EPL Transfer News: Rob Elliot Signs for Newcastle FC

The latest news circulating twitter is that Charlton FC goalkeeper Rob Elliot has signed a 5 year deal, for an undisclosed fee at Saint James Park.

This seems like a logical story as Sky Sports News were reporting earlier today that the 25-year-old stopper was having a medical at the Newcastle ground.

The only question is why?

Newcastle have 3 very good keepers on their books already in Dutch international Tim Krul, long serving Steve Harper and Fraser Forster who is on loan at Celtic.

And Tim Krul has been in scintillating form at the start of the premiership campaign, despite being told by Alan Pardew that he is not guaranteed the number 1 jersey.

I watched the last two games against Scunthorpe and Fulham and can honestly say that without Krul we wouldn't have won them.

His reflexes are world class and he made some vital saves which had the Toon Army drooling and the opposition fans frustrated.

It therefore baffles me that we would need an extra keeper because even if Krul gets injured we have the experienced Steve Harper to don the gloves and step in.

This leaves me to question the future of Steve Harper. I can't believe that Pardew would have signed a talented new goalkeeper as 3rd cover; the lad simply wouldn't have come.

Does this mean he wants Elliot to push Krul for a starting place and edge Harper out of the picture?

It's an interesting question and only time will tell what role the lad will play in the Newcastle squad but hopefully he will be a decent signing for us, provided he didn't take too much of a chunk out of the transfer budget.

Comments Welcome:

Newcastle United Transfer News: Macheda to Toon?

Reports we're circulating on twitter last night that Manchester United forward Federico Macheda could be heading to St James Park on a season long loan.

And this morning this story has become more credible, with the player's agent saying that United want to loan him to a Premier League club and Newcastle have the edge over QPR.

To me this is a story that makes sense.

Pardew and Sir Alex are friends and the move looks like it could benefit both sides.

United have a wealth of attacking talent at the minute, just ask the Arsenal fans, and the 20-year-old Italian will struggle to get a look in at Old Trafford.

And in contrast Newcastle are lacking forward options.

Leon Best is looking good with his brace over Fulham and Demba Ba showed last season at West Ham that he definitely knows where the net is.

Unfortunately I'm not so sure about (Shola) Ameobi and Lovenkrands.

Lovenkrands is looking less and less impressive every time I see him play and I don't think you can count on Shola for more than 10 goals a season and so signing a new striker is priority number one for Alan Pardew.

I think Macheda could do a job for the Magpies; He's shown glimpses of brilliance at United and if given regular games then he could flourish into a very good striker, much like Danny Welbeck at Sunderland last season.

The worry for the Toon Army though, is that if Macheda comes will the pursuit of a new striker end?

Newcastle have been linked with a host of attacking talent this transfer window with the most recent being Fulham's Clint Dempsey and Sochaux's Mali international forward Modibo Maiga.

Both these players would excite the Toon faithful who love their centre forwards, but would also command high transfer fees which could put off owner Mike Ashley who has been tight with the purse strings this summer.

But I think that few would be complaining with the acquisition of Macheda who is young, exciting and can score goals.

Comments welcome:

Fan Boys

Is it just me or have people been noticing a rise in fan boys recently?

People who haven’t previously shown any commitment to a particular Premier League Club, suddenly turn up in their £50 replica shirts with their favourite player’s name on their back, and start mouthing off about how they’ve always been a childhood fan.

In my youth the title of biggest fan boys went to Manchester United.

Not surprisingly due to their dominance of English football, but it always used to wind me up when kids who couldn’t name you ONE non-United football player, would mock me about how my team did on the weekend.

Now I’m a product of the old school.

Dad, Uncles, Granddads, everyone in my family supported football so when I was growing up it was everywhere.

And, to be fair to them, they never tried to force me into following their teams. (Probably should have though ‘cos Dads a Chelsea fan. Missed a trick there.)

