Could Shane Long be next on the list?

Shane Long - The backup plan?
A couple of reports today suggest that Alan Pardew could turn his attention to Shane Long, if a move for Kevin Gameiro falls by the wayside.

The Mail and the Northern Echo both suggest, although more than likely from the same source, that Shane Long could be the subject of a £5 million bid from Newcastle should Kevin Gameiro delay any decision on a move any longer.

As mentioned in the last article, we are the only team that has had a bid accepted for the Lorient frontman so in that sense we are in the driving seat. However it does appear that Gameiro is playing a waiting game and is willing to see if either of his preferred teams – Valencia, PSG, or anyone apart from us – is willing to make a move for him.

Step forward Shane Long who is apparently next in line to court some NUFC interest. The 24-year-old Republic of Ireland international had his best ever goalscoring season last term as he set about bagging 25 goals in 50 appearances for failed play-off finalists Reading.

That is a good return in fairness, although the question is whether or not he was just a one season wonder given the fact that the last campaign was the only time he has hit double figures in a season. In fairness however it’s the first season that he has been first choice striker as previously he has had to sit behind Kevin Doyle and Dave Kitson who were both prolific for Reading.

Long has picked up 19 caps for the Republic of Ireland and has scored 6 goals at international level. He is expected to be on the bench for their game tonight against Mecedonia given that Robbie Keane has declared himself fit to play on despite carrying an injury.

It’s not the first time we’ve been linked with Long, and I have a feeling it won’t be the last. Brian McDermott, who looks like George Dawes off of Shooting Stars, obviously wants to keep him, but it would appear that his chairman, John Madejski of Auto Trader fame, has given up hope of keeping Long in Berkshire amid rumours linking the striker with a move to Celtic.

“I’m aware of interest in Shane Long,” said Madjeski. “How confident am I we can ward off that interest? Not very.”

“It’s sad we didn’t get promoted because Shane would have liked to stay if we had reached the Premier League, but that has changed because we will be in the Championship.”

“What value would I place on him? £20m. I don’t know if he will end up at Celtic, but what is certain is that he will not be at Reading next season.”

So there you go. I think that is about as resigned to losing a player as you’ll ever get!

Is there any truth in this? Well it’s just like all of the rumours at the moment isn’t it? Liberal sprinklings of salt needed. However, if their is a hint of truth in this is does at least mean that Newcastle are making some form of contingency in the event of our main targets failing to materialise.

What do you make of Shane Long? Personally I think he is worth a shot, but not as our main striker. He is nippy, physical and will run all day for the team. He can score goals in the Championship, lots of them as proved last season, but can he make the step up to the Premier League?

Would buying him be a ‘Long’ shot?

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.

77 thoughts on “Could Shane Long be next on the list?

  1. cheap, cheap pun at the end there Toonsy. What’s happened to you?

    On a serious note, I would take a punt on him but not – as you say – as our main striker. I would feel pretty let down if he was the one and only specialist striker we bought in as I like the idea of someone a little more glamorous! To be honest I’d still take Gameiro, just because if he sees us as a stepping-stone he’d have to play bloody well, raise his (and subsequently our) profile and secure a big money move next summer. That will give us a profit and hopefully see us closer to Europe. I was quite excited when we were linked with Erding last year, but I’m not so sure anymore? My dream signing remains, and will continue to be, Sturridge.

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  2. Shane Long? It makes the sale of Carroll an even worse decision than originally thought.
    🙄

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  3. For me I think he is in a similar position to gameiro in that he has probably acheived what he can where he is and needs to move on to further his career. I think we should go for long ASWELL as gameiro as we need the bodies and pace. I think that it’s all well and good looking for bargains abroad, but perhaps long is a home based bargain who wouldn’t need the time to settle into the English game

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  4. Cue negative bobby 🙄

    Devon – sturridge would be a great signing and we did finish above Bolton but I’m not sure with the rave reviews he has had that he will leave chelski, and you can bet ‘arry and dogleash will be in for him too

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  5. Bobby are you seriously still of the opinion that selling Mr Andrew Thomas Carroll for all of THIRTY-FIVE MILLION English pounds was a bad decision?

