| News - July 2007 |
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| Frustrated? Aye, same here
July 31st
 To
say things have gone a little quiet on Barrack Road of late would be
somewhat of an understatement given the lack of transfer activity in
recent weeks.Having released the majority of our defenders in the early summer, we are now struggling to put together a back-four, with only new face in David Rozenthal. With many crying for the heads of Carr and Babayaro back in May, we are now certain to keep them and with the latter not expected to start the season, it leaves the club with no recognized left-backs. That said, Big Sam has promised a signing in the next few days, although he seems to be saying that each week. It's unlikely the lack of activity is down to him though, with numerous mentions during interviews and playing Steve Harper in attack indicating that he is being somewhat limited from above. Our new billionaire owner is not exactly flashing the cash and rumors are flying around that this is because the club are in more debt than Ashley initially realized (although how they didn't know about all the clubs debts is unclear). Names being thrown around this week for the next signing include Faye from Bolton and Alan Smith from Manchester United, although the latter will depend on Kieron Dyer's departure. Spurs have reportedly pulled out of the running and with Ashley unwilling to off-load him to West Ham, this leaves only Manchester City as a possible destination - and they aren't anywhere near Suffolk, the area Dyer wishes to return to. Finally after a great performance on Sunday, Charles N'Zogbia is being linked with a move to Fulham. Our French midfielder refused to play in the final game of last season but has been used during pre-season and given the limitations of our squad, a move away from Tyneside would be a real surprise Remotes at the ready!
July 30th
 Confirmation
today that our first game of the season against Bolton Wanderers will
be shown LIVE on Setanta TV. Kick off is 10am ET.For those of you without Setanta, we welcome you to try ITVN, who offer Setanta for only $15 a month. Zog - where have you been?
July 29th
 Final score
from St. James Park:Newcastle United 2 (Luque 9, Carroll 36) - Juventus 0 Newcastle maintained their 100% start under Big Sam with a good run out against Italian giants Juventus - Charles N'Zogbia getting our man of the match award. Juventus who were promoted back into Serie A this season (after a little legal issue!) were just starting their pre-season campaign so were a few weeks behind the Newcastle lads in terms of fitness. To make matters worse, they were behind after just 9 minutes when Zebina tripped Milner in the box, allowing the Spaniard Luque to score from the spot - his third goal in two games. That was about as good as his contribution got though, a groin strain ending his game early. His replacement - Andy Carroll doubled our lead 10 minutes before half time - Buffon parried a strong Martins shot, allowing Carroll to neatly finish into the bottom right hand corner. The second half was slower but United still worked hard, especially N'Zogbia and Dyer. Their pace and intelligent passing was constantly causing problems for Juventus as they looked to press forward in search of a consolation goal. It was an encouraging glimpse of the N'Zogbia of old and for Dyer - well he showed what's he capable of, but it's still likely he'll be doing his thing for another club this season. Chances came and went for both sides, but Shay and Buffon were equal to everything that was thrown at them. So, another run out for our skeleton squad. At least we didn't end up with Harper playing today but for all the good work the club on a whole has done this summer, it would be a shame to not go into this season with a few new faces - especially in defense, where the likes of Huntington and Ramage are still suspect. Dyer & Dyer
July 27th
Newcastle
midfielder Kieron Dyer
looks like he's played his last game in a black and white shirt after
he was left out of last night's game against Celtic. The nail in the
coffin were post-match comments from Big Sam claiming that Dyer is
