| |
|
They are a difficult team to like if you're not a Geordie!
It's odd, isn't it? I remember being absolutely thrilled by tehe Keegan/Beardsley Newcastle, seeign tham as the plucky resistance to the Man U machine (despite the vast sums of cash being lavished on them as well), and wanting them to demonstrate, I suspect, that Beardsley was its own reward. I have a bit of a football crush on Peter Beardsley. Possibly the rot set in a bit when Dalglish took over, and then when Ruud Gullit, a man I want very much to like and respect, failed so badly (and in such a disappointing way) to revive their fortunes. Fondness for Bobby Robson went a long way to redeeming that dislike, but at present it seems like there's just no _oncentive_ to like Newcastle; Souness seems unsure of what to do with the staff at his disposal, in terms of man-management but also tactically... I think one of the annoying things about big-spending clubs is that they often seem to be using big money unwisely, which irks the smaller club follower...
Speaking of which, who were your transfers in, Bennny? And who has been transferred out? I suppose your only real assets in the transfer market are Michael Dawson and the rather tarnished coin of David Johnson, in terms of meeeelions of dolllllars...
Over at Tranmere, Ryan Taylor has gone, continuing our run of selling exciting young talent - Tony Thomas, Ian Moore, Jason Koumas, Alan Mahon, Danny Coyne, Steve Simonson, Sean Thornton - who, statistically, will then go on to achieve absolutely dick-all at a higher level, Koumas being the exception to that rule and now coming into form anyway. This is something of a blow.
Unfortunately, Brian Little has apparently bought to reppalce the wrong departure - Ian Hume's £500,000 move (Iam Hume being the latest of any number of small, nippy and talented inside-forwards that Tranmere Rovers, for some reason and regardless of management or team approach, seems to generate spontaneously) has apparently fallen through, which means that the purchase of Chris Greenacre leaves the squad comically overstuffed with forward players of approximately equal thread - Dadi, Zola, Hume and young local hero Chris Dagnall now being supplemented. I have a lot of time for Chris Greenacre, whom I think successive managers have underrated and misused, but I don't know if we can replace Simon Haworth with him, or if we actually need to.
It's a different world from Essien and Viera, ain't it? What's somewhat interesting is that the big club's shortlists seem to be shrinking - the truly big clubs largely want the same twenty or so people, and are prepared to have nobody rather than their intended. Is this related to inflated prices? Clubs who previously expected to sell a couple of players for good prices are now seeking to fill the gap on their balance sheets with a single jackpot sale to Chelsea or to lesser extent Real Madrid, so have to talk up prices until those possibilities are entirely dead... |
|
|