    Wow.

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  6. Long is a good player and better than some we have – therefore would progress the quality of our squad.
    If we bought him as well as Gameiro, this would transform our attack.

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  7. From Skysports Transfer window
    “News: Reports in France claim Liverpool and Newcastle are chasing Sochaux winger Ryad Boudebouz.”

    Definitely fits the transfer profile…. really hope we get him.

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  8. Exactly, long aswell as gameiro or sturridge.

    This only backs up what was said about peoples opinions on players and loyalty etc. Bobby – Carroll wanted to go. Fact. Ask donaldson. Noone has to sign if they don’t want to, noone forced his hand. I am glad we did, glad we got £35 million as we wouldn’t be talking about signing gameiro or gervinho or cabaye or anyone else. There’s no pleasing some ppl

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  9. sunlounger what a surprise, Liverpool are in for him too! It’ll be nice to freshen up the competition for once and go head to head with them 🙄

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  10. Comolli doesn’t even have to do anything at Liverpool, just has to follow Carr around 🙄 👿

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  11. I hope this isnt the case, can’t get Gameiro so Long is our next target… 😯

    I’d rather not buy from the Championship to be honest we can do better than Long.

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  12. ide take him as last resort, but ide rather we didnt have last resort fowards. could do with out that..

    Dan- Cheers for the team mate 😀

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  13. stararse bet your gutted you and the ladyboy dont meet up any more for your special loving.

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  14. I can’t understand people saying they don’t want Gamerio as we may not be his first choice of club, how many times do players get to play for clubs that they love? Ok we had Shearer and Southampton Le Tissier, but it doesn’t happen very often. Footballers are the same as us, they just get paid more money. They take a job at a club, might not want to be there, but it pays the bills and its easier to get to another club/job if you already have one. If he signs, great (I think, though never seen him play, just going on what has been said about him and goals scored in France), if he does well, either he thinks Newcastle are not too bad at all and its been a good move and we go places or he does well and moves on, but we are higher up the table and more cash coming in, its win win. Only way we lose out is if he doesn’t pefrom and we can’t get the cash back.

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  15. @Devon mag
    You say ;

    Bobby are you seriously still of the opinion that selling Mr Andrew Thomas Carroll for all of THIRTY-FIVE MILLION English pounds was a bad decision?

    Yes.

    @raffo
    I’ve explained my reasons time after time about Carroll. You say he walked I say he was pushed.

    @all
    The £35m will not go far when trying to obtain a striker to replace him of the same quality.
    The knock on effect has been the unsettling of our better players as well including Barton and Jose.

    We’ve lost a talisman and a potential local hero because of short sightedness and not looking at the bigger picture. IMO.

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  16. On topic, Long may be ok as a backup along side Shola and Best, might turn out good, but not our number 1 striker, but wouldn’t say no if we have the money after getting others in

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  17. Speaking of Caroll as well, had a look at his twitter page, still all photos of him in a Newcastle top, but so many rasist tweets on there, gives a really bad image of us from the North East. Not backing the Red Card Rasist apeal either, shocking in this day and age

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  18. Bobby

    Carroll could have stayed if he wanted to. Carroll signed the contract with Liverpool not Ashley, Carroll got on the helicopter to Liverpool, Carroll handed in a transfer request not Ashley.

    Carroll could have stayed with us if he wanted to. All he had to say is no to Liverpool and that would have been it..But he handed in a transfer request and wanted to leave.

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  19. Agree-think he’d be a good’un, but I’d still prefer a more experienced first choice striker.

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  20. Said this before! We have enough of Shane Long type players who need to prove in PL. We need bit more quality!! Aim higher!!

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  21. i would much rather take anyone but gamerio. the bloke dont want to come here ffs… his club have accepted the offer from us and he is dragging his feet, openly saying he would rather play anywhere but with nufc…. we have been down this raod before with people who didnt have the heart for our great club…aka, owen etc. as owne himself would say…been there and didnt like it!

