The clock is ticking as the transfer window dwindles down from a month, to days to only hours and still Newcastle have failed to sign a single player, even on loan.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, the centre back, the left back and striker the squad so desperately needs are still nowhere to be seen and the ticking clock might just end up being the sound of a bomb ready to explode underneath the club.
Out of both domestic cup competitions, still in the bottom half of the Premiership and still with only one recognised striker, Obafemi Martins, fit and available.
Still without a specialist left back to cover for the "injury" prone Celestine Babayaro and still without the commanding, experienced centre back to play alongside the promising youngsters at the club.
In other words, the glaring gaps in the squad when the transfer window slammed shut in September are still gaping and the assurances that were made back then have not been fulfilled.
Glenn Roeder is determined to plan for the long term and get the players he believes will enable the club to go from strength to strength over the next three or four years.
It is an admirable and brave strategy given the knee-jerk nature of Newcastle United, but what does it mean for the rest of this season?
Nobody would ever say it at St James's Park and, to be fair, they probably don't believe it, but are we righting off this season in the hope that, having saved money, Roeder will get the targets he wants in the summer?
As things stand, the squad does not appear to have the strength in depth to finish in the top six and qualify for Europe and neither does it look good enough to win the Uefa Cup. As I've argued previously, I would love to be proven wrong, but I don't think I will be.
As things stand, this season looks like being a complete anti-climax, a campaign in which Newcastle have been stuck in limbo, caught between the past and the present because of a lack of money and forward planning.
As things stand, the season looks like it will fizzle out into nothing more than mid-table obscurity and another stab at the Intertoto Cup.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »