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!”

  2. ahh Kim, the old ‘gentleman’s agreement’ number. Isn’t that also known as ‘tapping up’? I wish they’d just scrap these bloody windows anyway, they just invite corruption and force clubs into panic buying. We’ve heard all this before anyway. 🙄

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  7. ****, I forgot about that, Ice:

    …”Tottenham Hotspur are thought to be his most likely destination, although he will wait to see whether Harry Redknapp’s side qualify for next season’s Champions League before making any firm decisions.”

    hahaha, I’ll DEFINITELY be cheering on Chelsea on Saturday now! That would be ace. 😛

    …anyway, I’m off, no late night Rodzilla show this evening I’m afraid. Tatty bye… 😎

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  10. Anyone else see that the evertonians are condemning Cabaye of racism towards Cahill, which resulted in his sending off? 🙄

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  12. Out of order that. I hope they get severely punished for it. Animals. Thats the problem with the craze of mass pitch invasions at the mo, seone will get seriously hurt before long 😕

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  14. I would have Andy Carroll back. Never wanted to leave but for 35 million ha no choice.

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  15. What a slanderous disgusting article. Completely unfounded and total evil accusations which could damage Cabsye’s reputatipn and career. Should be held to account for that.

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  18. SHAMROCK just thinking the blog could hire them one big dave used to be one,sure his rate would be fair 🙂

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  19. It’s still pretty good to laugh at Nobby and Carroll and even Barton now with his antics. Still, they were decent for us, I don’t think anyone is taking that away from them?

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  20. Shamrock ,Wholeheartily agree with you@90 ,I’m spitting nails here reading that. How can they be allowed to print that **** ,I’m bloody sure if it was racial he would of said something if only to get Cabaye in the ****. 👿

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  22. Ice sounds like a plan. Its a preventative measure. Once Big Dave has done a couple of grounds nobody will ever dare storm the pitch again for fear of what lurks behind the floodlights! He could shoot the. Olatile ones with ‘sleeper’ darts and the club mascot could move in and give them are a sore **** live on tv. No doubt that would end the pitch invasion. Raze pretty sharpish! :mrgreen:

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  24. I know Kim, saying Cahill wont have made the allegation because of press intrusion?! What utter ****.

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  25. Shocking that article ref Cabaye 👿

    on a happier note, candlelit vigils on the red half of Liverpool…from RAWK..

    “Take me money, **** on what what I hold dear and **** on our one true legend. **** off you Yank twats. And you “who I want next” gobshites can **** off as well. The dust hasn’t even settled and your putting a wish list together. Just **** off eh and find someone else.”

    “Something’s seriously wrong if anyone finds it in themselves to speculate about the next manager so soon after this. Christ.”

    “Please for the respect of Dalglish, and for the sanity of the site, use this thread to talk about the next manager but give it some time eh… ”

    “Will still get a tingle when I watch your smile on DVD. You are, and always will be my very first and only hero.
    Thanks Kenny.”
    🙄 🙄 😆 😆 😆

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  26. Ice ,not too bad thanks .Had a bad day last thursday ,woke up and had a cluster of 10 fits so had to see g.p incase another infection was brewing .Been on anti b’s since then, bit better now ,be glad when he goes to the ENT cons appointment to sort out his sinus and ear probs in june ,last one got cancelled 🙄 .All I have done for months now is see different Specialist about his mirade of problems ,I’m sick of hospitals parden the pun.I
    I got him an England car flag for his wheelchair the other day ,just got to figure out how to fix it on it now as the fixing is for a flat surface ,bit of gaffer tape I suppose. 😉

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  28. KIMTOON thanks for up-date,just hope you dont think ime being nosey just i often think about you,good luck with the hopitals,i just dont rate a lot of them very highly,dont worry about flag you can always hold it in your teeth lol

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  29. ice ,that’s o.k. i’m gonna stick the flag on with some strong tape and hope he don’t yank it off ,he likes to chuck stuff 😉

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  30. KimT….They really are pathetic…..but funny at the same time.
    Time for kip for me, laters.

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  32. The Daily fail are seriously suggesting that shitpool are considering signing Pardew as their new manager. 😆 why the f-ck would a manager who got his up and coming team to fifth go to a team whos on the decline finishing 8th? Why would he leave a team with a good spirit and a sound financial scheme to go to a team full of overpaid rascist primadonnas that will enivetably be unable to repay what was given to them once the owners get bored?

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  33. Re: Cabaye and Cahill. I know how Tim feels, all the convict & foster drinking racist taunts I get on here are terrible 🙂 🙂 I’d be grabbing some throats as well*

    *only if you are smaller and less aggressive looking than me 🙂

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  34. on topic – I think it is a bit late to call for everyone to leave our “old guard” alone 😕

    They have been battered from pillar to post by everyone on this blog and now we are calling for some respect for what they have contributed 😆 bit late for that.. comes across as a bit hypocritical to me 😕
    All mercenaries, the whole lot of them.. and who ever leaves next will cop a bagging too, you watch 😀

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  37. Aussie..They all did great jobs for us at the time, slagging them down now for the reasons they left and how it’s worked out for them doesn’t make us hypocrites, it makes us football fans. We’d have been hypocrites if we’d lavished praise on them while they were here, while not really meaning it! 😉

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  38. I am going to ask Toonsy to place an 8 match ban on you Ritchie Suarez 😆
    Not even King Kenny will try and justify your racist taunts 😆 😆

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  39. Totally agree Rich, praising and berating players is all a part of being a fan.. I would just leave it at that though… If you don’t like a player who has left for what ever reason, so be it..

