Toon Roundup
Well having been tied up for a few days things a few things have happened…
We signed Danny Guthrie who is not ready yet but is certainly a young lad who can add to the squad and possibly go further. From what I seen of him last season he may just have a decent skill-set. A shrewd move by KK?
Our squad is paper think at the moment and we have signed 2 players so far for £2.5 million. 2 half decent players at that as well. If we continue that way we’ll have 8 players for £10 million…
Kudo’s to Flash Ash as well for coming out and saying ‘I hate Spurs’. That brought a few chuckles out of me I have to say. Who doesn’t? I do feel a slight bit of envy to Spurs at the moment signing the likes of Modric, Dos Santos and are now in for Bentley. It pains me to say it be we have fallen from grace and bit therefore finding it hard to attract the players.
Silly money is certainly being bandied about. £7million for Zamora? What they been smoking at Fulham…
There is a long way to get yet until the start of the season so expect more signings to come. I have every faith and at least we seem to be sourcing players we believe to be right rather than flashing the cash on flash names.
Oh already Special K is favourite to be the first casualty next season 
When will these journalists and bookies get a new story? Must admit its frustrating not getting any news about players coming out of St.James Park but it must be even more frustrating for the tabloids… What a shame.
PS apologies for the lack of activity, been tied up a bit of late
July 15th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Everything okay your end Toon? Hope all’s well.
Yup, things are moving slowly, but I’m actually happy with the way things are progressing - if nothing else it’s pretty much what I had expected. Guthrie’s been signed as cover and a young lad to develop. Does anyone know if he’s more defensive or attack-minded? Either way he’ll get a reasonable number of games I expect, particularly if we lose Barton. He’ll be there to try to nudge ahead of the likes of Geremi (he’ll already be ahead of the likes of Smith) and will get more games as they come thick and fast, which players like Butt won’t be able to take as they get older. Either way, he’ll fulfil a role and came at a cheap price. I don’t for a second think that this is a sign that we’ll have no big signings, it just means we’re boxing clever so we’ve got more money to spend on them.
I also think people underestimate how good a signing Guttierez is. Mallorca were relying on him to provide a bit pot of cash this summer - instead we’ve got him to buy his contract out and move here for a pittance. If he’s even a half decent player it’ll be a brilliant bit of business and if not he’ll still be wanted by clubs in Spain, so we can sell him back at profit - still a good piece of business!
More signings will come, but we’ve got a team dedicated to finding good deals and getting them done on the quiet. I trust them so am happy to sit back and watch!
July 15th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Some Liverpool fans I know assess him as not the quickest but very comfortable, composed on the ball and expect him to become a very tidy player. Sounds like maybe a Butt understudy?
July 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Maybe. Thing is for me though, a central midfielder really must have one of two general abilities - to be able to create attacking moves or break down defences (either with pace, dribbling, passing, long shots, whatever) or the ability to break down the opposition and control the middle of the park. I’ve heard he’s not a great tackler, so might not fit into the Butt mould (although if what I’ve heard is wrong, I’d be over the moon). If he’s not quick, I really hope he can spot an attacking pass, although the rumour is that he can’t. Either way, we’ll see and hopefully he’ll develop a range of skills under Keegan.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Put it this way he can’t be bad. Bolton fans are gutted that they’ve missed out on him. The lad has said since the season ended he’ll be at Newcastle so obviously he knew something and knew that he wanted to play here which is half the battle. Hes young and can only improve. If he wants to learn to tackle then there are few better masters than Butt though I don’t think he is coming for that. The rumours going around are that we are close to signing Pablo Aimar which if they can get him playing would be a fantastic signing. Would help that Guttierez is here as well for them both to settle in. It points to the fact that we are being astute and steadily padding the squad out at a controlled cost. Its good to have some youth pushing those above them as well. Im not too bad thanks Simo just alot of work on at present so im only getting the odd bit of time to check how things are going on here. I’ll keep it up to date as much as I can.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:12 am
hey lads, hope u are all well. pablo aimar?? it seems as thou he has opted to go to Lisbon, sad that really.. 28 years old, good playmaker, and might be a great link up to the forwards and mids.. seems as thou we’ve lost out.. do any of you get the feeling we may have lost our pulling power?
i for one am not too concerned thou.. it seems as thou we’re building towards a younger generation of stars.. i like the look of gutrie, i think he’ll be one for the future, probably a back up for Nicky Butt. I think we’re still short on central midfielder, one full back that can play left and right, and a central defender. I’d like us to have a go at Michael Johnson on Man City, Nicky Shorey from Reading…
July 17th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Name im hearing is Stephen Warnock. I was actually amazed we didnt go for him when he left Liverpool a few seasons ago for Blackburn. Warnock is a stable player and the right age. I think that rumour could be a sound one. Aimar is still not a done deal for Benfica. Wait and see. We still dont know for sure the toon are actually after him and it could be agent talk to draw out other competition for higher salary.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Even though I’d be happy to get PA in he hasn’t had the best of form recently and NUFC is not a good place to revive a jading career. Really not sure there’s substance in the links given how the last two signings happened. We do need a playmaker though, I just hope we can attract one good enough.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
So far the media hasn’t had the foggiest so I wouldn’t believe a word they are saying. They have been wide of the mark alot. We still don’t know if Newcastle really were in for Aimar? Even the ‘Chronicle’ cudnt get hold of his agent to confirm so where they get their info? The other signings have so far come in from nowhere so I would expect the same. If mentioned in the media take it with a pinch of salt until the name is coming out of KK’s mouth.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:45 am
So our bid for Warnock was rejected. I think thats a bit of a shame. I think for £2-2.5 million it be a good bit of business to create some competition for Enrique from a steady week in week out PL experienced performer. I think that we have not sniffed around Shorey because the price Reading are after is silly. I think Reading are probably after £5million+.
July 19th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I think you’re right Toon - looks like Shorey got a single England cap and suddenly he’s an international standard fullback with price tag to match.
I’m with Snick either way, I think we have lost a lot of pulling power. Then again for the majority of the time since Keegan left (probably with the exception of Sir Bobby’s reign) our pulling power has primarily come down to one thing - huge wages. I’m actually happy that we’re not attracting some of the mercenaries we have been before. They just weren’t worth the money.
As for Aimar, it looks increasingly like he has slipped away (I’ve not seen confirmation of his signing yet, I might have just missed it), although I’m in the camp that saw him as a risk. If we’d signed him, fair enough, I’m willing to take that risk. However a lightweight South American who’s career has flagged recently, with no prior experience of English football, hasn’t proven to be the ideal signing in the past at this club.
In regards to Guthrie, apparently he’s going to be moulded into the Rob Lee/holding role for the club in time. As you’ve said, Butt will be good to learn from and he has time. He’s a solid enough signing, hopefully he’ll come on well.
I also agree with Snick, we need another fullback, although I think more to challenge Enrique (anyone know what problems he’s meant to be having at the moment?) as Geremi can cover for Beye. We also need that attacking midfielder, a commanding centreback (Ooijer wouldn’t have been terrible but I was hoping for better), and I also think we need a big, strong, decent centre forward. Viduka plays a vital role, but is falling apart. We need someone that can play like him, hold the ball up for smaller forwards and can weigh in with plenty of goals themself. That’s a player that won’t come cheap.
And as everyone has said before, I’m also now ignoring the press. I now believe nothing until there’s a signiture drying on a piece of paper at SJP. They haven’t got the foggiest clue and continue to clutch at straws. Quite funny really - this is the same press that slaughtered us recently. I’m happier just reading the news online now.