On the brink?

It was all going swimmingly until the start of the transfer window....

As the 2011/12 Premier League Season approaches kick off the neverending story of Newcastle United has yet again taken another twist and turn.

With the somewhat surprising news that Joey Barton has been transfer listed but as a free has set Toon fans into a frenzy of What? Why? Who?

The fluctuation of debate is diverse, from people asking themselves and others why has Joey come out and said this only now so close to the season beginning, to why should footballers be treated any differently from any other normal person in the workplace slagging off their employer.

Grumblings will have now been heard nationwide, whether that is from the TV, Radio, and Internet message boards and word of mouth - Newcastle United is yet again the talking point of football in the media. As fans start to prepare for another bashing from opposing teams the club yet again can only muster up a two-line statement on the situation, which as usual will outrage the majority as we have seen in the past that transparency in communication is a very major weak point for Mr Ashley and supposed Chief Executive Derek Llambias.

It’s not the first time that the transfer window has brought Newcastle to the forefront of unrest between players and owners. We all know what happened in January so lets leave that as is. The summer transfer has led us to the departure of Kevin Nolan with both player and club coming out with conflicting opinions on who is to blame. Then we have the situation with money. Is it there to spend on players? Or are we being conned into a false sense of hope?

It seems to me that players within the squad are more than happy to keep their mouths shut but then you will always have the stronger characters that are willing to stand up for what they believe. Joey Barton and Jose Enrique have vented their frustrations at a time when as a club you would think we should be rallying together for what is likely to be a difficult and hard slog of a second season in the Premier League.

You also have players such as Wayne Routledge who has kept quiet whilst away on loan duty then come back to training with a frown of how he is being treated and again sort of speaking his mind on twitter by agreeing with Enrique. You begin to ask yourself what is really happening behind the scenes and are we ever likely to find out?

I ask, are people going to forget this little Joey Barton debacle if quality signings are made within the next few weeks to support our seemingly thin squad after the increasing number of unhappy players leaving? Well, if recent weeks are to go by, then we will have fewer players than what we started with even with the four signings.

However, you have to hand it to Newcastle United fans, as a group we are always going stick together with our team now matter how divided opinion is. But people will argue and argue until their blood pressure reaches the sky about our owner and his running of our beloved club but being on the brink of another disaster is always around the corner for Newcastle no matter how hard we try to forget past misdemeanours and get on with what we are to believe as a happy ‘well spirited bunch of lads’.

Thanks to Ethi-toon for sending this in.