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Steven Taylor in £5 million Arsenal deal?

Posted on May 30th, 2010 | 137 Comments |

Taylor: London calling?
Taylor: London calling?
Another Sunday, another Taylor rumour. Well technically it’s not another rumour as it’s been mentioned before, but Arsenal are again being linked with a move for Steven Taylor, with a possible fee of £5 million on the cards.

Apparently the Arsenal boss wants Taylor to beef up his defensive options and will be battling with Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton for the signature of the player who only has 12 months left to run on his current contract. Sound familiar? Well it should do as whenever Steven Taylor is linked with a move away from Tyneside it is nearly always the same clubs that are mentioned as possible destinations. Unfortunately though, it’s the nature of the beast. We are at that time when the rumour mill spins into overdrive, and until Taylor either signs a new contract with Newcastle or actually does bite the bullet and decide to move on then these rumours will keep surfacing. But say this is true and Taylor does hear London calling, where would that leave us? And what could we get from the Taylor fee?

Well, basing it purely on speculation, if there are four clubs interested in Taylor then that could start off a bidding war, and we could end up with more that £5 million for the player, which is alright as long as it is allowed to be reinvested in the team.

Arsenal are apparently looking to offload Philippe Senderos over the summer, so if they added him into the deal on top of the £5 million then I would take that. It would leave us with the same number of defenders, and a bit of cash to spend aswell, and Senderos is not a bad defender in my opinion. In fact, it makes me wonder why Wenger would be allowing him to leave the Emirates?

Alternatively, if it was just a straight cash deal for the player, what would that £5 million get? Would that be enough to tempt Manchester City into selling us Nedum Onouha? I mean £5 million is somewhere in the middle of what Newcastle and Manchester City apparently value the player at. Thing is, Taylor and Onouha are both roughly the same age, and both have roughly the same ability, so what would be the point in wheeling one out to wheel another, near identical model in? Surely it would be cheaper just to keep Taylor and avoid paying all the silly bits like agents fees and the like?

Then you look at the midfield, what would £5 million get us in that position? Well, Jamie O’Hara for one. Granted, old sack face at Spurts has slapped a £6 million price tag on the midfielder, but surely we could negotiate that down? The biggest problem for me would be the fact that we would be making oursleves lighter in defence having spent the money on a midfielder. Would the money be available from the club to get another defender in?

So although this all been speculative rambling, my own preference would be to give Taylor a new contract with Newcastle. Having said that though, I have concluded that should Mr Wenger decide to pursue Taylor then he should throw Senderos into the deal, which would mean we could then bring O’Hara into the team aswell.

You gotta love letting your imagination run wild, eh?

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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137 Responses

  2. “Not being able to afford £2.5million for a defender? That is absolutely ridiculous.”

    “We’re Liverpool Football Club – since when can’t we afford a paltry sum for a defender? This really does show how low we have gone since the Yanks took over. It shows how little Rafa has to work with this summer. £5million and he is expected to win the Premier League? Give him a break.”

    Gon on Liverpool :lol: ;)

  3. gotta keep taylor. 5 million is a wind-up, surely? potential england centre back.

  4. Thing is, with only 12 months left on his contract, it’s a bloody big bargaining chip should any team decide they want to buy him.

  5. yeah, agree. especially with the new rules regarding home-grown players he’ll be worth a bloody fortune when he wins his first cap. which he will, no doubt about it.

  6. I think whether we keep him will depend upon on how true the rumours are about his arrogance and the part he played in Glassjawgate. If he goes then perhaps it’s for good reason.

  7. Thing is, that home grown rule means nothing about nationality. Or does it?

    The way I read it is that it isn’t nation specific, so as long as you get the player over here early enough, and have him for three years, then that makes the player home grown.

    It’s when players start getting bought that are over 21 from overseas that problems arise.

  8. malchick’s point is still valid though toons.

    With Taylor you’re getting someone with pedigree and experience in the top flight. International recognition will raise his status more. And inevitably his price.

