After already angering supporters with the recent announcement that player of the season Joey Barton would not be offered a new contract, Newcastle United chiefs are again suffering the wrath of the fans after controversially selling club captain Kevin Nolan to recently relegated West Ham. However, are some ‘toon army’ fans reacting prematurely in deciding this is a bad move for the club? My opinion is yes, they are.
Being a geordie and lifelong fan of the club myself, I too understand the passion that surrounds NUFC, I too had my heart ripped from my chest when we were relegated in 2009 with a 1-0 defeat away to Aston Villa, and I too felt as proud as every other supporter when we were promoted straight back to the EPL after dominating The Championship the following season.
I also know that without any question there has been many major errors made at the club since the arrival of owner Mike Ashley and his ‘cockney mafia’, yet this time, I don’t believe they are making the same mistakes as previous years. This time I believe the club are finally looking like they can progress to the next level, and if the fans get behind the team, rather than against, I believe the future looks to be a bright one at St James’ Park.
No follower of football would argue that ‘super’ Kevin Nolan has been a truly inspiring player in his last two seasons for Newcaslte, as well as being a great role model to all youngsters at the club, and this will quite rightly see that he is remembered as one of the greatest captains in the clubs history, which is no understatement.
In our Championship campaign just a mere two seasons ago, Nolan scored an impressive 17 goals and was named as Championship Player of the Year at the Football League Awards, his goals and all round play were a key reason for the team making a quick return to England’s top flight. His brilliant season didn’t stop there though, he followed that up with an outstanding 12 goals in the Premier League this year and a hit a historical hat-trick against fierce rivals Sunderland, leading us to a respectable 13th place finish and winning him a place in the hearts of all geordies across the world.
After reading that, it becomes very clear why so many loyal supporters have been infuriated at his reported £3m sale, yet my theory is that the club have offloaded a player, who although brilliant in recent years, will now surely see his playing attributes starting to decline. Nolan, who turns 29 in just nine days time, has never been a player of great stamina levels, yet he was reported to be seeking a 5 year contract at St James’, which would take him upto the age of 34 and still see him earning a massive £50k per week, a wage that the Newcastle bosses understandably didnt think was warranted.
Many fans will never forgive Sports Direct and United owner Ashley for the errors he has made in the past, me being one of them, yet I can’t help but think that many supporters now simply set out to aim abuse at him, and will use any excuse possible to do so, this being one. To sum it up, the way I look at this sale is simply that we have lost a cracking player, but having already signed a top class player in Yohan Cabaye from French champions Lille on a long term deal, and with the optimism now surrounding the club in the current transfer window, it won’t be too significent.
Some fans seem to have forgotten that we still have the massive £35m from the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool, which manager Alan Pardew has been promised is available to spend, and having already named a wealth of targets in mind, such as Swiss star Tranquillo Barnetta, Senegalese striker Demba Ba and Turkish international Mevlut Erding, the 2011-12 Premier League campaign may yet prove to be a very promising one for us magpies. I may not have changed the opinion of many loyal supporters with this article, yet I can’t understand what is to be achieved by causing unrest or starting yet another protest against Mike Ashley, this time, I hope all of our amazing fans can simply get behind the whole club, and who knows, maybe propel us to challenge for a european spot in the forthcoming campaign, after all, who has as great of an influence on their team as our famous black and white army?
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“will quite rightly see that he is remembered as one of the greatest captains in the clubs history”
A bit over the top?
End of the day you dont get rid of the Leading Top Scorer an Captain of ANY CLUB.
Im not sure in a place to keep buying/replacing players we have one of the smallest squad we need to BUILD ON WHAT WE GOT, which doesnt seem to be happening at the club.
Not keen on Barnetta too much tad to slow for a Winger, NZog would be good but expensive.
Ba will probs not join us he will go Everton, Erdinc has a record of like 52 games 28 goals which is terrible his strike ratio was around 3/4 last year he isnt going to score week in week out he is a Ameobi type scorer, a goal every couple of games.
