KopiHomeSeason 04/05 Review By Soaring Magpies
09.08.2004 <<< Previous Next >>>
As
a Die-hard Fan of Newcastle United, I was worried about its future for the new
season that kicks off on 14 August. Already there were rumours of a player
revolt against outgoing boss Sir Bobby Robson and certainly chairman Freddy
Shepherd's admission that Robson was entering his final year in charge of
Newcastle, must had unsettled some of the players and team preparation.
While Robson's "final" year coincided with the last season that captain Alan
Shearer played before retirement, other problems like letting new players
settled down quickly and the lack of depth in the squad also threatened to
derail Newcastle's season. The possibility of Newcastle slipping further down
from 5th in league standing last season is high if they were going to have
another slow start this year amid all those controversies.
Newcastle's new signings looked promising. We have found an experienced young forward with the arrival of Dutchman Patrick Kluivert to replace Shearer as star striker when he retires at the end of this season. Let's hope Kluivert was able to adapt to the pace of English Premiership quickly and starts scoring lots of goal for Newcastle. I believed that Newcastle made the right decision to let veteran Gary Speed go and got Nicky Butt who was around 5 years younger as a replacement in midfield. Let's hope Newcastle would be able to tap on Butt's experience in winning championships and cups from the time when he was with Manchester United. I was very disappointed with the loan transfer of Hugo Viana to Sporting Lisbon. We had paid so much money for this promising player but only to let him go. Viana should have been given more opportunities and time to prove himself with Newcastle as he is still young and learning. With Viana on loan, James Milner should deputised for Laurent Robert on the left. It remains to be seen if Milner was better than Viana as a player.
When it was reported that Kieron Dyer was going to deputise for Shearer as vice captain, I was again disappointed with the choice. Though Dyer is a special player and I had no doubt in his abilities but I did not believe he had the winning mentality and the mettle to be an effective leader for Newcastle. He is still young and has not had a taste of winning any championship or cup title. A vice captain should be matured, driven and be able to command respect from the teammates. Perhaps, Butt would be a more ideal choice when he settled in the team.
At the time of writing this page, I had learnt that Newcastle was signing Stephen Carr from Tottenham Hotspur for £2 million. That was a great news and I was beginning to have high hopes of this Newcastle team that were being assembled. With the right players drafted in to strengthen the team, may the key players like Shearer, Bellamy, Kluivert, Dyer, Robert, Butt and Jonathan Woodgate strive hard to make this season a glory one for Newcastle by finally winning a piece of silverware after many many years of hoping and waiting by our Fans.
Soaring Magpies
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