What is the answer to this tricky question? Who will be attracted to NUFC next season?

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

Answers

You started it Mr Swift.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

Christ Rik.... that's a hell of a long thread title!

To answer your question... no-one of any ambition would come to NUFC at the moment. The only folk that are likely to sign are either 2nd rate or Geordies (or both) :-(((

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

Promising players who are currently not expecting to be involved in European competition with their present clubs.

If we sign anyone from a team that is due to compete in the Champions League or the UEFA cup then they will be here for the money and will look for a move within a year or two once they have established a reputation within the English Premiership.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

Phew - eeh , was going to post an answer on the KD thread , the said statement is posted, got to do a wee bit o work , back on BB`s , the said statement is discounted by YKD, much too fast for us senile auld gits, so what do we know, ah young Kieron , a promising young player with Ipswich, admired by the pundits as one for the future ,you see Ipswich were not going anywhere and he wanted a move to a more, lets say ambitious club, I wanna win things , completes his dream move, does not look like a world class player over the season, has a few excellent games, few good games,lot of mediocre games,playing him out of position , injuries, but he must have something cos why would the inner circle of clubs world wide express an interest in purchasing him Clubs willing to offer £20 mill + for at the moment a unproven international, average performer as yet in the Premier and a SSS pedigree (Shin Splints Sufferer) have just got to be right about him, the final piece in their jigsaw , and therein lies the problem , we see him as the main corner bit in out jigsaw, the one that gets you started, you know the one, sorry folks in my reckoning he is ill - equipped and not ready for this most demanding of puzzles marketed by Newcastle Utd. As for his statement, change a few words here and there and as Clarky say`s he is just voicing our concerns , read it the way Softie does and it is tantamount to blackmail by agent - cy!!!

The main point is missed, what YKD thinks are 4 quality players (why does Lampard come to mind!), Bobby may think different and as I am led to believe Bobby Robson is the manager, his heir apparent is on holiday and YKD should just shut up publicly and if he has owt to say I am sure that Uncle Bobbies door will be open for his concerns on his future, leave out the 53.000 + , heard it all before, stadium , ditto, its all about Kieron , money , and his pals he left behind.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

If Dyer and Solano stay long enough, their pressence in the team could act as a magnet to encourage other decent players to join Newcastle. But , what we really need is for Robson to be able to pull a mega star player out of the hat . Someone that is known around the world, others would then see Mr Megastar at Newcastle and think, hang on a minute, if he's gone to Newcastle then it must be a club with big ambitions.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

On signing was Shearer considered a megostar by yourself Rik?, more into Team Newcastle myself , you see I am ambitious for the club

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

Shearers status as one of the worlds greatest players is a year or two behind him. He was a magnet a few years ago but not now.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

BUT will he be able to do that Rik? Any player worth his salt these days with serious International pedigree should be playing European football.

Robson is/was a tremendous lure for players but if it was down to him alone we'd probably have Ronaldo in tomorrow. Unfortunately money and standard of football count for a lot more.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

I don't think Robson will be able to bring us a megastar, meaning we'll end up with a few unknown foreingers wishing to make a name for themselves in England. Possibly one out of four will (like Solano) turn out to be a top International, the other 3 will be hard to get rid of flops.Pity we couldn't grow our own but you need an accademy for that.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

its fair to say that Robson will have a hard job in signing pedigree. However...if any1 has the pulling power, he does. Suggestions of players such as De la pena(does ne1 know his situation?) and Luis Enrique would be ideal and possible? his contacts over the world should provide us with some talent. Im just sick of fuckers that are meant 2 b stars in 5yrs time; 18yr olds from PSV and Vitesse, does do nething 4 me im afraid

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

Those meant to be "stars in 5 years time" should still be bought for the future of the club. However, we need the big signings as well.

Saying that, for a small number of games last season, we played some cracking football, surely with the right coaching we could learn to do that more consistently.

I reckon we could get Jeffers, Carrick (especially as Glen Roeder is about to become the boss there) and a few foreigners that have caught Bobby's (or Wadsworth's) eye.

I remember Keegan's spending spree a while back, he bought Ferdinand, Ginola and Barton in one summer, Ferdinand was the big name there, Barton was overpriced and Ginola was unknown to most of us, but they played their part over the seasons they played.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

Does Dennilson count as a big name?

I can't get over the fact that none of the big european teams haven't moved for him. Only thing I can think of is that his Spanish club (who loaned him out last season after relegation) want to get back a fair wedge of their 23million pounds. For me, put Nobby on the right wing and Dennilson on the left wing and we have a creative midfield, never mind who's in the feckin middle of the park.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2001

What is abundantly clear is that we don't have the pulling power or the cash right now to attract the majority of world-class stars to SJP in the anticipation of bringing short-term success.

In many respects I feel this is a good thing - as Buff correctly points out, we need to build a "team" and a squad, rather than a collection of talented individuals who will perform at their best only occasionally.

This should largely involve acquiring highly-talented younsters who would view a move to SJP as a major step forward, and a huge career challenge. These players would be selected to compliment the existing crop of good young players at the Club, and the few established stars that we still have.
To add some short-term impetus, we should IMO still seek to add perhaps one or two established senior players - accepting that they may be players slightly past their peak, and may only be coming here for the money for a couple of years.

However, the strategy of acquiring younger players is directly at odds with what BR said a couple of months ago when he said the Club wouldn't be spending money on promising players because they need success now.

Where does this leave us? Frankly, confused!

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001

Going on your experienced players bit Clarky, I agree and what does ewveryone think of Marc Wilmots, the Belgian International?

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001

Not sure DeB - he looked very canny in Euro2000, but I believe he's well over 30. May well come into the Rob Lee category unfortunately.

Being a tad controversial, how about Dennis Wise for a season or two? Nah, maybe not.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001