My Thoughts on our players...

2 Fabricio Coloccini - Started off well at Old Trafford in the impressive 1-1 draw, but things went down hill as the club were relegated to the Championship. This surprisingly was the ctalyst of a remarkable turn around as Colo was arguably the player of the season as the club won the league. His third season was an even more impressive one as he was again arguably our best player this season. His superb defensive skills and comfort on the ball has assured his great relationship with the fans and they have a brilliant song for him which he, himself said he loves. So far this season our new club captain has been a collosal at the back alongside Stevie Taylor, with the club just letting in 8 goals in 11 league games.

3 Davide Santon - Jose Mourinho once named Santon as 'the new Maldini' and this has been recently backed up by Newcastle legend and now reserve team manager Peter Beardsley. Has not yet had a run in the team due to the form of our current fullbacks - but no doubt the 7 times Italy capped 20 year old has a big future ahead of himself in the game and at Newcastle United.

4 Yohan Cabaye - Things did not seem right when the club sold skipper Kevin Nolan to West Ham in the summer transfer window, but the signing of the relatively unknown France midfielder Cabaye brightened things up. He has had an immediate rapor with the fans, who nickname him 'Dreamboat' due to his good looks and stylish play on the pitch. He is a natural box to box midfielder who can score, create, tackle - pretty much the perfect player. He and Cheik Tiote have a superb partnership and with both players on long term deals, things are looking pretty cushty on Tyneside.

5 Danny Simpson - Signed for a minimal fee of £500,000 from Man Utd during our Championship campaign after a loan spell, the right back put in some solid displays at the club fought back to the Premier League as champions. He picked up an injury during pre season, which kept him out of the start of the new campaign but when fit, stepped in for the shocking James Perch with some top performances as he helped the club to a respectable 12th position in the league.

8 Danny Guthrie - Signed from Liverpool by Kevin Keegan just over 3 years ago, was at the time described as a mix between Toon legend Rob Lee and former player Paul Bracewell. He soon became a fixture in the side but he could not do anything as the club went out of the league. During the Championship campaign, Guthrie was our top assist maker and played a key part in the immediate promotion. He was not first choice in the 10/11 season as Tiote and Nolan performed really well together, but made 1 or 2 good performances. So far this season, Guthrie has played well in the few recent games he has played, with this he has made sure he is an able deputy if Tiote or Cabaye pick up an injury.

10 Hatem Ben Arfa - Described as the best player of his generation in France, Newcastle fans could not believe it when the Toon completed the signing of the France international playmaker from Marseille on loan, which was later made into a permanent deal for £5m. He made an instant impact - scoring the winner in a man of the match display away at Everton, but it soon turned into a nightmare, as Manchester City's thuggish midfielder, Nigel De Jong broke Hatem's leg in 2 places. This would spell the end of his season, but so far this season, after a year on the sidelines, he has slowly but surely started to show the form that we all know he can produce, albeit from the bench. Is definetly going to be a superstar in the very near future! We are all behind you Hatem!

16 Ryan Taylor - Joined the club during our relegation season as part of the deal to take Charles N'Zogbia to Wigan. Has proved to be a good signing by then boss, Joe Kinnear. His set piece deliveries are amongst the best in the league and has scored some important goals. This season 'Mr Versatile' hs been playing at left back in every minute of every game this season. He has scored 2 important league goals - including the winner at the Stadium of Light against the Mackems, and what proved to be the winner against Everton - he dedicated that goal to his new born baby son, Henry Oscar.

18 Jonas Gutierrez - The Argentine international, who was known as Spiderman during his time with Spanish side Real Mallorca due to his goal celebration in which he dons a spiderman mask. He signed on a free after he cancelled his own contract - but the club were later made to pay £4m for the players service. Has proved to be a sensational signing as the winger hardly ever misses a game, he has pace, skill and works ever so hard for the team - most recently shown in the games at Stoke and at St James' against Everton. The fans love him and with him recently signing a new 4 year contract - we will look forward to seeing him run up and down the wing for many years to come!

19 Demba Ba - Another player who has joined us on a free recently, the 6ft 3in centre forward has a very impressive record since joining the Premier League back in January with 17 starts to his name, has 15 goals and 8 so far this season for Newcastle. Has 2 hat tricks already this season and links up fantasically well with Leon Best.

20 Leon Best - The Nottingham born Irish international was signed while we were in the second tear of English football. In his time in the Championship for us, was not the best it has to be said! But, when he got his chance to shine in the Premier League after Andy Carroll's big money departure - he didn't half take his chance! Netted a hat trick on his first ever Premier League start and added to that with a number of other goals for the rest of that season. So far this season, he has proven to be our first choice partner for Senegal striker Demba Ba and has contributed 3 goalsand a lot of hard work so far this term.

23 Shola Ameobi - The Nigerian born centre forward, who is a Geordie through and through - has spent his entire career with Newcastle. Has been pretty poor for the most of the time, due to his lethargic displays. Is loved by most of us though, as he is known as 'the Mackem destroyer' after netting on a number of occasions against our local rivals. Has 100% record from the penalty spot aswell and recently penned a new 3 year deal to probably ensure he stays with us for his whole career. In fairness though, he can sometimes come up with a cracking performance and this was most recently shown as he came off the bench to net a stunner against Spurs as we fort back twice to draw the game 2-2. Has also done something Lionel Messi has never, ever done - scored against Barcelona!

24 Cheik Tiote - Signed on our promotion back to the Premier League. No one in the right mind would have predicted at how well the Ivorian maestro would do. Has been a massive hit, so much so that half way through last season signed a new 6 and a half year contract. He is a beast of a player and is known famously has a number of facts written by the not606.com people which is hugely entertaining - says Cheik! Scored the equaliser in the 4-4 draw with Arsenal last year in which the Magpies found themselves 4-0 after just 26 minutes. Will always be adoured by the St James' Park faithful.

25 Gabriel Obertan - The fast, skillful, tall winger - who can play up front was signed from Manchester United this summer. He started off by coming off the bench against Arsenal and put in a very good performance that day! Since then he has been arguably below par in most games with his end product and lack of work rate being touted as the reasons behind these 'dog ****' displays. His last game away at Stoke he produced a remarkable cross for Ba to nod home the first goal of that night. His pace caused problems all of that night as the Toon ran out deserves 3-1 winners. Since then however, he has been ruled out for up to 6 weeks, which is a disappointment as we thought this was going to be the start of some good form by the 6ft 2in Frenchman.

26 Tim Krul - The Dutch international keeper was signed by the pathetic manager Graeme Souness at the age of 17 - I don't think he should take any credit for this signing though! Made his debut at 17 against Palermo in the UEFA Cup, who were at that time top of the Italian league. Produced a man of the match display that game as he kept on making save after save in our 1-0 win. It wasn't until Steve Harper injured himself during our first game of the season in the Championship against West Brom that he made his second ever appearance for us. He kept West Brom at bay that game and he never let a goal in! He made a few more appearances that season, but the season after while we were back in the big league is when he started to be well known. Made more appearances than Steve Harper last season, and impressed as the club made a respectable impression in our first season back. This season, has been without shadow of a doubt been the best keeper in England as the club have the best defensive record in all of the leagues. Made his Holland debut against Brazil, in which he saved a number of shots to keep the result at 0-0. Is going to be world class in the future and hopefully he will spend his career with us!

27 Steven Taylor - The Geordie centre back made his debut for us under Sir Bobby Robson back in the day, but it wasn't until a couple of season later that he started to make a name for himself. Became England under 21 captain, due to his good leadership skills and performances for the club. Is known for his goalscoring abilities, his good heading and dramatic diving skills. Is a top centre back and should definetly be part of the England set up, but until Fabio Crapello leaves, I cannot see it happening. Both Stevie and Colo have produced some excellent displays this season, they both compliment eachother so well and I don't really have much doubt that he will be with us until his career comes to an end. My favourite player!