  9. personally i regard getting taylor to sign a new deal this summer is the most important piece of business we’ll make. it’ll show the level of ambition of the board and make a statement regarding developing local talent.

    good point about jawgate bowburn, surley this kinda thing goes on at all clubs though and it’s up to the manager to sort out. young lads, lasses, money, egos etc.

    aye toons you’ll be right about home grown rules. i’m not sure how it all works. just seems a bit odd that wenger could be looking to offload senderos and sign taylor. or am i reading too much into it?

  10. It is simple:
    Set deadline to sign contract, if he declines, tell him to bugger off…………….
    Use Wilshire as a bargaining tool on a 12 month loan then use cash to sign Onuhoa.
    Oh I forgot, where talking about NUFC. lol.

  11. from taylors point of view he would be better waiting the last year out. he gets prem footy and if we get relegated he is free to leave anyway. either way i can not see taylor staying at newcastle……’gone are the days of the shearers etc slipping through the net’ blah blah – my arse.

  12. Arda Turan on his way to the premiership!

    Pity not us.
    Another name bong eye put forward but never chased up!!

  13. Senderos is out of contract. Arsenal have no priority who he signs for. Take the money, or it could be like the chamakh deal (player tapped up and not signing for bordeaux and getting no money for him)

  15. TonyGreen, i agree with using him as a bargaining tool if he does leave, player swap or nothing

  16. If he doesn’t sign a deal by July 1st we are knackered!
    But then again no deal has been offered yet.
    Also haris vuckic only 2 years left so this time next year
    we will be saying same thing about haris!!!
    But don’t worry shola will be offered a new 10 year deal at £50,000 a day!!!

  17. Would the sensible thought be that perhaps he is away on holiday? And that any contract issues may/may not get sorted when they return for pre-season?

    That way it gives Taylor a chance to accept/decline and gives Newcastle time to sell if he does decline?

    Am I being too rational in my thoghts regarding how easy it could be?

    This is Newcastle after all….

  18. “If he doesn’t sign a deal by July 1st we are knackered!”

    why, explain please.

  19. 5milion is cheap but wit a year on his contract thats bout the rate plus does he wanna stay i never see him in the paper sayin he does unlike all the other players wen carroll was linked wit stoke he was in paper 2dys later sayin he was staying weres taylor sayin that

  20. Why is wenger getting rid of senderos? ….. Coz he is shite!!! Still haven’t forgiven Taylor and his gobby dad for holding toon to ransome last time his contract was up! Arsenal chelski n manure were all in for him last time according to his rent a gob dad, when in actual fact no frigga wanted him but us and he had to sign a contract on our terms… Not his dads! Much of the same this time I reckon! Sell him to wolves or Wigan or someone like that! No space for huge egos and their gobby parents in this city!! (ooo how I enjoyed that hungover rant)

  22. Davy – Good point, especially considering that Taylor was one of the players who used to speak to the press a lot.

  23. 1st July enters final year and price will drop and over 23 so can’t get more compen!

  24. We cant sell Taylor, he is a future England captain.
    We need to keep our stars like Taylor, Carroll and Guthrie if we are gonna challenge for Europe.

  26. Contract talks will probably happen with carroll, taylor n vukic but krul n guthrie only hv a year left on there contrcts n jose only hs two left

  27. Still haven’t forgiven Taylor and his gobby dad for holding toon to ransome last time his contract was up!!!!!

    That’s what the football game is about,
    they all do it not just Alfie Taylor,
    nearly all players are touted about to other clubs in the press to try and force the had of his club to offer new deal.

  29. I wudnt worry bout him goin to arsenal wenger dont rate english players n that new rule were ya have to have 7 plyers under 23 in ya sqaud of 25 dont matter coz they dont hav to b english jus hav to been at british academy for 3yers so wenger can stil pack his sqaud wit foriegns

  30. @Les:

    A player himself saying he wants to go to another club is definitely proof of tapping up. He had less than a year on his contract before Wenger said anything about him. Players with less than a year on their contracts are free to speak with any clubs as far as FIFA regulations say.

    As for Senderos, he’ll be out of contract and Arsenal won’t renew it. Wenger had specifically mentioned it. I’ve never heard him say that about any other player. Sad for a player the fans once touted as the next Tony Adams.

