The sad news for Newcastle fans broke today that Jonathon Woodgate has indeed signed for his home club Middlesbrough for a reported $7M on a four year contract.
And everyone knows where the
But once Middlebrough took a chance on Woodgate he has repaid them for their confidence. What a pity Newcastle couldn’t have taken a chance on him - particularly when Shepherd was reportedly in fairly constant contact with him when he was at Real Madrid.
This is a signing we didn’t make - that we may really regret.
Here are some interviews from the Middlesbrough official site following today’s good news for the club :
“The opportunity to bring in a player of this quality doesn’t happen very often.” said Gareth Southgate, Boro’s young manager.
Woodgate said: “I’m fulfilling an ambition to play for Boro.”
Boro had negotiated a first option in the summer to buy the former Leeds and
The Boro boss said: “We’ve known for a couple of months that Woody wanted to stay. He came to tell me and the chairman he wanted to sign.
“Negotiations with Real Madrid have taken a little while, we had to be sure it was the right deal for this club.
“Now it’s done we’re obviously delighted, it shows that we’re moving in the right direction if we can attract a player of this quality.”
He arrived at the
But Woodgate has started 33 of the 41 games Boro have played since his arrival, earning a recall to the
The defender added: “I made my mind up about three months ago, to be honest, but we could not really say anything.
“I went into the manager’s office and told him I wanted to sign. I think he was caught unexpectedly when I told him.
“I am extremely happy. It has been an ambition of mine to play for the club and I am doing that now - I am going to do that for the next four years.”
Woodgate cost
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13 responses so far ↓
1 Ahmed Bilal // Apr 26, 2007 at 14:53
I wouldn’t say that Newcastle ‘blew’ their chance - considering that Boro had first option to him, there was never going to much debate about him going anywhere as long as he had a desire to stay in Boro.
It’s good to see a good player stay at a club he wants to play instead of going to play in a big club - although if Woodgate wants to play in the Champions League, he’ll have to move sooner or later.
2 Sharath C Ciddu // Apr 26, 2007 at 15:33
I agree with Ahmed. Its good to see someone stay at a club he wants to play. He might lose the chance to play Champions League football, but on a day he inspires them and if they ever get a chance to play, he will be considered as a true legend. Totti a big example of that
3 Ed Harrison // Apr 26, 2007 at 16:19
Ahmed - apparently in the summer Woodgate’s first choice was Newcastle - but it seems that he was put off by Roeder - who the reports said - Woodgate was not too impressed with.
The chance was blown in the summer by not securing him then - Newcastle were too worried about his injury record.
4 What do you get when you give a Newcastle fan a blog? | SoccerLens // Apr 26, 2007 at 17:19
[...] Newcastle United blog, written by our very own Ed Harrison. Today he’s a bit depressed at Woodgate signing for Middlesbrough (first option, Ed, nothing Newcastle could have done about it once he had come to Boro on loan) and [...]
5 Tony Anderson // Apr 26, 2007 at 20:22
Ed’s pretty spot on with that assessment. The word in the Toon is that Fat Freddie wanted to take a punt on bringing Woody back and Roeder dithered on the injuries…amazing, I know, Freddie Shepherd taking a chance IN THE CLUB’S INTEREST!!! This will be a bit of a slap in the face for Roeder, but he is still a young, relatively inexperienced manager. It will take all of his, purported, knowledge of the global game and it’s exponents to find a diamond in the rough and shore up our defence.
Taylor continues to improve and we all know that Ramage’s favoured position is in the middle, though he is not at Taylor’s stage of development, so an experienced head is needed, and it isn’t Moore or Bramble. The full back positions are week too. Babayaro and Carr need to be given their marching orders, along with Bernard if he can’t prove his fitness. Get rid of the deadwood that has been allowed to rot for too long at this club and then give Roeder the chance to develop his own side.
I think Roeder’s legacy will be the youth he coached at the academy and is at least getting a chance to show what they are worth. However, they are a couple of years away from full blossom and I just hope we have performed well enough in the interim for Roeder to taste the fruits of his labour.
6 Ed Harrison // Apr 26, 2007 at 23:43
Tony - there are a few good full backs that we could get - Liam Rosenior from Fulham is young, good and can play on either side, left or right - but agree with you we need full backs - although hopefully Nobby will start at right back next year. He’s solid unlike Carr and Babayaro.