 

I actually did it about all of our players, but had to delete a load of them because I am only allowed 10,000 characters in my thread

If you think its good, then I will do one about the players I've missed. Got it saved on my laptop. Long read I know, I understand if you don't read it all - I just like doing things like this haha

Also, appologise for trying to sound like a Journo lol. Just write first thing that comes out of the top of my head lol.

 

Nice article!

 

26 Tim Krul - The Dutch international keeper was signed by the pathetic manager Graeme Souness at the age of 17 - I don't think he should take any credit for this signing though! Made his debut at 17 against Palermo in the UEFA Cup, who were at that time top of the Italian league. Produced a man of the match display that game as he kept on making save after save in our 1-0 win. It wasn't until Steve Harper injured himself during our first game of the season in the Championship against West Brom that he made his second ever appearance for us. He kept West Brom at bay that game and he never let a goal in!

Nice work on the Souness bashing

I remember watching the Palermo game on TV and Krul was amazing. I was also at the West Brom match in the Championship when he came on for Harper. Some of his instinctive shot-stopping was amazing and we had the first rendition of 'Timmy, Timmy Krul, Timmy, Timmy Krul' (at least on English soil anyway).

 

Still waiting for Ben Arfa to step up. Loads of hype and yes he's been injured but needs game time. His first touch and ball retention has been shocking since he's been back.

 

Great Article although Im not so sure Ben Arfa is well on his way back to his best, he needs ALOT more game time imo, and with Gab out for a while he will hopefully get it

 

Good article.

Side point on the Souness bashing, I know he's dubbed to have ruined the club by many with mercenary signings, but he also lead us to a UEFA Cup-Quarter Final, FA-Cup Semi Final albeit at the expense of a decent PL finish.

 

To be fair to him, he lost the ball a lot before his injury too.

 

Cheers for the positive feedback.

I am a bit sad like that, I record stats from each game and how the players are getting along, then its something interesting to look back on in a few years time to bring back the memories.

Thought I might aswell share it with you since you are all Newcastle daft like me lol.

I did a paragraph on all of our players, but due to it only being allowed 10,000 characters in a thread - I had to delete a number of them.

 

I'm sure nobody would have begruged you putting them in another post on this thread.

 

I could still do that, but takes a while because the paragraphs go all over the place on here when you copy and paste lol

 

Me mam's other half reckons Ben Arfa will be another Ketsbaia.

 

The others:

1 Steve Harper - Steve has been with the club since 1993 and has been a good servant. Playing backup to the world class Shay Given for the majority of the time, he never fulfilled a career which promised so much. Maybe he could be the number one keeper for England by now. We will never know. Good luck at Brighton Steve, you have been good for this club!

6 Mike Williamson - Was another fantastic signing by Chris Hughton. Signed from Portsmouth for just £1m and was solid as a rock in the Championship as he stepped in for the injured Steven Taylor alongside Fabricio Coloccini.The 6ft 4in centre back is known for his no nonsence displays and if in doubt kick it out type of play. Is maybe not up to the quality of Tayls and Colo - but is definetly an able deputy if one of those two, god for bid got an injury.

11 Peter Lovenkrands - Signed on a free from Germany during our relegation season, after 3 goals in 9 games during his first half season with us, got released as we went down. Re signed a couple of months later, this proved to be a great piece of business by Chris Hughton as he netted 16 times as the club came back to the Premier League. Last season, was only really a bit part player, but still managed 7 goals for the club as he proved to be a very good squad player, with a brilliant attitude. This season, he has been restricted to cup games, but still has netted 3 times in them games. The Dane, who has an insitictive Glaswegian accent from his time at Rangers, has recently announced he will leave the club in January as he would like to finish his career playing first team football. We all wish him well for the future!

12 Rob Elliot - A surprise signing this summer as the Charlton goalkeeper joined us for a minimal fee to backup Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul. Only game to date was a 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup. Not going to lie - he was at fault for all 3, hopefully will improve if he ever gets the call up again.

