Nolan – “We’re on the road to something special!”

Nolan's high aims.
Kevin Nolan believes that NUFC are on the cusp of great things, and that all it will take to push for Europe is time and some correct decisions in terms of player signatures.

By player signatures he means both players coming into the club, and keeping hold of our current key players such as Joey Barton. It’s common sense really as Barton has been outstanding this season. Letting him go would be a backward step in my opinion, but here is what Nolan had to say about it.

“I’d like us to keep Joey. He’s a big player for us and he’s come out saying he wants to stay. We all want Joey to stay, we want to keep this squad together. We can’t afford to lose any other big players,’’ Nolan told The Star.

Pretty straight-forward so far? Well this is where Nolan starts to get a little starry-eyed and starts to daydream a little bit. Have a read.

“The Europa League is the minimum that this club should be aiming for. We have the potential to do it. If we keep making the right decisions, keep bringing in the right personnel, then we’ve got a chance. The most important thing is bringing in the right people, who understand what it takes to play for this club.”

He continued: “That’s what they do at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. As soon as new players arrive, they know what is expected of them. That’s what we need here. In three years we want to be up with those clubs, hopefully we’ve got the wheels in motion.”

So Nolan wants to be challenging the big boys within three years? Why not dare to dream?

In reality though it will be a tough ask. As Nolan said it will take the right decisions to get us up there, which is the part I worry about in all honesty, but why not give it a go?

This club has the potential to be one of the biggest around. The interest in NUFC is already big, but it could be potentially massive if the club can continue to grow both on and off the pitch. On the pitch it will take results. Off the pitch it will take patience, support and backing from the owner upstairs.

I believe (or hope!) that Alan Pardew will be backed far more than Hughton ever was by Ashley, but as yet we are still waiting to see to what level he will back Pardew in the transfer market. Fingers crossed we can have a decent transfer window this time around! We’re about due one after the shambles of January…

In summary I agree with pretty much everything that Nolan has said. As he says, Barton claims that he wants to stay so securing him should be one of the priority jobs in the coming weeks. Then the club need to make the right decisions in the transfer market this summer and beyond. If that can be done then why not aim for Europe and beyond?

Positivity from Nolan. I like that!

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.

49 thoughts on “Nolan – “We’re on the road to something special!”

  1. Grand article bud.

    I suspect that this will get me stick, but would anyone else offer Hargreaves a pay as you play deal? I think he is a great player and him and tiote holding and the front 4 all interchanging would be epic. I know he’s had bad injuries but pay as you play is low risk on our part. (cue beasting!)

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  2. I love you Kevin Nolan. I think he’ll be in our club in some capacity for definite after he retires.
    How is everyone doing!?
    Final game of the fantasy prem season, I only have 3rd to play for in my mini league so I have fully let my Newcastle bias take over, now have 3 toon players in my tea, Shola captain.. howay Shola!!!!
    If we score first I predict a tonking
    5-1

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  3. It’s not just the obvious contracts(JB,JE) that need to be looked at, there’s players like Colo and Jonas who need contracts sorting now or we’ll end up in the same situation we have with Jose and Joey. Then there’s players like Ferguson who’ll be going into his last year, surely if gangsta boy deserved a long contract then so does Shane………get ’em sorted! 👿

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  4. A year on year improvement should be a target, so one eye on those places isn’t a bad idea. Once we get over the huuuuge IF which is the IF we invest in new personnel.

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  5. Anyone see in the NOTW about Ashley paying a bonus for beating West Brom today? £500,000 apparently, for non-playing staff.

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  6. cheers richie , just in dublin airport now on my second pint , wat a way to start a sun morning 🙂 i agree wit wat nolan says , if the club make the right decisions this summer we be on the right road. We need the player manager n owner singing off the same hymn sheet so to speak

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  7. Johno……..and probably the Strawberry.

