August 2008 Archives

So it's goodbye, farewell and bon voyage to James Milner in a transfer which has brought back vivid memories of the controversial sale of Andy Cole to Manchester United 13 years ago.

The sale of Milner to Aston Villa for a fee which could rise to as much as £12m due to the various clauses in the contract is a massive fee for a player who, as far as I'm concerned, has not get much better in the four years he has been at the club.

Milner was a promising, versatile wide England Under-21 international when he arrived from Leeds United for £3.5m in 2004 and he leaves for Viila for almost four times that amount as a promising, versatile wide England Under-21international.

Much has been made - me included - of Newcastle United's lowest Premier League crowd for almost a decade against Bolton Wanderers, but I should stress that a crowd of 47,711 is still a damn sight more than most other clubs in the top flight are able to enjoy.

Certainly, considering the fact Newcastle have been a mid-table Premier League side, at best, since Sir Bobby Robson prematurely departed four years ago thanks to the stupidity of a certain former chairman, a crowd of that size is a remarkable achievement.

However, this does not mean the alarm bells should not be ringing in the boardroom because, dare I say it, there has been a certain amount of complacency shown.

I seemed to cause a bit of a furore - deliberately, me? Never - before heading off on my travels last month by suggesting Sunderland supporters should be happier with their club's efforts in the transfer market than Newcastle's.

Some Newcastle fans argued they wouldn't touch any of Sunderland's new arrivals with a stick covered in dog poo, although I hope that hasn't given anyone any ideas for the derby match in October!

But my point was, whether Newcastle wanted to sign the likes of Pascal Chimbonda or El-Hadji Diouf or not, Roy Keane has had more joy in the quest to improve his squad than his Newcastle counterpart Kevin Keegan.

There was a time when an Olympic Gold Medal opened up a certain path to fame and fortune, but what are we going to do with 17 - at my last count on Thursday morning - of them?

Will they still be given the hero treatment, the lucrative commercial deals and a pass on to the talkshow circuit for a stomach-churning meeting with Jonathan Woss, sorry Ross?

Will they still be celebrities in 30 years time measured by their regular appearances on a Question of Sport, or will we have become so used to Olympic glory by that stage that it's the norm rather than the exception?

I don't know what was more surprising to discover at the end of my honeymoon. That some light fingered scumbag (albeit with a good taste in clothing) had helped themselves to some of my luggage or that Newcastle United had drawn 1-1 at Manchester United!

Yep, that's right folks the married man is finally back at work after a thoroughly enjoyable wedding and honeymoon and, after three weeks away from work I'm feeling refreshed and recharged and ready to hit the ground running.

In fact, I'm actually excited about the prospect of covering my first game of the season when Bolton arrive at St James's Park on Saturday and let's hope the fresh optimism generated by a point at Newcastle's very own Theatre of Nightmares - Old Trafford - continues against one of English football's less glamorous sides.