The grass isn’t always greener!

toonsy

Has N'Zogbia moved on to bigger and better things?
I was having this discussion with Marktoon in the pub the other night, mainly because I caught a couple of people talking about it on here.

Basically it was a discussion about players who have left Newcastle United, and of those players, which ones have gone on to bigger and better things.

To be honest it was a remarkably hard question to answer as I couldn’t think of many, plus there are many definitions when it comes to trying to ascertain just what bigger and better things are. Whether it’s more money, more trophies, playing for a bigger team or how you view any of them will determine the answers, so other people may basically say that one player has gone on to better things due to a larger paycheck while someone else may say that the same players hasn’t as he personally has done nothing with his career.

You see what I mean? It really is a hard one, but lets try and see just who people think has gone onto better things after leaving United.

The one that springs to mind is Scott Parker. the media favourite is now a starting fixture in the Tottenham side, but lets not forget he went to West Ham and was part of a team that got them relegated first. Yes he’s one on to greater things, but it’s been a roundabout way of doing it.

James Milner I suppose you could say has gone on to greater things, if you class a bench warming role at Manchester City that. I’m sure his bank balance has increased, but I can’t help but feel that he is over-rated. People will point towards that season at Aston Villa where he scored a load of goals, but the vast majority of them were penalties lets not forget.

Shay Given left and went to Manchester City before doing the reverse of James Milner and ending up and Aston Villa. He is now a goalkeeper of a mid-table team at best. Has he gone on to greater things?

How about Charles N’Zogbia, now at Aston Villa after a spell at Wigan? He sulked away from us, and Wigan, and now he is doing much the same at Villa. He never quite made it to Arsenal then? has he gone on to better things?

You see my point? Not many players who leave United go on to better things. They may earn more cash and have a bigger bank balance or another Ferrari as a result, but on a professional level they never really seem to replicate the kind of level of performance level of playing that they reached with us, barring a couple of exceptions.

Perhaps a sobering thought or those players who have even half a thought of cashing in their chips and moving on to “better” things?

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.

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231 thoughts on “The grass isn’t always greener!”

  1. aye up to this time i bet judas will be thinking that,as much as i hate to say it for a lot money makes the world go round for most people 🙁

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  2. Fair points for all the players but Michael Owen has a several winners medals with Man Utd, as do Jose Enrique and Andy Carroll. On the whole, however, players don’t do amazing things when they leave.

    My main concern again is how it influences our team, not those players. It’s all well them struggling when they leave but if we struggle when they leave also, then it’s all a waste.

    I hope the club have identified some “expendable” players and lean to getting rid of them first before others, that way we can make money and have a plan as opposed to selling to the first big sum that arrives for whoever.

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  3. If loan players are counted in this discussion, then Giuseppi Rossi. We had him for half a season, unfortunately unable to give him games. Look where he is now. 😯

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  6. Sheffield Wednesday go 2-0 up asNile Ranger latches on to a defensive error by Tom Clarke and races through on goal before finishing with aplomb into the bottom corner

    😯 😯 😯
    😆

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  7. Mags-I guess the point remains though, whilst he actually one stuff and got more money at Manure he never became the hit many assumed he would be, and played second fiddle to numerous other strikers there. Still, I would class it as “bigger and better”

    Its an interesting article…hopefully our current bunch take note eh 😉

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  9. I am sure Owen will tell you he has gone onto bigger and better things but then again he tells everyone who will listen he is not injury prone so I would not listen to him too much.

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  13. Not too bad, closed 2 points on Spurs and 2 even further ahead than the scum…….Howay Wigan :mrgreen:

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  14. Tottenham have only won 1 in their last 7 😯

    Lets hope they can keep this form up, they’ve got the FA Cup to distract them, though probably the easiest fixtures out of the four teams.
    That said they play 3 teams fighting for their lives who are bound to see Tottenham struggling for confidence and have a bit of belief that they can do damage.

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  17. Congratulations to @FraseForster League winners medal won, deal to join #Celtic surely going to be made permanent

    😉 😕

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  18. Thought he was at fist Newkie, but he did come back on. Was just hoping he might be out for a couple of games

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  22. Simon-Shame 😕
    Still apparently they were quite flat though I didn’t watch the match. As long as our flat matches keep being 2-0 and theirs are 0-0 then i’m fine with that 😀

    Solano-Aye true that, just hope their goalie isn’t to blame for it, we need him to be a star so that the bastards can beat everton 😕

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  25. **** didn’t think about that newkie. So annoyed our season may be lying in enrique and carroll’s hands.
    Usually though KD seems to be able to rev up the troops for the “big games”, like against Everton and Man Utd, so hopefully that’ll be the case again. I think it just shows he relies on motivation without any actual tactical knowledge.

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  26. Decent result and the fact that Bale may be out for a bit could help us, just need Wigan to get something from Chelsea and a Man city win tomorrow and we’re all set for our assault

    good to see liverpool getting beaten at home as well ( not that it maters from a league perspective )

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  27. West Brom only 3 points behind the dippers now. How sweet would it be for Hodgson to finish above them!

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  30. Solano-yeah I think that’s definitely the case. Somehow he pulls it out of the bag for the big games, hopefully the players will respond. After all, winning the cup is the only way they can make this a successful reason really.

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  31. Jon R I would love that.

    Just thinking about it though, i actually think the owners should give him time, as bad as he is, they have said they are rebuilding so they should stick to their statement and rebuild, chopping and changing managers during this means a new manager wanting new players and just makes the whole process messy.
    I’d respect their board a lot more if they came out saying why they were sticking by dogleash than Chelsea giving it the big one about rebuilding then bottling it as soon as the going got tough.

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  32. @Beardsley: Me too mate. From a purely vindictive standpoint, this season is going perfectly. Liverpool playing ****, Joey Barton getting relegated, Fat Sam’s West Ham looking like they’ll have to chance it in the play-offs.

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  33. I’ve said it once and I’ll day it again, Clint Dempsey would be a massive acquisition over the summer, especially of we get into Europe.

    He’ll also be massive when the Dembas go to the ACoN again next year

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  34. I hope the club would put a bid for Charlie Mulgrew from celtic,or a part exchange for forster.

    would be good LB. 😀

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  37. bastad chelsea score, just as Torres comes on 👿
    dodgy offside goal n al 👿

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  38. Mulgrew is going nowhere. I remember suggesting him about 2 or 3 years ago on the old BBC 606 forum aswell as these blogs and people didn’t even know who he was.

    You’d all **** a brick over him anyway if you all think Perch, Williamson and Simpson aren’t good enough. Best set piece man in Britain though.

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  40. Chelsea goal 5 yds offside apparently, typical. shame on the officials ,that does nowt for us or poor Wigan . 👿

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  42. There was actually about three Chelsea players offside.

    ****,That referee should be sack on spot. 👿

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  52. I don’t care what Liverpool do in the league now, I can’t say any realistic way they can catch us now.

    If anything, we need them to do well to get ready for the cup match.

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  53. bolton losing 3-0 now.
    Manager of month curse.
    I hope Pardew doesn’t get one 😉

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  56. Johno…agree but it would be nice to have that safety net 😉

    BB…aye me too 👿

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  57. frank clarke, peter withe, super mac, terry mcdermott, ronnie simpson all went on to better things!! but i dont have enough time to write down the money grabbing twats who only went for the money 👿 👿 by the way, happy easter andy carroll and enrique 😉 😉

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  63. BB @53 – don’t dare to think what would happen if he won manager of the season 😯 😯

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  66. Swings and roundabouts newkie. Not worth getting upset over. It’s annoying of course but we got it last week. A lot of footy still to be played yet

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  67. Newkie @65- Teams like Chelski ,Arsenal and Manure always get the benefit of the doubt it seems. So many times you see struggling teams get mugged by them and the ref come the end of the season. Forget us for a minute how will those dropped points effect Wigans battle to stay up and on a day when they played so well apparently. It’s wrong that refs hold so much power when so much rest on it .

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  69. Apparently BOTH Chelsea goals were offside.

    I want an investigation for match fixing.

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  71. Dubtoon-true, but we seem to get luck when it doesn’t matter so much, we could have beaten Liverpool 1-0 regardless eh 😉

    Kimtoon-Completely agree with you. Many a Premier League supporter goes on about the joke that is Italian/Spanish football for ref decisions and the like, but England is just as bad, they need to be much more accountable for their shocking decisions rather than defended to the hilt by the F.A regardless of whether they’re wrong or right.

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  73. the Fulham v chelsea match on monday should be interesting.
    Dempsey now on 15 goals for the season.
    Also Spuds v Norwich will be tough.
    We still have a chance. 😆

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  74. I have to be honest. If a player has given his all while he has been with Newcastle but decide they want to move on – whatever the reason, then they leave with my blessing.
    I’m pretty settled in my current job having been there 7 yrs now, but I had a good few different jobs before settling at this one. That said, if someone came along and offered me a job better than the one I’m doing now then there’s a fair old chance im taking it like.

    It’s up to us to be a stable football club, playing good football and competing for things to not only make it difficult for players to leave but will also attract players to our club.
    It really wouldn’t surprise me if we have agents ringing on a daily basis telling Pardew that players they represent would be interested in playing for Newcastle.

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  75. Dubtoon-aye, revenge for what happened at our place. Now there’s a match we was robbed of… :mrgreen:

    Beardlsey-should be a good match aye. Spurs’ remaining matches are dead easy though, okay they might be fighting against relegation strugglers who want to fight for it but as long as they play adequately they’ll be fine…shame

    For CL we need Arsenal and Chelsea to nosedive and city to be out of the race so they give us 3 points at the end….too much to ask methinks 🙁

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