Its Sunday Funday

[Skirge]

Newcastle believe they will be able to sign Tottenham midfielder Tom Huddlestone for £6m - if they stay in the Premier League. (News of the World)

 

Newcastle and West Brom are fighting it out for the signature of £1m-rated Swindon striker Simon Cox. (News of the World)

 

Joe Kinnear will be offered a senior 'upstairs' role at Newcastle if he turns down the club's offer of a two-year contract to remain as manager. (News of the World)

 

Meanwhile, Newcastle are facing the biggest battle in their financial history, with the value of club set to be halved from £200m to £100m if they are relegated. (Sunday Express)

 

 

[ToonTastic]

Theres been something mentioned on the Sunday Supplement on Sky about us going into administration as well, suprised thats not on bbc. It was the back page of one of the papers not sure which.

[ToonTastic]

This is it http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/91893/Toon-fear-a-nine-point-Tyne-bomb-

[ToonTastic]

Reading it there is noubt in the story. Be nice if the club bothered with some "communication" like they promised.

[lovejoy]

Reading it there is noubt in the story. Be nice if the club bothered with some "communication" like they promised.

thats what i thought, a total non story

[Thespence]

NEWS OF THE WORLD

 

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is again being linked with a big-money move to Real Madrid - although this time the Spanish giants could bid as much as £100million.

 

Cesc Fabregas has cast his Arsenal future into major doubt by refusing to rule out a move to Spain.

 

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart is available for loan.

 

Stewart Downing will be allowed to leave Middlesbrough if they are relegated.

 

Aston Villa must fight off Marseille for Standard Liege's Steven Defour.

 

Newcastle believe they can land Tom Huddlestone from Tottenham for £6million - if they avoid relegation. (Will look lighting quick compared to Butt, Nolan & Gezza)

 

West Brom and Newcastle both want Swindon's £1million-rated striker Simon Cox. (Swindon chairman @ http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/4220742.Fitton_expects_Town_changes/ )

 

Arsenal starlet Mark Randall wants first-team football.

 

Blackburn and Bolton are battling it out to land Portsmouth midfielder Sean Davis.

 

DAILY STAR SUNDAY

 

Manchester City will smash their own British transfer record with a summer move for Bayern Munich's France midfielder Franck Ribery.

 

England goalkeeper David James fears some of his Portsmouth team-mates may be playing for a move rather than trying to save the club from the drop.

 

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has won his Black Country duel with West Brom counterpart Tony Mowbray to land Doncaster skipper Brian Stock.

 

Wigan boss Steve Bruce's hopes of signing on-loan Egyptian striker Amr Zaki have been scuppered by a £12million asking price.

 

SUNDAY MIRROR

 

Tottenham are on a collision course with Ledley King over a new contract.

 

Newcastle are on the verge of a £4million summer swoop for Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc. 

 

Aston Villa's Ashley Young and Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz are Tottenham's two main summer transfer targets.

 

THE PEOPLE

 

Chelsea will steal Daniel Sturridge from Manchester City to spark a transfer war between the clubs.

 

Cesc Fabregas has dropped another hint he may leave Arsenal in the summer.

 

Tottenham are in the race to sign Gabriel Heinze from Real Madrid.

 

Sunderland are monitoring Wolfsburg's Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko.

 

Manchester City want to sign Arjen Robben from Real Madrid in the summer.

 

Coventry are to make another move for Hearts winger Andrew Driver. One time Toon linked

 

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is eyeing Athletic Bilbao's Javi Martinez.

 

Sheffield United want to take Manchester City youngster Vladimir Weiss on loan.

 

Sheffield Wednesday are looking to sign Hull's Ryan France in the summer.

 

Leicester could snap up Oldham striker Lee Hughes at the end of the season.

 

Bolton and Sunderland lead the chase for former Chelsea midfielder Maniche.

 

MAIL ON SUNDAY

 

Wayne Rooney will win his 50th cap in England's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley on Wednesday - but the prospect of reaching that milestone has been overshadowed by revelations of a bust-up with Sir Alex Ferguson.

 

THE OBSERVER

 

UEFA have branded as "ridiculous" the number of players on the payroll of the Premier League's Big Four clubs.

