Naturally there is going to be a lot of focus on the whole Andy Carroll saga this weekend as it is the first time that former striker and former club will come together. The travelling fans are expected to make their feelings known if Carroll is fit enough to feature and I imagine that he will be a target for some considerable abuse from the Anfield Road end of the ground.
Nolan had a hand in helping Carroll make his mind up at the time, and it’s perhaps understandable that the Gateshead lad would have looked to Nolan for advice given how close the two players had become during their time playing together.
“People blame Andy for going but you can’t really blame anyone,” Nolan told The Independent. “You can’t blame the owners. The money they got was absolutely unbelievable. Andy was sort of, ‘What should I do? Should I go? Should I stay?’ If a club wants to pay £35m for you, anyone in any business, when they sit down and think about it, they’d say you’ve got to go.”
“It was for the best for the club. It’s worked out for us better that Andy has gone, although we’d love to have him still here and if he was we’d probably have a few more points on the board and would probably be able to build a great team around him.”
“But to get £35m for him… we’d probably have taken £10m for him the season before, or £4m before we got relegated. It just shows what he’s done in a short space of time. But now he’s got a new chapter in his life and we’ve got a lot of money to spend.”
Ultimately the real test of whether or not selling Andy Carroll was a good or bad thing will come in the summer when we see if the owner and management are serious about spending money to strengthen the team. I don’t expect us to start throwing around cash on star players all of a sudden, but I do expect the team to be stronger than what it is now. Nolan seems to share my view:
“£35m! Come on! You can get four or five players in for that. It works the best way you can possibly think of. We’re in such a fantastic position now. At the time we had to let Andy go. The money we got was astronomical.”
Nolan is still in contact with Carroll, which goes back to the fact that they are mates I guess, but he does admit that Carroll has changed in the run up to the match. This game will allow everyone to get their feelings off their chest and will hopefully allow people to move on – even Carroll. Nolan continued:
“He’s been a bit sheepish with me this week. He’s desperate to play against the lads and it will put a bit of closure to the thing – the fact that he’s not a Newcastle player, seeing us playing against him, and kicking him of course.”
“It’ll hit him when he sees Newcastle, the team he grew up with and loved for so long, and Liverpool, his team now, are playing against them. If he does play on Sunday he’ll do his best and it’s up to him to deal with that.”
Some interesting stuff there. Nolan is right that the Carroll deal could be good for the club, but only if the money is spent on improving the squad and keeping hold of current players. If we do neither then what was the point in selling Carroll?
Ah well, time will tell.
BSnR9@73….you’re spot on there imo….
Thats really my point, we’re among the “also rans” trying to rebuild at the moment with a different financial structure, with a different type of manager. But historically we rubbed shoulders for years with the also rans….it’s only the young whipper snappers like Toonsy who was brought up on the Champions League diet that need to watch out, but he’s coming round slowly but surely 😆 😆 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM – 😉
I was there against Pompey when a negative result would have put us in tier three for the first time ever. Way before Champions League and what not fella 😉
toonsy(Quote)
One other point about past managers….which toon managers have actually been a “success” in the eyes of the toon fans over the last 20 years ? KK the first time round, and Sir Bobby Robson fit the bill I would imagine, and even they got slagged off by a proportion of the fans. The “high profile” managers who gave it a go too, Souness, Gullit, Daglish, Allardyce, the majority of which were well recieved by the fans at the time, all received generous financial backing to achieve little. Why shouldn’t a supposed lesser manager with prudent financial backing achieve just as much ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
well all day/night bash for me,hope ill cope 😉
icedog(Quote)
Yalreet Toonsy…I know mate, sorry I was just teasing you with the Champions League diet bit, cos I didn’t want to target anyone else with the prospect of them taking it the wrong way. I know you would take it in jest, and have suffered with the rest of us over the years mate ! 😉 aaargh….the debacle of the old Leazes end with that concrete terracing and no roof prior to SJH….aaargh…nightmare city….look what we have now, the Cathedral on the Hill and HBA and Mr T to look forward to. Howay the Lads !…. Perhaps it’s taken us a bit longer to get Alan Shearer the player out of our system, and how his goals carried us all those years !
Munich Mag(Quote)
Icedog…hows ya heed after the royal wedding yesterday ?….and a full sesh today too …?…respect…! 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
Thing is, people forget where we were IMO. Sure we aren’t playing against Barcelona and what not, but I’ve read comments where people say that this is the worst it’s ever been at Newcastle.
Get. Grip, Now springs to mind.
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy@82…thats my stance too mate. If this is *****, they aint seen what we’ve seen mate… 🙄
Thats why I’m surprised that the older fans on here don’t communicate the true story….we need to maintain the blog morale mate. We’re like the Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan of the blogosphere !! 😆 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM,ime anti-royal m8,pub in village had a was wedding free and was full to rafters,all footy crack great,3.30 start today for bash,clear heed for footy on sun 😆
icedog(Quote)
MM – Indeed 😆
toonsy(Quote)
@mm
That’s precisely why I get frustrated with the bloggers (like toonsy) who say the fans won’t drift off.
Guaranteed they will and are .
Nothing makes us different from other clubs other than the attendances. Need to maintain them and I fear the see right through Ashley .
Bobby Shinton number 9(Quote)
Bobby – Historically we have always had great gates, great support. Take the blinkers off and look back further than the era you came into and you will see exactly that.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but we are just a normal club. Historically that is what we are.
toonsy(Quote)
ice@84….give it lowdy today mate, keep yer heed reet though, cos Sunday’s gonna be an interesting game, with or without Judas. It’s about time we broke a psychological jinx and won at Anfield, and why not tomorrow ?
….looks like I’m gonna miss it though 😥 😥 May 1st is a big day in Germany, hoying Maibaum about and stuff and getting blootered…. 😥 ….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maypole
Munich Mag(Quote)
BS@86….you’ve got a point with the attendances mate, I was surprised when you pointed out that we hadn’t sold out for the manure televised game, but hopefully our support will remain strong and we’ll keep pulling the punters in. Whereas the present owners are to a certain degree to blame for the purported decline in attendances (the “I’m not going back until Ashley is gone” brigade), I’m sure they don’t run into the thousands. There are lots of other social issues which affect the attendances imo, but I’m sure when the toon fans see there club heading in the right direction they’ll return. It’s in the genes man… 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)