"valuable" and any injury could jeapodize a potential move.Despite eight years at the club, Dyer is believed to be unhappy and wants a return down south - despite the fact Manchester City are one of the favorites to sign him. On his day, his running and passing could destroy teams but the injury plagued midfielder simply didn't perform on a consistent basis and many fans wont be sad to see him go. On another note, our former clown of a defender Titus Bramble was involved in another "defensive mix-up" (the words of Wigan's website) as his new side beat Blackpool 2-1. Titus OUT was part of a petition ran by ToonArmyUSA last season which despite only running for a week, collected over 150 signatures! Not so Luque
July 26th
Final score
from St. James Park:Newcastle United 4 (Martins 11, Luque 30, 42, Milner 90) - Celtic 1 (Brown 72) Big Sam's first game in charge at St. James Park ended in an eventful victory for the home side although plenty of gloom lurks behind the scoreline. Some decent finishing from the lads in the first half put us 3-0 up at half time, and it could have been more as the Scottish champions looked decidedly jet-lagged, following a recent trip to the US. No doubt it was a pleasure to see Albert Luque score a brace, the Spanish forward has been a bitter disappointment so far, and it's somewhat surprising here's still here. That said, Big Sam is well known for getting the most out of his players and Luque is project number one. So far, so good then for the man who cost us almost $20 million but after a few false dawns, don't blame us if we don't get too excited... It was no surprise the second half slowed down following a host of changes by the home side although Carroll had a couple of chances to increase the score. Celtic on the other hand caused us more and more problems and eventually scored through debutant Scott Brown. If we needed to highlight how small our squad was so our new chairman would splash his cash, we did so by finishing the game with 10 men and goalkeeper Steve Harper in attack - following injuries to Nicky Butt and Steven Taylor. Despite that, we managed to add a fourth when James Milner scored from twenty yards - a move which started off with Steve Harper. So a great result with plenty of positives on the pitch but again we've picked up a couple of injuries (although neither are believe to be as bad as Joey Bartons on Saturday) and our need for more new faces is becoming increasingly evident. Good bye and good riddens
July 24th
 July
24th 2007 was the day. We’ve all thought about it, hoped for
it,
dream of it. And finally it came. Having lost almost all control over a
club he once owned, FFS – or Fat Freddy Sheppard as
he’s
lovingly known, has finally been shown the door at Newcastle United
Football Club.From owner and chairman to just chairman to now on the dole (with a nice bulge in his pocket we might add), Sheppard’s departure will be met with glorious scenes at St. James Park, a million miles away from the “sack the board” chants which was ringing in his ears towards the end of last season. Sheppard has always stated he’s been successful at the club, pointing towards our healthy finances, big stadium and huge following. Two of those things are largely down to us though, as Newcastle has one of the most passionate groups of supporters in the world and our generosity in purchasing replica kits and anything black and white is incredible. His predecessor – Sir John Hall perhaps didn’t quite have the finances (although he wasn’t far off) or the big stadium, but he did bring success to the club and his impact in turning us around from a club that almost entered the bottom tier of English football, to one challenging for the Premiership is something that simply eclipses Sheppard’s actions. To be fair to Freddy, he did dish out the cash when we needed it, although you have to question some (if not the majority), of his signings. If Roeder and Souness are to be believed, Sheppard had more of a hand in who to bring in than the managers did. It’s unclear what last week’s police raids had to do on all this but reports from SJP were that Ashley was far from impressed about the whole thing, and although Newcastle were the victims, the criminal was still close to the scene… Chris Mort takes over as Chairman with immediate effect. Good luck Chris, although you can’t do much worse… Early momentum slows as fans
get deja vu feeling
July 22nd
 News
broke yesterday evening that Joey Barton would be out for six weeks
after breaking his metatarsal - possibly the most well known bone in
the body following similar injuries to Michael Owen and David Beckham
