Barrel scraped – Kuqi in!

Newcastle catch Kuqi.
It’s official. Newcastle have added another striker to the ranks and Shefki Kuqi is now a part of the team that is tasked with helping us to beat the dreaded drop.

It’s fair to say that Kuqi isn’t everyone’s first choice, but a Newcastle player he is and I will certainly be getting behind him. It’s unlikely that Kuqi will be a starting striker and I feel that he is more than likely going to be here as cover in case of any injury. It’s only a short-term deal and will only last until the summer so I don’t think there is any long-term plan behind the move. Kuqi is literally a stop gap.

This is what Alan Pardew told nufc.co.uk today:

“We needed another option up-front, because we’re a little light there due to the temporary loss of Shola, and Shefki will provide us with something different.”

“He’s match fit and knows the English game well having been in the country for the best part of ten years. He is ready straight away and that’s what we wanted.”

“Shefki is a good, honest pro who will give us a strong physical presence from the bench.”

I think that last line tells us all we need to know about the role of Kuqi and how he is going to fit into the team. Andy Carroll’s replacement he is not, but he is another body that could help us through until the end of the season.

I remember a similar reaction when Antoine Sibierski was signed by Newcastle. People were less than enthused about him from the word go, but he proved people wrong and had much sympathy from fans when the club decided that they weren’t going to renew his contract.

I’m not saying that Kuqi will manage to become a cult hero like Sibs was, but at least get behind him and give him a chance. Judging by some reaction I’m assuming that some people wanted to see the likes of Lionel Messi trotting through the revolving doors at St James’ Park on a free transfer.

Kuqi, who will go straight into the squad for the weekend trip to Blackburn and will wear the number 42 shirt, had this to say about his move to Newcastle:

“I am just happy to be here now and I can’t wait to start and hopefully try to do the best I can for Newcastle United. For me, it is a great opportunity just to be back in the Premier League again. It is something I have tasted before.”

“Everybody knows it is the best league in the world and to be part of it and a club the size of Newcastle United, I am really proud. It’s an honour to be here.”

So there you go, deal done!

I’d just like to say happy birthday to MarkToon as he celebrates his 25th.

Happy birthday mate, have a striker! 😀

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.

63 thoughts on “Barrel scraped – Kuqi in!

  1. Just seen his interview he seems gobsmacked that Newcastle have signed him,like most of us,but what you say is true we have got to get behind him and support him in case he falls over.

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  2. Toonsy. Not sure where you get the Messi statements from. Of course no one who has their heads screwed on expected anything half decent to come out of January. After all you don’t let your best players leave in January do you?
    Your own header says it all scraping the bottom of the barrel.

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  3. what was wrong with trying to get ewerthon,6 years younger a better player,i guess he wanted more than minimum wage..

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  4. hitman – another thing with ewerthon is that he isnt match fit i dont think and is untested in the prem and england as well. we all know that brazilians dont have the best of times over here anyways

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  5. Maybe Ewerthon wanted more than a four month deal?

    Micky – I was being dramatic, much like I see other people being when they say Kuqi is Carroll’s replacement…..

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  6. Can’t see the issue and understand the negative reaction to be honest. Lets start making the best of a bad situation. At least we arent gettin Alia ‘dire’ who couldnt even make it with the smoggies…..

    It’s not like he is going to start and it also puts pressure on the likes of Niall Ranger to realise that he still needs to perform and isn’t going to be automatically selected based on the fact we have no other options.

    I just hope it isn’t to facilitate the long ball tactic Pardew loves to play (although he’ll never admit it)

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  7. toonsy
    Posted February 10, 2011 at 10:34 AM
    Maybe Ewerthon wanted more than a four month deal?<<< oh maybe he wanted more than £200 a week 😉

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  8. Who says we won’t sign ewerthon aswell?
    Maybe he is looking for more than a 4 month deal and the club aren’t interested in that.
    I think the reason it’s kuqi is simple. He’s a big target man and with shola out we don’t have one. So he gives pards options even though he might not play a single minute.

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  9. I reckon we have brought him in incase some massive african man grabs Joey round the throat again. Send Kuqi on to tear them apart with his bare hands

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  10. He will be this seasons Viduka, but without the skills. 😛

    When people are writing everywhere about how dissapointed they are with Carroll’s ‘replacement’. He aint Carroll’s replacement is he so why are people being so rude about him.

