Premiership Betting Preview for 2007/08 Season - Newcastle
25th Jul 2007, 21:32
The frenetic horse-trading of the summer months is the most important phase in the process of Premiership clubs reorganising and strengthening their squads, providing ante-post bettors with vital clues to next season’s competition. Keep checking the Premiership betting market at PinnacleSports.com to see where the smart money is going.
Newcastle - New Players, New Leader, New Era?
Newcastle United Football Club, consistently one of the Premiership’s biggest under-achievers, approach the 2007/08 season with a renewed optimism summed up in the slogan ‘New players, new leader, new era’.
Sam Allardyce became the club’s fourth new manager is as many years following the sacking of Glen Roeder. Big Sam made a shock exit from Bolton Wanderers where he had enjoyed greater Premiership success than the Magpies have experienced in recent seasons. Many have seen the decision as an indication that Allardyce had taken Bolton as far as he could given the resources at his disposal, whereas Newcastle are a sleeping giant where he might finish his career with the silverware he craves.
The Toon fans have welcomed the appointment seeing in Allardyce a personality big enough to dominate what has been a divided dressing room. A true sense of unity is certainly a prerequisite of greater success at St.James’ Park. The new boss wasted no time in culling unwanted playing staff, showing the door to error-prone defender, Titus Bramble; veteran Scottish full back, Craig Moore; Antoine Sibierski, who provided striker cover during last season’s injury crisis; and reserve goalkeeper, Pavel Srnicek.
As part of his reshuffle of the Newcastle squad, Allardyce has taken a gamble spending £5.8million on bad-boy, Joey Barton, released by Man City after a training ground bust-up. He has landed something of a coup by bringing in Australian captain, Mark Viduka, from North East rivals, Middlesbrough, and sees Cameroon defender, Geremi, as a good piece of business with Chelsea who are happy to let him go.
The third element of the revolution at Newcastle has taken place in the boardroom. The club has been taken over by secretive English businessman, Mike Ashley, who delisted the club from the Stock Exchange bought, having bought the 28% share held by former chairman, Freddy Chairman, subsequently replaced by his deputy Chris Mort. Shepherd was a controversial figure during his ten year spell as chairman He failed to build on the success of Sir John Hall who took over the club in the early 1990’s, delivering it from Division Two (now the Championship) and taking it all the way to the Champions League. Shepherd presided over several scandals, on and off the pitch, and underlined his poor judgement with the unpopular appointment of Graeme Souness as manager, who lasted only a season and a half.
The defining issue at Newcastle United, a club which consistently sells out its 52,387 stadium, is the painful absence of a major trophy since 1969. Allardyce has proved his worth at Bolton squeezing an extra yard out of European misfits, but it is a different proposition transforming a divided Newcastle side into a winning machine. The Geordies traditionally play an exciting, passing game, which is at odds with Big Sam’s trademark long-ball game. There is also the shadow of the corruption investigation at the club which saw London police raid its offices in July. Certainly, leading online sportsbook, PinnacleSports.com don’t see Newcastle challenging for the title this season pricing them 118.65 in their Premiership outright betting market.