Sunday Sun Blog

Vurnon Anita the answer to Newcastle's midfield poser

Fri, 23 Aug 2013 14:53:54 +0000

FOR Newcastle United to rediscover their swagger this season, Alan Pardew must find a solution to the midfield equation which beat him last year.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? If only. The evidence of pre-season suggests that Pardew is still wrestling with the best midfield mix to take Newcastle forward, and that situation will only become more complicated if Paris Saint Germain firm up their interest in United's agent provocateur Yohan Cabaye.

Uncertainty isn't meant to be fun....

Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:19:23 +0000

UNCERTAINTY is not meant to be fun.

Not at Sunderland, at least, where the summer transfer window has a tradition of settling into a familiar, draining process. Since 2007, the churn rate has been remarkable at the Stadium of Light - every close season bringing about a new cast of arrivals recruited to end the sorry cycle of underachievement.

Nine in 2007, eight in 2008. It was eight again in 2011 and the average number of new additions in the last six season has been six - a figure skewed by Martin O'Neill's conservative recruitment drive last summer.

Silence isn't golden in Newcastle's summer of discontent

Fri, 05 Jul 2013 15:51:15 +0000

AROUNA Kone to Newcastle would have been a transfer that completed the Mike Ashley cycle.

The deal seemed to tick a lot of the Ashley boxes: cheap(ish) but useful, Wigan striker Kone would have been a very decent addition to Newcastle's squad. Not the high end replacement for Demba Ba they require, but an upgrade on what United had last season.

Say it ain't so, Joe

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:27:36 +0000

DAY one of Joe Kinnear's second coming and Newcastle United's director of football is confronted with an in-tray the size of Everest.

Gym kits and reporter rifts... But don't forget the real issues at St James' Park

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:41:40 +0000

SO the week when Newcastle United's Premier League survival prospects moved from comfortable to critical ends with us talking about Hatem Ben Arfa's gym habits, whether a lack of fight is deeply ingrained in Gallic DNA and a banned reporter.

Di Canio's right to reply... And the questions he must answer

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:12:18 +0000

SO here is one of the problems with covering Premier League football.

Requiem for a dream: how the Martin O'Neill revolution went horribly wrong at the Stadium of Light

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 23:26:02 +0000

AN old friend from the Midlands told me about the day Martin O'Neill invited all of the Second City press pack to an end of season dinner.

Even if Sunderland win their relegation fight, questions must be asked

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:59:07 +0000

IT goes without saying that Sunday's game is of huge significance to a Sunderland side in danger of being sucked into a bitter relegation fight.

The news no-one wanted to read. Gazza is in a familiar place again: staring into the abyss

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:34:05 +0000

EVERY week, football is full of catastrophe, disaster and tragedy.

Don't say we didn't warn you... How QPR's window madness raised eyebrows in the North East

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:42:53 +0000

THERE were 10,276 people at Fratton Park on Tuesday to see the latest act in the tragic comedy unfolding on the South Coast.

Signs of unease as Mike fails to splash the cash

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:51:01 +0000

YOU have to admire Joey Barton's brass neck.

As his private jet touched down on sizzling tarmac in the South of France, an earnest Barton was delivering one of the all-time great footballer quotes to the Sky Sports News reporting team that had accompanied him to Marseille.

Mike Ashley, Andy Carroll and finding alchemy in the unpredictable

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 21:59:31 +0000

WHEN Mike Ashley renamed St James' Park after the sportswear company that had turned him into one of Britain's richest men, the menacing warnings that emanated from a wounded Tyneside were stark.

The Anatomy of a Transfer: how the window really works

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:55:00 +0000

WHISPERED conversations between players, agents stirring the pot and clubs trying to maintain a poker face for a month as they balance the wishes of egomaniac managers with chairman tightening their belts.

Welcome to the world of the modern transfer deal - a far cry from the sanitised version portrayed on Sky Sports News and best-selling computer game Football Manager.
The Sunday Sun today attempts to shed some light on why January is such a tortuous month for football clubs - and why the transfers that might come to pass in the last seconds of the window have probably been six months in the making.

Most of the deals that Newcastle are lining up have been worked on since September 1, the day the window snapped shut.

North East 'expectations' are a footballing fairy story - and a corrosive one at that

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:01:47 +0000

GRAEME Souness is making rather a better fist of being a perceptive pundit than he ever did as a manager, but his column this week made for difficult reading.

It opened up with the following sentiment: "Steve Bruce paid the price of the high expectations in the North East."

Head spin

Thu, 26 May 2011 10:07:44 +0000

IF there was ever any scintilla of doubt about where the power lies at Newcastle United, it was brutally removed yesterday.

By sending Joey Barton's agent packing without even the sniff of a contract offer yesterday, Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias sent a message. It was a clarion call to the dressing room, to the manager and to any agents presuming the club's need to recruit gives them a licence to make unreasonable demands - and it leaves no-one in any doubt that they are in firm control of events at St James' Park.