in recent seasons.It's a blow for sure but to be honest Newcastle fans are used to this kind of news. Last season was possibly our worst for injuries and while Big Sam can do his best to make sure players are at their peak of physical fitness, accidents will happen and we'll just have to suck these things up. Meanwhile Big Sam promises 3 or 4 new signings before the season starts (in just under three week's time) and he'll have his work cut out to make this a reality. Even the rumors have practically stopped and the momentum of his first few weeks in which he signed Viduka, Rozenthal, Barton and Geremi has been lost. At this point our focus must be defense - highlighted by conceding sloppy goals against Hartlepool and Carlisle. The Sunday papers have Dyer linked with West Ham and Baptista of Real Madrid heading to Tyneside (neither of which look likely we reckon), while our Spanish misfit Albert Luque has reportedly been playing with an injury for the last two years, which could explain why his performances have been so horrendous. Nobby ruins Carlisle party
July 21st
Final score
from Brunton Park:Carlisle 1 (Livesey 56) - Newcastle 1 (Solano 90) Nobby Solano saved our blushes this afternoon as a last minute goal rescued a draw against local side Carlisle. With the likes of Geremi, Barton & Martins in the side, Newcastle dominated the first half but wasteful finishing saw the sides go in at half time on level terms. Newcastle were made to pay for missing their chances on 56 minutes when Carlisle took the lead and it looked like that goal would win it for the League One side. However, Solano scored with only minutes remaining to give the soaking away fans something to cheer about. United played much of the second half with their reserves and youth players, a much more inexperienced team than that against Hartlepool. Expect to see the big guns out for our next match - Celtic at SJP this Thursday. Hipster scores a brace to
sink 'pool
July 19th
Final score
from the Victoria Ground:Hartlepool 1 (Brown 49) - Newcastle 3 (Ameobi 52, 72, Owen 58) Toon starting eleven: Given, Carr, Rozenthal, Ramage, Huntington, Dyer, Butt, Barton, N'Zogbia, Caroll, Martins. On a sunny and warm evening in Hartlepool, Big Sam picked his first Newcastle team as our new boss. There had been a threat of this game being called off because of flash flooding across the North East (trains from Central station in Newcastle had been cancelled) but the areas around Hartlepool were not effected...thankfully the ToonTravel bus made it to the ground only a few minutes late. It was good to see that new boy David Rozenthal looks to be confident (and competent) at centre half and was not troubled in the first half (yes it was only Hartlepool we know). Rozenthal sprayed some nice accurate passes around.....the question is, who is going to play alongside him with Taylor injured? Newcastle weren't trobled too much in the 1st half (even Ramage was looking capable) and Given had nowt to do for the first 45 minutes. Joey Barton, also making his debut, really looked up for it and threw himself into challenges all over the pitch and went close with a header. Andy Carroll had a very good left foot effort saved and Martins should have scored before that when he was one-on-one with the keeper. 0-0 at the half. There were heaps of changes for the 2nd half and this seemed to unsettle the defence as Hartlepool came into the game. Solano came in at full back with Huntington switching to centre half. Hartlepool were then rewarded with a goal after a good angled shot from James Brown that flew in off the post and past Steve Harper. However, Owen and Shola had also livened things up for the Toon when they replaced Carroll and Martins and Amoebi equalized 4 minutes after the 'Pools goal, having been played in neatly by Dyer. Troisi was also looking impressive on the right wing and supplied a cross for Owen to slot home a few minutes later to give Newcastle the lead. Shola got his second after an appalling error from the 'Pools keeper and it looked like more goals would follow. So that's it ladies & gents another seaason kicks off -- who knows what wonders lie ahead! For us Shola, Barton and Rozenthal had been the stand out performers for Newcastle - yes it only pre-season and it was only Hartlepool - but it's nice to be back after a crazy summer (even by Newcastle's standards) with a win for the Toon. Song of the Game: "One Hip - He's only got one hip, he's only got one hip" (sang for Shola) ToonArmyUSA at The Victoria Ground Ladies & Gentlemen.
Let the show begin...
