LeazesMag 0 Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcast...-name_page.html Danger signs are clear for Magpies Aug 12 2005 By John Gibson, The Evening Chronicle So a spanking new season is about to unfold before our admiring gaze. Er, well, the Premiership is back anyway! Newcastle United, 14th last season and requiring a miracle to surprise us all, journey to Premier League runners-up and FA Cup holders Arsenal on Sunday for a delayed blast-off. This the team which failed in the Inter-Nogo Cup to kill futile hopes of a back-door entry into Europe and then sharpened their claws in preparation for the Gunners by playing the mighty performers of Yeading and Bray Wanderers. What sort of astute planning was that? Was it arrogance borne of a belief United were going to defeat Deportivo la Coruna or just the sort of short-sightedness which is so severe it requires binoculars to see what is staring you in the face? However, that is not all. United have also managed to clear the decks in the summer sales but failed to fill the empty cabins. Hoist the flag of danger. The Magpies have construed to get rid of a quality striker in Craig Bellamy but signed no-one to replace him. Just as they sold Jonathan Woodgate and did not sign a central defender in the same transfer window. Sold Nobby Solano and recruited no outside-right. Torpedoed Laurent Robert but have not landed top target Luis Boa Morte in time for the opening day of the season. We were, of course, blinded by the joy of Michael Owen possibly arriving, if not Nicolas Anelka. Oh yeah, just as we were with Wayne Rooney not that long ago! Do Newcastle not realise they are not a top club right now - they are a club with top supporters and that is different. A club blindly supported by 50,000 Geordies come rain, hail or snow. However, outside of our own patch United are seen for what they are - wonderfully backed but not good enough for silverware. They cannot hand a player Champions League football, nor even UEFA Cup incentives. So the top-hitters who used to come in the Kevin Keegan fantasy years politely refuse the invitation. Yes, United bagged Emre and Scott Parker and we are grateful for that. They carry great promise of better things but as a team United are still woefully short all over the battlefield. The only other signing as we speak is a central defender costing nowt - an Aussie arriving via Germany. A left-back called Coco (clown jokes at the ready) has eventually limped back off home with his sick note. Presumably, Coco was being signed because Celestine Babayaro, no more than a newcomer himself, is busy searching fruitlessly for a big heart and a genuine determination to play regularly. Lord Lucan has been sighted on Shergar grazing upon the green pastures of St James' more often than Babayaro has been seen on the same strip of turf. Marcelino Mark Two? There are plenty of ifs and no Butts at St James' Park these days. He does not matter, Birmingham City can have him, though dispensing hurriedly with others while nobody came here has been a bad move. United are left relying on 35-year-old striker Alan Shearer for their goals at the moment and frequent hamstring victim Kieron Dyer to run free and often at his shoulder. What a risk. With the utmost respect, Shearer, the greatest Premier League striker, ought not to be saddled with being United's top goalscorer at this twilight stage of his career when he is not supposed to be playing every game. Dyer, however good he may be when the weather is warm and fair and the wind in his favour, does not play enough matches because of injury or so far score enough goals to give us great hope of a permanent solution to Bellamy's departure. The lack of two top-quality strikers imported as a matter of the utmost urgency has plunged the Toon Army into deep depression. The window does not slam shut until the end of the month, of course, and mind games are apparently being played over Anelka. However, late shopping - like on Christmas Eve - is not to be recommended as the safest and cleverest way to conduct business or produce peace of mind. We are told by those who matter United are "working feverishly behind the scenes" to sign again. Let us pray they do in the next 19 days! We may hope as we always do but we fear, too, not just that we will lose in front of an armchair nation on Sunday, as the Mags so often contrive to away in the Premiership, but that the whole campaign will again provide an anti-climax. It was only in 2002-03 when Newcastle were proudly finishing third in our domestic league and playing in the second group stage of the Champions League. That is a mere three campaigns ago - but it seems like a lifetime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted August 12, 2005 Author Share Posted August 12, 2005 Well I think it slaughters anything Oliver has ever wrote anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 So does Just 17 Magazine. It's a top article though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted August 12, 2005 Author Share Posted August 12, 2005 So does Just 17 Magazine. It's a top article though. 