It’s better news with regard to injuries at Newcastle.

Ben Arfa closing on on return?
Once again it’s been another year that has been dominated by injury at Newcastle. The yearly curse has arguably struck us harder this time around as, quite simply, our squad lacks strength in depth in certain areas.

Still, I have to credit those players who have come in and done a job and, to use a cliche, have ‘taken their chance’ when they have been called upon to fill in for more established Premier League players.

It’s looks as though those injuries are starting to clear up now though and, fingers crossed, it could be that Newcastle have a nearly full squad to choose from when we reach the final few weeks of the season, so I thought that perhaps I would give a quick update on how things stand with regard to injury at the moment.

Dan Gosling is currently easing himself back into training after suffering a setback upon his return from a long-standing cruciate ligament injury. It will be another longer than expected lay-off for the lad as the club seem keen to handle his recovery using a softly-softly appraoch, which is understandable given the length of time he has been out for.

Ryan Taylor is another player who is back in training and is even closer to returning to first-team action. Taylor played in the reserves last night and had Pedro purring as he put in a strong performance in a 2-0 win against Bedlington Terriers. It’s been three months since Sol Campbell clattered Taylor in training and mangled his ankle, so it’s nice to see him return to action unscathed.

Moving on to another Taylor, Stephen will be back in training on Monday as he steps up his his return from a hamstring injury. It’s been a torrid 13 or so months for the defender who has been hampered by knee and shoulder injuries which has restricted him to only a handful of appearances for the first team.

Shola Ameobi was going to be out for six weeks, and he could still be if he doesn’t feel confident enough to play using his specially fitted face mask that he will be going to the USA to get fitted tomorrow. However, if Shola doesn’t have any issues with said gimp mask then he could be back playing in time for the Bolton game, although a return against Everton in the game after would look to be more likely.

Stephen Ireland is pencilled in to return to training at the end of February having being signed from Aston Villa whilst already suffering a knee injury. The move was initially in doubt after Ireland failed his medical, but upon closer inspection the medical team decided that Ireland would make a suitable recovery. I would say that it’s likely to be towards the end of March before we see the loanee anywhere near first-team action.

And finally, saving the best and most anticipated until last, Hatem Ben Arfa is also scheduled to return to training at the end of the month. A return to first team action will be a while yet as he builds his fitness up slowly and effectively puts himself through another pre-season.

Ben Arfa has been keeping himself in shape whilst he has been on the sidelines, but he will still need to rebuild the muscle in his leg slowly to reduce the likelihood of any form of setback. I would say it’s unlikely that we’ll see Ben Arfa back in the black and white again until the end of March at the earliest, maybe even the first week or two in April to be safe. Either way, I doubt that we will see the best of Benny boy this season and will have to wait until next season to see him back in full flight for us.

So that just about covers all of our injured players and their scheduled return dates. Obviously none of them are set in stone and there is a possibility that they could all suffer setbacks, which would be very Newcastle, but it does look like it will give us extra options as we head into the final few weeks of the season.

Fingers crossed!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

112 thoughts on “It’s better news with regard to injuries at Newcastle.

  1. batty its the truth though, doesn’t matter how you interpret it. Most racism is a false accusation or slur on a group of peoples. This isn’t. Labour let people in and they don’t even know who they are are where their from. Or how many there is. Thats not racism, Australia let in only who they want and if a boat turns up near the beach they shoot at it and send them back. Thats really what happens.

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  2. DJG

    Not quite mate, have you ever been to Sydney, its about 50% asian, and Perth is about 50% South Africa.
    The world becoming one. People roam pretty much where they want these day.
    Not saying its right. They shouldn’t just let anybody in. But its getting increaslingly hard to control.

    Here in South Africa, we have 10 million illegal immigrants! Taking local people jobs. Take even half of them out thats 5million jobs. For a nation that has 30% unemployment rates.

    This world shows too much sympathy, and not enough action.

