The speculation about the future of Matty Longstaff is providing a distraction from the monotony of the takeover.
As a supporter, I agree with the general view on social media that it would be a dream to play at St James’ Park in the black and white. A local player turning down a new contract to move to Udinese is impossible to understand on a purely emotional level.
However, Matty is now a professional football player and his agents will be encouraging him to take emotion out of the biggest decision of his life. As I put my bias to one side, I can see the reasoning for the young midfielder to leave this summer, with or without a takeover.
The common perception online is that Matty is waiting to see if a takeover goes through before making his decision. Many expect if it does, he would quickly put pen to paper on new terms. However, it could have the opposite impact.
A takeover will likely lead to a managerial change, which would see Steve Bruce leave the club. This is the man that has shown faith in Matty and given him his opportunity in the Premier League. The next manager may not rate him in the same way.
Further to this, a takeover will lead to bigger investment in the current playing squad. He already saw his game time decrease following the arrival of Nabil Bentaleb. When the season resumes, he will be fifth choice in the centre of the park. If more investment comes in, it is likely he would move
even further away from the first team picture.
This coupled with Bruce’s likely exit means that a takeover could increase Matty’s desire to leave. If this was a purely footballing decision, based on playing time and development, he would be more likely to be successful at St James’ Park under the current regime than one with a Saudi-boosted
bank balance.
The financial angle has been well covered in the media, with this being seen as his main motivation for a move away. At the age of 20, his stock is high following two eye-catching performances against Manchester United and he may not have a similar opportunity to gain a big money contract.
Matty remains at the early stage of his development and this could stall at any point. His own brother, Sean, was linked with a £50 million move to Manchester United last summer following his breakthrough. Since then, his form has been average and he hasn’t played as much as he would have liked. When Isaac Hayden and Jonjo Shelvey are both fit, he has found himself on the bench. Even Sean would admit his season hasn’t gone to plan.
This will serve as a reminder to Matty about how quickly things can change. If he fails to develop, due to lack of game time at St James’ Park, he may never get another opportunity to earn the sums of money that Udinese are offering.
A quick look at the fortunes of Rolando Aarons provides another warning in that respect. The winger was linked to Manchester City and Liverpool prior to signing his long term contract with us in 2016. Since then, the winger has played only eight times in the league for Newcastle. He has spent the last
year on loan at Wycombe Wanderers and Motherwell. It is likely that his long term future is in the lower leagues, with a move to Anfield or the Etihad Stadium a distant dream.
Meanwhile, Adam Armstrong has left the club and emerged as one of the finest players in the Championship over the last 12 months. The young Geordie should get another chance in the top flight if he maintains his current career trajectory.
Every case is different. There is a chance that Matty could sign a new deal and thrive on Tyneside over the coming years. However, the differing fortunes of two former highly-rated academy graduates will be in the thoughts of Longstaff and his representatives.
The emotion will have a say in the decision of Matty, which is why a new contract remains a possibility. However, it is easy to see why he and his agents may decide to end his time at St James’ Park.
Udinese offers a chance to test himself in a new country, with greater financial stability and opportunities to progress as a first team player. The path to regular minutes in Italy is more achievable than it currently is in Newcastle. If a takeover goes through, Matty’s task would become even more difficult. The Serie A club’s links to Watford also opens up a pathway back to the Premier League.
This is a business decision and the task of keeping Matty at the club became a lot more difficult at the beginning of the year when he was allowed to discuss terms with foreign clubs. The mistake was made when the club allowed it to get to that stage. He has seen what is out there and quite simply, it is more appealing, both financially and professionally.
Supporters, myself included, have bemoaned the lack of investment and attention paid to the academy under Ashley. We aren’t good at developing young talent, with the Longstaffs being the exception rather than the rule. Matty couldn’t be blamed for seeing a move away as the best option
for his development.
Matty’s departure could be the final disappointment of the Ashley era. The future of the midfielder wasn’t made a priority following his debut goal against Manchester United and this was a misstep.
He and his camp clearly feel undervalued, with an expectation that his emotional connection to the city would be enough to keep him at the club. This was another miscalculation by Ashley and Matty can’t be blamed if he does decide to leave.