    He’s a decent player but our fans drove him out. Unfortunately they will always remember the two games where he got bullied and humiliated by Drogba. They fail to realise though that Drogba bullies even the best center backs out there when he’s on form. Having said that, I’ll admit that he’s pretty slow and could cause problems if you play a high line like us.

    Wilshere might be used as makeweight in a bid for Gary Cahil or Brede Hangeland. Other than that, NUFC looks like a possibility, specially if those Taylor rumours are true.

  31. @jk OK chamakh wasn’t tapped up. I personally don’t thing arsenal would go for taylor.
    1. He’s English.
    2. He likes to fight his team-mates (not a good idea with Andy Carroll i hear)
    3. He’s not got that great positional sense like adams.
    4. He’s a defender who likes to head and score (we don’t do heading or defenders scoring)

  32. Newcastle’s hierarchy this week confirmed – in contacting newspapers to deny numerous transfer stories – that the “no capital outlay” referred to in their recent five-year mission statement DOES mean that they will be making no cash signings. And with Aston Villa, Everton and, again, Sunderland all interested in offering Onuoha – who is out of favour at City under Mancini – a permanent escape route from Eastlands, there is even less prospect of the England Under-21 international ending up on Tyneside.

    Says it all really

  33. To keep Taylor at the Toon MA/CH need to give him the big sell, convince him of the future intentions of the club, and offer him a wedge load of money to suit. Sorry that’s the name of the game, all clubs are held to ransome by players approaching the end of their contracts. The “he can leave for nothing in the summer” scenario always exists.
    All this blather with Taylor is typically the reason why no new signings have yet been made, the domino effect will come into play at the end of the World Cup. Once players start moving that releases funds for other players, we need to hope that CH has a few options up his sleeve…

    There again, if Taylor doesn’t want to stay, why no sell the turkey ?

  34. davey@26…………i had no idea that so many of our most important players were into their last year. This is crap and in letting this happen the club have lost all the power and thew player now holds all the cards. Once again….. massive short term planning and a stupid approach to contracts have landed us in this position. All clubs never let their best players get into the final year. just another example of poor management… we really do need some footballing nonse runnign this club and not a couple of chancers/gamblers.

  35. @31….. i have not seen this statement confirmed… where can i find the link mate? I do believe it though mate and i ahve thought that would be our approach all along anyway. captial means money/reserves etc and outlay means spending. So i guess no capital outlay does indeed mean no spending money.

  37. Waddles Mullet – If that is true, why wouldn.tv they have made a statement themselves? In the original they pretty much said not to beleive anything unless it comes through official channels. That combined with the policy of not discussing transfer makes it seem strange that the club would deny anything, especially to the press directly.

    People need to remember that we are sitting ducks for the press now, especially now we hhave antagonised some of them in recent weeks.

  38. Don’t believe it as it’s typical Sunday sun rubbish.
    Don’t forget they are banned too so how did they get contact from club!
    Only when it’s on official website then you can believe it.

    We are supposed to be after Adama Diakité again

  39. fcuk!! i have to agree with toonsy – thats twice this week. Trust me when i say i would have latched onto this anti ashley bit of news if it had been said. Its prob true like but i do not think a statement like that – which is clear and to the point – has been said.

  40. i think our first bit of transfer business should be tying up taylor, krul, jose and the young guns to long term deals. This would be a feat in itself. why do i have a bad feeling in my gut AGAIN!!

  41. Beat me to it Malchick,Vukic,Guthrie and Jose contracted until 2012 and Carroll until 2013.

  42. If he’s good enough for the likes of Arsenal and Villa, then he’s good enough for us! Why sell a home grown talent (who is Newcastle through and through) for such a low price, when he will be potentially worth 3 or 4 more ‘when’ he gets into the senior England team?!
    We need to get him signing a new contract!

  43. I agree Craig but I’ve a feeling Taylor wants to go regardless,hope I’m wrong…..it has been known,and stop agreeing with Toonsy it’s taking away all the fun ;-)

  45. what does the club, or supporters for that matter, actually gain from allowing reporters into st. james? i’d be happy if nufc banned them all. really, i can’t stand any of them (g. caulkin the exception). apart from the odd decent match report it’s all lies anyway, innit?

