The Mirror today has a story about Speed going to Fulham because Newcastle are stalling on a new contract offer. Is he out of contract at the end of NEXT season?

Straight swap for Clarky will be the obvious link.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Answers

Well obviously he wont be needed with Rivaldo coming in.

:-)

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

I can never understand why he wasn't sold last season.

Funny that we hope for a straight swap for Clarky when TSM bought him he effectively swapped Clark & Ginola + £1m for him.

Why were we ever short of cash?

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

One more year to run on his contract, so he should be sold in the summer or given a new contract.

GARY SPEED has admitted he is aware that Fulham are monitoring his situation, but claimed he has no desire to leave Newcastle United. Fulham approached Newcastle in the summer, but The Magpies swiftly rejected the bid for the Welsh international.

It would, however, seem that Cottagers boss Jean Tigana is again keeping tabs on the former Leeds United ace, in a bid to build a squad capable of competing in The Premiership, but the Frenchman`s overtures are likely to fall on deaf ears.

"I`m happy at Newcastle but I`ve heard that Fulham are showing interest," Speed revealed.

Speed has one more year to run on his contract and Newcastle will be loathed to lose the player for nothing, but it would seem that the 31- year-old is happy on Tyneside for the foreseeable future.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Snap their hands off whatever they offer. If we get his huge wages off the books and his searing performances off the pitch we'll all be better off.

Clarky will have to improved from when he left to be truly worthy of a place in our side, has he ?

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

I've watched Lee Clark a couple of times when Fulham have been on telly.

You wouldn't say he is a defensive midfielder but you wouldn't say he was really that creative either. He runs for the full 90 minutes though and never seems to give up. He has scored a few goals this season as well so if he could match that in the Premiership he can replace Speed in that department.

Clark seems to be able to pass the ball better and certainly sees the clever pass on many occasions. The trouble is, when he plays for Fulham there are so many options to pass to, in our side we don't have the movement, without Dyer, to be able to benefit.

The aquisition of Lee Clark would depend on the ambition and needs of the NUFC team.

We should really be looking for international midfielders who will totally boss a game week in week out, not react to it, as ours do.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

If Clarkie wasn't quick enough for the Premier League 3 years ago, do you think he will be now?

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Exactly Kegsy. I remember the discussion being "if Robert Lee doesn't seem up to it at the moment then why not give Clarky a run out". It was never that he was as good as Robert Lee then, and that should be the minimum we are looking for now

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

£3 million is the asking price according to Sporting Life!!! Bite their hands off!

I think we'd all agree that Speed is good but we could do better.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

£3million !!!!!!! Christ that's more than Dalglish originally offered for him when we bought him. It was only Everton trying it on that upped the price to over £5m.

With £3m Bobby could buy two more Bradford players

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Stuart McCall??!

I'm joking.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

David Wetherall?

Clarky's not sure about Clarky coming back! I've seen him several times on 't telly this season, and while he has usually done OK, he still lacks that bit of pace that will be more obvious in the PL.

He's probably better than anyone we presently have, runs and runs and runs, finds space brilliantly, and has an eye for the astute pass, but IMO he is still a notch below the class we should be looking for. However, he would be indeed be better than Stuart McCall!

While looking at Fulham mind I'd definitely take the Clarky look-alike, Shaun Davis - he is excellent and arguably a non-compromise replacement for Rob Lee.

The other guy we should have considered at Fulham was Fabrice Fernandez who was on loan to Fulham from some Frog team. I believe Celtic may now have signed him for ca. £3 million - but he is an excellent, young, left-sided midfield player who would have looked great in b&w 'bands' (!).

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

On the subject of Lee Clark, I won't pretend to set myself up as a judge of football ability and assess whether he is technically good enough for the Premier. I'll leave that to the experts (over)paid to do that at NUFC.

I'd just like to repeat though a point I've made earlier on this. IMHO Clarky brings more to the TEAM than just the technical skills and workrate demonstrated at Fulham. He has the right attitude in abundance, loves the club and would play his heart out when required. If you can build a TEAM around a nucleus of such players then you have something which amounts to much more than the sum of it's parts. Many teams of limited resources pull off this trick (Kinnear's Wimbledon, Leicester, Ipswich, Charlton etc). Man Utd seem to me to have a similar team ethic and with their unlimited resources it makes them very strong. The great Liverpool sides were similar. Teams with the resources but without the team spirit don't seem able to sustain their challenge for long (Chelsea & Newcastle for example).

On that basis Clark might be a good addition to the squad - somebody to gee up Rivaldo and teach him to have pride in the B&W!

Actually, another thought has just occured - wouldn't it be magic to see Clarky get the winner in a derby with the Mackems? He could wear that T-shirt under his strip!

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Lee Clark would pay NUFC for that privilege!!!

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Clarky, >>>Fabrice Fernandez>>>>On loan at Fulham , away to Rangers, all I can say about him is he is confident, has stated he will be the the best player up here, comes on for Rangers first game, within 20 seconds has hit a peach of a 25 yarder, wrong foot into the net. other than that,he is a frenchie aint he?, and with the concensus on here??

