So, would you sign for us?

kimtoon

confused footballI was reading the latest article from Olivier Bernard in the Chronicle today, (http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/players-thinking-twice-joining-newcastle-9485041 ) and you have to say he makes some thought provoking points.

He argues we need around 10 new players and the need to build a spine of a new Centreback, central midfielder and center forward with Premier league experience and that’s hoping we avoid costly injuries along the way.

Still the thing that stood out for me, was the who would want to sign for us bit of the article. Given the chaos of last season and the not so good previous one and the apparent lack of ambition, then who indeed would want to sign? Factor in the whole attitude the regime has towards players, (Jonas treatment whilst poorly and the manner in which he and Ryan Taylor were let go ) and we look a cheap and nasty outfit to the outside observer.

When Mike Ashley stood before that sky interviewer on our last game of the season and said things would improve and he took the blame, I allowed myself a mediocum of hope but remained wary given his level of ambition over the past few seasons. All the same I had hoped the close shave with relegation and the poor previous season had made him really stop and think about his long term plans for the club.

Now it’s early doors, the transfer window is yet to open, but I’m getting that same old feeling that we just aren’t at the races again. The new momentum we all expected seems to be vanishing with the slow appointment of Steve McClaren and now the long wait for his assistants to arrive as well, and that’s before we even see a bid for a player materialise. Liverpool, Swansea ,Southampton and Chelsea have all been busy sorting Transfers already and their need is no where near as urgent as ours is.

Without a key quality signing it will be extremely difficult to attract players of the relevant skill to our club, likewise they will want to see quality coaches here as well. Given the way some of our players have been treated by the club, and the

lack of player replacements when our top players are sold, what player in their right mind will want to join us?

Bernards point that Palace look a less risky bet to players seeking a move is a valid one. They look more settled than us and all the fans are united behind the team and manager and the board are giving Pardew funds to improve the team with quality signings.

Meanwhile Newcastle have so far been linked to a lot of championship players, not surprising given that’s where our new coach has been previous to joining us; and a couple of mid table quality players at extortionate prices. Well if we ever end up paying £20million for Troy Deeney, we need sectioning as a club. How can a championship player who hasn’t even proved himself capable at Premier League level be worth that kind of sum?

And this is the problem we face, the whole of football knows we are desperate for reinforcements and will attempt to hold us to ransom. Ofcourse we will bulk at the fees being asked and walk away and bring in our 2nd, 3rd or 4th choices and a few foreign up and comings and hope for the best. We might even go with what we have and try for better deals come january 2016, it’s not like we havn’t before.

But the real key is what do the players want. If you were a decent player looking at us from the outside, would you see a fresh start with a healthy dose of ambition? Or do you see the basket case other clubs fans and the media have portrayed us as?

I do not see a fresh start, sorry but I don’t. I know a lot of you don’t care about what happened with McClarens first press conference and in truth a few hacked off journo’s doesn’t overly trouble me either. But the reality is, that one little act tells you nothing has changed, the regime are still insular,secretive and aloof unless cash is involved. It sets the press and media against us before a ball is even kicked for the new season . They had the perfect chance to start afresh and foster a new understanding with fans and media alike, isn’t that what THAT interview was all about.

If real investment isn’t made and that’s more than the reported £25million, then the fan unrest of last season will become even more toxic . With lots of empty seats it will be interesting to see how the regimes preferred partner Sky feels about their cosy relationship. More to the point, players will be looking at our level of ambition in who we sign over the coming weeks and I suspect that Bernard may of hit the nail on the head with his article.

We may have fifty odd thousand cheering players on and a beautiful stadium but it means nothing without real ambition and desire to improve. At this point we should be pulling out all the stops to attract players, I remember freddie Shepherd saying the fact we aren’t London is a stumbling block so we have to really sell the club and area. Let’s hope Lee and company are doing just that, otherwise it could be another long season.

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421 thoughts on “So, would you sign for us?”

  3. Problem is that players might well be waiting to see who else we bring in. When they all decide to wait it means we don’t sign anyone!

    The club are probably reaping what they have sowed and I am starting to think it’s going to be a tough old summer where we will need to overspend and do an awful lot of persuading players and coaches.

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  4. Dave, that’s fine no probs mate, I didn’t think you’d see it too soon what with Fathers day visits 🙂

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  5. <<<<<<<<<<< would think they they cant even get a coach over the line,so what chance they got of geting players over the line, so me answer would be no

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  6. good read kim.
    i think we are players last resort,so a lot of player will hold out for another club to come in.

    Chronicle: ‘NUFC want to have a first big signing in place by the end of July’. 😯

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  9. @JBurtTelegraph: Was told on Saturday that it is a “no” when I asked if West Ham are going for Charlie Austin. QPR want £15m. Newcastle remain interested.

    If we still can’t get him we have a problem!

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  11. As a boss Ashley might be great cos he believes in stability, just look at his love of 5-8 year contracts for his non-playing staff. Absolutely brilliant if you are decidedly average and won’t get a job anywhere else. I reckon that Mclaren is realising the enormity of the task. He realises he needs the media on his side, and apart from the fawning chronicle who make things up anyway that most definitely won’t happen.

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  13. STUART79 9
    i think we will have a prob if he dos sign,seen a picture of him hes quite fat from what i saw

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  14. There are millions of pounds involved in player signings and end of July is still a long way off. I don’t believe the Ashley interview his sole ambition is to be mid table and keep the money rolling in. The light will go on soon as can be seen by the season ticket holders holding back on renewalls.

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  16. The end of June is even closer. 😆
    Imagine how much Charnley will save on flights to the USA tour

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  17. Thanks Kim… not panicking yet…. plenty of players will want to sign for us! A lot of you seem to basing your knowledge of how potential players are feeling from what the press are speculating. Remember most press stories are opinion pieces and contain no actual facts! They love winding up Toon fans and to be honest , it is not hard 😆

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  19. AUSSIE MAGPIE FAN
    you ganna be rushing out to buy the 3rd shirt with the pink strip on it bud 😳 suits you sir 😆

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  20. Yeah, it does seem like we are losing out again because of our rigidness and tightness in getting the “best deal” which means we are losing out.

    One prime example is Ayew to Swansea which I think is going to be another Bony like example of another quality player who is going to shine this season and we will be left saying the same old things …why didn’t we get him when we could easily have got him.

    It’s going to be even harder this window to get players who we think are of value due to the everyone and their dogs knowing of the extra money the premier league has because of the TV money and so are bumping up the prices an extra 5-10m up for players and grossly overvaluing them. Austin is a prime example of this, everyone knows he’s not worth 15m but pay it and I think your guaranteed a 15+ goal a season striker, something we are desperately in need of.

    We will wait and see what happens with our transfers but we are playing a dangerous game of waiting for others to budge on prices or other clubs going ahead and showing the ambition to get quality players in their team and spending the money. In the end, we could end up with ending up with another Riveire II as our main targets are at other clubs.

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  21. Kim 😉 I am sure there is plenty of work being done behind the scenes, the press are so far out of the loop they can only guess what is going on..

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  22. Aussie, Hope so mate, I really do. Nothing would give me more pleasure than us sign a couple of gems and shoving this article where the sun don’t shine.

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  23. TAE, I bought one from SD. Thank god for the ground advertising other wise I would have never known that SD ever existed! 😆 😆

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  24. AUSSIE MAGPIE FAN
    see you had the works van out waiting for the next drop 😆 😆

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  26. AUSSIE MAGPIE FAN
    looks like ya enjoying ya breakfast there bud 😆 😆 😆

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  28. Great read Kim. Thanks.
    Stu@9: That’s an interesting comment, if true.
    The only reason for not getting Austin should be if he simply does not want to come.
    Would have been easy to bid the asking price, and if he says no that’s the end of it. The club can’t be too heavily criticised for showing ambition, meeting the asking price and being knocked back. Even that would have kept the nerves of fans settled a bit, but the apparent position of not bothering making contact cos the tea lady read in the Mail that he might prefer to stay down south just stinks of ‘business as usual’ and is deflating the small balloon of vague optimism that was floating around the place all too briefly. By default the negativity emitted from fans and media as a result will only add to the reluctance of players to join, whereas an early signing of a decent striker along with the new coach and subsequent fan and media reactions would almost certainly have had a few players thinking something may just be about to happen here and wanting to jump on board.
    Anyone in Charnleys/Carrs position at a club like ours should at least be able to convince the lad he has a decision to make.
    After that, the decision is his.