It’s the relegation fear that’s holding it up Eric.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio: bad football statues:
https://www.90min.com/posts/5936735-7-of-the-worst-statues-in-football-after-michael-essien-abomination-is-unveiled-in-ghana#:~:text=7%20of%20the%20Worst%20Statues,…%207%20Michael%20Essien.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Shearers actually looks OK compared to Maradonas.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What relegation fear Georgio?
We have a relatively easy run in compared to the teams in the bottom 6. We are 8 points above a relegation spot. Not even Ugly John Carver could fck this one up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The Colston statue should of gone years ago, when it was erected they struggled to get the people of Bristol to help fund it.
The schools he built and funded are only used by the rich and powerful, only St Mary Redcliffe is for regular kids and you have to jump through hoops to get your kid in there. My ex went there, because he was in St Mary Redcliffe Church choir at that time. Nowadays ironically the school has a massive black and muslim intake of very smart kids.
My brother attended it back in the early 60’s but they wouldn’t take me in the early 70’s as we lived just outside the boundary .
kimtoon(Quote)
The bust of Christiano takes some beating, it’s truly hideous .
kimtoon(Quote)
I could be wrong, but I think they put a different head on Shearer’s statue because the 1st one was so bad.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think I am wrong about the new head for Shearer but I do know that they redid the bust of Ronaldo because that was just so awful.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Kim – I have no problem with his statue coming down – and it’s rightful place is probably in the museum.
The problem for me is the mob that ripped it down. If you watch the clip of it back, it’s a bunch of swampy white people who bring it down and start jumping on it – there aren’t too many black people there from what I saw. That’s not to say black people weren’t pleased to see it come down – but they weren’t behind such a disgusting act.
Your Anglo Caribbean mayor has been in post for 4 years and according to him had more important things to do than put forward a case to remove the statue.
Sharpy17(Quote)
A whopping 11,000 people signed the petition to take the statue down. Bristol has a population of about 450,000. So apparently they’ve tried desperately to get the statue down Democratically for a while. So important to people that barely 2.5% of the population could be bothered to sign the petition. Dear Me.
Stuart79(Quote)
The Mighty Boosh now been taken off. It’s **** but still, that’s not really the point.
Can never understand why the views of a tiny minority are always taken over the majority.
Stuart79(Quote)
JK Rowling is now getting the pile on treatment from the Uber liberatti, virtue signallers. God forbid she has an opinion they don’t agree with.
Stuart79(Quote)
He has tried sharpy but had a lot of resistance about it from merchants. There have been several meetings about changing the wording on the plaque but they couldn’t agree on what should be written !, that’s a very Bristol thing, if you lived here you would know what i mean.
I swear every christmas the city planners get mortal at the staff party and draw up plans for new road layouts as you’d have to of been p issed to do have what our planners do.
We have had them squabbling over where to put a decent big music venue for so many years it’s shocking. When i was in my teens i really thought that by the time i had kids they’d have a decent venue where they could see the bigger acts, but no, not with these muppets in charge.
They pass stuff they really shouldn’t and turn down the sensible, it’s laughable but very west country.
kimtoon(Quote)
In short they couldn’t agree on the colour of s hite .
kimtoon(Quote)
So Sean Lonstaff, Gayle and AC and Clark all have knocks and doubtful to play, Matty not likely to feature either.
kimtoon(Quote)
Peak nonsense from Labour Mp’s now. Apparently they have wrote to Priti Patel to tell her she shouldn’t use her own experience of racism because it gas lights the very really issues of racism. It’s almost like Priti Patel wasn’t really racially abused because she is a Tory. 🙂
Stuart79(Quote)
? that’s not a Bristol thing Kim, that’s a council thing!!. They do that up here too. Spend the whole year disagreeing on a decent thing to spend your money on so every spring we end up with cracking flower beds everywhere so they clear the decks for the next financial year ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Aye mate, our lot wanted to revamp the city center a few years back. We were hoping for a beautiful fountain when water feature was mentioned, we ended up with what can only be discribed as rows of bidets ! lots of squirts in rows. Fecking useless.
kimtoon(Quote)
Stewie Thatcher: if your views get even more right wing crazy I am going to have to call you Stewie Trump. Taking down American Civil War Generals’ statues that were put up by people on the wrong side of history is so long overdue that it is a joke. These statues were put up to celebrate a cause that was obviously wrong. It took another 70 years for women to get to vote and then another 50 after that for places in the American South that had separate toilets for blacks and whites FFS. Should we celebrate those things with statues?? Jesus Christ, man.
