An unexpected bonus!

Staying home after Christmas?
Newcastle have been dealt another piece of positive news for the season ahead and now know that come the next instalment of the African Cup of Nations we won’t be losing as many key players as we perhaps would have done under normal circumstances.

That is because Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse’s Senegal side have been drawn against Cheik Tiote’s Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations final qualifying round draw – a two legged affair that will take place in September and October in weeks that are already scheduled international breaks so will have no extra bearing on our season thankfully.

That means, obviously, that only one side can make it through to the competition proper, which in turn means that we won’t lose all three of them in January and February potentially – it will instead be Cheik Tiote OR Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba.

In a way it is Senegal’s own fault. Their dismal recent showings at the ACoN meant that they took an unseeded place in the draw meaning that they were always going to be up against one of the better teams. However I don’t think it’s the foregone conclusion that some sites are making it out to be with many people backing the Ivory Coast to come out on top over the two legs.

In a way I hope they do as I reckon we can handle losing Cheik Tiote more than we can handle losing our two strikers as things stand, but we’ve seen first hand the quality that Cisse and Ba posses so it would be folly to write Senegal off completely.

However that is just my opinion. Either way we’ve managed to fluke a bit of a bonus and we’ll be keeping at least one of our African contingent through the post-festive period. What I really want to know though is your opinion.

Do you agree with me that losing Tiote is the lesser of the two evils?

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.

132 thoughts on “An unexpected bonus!

  1. Hello all, I’ve been away a while as I’ve had no Internet. If you read the chronicle you may know why…. I lived in one of the flats in newburn that got evacuated a month ago due to a huge hole appearing and the flats sinking!

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  2. I agree. We have proven we can cope without Tiote and he won’t be a massive miss. Still think we missed a trick with Diame though. Could have played with Cabaye and Tiote in the middle, OR as back-up. One thing is for sure, Jonas isn’t the long term solution there.

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  3. Great news for us , fingers crossed that this doesn’t stop our hunt for another striker! With Best and Loven gone we still need reinforcements.

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  4. Nobby, I didn’t want to say owt, but Porciestreet started it…. 😆 😆

    A sinister large hole appeared in the street and the police are looking into it….boom, boom… 🙄 🙄

    sorry mate…

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  5. There have been managerial changes at several English and european “big clubs”, and they will have money to spend in the transfer market… I can see some serious transfer activity and money flying around, but probably in the last weeks of the transfer market.

    Interesting times ahead, players holding out for the best deals, clubs holding back not wanting to splash too much cash and get ripped off…. NUFC as usual playing there cards close to there chest….

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  6. Nobby@1 😯 and I thought I was having a sh** couple of months!. My house in on old mining land too 🙄 got me worried now ,I mean you do read about this stuff ,you know a big old hole suddenly appears in the garden! Good luck anyway.

    Aussie@91 previous thread The IT crowd is very funny but Mrs Browns boys is even funnier ,do you get to see that at all?

    Back on topic ,I think it’s Tiote who will end up at ACON not the Dembas. With Arsenal after Tiote and being told £20m by Toon if they do get him it will be their problem then.

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  7. Hey Kim, yeah, seen Mrs browns boys.. very funny stuff 🙂 one of my old favourites was men behaving badly.. brilliant show 🙂

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  8. Aussie ,I loved that too ,but nothing beats one foot in the grave imo ,I used to cry laughing at that. 😀

    Popping out now ,leaving my hacking son with his sister . Poor old Lew ,he’s really off colour.

    There better be a new signing when I get back 😆 😆

    Oh yeh and Well done Andy Murray ,managed not to choke in the semis for once 😉

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  9. My little claim to fame is Brenden O Carroll ( writer and star of Mrs Browne ) is or was good friends with my mam’s family growing up so much so he went to my nans funeral a couple of years back on Christmas day.
    All fans of the show please feel free to ask any questions about the show as clearly i have inside knowledge of the inner workings of the show 😆

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  10. If given the choice I would prefer to lose Tiote .
    But at least we’ll not lose all 3
    Nobby good to see you back lad 😀

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  11. Kim, I loved that one as well.. great charactor old Victor Mildew 🙂 the crab and hamock scene was a all time great… 🙂 🙂

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  12. Well one away is obviously better than two – especially as we have no real covers for the dembas – only prob is that Guthrie covered for tiote last acn – who you reckon will slot in his place – big ask of that kid we just signed !