11409[/snapback] porn mag ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black&White 0 Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 Definatley, I enjoyed reading what John Gibson said. In the Chronicle office they must all laugh at Oliver at the amount of arse kissing to Souness and Shephard he does and how he tries to patronise the fans all the time. He's picked on some good pros in the past yet Souness gets Olivers vote all day to fuck the club over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 (edited) Some sort of girly mag I thought - you're making me wonder now though. Where's our resident expert? EDIT: No not porn, though it does seem a decidedly dodgy name now! they're in trouble apparently. Edited August 12, 2005 by DotBum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted August 12, 2005 Author Share Posted August 12, 2005 Some sort of girly mag I thought - you're making me wonder now though. Where's our resident expert? 11416[/snapback] theres a few few candidates if you look at the Hollyoaks thread . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 Definatley, I enjoyed reading what John Gibson said. In the Chronicle office they must all laugh at Oliver at the amount of arse kissing to Souness and Shephard he does and how he tries to patronise the fans all the time. He's picked on some good pros in the past yet Souness gets Olivers vote all day to fuck the club over. 11412[/snapback] I like alot of what Gibson has to say but his language does get rediculously flowery sometimes for a sports journalist. Though it does ring like it may be a little tongue in cheek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackies the Lad 0 Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 It should touch a few nerves, and we all wait to be amazed at the new players about to join NUFC. Mr Fat Controller and waste of space Sourness there is a saying " if you can't shit.... get off the pot" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted August 13, 2005 Author Share Posted August 13, 2005 It should touch a few nerves, and we all wait to be amazed at the new players about to join NUFC. Mr Fat Controller and waste of space Sourness there is a saying " if you can't shit.... get off the pot" 11473[/snapback] I'm astounded at the players who don't want to play for Souness. I'm astounded that fuckwit is still the manager of our football club I'm astounded there are still people prepared to "give him time" A few people will be astounded when we are bottom of the league at the end of September Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakermaker 0 Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 It should touch a few nerves, and we all wait to be amazed at the new players about to join NUFC. Mr Fat Controller and waste of space Sourness there is a saying " if you can't shit.... get off the pot" 11473[/snapback] I'm astounded at the players who don't want to play for Souness. I'm astounded that fuckwit is still the manager of our football club I'm astounded there are still people prepared to "give him time" A few people will be astounded when we are bottom of the league at the end of September 11517[/snapback] which players wont play for souness.....anelka(6months into contract),owen,no surprise,boa morte wants to come....coco,you may have a point there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted August 13, 2005 Author Share Posted August 13, 2005 It should touch a few nerves, and we all wait to be amazed at the new players about to join NUFC. Mr Fat Controller and waste of space Sourness there is a saying " if you can't shit.... get off the pot" 11473[/snapback] I'm astounded at the players who don't want to play for Souness. I'm astounded that fuckwit is still the manager of our football club I'm astounded there are still people prepared to "give him time" A few people will be astounded when we are bottom of the league at the end of September 11517[/snapback] which players wont play for souness.....anelka(6months into contract),owen,no surprise,boa morte wants to come....coco,you may have a point there. 11518[/snapback] oh dear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakermaker 0 Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 so is it true to say "wont play for souness?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super7 0 Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 so is it true to say "wont play for souness?" 11524[/snapback] Players that Souness couldn't get to play for him - Robert, Bellamy, Kluivert, Dwight Yorke, Richard Dunne etc etc As far as transfer targets go I think it is a combination of not wanting to play for Souness who does not have anything like the international reputation of Robson, the fact the club is always in the media for the wrong reasons, our lowly league position last season (likely to be even lower in the coming one), not being in Europe etc It has always been harder to attract players to the North and you need a manager like Robson or Keegan, European football and to look like the club is going somewhere to make us stand out from the rest and attract people. At the moment it seems the only players who will come are the ones who are more money orientated i.e. we were the only ones prepared to match Parkers wages at Chelsea and to pay Emre the £60,000 a week he wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StevieH84 Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 Good Honest Article Is That Like.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toonraider 0 Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 an acurate summary imo. The truth as it is, even though i feel sick inside reading it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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