The NUFC cull continues…

toonsy
Wayne Routledge

Wayne Routledge
Routledge set for the chop?
It seems as though Alan Pardew is pressing ahead and shaping the squad for the new season despite all of the mumblings of discontent going on around Newcastle at the moment.

It seems as though the door is going to be open to more of the fringe players as they are about to be told that their chances of first-team football are going to be limited in the forthcoming season. The message from Pardew is simple. Know your role and understand it, and there is the door if you don’t like it.

According to The Chronicle that threat is aimed at players such as Alan Smith (we know already he has been told he can leave, (yet like a bad smell he continues to linger), Nile Ranger, Wayne Routledge and so on. Players who are only ever going to be on the periphery of the squad are the targets this time around.

“There will be a couple of decisions that will have to be made,” Pardew told The Chronicle. “It is about accepting your role in the squad. We have players like Joey Barton and Fabricio Coloccini who will be expecting to play every game.”

“But we also need players who will need to make competition for places below that group. Some may not see a lot of football.”

“It is up to them if they are prepared to stay and be in that role – or move on. Those are the types of conversations I will be having with the players involved over the next seven or eight days.”

Well I guess you can’t say that he isn’t being honest with his squad.

However I’d urge caution when dealing with matters like this. Granted some of them players are useless and are about as much use in the Premier League as a chocolate fireguard, like Wayne Routledge for example, but it is a squad game and at some point we will need to call on backup players and hope that they can do a job.

Those that were around last season (so most of them) will have seen that they all ended up getting minutes on the pitch in some form or another so they’ll get chances again this time around. It’s up to then to then stake their claim for a more important role, like Leon Best did, although with the striker up for sale it leaves me wondering just what the point in trying actually is.

I also take note that The Chronicle understands that Barcelona are interested in Jose Enrique.

Quite how they’d know this is beyond me, and probably beyond many of us, but few would begrudge the Spaniard a move to arguably the biggest club in World football. Personally a good three quarters of one Premier League season doesn’t make a Barcelona player, but I wouldn’t get angry if he did end up moving to the Nou Camp. Somehow I can’t see it coming off though. Jose is a good player. but he is not a Barcelona player.

What do you reckon? Too many chnages too soon? Jose to Barca?

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.

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110 thoughts on “The NUFC cull continues…”

  1. Well I think thats fair enough, and it gives the youngsters a chance to step up when the senior backup players decide they want to move on.

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  3. Fine, move them on but bring replacements in, our squad is one of the smallest to start with so if you add those 4 to Campbell, Kuqi, Nolan and Ireland then we will be 4 down on last year, the quality appears to have improved but will count for nothing if we get a bad run of injuries.

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  8. Big Dave – couldn’t agree more. People are really scraping the anti-ashley barrel when they say our squad is weaker without them three!

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  9. Will the supporter with the brain please step forward??? Pardew couldn’t press ahead with forming sweet FA without permission from the fat lying git and his cockney cronies; wake up lads… Who writes this bullshit Ashleys favourite brown nose???

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  11. TC not totally convinced we are stronger.
    Looking at the line up at Goodison where HBA played, And Scored!! we are shy AC & KN from that starting line up. Are Ba & Cabaye better? we will see. Does Marveaux replace Routlege on RW or Jonas who was on the bench. That bit looks stronger. Like to see the pre-season before we judge.

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  12. That banner doesn’t need to change for a while, huh? 😀

    Until Shearer turns traitor and becomes manager of Sunderland!

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  14. Probably pouch. You’ve said all you ever needed to with your comment “Pouch” 😆

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  16. Army – There is none. And people who say he’s wearing the No10 training kit should be shot as they are a waste of oxygen. Wait until its confirmed man.

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  17. Im looking forward to HBA, Ba, Shola and Best tearing the premiership apart next season! 😛

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  19. Pardew and the board better be carefull. they are going to **** off a lot of players and it is gonna come back to bite them. We deffinately are gonna need to use some of them at some point this year. ya they may not be world beaters but can fill in when needed. which is gonna happen this year at some point.

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  22. Forcing these players out is a bad move… If you don;t get rid of them then not only do you have a sub standard player on your books but a pissed off sub standard player who will give you nothing back.

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  23. Oh look, Benny in a training kit which all players switch about. There is also a pic of him in the 37 by the way 🙄

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  26. @lesh

    Come on fella! We’ve sold England’s number 9 and we’ve got Ba as his replacement!

    Genius! 😆

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  28. RB at 22. Most of the squad know where they stand. If they don’t they are delusional. Telling someone what you think they can do just may inspire them to improve their play-if they have the physical ability to do so. For others, the shock value can bring them into focus. And for a few, they will just give up.

    Ultimately, if NUFC is willing to pony up most of their wages, there is a team somewhere that will take them on loan.

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  29. Carroll as England’s #9 says more about the current England squad than it does about Carroll.

