By Nick Raynor
June 2 2005

I know it is very early days. But I am concerned from what I have read so far that Van Buyten is not the type of player I want at this club.

A very famous saying: ‘Don’t judge the book by its cover’............Tough luck, I’m going to.

 

First impressions mean everything. They shouldn’t but they do. When you apply for a job, the first impression that the employer gets from you is your CV, which is why if your CV is of a poor standard, you generally don’t even get to the interview stage.

 

If I started this article with poor spelling and grammar, would you have even read this far? I doubt it. Titles are the first impression of an article and if it’s no good, nobody will read it.

 

OK, I think I’ve justified judging Daniel Van Buyten on just a few lousy quotes so I’m just going to get on with it.

 

It just seems to me like he is a player that will only look out for him. Granted, most players are going to be thinking of themselves, their future, and their career. It’s natural instinct to look after you. But there is just something in what he has said that makes him seem to ambitious, and that he just wants to use the club, not play for it.

 

This is hard to put this feeling into words so I’m going to have a look at what he said:

 

"I do not know yet if I will even leave Hamburg but they are not in Europe next season and I want to play in the Champions League, that is my ambition."

 

OK, fair enough. He wants to play in the Champions League. That’s not too ambitious.

 

"He [Souness] said that he wants to rebuild and that next season Newcastle are going for the Champions League at least. He also said that Newcastle will even try for the Premier League title.

 

If Souness had told him that we were probably going to finish in a UEFA Cup spot at best, would he still be interested in coming? I get the gut feeling that he may have still been interested but if we didn’t finish in the Top 4 soon he’d move away. I want players who will play, yes for themselves, but also for he club.

 

It IS possible for a player to play for his career, but also for the club aswell. Look at Shearer – he plays for the club; he could have probably gone to Manchester United, won a bunch of trophies which he could look at in his cabinet as he enjoys retirement a year from now. But he played solely for the club and the fans, striving to win a trophy. But when he does retire, although his trophy cabinet won’t be full, he’ll be able to sit there, full of satisfaction that he played for the club he loves and will always be remembered as a Newcastle legend. Now I'm not asking for everyone to be like that. Just don't always think of just yourself.

 

"He told me that I will play alongside Jean-Alain Boumsong and that Boumsong already knows.

 

Again, if he was not guaranteed a starting place, does it seem to you like he wouldn’t fancy coming to the club?

 

So why is he interested in playing for Newcastle:

 

We are trying to play Champions League football.

We have a better chance that his current club.

He’s been guaranteed a start.

 

It just seems…selfish. It seems like he thinks he is bigger than the club and I’m worried that me may come and end up like Robert or Kluivert; lazy players looking out for number one.

 

But hey, I could be wrong. We may not even sign him, or we may and he may play the rest of his career on Tyneside even if we got relegated. Who knows? Time will tell.

 

Never judge the book by its cover. (But lets be honest, if it’s got a dull cover, it is generally a dull book. Check out the bible, not the most enthralling read you’ll ever have)

 

Thanks for reading

 

Note: Seeing as I have annoyed people off in the past, I would like to say that this article is the opinion of me and not of TyneTalk or Sportnetwork as a whole, so if you hate it, only my reputation should be slated. :-)