"He doesn't know how to spell the word give up."
But Shepherd does. Bad news for the Toon faithful, this time via BBC:
Why such austerity? With apologies to residents of non-baseball-playing countries, it reminds TDH of the 1997 Chicago White Sox. Midway through the season, with the team lagging in its division but not yet out of contention, the owner essentially gave up. He swapped some starters for minor league prospects in what the local papers called the "White Flag Trade."
Later on, some of those prospects turned into pretty good players. And presto, the White Sox won the World Series last year for the first time since 1917. But the bosses on Tyneside aren't even deepening the reserves - they're doing nothing.
Is this the "White Flag January Transfer Window" for the Magpies? Certainly feels like it. With not even a token signing to keep the fans in good faith, Shepherd and Souey seem determined to grin and bear it until the end of the season. Well, TDH isn't grinning.
1100: Newcastle boss Graeme Souness, who snapped up Michael Owen on deadline day in the summer transfer window, says he has no money to add to his squad and will not be making any signings.Not much more TDH can say. Looks like no European football for us next year, eh? There were several decent players available on loans or free transfers, so TDH must presume that "no money" meant no cash for wages, either.
Why such austerity? With apologies to residents of non-baseball-playing countries, it reminds TDH of the 1997 Chicago White Sox. Midway through the season, with the team lagging in its division but not yet out of contention, the owner essentially gave up. He swapped some starters for minor league prospects in what the local papers called the "White Flag Trade."
Later on, some of those prospects turned into pretty good players. And presto, the White Sox won the World Series last year for the first time since 1917. But the bosses on Tyneside aren't even deepening the reserves - they're doing nothing.
Is this the "White Flag January Transfer Window" for the Magpies? Certainly feels like it. With not even a token signing to keep the fans in good faith, Shepherd and Souey seem determined to grin and bear it until the end of the season. Well, TDH isn't grinning.
posted by Daniel Altman at 5:10 PM
2 Comments:
Surely the Toon should have enough talent already on the books to be top six? though I suppose re: the defence, you can't polish a turd.
And apologies for going completely off topic, but I watched part of Senegal v. Nigeria last night and the player who went up most in my estimation was ... Samuel Eto'o. Watching that game emphasised how complete his game is. Others from the continent are as fast (Kamara and esp. Martins definitely seem to have more pace), have as many tricks (Jay-Jay, Lua Lua), and many players have equal courage and aggression when going for the ball, and similar finishing skills. But no one in Africa has them all like he does.
It reminds me of what Hierro said about Raul: "not a 10 in anything, but a 9.5 in everything". I'd say at the moment, Eto'o is a 10 in everything. The only other striker I think that about is Shevchenko, and Eto'o is 6 years younger.
Well, there's talent, and then there's healthy talent. Even when our whole squad is healthy, though, we're not exactly deep. And to be top six in the Premiership, you need depth at every position.
Our ideal lineup right now is probably Owen, Shearer, Dyer, Emre, Parker, Solano, Carr, Babayaro, Taylor, Ramage, Given. But we have no good cover except in half of the midfield (N'Zogbia and Faye) and goal (Harper). It's depressing.
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