current top 4 team?
Scratching my head at that one.
WWJBD
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:54 AM
Comment #31Nufc-83
Haha u might be a sound fella but u came across very poorly in that post
CODARM (The poster formely known as Ibizatoon)
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:54 AM
Comment #32I think the point on simmo not being “top 6” material is based on would the following teams buy him and then play him regularly?
Man United – Not likely, they sold him to us
Man City – Not a chance
Arsenal – Unlikely
Us – But of course 🙂
Tottenham – Also seems unlikely
Chelsea – No
Really, he is a mid table RB. However, he has been part of this team that currently sit 4th in the league and has done his part well. Room for improvement, but certainly could be a hell of a lot worse!
WWJBD
Apr 24, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Comment #33Ibiza
Haha fair point and we could of had worse….weren’t we linked with Hutton so ur spot on with that haha
Nufc-83
Apr 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Comment #34Ha a do come across a bit arrogant but tbf i have said all those things and its not to say i have got some things wrong I have said thing in the pubs stands etc that where totally wrong but on here i fortunately have been correct on most issues.
Sirtoonospel if you think that simmo can play in a top six side year in year out and not be found out then you are deluded. Him and williamson have cost us a large amount of goals this season and i belive if we had staylor and micah richards or sagna for instance we would have been almost a certainty for 3rd by now imo.
ToonDownSouth
Apr 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Comment #35Ibiza
Manchester United fans say exactly the same about half of their players as well. As do Chelsea fans about theirs & Arsenal fans about theirs.
I just get the feeling that if we’d signed Simpson from France, the talk would be of how consistently excellent he was defending, however he needs to work on his attacking game a little.
Rather than how he’s “championship quality” blah blah blah.
Toon_Tom
Apr 24, 2012 at 12:03 PM
Comment #36TDS @34 – spot on!
sirtoongospel
Apr 24, 2012 at 12:03 PM
Comment #37Ibiza –
that’s a fair point, but i think other top 6 teams will have players that you might not want in our team? In my opinion Spurs have players like Lennon, Saha, Sandro, who play fairly regularly there but I wouldn’t put them in my NUFC team.But the point is, that you need to build a team, that’s the hardest part, and sometimes a better player doesn’t fit your team or system.
Man City have played fantasy league really, but have every chance of losing the league to a better “team”
CODARM (The poster formely known as Ibizatoon)
Apr 24, 2012 at 12:04 PM
Comment #38TDS….Agree on some level. He’s certainly better than championship level. I suppose at NUFC he’s almost a small fish in a big pond whereas he’d be a big fish in a small pond at other PL clubs (positioned 8 – 20) imo.
He’s done us well and I for one can’t knock his input and performances, well, no more than any other players who is bound to make mistakes throughout a season.
WWJBD…Hutton? Now that would be downgrading!
baztoon
Apr 24, 2012 at 12:04 PM
Comment #39Just hope he’s as good as his brother then.
STtoon
Apr 24, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Comment #40🙂