Leave the old guard alone!

toonsy

The Mackem slayer
I read an article in The Chronicle earlier which basically sounded like a PR exercise from the club.

The basic point behind it was sound enough, but I didn’t like the way Lee Ryder went about it. I’m sure he’s not bothered, after all he is paid to do what most of us bloggers do for free!

Anyway the whole point of the article was using stats to show how great our new signings have been and how they have overshadowed the previous stalwarts who helped us survive in the league and got us halfway to where we are now. A bit unfair I thought, almost like an “I told you so” kind of article.

The fact is that without the likes of Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique and Andy Carroll, we wouldn’t be in the Europa League now. Granted not many of them would get into our current starting line up right now, but at the time these were our best players who had gone within a whisker of getting us a top-half finish on our return to the Premier League. For that I will never slate them.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I’m sure that some of the departed players now wish they had the benefit of using it, but they’ve moved on, either by force or by want – whichever you believe, and so should everyone else rather than using it as a petty points scoring exercise.

When you look back there was a reason why people were so glum at the departure of these players, and that was because they were some of our best players at the time, and losing your best players is rarely a good thing. Whilst I never doubted the quality we brought in, I still can’t help but feel that we’ve been lucky in the way that they’ve gelled and performed. Nobody could have second guessed that at the time.

So would I have any of them back going by what I know now? Probably not, but I also won’t be slating them any more as they played a vital role in where we are today.

Others should do the same…

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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153 thoughts on “Leave the old guard alone!”

  1. All the big names who have left played a huge part in where we are now, they helped us get out of the CCC where we could still be playing if it wasn’t for those players efforts…..that said, they’re all a bunch of tw@ts now :mrgreen:

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  3. Richie i was referring to the previous thread as to why joey wasnt picked for england! 😀

    We got rid of all our english players and flourished …. poor roy 😉

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  4. Toonsy this is the same lee ryder who knows about transfers days after everyone else

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  8. Liam… I know, but I was bored and couldn’t think of owt else to type 😉

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  9. I think the bitterness comes from the circumstances behind each individual player’s departure.

    Nolan, still think highly of him, he undoubtedly left for money but on the whole, he just kept schtum and got on with it. Can’t judge him too much for wanting one last big pay check.

    The other three p!ss me off varying amounts because of all the rubbish they came out with after leaving the club. People like Barton trying to turn the fans against the board, do you remember his whole “the truth will come out when i leave the club” had his followers eating out of his hands.

    Same goes for Carroll and Jose, fine I understand Liverpool are a worldwide, prestigious club, but just leave and admit you wanted to go, don’t try and lie to us about how you wanted to stay but the club weren’t showing ambition. Really irks me how fans believed the players, moaning about ambition and wage caps, despite the contradictory signings of HBA/Cabaye etc

    Nolan aside, they deserve all the abuse they get when they come here for trying to force a wedge between management and fans (though i still hope Jose and Carroll do well in their careers).

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  10. Oh dear me,2nd victim(KING Kenny) down.

    3rd victim(RDM) will Down after May 20th,i will bet on that. 😉

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  12. BBC yesterday “lawrenson expects dalglish to stay” I see his prediction was accurate as usual!
    😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆

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  13. Okay, reports have emerged that Roberto Martinez have been approached . 😯

    Congrats,liverpool for remaining status quo then. 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆

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  15. I reckon they’ll go for Martinez…..or Rafa 😯 ……although I’d prefer them to go for agent Bruce 😆

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  16. Kenny going though funny is actually bad news as who ever comes in is bound to be better and will improve on his results 👿

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  17. This is a sad news.

    He is the one of the few managers LFC has that is able to bring them to championship rather than champions league.

    The owners should keep the king, how dare they sack him!

    I am having stomach pain after reading this comment. 😆 😆

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  18. We have to be grateful that we had the ‘old guard’ to get us straight back up to the premiership.

    Had they not, there is no way we would have Cabaye ,Marveaux , Ba or Cisse as they would not have joined a team in the championship.

