It's summer, and with June, July and August comes the transfer window. As a Newcastle fan I never tire of seeing Martins, Taylor, Given and Owen constantly linked elsewhere.
I for one understand that journalists have to fill pages, but when it's the same stuff each summer, it really irritates me!
Why are our best players persistently linked away despite them stating they're happy. Even when the supposed "suitors" pour cold water over the reports, they still appear in every newspaper, every day.
Firstly Obafemi Martins, the ex-Inter star, moved to Tyneside in 2006. In interviews he constantly praises the Toon Army and states his love for the vibrant city.
Yet always Arsenal are interested because Wenger once said he'd like to manage Martins in his programme notes.
He even denied any possibility of the move days later, yet for all of summer 2007 I kept seeing "Martins to Arsenal" headlines.
The Owen situation has crept into farce, from get-out clauses to out-of-contract sagas. Nearly every team has been linked with England's front man—Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, Man City and even some Japanese team called JEF United Chiba!
As a barcode fan, I'm used to seeing my club splashed across the back pages with incriminating headlines. Personally I thought all this crap ended with the Sheperd era, but why can't Mike Ashley pay the extra million to keep our top goal scorer?
At this rate, who in their right mind would join the Toon?
At the moment it's not a great Tyne to be in Toon...
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2 months ago
Like Keegan said last month, "Owen and Martins need to be our first signings this summer" I dont know what the hell the board are playing at, but it is realy starting to pi*s me off. Seems they would rather listen to Jiminez and WWobbly Eyes, than the man who realy knows.
2 months ago
Why do I hear nothing but turmoil up in the North. Im sure Newcastle is not a bad place to live (other than it being so far up North) and Newcastle United cant be THAT bad a place to work. So why is it I only hear negative things coming out of that city....
from 2 months ago
Think it is a case of the southern press being accustomed to, what we dont understand, we are afraid of, and make no mistake mate Newcastle United is one monster of a football club.
from 2 months ago
haha Chris I know its a huge club. One of my favourite players of all time played for them - Faustino Asprilla. But in the past few years, ive heard nothing but turmoil up there and I was just wondering..
2 months ago
Hey Salomon Asprilla was a fantasic player mate I will never forget the time he celebrated a goal by wrapping his shirt around the corner flag and waving it to the crowd I was about ten feet away from him. A real legend on Tyneside and always will hold a special place in the hearts of Toon fans.
from 2 months ago
Saw him once on a Beach in Denmark (Till this day, I wonder what he was doing there). He's a pretty awesome beach footballer. His English wasnt very good but a nice fella. He picked me and my older brother to play for his team that day. (I was 13, my brother was 16). One of the best day of our lives...
More things happened that day but it'd be too long of a story. Long story cut short - Asprilla is one of my favourite all time football players...
2 months ago
Straight to the point; should the £80,000 a week wage cap Mike Ashley appears to be introducing then yes Michael Owen should leave, If John Terry is worth £150,000 a week to Chelsea then Owen is worth the £120,000 he receives from the toon. Bearing in mind we're looking at a pathetic 7ish million pounds with his departure, we'd be better off signing him up for the rest of his career!
As for Oba Martins, the player is fantastic and would be a great miss in the north east should he end up in the capital or worse back in Serie A. He'd bring a much larger transfer fee with his departure the Owen, but who replaces him? Managers like Arsene Wenger are great because they know greatness when they see it, he's seen it in Oba, so why sell him???
Shay Given - the best goalkeeper in the premiership, bearing in mind he doesn't have John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho in front of him should jump at the chance of a move to an Arsenal or Man United. Nobody at Newcastle deserves a trophy more than him and his loyalty and service to Newcastle is second to none: Keepers are replaceable, especially with Steve Harper and Tim Krul ready to step up.
As for the rest of the team, they are replaceable, but why gamble in mass clear outs knowing theres some real quality throughout the team...
I don't think it's a bad time to be a toon fan, it's never a bad time being a toon fan. I mean it's always exciting and few other football teams have the ups, downs, highs and lows the geordies get week in, week out, season after season... 08-09 will be a season of improvements i have no doubt, but like King Kev i believe there's no chance of a finish higher than 5th...
2 months ago
Great article, thank you! That was a great picture of Mike Owen! I love him!
2 months ago
Don't take it so personally Marc. Every other fan up and down the country is going through exactly the same thing.
If you believe the papers, Gerrard is leaving Liverpool every summer, Ronaldo is leaving Man Utd every summer, Fabregas is leaving Arsenal every summer, Drogba and Lampard are leaving Chelsea every summer, Barry is leaving Villa every summer, Ashton is leaving West Ham every summer, Bentley is leaving Blackburn every summer, Berbatov is leaving Spurs every summer etc etc etc
Of course SOME of these transfer stories turn out to have some truth in them, but the vast majority are complete BS, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. The press make so many claims, they are bound to get SOMETHING right every now and again.
2 months ago
Good point simon but it just pisses me off to see the press literally pulling stories out of thin air. What was controversal about Keegan's comments, then their was supposed "crisis" talks where Kev could lose his job. There was no chance of it happeneing. You know there's something wrong when a last placed Japanese team is confident of nicking your top goalscorer!
2 months ago
I wouldn't believe those supposed Japanese quotes. The press make things up, its just a horrible and annoying fact of life. They see Alex Miller joining them as manager, and put two and two together and come up with 347.
Why the hell would Michael Owen want to play in Japan? When his career has just got a new lease of life in the 2nd half of the season. Its not going to happen. Michael would be fully aware that such a move would be the end of his International Career, and he wants that goals record far too much to hinder his own chances.
2 months ago
While his contract talks are still up in the air, then these stories will continue to be batted around. I understand the Newcastle board have finally opened negotiations. I just hope there first line isn't,
'So Michael are you willing to take a pay cut of £40,000?'
from 2 months ago
100% right Martin, they should give him the same amount he's on cause with Viduka injured and Martins inconsistent he's the only goalscorer the Toon have.
Also he's one of the reasons forigen players sign to play with "Michael Owen"
This is where Mike Ashley earms his corn
2 months ago
Thats the first time I've ever seen Newcastle called the 'barcodes' by 'one of our own'.
Taylor being one of our best shows exactly where we are. If he wasnt seen as a geordie himself he would have been getting stick years ago. He makes rash challanges and is every bit a liability as Bramble was.
This is a massive summer for us, even if not in terms of £££. Keegan needs to decide what his main formation is going to be next year and make sure we have the personnel for it. If its 4-4-2 then I don't think there is much point in keeping Oba and Owen, one (which will prob be Oba) will get pretty sick sat on the bench all year and will leave next year. We need a younger fitter Viduka. Geremi's stats made him look like the person we missed the most when he didn't play (even though we all can see he's useless) but that run at the end of the season was clearly linked to Viduka playing.
Need:
1 x left back
2 x esstablished & safe centre backs
1 x Jimmy Bullard
1 x Crouch or Ashdon
Should be able to get that for £35m - can sell about £15m worth through Duff, Enrique & Smith going + getting rid of some of the other tripe swelling the ranks.
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