Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Barton signs for Newcastle

The BBC are reporting that Joey Barton has turned down a late offer from West Ham in order to join Newcastle United.

The club announced it had accepted bids of £5.5 million from both West Ham and Newcastle, leaving Barton with a straight choice between the two sides - but it appears as though he has hitch his load to Big Sam's bandwagon.

All academic now I guess, but I thought it would have come down to an interesting choice between the two sides as although West Ham put in a great escape to avoid dropping into the Championship, both sides have new(ish) managers looking to strengthen the side and have money behind them both in terms of players and what financial deal they could offer Barton (with the BBC report suggesting a figure of around £70,000 per week).

Status wise, both sides have a history and tradition that is not too disimilar - although Newcastle clearly have the edge in terms of attendance figures.

Did it come down to Allardyce being the deciding factor?

vote it up!

3 comments:

Allen said...

Head case; why the hell does Big Sam want him?

Anonymous said...

At lest we still have D'abo. Gutted.

Anonymous said...

Allen - because as a goalscoring midfielder he was worth twice what Newcastle paid for him. Have you been asleep all season?

Blackley Lad - yes, you're right. That thought will give me endless consolation in the coming long dark evenings.

What is wrong with our board? Can't they see what's in front of their faces? Lowest goal total ever in the history of football and they sell our leading goalscorer. Great move.

As I've said before - he's a nutter. We're all nutters - we support City.