To quote part of the famous rant from the legendary Kevin Keegan “I’ve kept really quiet…”.
This is my usual stance during pre-season because frankly there isn’t much point reading too much into the friendly matches, they are just a small step up from training ground games and are purely beneficial for player fitness and for new signings to bond into the team system. However, this pre-season Newcastle United seemed to have lurched from one disaster and hiccup to another meaning there now seems to be an air of uncertainly and disharmony once again over shadowing the preparations for the coming new season.
After the euphoria of promotion and then the decent start we made last season, which included beating Villa 6-0 and of course thumping the mackems 5-1, the wheels started to fall off again when Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias inexplicitly sacked Chris Hughton in the December. Hughton was replaced by Alan Pardew and this Ashley puppet then reassured fans in January that leading goalscorer and talisman Andy Carroll wouldn’t be sold.
With these two moments alone all the good work and rebuilding that had been done since relegation was undermined. Fast forward to this pre-season and we’ve already seen contract wrangling surrounding three of our key players in Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique.
Nolan wanted a 5-year-contract which in my opinion at 29 was correctly not granted, but with two years left on his current deal there would appear no reason to sell our club captain and top goalscorer. The decision was publicly slated by Joey Barton proving it was obvious that Nolan was a leading figure in the dressing room and with his departure so too has a major factor in the great team spirit gone.
Our first friendly match saw us beat Darlington 2-0 thanks to goals from Joey Barton and Sammy Ameobi. Nothing unusual about that, but after our second goal was scored by Shola’s brother a large contingent of the 6,000 travelling Toon fans decided they would celebrate by invading the pitch. Things then turned ugly with fans being involved in shuffles with Police and Darlo fans who had also decided to run on the pitch. As a result the club has now banned the sale of away tickets to non-members and are trying to identify the main culprits. The fact the fans invaded the pitch took everyone by surprise and is totally out of character for the largely well behavioured and humoured travelling Toon Army, the last incident of this kind occurred way back in 1990 during the infamous play-off defeat to 5under1and.
To rub salt in the wounds Shane Ferguson and Danny Guthrie were injured during the Darlington victory meaning they will both miss the start of the season.
Following the Darlo game the club have headed to the US of A to play three games. Preparations went awry before touch down in the States with visa applications refused for Joey Barton and Nile Ranger given their criminal records, and late paperwork meant new signing Yohan Cabaye had to travelling to Holland to play for the reserves instead along with Barton & Ranger.
A bore 0-0 draw against Sporting Kansas was overshadowed by an injury to Hatem Ben Arfa who was stretchered off following a bad tackle. Ben Arfa was flown home and x-rays showed no break in his left ankle, but the attacking midfielder is expected to be out for at least 6 weeks. Given the extend of his horrific injury last year exceptions must be tempered for the lad because we can’t expect him to stay injury free for the full season. The lack of attacking options without him is a major concern however.
The second game of the tour against Orlando City saw United lose 1-0 but again the match was overshadowed, this time by a Twitter outburst in Spanish from Jose Enrique.
“The Club is letting go of all the main players. Seriously, do you think is the fault of the players? Andy, etc etc Nolan? This club will never fight again to be among the top 6 with this policy. I think you fans are the best and you deserve the best. Not what they are doing with the club. Thanks to everyone for supporting me. They give the money I have already. They lie all the time. But is no for money is because they don’t want. They don’t want spend in the club and bring quality players that’s why everybody go.”
Despite the fact this action is highly unprofessional it does serves to highlight the level of frustration towards the club among the senior players. What Enrique is saying is not earth shattering, most switched on fans will have already realised that Mike Ashley’s policy at the football club is Premier League survival at the minimal cost to maximise his profit. Enrique has been fined £100k for his outburst and has finally burnt his bridges with the NUFC management meaning his departure would appear to be imminent.
The last game of the tour against Columbus Crew takes place tomorrow morning and with the news that Ryan Taylor has been ruled out with injury and that Danny Simpson has flown home for the birth of his child, a total of up to 10 first-team players could be missing (Joey Barton, Nile Ranger, Mike Williamson, Yohan Cabaye, Haten Ben Arfa, Danny Simpson, Shane Ferguson, Danny Guthrie, Ryan Taylor, Jose Enrique) which is hardly great news for a tour where we haven’t scored one goal as yet.
There has to be some positives though and the signings of Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba, Sylvain Marveaux and Mehdi Abeid have bolstered the squad. However, a left-back and at least one more striker must surely be brought in by the end of August if we are to be competitive,
Our friends at United For Newcastle has produced a video in light of recent events which sums up the feeling surrounding the whole sorry Mike Ashley regime.
Things are far from rosy these days at St James’ Park and something dramatically needs to change before the real action starts on Sunday 14th August.
Andrew McTernan – Row ‘S’ Army
