Newcastle United had a quiet day in the transfer market yesterday, as no more players were signed by the club, and the late effort to bring Robbie Keane to Tyneside on loan fell through.
Chris Hughton – happy with quiet day
Chris Hughton told the Newcastle Journal this morning:
“I was content to have a quiet deadline day. I was still in my office all day because you are never entirely sure what is going to happen, but I am perfectly happy with what we’ve managed to do in the transfer window.”
“I’m pleased with the players I’ve been able to sign and I feel I have got the targets I wanted in the areas that needed to be strengthened over the summer.”
“The most important thing was we did the best we could in the circumstances. Everyone had to be realistic about the financial situation. There wasn’t a lot of money spent by anyone really in this window, but we’ve managed to bring in some good players and I’ve pretty much done everything I wanted to do.”
“I’ve been really pleased with the support I’ve been given by the owner to do what needed to be done before the window shut, but I’m relieved it has shut. It is a bit of a distraction.” “Now we can just get on with the season and hopefully continue what has been a pretty good start for us.”
Newcastle’s outgoings this summer have been the departure of Nicky Butt and Fabrice Pancrate, whose contracts ran out, and Reserve team players Kazenga LuaLua on loan to Brighton, and Fraser Forester on loan to Celtic.
And transfer-listed Steven Taylor will remain on Tyneside, and we were pleased that Newcastle turned down a potential loan move to Celtic for him yesterday.
We have to hope he will sign a new contract for Newcastle in the next few weeks, otherwise he will probably become a free agent next summer, and the club will get little for him, but they will be due some compensation for the 24 year-old, since he came through the Youth ranks at Newcastle.
Keane would have been a good experienced addition to the Newcastle squad, but in the end it seems that Robbie wanted to stay put at White Hart Lane, where he is way down the pecking order.
Hughton admits Newcastle looked at bringing in another striker, as he continued:
“We did look at bringing in another striker on loan, but I was always mindful of the fact that, if we were going to do that, it had to be someone considerably better than what we have already got here.” “There wasn’t anyone available who was going to do that so we left it. There was no point signing someone just for the sake of it.”
“We’ve got Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi who can play up there on their own, with Kevin Nolan playing slightly higher up the pitch. And we’ve got young Nile Ranger who is coming on in leaps and bounds, as well as Peter Lovenkrands and Leon Best.”
Another important point to realize is that Newcastle kept most of the youngsters on Tyneside, with Nile Ranger available, and he again scored last night in the Reserves 3-1 win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
If Nile is coming on in leaps and bounds, he should make a few appearances for the first team through January.
Comments welcome.
34 comments so far
moonraker
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Comment #1Havn’t been this optimistic about a season for years! Well done CH and the board !!! 🙂
munch27
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Comment #2i must agree with hoots very pleased with this window and think we should look to the bairns for more new first team players at least till january.
deeza
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Comment #3Quick question if tottenham get van der vaart what are the policys on us loaning Robbie Keane and are we really bothered if he come or not comments and views please
WesJameson
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Comment #4I was very pleased with our business this window, that was until i saw, the likes of scumberland, wigan, birmingham, stoke (FFS) spending in excess of 20 million on inproving their squads & what did we spend?? 5Million??
I am by no means a doom monger, but i seriously think That the above mentioned teams did FAR FAR better than us in the market
I mean Stoke got Gudjohnsson and Hleb FFS, anyone who says players like those are over rated, need a serious wake up call
hitman
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Comment #5we needed cover for jose and a forward,i just hope if wor andy gets injured that someone can come in and hit the onion bag.
rkw
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Comment #6Even the strictest of critics has to be coming around at this point. Five high quality signings that represent above all else VALUE. rounded out the club nicely CH has, and high marks for him I say. It was a daunting task for an unproven manager with the purse strings tight the eyes of scrutiny all around. But not only did he round out the club for the present, and get off to a great season start, he’s gone a long way to make sure that we don’t start heading back down the hill any time soon. It’s an exciting time for NUFC I think. Sky’s the limit, or, you know, somewhere round 9th place, that might be the limit.
supermacnumber9
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:46 AM
Comment #7from that reserve team that beat the makems – are there any that you think will not (or should not) appear for the first team at some point this season? By not taking loans from other teams we seem to have a chance to build a realy solid pool of players of our own for the future!