7 Tony Anderson // Apr 27, 2007 at 8:08
Spot on - Nobby has shown his versatility this season, and not just in the brass section! He is a great short-term solution and with the likes of Milner deserving of the right midfield berth, it would be great if Roeder can pursuade Senor Solano that his future lies in a more withdrawn role. Nobby knows when to move forward and when to sit back, as he has played with enough right-backs to know when he was waiting on them to get forward! Also, with him and Milner operating down the right, we would have great delivery options for the ball into the box. Of the other options, Edgar looked solid. Huntington put in some good performances, but I got the impression that he started to think himself a little bit better than he was, and that’s when the mistakes and inexperience crept in. That was what I found most disappointing with Huntington, as with young players coming through you expect them to be 100% focussed and 100% committed(mainly because they are too worried about failing, but nerves can be a good thing). Liam Rosenior certainly has the makings of an excellent full-back and I think, regardless of whether Sanchez gets the Cottagers out of the mire, he could be tempted away.
Mind you, given the goal he scored from right-back for Bristol City last weekend, it may be time to bring one-time youth player, Bradley Orr, back in from the cold…
8 Ed Harrison // Apr 27, 2007 at 9:56
Tony - there was a report this week that Nobby was happy to play at right back - for me that would be great because he can play that position for a few years - using all his experience and his great skills - it would prolong his time at Newcastle - which can only be good for us.
9 Tony Anderson // Apr 30, 2007 at 12:00
Ed - mulling over the full-back issue this weekend, correct me if I’m, wrong, but doesn’t Leighton Baines at Wigan switch between left-back and Left-mid. just a thought. Also, based on his recent play (and goals), if Nobby needs some cover, we could lift Carlos Spencer out of his Wearside ‘Flat-pack stadium’ hovel and into the bright-lights of a proper footballing cathedral!
10 Ed Harrison // Apr 30, 2007 at 15:33
Tony - I’ve never seen Baines play at left midfield - but he may do - he has a lot of skill and can certainly hit the ball….much like John Arne Riise at Liverpool.
If Fulham get relegated (and it doesn’t look too good for them with West Ham in form) maybe we can get Rosenior - every time I see him he looks good and improving.
Think we should just concentrate on defense in the summer - at least 3 quality players - (Distin, Coloccini and Curtis Davies to replace Bramble, Moore and Gooch) - also looking forward to a win today at Reading.
11 Tony Anderson // Apr 30, 2007 at 20:00
Aye it certainly will be good if we can see Owen back in the black’n'white…and he does have a habit of making goal-scoring returns! On the subject of Sylvain Distin, it would be interesting to see what the SJP faithful say if he does return. He was impressive last time he was with us, but he did seem to turn his nose up at us as soon as a few more pennies were wafted under his nose!
12 Ed Harrison // May 1, 2007 at 17:34
Tony - yes you’re right about Distin - it wasn’t good when he left us - maybe that is why Roeder (via Shepherd) will not go for him….but somehow we need to get some experience in central defense
Buying just very good youngsters may not hack it.
13 Tony Anderson // May 2, 2007 at 8:13
Well, after Monday night’s insipid display - especially the second half, where we looked like 11 strangers - I’m starting to wonder whether my earlier comment, about Roeder having a couple of years to see his academy youth get blooded, was a little too kind…though maybe the emails from my clients in Reading have something to do with my change of heart!!!
I could be more sympathetic if there was a hint of improvement, just the merest glimpse of cohesion, but all too often this season the story is the same. We make pretty patterns and look sprightly in one half (usually the 1st), although normally without great effect, then we tail off dramatically in the second. Ok, so we raised our game against Chelsea, but the nil-nil with Arsenal was more down to their profligacy than our solidity.
Now the news is of Big Sam, I, along with my fellow Geordie mates are actually starting to warm to the idea of someone with a strong personality, a strong idea of how he wants his teams to play, a good track record in the transfer market (especially of getting the best out of his men) and a track record of achievement. maybe he has earned his chance to prove he can produce more, given greater resources. We just have to overlook the fact that he played for Sunderland nearly 30 years ago!
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