Saturday March 28

 

 

 

[Thespence]

WHERE would Newcastle United be now had they looked for a new manager, rather than to manage the news, in Joe Kinnear’s absence?

 

No worse off, that’s for sure.

 

I only ask because it seems that, seven weeks and a pitiful five points since Kinnear took ill, the Magpies are still skirting the real issue now all too much at hand.

 

Why else would they see fit to ban a journalist from St James’s Park while keeping blind faith in the men covering for Kinnear?

 

After all, the faith in his ability to keep United afloat after his return looks short-sighted in itself.

 

When Kinnear underwent a heart bypass, it offered Newcastle a chance to properly usher in the post-Keegan era by identifying a new full-time manager. Instead, in their trademark presumption and complacency, they fudged it by allowing Hughton — Granville to Kinnear’s Arkwright — to continue minding the shop.

 

That they now see Kinnear — he of four league wins in 18 — as a saviour says everything about that decision.

 

Had they half the business nous they claim to possess, or a passing knowledge of football, they might have realised that Hughton’s real vocation was matchmaking, not caretaking.

 

Who better, might I suggest, to tempt Martin Jol back into English football than his former right-hand man? Instead, the nearest the good ship Newcastle gets to going Dutch is to drift rudderless into ever choppier waters with its very own Del Boy at the wheel, like that classic Only Fools and Horses, where the Trotters set sail for Amsterdam.

 

The name of that episode — To Hull and Back — also sounds all too appropriate.

 

For rather than do their damndest to avoid going to Hell, United simply seem bent on taking certain people down with them.

 

And so it was that Alan Oliver, 30 years on the Newcastle reporting beat, was banned by the club last week.

 

His sin was to suggest Kinnear had suffered a setback in his recovery after surgery, and that United might look to someone else for salvation.

 

Now, the danger in the Magpies making more enemies in Fleet Street, (Oliver now writes for The People) at a time when they need all the friends they can get, is clear.

 

But the hypocrisy of it isn’t much less obvious. After all, Kinnear DID suffer a chest infection a fortnight or so ago.

 

And I’m not sure I would concede the moral high ground to a club who maintained all was well with their manager even as he lay in a hospital bed.

 

“He underwent a series of tests . . . and the subsequent results have shown he is OK. As a precaution, Joe will remain in hospital for observation for a couple of days and will then be discharged.”

 

News management, indeed.

 

All in all, is it really any wonder that Newcastle’s top brass — short for brassneck, surely — are failing to read the club’s vital signs?

 

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/columnists/2009/03/29/big-mistake-was-not-to-act-quickly-79310-23254839/

[Disco]

This is it http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/91893/Toon-fear-a-nine-point-Tyne-bomb-

My mates dad that is (writer)

[Thespence]

TWO Lamborghinis arrived at Newcastle's training ground last week. One came from Scotland for former Rangers forward Peter Lovenkrands - finally, after two months, reunited with his £150,000 motor. The other came north, brand new, for Danny Guthrie.

 

Around the corner from the car park, in a small side room, Newcastle's most decorated player spoke of collective responsibility. About looking in the mirror. About taking the blame for the implosion that has propelled the club to the brink of relegation. Nicky Butt never once spoke of cars.

 

"I am a player. I am part of why we are where we are," he said. "It's p****d me off. We have 20- odd lads who are p****d off. We will all have different reasons as to why it has gone wrong.

 

"It's definitely in our heads. We think we're too good to be working as hard as a Hull or a Bolton. We HAVE to work as hard as them and then our ability will kick in.

 

"Maybe we think we don't need to do that, that we're too good. We think: 'We've got Michael Owen, we've got Oba Martins, we've got Gutierrez, we've got Damien Duff - we've got all these great players, so we don't need to work as hard. But the fact is we do.

 

"I'm part of it. We're all in it together. We're going out for games and we have the thing in our head that we are much better than him, the person we're playing against.

 

"We think: 'I'm a much better player and I can take it easy today.' Everyone is part of that and we have to get rid of it.

 

"It's not work ethic, to be fair. They are all good lads who work hard in training and give their all. It's something inside your head. I'm no different. You think: 'I'm playing against this lad today, and I'm better.' You might think once or twice a season: 'I can take it a bit easy today' - but you can't."