Toon Sweden77
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:52 AM
Comment #8Didnt even mention Xisco when he spoke about strikers??
Anyway, a good transferwindow, well done CH!!
Captain Beefheart
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:52 AM
Comment #9RKW. Sol is not a signing, he’s temp cover for a season ’cause of S Taylor’s petty unwillingness to sign a perfectly good deal. Gosling is not guaranteed to ever play the lad has.
That leaves 3 signings.
PS: No LB cover and no proven striker.
Brilliant, eh?
Captain Beefheart
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Comment #10ERRATUM@9: Gosling is not guaranteed to ever play regularly again, that’s a nasty injury the lad has.
WesJameson
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Comment #11Agreed Captain 🙁
Toon Sweden77
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:57 AM
Comment #12Kadar and R Taylor can fill in at leftback. Rather see Kadar play there then any other clubs young loanee.
Ericles
Sep 1, 2010 at 10:58 AM
Comment #13I think Captain beefheart has a valid point. OK Steven Taylor is staying but is still carrying an injury – so is Gosling for some time. Arfa and Tiote seem a good deals. We run the risk of being depleted if Enrique is injured and one of our recent good performers was loaned to Brighton. The only brilliance I can see is the shine on Ashley’s balding head.
supermacnumber9
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Comment #14S Taylor – if he leaves (for any reason at any time) I gather we get compensation because he came up through the youth team – does anyone know what that amount would be?
And, besides rumours etc., other than celtic has anyone ever made an offer for him either loan or full transfer?
Davies
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:19 AM
Comment #15I honestly believe that, even if we won the Champions’ League, there would still be people on these blogs moaning and demanding that Ashley leaves.
This was a good transfer window. Well done to all involved.
Selbymag
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:20 AM
Comment #16Captain – Goslings injury although bad is not the career ending injury it was 20 years ago. I had my ACL rebuilt in 1998 and im still playing at 40 without the multi million pound rehab facilities Everton/NUFC will of had at their disposal. Optimism my friends is order of the day.
greekgeordie
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Comment #17I cannot understand some peoples mentality, one minute they want C to use our talented young players such as Kadar Tavernier Ferguson and the next minute they scream for a substitute LB in case Jose gets injured.
I agree that we need one more forward but we have enough attacking midfield players to compliment Carrol Ranger Lovengrads and Best.
I feel Ameobi has proven that he will never make it in the PL and CH sees Xisco as a wide player.
Assuming all fit my selection is:
Harper
Simpson Willamsons Colo Jose
Jonas Barton Guthrie Arfa
Nolan
Carrol
on the bench should be Routledge Xisco (for Jonas or Arfa) Smith (Barton or Guthrie) Perch Taylor Cambell for the back four plus Krul
Any comments?
Sav
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:35 AM
Comment #18Biggest disappointment is the limbo this leaves
moonraker
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:37 AM
Comment #19the only thing the Mackems have done is panicked into paying £13m for Gyan!! He may have a bit of a reputation but he’s got to be a risk at that price!
Do we really envy Stoke getting Gudjonnson and Hleb when we’ve got AC, HBA and Tiote? Wake up we’ve done well and at last there’s a low risk,sensible policy. 🙂
Sav
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:39 AM
Comment #20Biggest disappointment is the limbo this leaves Ranger in. With Best and Ameobi still here I can’t see this young lad getting much of a look in and I think he may have been better served by a spell at a Championship side where he could develop.
I think Hoots will favour the more experienced players if Carroll needs replacing through injury or tiredness and Ranger needs his nose kept to the grindstone. Good to see him dusting up the Mackems’ backline last night. Well done, son.