  46. The other problem Craig is that to give them a new and longer contract Ashley would have to give them a payrise,so in his mind he’ll think it’s better to wait until as late as possible to offer new contracts and hence save money on wages.A risky strategy though.Just my opinion.

  47. We have rejected bids of 6 million from bigger clubs then nocastle for o hara.everton,foolham,west spam.

  48. agreed richietoon@45, at the end of the day, contract negotiations are always fun. What does the future hold, how much are you going to pay me, xyz is earning more than me…blah blah. Anyone who has worked freelance knows the scenario, sign up for a period of time for a particular rate. If you can get another 5 pound an hour elsewhere then you’ll Foxtrot Oscar at a weeks notice, loyalty…naaah..maybe. The poor footballers, they only have a short career (10 – 15 years)so they need to maximise their income. Makes your heart bleed eh, all for doing something that most of us on this blog would do for nowt – playing footy for the Toon AND geting paid for it…

  49. TBH, I aint that bothered about taylor going if we can get good money. my only worry is that he will go but the money will not be given in its 100% to CH. in which case we have just weakened an already weak prem team.
    i am far more worries about loosing the bull and krul and the two young ens.

    toonsy, dont worry, i am sure the true wont last the day out!!

  53. and of course there is the other reason why taylor wont be going to arse or chelsea… he is not good enough at the end of the day. Sure, he is a decent defender but not in the ranks of clubs with high ambitions and champ league football. I can see a more realistic target being everton or villa.

  54. Again I agree Craig,he’s good enough for us but not for the top 4 yet.That’s not his fault though how often has he been our most experienced centre back ? He should have had an experienced player along side him to bring his game on like a Cambell, short term(not now but in the past).

  56. I always thought Woodgate could have brought the best Taylor. Actually having a defender that has a clue to help along the way would have been a massive boost.

    Look what he has has to work with, Bramble, Boumsong, Rozehnal etc etc.

    I actually think Colo, if he has learned from this second season, could be the best defender on our books. But that is an if that can only be answered by playing next season in a team that has a bit of stability on the manager side of things.

    He just needs to learn that, sometimes, smacking the ball out of play is the best policy.

  57. Toonsy – granted he did well last season, but Colo is a “fair weather” defender who only looks good in a winning team. He’ll have his work cut out facing big bruising centre forwards in the PL next season. I’d play him as a defensive midfielder in the holding position in front of a big central defensive partnership, which would include perhaps Steven Taylor.
    Woodgate was in my opinion one of the best centre halfs to play for the Toon. Pity about his fitness record.

  58. Yeah Toonsy Woodgate would have been another one who would have brought him on,especially positional wise………….however if he couldn’t learn from Boumsong what hope is there for him? ;-)

  59. 56… its impossible to say woody was our best when he basically never played. he was like dyer… you knew in your head that they were great but your heart told you it was pointless as they were both never more than two games awat from an injury.

  60. @58

    woodgate played enough games to show he was class. a cut above anything we’d seen for a long time. just a shame he was injury prone.

  61. WoW, long thread, but FYI; Senderos is out of contract this summer, so any player + cash swap-deal is not possible.. Doesnt ST love the Toons anyway? Would love him in London though :D But he should stay and fight to make sure NUFC survives the PL! Can’t believe Hull stayed up! Go Toon :)

    *Gunner*

  62. yep, totally agree but a very expensive luxury that we can ill afford due to new ownership. we have peanuts (if that) to spend… we need to get a solid, steady, middle of the road defender that is not a walking paramedic case.

  66. talking defenders s/sun reports the man/city defender will not come to sjp while J/BARTON is at club,maybe if c.h. bans cigars he might come lol

  68. Thanks malchick@59…thanks, that’s what I said about Woodgate too. Dyer was also a great player, just didn’t manage it due to injuries. Pity for both of these players, and England too btw.

  69. Icedog – You lost me when you said “Sunday Sun reports”… :D

    Of course, being banned from SJP themselves, they have no reason to stir up shite, no reason at all ;)

  71. So by the Sunday Stun, Onouha wont come becuase of something Barton did to another player?

    Yet on the other hand, a man of such principles, as Onouha so obviously is according to the SS, is alright with Craig Bellamy, who tried to smash John Arne-Risse’s leg with a golf club?