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  22. @batty
    I was on the drink yesterday with Dusty and because he is only the height of a table and he has a monks bald spot, people were using his bald patch as an ash tray.
    He was cutting aboot as if he was the bees knees by the end of the night cos it looked like he had a full head of hair until a gust of wind blew it away!! 😛
    He was seething! 😛

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  23. simon @20…its not just the clubs man… we are third on list of countrys too… Spain, france then us. so thats a fair few places he prefers to a wet and windy newcastle isnt it.

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  24. @Andrew

    Old ground, I’ve explained it all before. He was pushed.
    Carroll told the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on Tuesday: “[Managing director] Derek [Llambias] asked me to hand in a transfer request, so I was pushed into a corner and had no choice. I wasn’t wanted by them and they made it clear they wanted the money.
    “Then I flew down in [owner Mike Ashley’s] helicopter. I didn’t want to leave. I’m gutted that I wasn’t wanted at my home team after everything I have done and the progress I have made. I didn’t want to leave at all. Make sure they know I didn’t want to leave. The players, staff and fans were fantastic.”
    At 2.37pm GMT on Monday, Carroll told Wraith he was “not going anywhere”, but by 5pm Carroll had said: “They have kind of said we don’t want u but want me to say I wanna go. And I said I don’t want to go.”
    Newcastle claimed that they accepted Liverpool’s £35 million offer after the striker handed in a transfer request, but Carroll said: “No I didn’t that’s what I mean that’s what they wanted me to do and I said no. They said they wanted to accept it.”
    Asked if he had no choice but to move to Anfield, he replied: “Looks like it.”
    Wraith then asked Carroll if he had “any message you want put across to the fans?” Carroll replied: “They said they wanted the money. Gutted to be leaving Newcastle but I was kind of pushed out the door. Gutted to be leaving my home club but I was practically told to go. Didn’t want to leave that’s why i signed a five-year deal.”

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  25. I wouldn’t mind us trying to get Kalou from chelsea , the lad has pace and played in the premiership but has always had to play second fiddle to the likes of Drogba , Anelka and now Torres . I think if the lad had a long run in someones first 11 he would become a good striker , with him being from the ivory coast tiote could help him settle in . He would be a better signing than Long or Gamerio (who does not really want too come) .

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  26. Bobby,

    ever considered that what people say isn’t necessarily always true though?

    By the way, I agree about selling Carroll being daft, regardless of whether he wanted to go. He would hardly throw a tantrum and refuse to try for the club. Liverpool will look back in 5 years and think it’s money well spent, guaranteed

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  27. Fair enough, take it back about Caroll then

    As for not being first choice either club or country I still couldn’t care less. If he could come here, fill the void and stick 20 in the back of the net, that will do. Top 10 at least hopefully and make some money on the sale. Until we get established as a top 10 or top 6 side, not that many players will have us as 1st choice. We need to either win something or get within a UEFA spot before players will be trying to get here. There’s been so much disruption over the years, many will be holding back. If somebody can come in and perform, get us in the right direction, then other players who have something about them may want to get themselves here

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  28. “kind of pushed out the door” “practically asked to leave”

    What a fookin woofter!

    Think you and Judas both need to grow a pair, Bobby!!

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  29. TC @ 41

    “kind of pushed out the door” “practically asked to leave”

    I reckon that sums it all up nicely mate.

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  30. Funny how Judas failed to mention his demands for more money, five minutes after he signed a new, improved contract and professed his love for the famous Newcastle club.

    If you fell for that ***** then your as thick a that greasy gypsy bindipper wannabe!!!

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  31. Carroll surely would have come out and spoke for himself, via his agent or something, by now if he thought what was getting said was wrong and false etc. The texts from Steve Wraith I don’t believe for one second, If Carroll was forced out and pushed into a corner and had to leave us you think he would have given his side of the story by now epecially after the abuse he got from our fans away to Liverpool.