And when you’re a kid everyone chooses their team for different reasons, whether you’re following your Dad or your Best mate, whether you like a certain player or, like me, whether you liked the kit. (I know, bit unorthodox.)

At that age you know nothing of football but you may have your favourite player, and you get bought the kit for Christmas and you wear it around the house as proud as punch.

Then when you get a bit older you do suddenly begin to enjoy football and you follow your elected team through thick or thin.

That’s how it should be.

NOT waiting to see which team is the best, jumping on the bandwagon and then claiming you’re a real fan.

I first noticed this at about 15 when I was playing for a team with a kid who suddenly turned up, literally overnight, fully clad in a Chelsea kit.

Is it a coincidence that the team now had lots of money, fantastic players, arguably the best manager in the world AND had won the title the year before? I don’t think so.

So now you’re probably waiting for me to say that I walked into my Southampton local yesterday and saw wall to wall Man City fans.

That would make a lot of sense. Great players with massive price tags, lots of money and a free spending manager.

But no.

I think that because City are so heavily criticised for trying to “buy success” that aspiring fan boys have been put off supporting them.

Plus the constant controversies surrounding Tevez, Balotelli and off the field bust-ups won’t help.

So which team are all the little fan boys heading to now?

Well in my experience the winner is... Spurs.

With the recent form of Van der Vaart and Gareth Bale giving every Spurs fan a giant erection which they feel the need to tell us about on a daily basis, plus Harry Redknapp’s seeming need to buy every midfield player in the premiership; Spurs are starting to look like a fan boy’s wet dream.

They’re in the Champion’s League, the buy lots of players and Gareth Bale is the greatest footballer to ever grace the world.

Also because they’re a London club we can get the excuse that:

“I always go and watch Spurs, well I mean I always go to London, well Kent, and when I say “always” I mean occasionally because my Auntie lives there, well she did but she moved, to Manchester, but I’ve ALWAYS supported Spurs.

And I’m sure that now I’m going to get a barrage of comments saying I’m just jealous ETC but that’s not the point.

I’ve got no problem with Spurs fans, I’ve got no problem with teams buying players and I’ve got no problem if you’re a United/Chelsea/Arsenal/City fan if you have been for more than 10 minutes.

My problem is if you chose to follow a team just because they are doing well and then start making wild claims that Van der Vaart is the best player in the world and that Gareth Bale invented penicillin, then we have a problem.

You’re not fans, your fan boys.

And fan boys have no place in football.

Most Defining Sporting Moment

Recently in my Journalism lecture I was asked to write about my most defining sports moment and I found myself taking a very different approach to my class mates.

So give it a read if you enjoy a very pessimistic view on the world of sport:

When people are asked to talk about their greatest sporting moment, most of us will have a story about a world cup winning goal, a last minute wicket or relegation saving try.

They will look back on that great day with rose tinted glasses and a tear in their eye, telling you exactly where they were, what they were doing and even what they were wearing.

Because for most fans this is what sport is all about, the great highs that will live forever in the memory and make you and your team feel invincible.

Unfortunately for me I’m a football fan who made the misguided choice as a youngster of picking Newcastle United as the team which I will follow for the rest of my life.

Even more unfortunately for me I’m English and so my sporting life hasn’t been filled with victory and silverware, more anguish and heartache.

It’s unfair for me to criticise England as a sports nation as, in my short 20 years alive, I have seen England Rugby team win a World Cup, Kelly Holmes get a double Olympic gold and our heroes in the Cricket team win the Ashes and, more recently, demolish the Australian down under.

But selfishly I would trade all of that for something as trivial as Newcastle winning the League Cup or England FC to reach a final, and not embarrass themselves too much in the process.

In short I am a pessimistic young man and to me sport is a reflection of life.

It isn’t always about the victories and the highs, and I think you learn more from failure than success.

So for me the thing that comes into my head when asked about what defines sport for me isn’t the record £15 million signing that brought Shearer back home, or the Asprilla Hat trick against Barcelona or even the 5-1 demolition of United when Centre Back Pillip Albert lobbed Schmeichel (although that was a magnificent day.)