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  13. Hi everyone,

    Bloody hell Nobby, how big are the moles in Newburn?? 😯

    On topic, as good as Tiote is, the goal threat from the Demba boys would be the biggest miss for me like. Last ACoN Shola and Best could hit a barn door between them and we looked toothless up front. But good luck to both teams, it’s important to all 3 players.

    Off topic, and being the IT fool that I am, I can’t attach the link. But De Jong has came out and slated the Twente chairman for his £16m valuation and has quoted what was discussed during negotiations with MB (Munchin Blah Blah)
    Newcastle don’t get a mention in his rant at all. He states a fee of £9.5m with bonuses of £1.5m was agreed subject to him waiving his slice of the transfer fee.
    It is an article on 360 football. If anyone more technically gifted than I is able to add the link, it makes for interesting reading like.

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  14. Sharpy@17 I read it too, he actually calls the clubs tactics in transfers as indecent. 😆

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  15. It’s also clear De Jong really wanted away to BM as he gets more noticed by the Dutch national coach there. Don’t think we were ever really in with a shout tbh.

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  16. Kim maybe the club were happy that we were linked so heavily with LDJ. either it made it look as if we were trying to get a top player in, orit kept our real target out of the spot light ❓

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  17. BD, do you think Dekka and fat Mike actually care enough about making us fans happy by making it look like we are after a star player when we are not?? A red herring, could be, but definately not to try and keep fans happy

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  18. Great news about the African lads! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Ivory Coast make it through.

    So has De Jong actually signed for Gladbach? I can’t find anything on the web saying he has?

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  19. Ah right. It’s a shame, but if that 20m euro fee is to be believed then I think it’s too steep for a young player who’s only ever played in the Dutch league. Maybe this is the best outcome (other than signing him at a reasonable price), as at least we won’t be holding out for him for the whole transfer window, and be forced to panic-buy at the end.

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  20. Kim – LDJ defo seems to favour MB by the sounds of things and based on that, I want us to look elsewhere now. I only want players who want to play for Newcastle as their first option. I know we aren’t going to be players boyhood dream club, but we are an outstanding club and if players want to go elsewhere for whatever reason, then good luck to them, but let’s not waste anymore time.

    Dave – I understand your theory but I think transfer negotiations seem that complex these days that I don’t know if we’d have time for all that cloak and dagger stuff. I think this board genuinely believe that when they go in with their best offer it’s good enough to see off the competition and land the player.

    What with LDJ and the Debuchy deal dragging, it has left me wondering just how many of our first choice targets we will actually sign this window?! 😯 😕

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  21. Lille will not release debuchy until they have a replacement.. I think a fee is agreed but this roadblock is holding up the transfer.. nothing sinister or misleading..

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  22. Aussie @ that’s what worries me ,how long will it take them to sort a decent replacement for Debuchy cause if there is one maybe we should go after him instead. 😉

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  23. Aussie yeah I think Jabba and co would be happy to keep the fans on side and while we’re being heavily linked with top player that keeps most fans on side.As for cloak and dagger stuff it’s simple and would only take 10 seconds for someone in the club to leak a story, which I still believe that the Maiga story was leaked to appease the fans that were calling for a signing, then it was leaked that he failed a medical which IMO was because they used him to get the Cisse deal done.
    I believed the Maiga camp when the came out and said that there was nowt wrong with the player and that they were oissed off that it came out that he had failed a medical. How did that get leaked when the club are so secret about transfers 😕

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  24. Big Dave – you’re gonna have to stop using that Irish abacus to put two and two together 😆

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  25. TC you just stick to thinking that the sun shines out of Jabba’s *** 😆 😆 😆 , oh and whats an Irish abacus got to do with owt ❓

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  26. T.C ,But everyone loves a conspiracy theory. 😉 and it passes the time whilst we wait on the top players we need to keep up with the big boys.

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  27. Kim the Maiga camp were raging that that was leaked so if it never came from his camp where else would it come from 😕 then within a few weeks they sign Cisse 😯

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  28. Dave ,I know and a bit of skulduggery is not out of the question with MA & co . Call me selfish but we did get Cisse in the end so I don’t really care though morally I should I know. 😳 😉

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  29. Kim his agent came out after it and said
    “I am disappointed by the turn of events. Modibo is in perfect physical condition and this was confirmed by specialists.
    “I am surprised by what has happened since his medical and the diagnosis was established by doctors authorised by the club.”

