Tales from the Toon. The ups and downs of an NUFC supporter....

[toddswain]

Janmaat looks likely to sign today, reasonably happy with him as a replacement for debuchy

[toddswain]

Janmaat signed yesterday, de Jong scored a screamer on his debut, and we've got another player having a medical today, Monaco striker Riviere. Don't know about the last guy but quite happy with this summer compared to recent ones. Wouldn't mind a centre back and offloading cisse so pardew doesn't have the option of picking him

[icles test]

Excellent signings so far and early in the window is a big bonus, before clubs have you over a barrel. Looks like Carr has been given a bit of slack to get the right players sorted. Still need another forward and a CB as a bare minimum (someone young would be decent but championship teams have had their crack pipes out during negotiations), but for the first season in a long time its been a good job alround, including the prices we have paid.

It is also nice for the toon to not have a hugely coveted asset so there wont be any real reason for their team to get any weaker.

[mondatoo]

Agree with all of that.

I can't see a reason to not go for Caulker ? I'd say he is close in quality to the best we could attract and is young so fits the mould of players we look at.

No idea regards a proven Striker though, although as an additional Striker to the main one we need I see no reason not to buy Frazier Campbell with a 1m release clause, seems an absolute steal.

[Ant040689]

Agree with all of that.

I can't see a reason to not go for Caulker ? I'd say he is close in quality to the best we could attract and is young so fits the mould of players we look at.

No idea regards a proven Striker though, although as an additional Striker to the main one we need I see no reason not to buy Frazier Campbell with a 1m release clause, seems an absolute steal.

Hold on there a minute. Those are Palace's plans for both.

[icles test]

Agree with all of that.

I can't see a reason to not go for Caulker ? I'd say he is close in quality to the best we could attract and is young so fits the mould of players we look at.

No idea regards a proven Striker though, although as an additional Striker to the main one we need I see no reason not to buy Frazier Campbell with a 1m release clause, seems an absolute steal.

Both would be decent lines but think caulkers wage offers from other clubs will probably be their selling point and we will miss out. If theres any possibility tho in a team of question marks he seems a cert.

Because we have riviere whos goal record hasnt always inspired it would be good if we signed someone like campbell to take the pressure off. If the clause is accurate and he isnt a big time charlie with wages it looks like a no brainer.

lol @ toon fans discussing the next option after 5 well thought out buys instead of angrily replying to sign "someone, ANYONE".

[pleno1]

Agree with this...



Signing players is great fun isn’t it? So much so that you may even elevate it to something it isn’t, maybe even praise those that have so often failed you in the past for simply doing what needs to be done.

Opinions of Cabella are all positive and his signing looks to be the perfect choice to fill the ever widening hole left by love him or hate him Ben Arfa, and the young Dutch right back is rated highly by my Feyenoord mates from Cabras Feliz, so you know, there’s that. The Colback kerfuffle of whether we tried to offload him to West Ham is irrelevant now, as is his hand gesture during the Derby. I’d prefer that from a player than refusing to celebrate. Remember that chap from Norwich who refused to celebrate against Villa because he nearly signed for them once, now there’s a man going places, born winner that one. As for Ayoze, we’ll see. Check out this on inbedwithmaradona about the lad, and if that doesn’t add intrigue to him it might help those keen to pretend they watch the Spanish second division.

So the story so far all seems quite promising what with the expected addition of another striker or two….but get those horses held.

The manager. He of back-patting-himself-off fame. He who has managed to lose over 50% of his matches as Newcastle manager in four years. He who has managed to lose a higher percentage of games than everyone else in English football other than Stevenage and Fulham in that time. It begs that age-old question of How s*** does one have to be before someone thinks, you know, he might be a bit s***.

We’ve been here before with signings. The summer before we finished fifth we signed Cabaye for a fantastically low sum which was a great deal.  Mourinho’s hyperbolically adored Santon for not much more. We nicked Marveaux from under the noses of Liverpool which was sneakily impressive. Demba Ba for nowt, and a January signing to top all January signings when Cisse made the number 9 his own. And Gabriel Obertan.

No prizes for guessing what point I’m making with that list.

Since then we’ve also seen a highly rated, young, league winning captain centre back come from France and play less than half his games in his rightful position. He now looks destined to leave, a reputation in tatters, and some forgetting that the older Coloccini was much worse in his first season. Hell, he might have been worse last season.

So when I see myself and others being labelled negative during these hedonistic days, I find it difficult to not immediately judge the upbringing of those more chipper than I. Creative signings and goalscorers excite people more than any other position so it’s only natural for optimism to build for those still with a glimmer of hope. But for me it’s not negativity, I just can’t look past the failings, excuses, and active pursuit of mediocrity that we’ve endured over these last few years.

We needed to buy players, we had to buy to stay where we are because that squad from last year would have been relegated were it not for one two month period. The problem is that signing anybody has become so alien to us that it has diluted the rationale that we simply had to do it. The fact that they appear to be good deals and good players is not a surprise here, we’ve done that before. So praise for a managing director that was a big part of the team that didn’t sign anyone for 18 months seems utterly bonkers to me. They are doing what needs to be done to fix the mess they created and the fact they seem quite good at it is even more irritating when put up against that barren spell.

I’m struggling to get excited for the new season and they’ve done that, it’s not some negative badge of honour I sadistically write on these pages. It’s that I can’t enjoy what should be an exciting time because the old dogs are still there, still wanting to not win trophies, still not wanting the burden of Europe.

Believe it or not I write a lot more miserably than I feel; I think it’s called a high horse or a soapbox or something, and it’s often fuelled by other opinions, beer, or the local press, particularly those feeling justified that we’ve signed some players after they said we would. Falling into the trap of thinking that being right once holds enough weight to balance the prolonged period of wrong. But scales don’t work like that, for a journalist or a manager.

So forgive me while I merely look on with intrigue at the comings and goings at our club, neither furious nor thrilled, but through sceptical geps, hindsight trumps hope.

[icles test]

Why do Newcastle fans think this kind of drivel is constructive or informative. Do they think they are educating anyone?

[buzzharvey22]

Why do Newcastle fans think this kind of drivel is constructive or informative. Do they think they are educating anyone?

Your screen name funny. It's bollocks.

[arbboy]

we had all this last year.  newcastle finish 8th in the league (or 9th) or whatever it is (ie finish pretty much where they should finish).  They think they are a top x club even though there is nothing to suggest they are looking at numerous parameters (financial/trophies won etc etc).  It just goes round in circles.  Then we move onto the Liverpool thread and rinse/repeat.  Dont worry icles its standard stuff.

[pleno1]

Lol

We don't think we ARE a big club we think we SHOULD be because we CAN be. We're the only team to have played in the champions league that is English that you would describe as not a big club. We set a world record transfer fee over 15 years ago that would still be considered huge money right now. We have a huge fan base, great stadium etc etc

[GreekStein]

Rooky9 last posted in 2012. wtf

[icles test]

Lol

We don't think we ARE a big club we think we SHOULD be because we CAN be. We're the only team to have played in the champions league that is English that you would describe as not a big club. We set a world record transfer fee over 15 years ago that would still be considered huge money right now. We have a huge fan base, great stadium etc etc

Blackburn all over this post

[pleno1]

We've been in Europe 13 times since 1990..

[icles test]

We've been in Europe 13 times since 1990..

We sound like overachievers