Rumour has it that the Toon are in for Swindon’s young striker Charlie Austin. The 20 year old joined Swindon from non-league Poole Town. He’s recently came to the limelight because of his 16 goals in 22 starts.

Austin has been watched by Newcastle several times this season, most recently last weekend against Hartlepool.

He certainly fits Mike Ashley’s transfer policy – a young up and comer, who the club could sell on for a profit. But is this the kind of signing we need to be making? If we’re to stay up in the Premier League (should we get promoted) we need to sign proven Premier League players. While Austin would certainly be a good buy for the future, the task of leading our front line next against Premier League defenders needs to be done by a proven player, otherwise it could well be a season of survival.

This has only been confirmed by Marlon Harewood’s agent (via Sky Sports), but it appears that the big striker is set for a loan move to the Toon. We could do with him too as Shola Amoebi is knackered for the forseeable future.

Harewood would be a decent backup. Coming back from injury, we would provide the first team football he’s craving and give him the opportunity to show that he can still do the business.

The most important thing is that it looks like the lad wants to join us. As many noted during last years relegation scrap, getting players here who wanted to play for the team and not the high salary, was half the battle.

The Telegraph are reporting today that a takeover bid, led by Tyneside businessman Barry Moat is close to completion.

Unfortunately, there are no sources or quotes that are directly attributable to anyone, so we have to consider this latest piece of ‘news’ regarding Newcastle’s takeover like we have done with all the other ‘close to completion’ news – it’s a load of bollocks until we know otherwise.

Potential Newcastle United owner Barry Moat has been given an extended deadline by current Chairman Mike Ashley, as the Tyneside businessmen is in talks with Barclays bank to secure enough funding.

A club statement from the official site reads as follows:

NEWCASTLE United Football Club confirms that it has extended its deadline to Barry Moat to table an offer for the Club.

The extension has been granted in order to allow Barry Moat and his advisors to conclude funding arrangements with Barclays, current bankers, for the continuation of last season’s £39m facility.

This would allow a formal offer to be tabled.

There’s some interesting verbage in the above statement with the key word being concluded. That term appears to indicate that talks with the club are at an advanced stage and all that needs to be done to complete the takeover, would be the approval of the bank.

We were all waking up this morning expecting either good or bad news, but at least there would have been some resolution. As things stand, the powers that be at NUFC are still playing the waiting game with the fans. There could have been far worse news this morning for sure, but unless there’s positive news within the next 48 hours, I seriously fear that it will be too late for Newcastle United to act in the transfer window.

One things for sure, being a Newcastle fan is never boring.

The Telegraph are reporting that a deal for Newcastle United is imminent. The offer, thought to be in the region of £100 million, comes from a group of local investors.

The investors are due to meet with representatives of Mike Ashley tomorrow (Sunday), to facilitate a deal. There are thought to be four separate investors looking through the Newcastle United’s finances as a deal could be completed within a fortnight.

However, before we get carried away, and I hate to put a dampener on the situation – haven’t we heard all this before? Right now it’s all conjecture. Until the BBC and Sky Sports start reporting similar news, then the Telegraph may be on to something. But until then, it’s a wait and see game. Hopefully we’ll be doing more seeing than waiting come this time next week.

If you’re starting to wonder whether Newcastle United are doing any preparations for next season you would’t be alone. Three full days have passed this week and we are still no nearer in learning just what is going to happen with our club. We’ve followed the Toon through thick and thin and watched some crap football this season, but when it comes to learning what’s going on we don’t hear a dicky bird. Does that sound right to you?

We were told that talks were ongoing with Shearer and now the club is up for sale and we’ve heard nowt. I’m not saying we need to know the intricate details of everything going on, but just a message saying “Alright lads, we’re talking with Shearer and crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s“. Is that too much to ask? Instead we’re left to regurgitated news displayed through the back pages of national newspapers and on websites. If the club don’t agree with what’s being said or it’s not true, then give us some information that we can trust!

If we don’t hear anything by the end of this week, my positive feelings towards next season will be seriously diminished. No permanent manager installed, no leadership, players who don’t want to be there, no one to bring players in and the club is up for sale. Oh, and pre-season training begins on July 1st. It could only happen at Newcastle United.

Howay the Toon

Alan Shearer’s talks with Newcastle United will have taken up an entire week, yet we are still no closer to discovering whether he will be appointed as permanent Toon boss. The fact that the dialogue between the parties is going on for so long is not a bad thing like so many are making out. It’s clear that Ashley is keen to keep Shearer, but whether he can afford to meet Shearer’s demands is another matter entirely. However, can he afford not to ?

Let’s take a look at Shearers demands:

• Complete autonomy over players incoming and outgoing
• Control over staff being brought into the club
• A fairly hefty transfer kitty rumoured to be anywhere between 15 – 20 million

How can Mike Ashley refuse that?