No. For me the most defining moment sport was when Newcastle got relegated in 2009.

I remember the season of 08/09 like it was yesterday and I always will.

The Messiah Kevin Keegan had returned and we had an impressive team that boasted a strike force of Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka. So surely we wouldn’t have a problem scoring right?

That season was the worst in living memory and made my beloved team look like disgrace.

Our new owner had no idea how to run a football club and we went through 4, yes 4, managers in that season, one of which was Joe Kinnear who is a walking heart attack.

And there is nothing more frustrating as a fan than seeing prize assets walk out of the club, but we were treated to Keegan quitting and the selling of our best talent Milner, N’Zogbia and Shay Given.

Oh but they were replaced, under very dodgy circumstances, with Xisco and Ignacio Gonzales. Who? I don’t know either.

AND the club was constantly up for sale at a stupidly high price after our beer swilling, cockney owner fell out of favour with our fans. I’ve no idea why.

Ok rant over. The fact is that after we instated Alan Shearer and Ian “relegation expert” Dowie for the latter stages of the season, to save us from the drop.

We played must-win-game after must-win-game and failed to notch up enough points to steer us to safety and on the last game of the season the eyes of English football were fixed on the bottom of the table as NEWCASTLE UNITED were staring relegation in the face.

I will always remember that day.

It was my gap year and I was working at my local corner shop. I couldn’t get the day off work so there was no Soccer Saturday for me, I had to smuggle in my radio and listen to the most horrific 90 minutes of football ever.

A Damien Duff own goal put Villa 1-0 up but for once, Man United were doing us a favour and were beating Hull.

All we needed was a goal and I was literally on the edge, Christ knows what was going on in the shop, it could have been on fire or being looted but I was in a trance, wishing with every fibre of my being for an equaliser.

My mind was casting back to the press conference that Michael Owen gave when he signed for the club: “I can’t promise you victory but I can promise you goals” (or words to that effect.) Well Mike one would be very useful now if you want to earn some of the £100,000+ wage you’re getting.

I was listening on 5 Live and with 10 minutes to go I was feeling sick and about to cry when Stan Collymore made the wild prediction that we would get a list minute equaliser and stay up.

It gave me hope; false hope. Cheers Stan.

And what happened next was my defining sports moment.

The final whistle blew, we were down, HULL survived and I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.

I felt strange, empty and physically wanted to vomit, it’s weird how just a game can make you so depressed.

And then my phone started buzzing with a barrage of texts which ranged from the: “unlucky mate” to the: “ha ha ha enjoy the Championship.” (The latter, of course, were almost exclusively sent by fan-boy Man United fans.)

I was officially in a state of mourning; first anger, then denial, then acceptance.

Now I may have been exaggerating my pessimistic views a little bit, but for me this is what sport is all about whether you’re a player, manager or fan.

It’s not about the wins, we’ve all scored a last minute own goal, bottled a penalty or dropped an important catch and I personally remember these more vividly then my successes.

It’s as much a part of the game as the victories but it makes them taste so much sweeter when they come.

And as a fan I would much rather have the highs and lows at a club like Newcastle than all the silverware of Man United.

Because when we finally win some and people ask me about my most defining sporting moment, I might have a different answer.

Toon on the Rebound?

Ok so as a Newcastle fan I thought it was about time I did a blog about the recent events of my beloved team.

Along with Man City, the off-field goings-on at Saint James’ have been the source of plenty of gossip in the footballing world.

Hughton’s gone, Pardew’s in and now Spurs are apparently lining up a £20million plus player bid for our big number 9 Andy Carroll...Great.

So we Newcastle fans have been subjected to a host of pundits and ex-Magpies saying that Ashley isn’t fit to run the club and Andy Carroll is already packing his bag for London.

And I admit that the decision to get rid of Hughton, who did an extremely impressive job, and replace him with the more “experienced” Pardew and his jaw dropping 74 games managed in the Premiership with one relegation, seems like a weird one even by Ashley’s Standards.

