Another window of opportunity wasted?
ANOTHER transfer window, another tidy profit for Newcastle United.
Owner Mike Ashley banked more than 8m from its transfer business last month, and while the arrivals of Kevin Nolan, Ryan Taylor and Peter Lovenkrands will be welcomed by fans, will they be enough to stop the club's slide towards the Championship?
And once again, the events of the past few weeks have begged the question: what does Dennis Wise really do at Newcastle?
Wise reportedly earns more than 1m a year in his role as the club's executive director (football), yet the club, guided by him in the transfer market, has failed to sign a left-back for the second successive window, though Taylor can fill in there.
Maybe it's no wonder Wise – appointed a little over a year ago – has been strongly tipped for the exit door over the past few days.
United, of course, were rebuffed in their efforts to sign two midfielders yesterday – Manchester City's Michael Johnson and Sunderland's Kieran Richardson.
Supporters, however, will wonder why Newcastle waited until deadline day to table a bid for highly-rated Johnson, having been in talks with his club over Shay Given's proposed move to the City of Manchester Stadium for several weeks.
All leverage for getting Johnson out of City was lost when United accepted a bid – understood to be around 5.9m plus add-ons – for Given on Sunday night.
And was Richardson ever going to be allowed to leave the Stadium of Light for the club's biggest rivals? Arguably not.
Ashley, managing director Derek Llambias and manager Joe Kinnear, as such, had little to show for their efforts yesterday, though Sky Sports News's David Craig had been promised some reward for his chilly vigil outside the club's snow-covered training ground at Benton.
As it was, while his colleagues elsewhere were breaking news of big-money moves, Craig had to settle for a bacon sarnie, a cheery e-mail from Ashley and belated confirmation of Taylor's switch.
Still, at least the window is now closed, and Kinnear and his staff can concentrate fully on keeping the club in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Llambias – who has since taken a vow of silence since ditching his programme notes after Kevin Keegan's departure – will put his head above the parapet this week and field fans' questions.
And that's just as well, as there are more questions than answers right now.
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