    I would also like to recommend Steve Bruce to Liverpool.

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  20. I would offer Liverpool the chance to party with Marty. I reckon they should go for O’Neill 😈

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  21. More crazy ideas coming out from my country liverpool fans.

    Kevin Keegan.

    I duly replied to them. 🙄

    For those questioning whether Kevin Keegan can do the job,yes he can.

    Only if he doesnt walk away from clubs and sue the owners for demands not met. 😆 😆

    He walk out from man city,walk out twice from newcastle,walk out from fulham,England. 🙄

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  23. Actually there is some wrong info about the suing part,but whatever.

    I having a great laugh,with ppl suggesting many names. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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  26. If shitpool appointed O’Neil they’d win their 1st 5 games and think they could win the league, then they’d finish 7th 😆

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  27. The truth is they all played a huge part in our recovery but each had to leave for the greater good it would seem. Enrique never wanted to stay ,thinking the grass was greener elsewhere and leaving us with a parting shot of a soundbite predicting we’d never make top 6 again !. Barton was a devisive element it would seem and apparently not free of demons or ego and in hindsight we are well rid . Nolan was too old for a long term contract and chose to chase one last pay check ,fair enough. As for Carroll ,some would say his head got turned by greener grass and more cash ,others that he played a game with MA and lost, who knows but I certainly don’t hate him . I think our success is the perfect reply to all ex players who doubted our capabilities ,and now we all move on.

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  28. I’m Not grateful to nolan and barton, premiership standard players on massive wages, doing their job in the championship after helping us get relegated. Enrique will look back and wonder if he was maybe a tad shortsighted but carroll took the money and fame. Good luck to the latter two and no resentment, although nolan is a **** for advising our players to leave and barton… Well…. Lets just leave it there. We have pards, his staff, hughton, and our CURRENT players to thank for where we are now. 😎

    By the way, bad news re; kenny. Perhaps hodgeson was not so bad afterall! Unfortunately martinez will turn them into a good side again next seaspn. Not great for us!

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  30. Has the alleged fallout between Ashley and Pards been over an approach by Liverpool for Pardew? 😯

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  31. Well said Toonsy.

    …so, sad ol’ puppy face finally gets put down then 😥 …can’t say I couldn’t see that happening. About 4 months too late.

    Poor old Villa are gona have to settle for 2nd best in the Manager recruitment race now.

    Moyes for Liverpool! 😯

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  32. Interesting the bindippers would sack Kenny after letting him spend so much money. They have an aging group of stars or ex-stars (Gerrard, Carragher, Kuyt) and some poor replacements (Downing, Henderson, Spearing) so what do they do now? Spend another 110 M on more new players? Try to sell Carroll for 10M taking a 25M pound loss? Wouldn’t want to be their incoming manager. And they say we have unrealistic expectations! 😀

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  33. I wonder Liverpool let King Kenny keep his LFC tramp overcoat, complete with gravy stains down the front. He did seem quite attached to it, bless.

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  34. never mind daglish getting the sack,what aboot poor hoots son getting the sack at brum 😯

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  36. Ice
    Chris got sacked from Birmingham? 😯 he almost got them promoted on a shoe string budget, what more do they want? 👿

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  37. I can’t believe that Hodgson named Terry and Lampard in his squad . It was time for out with the old and in with the new ,yet the only oldie not going is Ferdinand . He has missed a chance to start building a new England generation , still i will be supporting England as all ways once it kicks off .

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  38. My money is on Pep Guardiola being the bin dippers new manager . Unbelivable that Hoots has been sacked .What does the bloke have too do to keep a job .