 

Clearly. Newcastle sit on the precipice. Defeat to Arsenal last week struck hard after their drop into the bottom three. More significantly, it destroyed much of the remaining belief on Tyneside that they could emerge from a catastrophic season still in the Premier League.

 

There was the whole Kevin Keegan business. There was Mike Ashley. There was the sale, then the no-sale. There is Joe Kinnear's illness. And then there is Butt's honesty.

 

He added: "It was all a bit of a distraction but it's not an excuse for the players. It's easy to blame the situation or someone else. Sooner or later you have to look at yourself in the mirror. You have to say: 'Hold on, mate. It's not his fault. It's me who's not performing.'

 

"We all have to do that and try to turn it around for the last eight games. I hope the players are coming round to that way of thinking."

 

Butt is loath to hark back to his Old Trafford days. But he still demands the standards Sir Alex Ferguson expected, a self-reliance currently missing on Tyneside.

 

Butt reflected: "Taking it easy wasn't allowed at Manchester United. You have so many players fighting for your position. This season we've had injuries and maybe even if you don't train well you still play.

 

"At the top clubs, if you're not training well in the week, the coaches will see that and someone else will play. If you've got people threatening to take your position, players as good as you, you know that if you take your foot off the gas for a fraction, you'll be out of the team."

 

It seems Butt's whole Newcastle career has been spent fighting fires, trying to find a semblance of the success he had in Manchester.

 

His first year at the club, 2004-05, was a bitter disappointment. He failed to recapture the form that had seen him win six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the Champions League and 39 England caps.

 

A loan spell at Birmingham was similarly dark. He could easily have walked. Only a comment from his dad stopped him.

 

"He's my hardest critic," Butt explained. "But when it looked like I might be leaving Newcastle, he said to me: 'You know you're better than what you're showing, better than the players taking your place. You have to be a man and show them.'

 

"He said: 'It's easy to walk away when people are slagging you off - but there's a choice. You can show them how good you are and stick two fingers up to your critics.'"

 

So Butt did - and his own resurrection followed.

 

The 34-year-old explained: "It's easy to walk away, especially nowadays, with the amount of money in the game. If I walked away now I would be set up for life. But there is something inside that says you don't want the easy way out. I didn't want to do that."

 

Butt has bought in to Newcastle, its working-class core, its anger at failure, its ability to implode.

 

He said: "We've the potential to be a big club but we're not. We're going backwards. And I came here to challenge for the top four. Everyone is Newcastle daft up here. Even the girls and the grannies go around in black and white shirts. That makes it different.

 

"You always associated Newcastle with big signings and trying to get over the final hurdle. The last two seasons have been disasters and I feel for the fans and everybody involved. At the minute we are nowhere near challenging where we should be. We are inconsistent, we've got no confidence and we need to get it back.

Hurts

 

"Playing at St James' is something we should thrive on. We should be looking forward to playing in front of our fans. If we get the structure of the club right, we can get there. But it will take years and no one wants to hear that. You need to get the academy running right, you need to get players coming through the club who bleed it, players whose grandparents loved the club.

 

"I feel for this club now. I feel for Newcastle. I love the place, I love the attitude of the people around it. It's just football, football, football. Our position hurts me because this place means something to me. We have to keep the club in the Premier League."

 

In its hour of need, Newcastle clings to such spirit.

 

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/240255/WERE-ALL-IN-THIS-TOGETHER-BUTT-Toon-stars-think-were-too-good-to-work-hard.html

[Thespence]

Toon boss Kinnear could be Director of Football

 

JOE KINNEAR will take on an “upstairs” role at Newcastle if he decides against staying on as manager beyond the summer.

 

And with Dennis Wise ready to quit United at the end of the season, Kinnear could replace him as the Magpies’ director of football.

 

Although expected back at work next month after heart bypass surgery, Kinnear remains unsure whether to sign the two-year contract extension offered to him in January.

 

But Newcastle’s top brass are adamant he will remain with the club in some capacity even if he withdraws from the managerial frontline.

 

And with Wise’s departure looking certain, a DoF position — based from his Hertfordshire home — could well appeal to Kinnear.

 

The Sunday Sun revealed last month that Wise was preparing to relinquish his controversial role at United.

