Following an article penned by Howaythetoon titled “Another Great Piece Of Business By Newcastle United” regarding the sale of Aaron Hughes to Aston Villa, many of you wrote in to Newcastle-Online.com in response to the sale and article and here, as promised, are all your mails in full. Please note we have taken the liberty of editing a few of them for spelling and grammatical mistakes, otherwise all messages remain unaltered.

P.S There are also various other e-mails regarding various other goings on at the club which we have lumped in with the Hughes e-mails.

Your E-Mails

This is an excellent article that accurately reflects the farcical nature of player and staff management at the club. I can only assume that the Solano and Hughes sales are part of FF’s escape plan. I suspect he realizes he is on a hiding to nothing at SJP now and has quietly pieced together a bid for Aston Villa. Don’t be surprised to learn of Shay’s departure to Villa Park, probably traveling down on the same bus as Bellers. FF will himself roll up there in early August wearing some kind of clever disguise… Perhaps he will present himself as a wise and passionate businessman who is prepared to listen to the fans… that way no-one would recognise him.
Scotto
Great article and great website. Being a Scottish Newcastle fan I don’t get a chance to go to very many games and there aren’t many Newcastle fans who live near me so its great to find a site written for the fans by the fans. In a bizarre way it feels good to read articles written by people who understand and share the same opinion that I do and that’s the opinion that our club is in a terrible mess just now and that its the Newcastle “top dogs” who are causing the problems. They must begin to understand the supporters aren’t making scapegoats out of them, they have done that job themselves. Its time they had a look around and realized that the entire football world is laughing at the idiotic way they are running the club. I can never see good times ahead for this club as long as that complete w@nker Souness is in charge and the only way Shepherd can even BEGIN to get the supporters on his side again is to sack him and install a world-class manager like a club this size so richly deserves.
Raymond Chapman
I agree with the article. As a Villa fan I feel as if Souness has made a big mistake in letting him go. But don’t think you’re getting Barry in return because we need him lol! So thanks for another steal and we’ll talk again when Bellamy joins us.
Tommy
I can’t believe that there is someone out there who agree’s with my opinion of Emile Heskey. He is by no means a top quality striker, but what he is, is a handful for defenders with all of his attributes (pace, power, strength, workrate) and the most important of all he is a TEAM player. People forget that sometimes strikers have to do more than score goals. Anyway I have enjoyed reading your site, and you were spot on about Kluivert, Bellamy and Robert, we will miss them sorely. But as much as I don’t want to say this, maybe we should give Mr Souness some time and see what he does. The last thing we need is more upheaval (although this would be the perfect time to get rid of him as Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan are still available). In saying this I think its time for Freddie to go! He is a joke of a chairman who obviously knows nothing about football. For some reason he seems to think that this season has been a success, but we’ve had more problems now than under any season under Sir Bobby. Anyhow as all of our best players get set to find new clubs (Aaron Hughes… what a tragedy) who do you think we actually will sign this summer? And how much money do we have to spend? Also is Hugo Viana still wanted by the club? I would like to see him get a run of games as he has done quite well back in Portugal. Keep up the good work!!!
Jonathan Edmondson
I really enjoyed this article. I have been a Magpies fan since 94, but today, I really don’t know. Since Souness arrived, my mood turned in a negative direction. Why haven’t any fanatic supporters showed up outside the training ground in black t-shirts. That surprises me a lot. I really hope that the most fanatic fans don’t renew their season tickets for next season or until Souness is kicked out. So what now? The former Celtic boss is free on the market. We have a manager that promised to just make a few adjustments. Well Souness, you have twice been charged by the FA, Bellamy is nowhere and Robert is leaving pretty soon. How can you create this nice dressing room atmosphere. By selling Aaron Hughes? Or by giving Bowyer a new contract? We are supporters for a great club, we cannot live under this kind of circumstances. We need to demonstrate for this. We need to show up on the training ground in black t-shirts. So, if less than 10,000 is showing up on the opening match of next season, I would love it. The Toon Army must now give the board an ultimatum.
Tor Ingar Nilsen
As a villa fan, I can honestly say I share your frustration, but its good to hear you rate the guy so highly! I hope he does a job for us. I can hardly see him setting the Premiership alight, but he is steady and composed and seems like a generally nice hard working bloke. As for you guys, I would not think it is all doom and gloom. You are only a couple of players away form a top quality side. Players like Given, Boumsong, Carr, Dyer, Ambrose, Shearer have a great mix of talent, youth and experience. Get a few players in and around them and you are there! But, don’t all clubs think like that?
