Newcastle must do something to stop the revolt!

West Ham is that way!
Well it’s not confirmed yet, although to be fair it only seems as though it will be a matter of time before it is, but it would appear that Kevin Nolan is off to West Ham.

Why?

Put simply, I don’t know. There are rumours (and there will be a lot of them) circulating suggesting that Kevin Nolan has been informed that he is not guaranteed a starting place in the team next season, which to be honest I can quite easily see. Take his goals out of the equation and there isn’t much else to his game in all honesty.

Now I know people will say that he was our top scorer last, and they would be correct in saying that. It’s also worth pointing out that 25% of those goals came in one game. A memorable game, and one that will ensure that Kevin Nolan has a place on Tyneside folklore for years to come, but it was still just one game.

If anything it’s his leadership that we are going to miss more than anything, or are we? Nolan talked the talk, but to us fans he very rarely walked the walk where it mattered – on the pitch. Quite often games passed him by, but that didn’t really matter (or it’s actually been forgot about temporarily) as Nolan was a popular player with both fans and fellow players.

This is the first chance I’ve had to write about the Nolan fiasco. I was at work on a break browsing on my phone when I first saw the news. I wasn’t overly impressed, but the hours that have lapsed since have given me time to reflect on things.

Am I bothered about Nolan going? Yes and no. Yes because I worry that it may lead to others players leaving, like Joey Barton and Jose Enrique (although I’ve been prepared for the latter for some time now). No because I’ve realised that Nolan is not that hard to replace.

Once again people will go an about his goals, but he only scored four goals since December. Without Carroll, Nolan became almost redundant. We don’t have Carroll for next season either so what would have happened then? Same again? I guess we won’t get the chance to find out.

It will be interesting to see just what Nolan has moved for. The porn barons that run West Ham will no doubt reveal the costs to placate their fans and show them that they are committed to getting the Hammers back to the Premier League. If they do that though they may just placate some of our own fans in the process.

Think about it. I’m pretty **** certain that Nolan won’t be moving for the money, so it’s either a footballing decision (in terms of playing time) or a career decision (in terms of deal length). I’m going to suggest that it may be a bit of both. The usually vocal Nolan has not uttered a word about all this, so he clearly wants to go and is clearly going to get something at West Ham that he can’t get at St James’ Park.

The truth is we are on the verge of outgrowing Kevin Nolan. Yes he has been great for us, but he won’t continue to be great for us and there will soon be better options available. This is where NUFC need to do their bit.

Quite understandably some fans are pensive about the departure of Nolan. I’m exactly the same. What the club need to do now is show that they mean business and get some players in sharpish to demonstrate exactly that. I still hold out some hope that they’ll do just that, which is why I’ll always wait until the end of the window to properly evaluate where we are and, usually, what went wrong.

So good luck Kevin. All the best. Times move on and circumstances change.

Only time will tell if it’s a change for the better, for both parties!

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.

93 thoughts on “Newcastle must do something to stop the revolt!

  1. 73.. no, a selling club cos we have made over 60 million quid on players bought to sold since ashley came in… ubt hey.. if you are happy with our direction and stewardship fair play to you mate. i will not knock you for that at all.. .same as i expect you to not knock my views.

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  2. Mick…I don’t know why they don’t just ban the players from using it, surely there’s nowt genuine interest that comes from it, unless you’re an opposition manager and the player informs everyone and his dog that he won’t be playing that day 😉
    Nufc players on twitter for me can only cause harm to the club and very little good, if any.

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  3. Craig – I don’t think it’s as easy as saying we’re a selling club. I think we’re in a state of transition. Pardew clearly wants his team to play a particular way and needs to change players to achieve that. Inevitably that means we need to see players on. If we weren’t to buy anyone that’s different but the signs are there will be new face bringing a different style of play to the Toon and that in my book can only be a good thing. If we end up with a fast paced, skilful team at the end of it i say bring it on. It’s clear people like Nolan are not going to fit into that model.

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  4. Reckon we’ll be taking barnetta over zogs, half the price and half the wages – they both play left mid so we won’t be signing both unless we’re putting 5 in mid with ben arfa on right wing

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  5. Deb@79…transition is the right word for sure… however.. how long is this transition meant to last for?? As soon as we start to struggle Ap will be gone or if he asks for players etc he will be gone.. then here we go again…you see my point deb.. when will the transition stop… how long has ashley been here now? how much longer can we put it down to transition?
    @78…yes.you are boring.

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  6. Technically transition should never stop 😉

    Evolving would be a better way of putting it.

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  7. Barnetta can play either wing and strike the ball with either foot( I think)…….still hopeful of Zog but my heart awaits being ripped out an stamped on(again)

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  8. Dont know Craig. Long ago tried to second guess what the fat man will do. I do think there is a plan in place, exactly what it is god only knows but maybe i’m looking through rose coloured glasses but i can’t disagree with some of the decisions. They may cause initial uproar among the fans but when the dust settles is it wrong Nolan was allowed to leave. It seems the contract he has got if reports are to be believed is for 4 years, which is what he would have had at Newcastle with his 2 year extension. Main issue seems to be he wanted to play every week. With our move to a fast, pacy style of play we couldn’t gurantee that. He therefore decided he wanted the other option. He has been a good servant for the club, but time to move on.Everyone moaning about smudger sitting on the bench and picking up ££ every week, outlived his capabilities but too expensive for someone to take off our hands. If we fast forward 3 or 4 years wouldnt the same happen to Nolan? Anyway hoping for the best, expecting the unfathomable/unexpected – normal day in the life of a Toon supporter.

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  9. RichieToon – ditto re Zog. May kill two birds with one stone – wasn’t he captain at Wigan? May be Pardew is thinking of him as captain material – bi-lingual, knows the club, would be popular with fans, would bring an extra dimension to contract negotiations blah, blah.

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  10. Evolution? Transition? Whatever. This is all part of taking us to the next level. Whether that level is up or down remains to be seen, but it is certainly movement.

    It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

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  11. To get rid of someone we need someone prepared to take them off our hands otherwise they’ll obviously just sit there, do nowt and pick up wages ala Geremi – can’t see many people coming in for Smith and apparently we’ve had no bids for Barton yet, maybe his twitter comments are putting off other chairmen
    We should get rid of Routledge and Ranger but depends on how much we’re asking for them, Ranger will be difficult to get rid of due to his on-going attitude problems (even for 500k)

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  12. When is Pardew going to have the balls to stand up to Ashley. Quote I want to sign Nolan, Barton and Enrique before I move on to buy new players. They are the important members of the squad who I need to build on. Whatever plan you had in place Pardew has been ripped to pieces, at least come out and tell us what is going on. Your silence is deafening old lad!

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  13. 88…..very true… fingers crossed we dont nose dive. who knows, it could prove to be master stroke. one thing is for sure…next season is all on AP as it wil lbe his team now!!

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  14. Very angry with Alan Pardew for sitting back and allowing Mike Ashley to force firstly Andy Carroll and now Kevin Nolan to leave, for gods sake Pardew grow a pair and stand up to Ashley instead of making do with whatever Ashley leaves you with ! The ony way Carroll or Nolan or even Barton for that matter would be leaving us would be with Hughton still in charge would have been along with his resignation, because Hughton would not take **** from Ashley. Thats why he was sacked, because Ashley knew that Hughton would be willing to stand up to him and tell him how it is, Pardew is too scared to do so and look how it is affecting us !!!

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