 

And I understand Wise would already have cut his ties with United but for Kinnear’s spell of sick leave.

 

Wise’s future has been further clouded by his support for the idea of Terry Venables taking charge at Newcastle in Kinnear’s absence.

 

United still believe their manager will be back to help fight relegation this season — Kinnear took the lead role in picking the team to face Arsenal last Saturday.

 

Meanwhile, despondent executive box holders at Newcastle are being offered an extra year at St James’s Park free.

 

United’s managing director Derek Llambias is dangling that carrot in front of corporate fans as part of a charm offensive to prevent them from abandoning the club.

 

Ashley also plans to meet with supporters as Newcastle bid to head off a big drop in season-ticket sales.

 

And he is also preparing to do an TV interview with Sky Sports as United acknowledge their failure to communicate properly with fans.

 

Elsewhere, the two youngsters who we revealed last week had travelled from Slovakia for a trial at Newcastle have returned home.

 

And United have been accused of making a derisory offer for one of them, Brazilian defender Dionatan Nascimento.

 

“For sure, we will not accept peanuts for our players.” blasted Allen Bula, head of football development at Nascimento’s club MFK Kosice.

 

And a source close to the potential deal for the 16-year-old Brazilian said last night: “What Newcastle offered wouldn’t buy a decent Skoda.”

 

But although Nascimento’s club-mate Lubomir Korijkov has also gone back to Slovakia, United will keep an eye on his progress.

 

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-utd/newcastle-utd-news/2009/03/29/toon-boss-kinnear-could-be-director-of-football-79310-23254919/

[Teasy]

This is it http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/91893/Toon-fear-a-nine-point-Tyne-bomb-

My mates dad that is (writer)

 

When you get a moment would you politely ask him if he's fucking brain dead?

[gdm]

Toon boss Kinnear could be Director of Football

 

JOE KINNEAR will take on an “upstairs” role at Newcastle if he decides against staying on as manager beyond the summer.

 

And with Dennis Wise ready to quit United at the end of the season, Kinnear could replace him as the Magpies’ director of football.

 

Although expected back at work next month after heart bypass surgery, Kinnear remains unsure whether to sign the two-year contract extension offered to him in January.

 

But Newcastle’s top brass are adamant he will remain with the club in some capacity even if he withdraws from the managerial frontline.

 

And with Wise’s departure looking certain, a DoF position — based from his Hertfordshire home — could well appeal to Kinnear.

 

The Sunday Sun revealed last month that Wise was preparing to relinquish his controversial role at United.

 

And I understand Wise would already have cut his ties with United but for Kinnear’s spell of sick leave.

 

Wise’s future has been further clouded by his support for the idea of Terry Venables taking charge at Newcastle in Kinnear’s absence.

 

United still believe their manager will be back to help fight relegation this season — Kinnear took the lead role in picking the team to face Arsenal last Saturday.

 

Meanwhile, despondent executive box holders at Newcastle are being offered an extra year at St James’s Park free.

 

United’s managing director Derek Llambias is dangling that carrot in front of corporate fans as part of a charm offensive to prevent them from abandoning the club.

 

Ashley also plans to meet with supporters as Newcastle bid to head off a big drop in season-ticket sales.

 

And he is also preparing to do an TV interview with Sky Sports as United acknowledge their failure to communicate properly with fans.

 

Elsewhere, the two youngsters who we revealed last week had travelled from Slovakia for a trial at Newcastle have returned home.

 

And United have been accused of making a derisory offer for one of them, Brazilian defender Dionatan Nascimento.

 

“For sure, we will not accept peanuts for our players.” blasted Allen Bula, head of football development at Nascimento’s club MFK Kosice.

 

And a source close to the potential deal for the 16-year-old Brazilian said last night: “What Newcastle offered wouldn’t buy a decent Skoda.”

 

But although Nascimento’s club-mate Lubomir Korijkov has also gone back to Slovakia, United will keep an eye on his progress.

 

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-utd/newcastle-utd-news/2009/03/29/toon-boss-kinnear-could-be-director-of-football-79310-23254919/

 

and Hughton said it was all his doing too

[Decky]

Why on Gods name would we keep Kinnear when we have the chance to get rid? Ashley clearly fancies the arse off Kinnear, clearly does.

