The verdict on Newcastle Utd's transfer window
Posted by JamesB in Freddy Shepherd, Newcastle | 4 September 2006
I thought I would wait for the fallout of the transfer window to end and the knee jerk reactions to stop before I had my say on our transfer activity. Either that or I was hoping it would turn out to be a bad dream anyway.
The bottom line for me is Freddy Shepherd bailed. Bailed on keeping his promises, bailed on backing his manager and bailed on acting for the good of the club.
I always try to dwell on the positives because I will drive myself mad if I don’t. Obafemi Martins and Damien Duff are great acquisitions to the team and the squad. Duff is proven to be a class winger in this league and I can’t wait to see him during the season in the black and white shirt. For those of you who read my report from the Villa match you will know I was quite taken with Martins. For those who didn’t; I have every confidence he is going to adapt to our league nicely. We know that the key stumbling block to making it in the Premier League can be lack of physical presence – this doesn’t apply to our Obafemi at all. He put himself about, showed he had quite a leap on him (although less long balls to him next time lads), and explosive pace. Fantastic.
In theory moving on from Boumsong is a positive as well.
By the end of last season I had just about lost hope in him, I just could not see how he was going to recover from such a poor run of games with so many people on his back. £3.5m was decent business regardless of the loss we made, and I was optimistic Roeder would have been allowed to bring in a backup centre half as replacement. Apparently not, and now we are desperately thin of defenders, and with hindsight I would probably have kept Jean Alain.
On the plus side one hopes we can unearth another gem this year from the academy if injuries or suspension forces us to look to the youngsters. No-one can argue that one of few positives of last season was the performance of certain youngsters, notably Steven Taylor and Charles N’Zogbia.
The sale of Faye was good business too. Central midfield is one of few positions we have adequate depth in and although he was an honest hard working professional, I couldn’t see him getting much first team action this year. The amount of appearances he made under Roeder last year would back that up. All the best though Amdy.
Fans seem to have different perspectives on the release of Michael Chopra now. Some say with such a lack of strikers he should not have been allowed to go. However I think to be honest that we would be just as well off if not better if we played a player like Charles or Duff out of position, no disrespect to Chopra, so that one isn’t too disappointing.
What however is disappointing is the whereabouts of the other signings. The players Roeder put on his list for Shepherd to sign. The players Roeder felt we were close to signing with a fortnight or so to go. What happened Freddy?
It is being widely accepted that Huth and Bridge would both have joined had we come in for them in time, so why were we not there? Bridge certainly would have been a fantastic acquisition. I’m not so bothered about Huth at all but that’s besides the point. The point is Shepherd was unable, or unwilling, to bring in the players that Roeder had specifically asked for. I have absolutely no doubt that Shepherd will look to his usual scapegoat method of sacking a manager at an inappropriate time when we hit a bad patch, instead of looking himself in the mirror and asking himself who really is to blame.
We must stay behind Roeder and the team this season, regardless. Glenn did a fantastic job with a thin squad on the back end of last season and I have no doubt that with support from the stands he can reproduce such a performance.
It appears Shepherd has another gem for us as well. Apparently it is actually down to us that the mood is despondent rather than his own failings. Well Freddy if you think fans are upset because we signed Martins and Duff early on in the transfer window and Antoine Sibierski on the last day you are very wrong. Unsurprisingly, people are upset because you failed to deliver overall, despite your assurances and promises over season ticket renewal time.
Mr. Shepherd had one thing that, to be fair to him, he has generally done successfully, and that is back his managers. He has now let us down on that front as well, and sold everyone involved with the club out.
Apologies to any readers who have qualms with the mood of parts of this article, but I feel let down this summer and I think other fans should as well. On a more positive note I have every confidence, as said before, that Roeder can continue to produce the results with the backing of the fans and players, even without that of the chairman. It’s important to get behind our new players regardless of whether you wanted them here. They are here now so we want to get the best out of whatever they have to offer.
Between now and January I hope Shepherd has a good think about what he wants to do with this club, because his job should not simply be to push season tickets to mugs.
Comments
I completely agree. Freddy did do some things right. The addition of duff and martins is briliant and hopefully they will give their all for the club. Duff is an excellent left winger and evry1 knows it... its a real shame he had to leave chelsea. Martins will hopefully form a deadly partnership with owen (when hes back!!!) and will give newcastle a real destructive attack. Rossi im sure will be ready to take the premiership by storm.
However, he really didnt work very hard in other areas. The defence, for me, is a real problem. Steven Carr seems to be the only player of real international quality. Newcastle didnt take up the oppourutnity of signing woodgate or huth who have consequently joined boro. Those two will be a real godsends for gareth southgate as his defence has been a real problem of late. Selling boumsong was obviously not a difficult decision to make, but it does leave them with very little cover, very similar to the problems of arsenal. My fear is not just good teams, but average teams will have a field day with attacking such a backline and it will cost the club heavily if they dont score goals and may need to invest in a new defenders come january.
Freddy needs to back his manager to buy good players... Glenn obviosuly knows what hes doing and its a shame for the chairman not to back him financially, as hes wasted his efforts with Graeme souness. he was an awful manager who blagged his way through every game blaming injuries for poor performances.... he decided the best way to remedy that was to spend £16 mil on an attacker... who has been effectively out since january. Whos fault is that graeme? And how can u see Luque scoring goals... he doesnt belong in this league like alot of the other players in the squad. Its a shame to see good money wasted on bad players.
Its up to scott parker (needs international call up!!!) and The team to repay the loyal fans for their support and give them something to cheer about. Newcastle have so much great potential...but to me it seems like it could stay like that for a little while longer.
You are right the fans do need to get behind the players. The defence is probably better than last season. Craig moore looks comfortable on the ball. and never seems to panic, unlike car who is very suspect with his distribution. Steven Taylor is Back and genuinely knows how to defend, but needs to be more assertive with his fellow defenders. midfield their is no problem, and as long as the forwards we have stay fit, european spot again this season.
A great article.I agree with you 100%.
couldnt agree with you more. I feel let down too. and the performances havent been upto mark. I guess its going to be a long and hard season.
Personally, Im very happy they took Boumsong out! even if it leaves them with less defensive options, its better to have a thin defense than a rank bad leaky one!
Duff is awesome! hope he settles in well and lets hope the "striker jinx" leaves Martins soon.
Go magpies..
great article!