13 Mehdi Abeid - The young lad was signed on a free from Lens this summer on a 5 year deal. Seems a good prospect, who can play in a number of positons including central midfield, defensive midfield, attacking midfield or if needs must, on the right side of midfield. Has made 1 appearance so far, a win over Nottingham Forest in the cup, with him being very impressive during the game.

14 James Perch - Signed for £1m from Forest by Chris Hughton, who was recommended by his number 2 and former Forest boss, Colin Calderwood. Was without shadow of doubt his worst signing for this football club as the 25 year old proved to be so out of his depth. Playing at right back for the first 5 games of last season, he became the first player in the history of the Premier League to get booked in every one of those 5 games. You have to feel sorry for James, as you can tell he is a 100%er, but needs to be shipped out as soon as possible, as he is a liability!

15 Dan Gosling - Turned down Everton's offer of a new contract at the beginning of last season and decided to join up with the Magpies on a free transfer, The young midfielder was carrying a knee injury, which ruled him out for all but one 5 minute cameo appearance away to our bitter rivals, Sunderland. This season, he has made a couple of sub appearances - again away to the Mackems then most recently at home to his former team, Everton. His performances during those games, and in the game he started against Scunthorpe in the cup, have been less than impressive. I get the feeling that he needs a loan deal to get back his confidence if he is to kick start is Newcastle United career.

17 Alan Smith - One of Fat Sam's abysmal signings. The former England man was signed as a striker, but after playing defensive midfield 99% of the time he has been at the club, has yet to score and probably never will. He cost £6m and has a reported wage of £60k per week - the lad who is apparently 'good in the dressing room' will no doubt see out the last year of his 5 year spell on Tyneside as he will never in his wildest dreams pick up that kind of dollar again.

21 Fraser Forster - The huge goalkeeper from Alnwick came through the ranks with us and after loan spells at Bristol Rovers, Stockport and Norwich - is now in his second loan spell with Scottish giants Celtic. Is their number one keeper and is expected to move there on a permanent basis in the next window if the rumours are to be believed.

22 Sylvan Marveaux - The small, left footed winger, signed - you guessed it - on a free transfer this summer. From what we have seen from the player - who turned down Liverpool to join up with us - he will be a top signing and will no doubt break into the starting line up more often, after starting his first game for us in the league against Everton. Has already assisted a few goals for us in all competitions, most notably Yohan Cabaye's superb winner against Wigan a few weeks ago.

28 Sammy Ameobi - Shola's brother, who has way more potential than his elder is a gangly 6ft 3in striker/winger and has recently been called into the England under 21 squad. Scored his first goal for the club in our Carling Cup win over Scunthorpe with a stunning effort. Is known for his smile, his what is he going to do next style of play and for the chant 'if Sammy scores, we're on the pitch' which was sang by our amazing fans in a pre season friendly at Darlington in pre season. He of course, did score in that game and the fans kept their word by running onto the pitch. Is one hell of a character - a better behaved Nile Ranger if you like!

29 Haris Vuckic - The Slovenian attacking midfielder was being chased by Chelsea and AC Milan when we snapped him up a few years ago. Has made a few appearances for us and looks like he is going to be a star if he keeps his head. Seems to have a great left foot, touch and can score/assist goals. Think he will be going out on loan soon to get some first team action under his belt.

30 Nile Ranger - So much potential, so much faith shown in him - all thrown back in our faces! All I have got to say about this ****ing arsehole is get out of our club you prick!

31 - Shane Ferguson - Small Irish player, who can play anywhere down the left came through our academy and made his debut last season. Can defend well, but his main attribute is running down the left and his skill away to Stoke last year showed just that as he skinned about 5 Stoke players and almost found the back of the net. Is another one who probably needs a loan deal.

 

Does he not mean Obertan?

 

Is that a good or bad thing? lol. I rated Ketsbaia