Newcastle fans are left with more questions

Sep 11 2011 by Richard Fletcher, Sunday Sun

THE Newcastle board has spoken – but fans say they’ve been left with more questions than answers.

In a long-awaited move, Derek Llambias answered fans’ questions to try to ease some of the uncertainty over the club’s direction.

The questions ranged from asking where the money went from the sale of Andy Carroll, to a demand for reassurance over the failure to sign a new striker.

But Steve Wraith, editor of Toon Talk and part of NUFC Fans United, said fans will feel the answers just create more questions.

He said: “At least they’ve answered the questions and gone on record to speak to the supporters via ncjMedia, which is the only place they’re interested in talking to. I suppose it’s a start, if we’re to remain positive. You need to go through them with a fine tooth comb to compare them to previous statements.

“I think we’ve got more questions than answers from it. Every time you think we’re getting somewhere there are more questions. It’s black and white – they aren’t willing to pay top dollar for players.

“But we’ve reached a brick wall and a lot of fans are feeling they’re hitting their heads against it.”

The questions fans wanted to pose included asking where the money was ‘that was pledged to be reinvested in the squad after the sale of Andy Carroll’; asking ‘why it took seven months to pursue a striker before failing at the eleventh hour’; and ‘why in terms of player recruitment can Newcastle not compete with smaller clubs like Stoke, Fulham and QPR’.

Steve said: “An interesting one is the Andy Carroll thing, which was always going to be one people wanted an answer to. £35m was deposited into the Newcastle bank account in January and the suggestions were that £35m would be spent on a striker. Now, in September, there’s no striker.