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  11. DJG
    Posted February 10, 2011 at 10:43 AM
    He will be this seasons Viduka, but without the skills<<<< divent ya mean withoot the wages 😉

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  12. Toonsy with this clubs track record you never know. People keep saying wait and see. You know the old saying tomorrow never comes? Well that can be applied to fatty and his wallet. It’s always next transfer window, honest.
    At least if we don’t spend then closing level 7 will be more justified. I know its just a daft rumor at the moment. But you wouldnt put it past him.

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  13. Stuart79 I think a lot of people have been ground down by the current owner and board to the point where signing someone like this is a highlight.
    Imagine someone kicking you in the nuts for 30 minutes. They say they will stop. Ok, but then they start slapping the back of your head. You are grateful and don’t mind one bit. At least It’s not your nuts.
    This is what ashley and co have done to the club. People are happy with a lesser pain.

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  14. batty
    Posted February 10, 2011 at 10:44 AM
    DJG
    Posted February 10, 2011 at 10:43 AM
    He will be this seasons Viduka, but without the skills<<<< divent ya mean withoot the wages

    batty – withoot the 'injuries'. 😉

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  15. Micky – It’s not a highlight in signing this Cookie chap, far from it. You could argue that those that aren’t up in arms are the ones that realise that he is unlikely to get a games unless desperate. He is a bench-warmer, nothing more, nothing less, and I for one won’t slate the lad before he has kicked a ball for us!

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  16. I can’t wait to see the belly flop. So long as he doesn’t do it to besty. He’s had enough high flying wrestling moves for one year.

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  17. If hes a replacement for the xisco kid then at least there will always be a cup of tea on the go.

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  18. Micky Toon – He might not be good enough but there’s not many teams in this league who have a great or even a good 4th/5th choice striker, i can’t think of many.

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  19. Micky – Not good enough for what though? To sit on the bench?

    He isn’t good enough to start, of course he isn’t but barring a major catastrophe he is unlikely to start. Put it this way, he will at least keep the ball up front for us because of his strength. In the final few minutes of a game that could be important.

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  20. Micky he’s a big sack of balls! And we only have small to medium sized ones at the moment. :mrgreen:

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  21. The transfer window is closed… Therefore we can only sign players who are free… As in free because they weren’t good enough for their previous club… So who would we sign that’s ” good enough” for us that wasn’t good enough for there previous club?

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  22. aye toonsy correctomundo. I also think Arsenal would have never scored that second goal if we’d had Carroll because he used to come back for corners and kick ***. Kuqi will give us some physical presence. From what I remember of him he isn’t the most technical or anything but he is a handful and capable of making things happen.

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  23. JerseyGeordie
    Posted February 10, 2011 at 11:14 AM
    Micky he’s a big sack of balls! And we only have small to medium sized ones at the moment.

    We used to have a selection of skillful strikers on big wages, who didn’t try. Now we have a collection of strikers on small wages who do try but might not be good enough. Not sure which I prefer to be honest.

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  24. DJG – how many did Martins get when we went down, 8 maybe and Best already has 4, Viduka he couldn’t of got more than 5 and Lovenkrands already has 3, and Ameobi when back only needs 3 more and he will have the same as Owen did…

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  25. DJG we’ve been crying out for a finisher, and he’s definitely Finish so I say close enough 😉

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  26. Why didn’t we put a clause in Xisco’s loan contract saying that we could call him back if there were any injuries or whatever. That was an error…….
    Shefki Kuqi is definitely back up and will surely go in the summer. But he will do OK if there any other injuries i’m sure
    Happy Birthday MarkToon!

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  27. Pearceet I would rather have kuqi than xisco. They both do the same job, left bench upper tier. But kuqi is much cheaper and more experienced at it.

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  28. JG

    Failing that Kuqi can do his bellyflop on Harper and then Stevie Harper can unleash the people’s elbow on him and we could just watch wrestle mania instead of football. 🙂

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  29. DJG maybe this is all being put together by our new owner Vince McMahon 😯
    Kuqi may be big but harps elbow is deadly. One shot and he sent Best to an early shower 😆

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  30. Toonsy it is! and i bet all of our strikers wages now don’t even add up to Viduka’s, never mind Martins and Owens! You forget how much of a disgrace they were.

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  31. Pearceet he’d more likely be the next one injured, or at least to say he’s injured 😉
    Seriously though, xisco is to expensive to sit the bench. We really need him to do well playing regular footy somewhere else so we can get rid.