    I wish the SS put some feckin thought into things ;)

    Neil Farrington, you are a cock of the highest order :)

  74. Before ppl start goin crzy that the club hav apperantly been intouch with the media to confirm there will b no cash signings how is it that the sun is the only one saying it plus in that statement they said they wud not communicate with the media and only through offical statements will they release information, i still believe there will signings but not mny 4 maybe if that bcoz why wud they b goin watchin games if they werent lookin at players

  75. had a couple drinks a few times with a old local rag reporter a.oliver,now at people i think,hes not a bad guy,(banned from sjp) had toon at heart like,just not the greatest reporter,had some good laughs with tales he told me about times and storeys at sjp

  80. Is Taylor that good? I’m a gooner so not seen that much of him but always thought he to slow

  81. Andy – I don’t think he is anything special, but that is my personal view. He gets caught out of position too much and doesn’t have the pace to recover.

    Sure he could learn it, but he has been playing football long enough now without showing any real improvement. It’s ok though because he “loves the club” and is “Newcastle through and through”, so he is allowed to balls up every few games or so.

    I’m Newcastle through and through, doesn’t make me a good footballer though ;)

  82. TOONSYI’m Newcastle through and through, doesn’t make me a good footballer though

    you said it m8 lol

  83. Icedog – Just seems because he is a Geordie, Taylor gets more than an easy ride of it.

    Is he one of the best we have at the minute? Proabably. Could we do better? Hell yeah. A balls up is a balls up, Geordie or not. Titus Bramble got hounded out of Newcastle for much the same thing.

  85. Bump up the price to £8m (i believe that was the price the past 10 times this story ran) and let him go. He’s nothing special, and if Ashley dont pocket the profit and actually puts it back into the team then great. A couple of decent players and a stronger squad.

  86. I think that is the back 4 for the World Cup in my opinion. Johnson, Terry, Ferdinand, A Cole.

  87. TOONSY,we all make mistakes m8,made odd one me-sel,saw boom make a few playing for spurs,but get your point like

  88. toonsy says:
    May 30, 2010 at 12:56 pm
    Wonder if my fishing rod still works?

    aye it does but your useing the wrong bate ;)

  90. Icedog – But Terry gets himself into the right positions more often than not.

  91. “toonsy says:
    May 30, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    Andy – I don’t think he is anything special, but that is my personal view. He gets caught out of position too much and doesn’t have the pace to recover.

    Sure he could learn it, but he has been playing football long enough now without showing any real improvement. It’s ok though because he “loves the club” and is “Newcastle through and through”, so he is allowed to balls up every few games or so.

    I’m Newcastle through and through, doesn’t make me a good footballer though ;)”

    I really don’t know what it will take for Toon fans to be happy with any defender to be honest.
    If we had Vidic and John Terry in the backline we’d find something to bitch about…

    It amazes me that people who seem to know football don’t seem to notice that our defence only plays badly when our midfield is so pathetic that they cannot keep possession and thus invite so much pressure on the defense they make every defender we’ve ever had look bad!

    Can you think of any defender thats ever been solid for us besides Woodgate? And he barely played enough games for us to jump on his back anyway?

    The second we feel we might lose a decent player we try justify why they would want to leave “Our wonderful club” by saying they were never that great anyway!!!

  92. I liked bramble, for every mistake he made he saved our bacon a number of times IMO.

  93. TOONSY your right of course,my point is a lot on here get on about pace,its not as important as a good heed,thats why strikers must have pace to try and out-do them imo

  94. JJ,your dead right m8 on m/f,have said it on here that many times,if fact imo a team defends from the front to back

  95. “jay jay jay jay says:
    May 30, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    I liked bramble, for every mistake he made he saved our bacon a number of times IMO.”

    I agree Jay Jay – and I think exactly the same can be said of Steven Taylor.

    For me, I think Bramble would have been the perfect player to sit in front of a back four.
    He had a demon tackle on him, and an excellent eye for a pass. Plus he was good in the air. If he had a blipse in concentration there, he would have had players to cover.