Jim
Hear, hear. I agree with pretty much every word. If Andy O’Brien is “just the kind of player we need” and Hughes obviously isn’t then I shudder to think of the direction in which our moronic manager is taking us. I think the Solano sale was more the principle of Nobby going back on his word, but for the life of me I cannot think of one good reason to sell Aaron Hughes. Let us examine what Souness has done for this club: 1. Booted out our then top scorer. 2. Regardless of ‘his team’, Bobby’s team or anyone’s team, he took a top five team to nearer fifth from bottom. 3. He rewards AOB with a new contract. 4. He sells Bernard and replaces him with Babayaro. 5. He fails to motivate Kluivert, whom most of us hoped would succeed Shearer. 6. Sells our most versatile defender. And then we have his stupendously inept utterances: “Kieron Dyer was our best player last season” - Shay Given anyone? “We don’t need the InterToto cup” - So our best league start for ages and a run in this pre-season cup was just coincidence, was it? I think that most of us would quite reasonably have been expecting our cards if we had completed such a disastrous first few months in a new job. High time that Sourness collected his.
John Gilbert
Great read mate. You should send it off to the Mag for a wider audience. Something just isn’t right at the club and it all stinks if you ask me. Good luck Hughsie.
Paul Johnson
Agree totally. Shepherd& Souness should both go. Shepherd criticised Bobby for finishing 5th, then said he expected a top four finish when Souness took over. Where did we finish… And yet he doesn’t sack him… WHY?????
Nick Kelly
Hi, I’m a Liverpool supporter, just wanted to say that I read your article and was very impressed. I thought your points on both Vignal and Baros were quite accurate. I just wanted to say thanks for the good wishes ahead of the Final, I have always found Newcastle fans to be a great bunch, as you said proper Club proper fans, similar to Newcastle then. Cheers best of luck with signings in the summer.
Barry Meehan
Its obvious why Newcastle sold Hughes. They did it because it is a stupid decision, makes no business sense or playing sense and no other club would have been stupid enough to do it. Typical Shepherd. Why keep a good player when we can sell him on the cheap and keep two piles of sh*!te (O’Brien and Elliott) instead. Until Souness and Shepherd go we are going to do nowt (except maybe get relegated).
Tony Robson
My first reaction was one of complete bewilderment. There can be no logical explanation for the sale of Aaron Hughes which therefore leads to the conclusion that Souness just does not ‘fancy’ him as a player. I would pretty much echo everything that you said in your piece… selling Hughes makes no sense at all whatever way you look at it. I was already very concerned about the ability of Souness in the transfer market… these concerns have just increased. These are very worrying times indeed.
Roger Smith
Lets not get loyalty & versatility mixed up with talent & skill - Hughes has been well paid by Newcastle over the past eight years, so lets not go too overboard on the “model professional” bit - yes it’s commendable, yes there are players at Newcastle who have heaped shame upon the club whilst Hughes has kept his head down & yes there are other defenders who should probably go before him but if no clubs come in for them we can’t sell. The way I see it is that Hughes is just not that good - Everybody is up in arms about losing him but if our Manager was looking to buy a player of Hughes’ ability the same people would be questioning Souness’ sanity
Billy
Hughes came to Villa because there is more potential for him, more first team football, and we beat you… twice. And as for Solano, he has no intention of going back to Newcastle, or he would of, he has stated on several occasions he wants to end his playing career at Villa Park, not St. James’ Park. Solano’s greatest ambition for the season was to score for Villa against Newcastle, I think you can say he’s having a great time at Villa Park. Hughes seems to be smiling and laughing in interviews, and has urged Bellamy to sign on, face it Newcastle are headed in the wrong direction and the players want out, you also have to remember that the players must agree terms with the club, if they didn’t want to come to use then they would have said, but they didn’t, so stop whining all of you!
Villa Fan
Good writing but has it occurred to you that GS just doesn’t rate AH???
Mark H
Good article, I neither can understand, OB to Villa yes but a player who has been a model pro and never complained about playing in any position baffles me. I am now seriously worried that we are heading for the Championship under this current (mis)management.