To try to defend slavery by saying the Romans had it is idiotic. I think we have moved on. Did the Romans have TVs, cell phones, cars, computers? The world is much different now.
All of these statues should be taken down because of what they represent – a time and a place we don’t want to go back to. Something that happened but is indefensible.
There are 1800 American military sites named after Confederate Generals. It is a disgrace that these have not been renamed. Of course, The Donald will object, but it was a disgrace when they were first named and an even bigger disgrace that they are still named after Bragg, Benning, Hood etc.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
There’s a reason that if you go to Germany there are not places called Hitler Boulevard or Goering Street. They realise they were on the wrong side of history.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stewie T: would you buy a house if it was on Hitler Boulevard? Had a statue in the cul-de-sac with a statue of Goering? Or would you prefer that they were renamed and taken down?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’ve never been part of a never-ending takeover before. How does this work exactly? A bid is made, papers are submitted, the Prem takes a look…… and then what? Did we slip into a parallel universe without me noticing or something? I thought the process would involve a decision being made, with a yes it’s an accepted takeover or no this takeover is not acceptable. Is that not how it works in this universe?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Always remember: “the light’s winning” mates. 😀
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Eric – I think comparisons to Hitler demeans your argument. Would I be so offended that I’d demand a Hitler statue to be removed? Not a chance. I’m a bit more liberal than you give me credit for. I agree with free speech, not hate speech. I agree with freedom of expression, not freedom to incite hatred. I agree with the rights of everybody to watch what they want on tv without censorship.
I see Fawlty Towers is the most recent programme to get the chop due to the PC brigade. Staggering.
Stuart79(Quote)
Also Eric, I defend the rights of comedians and comedy shows to make comedy out of bad situations. I don’t believe any race, religion, sexuality or gender should be excluded from comedy. If it offends – don’t watch it. If it invites hatred that’s a different thing but there’s a huge difference between inciting hatred and having a laugh at someone’s expense. There’s always a **** of a joke. Let’s not forget that.
Stuart79(Quote)
I also see Nigel Farage has “mutually” left his gig on LBC radio. Slowly but surely we are eroding the ability for anybody to hear or see an alternative opinion other than a liberal ideology. Whatever side your politics, that’s a really bad place to be.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric – just to be clear I don’t think we’ll be relegated. But if I was spending £300m on a PL club I’d need to sure it was a PL club I was buying not a championship one that’s worth only £150m. That’s a large amount of money. I’m sure that’s the only thing holding up the takeover.
georgio(Quote)
So it continues. Suffolk police stop and talk to 2 black people – like many of their colleagues would have do with white people in the same force area – but they were made to feel like criminals
The next headline on says 2 men and a 13yr old charged with assaulting a police officer – all black, not mentioned at all in the article.
If the fact they were black doesn’t matter, why run a story that 2 officers spoke very calmly to 2 black people – where they were recording the incident and they were animated because they were dared questioned.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Not understanding that post at all Sharpy
georgio(Quote)
Georgio – the media being selective in how they deliver news stories.
A black couple video 2 cops doing their job and asking them questions – and because they have videoed it and claimed they felt like criminals it’s news worthy.
But a cop who was assaulted by 3 black people who videoed it and have been charged – whilst they report the charge – the article doesn’t say they are black men.
Sharpy17(Quote)
To be fair I imagine the fact as he has said 25% of the kids in Bristol are living in poverty would be far more important to him….in fact I would have thought that any mayor who put removing a statue ahead of feeding kids wouldn’t be in power long….although recent politics would make me wonder
Bob(Quote)
Bob – not sure I suggested for a second feeding kids wasn’t more important. It was he himself who described it as an affront – I’m sure as he made it all the way to mayor, he’s capable of multi tasking if it caused such a big issue in Bristol.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, that report about the black couple being stopped, they had done nothing wrong mate, they were stopped because they looked suspicious. They asked why, quite rightly, why they were deemed suspicious to which the officer replied ” you were driving a car ” He wanted proof they lived in the area, again why ? Little wonder they felt picked on. Have you ever been asked to prove you live in the area you are driving in ?
