…Or reasons to get cheerful about the new season…
Just so this is written down somewhere, before the season starts (albeit only one day before), I think NUFC will finish 13th this season. One place lower than last season, although to be fair we messed that up, sitting comfortably in the top half with 30 mins of our last game left.
Alan “free transfers cost a lot” Pardew has tried to give guarantees to the fans (Carroll, A new striker, etc) but they are empty promises. He is just a mouthpiece for the two at the top, talking a good game but not delivering on his words. He’s there to be a lightning rod for criticism, I would say, which then makes it seem weird that the board would give him a five and a half year contract when his sole purpose is to what they say until his position is untenable (which will be in January 2012, I reckon).
We have lost some core elements of our famous team spirit (Nolan, Enrique and maybe Barton), and have added a lot of French players. Don’t get me wrong, Frence players are fine, but importing them en masse seems to be a recipe for dividing the dressing room into cliques.
I haven’t seen any of our friendlies, so I have no opinion, yet of our signings, although I did see Ba play for Hoffenheim and he always looked lively.
So my opinion of 13th is based on a gut feeling more than anything. The way this club is run, once again, anything above 17th is a good season, as we’re selling players and replacing them with cheap options, which, while I hope is a sustainable policy (if we must do it), probably is not.
Newcastle fans have a long season ahead of us, with a lot more promises to be broken.
I love football, me.
