This social networking craze continues to develop at pace.
Aron, as we know, was early to the facebook scene, and has provided us and the blog with many happy hours. Twitter, for those of you who don't use it, is like Facebook status updates for people with ADHD. Short and sweet
The Mirror today is reporting that Darren Bent, the striker who scored a hatful of goals for Charlton before joining Spurs and forgetting to pack his shooting boots, has accused his Chairman of f****** up his transfer to Sunderland on his Twitter post. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but makes the life of the football journalist a lot easier if all they have to do for a story is watching the tweets pile in.
That wasn't what surprised me most though, it was actually that Spurs still want £14m for Bent. Puts our struggles to sign anyone into some perspective. Assuming the Coalman probably has £2million to spend (including wages) to improve the size and depth of the squad, he could blow the lot on two of Darren Bent's toes.
Different world up there in the Premier League isn't it.
Downfall at the Ricoh
Thank you to the Youth Development Officer for bringing this to our attention:
What a difference a year makes...
From the Through the Seasons Before Us blog on 17th June 2008 at the end of Forest's successful League 1 campaign.
" This has come as a bitter disappointment to me; today Sammy Clingan has agreed to sign a deal for two years at Championship rivals Norwich City once his contract at Forest expires at the end of the month.......Sammy tends to get mixed reviews from Reds fans; personally I’m a huge fan of his contribution since he’s been with us. For us his energy has largely been deployed as a combatitive holding midfielder rather than the forward-bursting role he plays for his country. I’ve seen him referred to as ‘Sammy Sideways’ and ‘Sammy Centre Circle’, which I feel does him a massive disservice. He’s been excellent at breaking up play this season, and to me I think he’s a massive pair of boots to fill.
Sammy himself declared Norwich a ‘big’ club compared to Forest’s mere ‘good’ club status, it doesn’t bode so positively for Forest that he singles out the manager and facilities as his motivation for choosing to move on.“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining a big club like Norwich City. I’m leaving a good club, Nottingham Forest, to join Norwich and I’m really looking forward to trying to get them promoted to the Premier League.
“Once I had spoken to Glenn Roeder and viewed the fantastic facilities at the Club it was an easy decision to make. I knew of Glenn’s managerial reputation, working with big name players in the Premier League and hopefully he will help me become a better player too. I was very impressed with what he said and his plans for the future – it really caught me and now I can’t wait for the first game.”
Interesting to note that in his interviews so far with the club and the Telegraph he hasn't mentioned "big club" or "promotion to the Premier League" though he does talk about our fantastic stadium and Coalman being a good young manager. Let's hope he is as thoughful in his pass selection as he is in his choice of cliches and that "Sammy Sideways" is not the heir to Boozy.
Another door closes
From the Sunderland Echo:
No danger of a return to Cov then...
Jordan in line for Sunderland debut
Published Date: 28 July 2009
Jordan Henderson could make his Premier League debut when Sunderland visit Bolton on the opening day of the season.The youngster, whose only competitive Black Cats start came in last November's Carling Cup defeat to Blackburn Rovers, played in both games in the Amsterdam Tournament and won praise from boss Steve Bruce, along with reserve-team captain Jack Colback. His pre-season performances may clinch a role on the substitutes' bench at the Reebok Stadium.
Bruce said: "We have a crop of very good kids and Jordan is one of them.
"I would have played Jack Colback instead of Jordan against Atletico Madrid, but he picked up a slight groin strain.
"We like Colback as well. There's four or five of them who have given themselves a wonderful chance.
"The one thing 18-year-olds do give you is huge energy and, to be fair, Jordan has put himself right in the window to be in consideration to play in the first game in the Premier League."
Henderson impressed on loan at Coventry last season.
No danger of a return to Cov then...
Meet the boys coz the boys are here, the boys to entertain you...
A very odd squad picture:
Frankie Bunn has turned into Mickey Adams, god help us
Dimi K looks like Demis Roussos in that baggy goalie top.
Captain Wright is halfway between Nosferatu and Paul Whitehouse's impersion of Nosferatu
And what kind of symmetry is there with Freddy midgeting in between the centre-halves?
Which two of our enormous backroom staff would have been dropped from the shot if we hadn't sold Fox and Dann - I'd guess the token ginger and the token woman.
New Title
It's not just Siralan who has had a change of identity. In a feat of Noel Edmonds-style neuro-linguistics we originally named the blog "sky blues push for the premiership" only for the team to make a last minute dash for League One. So rather than tempt fate we have switched to Down at the Ricoh, channelling Barry Manilow's Copa Cabana:
Down at the Ricoh, Ricoh Arena
The hottest spot south of Leicester (here)
At the Ricoh, Ricoh Arena
Coleman and Ranson were always the fashion
At the Ricoh....