July 17th
73 days
since a 1-1 draw with already relegated Watford, our season 07/08 gets
under way with a friendly at local side Hartlepool.What a 73 days it's been to eh? The club has experienced some major changes - mainly off the pitch, which once again give the Geordie faithful the hope that maybe this is the season we break our silverwear hoodoo. The signing of Big Sam, a manager than installs confidence, success and discipline into every team he manages, was an appointment so desperately needed. Perhaps more importantly though are the boardroom changes. Finally, Freddy Sheppard and his cronies don't have control, and suddenly, the huge black cloud that has hung over St. James Park for so many years has lifted, and our future looks bright. On the pitch, the only departures worth noting are that of (ahem) "captain" Scott Parker. Nerw boys, Geremi, Rozenthal, Barton and Viduka are all exciting prospects, but let's not fool ourselves lads and lasses, we need more new faces, and Big Sam knows that. Perhaps our manager's biggest achievement in the transfer market to date though is to persuade current players Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen to stay - and it looks like he's been successful at both, with Martins debating a new contract (without a get-out clause) and Owen recently announcing he was happy to stay at the club. Both could play some part in tonights game against Hartlepool but Viduka (on international duty), Taylor & Duff (injured) and Milner & Edgar (rested) will all miss out. This is our first opportunity to see our new boys in action - and we hope there's plenty more to come. Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha
gonna do?
July 16th
E-mail
exchange between friends was it's usual frantic self this Monday
morning with rumors that an insider working in the Newcastle United IT
Department had been told to stop working due to police orders. A
somewhat far fetched tale, up there along with rumors of Ronaldinho and
Cannavaro - or so we thought. An hour or so later and news broke on the
BBC that London Police had raided Newcastle United, Portsmouth and
Glasgow Rangers as part of a corruption investigation.Now Newcastle - and our players, are no stranger to the boys in blue but this time it appears the club is the victim rather than the guilty party. Although details are still sketchy, the raids appear to be based around the transfer of Jean Alain Boumsong. Boumsong, signed on a free by Rangers was purchased only 6 months later by Newcastle for a whopping $17 million! After destroying Rangers during his managerial stint in Glasgow, it appears then-Newcastle manager Graeme Souness owed the club a favor and did so at the expense of Newcastle. However, newspaper reports of the deal claim Rangers have only received a small percentage of the $17 million with the other money going AWOL - and that's why the London Police made their visits this morning. This would be further backed up from the rumors that the London Police also paid a visit to Freddy Sheppard's house in Jesmond (on the outskirts of Newcastle). He, as usual, had a large part to play in the deal and if found guilty, could quickly be the final board member to leave Newcastle. Of course Boumsong has now left to Juventus and it's unclear he had any idea what was going on - similar to his time in a black and white shirt. Why Portsmouth were raided is still unclear and whether or not Big Sam is guilty is also debatable but this is a stark reminder of the corruption during the old days. Toon-up
July 12th
It's
been a week full of speculation of comings and goings at St. James Park
but we are yet to see any new signings from 5 days that promised so
much.We woke up on Monday morning with the rather surprising news that Portuguese midfielder, Deco was to arrive on Tyneside this week to complete a medical after he became surplus to requirements at Barcelona. He is the third Barcelona player to be linked to Newcastle in as many weeks, although like Gudjohnsen and Edmilson, any deal looks unlikely for one of the best midfielders currently in the game. While we certainly would welcome him with open arms, do we really need another midfielder? On Tuesday it looked likely that Marseille defender, Habib Beye, would join to compete with Geremi for the right-back spot. A day later though he announced in the French press (the paper not the coffee maker), that he was happy at Marseille and wanted to see out his contract. That leaves our dynamic duo of Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins. Owen announced in the press today that he was happy at Newcastle and confident that the changes being made on and off the pitch would pull the team in the right direction. While any kind of return to form will probably see him depart in January, he is a massive asset to the club and a fit Owen will produce 20+ goals a season. Not so clear though for Oba, who is a target for Arsenal. Martins has reportedly said he wants to be on the same wage as Michael Owen (approximately $220k a week), unless he'll be on his way. If that's the case, we say let him go. If we could get $26 million for him (a bid for this amount would trigger his release clause) then we could invest that money in two established Premiership forwards (Smith & Gudjohnsen for example). Big Sam has done a great job so far but seems to have hit a wee bump in the road when it comes to adding new faces. Don't be surprised though if that situation changes in the next week or so. T-Shirt Design Competition!