    Hopefully at some point in the future we see Carroll’s side of the stroy. Personally I believe he did want to leave and he wasn’t forced out – I think his agent turned his head into getting more than double the wages he was on. Thats just my opinion 🙂

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  32. Quite frankly it does not matter if he was pushed(i think not) or they wanted him out for 35 m ,the fact is the tw@t has gone ,now lets move on and see how the transfer window unfolds . I honestly believe we will have a better team when it slams shut , why ? because Ashley wants a return on the money he has put in and i think he now knows only investing in the team to take them into the top ten and eventually europe will get him the kind of return he is after .

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  33. I think the interview screamed desperation without him saying as much.

    They are linking him with Chelsea, Fulham and Villa but he is aware that there are some high reputation managers out there. Also admitted interest in Cardiff job but to be fair, he said he’d take anything going.

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  34. Aye, nee chance he’ll get any of those jobs imo. With Acellotti, hughs and Di Matteo floating around they’ll always be preferred. He needs another championship team to be honest. I’m sure he won’t turn it down anyway, just get the impression he wants to work.

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  35. I swear he’s only played like three games for them…seems constantly crocked. 😛

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  36. MORENO
    ime just starting to think maybe owl-heed and ashley have put some bad imfo out aboot him,always seemed to have a good rep,just seems theres been some jobs out there that seemed right up his street 😕

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  37. FC Bayern are trying hard to sign Boateng as left back from Citeh…he is their second choice, first choice being Concecao (or summat) from Benfica, but he will cost 25 million euros and wants to go to Real Madrid anyway… Third choice will obviously be wor Jose …..it all gets quite tricky, no one commits until they have to, then there is a “domino” effect in the last week of the transfer winmdow when players make decisions and the club needs to react…cack really, but thats the way it goes

    Of course, if everything with Jose was hunky dory. at the toon..i.e. mega new contract witha great sporting perspective then he would sign up…but obviously it aint…..

    Hope he signs up for the toon to be honest, but time will show…

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  38. Hitman – aye I seen that about Carroll. His info is usually **** hot aswell so there is more than likely something in it

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  39. what’s the deal with carroll being unhappy at l’pool? Would appreciate if someone could post a link to that rumor.

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  40. Sunlounger – Not a lot to post really other than what has been said. A mate of his was talking to Carroll and he hates life in Liverpool is about the nuts of it 🙂

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  41. Don’t know about AC being unhappy at L’pool but it was interesting to see some of the fan blogs reckoning they played better football when he was not in their team! Some people are never happy…

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  42. Batty-Pretty harsh if that’s the case. I think everyone was happy when we signed Sol, and Hoots was probably judging Perch on Colin’s say so. Considering he also brought in Ben Arfa and Tiote…

    I think its just more of a reputation thing, few Prem teams would take a manager with 6 months, let alone Chelski with Champions league ambitions or Villa who want the big names. He’ll get a championship team soon enough I’d imagine, or maybe league one.

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  43. Regarding Shane Long scoring 25 goals last season wasn’t it the Championship where Caroll made his name and then stepped up to the Premiership. Long has scored more than Carroll in the championship in a poorer team as well so he must be given a chane in my opinion

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  44. BATTY aye could be something in that mate,still feel he put his faith in his mate owr perch

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  45. ………Ahhhh poor poor Judas **** ……..me heart bleeds purple p1ss for him 😈 😈 😈 😈

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  46. Read something couple of weeks ago that King Kenny 🙄 and backroom staff not happy at Carroll going out on the lash so much and he had been carpeted.

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  47. On Long he is an improvement on Lovenkrands and Shoala but we need a 15 – 20 goal a season striker. These guys are hard to find and cost a fortune

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  48. Expect to be let down again during this window.
    JB was quoted on Twitter as saying that Ashley want’s players on the cheap.
    Where’s all the talk gone about Gervinho wanting to come to us ❓
    Propaganda/spin/lies call me synical or what…. 😆

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  49. What business we do will be in August. We could all go on our holidays for six weeks and we wouldn’t miss any signings

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  50. TLR@74 …I fear your right there, and Ashley will come up trumps again, and the squad will be weakened…madness really…risky business…

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