In all seriousness, the playing staff at Newcastle needs a complete overhaul, and, if we are to get promoted at the first shot, let’s give Shearer what he wants. It could spell complete disaster for this club if we don’t. We’ll obviously generate some kind of revenue from players leaving, but clubs aren’t going to pay full price for the players we have – if they were that good, we wouldn’t be in the mess we currently find ourselves in. Shearer will be judged on who he brings in, both players and coaches, so let’s equip him with the funds necessary.

Speaking of players, Ed Harrison of the NUFC Blog wrote a quality post on the good young players Newcastle United should be going after.

Hopefully the Shearer situation will be resolved soon. As the man himself has already said, every day we are in talks are days that are ticking by when we should be preparing for next season. With that being said… Howay Mike, give the bloke what he wants!

Howay the Toon

After our relegation on Sunday the Toon have become the brunt of jokes from football supporters and pundits up and down the country. The jubilation seeping out of Hull on Survival Sunday was enough to make anyone vomit. However, it is what it is and the truth of the matter is that we didn’t deserve to stay up, we weren’t good enough.

But, with every cloud there’s a silver lining and us Geordies have always been known as an optimistic bunch. Here’s five reasons to be positive for next season:

• Alan Shearer could be manager: It’s not a definite, but comments from Derek Llambias are hinting towards the club appointing Shearer as Newcastle United manager on a permanent basis. Nothing has been said yet, but with an experienced backroom staff of possibly Ian Dowie, John Carver and Robert Lee, we’ll be in great shape on the training field.
• We’ll be rid of the deadwood: Players like Owen, Geremi, Viduka, Alan Smith, Colloccini etc will be long gone. Viduka’s fitness problems means that he’s never going to be able to play the amount of games he’s getting handsomely paid for and the others, well, let’s just say that there’ll be no tears shed when they cross the Tyne Bridge and head elsewhere.
• We’ll be out of the limelight: Hopefully we’ll be left in peace to sort out our own mess. We won’t be under the constant glare of the Sky cameras and with Shearer at the helm, our players will be under the strictest orders that we need to be making headlines for the right reasons, our football.
• The young players will be given the chance: Shearer already mitigated a few weeks ago that he would be prepared to unleash some of the younger players if needed. What odds the likes of Nile Ranger and Andy Carroll being let loose on the Championship and being told to prove a point? With a few experienced and motivated players brought in, our young players can be given the chance to shine and develop.
• More Saturday games: There’s nowt like watching the Toon on a Saturday afternoon with a 3pm kick-off. There’ll be no more scrambling for trains or buses to make a 12 noon kick-off away to Portsmouth – no, we’ll play our football at 3pm and we’ll bloody well like it thank you.

If you’ve got any more reasons why Newcastle United being relegated is a positive thing, I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Howay the Toon.

I’m surprisingly a lot calmer than I thought I would have been. I came to terms with relegation several weeks ago and when the final whistle blew at Villa Park I was in a sombre mood. But, consigning myself to relegation, I was preparing for the worst. It’s not easy to take, and to think we won’t be playing Premier League football again (at the earliest) until 2010 just adds to the misery.

However, it’s not like the Toon went down fighting. The performances of the players have been less than encouraging. There was a brief respite with Joe Kinnear, but it’s obvious by the dire second half performance yesterday afternoon that there are players and staff members at Newcastle United football club who don’t need to be there.

So Where did it go Wrong for NUFC?

Some of the comments I heard from fans on the radio and on Sky pinpointed the dismissal of Bobby Robson as the cataclysmic event that saw the beginning of Newcastle’s downturn in fortune. They wouldn’t be far wrong, but those same fans that are now citing the sacking of Sir Bobby were the very same fans calling for him to go – we can’t have it both ways.

The fact of the matter is, that for the past two seasons, the end product that Newcastle United put out on the pitch just wasn’t good enough to compete – end of story. No ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ or refereeing decisions saw our downturn, the players who were charged with playing for Newcastle were not good enough to put on the black and white shirt. Kevin Keegan said it at the beginning of the season, that we were a million miles away from the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool. It was only a few years ago that we were above Chelsea in the league, how times change.

The players were calling upon the fans in recent weeks to provide an atmosphere second to none so they could do the business on the field. The fans stepped up to the plate, but the players again were all talk as so often has gone on before.

Yes, we’re relegated. Yes, we’ll be playing the likes of Scunthorpe and Peterboro. But we’ll be rid of overpaid players who can go on to their next club and bleed them dry. Good riddance, you’re not wanted here.

Here’s to the future, here’s to Newcastle United and here’s to the three thousand fans at Villa Park yesterday who did the Toon Army proud.

Howay the Toon.

Manchester United did their bit, Chelsea did their bit, but the Newcastle United players put in a performance devoid of fight, courage and played as if their fate had already been sealed.

An effortless, limp, and lethargic performance showed that they do not care about Newcastle United.

A Chairman in Mike Ashley who has single handedly destroyed Newcastle United football club.

A set of fans who deserve so much more.

Goodbye Premier League, we’ll be back. The overhaul starts now.