Couldn’t agree more. I really liked Nolan, I think he has been an important part of our team and relative success in the past 2 years, but the club offered him a contract (and a pretty decent one at that by all accounts) and he turned it down. I fully support the stance that the club are now having on contracts and recruitment. Over the past 10-15 years we have completely spunked money away on players who dont give a f*ck and it’s basically got us nowhere (infact we’ve gone backwards). Until we are challenging for major honours again, we cant sustain that approach and we need to build. The only way Nolan will be missed is if we dont bring in suitable players to replace him, until the transfer window closes I think we need to reserve judgement. In all fairness, Nolan probably wouldn’t be in the starting 11 next year anyway, that’s probably been a big factor in him leaving as well.
Im with Gary on this one – footballers come and go -yes he was a great captain for us but the world will not end with Nolan moving on .
With the calibre of player being linked to the club there are exciting times ahead (yes linked to and signing for are two different things)
The conspiricy theorists will have their own views but wait and see – did anyone else see a comment somewhere that Nolans cost to West Ham over the course of his contract will be £15 million – (not worth it in my mind .
Well said. Couldn’t agree more. If we step back from the emotion of Nolan leaving, it makes perfect sense. And the club did offer him a contract, he didnt have to turn it down.
Thank god some fans agree, you may make the arguement that we shouldn’t sell our captain and top goalscorer but you have to really look at it, we’ve just signed cabaye, a full french international who shall instantly demand a starting role and as things stand at the moment, player of the season Joey Barton still remains at the club, so where exactly do you see Nolan fitting in?.. before you make any comments stating he would still be a great squad player, remember that he was requesting a 5 year contract on £50k+ a week, and at 29, do you honestly believe that would be good business?
I agree with this article 100%.
Some people are conveniently ignoring that he’s out the door quicker than Jonas hits the turf when he doesnt get his unconditional 25% payrise.
No one has been sacked, or axed, he seems to have left of his own free will, seeing as theres still 2 years left on his contract, and appears to be happy to go. Very reminiscent of Andy Carroll in fact!
Let him go, see who steps up next.
Funny one, Gorskino, “Erdinc is an Ameobi type scorer, only a goal every couple of game”. Ha ha -that’s a corker – you should tour!. All 3 Ameobis together couldnt get a goal every couple of games. Newcastle would kill for a forward with a 50% score ratio.
Loved that comment Archie, obviously he didn’t notice that last years top goals scorers finished on 20 goals each, baring in mind there are 38 EPL games to every season, he has calculated Erding getting a massive 19.. sign him up!!!
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Personally I’m not too bothered if we see the back of Smith, Nolan and Barton. We need more creativity. And as for our forwards – the fact that a midfielder was top scorer speaks volumes about them. The young ‘uns arent ready yet.
It would be nice if Barton put his toys back in the pram and stayed, but its likely that Nolan was his stabilising influence.
Nolan is probably happier in the Championship where grit and determination are more highly valued.
Good luck Kev – you served us well.
Love the articles but not sure I agree with this one.
Surely selling Nolan for a pittance (to quote cashley cole!) shows a lack of ambition from both player and club?
Selling a proven premiership player for 3m and bringing in an expensive unproved foreign player doesnt smack of good business to me. And factor into that the fact that Nolan was club captain makes this a very bad deal indeed. I just fail to see what NUFC get out of this deal…
Well, for starters Cabaye cost a mere £4.5m, and Nolan has been sold for a reported £3m + a further £1m depending on appearances etc, not exactly expensive.. For me, this represents great value to NUFC, and with Cabaye almost 4 years younger than Nolan, it makes much more sense to see a player of his age handed a 5 year contract, which ties him down for his best years. Maybe your right, maybe Cabaye won’t adjust well to the English game, but in general French players do, just look at Arsenal.
Vieira, Petit, Nasri, Henry, Sagna, Anelka, Malouda, Clichy, Evra, N’Zogbia and Saha.. just to name a few! The only truly poor French player I can recall actually played for NUFC… Boumsong!!