Forster replacement sorted?

Rob Elliot: "Oooh suits you..."
According to the links in the press Newcastle have signed, or are about to sign, Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Rob Elliot.

The 25-year-old is said to be coming to Newcastle as a direct replacement for the recently departed Fraser Forster who completed another season long loan deal to Celtic yesterday.

If there is any truth in this, and I have a suspicion that there won’t be as the reports originate from the Daily Mail, then it kind of leaves me scratching my head a little bit. It’s a pointless exercise that serves no real purpose as we already have more goalkeepers in reserve. Why rush out and bring in a third choice keeper when we could quite easily give that space to one of our own like, Ole Soderberg? Signing Elliot is an ingenious solution to a problem that doesn’t actually exist.

Part of the allure, for me anyway, of allowing Forster to join Celtic again, is that it’s a move that makes everyone happy. Neil Lennon is happy he has got his man, Forster is happy as he’ll be getting first-team games, Ashley will be happy as he has trimmed the wagebill again (you have to save pennies you know..), I’m happy as we’ve shifted a player who couldn’t even catch a cold and it gives us another space in the 25 man squad. Not that the last bit really matters at the moment anyway.

Bearing all that in mind I was quite prepared to see one of our prospects move up the pecking order. Soderberg has been around a while now and is improving. He is another one of a string of highly-rated goalkeepers so I had assumed that he would be rewarded by being moved that one step closer to the first team, much like he was last season when Forster was at Celtic. It seems straight-forward enough doesn’t it?

So what happens instead? We go after a 25-year-old keeper who will need to be registered to play, has limited time left in his career (yes I know, 25-years-old isn’t old, but it’s more limited that Soderberg anyway), and has never played Premier League football. It’s wasting money (however little, remember the pennies!) where it doesn’t need to be spent, especially when you consider that if it ever came to having to play our third-choice keeper the Soderberg and Elliot would have exactly the same amount of risk attached to them.

The only thing I can think of is that there is something wrong with Steve Harper. There has been a problem with his knees for sometime now and he even admits that if he has to retire then it will more than likely be something to with his knees. He has been out a long time now and has been absent from team selection despite apparently being fit. Maybe Harper’s number is up?

Who knows? I don’t. What I do know is that there are other more important positions that need strengthened ahead of us going for another goalkeeper. A striker would be nice. An actual left-back would be even better. If push came to shove we could probably limp through until January with our current goalkeepers which would give us time to really look for something. The other positions, I’m not so sure.

What do you make of it all?

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.

105 thoughts on “Forster replacement sorted?

  1. David,
    We will, but it’ll be a panicky buy in the final week after several more “failed bids and negociations” with top targets.
    Happens every window.

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  2. @Toby Le Rhone

    re. Maynard – if we bring him in and move Lovenkrands out (and sign another CF), I’d consider it worthwhile. The man is seriously fast….. 4.5m is too much tho

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  3. Toonsy

    If you do use the Pardew piece, you’d have to add the Forster loan and change the days left to one.

    I just feel So So Sorry for the man… can you imagine the bullshit he is probably being fed by Lambias.

    “You want Pieters, we’ll put in a strong bid”… He. Offers 2mil and says “oh well, we tried”. Next cheap target.

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  4. You’ve got to laugh at Pardew. He’s pure comedy, yet he doesn’t mean to be.

    AP = “Mike , Derek, we need a striker to replace Carroll and a left beck to replace Enrique”

    DL = “No problem Alan, me and Mike will get straight on it”

    AP =”So, I can tell the fans that?”

    DL and MA = “Yes, snigger, you do that Alan, snigger”

    DL = “Alan, here’s a new goalkeeper for you. He’s from Charlton, one of your old clubs. How nice is that? You’ll have something in common with him”

    AP = “Err, ok, thanks boss”

    AP= “Wonder if Greggs in Eldon Square need a new pasty maker?”

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  5. @ batty

    Never said you were one of the whingers or attacked you personally mate, don’t see what’s got you so hot under the collar.

    At this point in the season it’s Ba 0 and Carroll 0, we’ll see at the end of the season eh?

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  6. AP = “Mike , Derek, we need a quality left back, we can use the Enrique money, since the Carroll money vanished?

    DL = “Ye Alan, sure, Carroll money? Oh Ye, we got some pretty grass on the training ground though”

    AP =”So, I can tell the fans that?”

    DL and MA = “Yes, snigger, you do that Alan, snigger”

    DL = “Alan, here’s your new left back, his names Ryan Taylor – great at set pieces they say”

    AP = “Err, but he was with us already”

    EK = “Was he? Pity, we’ll have to look elsewhere, but the money is gone…. Should have put on black…”

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  7. All this just begs the questions, why would someone want to own a business where its customers hate the owner and the business is struggling to turn a profit?

    Then add to that, said business is a football club where owners are expected to pile money into the club in order to achieve anything.

    Its seems an awefully large headache in order to expand one’s business portfolio, why not just have a share in a club, or own a smaller club like Doncaster or something. (No offence Donny fans).

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  8. thad i agree with you about twitter and papers as i beleive nowt till it happens , hot under the collar 😆 not me as for carrol and ba think carrol will win hands down

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  9. David

    If you work in advertising, you know that any publicity is better than no publicity.

    Positive or negative, the spotlight is on Newcastle and it gives Ashley’s Sports Direct millions in advertsing exposure.
    His main concern is not Newcastle but SD and the exposure the club gives SD is priceless.
    He doesn’t care if the news is positive of negative (in fact the negative costs him less) but he gets his companies name in the news, creating further branding exposure.

    Its the main reason he bought the club in the first place according to Sir John Hall, and its way he has no ambition but to just keep us in the Premier League.

    Yes, he’s get more exposure from getting the club into Europe, but that would require a big initial investment which he isn’t prepared to do.

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  10. Don Revie once explained why a great team like Leeds needed to buy two players in the days when the old 1st division had 22 teams –

    he said that if a town had 22 well run grocers shops – then all 22 would be a success
    but not if only the 4-5 top ones won prizes or qualified for europe – and the bottom two (despite being efficient & well run) were relegated & replaced

    so he bought Huddersfield’s two best players – Leeds won the league, Huddersfield got relegated

    my fear is that were are not efficient & well run
    – the team last week showed clear deficiences and weaknesses which were plain to see and which everyone from the top of the club down to the casual tv viewer could identify
    – so we are handicaped, unable to compete in a league of equals and are in fact reduced to competing in a sub-league of relegation candidates for whom the prize is survival !

    It seems that NUFC recognises and accepts this situation – perhaps only for the short term while a stable & efficient regime is established, but it entails serious risks

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  11. Regardless on anyones views let’s all be happy that toonsy never called neil lennon despicable in this article…

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  12. Rorycn

    In all fairness to Toonsy, he had every right to call Lennon despicable after Lennon once headbutted Shearers boot and then had the cheek to dive to the ground and try get him sent off.

    Fortunately the ref wasn’t fooled. 😆

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  13. Is there even such a thing as a nice Saffa? Almost as miserable as the sweaty socks aren’t they? 😆

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  14. If this is true I think it is because,

    A) Harper is close to retirement and has a recurring injury to his knees.

    B) The manager wants a ‘senior’ goalkeeper as no.2. Krul has little and Soderberg no experience.

    C) Our goalkeeping coach Woodman already knows this player and has worked with him before.

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  15. Plus there could be a situation where Forster is away on loan, Harper is injured and then we are relying on Krul to stay fit which is a bit of a risk.

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  16. I don’t know why everybody is worrying over this keeper situation when we obvisouly need a good striker and a left-back and i’d say enough winger.

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