Steve Harper has always been a great team player in the 19 years since Kevin Keegan signed him from Seaham Red Star in the summer of 1993.
Steve Harper – shown in action for Newcastle this season
Steve has played 197 times for Newcastle and he’s hoping he can crack the 200 barrier this season, but he knows that Tim Krul will resume training next Tuesday:
“I would like to get to 300, but I cannot see it happening at my age, but 200 would be nice.” “That is a landmark I would like to get to.” “We’ve got a long season ahead of us and we know there are plenty of games ahead.”
“Tim’s comeback’s not too far away, but we do have a lot of games coming up.” “We have Robbie here too pushing for a place. He has made big strides forward in this last month or two.” “Those performances will do him the world of good.”
Even though Rob Elliot has looked very good in the games he’s appeared for Newcastle this season, we would still expect Steve to be the goalkeeper in the Europa League games through the end of the year – there are four of them left – and Newcastle are in a great position to win Group D and get through the group stages of the competition.
Steve Harper has made six appearances for the Newcastle side this season and Rob Elliot has made three, and it will be interesting to see which goalkeeper Alan chooses for our next Europa League game at home to Club Brugge on Thursday 25th October, and it’s a game we must win.
Steve was troubled by that bad knee of his last season, but it seems to be much stronger these days and he hasn’t missed much training at all:
“It feels good.” “I have said it before, Woody’s calling me ‘Cocoon’ and I am enjoying it.” “Last year, my knee was not good – I was lucky if I could train twice a week.”
“In three months this season, I have missed just two days’ training and been involved in every first-team game. Long may it continue!”
The performances of Steve Harper and Rob Elliot this season has shown that Newcastle have three very capable goalkeepers on their books with the young Tim Krul very capable of becoming a world-class goalkeeper in the not too distant future.
And for good measure we have the highly rated Jak Alnwick coming through the ranks, and the 19 year-old has already played for the England U19 and U20 sides.
Goalkeeper is not a position we should be too worried about in the future.
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114 comments so far
numba9
Oct 13, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Comment #1del boy lambsarse. what a silly little man
Sav
Oct 13, 2012 at 11:40 AM
Comment #22 mil for Forster and now he’s in the England squad. Another great Lambiass deal for the Toon.
Llambias saying we pay top wage for 11 ‘purples'(?!) and second tier wages for the rest? Where is the competition for places in that? Where is there a sense of ‘The Squad’? And what happens if Pards decides to pick Gael ahead of some of the senior 11? How will that go down? Not to mention we only have a squad of 22, not 25 anyway (and that includes Xisco!).
Go back to calling ‘housie’, man. Its all you’re fit and proper for. Bring back Chris Mort.
numba9
Oct 13, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Comment #3haha well said sav. this man doesnt know anything about the game and much less about business, how can a team that finish 5th only spend 3 mill to build on success? and expect it to be rosey. we have needed defenders for ages and him and ash proceed to penny pinch while raking it in off us. add that to the free advertising ash has had allover sjp, i think they owe us more.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 11:54 AM
Comment #4Why does everyone keep going on about selling Forster? Didn’t he want to go and get first team football? It’s easy to say now (having lost Krul and Elliot for a bit) that we should have kept him, but realistically, weren’t we best to sell rather than loan him out and let him run his contract slowly, but surely down?
With all the things we do have to not be happy with, surely this isn’t one of them?
niafron
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Comment #5Bonjour messieurs.
Watched France against Japan yesterday. So i need a little help from my friends…
Could you say something to make me smile?
bollance
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:04 PM
Comment #6Ibiza
Spot on mate. He was at the crossroads with his career. Wanted 1st team football which we couldnt give him realistically. He has move to further his career and getting a call up means he is on the right track.
If Forster comes through at a different time then maybe he would have become number 1 but there are few as good as Krul.
The one thing I like about Krul is that he does not drop clangers. Very dependable, which must breath confidence through the team.
Sav
Think chis mort came in due to his law expertise which would be seemingly less needed now. Instead we have someone who oversees mike Ashley’s gambles, like not buying the defender 😉
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Comment #7Niafron….I didn’t see the result…I’m assuming it didn’t go so well?