Read a wee story about the Caldwells, Rangers wanted Steve from early age, Celtic wanted Gary , Steve supports Huns, Gary Tims, also there was a lot of interest down south. The re-emergence of a reserve set - up and the feeling that Youth would be given a chance swung them round to Newcastle, (Dagleish/Craig influence). The purchase of O`Brian is an insult to their progress, a name or experienced center half would have been ideal, A lot of punters on here feel that a Southgate/Hughes partnership is the answer , if I was a striker I would want some of that, nee bliddy prescence , even now we get the skitters when its a corner or free-kick against us.

Henrik Larson will get goals anywhere, he is not in his view a striker, he has pace, he has movement, he has upper body strength, he is intelligent, he is a great header of the ball, he is a above all a team player and does his fair share of work, all this and modest too and okay it was a clean break but to come back from that horrific leg injury and reach the level of performance he has is remarkeable, As to not being able to score goals in the overated EPL , gets his quota for Sweden too !!. I read disparaging remarks about Glass ending up at Dundee and this would have been a big come down for him , could do better was the phrase. Very inconsistent I admit but under Bonnetti Dundee in the times I have seen them have played the type of football you can only purr about. defensivily crap but going forward a joy to watch, movement, touch , young Italians,Old Argies (Canneggia) and a few promising scots, Gavin McRae , do not knock it till you see it, Livingstone was not so far away was it.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

I am feeling left out here, can anyone come up with a player called gus?

Everyone else has relatives that someone wants to join NUFC, with clarky and Clarkie, Barry and macbeth. Fer goodness sakes there is even a Gavin mentioned by buff!

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Gus Uhlenbeek!

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

used to be Gus Caesar a few years ago

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Buff,

I've already made that point on here about the signing of O'Brien. He is very similar to Aaron Hughes, and both are similar to Gary Caldwell.

I've seen Gary several times in the Reserves, and at 18 he looks 'the business' to me - not quite ready yet, but potentially better than either Hughes or O'Brien. I would expect him to be pushing for the odd 1st team appearance towards the end of next season, with the possibility of both Steve and Gary playing together at that level during the following season.

The real nice thing with the Caldwells is that they have already played together in the middle of defence for donkeys years. In addition, Steve is a centre-half in style, while Gary is more of a wing-half, a footballer, which makes them an excellent combination.

Like yourself, I'm really concerned that signing O'Brien could now retard Gary's progress, and possibly screw-up the development of what could be a defensive 'dream team' for us for the next 10 years. Such is the result of forward development & planning at SJP!

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Speed is a soldid proven Prem player, he can win the ball, he gets goals, he's great in the air, he has heart, he's hard, and I like him.
I don't think Speed is the reason we're so piss poor. I think of him as a canny player in a shite team.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

I'm with you Heeds....

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

It's more about the timing of this transfer. We should be discussing a new deal with Speed this summer because the following summer he could walk away from the club for nothing.

If we give him a contract that's going to be at least a 3 year contract IMO, that's too long.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Now THEY are linking Barton to Fulham

Despite the transfer deadline day having past, the rumour merchants are still speculating on who Newcastle will buy and sell in eight weeks time. Stephen Glass, Daniel Cordone, Kevin Gallacher and Marcelino all look set to leave for little or no money. Gary Speed name has been mentioned to a £4 million move to Fulham. Jean Tigana looking to strengthen his team for next seasons Premiership relegation struggle has earmarked wor Speedo as a prime target. The 31-year-old moved to St James' Park in a £5.5million deal from Everton in February 1998 and with the club apparently stalling on offering the player a new deal it could be that they are tempted to sell. Speed, however, is focused on his Newcastle career and says that in an ideal world he would like to end his playing days on Tyneside. Warren Barton is also said to be on Tigana shopping list, and an offer in excess of £3million would be tempting for Bobby Robson to turn down. Warren is still totally committed to the United cause but realises that his days as first choice right back are numbered. "We know that we've disappointed our fans especially in the last few weeks, but we've still got the chance to make amends, said Barton. "In terms of points we are a lot closer to the top six than we are to the bottom three so there is a better chance of qualifying for Europe than of being relegated," he added. As for Andy Griffin Barton says "Andy is an England Under-21 international player and he is a very good young defender, but we both accept that football at this level is very much a squad game. I turned 32 this week, but I still feel I've got a few more years left as a Premiership player"

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

What an utter load of shite!

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

£3m for Barton, we'd take £1m surely. The O'Brien ddeal is strange, sell Goma who is class yest spend half the cash gambling on potential. If that doesn't come off we gamble again on potential yet end up spending all the money & losing our tried & tested.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

Can't seriously believe anyone would offer £3 million for a 32 yrold WB.
Have to agree with Dave leF, anything over £1 million and he's gone, surely?

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2001

II haven't seen this story about barton anywhere and is it not Rik making up stories again bless him!

-- Anonymous, March 26, 2001