[joeyt]

Artur Boruc set to sign to Newcastle United

Newcastle are on the verge of a £4million summer swoop for Celtic keeper Artur Boruc.

 

Struggling United see the controversial Pole as a longterm replacement for Shay Given, who moved to Manchester City in January.

 

Boruc has been beset by problems this season and conceded a shocking goal, letting a back pass slip under his foot in last night's WorldCup3-2 qualifying defeat to Northern Ireland.

 

But according to senior sources in the Polish camp he'll sign for Toon in June.

 

TheCeltic hero was one of the players of Euro 2008, and the Magpies have been monitoring him for months - as Sunday Mirror Sport revealed in January.

 

Any move is likely to be reliantonNewcastle avoiding relegation, however.

 

Boruc's day had started badly in Belfast, with threatening graffiti being removed froma wall outside Windsor Park before kick-off.

 

TheCeltickeeper is a hate figure with some Belfastbased Rangers fans after a string of incidents in Old Firm games.

 

Another keeper

 

 

[Guest NorwegianMag]

We need a keeper! Harper is not good enough.

[Thespence]

Man of the week

 

Newcastle's biggest problem: dignity. "Mike Ashley has gone in there and lowered the standards," says Dave Whelan. "He has no class whatsoever. All of the dignity has gone out of the club. Whatever you thought of Freddy Shepherd, he had great dignity." 1998: Freddy + the News of the World + a Spanish brothel + great dignity = "Newcastle fans are mugs – and the girls are all dogs!" Freddy added: "Me, I like blondes, big bust, good legs. I don't like coloured girls. I want a lesbian show with handcuffs..." ("I still see Freddy when I go to Barbados," says Dave. "He's upset not to still be there – he was Newcastle through and through." • £32.9m: Newcastle's loss in the final year under Shepherd. • £37m: Freddy's personal profit from selling his stake.)

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/mar/29/newcastle-wigan-mike-ashley-freddy-shepherd-dave-whelan

[mrmojorisin75]

Man of the week

 

Newcastle's biggest problem: dignity. "Mike Ashley has gone in there and lowered the standards," says Dave Whelan. "He has no class whatsoever. All of the dignity has gone out of the club. Whatever you thought of Freddy Shepherd, he had great dignity." 1998: Freddy + the News of the World + a Spanish brothel + great dignity = "Newcastle fans are mugs – and the girls are all dogs!" Freddy added: "Me, I like blondes, big bust, good legs. I don't like coloured girls. I want a lesbian show with handcuffs..." ("I still see Freddy when I go to Barbados," says Dave. "He's upset not to still be there – he was Newcastle through and through." • £32.9m: Newcastle's loss in the final year under Shepherd. • £37m: Freddy's personal profit from selling his stake.)

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/mar/29/newcastle-wigan-mike-ashley-freddy-shepherd-dave-whelan

 

[Yorkie]

I'm honestly not sure if i'd rather keep Kinnear as manager, than have him be director of football. He's a shit judge of talent and the signings of Nolan and Taylor hardly fill me with confidence. Say, by some masterstroke, we got a quality manager like Bruce in - and he buggered off the same way KK did, cos Kinnear had overruled him on something. That would pang like a bitch.

 

If we're gonna keep the director of football, etc, set-up - then i'd rather we just kept Wise because he's blatantly got a litter of impressive worldwide contacts, if anything. What the fuck has Kinnear got?

 

Just get him the fuck out of the club. He's incompetent and an idiot to boot. Oh, and he might die.

 

If we're gonna get anywhere then Ashley has to stop employing his mates.

[Frazzle]

I'm honestly not sure if i'd rather keep Kinnear as manager, than have him be director of football. He's a s*** judge of talent and the signings of Nolan and Taylor hardly fill me with confidence. Say, by some masterstroke, we got a quality manager like Bruce in - and he buggered off the same way KK did, cos Kinnear had overruled him on something. That would pang like a bitch.

 

If we're gonna keep the director of football, etc, set-up - then i'd rather we just kept Wise because he's blatantly got a litter of impressive worldwide contacts. What the f*** has Kinnear got?

