You may have noticed I have avoided any talk of Newcastle United since the start of the season. Well there is a very good reason for this...embarrassment. With a grand total of one point from three games played and as yet no goals scored the fears of even the most pessimistic supporters are being realised. With our next game at home to Manchester United this points total is unlikely to change this weekend and already the odds have dramatically fallen on Graeme Souness being the first managerial casualty of the premiership season. To be fair at Wednesdays defeat away at Bolton the supporters got behind Souness and chanted his name through the game whilst calling for the head of Chairman Freddie Sheppard.
Fat Freddie as he is ‘affectionately’ known was the Chairman who was caught slagging of his team, players, fans and city during a sting by the News of the World in a Spanish brothel...what a guy! He, along with John and Douglas Hall, has been creaming off excessive dividend payments from the club over the last few years and none seem to offer anything positive in return to the club. Every transfer window is greeted with wild statements from Mr Sheppard telling the fans of huge bids for players who would have no intention of playing in Newcastle; see Wayne Rooney last year and the ongoing saga of Michael Owen (as yet still lobotomy free). The majority of the fans would much rather he kept his fat mouth firmly shut and got on with the job in hand, trying to steer the club away from the bottom of the table and towards the top.
Newcastle’s main problem at the moment is the lack of any firepower up front. The strikers of first team status currently at the club are:
Alan Shearer who is several seasons past his best and to be honest should just be making appearances from the bench this season.
Shola Ameobi who, despite the hope of all on Tyneside, looks likely to amount to nothing more than a very average Premiership player or decent Championship player. Does any other player have such slow speed of thought?
Michael Chopra who is not a Premiership quality player but could do quite well in the lower leagues and is currently injured.
All in all the lack of goals so far this season is not surprising and perhaps because of this Freddie has made agreed a fee for Albert Luque of Deportivo la Coruna despite claiming there would be no new offers after his ‘final offer’ for the player last week. Luque is a left side player, which we desperately need after the sale/loan of Laurent Robert, and operates as an attacking midfielder/supplementary striker. I have always enjoyed watching Luque play in La Liga and I think he is a good buy for Newcastle but, and it’s a big but, he is not a twenty goals a season striker. If we are to make any progress we still need to acquire someone who will net us close to that mark this season and for the next four or five.
This brings us back to Michael Owen, if ever there was a player as desperate not to join another club, as Owen is with Newcastle, I have yet to hear of him. He has been quoted as saying that he would be happy to join Arsenal, Manchester United and, preferably, Liverpool on a full term basis but would only join Newcastle on a one year loan if all other possibilities fail. It’s so nice to feel wanted as a club. In some ways I hope we don’t take Owen on loan, even if he would be ideal for the club, after all can you imagine the crowd reaction as he begrudgingly makes his debut or if he misses a sitter against Liverpool, ouch! It would be a far from ideal scenario for all parties and I can’t imagine the player responding positively to the situation and even a full transfer, though very welcome, could be difficult now.
Fat Freddie as he is ‘affectionately’ known was the Chairman who was caught slagging of his team, players, fans and city during a sting by the News of the World in a Spanish brothel...what a guy! He, along with John and Douglas Hall, has been creaming off excessive dividend payments from the club over the last few years and none seem to offer anything positive in return to the club. Every transfer window is greeted with wild statements from Mr Sheppard telling the fans of huge bids for players who would have no intention of playing in Newcastle; see Wayne Rooney last year and the ongoing saga of Michael Owen (as yet still lobotomy free). The majority of the fans would much rather he kept his fat mouth firmly shut and got on with the job in hand, trying to steer the club away from the bottom of the table and towards the top.
Newcastle’s main problem at the moment is the lack of any firepower up front. The strikers of first team status currently at the club are:
Alan Shearer who is several seasons past his best and to be honest should just be making appearances from the bench this season.
Shola Ameobi who, despite the hope of all on Tyneside, looks likely to amount to nothing more than a very average Premiership player or decent Championship player. Does any other player have such slow speed of thought?
Michael Chopra who is not a Premiership quality player but could do quite well in the lower leagues and is currently injured.
All in all the lack of goals so far this season is not surprising and perhaps because of this Freddie has made agreed a fee for Albert Luque of Deportivo la Coruna despite claiming there would be no new offers after his ‘final offer’ for the player last week. Luque is a left side player, which we desperately need after the sale/loan of Laurent Robert, and operates as an attacking midfielder/supplementary striker. I have always enjoyed watching Luque play in La Liga and I think he is a good buy for Newcastle but, and it’s a big but, he is not a twenty goals a season striker. If we are to make any progress we still need to acquire someone who will net us close to that mark this season and for the next four or five.
This brings us back to Michael Owen, if ever there was a player as desperate not to join another club, as Owen is with Newcastle, I have yet to hear of him. He has been quoted as saying that he would be happy to join Arsenal, Manchester United and, preferably, Liverpool on a full term basis but would only join Newcastle on a one year loan if all other possibilities fail. It’s so nice to feel wanted as a club. In some ways I hope we don’t take Owen on loan, even if he would be ideal for the club, after all can you imagine the crowd reaction as he begrudgingly makes his debut or if he misses a sitter against Liverpool, ouch! It would be a far from ideal scenario for all parties and I can’t imagine the player responding positively to the situation and even a full transfer, though very welcome, could be difficult now.
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