The Sunday match has wrapped up, and currently, despite having lost at Manchester City on Saturday, our beloved Newcastle United still find themselves sitting alone in third in the table with Liverpool having taken three points away from Stamford Bridge. The flip side is that the Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool group are all bunching up behind us at 22 points. . . meaning really not much except for when we drop more points (which will certainly happen sometime this season), it is more likely to be reflected in league position. Cest la vie. I am not ignoring the latest Cheik Tiote rumor, but I figure that there is an exploration of transfer philosophy as a stand-alone piece, so I'm just going to leave that particular idea alone for today. That said, a couple of the palette cleanser links today do deal with the January market... just in sound bite form from Alan Pardew.
Rumor and innuendo lives in contract discussion and transfer speculation, so it's hard to say what really is happening in here, but as a ever-present in the first team, there's not much leg to stand on regarding this unless Danny's locker room position is untenable. Who knows?
Steve Harper’s loan deal is in the balance - Newcastle United - Sunderland Echo
A recall for Steve around the holidays would seem to indicate that he would be returned to be the Cup keeper when the FA Cup starts up in January. . .which may or may not be what is happening. I know I'd rather have Steve than Rob Elliott in there, but I'm not convinced that the squad is deep enough to make the FA Cup run that we would want to.
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew not expecting January exits - Goal.com
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew says he only expects one of his star players to leave in January if a club pays "way over the odds" for his services.
Again, I'm going to address all of this in a stand-alone post, but I feel we should acknowledge that it's out there.
We won't sell on the cheap, says Alan Pardew - ESPN Soccernet
Perfect teacher on hand for Sammy in Beardsley - Sunday Sun
If Sammy Ameobi turns into Peter Beardsley, I think I'd go apoplectic. There exists, however, case after case across the sports landscape where these type of expectations and comparisons have negatively affected young talents' careers.
Virgin Money chief backs Magpies in stadium row - Telegraph
Submitted without comment.