So, some things to make you smile…..
Ermmm……
Nope, sorry. Nothing but misery for the rest of our supporting days I’m afraid. Glad to be of service.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:08 PM
Comment #8Bollance….Absolutely. We weren’t going to keep him unless he got more first team action and it was just Tim’s time and I can’t say I’m disappointed by that. I’m pretty sure most fans were saying some 12 months ago that Forster should be sold, mind you, they probably thought we’d get more money and it’d be invested back in to the squad – silly silly 🙂
On Derek, he’s clearly at the club as he comes across as a friendly down to earth guy, you know, someone the fans can relate to.
Is a sarcasm warning required there?
Kebabacus
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:09 PM
Comment #9Forster being in the England squad doesn‘t change anything. He wanted to leave. Besides, being third choice England keeper is like being the third smartest employee in a Burger King restaurant.
Talking about goalies, did anyone see Bale‘s second goal last night? It reminded me of the Martins rocket against Spurs, only across the keeper to the far post.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:12 PM
Comment #10Kebabacus… That made me smile. Nice analogy 🙂 Didn’t watch any international football, nice goal?
Anyone watch the England game? From what I’ve read not spectacular, but got the job done, fair assessment?
jesperfuglsang
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Comment #11Afternoon lads 🙂
…has anyone else problems login into premierleague.com today? (maybe it is just me, but I need to make sure >
I am still beating Ibiza ;))
niafron
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Comment #120-1 for Japan.
France is beyond all hopes.
Well, Newcastle at least is a true club. I would even say a Nation.
Something who make sense. As the song say:
” Win, lose, we don’t care,
We always be there”
We lost that in France. Players don’t seem to have something to play for.
jesperfuglsang
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Comment #13Ibiza…I watched Denmark and it was frightfully boring 🙁
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Comment #14Jesper….I have given up looking at fantasy football…for now at least 🙂
Niafron…Well if France are finished, what chance does Newcastle have?
Should we all just agree that international football is a painful experience unless your Spanish?
jesperfuglsang
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:23 PM
Comment #15niafron…cheer up mate 🙂
…at least Nasri didn’t play (now you just need to rid yourself of Benzema and Ribery :))
FatmanJoe
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:23 PM
Comment #16Ibiza
We were underwhelming as always. Jags looked shaky as anything against a crap striker. Walker was woeful! Absolutely terrible. Crowd was frustrated with him all game.
Welbeck and Rooney were trying fancy stuff all game but generally getting the basics wrong.
Baines was incredible. Easy to say against poor opposition but he did everything right. Without him it might have been a much smaller margin of victory.
Chamberlain did bought except the goal. Cahill wasted two golden chances.
Carrick looked ok, a few good passes but nought special. Joe hart didn’t touch the ball with his hands all game.
Atmosphere was a bit dull. Nothing to get excited about really.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Comment #17Fatman……Nothing like the national team to get the pride of the country sky high.
Right then, so 5 minutes of discussing England and other international games.
Anything else?
Think I’d rather talk about how Ashley is rinsing us for everything we have (that is what we’re left with after Wonga have bled us dry).
Another idea….who do I contact, wordpress or Ed about making “Wonga” a bad word needing moderation?
niafron
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:34 PM
Comment #18Did you seen this reportage with Ben arfa’s cooking some salmon?
Ahah!
Was great!
MagpiesFlyHigh
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Comment #19Ibiza
For many fantasy football is the only way their team can win at all.
The Gareth Bale first 11 won so I’m happy…though my countrymen here in Scotland are not.. Levein OUT !
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:39 PM
Comment #20MFH…Don’t go there. Have you seen where I sit in the fantasy league? I’m renaming it the nightmare league. 🙂
Niafron….When we have to turn to our footballers and their cooking segments, we may have a problem 😉
I am off….take care
Kebabacus
Oct 13, 2012 at 12:45 PM
Comment #21Alreet Ibiza, yea it was a great goal. In answer to your question from ages ago, I‘m teaching English in Terrassa, just outside of Barca.
Just bought my first ticket to the Nou Camp. 21 Euros!
I thought England did alright last night. Can‘t believe people are complaining about 5 nil and 86 percent possesion.
