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Reasons To Be Cheerful At St.James’ Park

11 years ago
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Well that didn’t go too well did it?

NUFC miss the critical opportunity to strengthen, Joe Kinnear has reduced our stature to laughing stock once again (airport picture in Nice? Wow) , and Pardew keeps us playing long ball football with a bunch of Gallic pansies who show no real desire or grit.

Our only recruit is a money grabber who could be in a gaol cell by Xmas.

Everyone around us has strengthened. Our supposed competition have all made one or two astute signings, with teams such as Norwich and Southampton showing the sort of ambition seemingly absent at St. James Park. Even a double-scudetto winning international standard winger was persuaded to swap Turin for Wearside.

One of our most influential players was ‘headspan’ by a transfer request and subsequently regressed to the attitude of a child. Not exactly a happy family.

The resurrection of Kinnear. I don’t think anything else needs to be said. Still gives me goosebumps and nausea.

Truly the summer of discontent, no?

But, there is still reason to not completely despair. I think that a bit of realism is required in the aftermath of the transfer window. It is these transfer months that tend to mess with the actual perspective of things and it’s not always as bad as it looks.

There are glimmers at the end of the tunnel, 4 points from 3 games is not a terrible start, and the fixture list throws up some very winnable games in the coming weeks. The performance of HBA in the defeat of Fulham was certainly one to get the loins stirring, and the promising link-up between Remy and Cisse harked back to the halcyon days of 4-3-3 in the closing stages of the 2011/12 season (providing that Pardew once again takes the same tactical risk and stops playing kick-and-rush). Cabaye is still here, begrudgingly or not, and will soon realise that sulking over a missed transfer would not enthuse any prospective buyer and should quickly return to some form of consistent performance.

Furthermore, intangible factor though it is, the squad will have no ‘bedding in’ time, and will face no time for a raft of new recruits to gel. Take Spurs’ performance on Sunday as evidence for this. The spree last January, however dim a memory, was decent business, and actually better than anyone else managed mid-season.

I know this could be bottom of the barrel-scraping (or delusional), but we are not actually in a bad position all things considered after 3 games. Give it a while before bringing out the torches and pitchforks.

This is not to condone the Ashley regime. I despise it as much as anyone and every day hope that he will depart soon. If the situation worsens, we languish in the relegation places and MA’s antics (and the court jester Kinnear) become more toxic, then at that point serious steps will just have to be taken. But, I do believe that some optimism must surface at some point, and I know the optimism contains a great deal of ifs but it’s not as bad as it seems.

It’s still early days; let’s pray the glass is half full.

Still, could be worse, could have Paolo Di Canio. Now that is a comforting thought.

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