We were simply the club bigger clubs off-loaded their players to once they were done with them. It's not uncommon and you can get some good players that way but we mostly settled for expensive trash, you can add Owen, Viduka, Carr, Ronnie Johnsen, etc to the very large list of players we had. Mediocre and over-paid.
I remember Smith fondly for crunching Lloyd Doyley of Watford (fairly). Doyley had been running around kicking anything that moved. Smith got fed up with and lifted him. He did a mid air somersault and landed on his neck. I had a client at the game but couldn't contain myself and jumped shouting "get that ****ing into you". I quickly sat back down as the entire directors section just looked at me in disgust. Ah the championship, where tackling was permitted.
Is this similar to when the owners give the manager a vote of confidence, only to sack them 2 games later Get your money on him not being at Newcastle next year I say
I'll cut Smith some slack since he gave his all and contributed during the promotion season. It was just that his body was shot well before he ever signed for us. Never really came back from that leg break at Man Utd. We (Allardyce?) signed some ****e mind around that time. Cacapa FFS! Faye. Carr. The list goes on and on.
Don't be daft, we wouldn't spend crazy money like that on a CB from a team that nearly got relegated....
Footballers would go for the right price to any bigger club, they aren't idiots. As Liverpool also know too well, if any of the bigger clubs come in for Salah, Sane, Firminio or the like they will head for the exit sign to 'big club glory' in the same manner that Torres, Suarez, Manquillo and Coutinho did.
Carr and Owen don't belong on that list. Both may be twats but they were both very solid performers for us for the most part.
Owen never was. Owen played well from time to time but was mainly concerned about playing for England not Newcastle. He was too easily unfit and had no drive to play for Newcastle. In his final season when he was supposedly captain and we were struggling with a relegation battle the silence from “our” captain was deafening. He could have a goals games ratio of 2 per game and he would still be on my most despised list of mercenaries who bled the Club dry.