July 10th
We have a design competition for everyone out there with a creative flair – or for those with nowt better to do. THE CHALLENGE: Create the next t-shirt design to be produced by ToonArmyUSA / ToonArmyCanada and win a monster prize (still to be determined) that will blow you away....and you'll get the first t-shirt carrying your design into the bargain. IDEAS: It wouldn't be much of a competition if we told you what to design...but keep it creative and orginal - we'd like to see a t-shirt that included both Canada and the US in its design if possible - but this isn't essential. FINAL DESIGN: Don't worry if your design isn't that great - it's new ideas that we are looking for - so we'll have a professional graphical artist touch it up once it is submitted to us before we print it. PREVIOUS T-SHIRT: We released our '3 Steps 2 Heaven' t-shirt in Spring and they've been selling like Greggs cheese pies ever since - BUT we want the next design to come from you....yes you! DEADLINE: Friday August 31st, by 12 noon EST. Get yer thinking caps on. Mark H Legal stuff: ToonArmyUSA/Canada reserves its rights to use any and/or all images submitted to this competition on any promotional and/or marketing material without the consent of competition entrants and use these said designs wherever we bloody well like forever and ever. All designs and ideas submitted will become wholly owned and controlled by ToonArmyUSA / Canada. An evening with Alan Shearer
July 8th
Two of our ToonArmyUSA members - Mark Harper (Club
President) from Halifax, Canada, and Harry Spall,
long time member from Washington DC, were lucky enough to attend 'An
Evening with Alan Shearer,' in Toronto, Canada last month. Our former number 9 spoke about his career and shed some light on Bellamy, Keane, Keith Gillespie and others. To find out more including pictures of the event, click here. Don't pick up that remote
just yet...
July 7th
Despite confirmation from the UK this week that Setanta
would
be showing Newcastle United pre-season games, the same can't be said
for North America. Although the full pre-season schedule hasn't been announced yet, the Irish TV company appear to be following Liverpool around in the next few weeks, as they embark on a European tour. As soon as we hear any announcements on televised games we will let you know. Our money is on our first game of the season (Bolton away) being switched to the Sunday. Five years Big Sam?
We'll try...
July 4th
Big Sam asked for five years to turn things around at
St.
James Park this week - and we as fans are going to try our best to give
him it. Big Sam is bringing in some good players, Mark Viduka will give us the aerial height we need upfront, Barton will give us the attacking midfielder we desperately lacked last season, while both Geremi and Rozenthal will go a long way to reinforcing our weak defense. That said, some fans do expect miracles and Big Sam might face criticism should we not finish in the top 6 or a European spot next season. While that would be nice, we have to be realistic and think about what the club is trying to achieve here. For the first time since Bobby Robson, Big Sam is not a "quick fix" - he has been brought in to get the club away from the sinking feeling we've experienced for the last few seasons and this will take time. That said, he has the best fans in the country (and North America too!) behind him and if the fans can see that the players and management are giving it their all and pulling in the right direction, then Big Sam will have the time to turn us into the club we deserve to be.
Geremi - the right man at
right back
July 2nd
Monday morning saw Big Sam's fourth signing arrive at
the club
in the form of Cameroon defender/midfielder Geremi. Despite late
interest from Aston Villa, we managed to complete the deal for the
former Chelsea player. So far so good then for Big Sam who certainly doesn't seem to have any problems attracting good players, an issue during Roeder's reign. Let's not stop there though Sam, we still desperately need another left back, center half and one or two more versatile players wouldn't go a miss! \Three's company!
July 1st
There has been plenty of action behind the scenes over
the
last week and if things go to plan, we could soon see the
results. Edmilson, the Brazilian World Cup winner plays at center half and would most likely partner Rozenthal. While there is no doubt he is a class player, he is also well known for his injuries - two major ones during his spell at Barcelona and he also missed the 2006 World Cup due to injury. |