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  30. AMF does it take long to get your SD tennis socks delivered to the outback mate ? 😆

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  31. MUNICH MAG
    nar fatboy just sticks them in with his leaflet drop bud 😆 😆

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  32. Just cos there are theoretically tens of millions more of pounds available doesn’t mean that the players are proportionally worth so much more. That is probably the accountant speaking, not the fan. Charney has a tough task managing fan expectancy on a low budget. Someone also needs to explain to me how Swansea is so much more attractive proposition than the toon…There again Gary monk seems to be like a bloke who you would like to play for, although in front of smaller crowds of course…

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  33. Despite the murmurings of a new era, it is deja vu all over again. Let me remind you of who we got last year:

    De Jong – good player but crocked for a lot of previous season.

    Jack Colback – free, was often played as full back and had not had that many games in mid-field.

    Perez – Spanish second division. Even the club said he was “one for the future”

    Cabella – our signature signing to replace the out of favour HBA. Was only on the fringes of the French squad.

    Riviere – hardly played at Monaco and was far from proven even in the French League.

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  35. This year, our “long-term targets” seem to be of higher quality, at least in terms of experience. However, that means there will be more competition for them. It could end up a vicious circle where we go after players we have no reasonable expectation of getting whilst the ones we could get go elsewhere because we didn’t make contact.

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  37. Eric:
    There’s actually a little cause for optimism in that list.

    De Jong: If he can stay fit, he’s a decent player indeed and could have been the difference for us last season as we definitely missed that link between midfield and strikers.
    (come to think of it, we pretty much missed the link between defence and strikers for most of it 😳 )
    Colback: Decent and solid. I was pleased with him, he at least gave what he had on the pitch.
    Perez: If that was his first season, bring on the next.
    Cabella: Showed glimpses, and we all knew already that Percy wasn’t great at utilising the more flair players. Let’s see what SM can get out of him after he’s had a years conditioning.
    Riviere: Feel for the lad. He tried hard and got into good positions. I’ll reserve judgement till after this season. Some of his attempts were pap mind.

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  39. UU @37: I agree with everything you say there. They all had a bit of potential but were all speculative, ALL OF THEM, including Colback.

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  40. You Yew@37 Great points there. Also we had terrible luck injury wise last season not helped defensively by Lee letting two decent defenders go in January. Still we simply cannot go into the next campaign with the same defenders as when we came up.

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  41. Yeh.
    But bright ginger hair looks great against black and white stripes, and for that reason I’d keep him.

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  42. The fact the press are kept so far out of the loop is maybe why they are writing stories from just hearsay. This gets the fans backs up and in turns makes it harder for the club to move forward. It’s just such a stupid thing that the club are doing with the press. They can’t win this game!

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  44. Kim:
    Absolutley not. We have the same CD as our Championship side of 4 yrs ago. That is simply unacceptable by any teams standards

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  47. Stu@42:
    Not just a losing battle, but a very damaging one.
    Total stupidity. And from a so called business genius?

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  49. By the way, I don’t think our squad is as **** as some people do. I think a lot of our struggles are down to bad coaching, tactics and fitness training. We obviously missed a good centre half and centre forward. To be sure, there is plenty of dead Wood (Willow being one type) but there is something to work with. Most of them are internationals at one level or another and can the promoted clubs say that?

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  50. TAE:
    It’s almost impossible now to work out a players worth. The TV money has made a few clubs get silly with their valuations, and now every other club is doing the same.
    It’s totally nuts.
    The extra money won’t actually be worth anything in reality, as prices of players will swallow it all up.
    Well, at least at other clubs it will

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  54. Eminem, I am the coolest cat in the outback with my full sports direct tracksuit ensemble. ..I sweat like a ******* but thats the fashionable price to pay! 😎

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  55. I also don’t think NUFC should be a hard sell to the foreign players. They don’t follow the politics of the club like we do. I would mention to them that we have only spent one season out of the PL in its existence, have a 52k packed stadium, have a squad of internationals and pay high wages (compared to Holland, France and Portugal anyway).

    It could easily be spun that our current fall from grace is only temporary and that Fatty has seen the problem and vowed to fix it. Come on Bishop, do your job and give the Charismatic Charnley some spin training.

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  57. You can totally understand championship clubs asking big fees though. They will be looking at the huge TV windfall for the PL clubs and thinking, lucky gits why can’t we have a bit of that. So when the likes of us come calling for their best players it’s only natural they will slap a huge fee on them and who can blame them, it’s not like the money isn’t there.