And as the mood of pessimism sweeps the sky blue army, down at the Ricoh describes our mood and our predictions for the end of the season.
Down at the Ricoh, Ricoh Arena
The hottest spot south of Leicester (here)
At the Ricoh, Ricoh Arena
Coleman and Ranson were always the fashion
At the Ricoh....
And as the mood of pessimism sweeps the sky blue army, down at the Ricoh describes our mood and our predictions for the end of the season.
Using the summer break constructively
As August approaches, it's time for a quick reflection on what's been going on in the mad mad mad world of Ray, Chris and the SISU corporation over the last 10 weeks.
We've seen Homer depart for Huddersfield for more money than we paid for him. That makes some sense, he never quite made the breakthrough he needed to, but it was always going to be tough for him when he was played out wide, or used as a substitute. He did give his all though, and we will remember him fondly for that.
Boozy realised that he really wasn't cut out for this level of football, and passed himself sideways out of the Ricoh, and Marshall's contract wasn't renewed allowing us to give youth a chance. As of right now, Duke is out of contract, and fighting his way back to fitness, but hasn't been given a squad number, we will see whether the Coalman will bring him back on board again or not.
We also had the Super Kevin forget to mention a series of driving indiscretions to the management, who took offence at finding out second, or maybe third hand, leading to a less than dignified exit. No real surprise given several years of lifestyle issues, Super Kev, you had the talent, you just couldn't knuckle down and deliver on it.
If we rewind momentarily to February, with Chelsea coming to the Ricoh, and a back four including Dann and the mighty Fox, optimism and positive thinking were at an all time high. Coming back to reality now, with Dann going up the M6 to the Blues, and Fox hopping on a plane to join Celtic, our role as a selling club couldn't be clearer. No quibbles with both players wishing to better themselves, and Premier League and Champions League football having a much greater attraction than Newcastle at home this season, but it does seem a shame that we couldn't hold onto them. Are we building for the future, or cashing in on the now? The harsh reality of the current recession and its undoubted impact on season ticket sales, and projected gates over the next season, must have weighed heavily on SISU's minds when the offers came a-knocking. Take the money now and insure against an average gate of 14,000 to come? I can see where they are coming from.
So, with two weeks to go, we await a deluge of new signings. If not a deluge, maybe a torrent. If not a torrent, then we'll settle for a trickle. And if we're all out of trickles, then just the one signing will do. Chin up, it could be worse, we could be Newcastle fans reflecting on a 6-1 pre-season defeat at Leyton Orient
We've seen Homer depart for Huddersfield for more money than we paid for him. That makes some sense, he never quite made the breakthrough he needed to, but it was always going to be tough for him when he was played out wide, or used as a substitute. He did give his all though, and we will remember him fondly for that.
Boozy realised that he really wasn't cut out for this level of football, and passed himself sideways out of the Ricoh, and Marshall's contract wasn't renewed allowing us to give youth a chance. As of right now, Duke is out of contract, and fighting his way back to fitness, but hasn't been given a squad number, we will see whether the Coalman will bring him back on board again or not.
We also had the Super Kevin forget to mention a series of driving indiscretions to the management, who took offence at finding out second, or maybe third hand, leading to a less than dignified exit. No real surprise given several years of lifestyle issues, Super Kev, you had the talent, you just couldn't knuckle down and deliver on it.
If we rewind momentarily to February, with Chelsea coming to the Ricoh, and a back four including Dann and the mighty Fox, optimism and positive thinking were at an all time high. Coming back to reality now, with Dann going up the M6 to the Blues, and Fox hopping on a plane to join Celtic, our role as a selling club couldn't be clearer. No quibbles with both players wishing to better themselves, and Premier League and Champions League football having a much greater attraction than Newcastle at home this season, but it does seem a shame that we couldn't hold onto them. Are we building for the future, or cashing in on the now? The harsh reality of the current recession and its undoubted impact on season ticket sales, and projected gates over the next season, must have weighed heavily on SISU's minds when the offers came a-knocking. Take the money now and insure against an average gate of 14,000 to come? I can see where they are coming from.
So, with two weeks to go, we await a deluge of new signings. If not a deluge, maybe a torrent. If not a torrent, then we'll settle for a trickle. And if we're all out of trickles, then just the one signing will do. Chin up, it could be worse, we could be Newcastle fans reflecting on a 6-1 pre-season defeat at Leyton Orient
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