Kevin Nolan has raised quite a few eyebrows with his move south from Premier League Newcastle to Championship West Ham. There are no doubts that Kevin Nolan is a player of proven premiership pedigree, over 350 premier league appearances during his career so far prove that. West Ham’s capture of the talismanic and combative central midfielder could well prove to be the signing of season in the Championship and will show the rest of the division and indeed the premier league how serious their intentions are to bounce straight back.
It is an immediate sign of intent and expectation in new manager Sam Allardyce from the Hammers’ owners as a Kevin Nolan in your side does not come cheap as his wages have been reported at being in excess of £50k a week. But what have West Ham got for that money?
Well according to Joey Barton’s twitter account he is a ‘Great player, leader, captain, person, trainer’ and will be bitterly missed on Tyneside. During Newcastle’s Championship promotion he won the Championship’s Player of the Year award and in his Newcastle career made a total of 91 appearances scoring 30 goals, an excellent record for a midfielder. According to reports Nolan’s decision to leave Newcastle came down to a row over his contract with Newcastle refusing to offer their captain an improved deal on his reported £42k a week.
At 29 it was reported he was after a five year contract which Newcastle refused to offer but which has been offered to him by West Ham and would suggest that they are prepared to put their faith in him for the long haul – something that Newcastle just weren’t prepared to do.
It might seem strange that a player of his calibre should take a step down to the Championship but he has no doubt been influenced by a reunion with his former manager Sam Allardyce. The two were together at Bolton when they enjoyed a successful spell in the mid 2000’s before he signed for Newcastle.
In Football relationships and friendships are temporary but Sam Allardyce’s loyalty and belief Kevin Nolan is surely to be rewarded as West Ham will attempt to bounce straight back up to the premier league where they belong. His arrival will no doubt be seen as a replacement for England man Scott Parker but will be the first major cog in Big Sam’s master plan for promotion.
Newcastle on the other hand will be bitterly disappointed and fans will no doubt echo Joey Barton’s sentiments when he tweeted that he is ‘devastated to see him sold.’ The fans backlash in losing such a talented player and their captain will no doubt find voice in criticism of prudent owner Mike Ashley.
With Nolan gone, Andy Carroll sold in January and yet to be replaced and with Jose Enrique, Jonas Gutierrez and Joey Barton’s future’s still in doubt there is a growing sense of decline at Newcastle which will continue to grow until Ashley invests big in the team and big signings be made.
Whether or not the move was the best available to Nolan who found himself playing regularly and playing well for a top-ten side in the Barclays Premier League is up for debate. If he fails to perform he will come in for criticism from all sides as a money-grabbing so-and-so, but if the move works out and he can replicate his form of the past couple of seasons then he will be worth all the money he is being paid and more should West Ham gain promotion.
The gamble by Newcastle in letting him go could well come back to haunt them should their form dip next season and they find themselves struggling but expect Kevin Nolan, captain fantastic, to inspire his new club and drag West Ham back up from the doldrums of Championship Football and back into the Premier League where they belong.
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i think you’ll find nolan was never at newcastle during allardyce’s time there, it was kinnear that signed him|! lazy journalism yet again
i think you should read article again, no where does it say sam signed him for newcastle…! it say’s they enjoyed time together at bolton, before he signed for newcastle…
to anthony: lazy reading yet again.
Great leader – not the greatest player.. Sad to see him go, but I will wait until the end of this transfer window – to see if he is adequately replaced, before I start getting too annoyed with management at NUFC.
Btw Joe “effin” Kinnear signed Nolan – NOT Big Fat Sam..
I think you’ll find it very difficult to replace a 12 league goals midfielder at this level. Not seen your new man Marveaux in action tho yet so we’ll have to wait and see…
Joe Kinnear signed Nolan for Newcastle. Not Allardyce as stated above.
Cheers for pointin that out, appologies for some poor researching lol
Typical sloppy southern journalism. Kinnear signed Nolan not Allardyce. As for Nolan he done really well last season but only scored twice after Carroll was sold. Looking at the current midfield at NUFC and the players we have bought so far this summer I don’t think Nolan would have played as much as he has done. If it’s true we got £4m for him then that’s good for a player who will be 29 at the start of the season. Good luck to Nolan at West Ham but it’s now onward’s at the Toon
think you will find the article has been amended… moron!
It is clear for me that Nolan was already playing out of position last year with a striker position instead of a Midfield one. It is evedently so that he would have struggled with the players now coming into the club. It is understandable that the club is not prepaired to pay 55k a week for a player to sit on the bench at the best. Please support the management instead of breaking it down. We have gotten 3 players already this summer, taking the opportunities that arised, that is good going. Wait to see what the team holds the 1 of september before you start blasting people.
West Ham will come to regret the contract they have given Nolan. In 12 months time they will have a player who will not be premier league standard who has 4 years left on a 55k a week contract. No wonder he signed. This is typical Allardyce. He signed alan smith on a similar contract and he has hardly played for us in the last 12 months, will never play for the first team again, and still has a year left on his 6ok a week contract. You will be sick of Big Sam and his style of football within 6 months – guaranteeed.