Stardust
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Comment #21A few folk are commenting re the potential for some of the signings to go wrong – but all signings have that potential.
Especially at SJP when many fans will form an opinion that will last from the first 30mins of play they see a new player – they then get on the players back (as they had too high expectations) and crumble the confidence of the player.
We all have to look at ourselves to ask if we truly support or just follow NUFC?
moonraker
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Comment #22think Hleb went to Brum didn’t he?
Currytoon
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:41 AM
Comment #23Greekgeordie – i completely agree, some people are never happy. How anyone can say this wasn’t a great transfer window amazes me. So what if some other clubs have also made some good signings, that shouldn’t detract from ours.
No room for tiote in your 16…?!
Stardust
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:42 AM
Comment #24Sav – Hughton acknowledges today in the Journal that Ranger is coming on leaps and bounds – he mentions him before Loverman and Best so you may see more of him that you think
(hopefully anyway as I think he has real talent if his head is right – and he certainly seems to be grafting so far this year)
moonraker
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Comment #25The fact that Ranger hasn’t gone on loan says to me that he’s gonna get a chance this season at some point!
Phil K
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Comment #26No complaints, CH done good.
Maybe would have a liked a couple more, but maybe it’s better to give the young lads a chance if the likes of Enrique gets injured.
Davies
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:47 AM
Comment #27Like your team Greek Geordie, although I’d have Tiote in there somewhere, and probably Ranger on the bench as well.
moonraker
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Comment #28Hoots is gonna have a selection problem this season; which is a nice problem to have-he’s gotta play Tiote, ben Arfa and Sol in my opinion; biggest problem will be the back 4 cos you cant really use rotation ideally, but if Sol plays to his best you can’t leave him out!
Davies
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:57 AM
Comment #29How about this:
—————–Harps—————-
Simpson – Willo – Colo – Jose Enrique
—————————Tiote————-
————–Barton————————
Ben Arfa—————————- Jonas
——————–Nolan——————-
——————-Carroll——————-
Bench: Lovenkrands, Ranger, Guthrie, Smudge, Sol, Perch, Krull.
jesus was a geordie
Sep 1, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Comment #30Sunderland spent £13+ on an unproven Premier League striker (who’s club record isn’t exactly amazing) and was mostly linked with clubs in an around us in the table…
We spent nout on an unproven Premier League CAM (who’s petulance is as well known as his ability) who was linked with teams with european football…
Who knows Gyan might turn out to be the next Drogba and Ben Arfa might flop, but either way we lose nothing, if Gyan flops he’s a very, very expensive one!
I personally think the previous 2 windows have been absolutely brilliant for the club. We have:
Perch (ok, £1.5m)
Simpson (ok, £1.5m)
Williamson (class, £1m)
Campbell (decent, free)
Routledge (quality so far, £1.3m)
Gosling (potential to be class, free)
Tiote (TBD, £3m)
Ben Arfa (AMAZING, free)
Best (poor so far, £2m)
so basically for less £3m less than the Scum paid for Gyan, we’ve brought in half of our first team squad…Quality business imo!
moonraker
Sep 1, 2010 at 12:10 PM
Comment #31We’ve had our fair share of flops (Luque, Viana, Xisco come to mind and there’s many more).
Basically you don’t know what these guys can do until they play in the PL so our policy on ben Arfa is spot-on!
dublin mag steve
Sep 1, 2010 at 4:16 PM
Comment #32davies i cant believe u have no place for routledge in ur squad his pace and energy have been a breath of fresh air in this team
liamdee100
Sep 1, 2010 at 5:16 PM
Comment #33imo newcastle have always lacked pace and for years this has been our downfall we now have three very fast players in jonas routhledge and ben arfa, so i would try my best to play the three lads in the starting eleven as i believe they could cause trouble for any defence.
HWTL 😀
xfer
Sep 1, 2010 at 6:45 PM
Comment #34@30
Spot on mate.