It’s hardly surprising that Stoke City are set to offer their captain Ryan Shawcross a new long term deal in an effort to fend off Newcastle United’s interest in the player this summer.
We have been linked with a number of good center-backs of late including Hull City’s Harry Maguire, Celtic’s impressive 22 year-old Croatian Jozo Simunovic and even Werner Bremen’s Italian defender Luca Caldirola.
So it’s not clear which one Rafa Benitez will go after, although he may want to bring two center-backs in this summer.
The report is in the Telegraph and Ryan Shawcross has been at the Potters for ten years since joining them as a 19 year-old back in 2007 from Manchester United.
Ryan Shawcross – could stay at Stoke?
Shawcross has just one year left on his contract and we’ll have to wait and see if the 6ft 3ins defender will accept the new deal or want to try pastures anew.
Like joining Rafa’s revolution on Tyneside, where the manager who has won three European trophies with three different clubs and ow wants to make Newcastle United into a top club in Europe and start to win some trophies for a change.
The next step will be whether Ryan accepts the deal and if he does then good luck to him and Newcastle will need to looks at other candidates.
There are reports he’s very settled at Stoke with a young family.
But most Geordie fans agree that Ryan would be a perfect acquisition for Newcastle because of his vast Premier League experience in addition to his excellent leadership capabilities.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
Health update – I’m off to have blood tests at the hospital now and if all is OK I’ll have my second chemotherapy infusion tomorrow afternoon in an attempt to limit the spread of the prostate cancer.
The following 5 days could be very challenging – also I’m now 60% bald – getting near the Alan Shearer look.
But in very high spirits like most Geordie fans these days.
🙂 🙂 🙂
74 comments so far
catchy in norway
May 3, 2017 at 1:22 PM
Comment #1Keep strong Ed. some people suit a bald head, Kojak did 😉
Mag52
May 3, 2017 at 1:23 PM
Comment #2On the CB question for next season, it looks certain that Rafa will buy a proven CB and it’ll be a matter of seeing who, of Lascelles and Clark, both of whom had good seasons, will be alongside him as starters.
catchy in norway
May 3, 2017 at 1:26 PM
Comment #3Expat,
you made my case, Mbemba did look class , and look who made the mistakes.
https://youtu.be/PEKHI99hHRc
got sucked into watching the ball, and left Mbemba all alone
nut meg
May 3, 2017 at 1:27 PM
Comment #4Hope all goes well for you Ed, keep ya chin up bonny lad.
ShirebrookToon
May 3, 2017 at 1:29 PM
Comment #5Good luck Ed. Hope all goes well for you. The Geordie nation is with you in spirit 🙂
Mag52
May 3, 2017 at 1:30 PM
Comment #6Bald is the ‘in’ look these days Ed.
We’re all rooting for you and, like you, feeling good about our club.
beermonkey
May 3, 2017 at 1:30 PM
Comment #7when bumble left us and went to wigan then sunderland
i can remember a couple of things he did that helped us
get points
were these errors or gifts
catchy in norway
May 3, 2017 at 1:35 PM
Comment #8Beer
Titus was one of the best passers of the ball we had, some of his long balls were amazing, i also think he could head the ball, i mean really attack it which i don’t think many do, i think Titus could have played for England, if he played for 90 mins, but he didn’t , he switched off at some point in a lot of games
JP...from The Rock
May 3, 2017 at 1:41 PM
Comment #9Ed – All the best pal. Hope you get well soon and kick cancer in the ass! Be strong mate, you will get through it okay. Positive vibrations 🙂
barkel
May 3, 2017 at 1:43 PM
Comment #10Best of luck Ed, you’ve the Geordie nation behind you.
Out of the CB’s mentioned I’d like to see Simunovic as our number 1 target. Shawcross is decent but he’s not a massive improvement on what we have, if he was he wouldn’t be at Stoke
Ibizatoon
May 3, 2017 at 1:46 PM
Comment #11Good luck Ed!
JP...from The Rock
May 3, 2017 at 1:48 PM
Comment #12Bramble was a calamity. A disaster wating to happen. I couldn’t be happier when we sold him. We really need a top draw defender to be a rock a the back for us. One that can develop into our most consistent defender ever and become a folk hero in the process. Do we have one at the club already in Lacselles, Clark, Mbemba, Hanley? I would like to think we do but common sense tells me we haven’t found that gem yet.
