You may already have guessed where I’m headed with this.
Oh yes, the famous Kevin Nolan stole the headlines yet again this summer. Although Kevin had been with us for three seasons, he was the most influential player for the last two. First off in the Championship where he became the face of Newcastle United, and in the Premiership, where he helped ensure our survival. In those two seasons, Nolan became somewhat of a cult hero at Newcastle. Scoring a whopping 12 goals in his last season with us, in a team which achieved 12th place; that is pretty impressive for a midfielder.
But let’s get down to what seems to be the issue with Nolan leaving this great club.
His influence
A lot of times, Kevin was talked about almost as he was the managers’ assistant, most notably Chris Hughton and Alan Pardew. He stood up for the players and he stood up for the manager, and he also managed to play some very nice football. Although Kevin never had a lot of flair, he certainly knew how to position himself. The players could look upon Kevin as an intelligent and well-spoken man, who I think without a doubt has a future as a manager.
He is a positive player, he obviously offered to help out Andy Carroll by letting him live in his house. And I have no doubt whatsoever that Kevin did his best to keep Andy at the club. The lads must have had a lot of chats during the January transfer window when the bids came in for Andy. But in the end £35 million is a lot to say no to, considering Carroll was not entirely established in the PL just yet. I don’t blame Mike Ashley for that.
Kevin Nolan was an influential player indeed, but so were Alan Shearer, Robert Lee, Scott Parker, Gary Speed and the list goes on. These are just from recent times.
The thing is that the club lives on, and we have showed that by being the same unstable team that we were with all these players aboard at one time or another. There are always more than one, two or three highly influential players at the club. Should we end up losing Joey Barton and Alan Smith as well this window, which seems to be likely, then I understand the concern with influence in the dressing room being warranted. But I think it is in vein.
Newcastle United currently consists of 34 first team players and the reserve squad consists of 23 players. This is according to NUFC’s own website.
Do you think the loss of dressing room influence is enough to make the club struggle, or do you think other strong personalities will arise?
Don’t forget, before you answer the question, Nolan, Barton and Smith were there when we went down as well.
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What kind of influence a player has in the dressing room is of no consequence as to what he does on the field.
Harper and Smith have seen better days whilst Nolan was getting slower and slower as the season wore on.
The “dressing room influence” won’t be missed.