Ameobi’s new contract has fans scratching their heads over Nolan and Barton situation.

New Deal

Contract delight for Shola

It has been reported yesterday that Toon striker Shola Ameobi has signed a two-year contract extension with the club which will run until the summer of 2014. The big striker will be coming up to 33 years of age when this contract expires and has said that he plans to end his career at the club.


"Newcastle is, and always will be, my club and i'm looking forward immensely to the next three years, beginning this Saturday with the season opener against Arsenal." said the big front man after signing his new deal. This, however, must have Newcastle fans up and down the country asking if this means that Ameobi is going to be the man to lead the line for the Magpies this season? 


Since the sale of Andy Carroll in January, there has been the small problem of not having a number at the club. With a £35 million transfer fee received for the Geordie target man, a replacement was promised in the summer. However, with Arsenal in the opening match of the season now just days away, we have seen no money spent on a new forward, despite Demba Ba's arrival on a free.

Ba - competition for Ameobi

Ameobi - Number 9?


Taking the apparent lack of investment in the Newcastle forward line and yesterdays new contract into consideration, is this the show of faith that Shola so desperately needs? Or is it in fact a plan B with so little movement in the transfer window? 


Last seasons survival in the Premier League was enough to please most supporters at St James’ Park, but with a new season on the horizon, surely the team must push on and be looking to fight for Europe in the next couple of seasons? With all due respect to Ameobi, I would suggest that mid-table mediocrity is probably as high as we can hope for with the gangly striker up-front - and that is at a push.


Personally, I like Shola Ameobi. I think he embodies the frustrating, yet sometimes brilliant nature of our football club. But, in the modern game, there is little room for such sentiment and I think it shows a real lack of ambition by Alan Pardew and the powers that be. Not only a lack of ambition, but it also goes back on the clubs apparent policy of bringing in young talent at cheaper prices to replace the old guard. Why is Ameobi an exception, yet Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton are not?


Old man in a young squad


This, I believe, is probably the most worrying undertone in giving Shola a new contract. What more use will Ameobi be at 32 than Kevin Nolan would have been for us at the same age? Newcastle United’s top scorer and captain let go, but our hit or miss striker allowed to stick it out? Every youthful squad needs some senior figures to look up to, why Shola and not Nolan? 

Why no new contracts for Barton and Nolan?

Our summer investment in midfielders has allowed Kevin Nolan and  - although not gone yet - Joey Barton to essentially be replaced with younger and (supposedly) better players. However, with no real movement in the striker department, Alan Pardew looks set to stick with Ameobi instead of continuing to replace. With this new contract awarded, I have become less hopeful than I was before that a new forward will be brought in before the window closes.


With talk of a 4-4-1-1 formation already being suggested as probable for the new season, the convenience of using one less striker seems almost insulting. At 29, it is make or break time for Ameobi, at this, the peak of his career. Be it faith by Pardew, or a disguise for the lack of funds available to him at this time, let us hope that Shola can repay the faith shown to him by the Geordie faithful.