MagpiesFlyHigh
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:12 PM
Comment #22THE COLOUR PURPLE
A range of colours between red and blue – a ‘royal’ colour. Violet, magenta, indigo are practically purples as they are red/blue mixes.
Two schools of thought- the Lame-arse and Bollance
Purple Haze …. we only need 11 ‘purple’ or top ranked players
Followers are squad players who fill in.
Purple Rain …. we need 15+ purple ranked players.
Squad players are trying to get to or are potential purple status players in development are violets. Also includes solid squad players.
Well I’m with the Purple Rain school of player management proposed by Bollance on here earlier.
However, I think we need 18 purple level players partly to cover injuries, international callups and suspensions as well as loss of form, but also for competition. Some guys really need someone breathing down their necks to motivate them to play well…mentioning no names..
IMO we need cover at the purple level in key areas.
SO we need:
1 purple keeper (with at least a solid violet as back up)
3 purple FBs – one who can double left and right and ideally as CB too
3 purple CBs … injuries ? nuff said…and then another 2 violets
2 purple DMs …. another hard wearing position for injuries and accumulated yellows, so 2 solid violets too
3 purple AMs… ideally two capable of playmaking
3 purple CFs… we have two and we need 2 violets
2 purple flanking players.. plus at least two violets. The flanking players might be wingers or able to double as wingbacks depending on formation.
That’s 18 purples. Then we need the squad to have another 10 violets.
If we have an Anita who ought to be a purple in 2 positions then we could reduce the total to 16 purples as we may well get players out at FB/CB/DM all at the same time so need double cover even for multi-position players
Benny as a no 10 could either be an AM purple or forward purple..he fits in a couple of positions
Finally I think we have players like Bigi and hopefully Fergie, Amal etc., who are going to be electric purples..
The Purple Haze school of Lame-arse is too limited, unambitious and just doesn’t reflect the real world.
None of this is remotely equivalent to the Panini school of Kets which is pure fantasy and pretty bleak as he wants certain players to get injuries so they can’t be selected
FatmanJoe
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:29 PM
Comment #23Kebabacus
Result fine but performance wasn’t. Really highlighted a lot of flaws – not saying my opinion matters more than most but being there really does make a difference to watching it on telly.
Possession is fine if you use it well and we really didn’t. San Marino just hoofed it out of play every time they got it – even their keeper with his goal kicks. They weren’t there to play, they were there to try and not get humiliated. So 86 doesn’t really mean a great deal then, does it!?
We should have shot more, when we did shoot get it on target and we needed to put more balls into the box rather than faffing around and trying to walk it into the net.
We just didn’t get the basics right. Apart from baines and carrick who actually played properly. The other looked a bit arrogant.
Walker was useless. Can’t remember him doing anything right. The Marino players actually stopped marking him after a while coz he would lose possession or run out of play.
archaeomag
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:35 PM
Comment #24I am not worried about a gaolie – I’m sure Perchino can play in goal if required.
FatmanJoe
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Comment #25So is Derek basically saying not to expect any decent players in the next couple of windows? My usual sunny bubbly positive side is starting to get a dark looming shadow over it.
But perch also has the hardest shot on him in our squad so he can also play as back up to ba if required. Demba perchinio.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Comment #26Kebabacus….21€….decent. Who are they playing against….I’ve been waiting for Ibiza to climb the leagues, but may have to jump off to Majorca to catch some football – must be the partying over here or something 🙂
MFH….I love purple rain, but have trouble faulting purple haze….we are talking music, right?
Whilst I accept we’re building slowly and not the Man City way, but 11 “purples” really doesn’t cut it long term. Can anyone confirm if Derek had been drinking before this statement?
“I’ve been so many places
I’ve seen so many faces
But nothing compares
To these blue and yellow purple hills”
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Comment #27Fatman…As per my last statement, if he really only means we’ll have 11 what I would consider ready made (ish) players, then even I, the undying optimist will be, shall we say, disappointed.
Not jumping ship by any stretch of the imagination, but his comments are extremely short of inspiring. Makes me think perhaps he’s been giving the team talks before kick off and Pardew is taking over at HT. Would explain the slow starts.