 

Just get him the f*** out of the club. He's incompetent and an idiot to boot. Oh, and he might die.

 

If we're gonna get anywhere then Ashley has to stop employing his mates.

 

Kinnear scouted for Wenger in the past, that's enough to convince me.

 

As for the signings of Nolan and Taylor, I think they were emergency buys to save us from relegation.  It's too much of a risk buying players from abroad when going into a relegation battle.

[Yorkie]

I'm honestly not sure if i'd rather keep Kinnear as manager, than have him be director of football. He's a s*** judge of talent and the signings of Nolan and Taylor hardly fill me with confidence. Say, by some masterstroke, we got a quality manager like Bruce in - and he buggered off the same way KK did, cos Kinnear had overruled him on something. That would pang like a bitch.

 

If we're gonna keep the director of football, etc, set-up - then i'd rather we just kept Wise because he's blatantly got a litter of impressive worldwide contacts. What the f*** has Kinnear got?

 

Just get him the f*** out of the club. He's incompetent and an idiot to boot. Oh, and he might die.

 

If we're gonna get anywhere then Ashley has to stop employing his mates.

 

Kinnear scouted for Wenger in the past, that's enough to convince me.

 

As for the signings of Nolan and Taylor, I think they were emergency buys to save us from relegation. It's too much of a risk buying players from abroad when going into a relegation battle.

 

... kinda my point. Not only were they shit panic buys, but they were panic buys. We had a month to bring players in; other teams managed it.

 

And if he was such a good scout for Arsenal, why was he out of work for four years? I'd like to know a bit more about this role he ahd for Arsenal tbh.

[Jayson]

TWO Lamborghinis arrived at Newcastle's training ground last week. One came from Scotland for former Rangers forward Peter Lovenkrands - finally, after two months, reunited with his £150,000 motor. The other came north, brand new, for Danny Guthrie.

 

Around the corner from the car park, in a small side room, Newcastle's most decorated player spoke of collective responsibility. About looking in the mirror. About taking the blame for the implosion that has propelled the club to the brink of relegation. Nicky Butt never once spoke of cars.

 

"I am a player. I am part of why we are where we are," he said. "It's p****d me off. We have 20- odd lads who are p****d off. We will all have different reasons as to why it has gone wrong.

 

"It's definitely in our heads. We think we're too good to be working as hard as a Hull or a Bolton. We HAVE to work as hard as them and then our ability will kick in.

 

"Maybe we think we don't need to do that, that we're too good. We think: 'We've got Michael Owen, we've got Oba Martins, we've got Gutierrez, we've got Damien Duff - we've got all these great players, so we don't need to work as hard. But the fact is we do.

 

"I'm part of it. We're all in it together. We're going out for games and we have the thing in our head that we are much better than him, the person we're playing against.

 

"We think: 'I'm a much better player and I can take it easy today.' Everyone is part of that and we have to get rid of it.

 

"It's not work ethic, to be fair. They are all good lads who work hard in training and give their all. It's something inside your head. I'm no different. You think: 'I'm playing against this lad today, and I'm better.' You might think once or twice a season: 'I can take it a bit easy today' - but you can't."

 

Clearly. Newcastle sit on the precipice. Defeat to Arsenal last week struck hard after their drop into the bottom three. More significantly, it destroyed much of the remaining belief on Tyneside that they could emerge from a catastrophic season still in the Premier League.

 

There was the whole Kevin Keegan business. There was Mike Ashley. There was the sale, then the no-sale. There is Joe Kinnear's illness. And then there is Butt's honesty.

 

He added: "It was all a bit of a distraction but it's not an excuse for the players. It's easy to blame the situation or someone else. Sooner or later you have to look at yourself in the mirror. You have to say: 'Hold on, mate. It's not his fault. It's me who's not performing.'

 

"We all have to do that and try to turn it around for the last eight games. I hope the players are coming round to that way of thinking."

 

Butt is loath to hark back to his Old Trafford days. But he still demands the standards Sir Alex Ferguson expected, a self-reliance currently missing on Tyneside.

 

Butt reflected: "Taking it easy wasn't allowed at Manchester United. You have so many players fighting for your position. This season we've had injuries and maybe even if you don't train well you still play.

