With the current transfer window looking odds on to be another case of high profile departures rather than arrivals, is there any hope for Newcastle United? Yes. The hope is that somehow, by hook or by crook, we manage to crawl our way to safety.
With perennial saver/saviour Shay Given seemingly on the way out, finally fed up with punching below his weight, the alarm bells are starting to ring. Yes, Steve Harper’s a good keeper but no, he’s not Shay Given. Just like Darren Ambrose wasn’t Nobby Solano and Ignacio Gonzalez isn’t James Milner.
And if, as is being rumoured, any of Geremi, N’Zogbia and Enrique, or Barton leave by the end of next Monday, this will further weaken a squad that’s down to the bare bones already. Can we afford to let these players go? No, because the chances are that we won’t adequately replace them.
And who really wants to come to Newcastle more than these players want to go? A relegation scrap with an interim manager and a disgruntled home crowd anyone? I bet Richard Dunne can’t wait.
What odds on us ending up doing what we did when looking for an interim manager after Keegan; hiring anyone desperate enough to say they’ll come.
So if a depleted, Given-free Newcastle are to stay up, a lot surely rests on whether Michael Owen takes his chances.
If he hasn’t gone…..
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