FatmanJoe
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Comment #28Yea sounds about right lol
He depresses me every time he makes a statement!
Bring back mort…
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:54 PM
Comment #29I wonder how Joe Kinnear would do in Dereks role? I miss him. If I wasn’t a Newcastle fan that could have been one of the most entertaining few months in all of history.
jesperfuglsang
Oct 13, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Comment #30Ibiza…when is DL not drinking? 😉
…I think he has some sort of tourettes syndrom!
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:03 PM
Comment #31Jesper…Then perhaps we should be encouraging him more. You know, helping him flourish at Newcastle. I say we cheer him.
Derek! Derek!
Christ, now I need a drink.
BandB
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:23 PM
Comment #32Back in September 2008, Mike Ashley released a statement saying he intended to put the club up for sale. One of the reasons he gave was that he and his children had been threatened at SJP and the police had advised him they could not guarantee his safety.
This is an extract from that statement.
‘But I am now a dad who can’t take his kids to a football game on a Saturday because I am advised that we would be assaulted. Therefore, I am no longer prepared to subsidise Newcastle United.’
When Mike Ashley first went into Sports retailing, he was warned to keep his nose clean by the heads of the established giants, or they would finish him. His revenge has been slow and thorough.
Mike Ashley can, and has, used Newcastle United as a platform for Sports Direct, without it costing him a penny. If he could do that and enjoy himself dreaming up new ways to amuse himself with those whingeing little Geordies, why would he not do it? He’s not a fan. If someone threatened my kids, they could go to hell. It’s possible he feels the same.
The club can be a well-run business model, without any need for it to be a successful footballing venture. I waited to see the Wonga deal being spun. Like drunken gamblers on a losing spree, we could swallow it because it would mean investment on the pitch. That fig-leaf was whipped away quickly enough. Now I’m seeing it being blythly stated on here that buying players isn’t important. Ah get, ya!
As Redbeard Rum said in Blackadder: “Opinion’s divided My Lord. Everyone else thinks you need a crew. I think you don’t.”
We might buy purple, if we sell a purple. And only if there’s a tasty potential sell-on value. As for the kids coming though. Well the guys over at NUFC.Com are such lousy neggars and Mackems they go to almost every game at every level. They report it’s not happening.
Depressing. It is. But not as depressing as reading people who are being punched and punched and punched coming back with: “It’s okay Mum, I know Mike loves me, really.”
I’ll get my coat.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:30 PM
Comment #33BandB…..Good job we’re mainly playing Sundays and Thursdays then.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:34 PM
Comment #34If anyone thinks Mike is involved as he loves the club, truly would be delusional. I have been called Pro Ashley (Well, that’s the nicest term that’s been used anyway), when in truth, I am pro running the club sensibly.
We have been a joke for a while now and whilst Mike is unlikely the messiah (“He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy”), he has brought some much needed stability. For me, where things will become an issue for me is down the line, not now. People say top 10 and pushing for Europe isn’t good enough for us. At the moment, I disagree. Some good ground work is being done and I would hope that is with a plan to build, not just to have strong footings. Time will tell, but whilst their intentions don’t seem overly exciting at the minute, I have been impressed with the progress to date (well, since relegation – there wasn’t anything impressive about that).
jesperfuglsang
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:37 PM
Comment #35Ibiza…are you still in England or have you been exiled once again?
jesperfuglsang
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:41 PM
Comment #36By the way caughtoffside (not that they ever get anything right) have us linked with Burnley’s Charlie Austin!
…is he any good?
ppb
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:43 PM
Comment #37i feel violated. bandb has came, left, and im in a crumpled heap on he floor bleeding from places i don’t want to talk about
jesperfuglsang
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:46 PM
Comment #38ppB…stop bleeding on the floor mate 😀 (and pull yourself together)
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:47 PM
Comment #39Jesper….Once again, I dropped your name and got a free flight outta there. Not sure what you did, but I get an awful lot of free travel out of the UK from it, so thanks.
No idea on Charlie Austin.
ppb….Not even a kiss goodbye…just makes me feel cheap. On your last comment, try a tampon or two.
ppb
Oct 13, 2012 at 2:53 PM
Comment #40*quivers*