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  31. @MDS

    Ba as his replacement says more about this regime than it does about Ba. 🙄

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  33. Bobby – You’re so boring man. I bet you can’t talk to your “wife” without mentioning replacements or the Carroll money

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  36. @army

    Who am I to argue with Tony Pulis who described him as a walking time bomb when referring to his injury problems. 😕

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  40. jobey i cant talk 2 my mrs without askn her ” have we have signed any1 2day ” 😆

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  43. BOBBY SHINTON NUMBER 9
    July 6, 2011 at 15:04
    @army
    Who am I to argue with Tony Pulis who described him as a walking time bomb when referring to his injury problems

    i think its a risk we had to take when he was on a free like

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  44. I’m sure it’s tiring for you. It’s equally as tiring for me reading your opinions.

    But that’s what blogs are about surely. 😉

    Craic on. 😆

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  45. My only concern is changing the squad too much. There are a lot of players that I want replaced but chemistry on the pitch usually takes a while to form. If we all the sudden have 7 new starters, it could mean a very slow start which can lead to player and supporter unrest, which can lead to pardew imploding, which can lead to his sacking and lead to….?
    That’s why Joey is so vital to us next season. We’ve lost Nolan and Joey IMO is the only player who can hold the team together out of the gates and keep the new lads ticking along.

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  46. Afternoon lads….

    what’s the craic then? Anything exciting or just the same old speculation?

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  47. That the same Pulis who attempted to buy Carroll for £1.5 million? Who are we to argue with that glowing judge of a players talent 😉

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  50. Moreno- cracking read last night. I agree, I’m starting to feel like they’re swindling us.
    Either give us the truth or say nowt. And if that is the truth then they can fck off.

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  51. Bobby – the thing is though, i actually comment on what the individual blogs are about, i don’t just come on and spout the same old same old like you 🙂

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  52. Army – So do I mate. Ultimately it won’t matter though because he was free and didn’t cost upwards of £7 million therefore rendering him eternally uselsss….

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  53. @army

    Did you say he was free?

    Oh dear. Not according to Pardew. He reckons the hidden costs are big. 😆

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  54. Jobey @ 51 – Agree. You DON’T swing every article comment back to the same old **** and keep it relatively on topic. Well done 🙂

    Mind you, I guess you know what it’s like to spend an hour of your won time writing something only to have the same person railroad it almost immediately.

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  55. I’ve never wished a career ending injury on anyone, but one for Carroll would be worth it if only to shut people up about him. It’ll give him more time to glass people/hit women/bite his brothers thumb/get drunk/arrested aswell so everyone is a winner 🙂

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  56. Toonsy- aye, if we paid the three players actual worth it would be around 20mil. I wonder if there would still be complaining then.
    I think the club should be applauded for saving around 15 mil. But the worrying bit for me is like Moreno said yest about the club telling us where the funds are going as if if Andy wasn’t sold there would be no money to do what we’ve done so far…

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  57. @55 – the only person i’ve wished one on is Carroll, so your proposition sounds a good’un

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  58. Toonsy – bit harsh to say I should be shot mate.

    Only posting a pic of him wearing a number 10 shirt. Looks fairly conclusive to me fella. 😐

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  59. Folks are getting mighty sensitive and quick to stick a label on anyone that has a negative view on the happenings at the club, my earlier post was merely pointing out that we are decreasing the size of the squad in terms of senior players, who can argue with that?
    The quality appears to be better but who knows and im sure it was the manager who complained of his squad being too small on more than one occasion last season, they may address this problem but the Chron is calling it a ” Cull”, hard to disagree with that as well.

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  60. TOONSY
    July 6, 2011 at 15:18
    I’ve never wished a career ending injury on anyone, but one for Carroll would be worth it if only to shut people up about him. It’ll give him more time to glass people/hit women/bite his brothers thumb/get drunk/arrested aswell so everyone is a winner
    😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 bite his brothers thumb 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆

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  61. Jobey – Don’t get me wrong. I genuinely hope he goes on to be great and whatever he wants to do with his career, but it would also help the healing process that some people are still going through clearly 🙂

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  62. The squads not too small imo, i think we’ve got something like 22 or 23 first teamers, not dis-similar to the top teams.we just lack their quality. we’ve got plenty of players, just lacks the quality in depth

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  63. cant waaaaaaaaaaaaaaait until liverpool come to st james’s to see how the crowd react to carroll when he comes on the pitch ( thats if hes not injured) 😆

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  67. Robert- but we don’t have a small squad just a ***** one. So we need to move players along if we are to add as we only have two spots open in the 25 man squad.
    But ***** players are surprisingly hard to move…

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  69. Toonsy @ 61

    I will feel the healing process kick is when we replace him, as we were assured we would 😀

    I might never heal

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  70. @jobey

    Not at all. I talk about all issues but clearly you have your own agenda.
    I tend to skip over your posts so I suggest you do the same with mine. That way I feel less exasperated . 😆 😆 😆

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  73. Now now lads enough of the childish bickering…. Have we signed anyone yet? 😆

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  74. Army – It’s not really is it? Not for a player with a history of violence and off-field issues. If anything I’d say it’s about as non-shocking as you’ll get 🙂

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