So it’s hard to explain how the fans must be feeling with our club one again in limbo...but I’ll give it a go. Now it’s a little bit out there but bear with it:

For me it’s like Hughton is the ex-girlfriend who you wanted it to work out with, but alas you had to part.

You had your ups and downs, and she may not as attractive or adventurous as some of your other flings, (Kevina Keegan, Bobbi Robson) but she was stable and she got the job done.

And she was far better than that drunken fling you had with that bird a couple of years ago that almost turned you off women for life (Jo Kinnear.)

Yes life with Krissy was stable and enjoyable and, despite the ups and downs, nobody wanted it to end... but it did, quickly and unfairly and once again you’re single.

And now your boss, who seemed keen on splitting you and Krissy up for a while, is setting you up on a blind date.

You’re hoping it might be one of the Martinas, both unattached, relatively successful and experienced with the tools to start a whirlwind romance.

And there’s even rumours flying that it could be Alana, a local girl who you had a great time with from ’96 to ’06, scoring 206 times, and that you always thought you’d hook up with again in the future.

Then the big day arrives and good news is, it’s Alana, bad news is it’s the wrong one.

It’s the cockney bird who’s definitely been around but hasn’t really done anything overly impressive, but now it looks like she’s going to be in the picture for the next 5 years.

And to be fair you had a good first date at home which was quite a result, but all your friends are still talking about Krissy and what may have been.

Right that’s enough of that. But the sentiment is the same, we’re now stuck with Pardew for the foreseeable future and Ashley may finally have a manager that he will back.

And as a fan, whatever you may think about the appointment, it’s now time to just sit back and see how things pan out, who knows, we might be pleasantly surprised.

And a least it’s not Kinnear again.

What's Happening to the Big 3

The title race gets blown open every single week. This season has been throwing up some seriously questionable results that have managers, pundits and fans alike scratching their heads and staring open mouthed at the television.

This weekend the spotlight was on Chelsea and Arsenal. The Gunners threw away a 2-0 home lead against their hated rivals Tottenham, going on to lose 3-2. And Chelsea saw their team barrage Ben Foster’s goal with an incredible 25 shots, only for Lee Bowyer to tuck away Birmingham’s only attempt of the game.

And last week was no different, Chelsea again making the headlines after taking a 3-0 pounding at home to Sunderland, in a run which has seen them lose 3 of their last 4 games. Man United also had to answer some serious questions about their performance after they salvaged a 2-2 draw away at Aston Villa, who had taken a 2-0 lead. Man United have now dropped 12 points away from home.

So what is happening with the Big 3? Last season’s title race was close at the latter stages with Arsenal making a late push and Man U and Chelsea constantly missing opportunities to take a significant point lead. And this theme seems to be continuing this year.

All three teams have made positive additions to their squads in the transfer window with Hernandez, Chamakh and Ramires, the biggest name signings, all performing well in the league.

But it seems that injuries to key players are taking their toll on the teams. Arsenal have, until recently, been without captain Cesc Fabregas and Holland international striker Van Persie, while Thomas Vermaelen, Abou Diaby and keeper Almunia still sidelined.

Man United and Chelsea too have a busy physio room with Star players like Rooney, Valencia, Lampard and Terry all missing from recent starting 11’s. And when you take into consideration the importance of these players it becomes clear why the teams are missing them.

Wayne Rooney has been the centre of some very unwanted attention after problems with his private life, a poor world cup performance and some, ahem, interesting contract negotiations, but he scored a formidable 26 league goals last season and United have clearly missed him.

Similarly Frank Lampard had a poor World Cup but was pivotal for Chelsea last season contributing 22 goals and 17 assists from the midfield. Couple this with the loss of their influential captain John Terry and any team would struggle.

The worry for these teams is that while they’re dropping points and failing to win what should be easy games, teams like Tottenham, Manchester City and, dare I say it, Bolton are sitting just 6 points off the top and licking their lips.

