Newcastle’s dire transfer dealings have left Toon in trouble
Published:Joe Kinnear’s appointment as Newcastle’s director of football may have raised more than a few eyebrows, but not half as many as the Magpies’ subsequent inaction in the transfer market.
When you spend most of the previous season flirting with relegation, the onus is really on to make some signings in the following window, or so you’d think.
However, despite Newcastle employing someone to perform that exact role in the form of Kinnear, the sole sum of money which has been outlaid is £350,000 on Metz youngster Olivier Kemen, while Loic Remy’s arrival on loan completed their entire summer’s business.
This inexplicably dormant activity, combined with a tally of just one Premier League goal from three opening matches, is enough to concern any Toon fan and after the last campaign adds further credibility to their 7/1 on relegation.
Perhaps this is a drastic claim to make at this point, but the 1/2 on a bottom-half finish for Newcastle is now a punt worthy of serious consideration.
Remy may be a player who comes good at some point, but he has so far been injured and also has a court case hanging over his head, which puts his current frame of mind to perform on the football pitch under serious question.
Aside from the crocked Frenchman, Alan Pardew is now relying on a horribly out-of-form Papiss Cisse and the combined powers of the Ameobi brothers to grab the goals up front, a formula which has so far been exposed.
Observers scratching around for positives could point to the fact Yohan Cabaye was retained, but in reality the France international’s influence over the past year has mostly been negative and it only seems like delaying time until he moves in January.
One of former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan’s tweets perhaps summed it up best on deadline day when he said: “Is Joe Kinnear on holiday….. !!!!!”
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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