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  3. Batty a guy I tattoo is well to do in the edl and from what he tells me its worse than what a lot of people think. and he also tells me that they arnt against all etnics like they are made out to be in the media, and that they actually have muslim members etc

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  4. dave me lad was going through a phrase where hes been snappy with people ,and chinnin any 1 who sed oot a couple of month ago ,and kept saying he wished he was still oot there ,but hes calmed doon abit now

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  5. JJ

    Aye but they are skilled workers and under 45. Thats who they let in. In the Uk we don’t know who’s here, it’s not Tom, **** and Harry I know that.

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  6. Now I’m getting really deep, but the real saddness is not just the lads going off to war.
    But the cause and reasons behind that war.

    Ie. Making money for the “World’s Elite”… or “Illuminati” – call them what you like.

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  7. Thats the trouble with the world today you make one remark about someone and all of a sudden your a racist or over here sectarian etc which is a lot of sh1te.

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  8. spot on jj ,me lad grew up and relised how corrupt it all is thats why he came oot ,but he dusent like leaving his mates in there 🙁

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  9. JJ-

    Good synopsis, mate. Here in the US, we have a huge problem with illegal immigrants. It’s quite unbelievable. I got nowt against people, but if someone wants to live and be employed here, they need to have citizenship or a legal visa. And yeah- the entire world, save North Korea lol, is way too sympathetic. I’m not a bleeding heart. If you’re too poor/dumb/apathetic to get a job and provide for your family, F ya. Get out. And I cannot STAND seeing American jobs go to unqualified foreigners. Gets on my wick somethin’ fierce. Also hate those damned Feed the Children adverts. Damnit, we’ve got starving kids HERE that could use attention, and ghettos to clean up, and public education that could use a large injection of private sector money. Forget all these other countries that can’t provide for themselves. Not my goddamned problem.

    Ugh. Rant over.

    Howay the ****ing Toon!!

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  10. Batty its hard for him and you do go through a lot of anger and the sad thing is that the MOD never really do owt about helping people cope.
    I always found it strange that I dont feel anger etc over my parents dying I think because they died, but I find it harder coping with the death of friends because they were murdered 😕 if that makes sense

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  11. Ye Batty,

    I’m all for Patriatism, but not when your country lies to you about the reason you are fighting and literally putting your life on the line for their own selfish causes.
    Who could possibly want to stay involved in that!
    Just be greatful your lad got out and wasn’t brainwashed like many have been.

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  12. JJ-

    Has there EVER been a war fought for totally pure reasons? I mean, the American Revolution came close but…

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  13. Truth is, wars are fought because one group of people wanna force their way on another, and insodoing, make a LOT of money and create more power for themselves. Average people may often be brainwashed to believe they’re fighting for something (and WWII is a notable exception), but truthfully, it’s all about more power for the rich.

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  14. JJ > But the cause and reasons behind that war.

    We had a saying we sort of lived by” ours is not to reason why but to do or die” I know it sounds a bit daft but thats how we got on with things. If you start questioning why it plays with your head which can cause a lot of problems but you think a lot more about it when your no longer there

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  15. O’Hurley

    People have called me racist (mainly Chuck and Worky) so many times because of things I’ve said.
    They think they are authorities because they are well read or have spent 10minutes in Africa, but I live here. I see it every day first hand.

    You speak of “Feed the children Projects”, when Zimbabwean citizens were starving, grain gets dropped off (with our tax money in South Africa) paying for it… Then Mugabe ceases the grain, and sells it or uses it as a tool during elections saying people who sign up as members of his party will get fed. Those that don’t starve…

    Its he who kicked all the white farmers out of the country! Its his fault millions are starving, and yet the ‘sympathetic’ world does nothing and calls those being critical racist.

    Those same starving people then are welcomed by our government to seek refuge in South Africa (the same government then praises Mugabe as a great African leader).

    The millions that seek refuge either take locals jobs, or turn to crime to feed families. Many are ex-war veterans themselves. Its a vicious circle.

    Yet, you can’t complain or take action, because then your branded a racist. Its ridiculous. These sympathic people are causing more harm than good.