 

"At the top clubs, if you're not training well in the week, the coaches will see that and someone else will play. If you've got people threatening to take your position, players as good as you, you know that if you take your foot off the gas for a fraction, you'll be out of the team."

 

It seems Butt's whole Newcastle career has been spent fighting fires, trying to find a semblance of the success he had in Manchester.

 

His first year at the club, 2004-05, was a bitter disappointment. He failed to recapture the form that had seen him win six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the Champions League and 39 England caps.

 

A loan spell at Birmingham was similarly dark. He could easily have walked. Only a comment from his dad stopped him.

 

"He's my hardest critic," Butt explained. "But when it looked like I might be leaving Newcastle, he said to me: 'You know you're better than what you're showing, better than the players taking your place. You have to be a man and show them.'

 

"He said: 'It's easy to walk away when people are slagging you off - but there's a choice. You can show them how good you are and stick two fingers up to your critics.'"

 

So Butt did - and his own resurrection followed.

 

The 34-year-old explained: "It's easy to walk away, especially nowadays, with the amount of money in the game. If I walked away now I would be set up for life. But there is something inside that says you don't want the easy way out. I didn't want to do that."

 

Butt has bought in to Newcastle, its working-class core, its anger at failure, its ability to implode.

 

He said: "We've the potential to be a big club but we're not. We're going backwards. And I came here to challenge for the top four. Everyone is Newcastle daft up here. Even the girls and the grannies go around in black and white shirts. That makes it different.

 

"You always associated Newcastle with big signings and trying to get over the final hurdle. The last two seasons have been disasters and I feel for the fans and everybody involved. At the minute we are nowhere near challenging where we should be. We are inconsistent, we've got no confidence and we need to get it back.

Hurts

 

"Playing at St James' is something we should thrive on. We should be looking forward to playing in front of our fans. If we get the structure of the club right, we can get there. But it will take years and no one wants to hear that. You need to get the academy running right, you need to get players coming through the club who bleed it, players whose grandparents loved the club.

 

"I feel for this club now. I feel for Newcastle. I love the place, I love the attitude of the people around it. It's just football, football, football. Our position hurts me because this place means something to me. We have to keep the club in the Premier League."

 

In its hour of need, Newcastle clings to such spirit.

 

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/240255/WERE-ALL-IN-THIS-TOGETHER-BUTT-Toon-stars-think-were-too-good-to-work-hard.html

 

Very honest article words from Butt, first player telling it like it is and not bsing constantly.

[Yorkie]

It's still bullshit cos they never actually rectify it.

[Jayson]

I'm honestly not sure if i'd rather keep Kinnear as manager, than have him be director of football. He's a s*** judge of talent and the signings of Nolan and Taylor hardly fill me with confidence. Say, by some masterstroke, we got a quality manager like Bruce in - and he buggered off the same way KK did, cos Kinnear had overruled him on something. That would pang like a bitch.

 

If we're gonna keep the director of football, etc, set-up - then i'd rather we just kept Wise because he's blatantly got a litter of impressive worldwide contacts. What the f*** has Kinnear got?

 

Just get him the f*** out of the club. He's incompetent and an idiot to boot. Oh, and he might die.

 

If we're gonna get anywhere then Ashley has to stop employing his mates.

 

Kinnear scouted for Wenger in the past, that's enough to convince me.

 

As for the signings of Nolan and Taylor, I think they were emergency buys to save us from relegation. It's too much of a risk buying players from abroad when going into a relegation battle.

 

... kinda my point. Not only were they s*** panic buys, but they were panic buys. We had a month to bring players in; other teams managed it.

 

And if he was such a good scout for Arsenal, why was he out of work for four years? I'd like to know a bit more about this role he ahd for Arsenal tbh.

 

He was supposedly a scout for Wenger during those 4 years. He wasnt out of work, just wasnt a manager.

[Jayson]

It's still bullshit cos they never actually rectify it.

 

Hard to tell when playing the likes of Man united and Arsenal.

On the basis of the hull game you're right.

 

We'll have to see, so much is on the stoke, portsmouth, tottenham etc games now its unreal.

Down to them to step up.

[Thespence]

Jayson - I think he did a bit of scouting during his time in the wilderness for his neighbour in South America, nice work if you can get it.