By James B
January 8 2006

A roundup of all this mornings newspaper gossip regarding Newcastle United.

Surprisingly few stories in todays Sunday papers, with no direct links to any signings.

However, there is some news on Wayne Bridge; a player who many Toon fans I know would like to see playing at St James'. Quotes from Jose Mourinho suggest that Bridge, Johnson, Huth and the likes would all be allowed to leave Chelsea if they were not happy with their role.

Things don't show much sign of changing for Bridge either, as Mourinho went on to say "Of course I want to help Bridge and give him some matches. But if I feel that Gallas and Del Horno are the best options I cannot think with my heart."

Whether this prompts Bridge to hand in a request to leave either on a loan or permanently remains to be seen, but according to the News of the World it is Portsmouth who are most interested in signing him. With arrival of new co-owner Gaydamak, Portsmouth will now be able to compete more financially, and the paper suggests that they could finance a permanent deal rather than just a loan.

I for one would love us to sign Bridge be it a loan or permanently, and there is no doubt that we could offer him first team football ahead of the World Cup. Babayaro has been average at best, and despite being a great servant to the club Robbie Elliot just isn't the kind of player we need.

The Mail on Sunday contains quotes from Bolton chairman Phil Gartside regarding Allardyce possibly succeeding Souness at the Newcastle helm. Gartside said "I have already decided that if Shepherd wanted to talk to Sam about the Newcastle job he would be denied permission to do so."

Final news is that apparently Freddy Shepherd summoned Souness to speak to him after the manager missed a reserve game in favour of his wifes party. Shepherd was apparently unhappy that Souness was not watching the reserves bearing in mind the amount of injuries we have, and the possible need to use some of the reserve players. Souness responded by saying that he sees these players in training every day, and went on to say "Do you think I need to go and see them in a reserve game to understand what I have or haven't got?"

 
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