That distinct defender can help form the backbone of an exciting team. We have to shut teams out to win them. And my God have we leaked silly goals in these past decades.
Ideally we need one top top player in each position ie, CB, CDM, CAM, ST. The wingers could come be improved upon gradually.
I can’t wait to see what Rafa does with a decent transfer budget.
catchy in norway
May 3, 2017 at 2:07 PM
Comment #13JP
unfortunately you will never see it, because of 3 reasons,
1- top players cost top money, i’m thinking 20 mill plus, sure you could find gems, but if rafa bought players at 5-10 million, Ashley would get slated for doing it on the cheap.
2- the prem is all about over paying for average players,
3- Fifa fair play, Fifa could come down on us for spending to much in one Window,
it’s very sad , but 100million might buy you 5 average florian thuavans, at today’s prices
gonufc (Newcastle United Sports Direct Advertising Club)
May 3, 2017 at 2:08 PM
Comment #14Please, please no to Shawcross!
He’s pretty much guaranteed atleast one “Was it a penalty?” moment per match and defends by grappling. That and the fact that playing him stunts the team in terms of passing.
firebug666
May 3, 2017 at 2:11 PM
Comment #15Chin up Ed you’ll have this beat marra, thoughts and best wishes.
Ron Knee
May 3, 2017 at 2:14 PM
Comment #16All the best, Ed!
ShirebrookToon
May 3, 2017 at 2:15 PM
Comment #17Is it Sunday yet
Tsunki
May 3, 2017 at 2:15 PM
Comment #18Iirc bramble was actually a monster of a defender, one of the best prospects we had for a long time. The fact that he had a time switch was a pretty unique fault tbf. It’s excusable that it wasn’t picked up when scouting the lad. I don’t think it became apparent for a number of games either. And at Wigan he got player of the year awards. Go figure 🙂
For an example of the imperfection inherent in even the best, i.e.SBR, catchy would have done better to single out Carl Cort. £1m more and absolutely shocking 😀
Putting Lascelles into that stable is a bit over the top to say the least. How much did we pay for him?
Rotonda heights
May 3, 2017 at 2:17 PM
Comment #19wouldn’t be upset to miss out on shawlcross.
come on ed, keep fighting lad.
Tsunki
May 3, 2017 at 2:17 PM
Comment #20Just keep it going Ed, no idea how you maintain this land of the lost ha ha but im sure the blog is right behind you.
Bambams
May 3, 2017 at 2:20 PM
Comment #21Good luck Ed
Stay strong fella
JP...from The Rock
May 3, 2017 at 2:21 PM
Comment #22Catchy- well although I agree with some of what you’ve said I was referring to what Rafa can do with the money. Not saying he is going to do that all in this window, but in two or three windows. I wish we dould but it would be very ahrd for the reasons you mentioned. Though I wasn’t clear I meant that Rafa could unearth a gem or two and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Some relative unknowns that become stars and we could be half way there. Exciting times ahead. What is scaring me a bit is the uncertainty regarding Rafa’s future and his transfer budget.
catchy in norway
May 3, 2017 at 2:23 PM
Comment #23TUNSKI,
shola was an even better choice than Cort,
I used to go and watch all the reserve games back then, and Shola wasnt that good, but SBR needed a strong CF for the game VS chelsea, both Chopra and Sholas cousin richard Ofiong ( dont know if thats how it was spelt) were better goal scorers, but shola could hold up the ball.
Later SBR said shola deserved a mans wage and gave him 50K a week. how is that for poor judgment ?
theystillletmevote
May 3, 2017 at 2:25 PM
Comment #24Very best wishes to you Ed in your fight.
Good luck.
Malta Mag
May 3, 2017 at 2:26 PM
Comment #25Just to wish you luck with the hospital check up Ed and hope everything turns out well. You’re doing a great job for everyone associated with our great club and I hope others appreciate the amount of hours you must put in to satisfy our thirst for information on the club. Take care mate
hibbit
May 3, 2017 at 2:30 PM
Comment #26stay strong Ed
by the way there’s nowt wrong with the Shearer look i’ve had it for years
firebug666
May 3, 2017 at 2:31 PM
Comment #27Seems like this weekend there will be a winners and runner up trophy at both Villa Park and SJP to cover all scenarios.