  96. Ye Icedog, but its not only about defending – last season that was our problem. We had two central midfielders that could tackle, in Smith and Butt, because our pathetic managers thought they would concede less goals that way…

    However, they might have been able to win a ball, but they were more likely to misplace a pass or pump a long ball handing possssion to the opposition that just invited more pressure…

    The most important thing is to have players that don’t give the ball away easily (hard to get the ball off).
    Smith and Butt, are just no good at that at all.

    For me, Smith must be sold… Butt is gone.

    Guthrie and Barton should start and Nolan can play behind the strikers or play in a five man midfield.

    Nicky Butt is the worst player we’ve had in years. Its no coincidence Birmingham went down when he played in their midfield too. And conceded loads of goals.

  98. Oh the other player who made us play badly was Michael Owen.
    He basically just stood up the pitch waiting for someone to put a goal on a platter for him. And with our midfield, it was like playing in a team of 10 men.

    Thats why, even with some big names gone, I feel the TEAM is stronger this year.
    We have strikers who have decent work rate (compared to Owen anyway).
    We have CH selecting (more often than not) a midfield that can keep hold of the ball – ie, no Smith and Butt.
    And we have Routeledge who offers us another outlet on the right and doesn’t make us quite so one dimensional and predictable.

    If we still had Bassong, Beye and Martins. Just those three I’d say wewould have finished top 10 easy.

    However, without them, we have weakened in defense a bit and up pace wise. So we are once again fighting a relegation battle.

  99. JJ agree 100% on butt and smith,what ime not keen on is guthrie,barton,nolan is there all right-footed,we have no left-sided c/midfielder in mould of g.speed,emre,ect,which ime always banging on about

  100. Icedog, isn’t Vuckic left footed? The only consilation we have about not having cash is that we HAVE to give the youngsters plenty games. Hopefully Vuckic proves this year he is the bees knees as everyone is making him out to be.

  102. jay jay I’m starting to get the feeling you want us to go for Levan Kenia ;-)

  103. JJ I think he is left-footed,if you think and look back at some of better teams in ccc WBA.N/F away from home the amount of defending J.E.and JONAS did down left-side,they new were we were weak and will be found out in epl thats why i think ashley should push the boat out on a o!hare type of player,but not much hope there like

  105. Hope your all sticking around for my new signing plugging, Sunday Sun bashin article ;)

    Coming soon to a ‘blog near you :D

  106. Icedog

    I don’t think we’ll afford O’Hara.

    I think Hunt is more in our price range. Hes has a good work rate and he too is left footed.

    But I just don’t see Ashley putting a cent into bringing anyone in. The statement was clear enough to me – and I honesty cannot believe a man with that little intelligence made so mch money. You have to put money in to get money out.

  107. JJ i hate to agree with you m8,but i think your right,but we need someone on left c/m to break up play,and have a bit pace would be nice

  108. TOONSY not haveing a ED type blog are we,sorry m8 i know you have a bit more class,haveing a have-a-go day ;)

  110. england will win nothing with walcott on the right. pretty poor. lampard also frustrates his stats for chelski stand up but for me is overrated.
    if we sell taylor to arsenal we need to get vela coming our way. fits our requirement of a pacey striker.

  111. JJ my opinion of Taylor isn’t based on the fact he may be leaving,It’s based on watching him play over a number of years mate.Like I said he’s a good player but is he good enough for a Chelsea or Arsenal? no, not yet anyway in my opinion.Like I’ve also said though,this isn’t his fault,he’s never had a good,regular experienced partner to keep him right and improve his game he may get that elsewhere.Here more often than not he’s been the experienced player when he’s been little more than a kid himself.Personally I hope he stays,as I’ve said he’s a good player and will hopefully get better but I never change my opinion on a players ability just because they may possibly leave.

  112. Think this was Walcott’s chance. Lennon will be going, and based on this, so will Wright-Phillips.

  115. Or snap someone in half. Ye can tell he is angry, his heed has gone the same colour of his shirt!

  118. i find it a bit mental that we do not have a proven system yet either with england. its crazy. here we are at the world cup and we still seem to be experimenting in formations.

  121. Make that 4 times we agree @ 117!

    It just looks like we still dont know what our best team is or what formation to play them in. Only 2 friendlies before a tournament is not enough in my opinion.

