John Barnes – Big club Newcastle United set to spend big again | OneFootball

This month has seen the 25th anniversary of the 3-2 Newcastle United win over Barcelona, John Barnes one of the eleven players who started in that famous win.

As we all know, that Kevin Keegan inspired era that saw Newcastle United reach the Champions League for the very first time wasn’t built on.

At a key time those then running the club pulled back on any ambition, as they were looking to sell the club and show the club’s finances in the best possible light, to ensure maximum returns for the big shareholders (those running the club!).

As it happened, a sale of Newcastle United didn’t happen at that time and it would be another decade before Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd filled their pockets with Mike Ashley cash and condemned us to almost a decade and a half of zero ambition and fans treated with contempt.

However, new owners now at St James’ Park and matches instantly selling out, as fans can once again dream.

John Barnes insists starting the season with a handful of drawn matches isn’t a reason for real concern, that this is now part of a much bigger journey under the new ownership, an upward rise and one that will see continual investment on and off the pitch, with more big spending set to happen come January.

These John Barnes quotes released just as Newcastle United confirmed the signing of exciting young striker Garang Kuol, yet further proof of the new NUFC, one that is building for the future as well as the here and now.

‘Bruno Guimaraes has made a huge impression on Tyneside since joining Newcastle United last January, what have you made of his impact on the Newcastle side?’

“He’s had a great impact but so have all the players that have come in.

“Kieran Trippier and the resurgence of Joelinton has been very important.

“So I think that there’s not been only one player who has done well. I think they’ve recruited well and it’s a happy camp, they’re doing really well, playing with consistency.

“Allan Saint-Maximin has stayed and he’s a fantastic player so things look good for Newcastle.

“Guimaraes has played really well but I think the team itself has had not just an added boost but an added confidence with the whole situation surrounding them with the players they’ve brought in.

“I’m glad because they’ve got fantastic fans. I played there for a couple of years and they’ve got great fans and they deserve it so I’m pleased for them. The fans are very loyal.”

‘Newcastle are playing well but it’s not really showing in the win column (1 win, 5 draws, 1 loss), what do you think is missing and why are they not able to get three points more regularly?’

“Look at the way they play. Okay they’ve only got one win but in terms of the way they play they’ve been consistent, they’ve been competitive so I have no fears.

“Listen, they’re not all of a sudden going to be in the top 4 or 5 but they will do much better than last year. They’ll grow in confidence and of course come January they’ll spend again because they’re a big club. It’s slowly, slowly.

“They’ve only got one win but I think the performances, even against Liverpool which they lost they played really well so i have no fear for them in terms of the results because the performances have warranted better results and if they keep playing that well they will get the results.”

‘Nick Pope had a nightmare against Germany, do you think that was it for his ambitions of being England’s number one for the World Cup?’

“Pickford is the number one. Regardless of what your ambitions are, Pickford is the number one goalkeeper.

“Pope may not have done well against Germany. He’s not as good at playing out from the back and he made a mistake for the goal but he’s still a very good goalkeeper. So I’m not going to judge him because you need three goalkeepers and he’s one of the three top goalkeepers.

“I’m not going to say he shouldn’t be in the squad. Pope is an adequate replacement or third choice goalkeeper so I won’t just look at that one game because he didn’t do particularly well.

“Very much like Trent I think that Gareth Southgate has to decide we are definitely going to need a player who can play out from the back because that’s how we’re going to play all the time and maybe it is not going to be Nick Pope.

“For his club he doesn’t necessarily always play that way and he plays well for his club so I don’t think that’s going to harm his chances of going to the World Cup.”