No bling in sight at Newcastle United
Relegation to Newcastle United may well have come at a major cost to Toon fans everywhere but if there is a good thing to come out of being forced to ply our trade in the Coca-Cola Championship then it has to be signing players that are actually desperate to play for the black and whites.
January has been a month which for one reason or another has resulted in exactly that.
In years gone by we've had players earning a silly amount of money, kissing the badge and lying about how much they love the club and the fans, before quickly coming out with wafer thin excuses (if any excuse) as to why they need to move on to pastures new.
Seeing what you could call normal blokes signing for Newcastle United hasn't been seen in the last decade and the majority of the one before.
In years gone by stars like Mick Quinn, David Kelly and former Charlton turnstile operator Rob Lee were all good value on the pitch and down to earth off it - there was no bling or WAGS in sight back then.
So step forward Mike Williamson and friends.
When Newcastle were first linked with the big defender back in August, it was pretty much a case of Mike who?
However, Williamson, Fitz Hall, Wayne Routledge, Danny Simpson and incoming striker Leon Best are all players that are buzzing to be at a big club like Newcastle United at the moment and desperate to make the most of the situation.
Williamson and Co are a world away from big money signings that flattered to deceive.
Even Fabricio Coloccini at times has looked like that £10million price tag was too heavy for his shoulders while the days of wasting £8million on flops like Jean Alain Boumsong seem to be over.
Celestine Babayaro, Marcelino, Alain Goma, Amdy Faye, Patrick Kluivert and Albert Luque are on a long, long list of players who came and went and in the middle of it all didn't look like they cared for longer than two minutes.
There's also an argument for players like Oba Martins, Habib Beye, Seb Bassong and Damien Duff while talking about football mercenaries Michael Owen and Mark Viduka just makes your blood boil.
At least Shay Given couldn't be faulted because he had put up with over a decade of pain!
Should Newcastle get promoted, a whole new debate begins on whether our Championship signings will be good enough next season.
But for now, I don't see anything wrong with players like Mike Williamson giving 110% and showing the attitude that contributed to Newcastle going down to start with, albeit over a number of years in the late Noughties.
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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I could not agree more!!!!
Already people are lambasting the signing of leon best on various newcastle united blogs!!! These people obviously don't watch a lot of football and are still living in the distant past! This young lad has scored 9 league goals in 15 league appearances this year in a poor coventry team! He is quick, strong and a real handfull; some of his goals this season have been special (i.e. his FA cup strike against coventry when he hit a 20 yard volley on the turn into the top corner).
Yes we have been spoilt with alan shearer and Les Ferdinand; but we are where we are and we require players who can do a job in THIS LEAGUE and get us out of it. Planning for next season should start the minute we are mathmatically certain to be promoted and not a minute sooner! The brief is promotion!!!!!!!! Should Leon Best, Williamson, Routledge etc etc help us to attain that goal then they will all have earned their transfer fees, wages and bonuses....
I look forward positively to Friday...HTL x
Williamson was great on Saturday, exactly the kind of centre half we've needed over the past 5 (6, 7, 8, 9, 10?) years. He took responsibility for organising the back line and wasn't beaten in the air once. At this level, he's a steal.
Think Routlege will frustrate us a bit over the rest of the season but should def be an asset in this league. Not sure what I think of the Best signing, think he might be trouble, but my overriding thought is that CH has grabbed some players he knows will solidify our chances of promotion -and that surely is the number one, the only, priority.
We can plan for the prem when we're back there.
YFCB, GOOOC
Ha'way the lads
I have read on a number of blogs on another part of this paper with a lot of negativity regarding the signing of Leon Best . In all honesty I know very little about him, so really cannot express an opinion one way or another . What I am willing to do however is give the lad a chance and see how he works out . He could be the worst signing since Frank Pingel and Rob MacDonald ( Anybody remember those two stars of yesteryear, he could however turn out to be the next Andy Cole , who knows but let's give him a chance . I think it's ridculous for people to be slating him when the chances are most have not seen a lot of him and if I remember rightly there were a few clubs looking at him earlier this season . Come on people give the lad a rousing reception on Friday and make him feel 10 feet tall, then perhaps we might just see what he's made of .
djc
Couldn't agree more!
Yarmouth Toon
we are still in the decade known as the noughties. It doesn't end until December 31st this year. A decades end on the completion of ten years, not nine. Similarly, the 21st century began on the first day of 2001 when we'd completed a full 2000 years, not 1999. There was never a year zero.