    He has just based opinion on Darren Bent on around 60 mins of football, which isn’t enough to judge a player that has scored more than Defoe/Crouch/Heskey.

  123. Senderos is out of contract, he is free to go anywhere he wants. After a couple of errors in the champs league wenger froze him out. I think he is a decent player, but wenger doesn’t want him anymore.

  124. Do we really think Taylor gets an easy ride because he’s a Geordie? I used to have this same argument with Stardust about 2 years ago.

    I think he gets the benefit of the doubt because generally his attitude on the pitch is committed and honest (notwithstanding his gamesmanship). Whether he has issues off it, who knowa? Maybe the previous contract games were his dad’s idea and he did deserve a better contract at the time anyway. The Glassjawgate thing is still unclear.

    But generally he’s been a 100%er and although not necessarily technically as good as other defenders in the Premiership, seems willing and able to learn and improve. I think I’d be gutted if he left to be honest.

  125. I do, I really do Bowburn. Bramble got hounded out of Newcastle as people wouldn’t get off his back after he made a mistake, whilst forgetting the 3,4,5,6 or whatever good things he had done previously.

    I never saw Bramble shirk anything, yet he was mocked and derided. Sure he made gaffs, but he could have ironed them out of his game, much like he has done since he moved away from us. Taylor makes mistakes, and gets carte blanche on time to get better, why is that?

  126. I didn’t actually have anything against Bramble, just to be clear. Like you say, he was committed (he couldn’t half tackle when he wanted) and was often cultured on the ball. Unfortunately, most supporters recognised the same thing as his managers, his uncanny knack to drop clangers at crucial times and with crucial consequences. Many have obviously tried to improve his concentration but you can still that glitch in his game. But while it’s there, he can cost you points with alarming regularity. I don’t think Taylor has quite the same problem.

  127. toonsy says:
    May 30, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    “Taylor makes mistakes, and gets carte blanche on time to get better, why is that?”

    Bercause he’s a Londoner?

  128. Hmm, we’ll agree to disagree. There is no doubt that Taylor is a 100% er, I just think that he has never really kicked on and improved as much as I thought he would when he first came on the scene.

    Lets face it, he has played a shedload of footy already, which is the perfect opportunity to improve.

  129. Perhaps. Although I still rate him.

    I took my eye off the ball regards the top flight last season, but I’d be intrigued to know who’s available and attainable and better than Taylor though. There can’t be many, without taking a chance on them?

    worky – there’s no way I’m biting at the anti-South thing tonight. I’m too chilled.

  130. workyticket says:
    May 30, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    “Because he’s a Londoner?”

    Close, but I think it is because he is an adopted Geordie. People actually want him to succeed as he is a “local lad”, which is part of the reason why he gets time to improve, some 6 season worth of time so it seems.

    Anyone else would have been rounded upon by now if they had showed no real marked improvement in that time.

  131. bowburnmag says:
    May 30, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    “worky – there’s no way I’m biting at the anti-South thing tonight.”

    What “anti South thing”, Bowburn?

  132. Either your quote has changed or I’m gan nuts 8O

    You know what I mean. You’re convinced there’s a bigger discriminatory attitude than there actually is, in my opinion at least.

    Right, I’m not being rude, the movie is on and it’s time to enjoy popcorn, red laces and Aero bubbles. Rock ‘n’ roll.

  133. bowburnmag says:
    May 30, 2010 at 7:15 pm

    “Either your quote has changed or I’m gan nuts”

    It was your quote, Bowburn, and it didn’t change. Pack it in.

  134. OK, let’s leave it at that.

    But it irks me that we consider this nonsensical view (to me at least) that we’re blinded by this unrationalistic notion that Geordies will come good because they’re cut from the same cloth. There have been plenty of Geordies over the years who the majority knew weren’t up to scratch and they weren’t afforded time.

  135. I for one think we should do all we can ( with in reason ) to keep Taylor he has allways given 100% and has came on well over the last 2 season. At the start of the season just gone I think he was one of the strongest members of our defence. I am pretty sure he will become part of the England team and IMO would make a good Toon Captain, not just because he is an adopted Geordie but I think that is a plus.

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