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  40. Aussie……..look at it this way, while they’re picking on ex players me and you get a bit of breathing space 😆

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  41. True Rich 😆 I’m not sure we deserve all the negative press we get on here 😯 😆

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  47. “Sad because I love Kenny to bits. He is the kind of man I would want my son to be (if I had any).”…don’t ya just Liverpool fans 😆

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  48. Poor old Kenny, there are so many parallels with us and Keegan.

    A hero to the fans that couldn’t fulfill the management role at their clubs. I don’t want to start the whole Keegan debate but where Liverpool are now is not all that different than where we were a few years back. I know that they are nowhere near close to relegation but they are in turmoil.

    Classic quote that Rich 😆 You do have to wonder…

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  49. Aussie… difference is Keegan would have realised he wasn’t good enough himself if he’d spent £100 and odd million 😉

    That said, we’d have been owa the moon with a league cup win and an FA cup final, but still all I’ve read on Liverpool forums is, “we’ve failed”, ” we should be in the CL, it’s were we belong”, “8th isn’t good enough” etc etc. Then they go into meltdown when the man responsible gets sacked they go into melt down, “he should have been given more time” was the cry, yep just like you gave Hodgson more time and he had a better league record than Kenny 🙄

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  50. JJ, I know this has come from Cwarr on twitter, so may not be true, but he’s posted a report saying Newcastle have been invited to play in a pre season tournament in South Africa, Kiaser Chiefs involved in it, will see if I can post the link

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  51. Don’t feel sorry for Kenny or Liverpool fans… I can’t stand either. 😆

    Only disappointing thing is that whoever they appoint now will probably do a better job and they’ll be a tougher opposition. Kenny would have had them bankrupt within two years.

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  52. Sorry JJ, not letting me using my iPhone for some reason, but see if u can check it out

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  53. JJ…it’s highly unlikely they’ll do a worse job(league wise)….unless it’s Brucey, Mic Mac or Mcleish 😆

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  54. Liverpool fans still think that they should be the best team in the PL… Their expectations exceed their capabilities. yes they should be happy with a cup win but Kenny was never going to be the answer to getting back to where they think they belong.. Any manager stepping into that club now will have their work cut out.. Aging list, poor players, poor attitudes… remind you of anyone 😕
    Good luck to who ever lands the role… 😕

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  55. Fat Sam would be a good choice… If self promotion was anything to go by 😆

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  56. Aussie…They’ll get one season to get it right it would seem, Cup wins won’t cut it, CL or nowt and that just ain’t gonna happen next season imo.

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  61. 4 games still to play here to see if the local team hang onto a play off place……Villareal B team are mid table but get relegated because Villareal got relegated from La Liga 😕 😆

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  62. Steve Kean would be a good shout, he really seems oblivious to how **** his team is… He would suit Liverpool down to the ground… 😆

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  63. dont get me wrong but lee ryder is in trouble with the club if he gets things wrong, us bloggers just assume and make things up from whatever scource is available to us.most people read a newspaper story and beleive it ,mostly it will not be 100% true. i personaly hate it when fans call footballers for this or that, when they have never met them in person.if some of these bloggers that call players and staff met them in the street they would most likely ask for their autograph! thats what i call 50 faced blogging…..people do p**s me off at times

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  64. Kean is shocking but like you say he’d be a great choice, he fits right into the “it’s never our/my fault” ethos 😆

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  65. Simon
    Would be amazing if they come out.

    Their is a competition called the Vodacom Cup which has seen Spurs and Man United come out the past few years.
    I actually had lunch with Jermaine Jenas and Robbie Keane. Jenas is a tool but Keane was actually a great guy.

    Would be great to do the same with the Newcastle lads.

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  66. after ever loss Kean would say ‘we just need to keep working hard at training” 😆 delusional

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  67. Just seen the report Simon

    One thing I must say is that our press is usually spot on. We don’t really run tabloid stuff here, so it could well be happening.

    Manchester United has been here the past two years and Spurs have been here for two of the past four, so with the number of African stars I guess it makes sense to invite Newcastle.

    Plus the appearance money paid to the English Premier League clubs is huge as far as friendlies go.
    Only thing is, they’d be arriving in our winter which they might not be too happy about.

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  68. I was just reading through the earlier comments and noticed a few people saying how difficult it might be to bring in players before the euro championship, and how their price would go up if they have a good tournament, etc.

    It might be worth mentioning that Belgium haven’t qualified this time round, which means that a few of our ‘alleged’ targets won’t be involved, so I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t make an early bid for one or two of them. I’m not talking about Vertonghen or Hazard, who would almost certainly be out of our price range, but what about Toby Alderweireld and Kevin Mirallas? I think they’d tick the right boxes.

    I certainly get the impression (well, it’s more of a gut feeling than anything else) that Alderweireld would be a much better choice at CB than Douglas, who we keep getting linked with. And I like the sound of Mirallas too. Recently voted player of the season in the Greek league, he’s mainly a striker (top scorer in that league) but can also play out wide, so he should be able to operate equally well in a 433 or 442 formation. And he’s also another one of Cabaye’s mates (played with him at Lille) so I’m wondering if he’s the one that Pards was hinting at, rather than Debuchy?

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  69. Chris G….the fact the window doesn’t open until 1st July makes it diificult also 😉

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  71. How long have you been waiting for that little window of opportunity to tell that? 🙄 😆

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