The black youths beating up the officer was disgusting, he was flagged down by someone then set upon and filmed. Glad they caught the scrotes who did it.
kimtoon(Quote)
I like Matty, although haven’t seen him enough to judge how good he really is. I hope he stays and builds his career with us.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Get ready for another round of BS from BoJo about Brexit. The trouble is, he’s not bright enough to get a good deal for the UK from Europe. The fishing zone problem has to be fixed though. In the end we’re going to have to clean up the oceans to save the fish and everything else aquatic from trillions of pieces of plastic and various other forms of polllution (acidification, toxic buildup of fertilizer runoff etc. etc.). Ultimately it’s going to be fix it all or die.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Miguel Delaney
@MiguelDelaney
Amanda “the saviour of Newcastle” Staveley is currently giving evidence in the Barclays case.
He really hates us doesn’t he. 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – yeah I was stopped a few times in my late teens early twenties actually.
I watched the video and the 2 officers asked to see his driver licence – why shout on or start videoing the incident – coz she recognised this off TV and it wasn’t going to be her husband?!.
She was shouting and swearing at the cops then accused them of embarrassing them infront of the neighbours ??♂️.
Other than ask for his driver license, what did the cops do wrong? – they weren’t aggressive, disrespectful, hands on or threatening in any way.
Yet the woman thought the best way to handle that situation was to stick a camera phone in their faces & shout and swear at them.
The cops explained that they were looking at the police car and acted suspiciously on seeing it – they hadn’t detained them or arrested them – simply asked to see some ID.
Sharpy17(Quote)
In what way was it suspicious mate, i don’t get it, i look at police cars all the time. They were just driving in their car and looked at it, how is that suspicious ?
All they had to do was watch them after they got out the car, see where they went, it was her mothers house they parked at.
She made a fair point to the officer about how this is why they get pissed off with being stopped. By the way i would say the same if this was a white couple, it was a weak excuse to stop them in my opinion.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – neither of us were they so you can’t say it wasn’t suspicious and I can’t say it was. What I can say is that if the cops perceived it to be – ie, their reaction lead them to believe there was a driving offence, then they are well within their rights to ask to see the driving licence.
Why would their immediate response be to video it, shout and swear on at the cops? – then the video ends up on Sky news & then they are interviewed on Sky news – where the woman said she saw them and thought they were looking for criminals and as they approached thought they they were asking if they’d witnessed anything – happy to help in those circumstances, but the second they realised it was them the cops were asking about – out comes the phone.
If he showed his driver licence and explained why they were there, it would have been a none event – now it’s on every news channel.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – don’t be fooled. It’s a police officers job to question situations that raise suspicion – that’s how they tackle crime and protect communities.
If the cops tried to arrest them, or acted in an unprofessional manner then yeah, I’d see the problem.
But almost immediately the male starting claiming the cops were profiling whilst his wife stuck a camera phone in their faces.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – again you weren’t there and nor was I, so I can’t say with any level of certainty – but it’s not beyond the realms of possibilities that they looked in a way that made the cops think – why are they paying us so much attention?!.
You can look at a police car, but if they were turning in there seats driving passed or got out of the car and were stood in the street rather than just going straight into their house – who knows.
But the fact is the cop is well within their rights to ask – black or white and I’m sure it pisses both off in equal measure – it’s not profiling, it’s their job ??♂️.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sorry Kim – my phone is really playing up at the mo – it put your post below mine so I thought you had said the same thing over – hence the reply ??.
It keeps deleting my name & email too – despite me ticking the box ?
Mustn’t agree with my comments ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim, are police officers no longer allow to stop and ask questions? It is it only white people they’re allowed to stop?
Also went unnoticed that the guy who intervened while those thugs attacked the police officer was of Asian heritage.
Stuart79(Quote)
NEW THREAD
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2020/06/12/the-toons-forgotten-men-five-faces-who-deserve-more-recognition-at-newcastle-united/
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8415101/BLM-activists-DEFY-Boris-Johnsons-calls-abandon-protests.html
I don’t want to hear one more person say we’re coming out of lock down too early and too fast. This is just virtue signalling and utterly pathetic.
Stuart79(Quote)