    Charity starts at home (your own country). I’ve lived in South Africa since birth (28 years) and my family has been here since the 1700’s.

    Yet when I apply for a job now, I come second to the Zimbabwean immigrant, who has a permanent residency because I have a white skin. Then I get people like Worky or Chuck telling me what goes around comes around. What a joke! I was 10 when Apartheid ended.

    There are thousands of examples I could give you, where these evil people get away with murder because of misdirected sympathy.

    Anyway. Thats my rant over 🙄

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  16. Ye Dave, if we don’t have the power to change it, then we ar wasting our time questioning it arn’t we 😕

    Anyway, its late for me 1.30am, so I’m off. See ya tomorrow for football talk eh… 😆

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  17. from the same lad
    “they were outrageous! They started saying look its colochini ( due to my long hair) and then started a conversation with me”

    hahahaha hippy

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  18. “he also said “I try to do the best for the club, even if sometimes you don’t like my decisions, I hate him but he was very polite”

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  19. All wars pretty much include a leader / politician who has an agenda/cause be it land / oil / independence/ evil racist whatever. This person doesn’t usually fight or get injured or anything. The people who get killed are the normal people. I have respect for the armed forces but in terms of vietman / the gulf ect they chose to join up and they knew the risks. I feel more sorry for people who are forced to fight like in a world war where your country is being invaded because of some dictator.

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  20. JJ-

    Spot on mate. I’m 29, btw. American by birth (Southern by the grace of God hehe). I know what you’re sayin’. One of my best girlfriends is South African and I’ve talked with her, her brothers (one of whom plays ruggers for Swansea actually!), and her parents about what things are like over there. Sounds like y’all got a lot of the same problems we do over here, just in different ways. And yeah, pisses me off so damned much when I hear people branded as a “racist” just because they’re actually telling it how it is. I’ve noticed (and please, I mean no offense to all you awesome brits on here but…) a lot of British people are SO quick to jump on the “anti-racist/politically correct” bandwagon without understanding ANYTHING about the issues. Worky and Chuck are GREAT examples of what happens when idealism gets in the way of hardline reason. That’s why we’re having this convo HERE and not there. Anyway, feel free to commiserate with me, bro. I know how ya feel. 🙂

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  21. DJG-

    Actually the United States *drafted* men to fight in Vietnam. TOTALLY different situation than the Gulf War (which I think was freakin’ stupid, but MAY actually pay off dividends in the future). I wouldn’t have fought in Vietnam. I didn’t fight in the Gulf Wars. I WOULD have fought in WWII. Proudly and with distinction.

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  22. Two sides to everything really, can understand frustration-my bro is ex army, 10 years, served in first gulf war and a fair few years in northern ireland…he left too early for the good pension thou and now he sees albanian gangsters in his neighbourhood driving mercs and claiming benefits. I can see why he’s angry, and can appreciate out of that frustration why he’d show that frustration through a political party like the bnp…but at the same time theres so many c*nts who are racist for the sake of it. I remember couple of years back in A level some kid was talking **** about Poles coming here and taking jobs etc and had a go at me as I have a Polish surname, and I absolutely lost it with him, obviously he had no clue what I was on about when I said Roosevelt, churchill along with Stalin carved up Europe and betrayed hundreds of millions to austerity and robbed them of their political freedom-Pretty f*cking sure my grandad earned the right to settle here after fighting in the polish army and later british army..and then seing his country sold out at the end of the war anyway.

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  23. NewkieBrown-

    You know what’s up, mate. No doubt 🙂 One thing the world will never lack is an abundance of c*nts.

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  24. OH..how’s you?……..might be poppin owa your side of the pond once we get settled over in Spain and get all our **** sorted out……one day it’ll happen…..hopefully 😀

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  25. You know they are picky about who they let in right, Rich?

    I mean your lovely wife to be will be fine, but for safety’s sake I’d plan a solo trip if I was her, just i case 😉

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  26. Toonsy…..they’d welcome me with open arms, It’ll be them letting me go home that’ll be the problem 😀

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