Spurs are taking plaudits for some fantastic wins in both the Premiership and the Champions League with players like Gareth Bale and Van Der Vaart are looking absolute class. Meanwhile the mega-spending Man City have a team flooded with top level talent and experience.

Maybe this year is the year that the Chelsea/United stranglehold on the title is loosened, or maybe it’s the year we see a brand new team of Premiership winner’s altogether.

One thing’s for certain though; it’s coming up to Christmas and everything’s still to play for.

By Joe Sharpe

Problems at Home?

Another England game, another disappointing result and once again every man and his dog are trying to work out what’s wrong with England.

Is it players playing out of position? Is it Capello’s management style? Or is it players “bottling it” in the games.

There is no doubt that something isn’t working, the team look like they’re out of ideas when they get into the opposition half and the big name players aren’t performing like we see them do every Saturday on Match of the Day.

But I think it’s wrong to place blame on one aspect of the team, whatever that may be. It’s a number of things that make a team perform below par and to start pointing fingers isn’t helping anything.

Now I’m going to mention now that I have no problems with fans having lively debates and voicing their opinions, but I think people get too caught up on one aspect to see the whole picture.

The most recent gripe we’re hearing is that players like Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard and, more recently, Milner, Barry and Carrick “bottle it” as soon as they have the three lions on their chests.

It’s true that these players underperformed drastically in the World Cup but to say that the pressure got to them, to me, seems like a cop out.

They are professional footballers who face immense pressure at club level playing in Champions league finals, taking make-or-break penalties and with fans constantly wanting them to bring glory to their clubs.

And I’m as guilty as the next England fan when it comes to getting caught up in world cup fever. Claims of ‘this is our year’ and ‘football’s coming home’ can be heard every two years (provided we qualify to the EURO’s this time) in every ground, pub or 5-a-side pitch around the country.

But do we actually expect the team to win? Do we actually think that there is no better team in the world than us and that it would be a shock if we DIDN’T have the trophy on the flight home with our English heroes? I don’t think so.

Going into the world cup we were high on the FIFA rankings but not top, we were not top in the betting shop and we were looking at teams like Spain, Brazil and Argentina thinking they were forces to be reckoned with.

Granted there is pressure on any England team but I don’t think the expectation in 2010 was for us to win, I think it was there for the taking if we put in a string of performances, but we didn’t. Nobody missed a penalty in extra time, nobody got sent off, nobody “bottled it” ...we just didn’t perform.

Then came the game against Montenegro last October at Wembley, when Capello had the chance to put the world cup daemons away. Another poor flat performance, another crowd (including myself) booing the players off the field, and another squad of England players looking dejected and making excuses.

However I do feel that Capello is making the right moves. He knows it isn’t working and he’s starting to experiment with new players.

Questions will be asked about giving first caps to a 33 year old Kevin Davis and 28 year old Jay Bothroyd who isn’t even playing in the premiership, but it shows Capello has got the balls to try something new.

And now he’s blooding young(er) English talent like Hart, Carroll, Milner, Adam Johnson and Ashley Young who are all putting in impressive performances at club level and fully deserve international call ups.

For me this is exactly what he needs to be doing, the golden generation is now sailing off into the history books and we need to concentrate on getting future prospects into the international system, scoring goals and winning games.

So we shouldn’t be too angry with losses in friendly games with France, a team which we now have a lot in common. Both teams have to rebuild from a disastrous world cup and have a team full of new faces.

The country is in a transition period and the Football team is no different. There’s going to be kinks that need ironing out as new players adjust to international football and Capello tweaks with formations and starting line ups, but we have to have faith that it will come good when it matters.

Capello is a highly respected and decorated manager and he doesn’t strike me as a fool. In two years we will (hopefully) be getting into frenzy about our chances in the EURO’s but will we expect to win it? No? Will we hope to win it? Yes. And if we don’t win it will the same questions about players, management and fans be circling around the country again? That much you can bet on.