NUFC Will Be More Than One Season Wonders

Saw this, its not bad. Considering other journos think we are 'punching above out weight':

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/...united-will-be-more-than-one-season-wonders/?

I will be honest, if you had told me in August Newcastle United would be sixth in the table in the middle of January, above Liverpool and level on points with Arsenal, I would have smiled politely, shook my head and walked off safe in the knowledge you had absolutely no idea what you were talking about.
There will be some who claim they always believed Alan Pardew had things under control, that Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias knew what they were doing when they refused to spend all the Andy Carroll money on new players in the summer.
There will even be those who stubbornly insist they had no fears following the summer departures of Joey Barton, Jose Enrique and Kevin Nolan. If you are one of those people you are lying.

This has been a truly remarkable season for Newcastle fans because there has been genuine surprise at how well their team continues to do.
Even when things go horribly wrong, as they did in the second half against Fulham, results went Newcastle’s way as both Arsenal and Liverpool also lost.
Indeed, just as Newcastle appeared to be sliding into a bleak mid- as a run of just one win in eight saw them fall back towards the mid-table pack, the campaign has reignited in the New Year.
Starting 2012 with a 3-0 thrashing of Manchester United, Newcastle have moved into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup with a late win over Blackburn Rovers and could even afford to play badly against Mark Hughes’ QPR and still win.
The Fulham result was a timely reminder of their limitations, just in case anyone thought they were good enough to qualify for the Champions League, but there is more cause for optimism on Tyneside than anyone anticipated when Pardew was appointed in December 2010.
Even with the excellent signing of Papiss Demba Cisse from Freiburg this month, Newcastle’s squad is not good enough or big enough to compete at that level. Not yet, anyway.

The biggest worry this month remains the prospect of Ashley deciding to sell one of the blue chip brigade, or that skipper Fabricio Coloccini really is playing an elaborate game of bluff in his new contract talks and intends to leave in the summer.
I don’t think Colo will do that, but maybe that is just naïve or wishful thinking. I do believe Newcastle will sell anyone at the right price, I just hope it is one of their best players in the summer rather than one now and one at the end of the season too.
The hard reality is Newcastle cannot fight off interest from the top four, not just in terms of wages and fees, but also player ambition. You can’t really blame say, Cheick Tiote or Demba Ba, deciding they want to play for Manchester City, United or even Chelsea if the opportunity is there.
They’ll earn more for a start, but they will also have a consistent opportunity to win trophies, as well as play in European football’s premier competition.
Newcastle, a bit like Tottenham a few years ago and Liverpool, are trying to close the gap on the best of the best, while Arsenal are frantically trying to stay in the elite four.

If Newcastle sell one player, the aim must be to reinvest the money in three or four new ones to improve the overall quality of the squad.
Their scouting system is good and with the exception of Gabriel Obertan all of the new arrivals have added something positive to the team this season.
Eventually, like Spurs did with Luka Modric, they will be in a position to resist bids. Don’t forget, though, it isn’t so long ago that Tottenham were selling Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United and I still wouldn’t expect Modric to hang around for another year without Champions League football.
For the first time in years, Pardew has put Newcastle in a position where they can realistically aim to do what Spurs have done. It isn’t a top six anymore, Newcastle have made it a top seven.

Which brings me on to Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool. I’d pay more than a penny for owner John W Henry’s thoughts. He has allowed Dalglish to spend more than £100m in the transfer market at a club that started from a position of far greater strength when the Scot took over from Roy Hodgson.
Yet, despite beating Newcastle relatively comfortably at Anfield last month, the Geordies are not only making mocking remarks about re-signing Carroll for £10m, they are sitting above them in the table on a far smaller transfer and wage budget.

Having said that, Liverpool are on the verge of the Carling Cup final and yet another piece of silverware. They remain ahead of Newcastle, a bigger club with bigger pulling power, but only just and maybe, just maybe the FA Cup will have black and white ribbons on in May.

Right, enough, I’ve clearly got far too carried away so I’m going to have a sneaky bet this afternoon on Sunderland and Newcastle meeting at Wembley and a lie down.

 

could you write me an executive summary?

 

The person who wrote the article reckons NUFC will be more than one season wonder and could actually improve next season.

After that, the world ends when an Allardyce inspired team miss hits a long upfield cross, smashes the ball into the moon and sends it spiralling into the sun and we all die.

Still. It's progress!

 

just read it you lazy ****, could've done so by the time anyone writes a summary.

OP - good find! interesting stuff, get the feeling the guy is a toon fan though.. lets hope he's right, and we're emulating spurs in a few years!

 

I've often wondered what the chances are of members getting cup final tickets. I would have thought there would be some tickets left for members in previous seasons, but what with the massive uptake of those half price STs, I wouldn't be so sure any more.

I'd probably pay up to 200 quid if I couldn't get one through the proper channels, but I doubt even that would be enough on the black market.

 

Most one season wonders come because they don't have quality, but they have momentum and spirit, which dies eventually.

However, we have quality.

When everyone's fit, look at our team -

--------Ba----------Cisse----------

Jonas---Tiote----Cabaye----Hatem Ben Arfa

Santon---Colo----Saylor------Simpson

-------------Krul------------------

That's a ****ing quality team right there.

 

Decent read and decent reasoning!

 

Be gone you feathered scavenger!

 

Decent read, very optimistic too. Not sure about 'top 7'.

 

.................remember, Paul Merson thinks "Noocarsul are punching abuv der wait"

His reasoning: "Who is der top players? Tim Krul? Exactly, der goolkeeper. I rest ma case"

Hate this man. But also pity his lack of intelligence.

 

I know when i heard him say that I was like wtf is your logic? He asked Jeff to name our best 3 players this year, and when he said Krul was one of them he went exactly. such an idiot.

If he was asked Arsenal's best 3 players this year, Szczeny would have been in there. Arguably Hart for Man City aswell. Just because we have a good goalkepper doesn't mean we are punching abover our weight. Its a necessity to have a good keeper. I was glad to hear a few of the other 'pundits' questioning him about it after he said it.

 

Yep, Hart for Man City. Reina for Scouse. Szcezny for Arse. Also, everybody around says that Brad Freidel has been a revelation at Spurs and is part of the reason they're going for the title.

I remember just at the end Charlie Nich saying, "what case is that...?" Ha.

Absolute numpty.

 

I agree that we aren't one season wonders. If we keep this side, get rid of one or 2 of the ****e and keeping adding a couple in the transfer windows - we won't be far off the top...

 

I have to say I completely agree with what he has written

 

Like the dig at obertan but I think we will lose Colo and start to struggle

 

Luke Edwards, isn't he the fella who writes for the Journal?

 

Yes bit the difference between us and teams like Arsenal and Liverpool they have better players to cover when they have players injured.

 

That isn't the argument here though is it? The thread is about how this great season we're having isn't just a one off, and I said it's because we have quality, unlike some sides that have these great seasons and then fade away later, because they did it on team spirit and momentum, and not because of the quality in their side.