July 2008 Archives

There haven't been many times in recent years that Newcastle United fans have had reason to look on enviously at the events unfolding at the Stadium of Light but now could be one such occasion.

As the Magpies labour ineffectively in the transfer market and Kevin Keegan attempts to put a brave face on whenever talking about the lack of depth to his squad, Roy Keane has done a pretty good job of strengthening his options with players who, if not world beaters, have proven themselves in the Premier League over a number of years.

The Magpies may be trying to sign a better class of player, but it is still annoying when your bitter rivals are welcoming a steady stream of new arrivals and you're stuck in limbo waiting for an Argentinean defender with a curly mullet to sign from Deportivo La Coruna.

Roy Keane isn't exactly short of a few bob, but Sunderland's manager still turned into debt collector at the team's hotel in Portugal today after hustling some of his players out of their hard earned wedge.

Having sat on the sidelines as his players sweated in the sunshine during their morning training session on Tuesday, Keane challenged his players to a little bet.

Score past him with a shot from the edge of the area and he would pay them, miss the target, or he saved, they lose and cough up to him over lunch.

My first day on the Algarve for Sunderland's pre-season friendlies has already thrown up a surprise or two. A maverick taxi driver who almost brought my trip to a premature end by ploughing into the back of a coach and the sight of Roy Keane sunbathing at my hotel.

I was still recovering from my near death experience - okay so I probably wouldn't have died, just suffered a bit of whiplash but still - when I arrived at my four star hotel in Albufeira and discovered I was not alone.

As is so often the case, one man's loss is another man's gain and while Paul Collingwood is a dejected figure after he was dropped by England on Friday, Durham's coach Geoff Cook will be - quietly at least - a happy man.

Not since an innings defeat to Sri Lanka in December 2003 have Durham failed to have a player in the England Test team and it is not something anyone at Chester-le-Street will be happy about.

But clouds, silver linings and all that jazz mean that, purely from a Durham perspective, Collingwood's demise and Steve Harmison's continued absence from the Test arena mean their county has never been in a stronger position.

It is still a little too soon for the alarm bells to start ringing or for panic buttons to be frantically pressed by fans still trying to pay for their season tickets, but I'm starting to worry about Sunderland ahead of the new season.

Having just about avoided yet another immediate return to the Championship last season, Roy Keane spoke confidently of developing the club over the summer, trimming the dead or dying wood from his squad and investing in players who would be able to take the team on to the next level - in other words keep them clear of the bottom three and, possibly, just possibly, give them an outside chance of a top eight finish.

It was always a bold plan in keeping with their young and ambitious manager, but it looks like a ludicrous one at the moment as Sunderland supporters continue to wait for news of the first new signing.

Danny Guthrie. Not exactly a new name to send a shiver down your spine, but from what I've been told by a Bolton supporting friend of mine, he isn't the mediocre Premier League midfielder some have written him off as.

According to my man in the know, Guthrie was a rare source of pleasure in an otherwise dismal season while on loan at the Reebok Stadium and Wanderers were desperate to sign him on a permanent basis.

Alright, granted, his arrival is exactly a bold statement about the club's ambition and it isn't the sort of big name signing which is going to sprinkle some stardust on Kevin Keegan's squad, but that doesn't necessarily mean he isn't going to be a success at St James's Park.

You see Mike, that's all we've been asking for, just once second of your time to clarify your intentions for Newcastle United. It wasn't that hard now was it?

For those of you who do not already know United's owner Mike Ashley has, for the first time, publicly denied he is looking to sell the club, but he is looking to attract additional investment.

Thank goodness for that, Wimbledon has finished for another year, we can finally stop pretending to care about tennis and we can stop banging on about why Britain fails to produce enough world class players.

Let’s face it, tennis isn’t really a popular sport in this country, it’s isn’t played in state schools, it isn’t generally played in inner-cities and, apart from the month of June, it rarely gets widespread media attention.

Sure, it has a sizeable following, but the only time the masses get involved is in June when Wimbledon forces its way on to prime time television like an unwanted squatter on a farmer’s field.

The end of another working week and another round of stories suggesting Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is looking to sell the club. Now where have we heard this one before?

I don't claim to be an expert in the world of business. If I was I would either have won The Apprentice and be working for Alan Sugar by now, or I would be a billionaire like Big Mike. Actually there is probably some middle ground, but rest assured I'm better at writing than I am at managing my finances!

However, I do know that everything has a price and this is particularly true of Premier League football clubs.

Kevin Keegan has had a plane named after him by the airline Flybe.com. I’d like to tell you more, but Newcastle’s manager appears to have taken a rather strange vow of silence this summer.

Despite making his first public appearance since his final press conference of last season following the 3-1 defeat at Everton in May Keegan did not want to talk about football issues as it would be, in his words, “pointless.� Erm, okay then Kev, whatever you say, or rather don’t say!

So I’m afraid we do not know anymore about his first new signing Jonas Gutierrez, we don’t know if he was signed by the manager or Executive Director Dennis Wise, we don’t know what he will bring to the team.