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  39. Irrespective of how the article comes across…I’m glad the general theme is how the new players are better than the old, rather that than the other way round

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  44. ANDY/ANY/ECT/TOON 😉 😆
    aye chris has nee say,would be a **** if he sacked his own son 😯

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  46. just finished reading yohan’s website..in the connection page,one of the link is our cult hero sibierski.any one can tell me what’s their connection? 😕 😕 ❓ ❓

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  47. hmm..
    sibierski:1992–1996 Lille
    cabaye: 1998–2004 Lille youth team

    the link is too far to make yohan specifically put it in his website

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  48. Hodgson should have gone for the ‘all-out war’ approach with a central midfield of Karl Henry, Joey Barton and Lee Cattermole

    😈 😈 😈

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  49. Alex….I thought earlier about Pep taking over but he quit Barca because he was tired through the mental and physical stress of management, so if he jumps straight back into management he hasn’t been very truthful….surely someone invloved in football woudln’t lie? 😯 😆

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  52. i would have left both rio and terry oot me-sel,court case due,some honest lawyer might use that 😉 plus that ****-bag terry is smug enough imo

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  53. Enrique on Dalglish exit – “This club will never again fight to be among the top 6 with this policy” 😆 😆 😆

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  54. It’s a little known fact that Tugboat’s famous goal celebration was in honour of his favourite NUFC blogger! 😉

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  57. Toonsy I agree we were lucky in that all the players settled quickly which isn’t and wont always be the case.

    Hitman that wouldn’t be a bad swap 😆

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  58. So it looks like we were best to cash in on Carroll while king kenny was spending all the money 😆 its just a pity we couldn’t have got them to take that bin dipper with the fuking stupid dance aswell as we might have got a bit more money for him 😆

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  60. THANK YOU FOR THAT ARTICLE MATE! PEOPLE HAVE TO STOP COMPARAISONS BETWEEN NOW AND LAST 2 SEASONS AND STOP BASHING THOSE PLAYERS WHO GAVE ALL FOR THE CLUB, THEY GAVE ME EMOTION LAST 2 SEASONS AND I WILL NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY’VE DONE FOR US!

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  61. Talking about the guard ( great article which i agree with ) Would anyone take any of them back? What about Jose ” no club will ever finish in top 6 ever again ” enrique

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  63. Dave id be the same. Him on the left Santon on the right. Attack attack attack!!!! 😆

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  64. Is it right that we cannot sign any of our targets until after the Euro’s. So if they play well, the price will rocket and we will be put off. And if they play poorly, we will be put off? Is that how it is set to work?

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  65. B&B – It may not be our choice. Would you take a job as a doctors receptionist knowing full well you could actually be a doctor in a few weeks providing you do well in your exams?

    Players will want to wait and see. not only will they want to focus on the Euros, they will also want to see where it takes them

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  66. B+B the Euros are a big shop window all players that are going will be expecting to do well, so why sign up now rather than wait a while and if the have a good euro their hand will be stronger.
    I don’t think we would want to wait because pards said that he wanted to get the deals done before the euros, but I guess the players agents are advising them against it.

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  68. Scouser outside Anfield “Problem with Kenny is you should never go back” Reporter:”Who would you have now?” “Rafa” You couldn’t make it up.
    😆 😆 😆 😆

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  69. B&B, yeah July 1st. Swings and roundabouts really though. I can’t see us going in for any high profile European Internationals, and the value estimation of any of our own can only go up throughout the tournament. We usually do our transfer business well under the radar. It only bothers me cos I’ll have to put up with another 6 weeks of tabloid bullshit before the window opens.

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  70. Transfer window doesn’t open anyway until the 1st July, unless it was a transfer from another English club which could theoretically be done now, but even then most players contracts run until the end of June so nowt would happen until 1st July anyway……..I think 😕

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  71. Big D – Aye, I thought Pards had said he wanted transfers done early i.e before euros, but it seems as if that was never practically possible.

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  72. Dave, what, so we can do the deals before the window opens I.E. agree the fees, but not actually sign them until July 1st ❓ Doesn’t that effectively mean there’s no July 1st window opening? I’m confused.

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  74. There may well be a few gentlemans agreements in place for all we know .Trouble with that is if they go to euros and excel they may welsh on the deal and demand better terms from us . 🙄

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  75. Is Diame on a free ? he could possibly replace Tiote if he is sold .

    Also does anyone know wether we are still interested in Ricky Van Wolfswinkel?

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