He is back in the Prem and played a big role in his 'big' club getting there, now watch the clamour begin to replenish the team spine with men with fancier exotic names than Ciaran Clark, and much fancier exotic haircuts, voluminous and multi coloured.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-39716009
Both Newcastle and West Ham raided by HMRC for possible income tax and insurance fraud. At least one person (managing director Lee Charnley) directly involved in the running of Newcastle has been arrested and confirmation that he was among "several men within professional football" that were arrested.
Wonder would there be sanctions forthcoming from the FA that would punish Newcastle or West Ham in terms of points or promotion? (recognizing that it could take a long time for the issue to be ruled)
More on Clark's injury here - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...acle-1.3084061
Ciaran Clark, it seems, is not even close to that with the Newcastle defender now resigned, it seems, to targeting the start of next season for his comeback from a knee injury that sidelined him for most of Newcastle’s Championship winning run-in.
“Ciaran came back and I was delighted that he came back but then he injured himself again,” said O’Neill. “He has gone down to see the specialist and the specialist is pretty pessimistic about the particular injury.
“According to Alan Byrne, my doctor, he thinks that the specialist is saying maybe eight weeks or something like that. So it is a blow to Ciaran (and us) because I felt that it would be great to have him back again.
Newcastle-following friend of mine mentioned this blog on Newcastle's stats with and without Clark to me recently: http://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2017/05/03...d-this-season/
1.1 points per game over a 46 game season = a total of 50.6 points. That's conclusive evidence that Newcastle would have been relegated without Ciaran Clark.
Edit - I was looking at the wrong line... 1.3 points per game would have meant 59.8 points and therefore 14th, still not great!
Last edited by DeLorean; 16/05/2017 at 1:42 PM.
Clark, Long and Coleman out. McCarthy unlikely.
We are not blessed.
Can't afford many more players to be ruled out.
done great to b first choice centre half ahead of leschelles and mbemba who started last season as first choice and grant Hanley who came in last summer as well. There was lots of talk he wood b fourth choice centre half when he moved there he has really knuckled down which is great for us
Great to have himself & Duffy back fit. Will they resume their partnership in Georgia?
Clarks a liability as he displayed at the last Euros.
He will cost us games, can't understand the love in on here for him.
Dreadful, truly dreadful!
I think Duffy is the more reckless of the two
Gets some love here as he makes football365's team of the week:
http://www.football365.com/news/sod-...am-of-the-week
Centre-Half: Ciaran Clark (Newcastle) ... Jamal Lascelles scored a thumping header to win the match, and received all the plaudits. But in his primary role, defending, he was beaten three times, resulting in three Swansea chances. Twice Rob Elliot made a good save, once Lascelles himself recovered for that goal-line clearance. Otherwise he was definitely good, but not exceptional. Clark was better. He too was beaten and lucky to escape, but only once, by Alfie Mawson on a corner. His passing wasn’t as good as Lascelles’, but his marking was better, his clearances were stronger, and overall he was the more valuable defender. If you think the goal should put Lascelles over the top, I won’t argue. But Clark was better. (Elsewhere, Cesar Azpilicueta had a strong overall performance, also marred by a big mistake.)
You can't spell failure without FAI
leguene who kept clark out for second half of season even though clark had played well i felt up to that done his cruciate so is out for season
Unlikely they'll sell another defender with one ruled out for the season
If we want Rice in midfield ( which i do) and MON sticks to three across the back we will need clark playing and fit to play alongside duffy and K. Long
bad news for newcastle but potentially good for clark is that lascelles main partner at the back for the second half of last season, lejeune, looks to be out for the coming season with a cruciate. chancel mbemba has also departed.
on the other hand, newcastle have sign swiss centre half fabian schar...
Schar will start for sure I think, looks a good player and tough too. I remember him having a couple of very strong tackles in the games with Northern Ireland in particular. Clark's best chance would be if Newcastle lost Lascelles on deadline day or something!
After some time out in the wilderness for Newcastle, Clark has started the last two matches on the left side of a back three. He looked good against two teams loaded with pricey attackers (Man Utd & Chelsea).
Hopefully he keeps his place and makes the Denmark squad.
Would be a better option than Kevin Long there (and Stevens, who ought to be LWB) if we were to go with 3-5-2.
Scored the opener for Newcastle against West Ham today:https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019...-leads-blades/ with both him and Duffy scoring, Brady playing again and Connolly impressing, we'll hopefully have a bit more firepower against Denmark than we've had recently
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