    Toonsy….Havn’t read it but s’pose like owt in the NOTW has to be taken with a pinch of salt…it’s probably £50 😉 😆

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  8. raffo, just thinking that myself. I’d take hargreaves and woodgate on pay as you play deals. Both quality on there day. I think we’ll win 3-1 today. Ranger,barton and an ameobi. I had a bet on pp at the start of the season that we’d finish between 7/9 so heres hoping. To be honest i also had us on qualify for europe, win fa cup and league cup on seperate bets.

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  9. Rich – Never fear, it’s also in The Mirror so it must be true. No smoke without fire and that 😉 😆

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  10. tat is it stuart , nolan tho pissed me off over judas tho , but he has had a great season for us. Have we named player of the season yet?

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  11. I saw that article toonsy…

    but if we beat west Brom we’ll definitely move up one place in the league & based £800k per place Ashely will still make a £300k profit if he pays £500k in bonuses…he’s always looking after the number one the fat b@stard!! 😉

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  12. witters
    Posted May 22, 2011 at 9:24 AM

    Jeez, Witters. Even I cannot criticise Ashley for this one.

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  13. Stuart – I believe Witters was being tongue in cheek 😉

    Good day for sport today. Got the F1 then straight onto the football. Then months of no football 😐

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  14. There is a hint of sarcasm in that post Stu… 😉

    Thought I’d demobstrate how things can intepretted differently & get it in before anyone else did. For the record I think it’s a nice gesture…

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  15. getting ready to catch the train south. i don’t think smith will get a start today. lua lua being preferred. can see the three subs as being Kuqi Sammy and Tavernier

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  16. I’d like it to be wolves and Blackburn, but I think Blackpool are gone. Maybe Birmingham aswell.

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  17. Morning lads.

    Can’t believe its the last home game and the last game of the season 😯

    Lets hope Ashley and co make it an exciting summer for us!

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  18. Is F1 really a sport?, I s’pose if darts is then that must be too 😕 😉

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  19. We have to make sure barton stays another three years and over the summer Colo and Spidey need to sorted new contracts. Both would be difficult to replace. Colo is a class act. Spidey is not everybody’s favourite but the wide player we all hope for (can i say dream of) would cost ten million. We need all of our resources to buy two strikers and top up contracts of those we are desperate to keep

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  20. Haha Richie
    Sid Waddell calls the darts players athletes.
    The thing is much like snooker they make it look so easy

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  21. Anyone seen the Sunday Sun today (I know this isn’t always terribly reliable) but it has direct quotes from Pardew stating a new International midfielder is close. Allegedly from a bottom 4 Club on the continent. Due in this week. Who could it be?

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  22. Bowden – Next article 😉

    And the quote you’re looking for is:

    “And I can say that because he’s an international player – not someone who belongs to one of the bottom four battling relegation.

    NOT someone who belongs to a bottom club.

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  23. does it say in which league?…..mind I’d still not have a clue even if it does 😀

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  24. How can darts or snooker be called classified as a sport ….when you play in your shoes. 😆 😆
    Both are pub games. 👿

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  25. Toonsy,

    My bad, think some Journalistic editing may have occurred by the Sunday Sun there! Lol. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

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  26. Witters@16…800K a place is all the more reason to try and win the game today ! I would imagine the “non-playing” staff will be lining up to chin the team if they don’t pull there weight !

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  27. BigD@42….right on that one mate, that seems to be forgotten by certain media sources…

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  28. nice touch from Ashley, should give the players a bit of incentive to help out those at the club who aren’t on mega money – without the non playing staff the club would fall apart
    no footy for months – hopefully we’ll get some players in sooner rather than later although the better players will prob only agree to join when they’re sure none of the top 6 don’t want em 🙁

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  29. A lot of clubs have been up to top 6 or 7 level but I think an even bigger test is whether we could stay there season after season.

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  30. i love nolan….. i think hes a no nonesense breed of footballer that we need around the club and on the pitch…

    i know hes had some stick off a certain amount….on the other board fm….. but i think hes been an unbelievable driving force for us….

    the man nails his colours to the mast and fights for the cause , which some fans tend to overlook at times because a lot of his work doesnt tend to stand out…

    captain fantastic. 😀

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