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  32. 😆 Thats true!
    But I don’t see why we don’t give him a chance! Him and Best up front and bring on Ranger for last 30…. At least that way we would have a real live wire coming off the bench rather than a 34 year old who doesn’t look in the best of shape.

    I agree that he is far too expensive to sit on the bench all the time but I don’t see why he hasn’t been given more of a chance.I guess he must be REALLY REALLY bad in training!

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  33. Everybody know’s he’s not good enough. If he’s only going to sit on the bench then we might as well just let a young kid do that. The chances are that young kid will be more talented that Cookie anyway.

    It’s just one fck up after another, this fck up is due to the last fck up-we’re constantly fire fighting becuase they cannot organise a **** up in a brewery!

    Utter fcking amateurs!

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  34. I agree Stuart, although I can do so without having an aneurysm.

    That is the only thing that is irritating me a little, why not just allow a kid to sit on the bench?

    Mind you, he does give us experience as well I guess.

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  35. Kuqi is nothing more than a stopgap and who knows he may be the next Siberski…
    I think its better than signing some freebie on huge wages for 4 years than may turn out to be a flop (Viduka?/Geremi?/Casapa?)

    I think this season will boil down to survival and then wisely investing the 35mil… if we see that, and we’ll see some ambition.
    If we have another big sale, then we all know with 100% certainty we are in big trouble with Ashley…

    There are some quality players available that we could get, who are far more proven in ability than Andy Carroll.

    Stikers like:

    Mevlut Erdinc, Stephan KieBling, Kevin Kuranyi, Lucas Barrios (big fan), Hulk, Demba Cisse, Srdan Lakic…

    Attacking midfielders:

    Gervinho, Adam Johnson, Marc Albrigton.

    Someone like Arturo Vidal who can play midfield or in the fullback positions and is outstanding.

    Youth players like Connor Wickham, Johnathan Mensa.

    If we used that 35mil to get say 3/4 of this callibre player in. We’ll have spent nothing in two seasons and still markedly improved our squad!

    But we’ll have to be patient and find out…

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  36. Stuart79
    Posted February 10, 2011 at 12:19 PM

    Everybody know’s he’s not good enough. If he’s only going to sit on the bench then we might as well just let a young kid do that. The chances are that young kid will be more talented that Cookie anyway.”

    Don’t forget, we’re not safe yet, and how much is it worth to stay in the Premiership? £40-£50mill?

    You really want a kid coming off the bench with that hanging over his head? Kuqi is a sensible signing. I would say give it a rest with whingeing Stu but the image of you typing away furiously with your little pink face is actually quite amusing. 😆

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  37. lol Toonsy – but he does live 2 doors down so think he was testing his new toy!

    I for one am very underwhelmed but frankly I am happy to have another body in. He isnt going to start as many have said and if he can rough up the defenders then fine. Also as others have said it is more about ensuring theres a little competition for places. As we have seen with Williamson you can let standards drop if theres noone pushing you. I was happy with how Ranger played against the arses and wouldve loved his step inside and let fly wouldve nesttled in the top corner.

    I am still hoping this brazilian may choose us too but if not so be it. Airey will no doubt get some game time when he gets back to fitness, and I for one want us to play 4-2-3-1 anyway, so the lack of strikers doesnt bother me one bit. For me it is more of a 6 week stopgap until Ireland is back in full flow and Benny boy is around the corner. These 2 flanking Ranger/Best is the way forward for me with Tiote/Barton/Nolan a bit deeper

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  38. I Love Mike
    Posted February 10, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    What has he achieved in his career that makes you even think he’s going to keep us up? What can he do that a Phil Airey cannot do for instance?

    Your constant backside licking and attempts to justify fck up after fck up by the regime is starting to make you look thick as fck!

    If the cap fits…

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  39. I will reserve judgement until I see him to be honest.
    I like characters anyway and will certainly be giving him my support as he will give his all for the club.

    I must say I agree with Pards with the reasons for signing him, 10 years experience in England, will give his all for the club and is fully fit.

    I personally think he will be a good acquisition, and if he isnt, who cares? Whats he going to do? eat more than his fair share of half time oranges?

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  40. Aye, will always get behind the lads no matter what-if he actually gets on the pitch for us then I’ll cheer him on 😀

    Also, happy birthday mark!

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