    There was further quotes I seen from them confirming the specialists said there was nowt wrong with him,
    As I said at the time is the club done that to get out of a deal it was lower than a snakes belly to put a question mark over a players fitness just to get out of a deal, but most of us know that Jabba and Co are capable of anything, but there are others that think the sun shines outta their back ends and that they are the saviors of our club 🙄

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  30. Kim – it seems to me the “cockney mafia” know what they are doing an have earned my trust an patience to do what’s needed.

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  31. TGS thats good as I know Pards wasn’t too happy about it, now all we need is for Ivory coast to knock them out of the ACON 😀

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  32. Pards wasn’t going to release Cisse anyway(allegedly) so it wouldn’t really have mattered if they’d named him or not, but I’m guessing all 3 parties had a talk about it before owt was said publicly.

    Ref Maigi… I wasn’t that interested in it at the time, the whole thing was a farce, I wouldn’t put owt past either side in transfer negotiations, whether it be Ashley &co, agents, players or the selling club, as nowt was signed by any sidethough no one had to come up with any excuses to pull out of a deal, a simple “I changed my mind” would have done it. Did he even have a medical? if I remember right a fee wasn’t even agreed so there shouldn’t even have been talks between NUFC and the player never mind a medical…surely Ashley wouldn’t have done owt behind Sochaux’s back 😯 😉 If the toon did leak a failed med story he should have sued, as Marvaux threatened with Liverpool which resulted in their club doctor coming out and saying that he hadn’t failed one……lastly maybe he was injured and did fail a medical “speaking to L’Equipe, Maiga has revealed he no longer plans to move away.
    He said: “Everything is forgotten. I don’t want to speak any more on the issue.
    I have now recovered from some physical problems and I now have the chance to play in the first team.
    Every player likes to receive offers but in my case the president did not want to sell.
    He spoke with me and told me I needed to stay at Sochaux and I prefer to leave things the way they are.” …..we’ll probably never know the truth, we did ok out of it so I’m not that arsed….selfish I know :mrgreen:

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  33. Richie I haven’t done Sats in yonks, the place is full of muppets on a sat as its walk ins with no bookings it’s mostly people looking names or wee bits of tribal done 👿 . If I was short of a few quid I would maybe do it but I would have to need the money badly 😀

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  34. Ah reet, thought it would be the busiest day but if it’s full of muppets I don’t blame you. If ya wanna talk to muppets ya can just come on here….before 3 is best though, Aussie will be tucked up now 😆

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  35. Evening fellas! Good to be back and all that, so this is all good news, anyone know what the crack with dembas get out clause is? Iv heard its only valid until the end of July but also heard that validity date was at the beginning of this month?

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  36. @WHYCABAYEMAN I heard the same that its only up till the 31st july but I don’t think anyone really knows apart from Demba, Pards, Lambastad and Jabba oh and his agent 😯

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  37. Haha its been a long day at work what 😉 So I’m looking forward to seeing this Bigi fella showcase his talents! apparently he’s got a good pacey run on him!

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  38. off subject a bit…..
    if fat fred was still in charge, do you think he would of bought RVP??
    and has anyone got any more transfers freddy would of bought for the toon??

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  39. BD, totally disagree regarding Maiga… he was all set to sign until the club heard that Cisse was available at a cheaper price. From what I have read, it was so last minute that even Cisse was unsure as to where he was going. I think the club used a dodgy medical as a get out jail card with Maiga.. glad they did to be honest. Dekka and Co have enough on the go this time of year, than to add to it by playing games with fans by pretending to sign big name players.. most of the hysteria is generated by the press.
    We bid what we think a player is worth and then move on if we are unsuccessful, nothing more IMO..

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  40. Where is Icedog? Haven’t seen him post for a bit… and he kept an eye on the back stabbers on here.. no wonder I slept poorly last night 🙂

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  41. Aussie…as I said, they didin’t need a get out of jail free, just pull out nowt, was signed so no excuse was needed. I’m sure if the club said he failed a medical and he hadn’t there would be legal repercussions. I can’t even remembere Sochaux agreeing a fee, therefore no medical would have taken place unless it was behind their back…..or I’m remembering it wrong and a fee was agreed and he did actually fail, hence no legal action and it ties in with Maigi’s own comments just after that where he said hed had “some physical problems”….either way, there is absolutely no benefit to the club to make up the failed medical story, nothing was signed no excuse needed.

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  42. Agree in part Rich, Maiga was quoted as saying that he had failed the medical and there was nothing wrong with him physically… Maybe he was there off his own back, without the support of his club but the point BD was making, was that Newcastle was making it all up.. 😕

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