I recon they should just send the winners trophy to SJP, confident that’s where it will end up.
catchy in norway
May 3, 2017 at 2:35 PM
Comment #28JP
i believe what jamie carragher said in the Mail, Rafa loves these conflicts, its how he works, and Rafa’s stock at big clubs is not that high right now, just look at how many clubs has manged in the last 6 years, Right now he is at the best place for him, a big club with lots of potential in the premier league where the money is, and he is looved by the fans, which i dont he has been since his liverpool days.
and for the record, i believe he will unearth some gems because he is a good coach, Goofy is a perfect example of his coaching, under p45, he came scored goals and could play a bit, P45 coached that out of him, but Rafa has got him back to the player he was.
on a seperate note, we need to get Thuavin back at the club, his stock is going through the roof, on this seasons form he is a 25 million pound player
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/99143/Show/Florian-Thauvin
Davies
May 3, 2017 at 2:35 PM
Comment #29Best of luck, Ed. You’ll outlive us all yet.
GeordieDan
May 3, 2017 at 2:37 PM
Comment #30All the best Ed. Hope it all goes well for you mate. ?
sweendog
May 3, 2017 at 2:43 PM
Comment #31Good luck ed, just think youll be feeling better when the title winning party begins this sat ?
G
May 3, 2017 at 2:43 PM
Comment #32@Cachy, I thought Thauvin had a one of those loan ‘triggers’ that made the transfer automatic if he had played enough games. Did I imagine that? (I may well have?)
catchy in norway
May 3, 2017 at 2:47 PM
Comment #33G
I think he has something like that, but at the end of the day he is our player, and his value has gone up.
magpie_in_ohio
May 3, 2017 at 2:48 PM
Comment #34Best of luck Ed. Hope things go well. Stay strong
Jib
May 3, 2017 at 2:56 PM
Comment #35G
He played the requisite number of games some time back
Marseilles paid €11 million to get him back.
Nufc took a £5 million hit on the deal and to cap it all Spurs and Bayern are now chasing him
Zekalea
May 3, 2017 at 3:05 PM
Comment #36Hope all goes well ed, nothing wrong with being a bit bald 🙂 . On creative midfielders (also plays as a winger) i think we should take a look at forsberg from rb Leipzig dubbed ‘king of the assist’ think he looks like what we need…
JP...from The Rock
May 3, 2017 at 3:07 PM
Comment #37Catchy- yeah that Thauvin fella is quite a good player who would have thought lol honestly I think we sent him away way too soon for him to realize his full potential here. We’ve stuck by other duds much much longer than we did with him and this kid had talent not like the others.
That said I think we can’t get him back as it was an appearances clause he had and I think he met that number so we can wave goodbye to our potential gem of a winger/playmaker there. Sad I know. But you know what is even sadder, the number of players that we’ve looked at buying and then deciding it’s not worth the money like for example Delle Alli! It really pisses me off thinking that he could have been our player but for a couple of million we said nahh. Arrrghhh! Now look how much he’s worth and just the sort of player we need.
wynsleap
May 3, 2017 at 3:25 PM
Comment #38Hi Ed.
The very best of luck with your treatment.
Don’t worry about the bald look. Had that percentage and more for a lot of years now. It’s no problem and a lot less bother!
Re Shawcross. Nah – not for me thanks.
wynsleap
May 3, 2017 at 3:30 PM
Comment #39JP @ 37
Yeah – too right. We were strongly tipped for Eric Dier too before Spurs got him.
No good spotting ’em if you’re not going to pursue and buy ’em. Let’s hope Rafa stays to sort that problem out.
Would still like Traore from the Boro if they go down. I’m sure he’d be a sensation under a top manger like our boss.
Frightening after burners.
barkel
May 3, 2017 at 3:34 PM
Comment #40JP
I’m pretty sure Delle Alli decided that he wanted to stay down south, I don’t think it was a case of us not putting up enough cash for him.
I agree with your thoughts on Thauvin, he needed more time to settle in and a few more starts would have been good for him. He came in to a terrible team low on confidence with an awful coach, it will be interesting to see if he tries his luck back in the Prem or if he goes to somewhere else in Europe