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  58. Aussie@54 you gotta watch all that nylon and polyester, it don’t half chafe like. You also need a spare half hour to cut off all the reduced price tags adorning your shiny new trackie 😉

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  59. AMF try wearing your SD tracky top tucked into your track bottoms mate. Also your bottoms tucked into your white socks. It’s total retro and all the rage in Ryton and Dunston mate. You’ll look like a reet babe magnet mate.

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  60. Kim – I saw this article from Bernard and it annoyed me a bit to be honest. Another ex player sticking the boot. Yet there’s another article from Pav saying one of Czech best young players would love to come to the toon.

    The reality of the situation is that we got ourselves in a real **** position by the end of last season. We were a real mess, so it was never going to be fixed overnight, or within a week. Yes it’s frustrating and it’s difficult to be patient when we’ve given them chances in the past – but the window hasn’t even opened yet and I read people claiming nothing has changed, or that we are failing. Surely we have to wait till the season starts & the window closes before we can cast judgement.

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  61. Eminem, also got my SD sweat bands adorning both wrists and forehead! Highest quality terry towelling money can buy!
    Kim :mrgreen: rashes come with territory… Mike said they would clear up! 😆

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  62. Sharpy, The thing that concerns me is will the quality players want to come. I saw Pavs article too, nice to see him talking us up, do you know anything about that lad?

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  63. Trying to name an 11 for next year but our defence is so poor it’s basic, unforgiveable mismanagement.

    Krul
    Janmaat Lascelles Dummett Haidara
    Tiote Sissoko
    Aarons De Jong Perez
    ??????????

    I’d ne happy with those 3 behind a striker but I would prefer a more experienced winger instead of having to rely on Aarons every week just yet.

    Need a Target man Centre forward IMO. Someone like Gestede (unless Blackburn is too far south for us to bid? 😉 or Dost, I’d happily take either. Defitnely in our price range..

    Defence is inexcusably poor. Need 2 big centre halves in my opinion, and then play dumett at LB.

    Players that need to leave IMO. Mike, S.Taylor colo, Anita, gouffran,

    Add that to Jonas, Alnwick Campbell and Taylor we’ve freed up some decent wages surely?

    Of course none of this is likely to happen though. We cant even get an assistant manager in.

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  64. Sharpy , Also in fairness to Olivier he talked up the Toon to a few of the frenchies who came to us if you remember. No one can accuse him of not being pro Toon, he loves us, but I think his comments are fair and honest as he, like many of us is worried where we are headed.

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  65. What type of striker would people prefer?

    IMO look at the difference Benteke made to a poor Villa side. This is the type of player we need. If on Shola was 10 years younger!!

    And on the other end of the scale Costa made Chelsea a far better side.

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  66. Aussie@61, Ah well, more fool you if you believe Mike, that bloke is one big itch that won’t go away 🙂

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  67. Also, Wolfsburg chief Klaus Allofs has waved away speculation linking striker Bas Dost with a move to either Newcastle or Dortmund.

    Despite being linked with a £9million sale of the Dutchman, Allofs said: “We’re not in the situation to offer or need to sell players”

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  71. Kim – the fact is that nobody knows what direction we are heading – only where we were. I don’t believe we need as many as 10 players – maybe 6 and get more out of players we already have at the club.

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  72. Sharpy, agree not 10, but we don’t have a lot of time to get coaches in sell a few players and sign 5 or 6, first pre season match is just 19 days away.

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  73. I think we need a little bit of a reality check here. How can we be unhappy with Oliver Bernard just saying it how it is? Players would surely be looking at NUFC and seeing a basket case of a club. There’s no other way of seeing it. In my opinion Pav is more concerned about getting a young Czech player a chance in the PL than talking the club up.

    Whether people on here are just annoyed out of blind faith in not sure but the reality is that club have made ridiculous decisions over the past few years and it’s all coming back to bite them. Supporters have abandoned the club by the thousands, coaching staff are turning the club down every week and they’re finding it difficult to persuade players to come, instead they’re waiting and waiting and waiting to see if anything better will come along.

    It’s just a mess in all honesty. Call me a negger as many will, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it isn’t looking good.

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  74. Kim – the focus will be without doubt getting the coaches sorted this week, and Steve Black will be a key member of the coaching team IMO. We need players in, but I think McClaren will want to look at the squad with his coaching team before finalising who exactly he wants to bring in. I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on that first pre season game though.

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  75. KIM@70 cheers what a player he was,get him in coaching our defence I say,to much class for us ime afraid 🙁

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