Peter Leng
Could not agree more with the above article , it is very worrying for the Club as a whole to have an idiot like Sourness being allowed to make decisions like this. As for Mr Shepherd allowing Sourness to continue with his destruction of the team it is very easy to see from where most fans are sitting so how come he cannot see this. I can understand his point with Bellamy but at the same time he would cut off his own nose to spite his face which I think he done with this case. If we look back at Blackburn in the days of Sourness, Newcastle seem to be heading in the same direction. He says he was working with a team not chosen by himself , if I can recall Sir Bobby never ended up anywhere near our sad finish in the league as we had this year. I also cannot see any discipline improvements since he arrived with battles on the pitch and players speaking out in public whenever they feel the need. Sorry Mr Sourness but I think you have to go before you destroy the Toon the way you did Blackburn.
Tony Crowther
Another unbelievable decision by the peoples club.
Sean Kippin
Didn’t realise you liked him that much, if he is half as good as the Nobbed one we will have a very good player. P.S, can we give you £30 (quid) for Given? Thanks.
Denjo
Thanks for a great player @ a cheap price once again.
Nick Thompson
As a Villa fan, I sympathize with this article but, sorry to say, I do that with a smile on my face. Solano has been one of the steals of the last few years (not Villa’s best ever though - Paul McGrath from Man U(SA) for £400,000! Cheers ya scumbags!) and if Hughes works out half as well then that will be another great bargain. And yeah, I was chuffed we didn’t sign O’Brien, and am A LOT happier with this deal! Sorry people…! On the flip side, we are trying to take that scumbag Bellamy off ya hands. Good player but I am nowhere near convinced the pros outweigh the cons with that lad. Anyway, good luck to ya next season, just hope ya don’t do as well as us - but lets face it, its hardly likely that we are gonna pull of an Everton-esque season are we… but still… UP THE VILLA!
Phil Kimberley
I wouldn’t say I enjoyed this article, but I agreed with it all. I think in the light of Glazer buying Man Utd and Shepherd’s slow, but steady decline of our on the pitch matters we should unite with fans all over Britain and try make the case for an elected Chairman/President. Won’t happen, but should. Anyway, nice article.
Chris Smith
‘’As for Villa, they certainly have the right nickname - Villans. They’ve robbed us the bastards! They and and those running the comedy show at St. James’s.'’ He he. I’m a Villa fan myself and answer me this: who would turn down two fantastic players for a total of £2.5m? Nobody! I look forward to seeing Bellamy in a Villa shirt. £1.2m maybe? A great read. Well done. You’ve certainly convinced me and many others that Hughes was a good signing.
Liam Woodward
I suppose you think Newcastle are a bigger club than Aston Villa? As well as calling us the bastards who robbed you! What have Newcastle ever won? Nothing. Villa have won the Champions League as well as everything else numerous times. Villa beat you 7-2 last season in two matches, and I don’t see how you can say “robbed” because we hammered you in both games and deserved to win. The only reason you think you are a bigger club is because your ground can hold 10,000 more people. WAHOO Hughes has left a big club for a potentially bigger club who are hopefully on the up. He is 25 and by all accounts a class player who is very versatile. Unless you splash out this summer who knows where Newcastle might end up.
James
I too feel sickened by the sale of Hughes. But don’t worry because we’ve got Keane, Lucas Neill and Dado coming. Makes me really want to rush out and renew my ticket straight away. Yours disillusionally.
Ian Dewhurst
Hughes was sold because: a) He isn’t good enough b) Someone made an offer for him. If we got an offer for one or two others who are, I agree, more in the no-hoper bracket (e.g. O’Brien) then they would probably go too. But if there is any faith that O’Brien might regain his confidence (and remember he was in high esteem by fans not that long ago) then you would choose him as the back-up to Bramble and Boumsong not Hughes. I would say Taylor comes ahead of Hughes now also. And if the manager has in mind to bring another central defender… At right-back we have Carr and now Ramage. The defence rests. You can’t keep on a “utility” player as a back-up to a position where he is clearly out of his depth and probably most unhappy i.e. left-back. I’m not saying I would have given Robbie another contract but I am simply addressing the logic of selling Hughes. My guess would be that Aaron had weighed things up in the same way and when the offer came in, came to the same conclusion. The valuation is about right. If it had been any more my eyebrows would have been raised. You have to get real. I agree Aaron has been a model professional (if you exclude being able to actually play consistently well) and his comments after his transfer were exemplary. However, you don’t hang onto a player just because he is a pillar of the community.
Mad Magpie
I agree totally with your comments regarding Aaron I cannot think for the life of me why we sold him to the Villans. Unless of course there is a master plan to get us as quickly as possible into the Championship in case the ‘Mackems’ finnish higher in the league than us next season, or to let Fat F and his mates dip into the honey pot with their sticky fingers. I have supported the team now for over 50 years, yes and I can still write, through thick and thin but even my patience is getting thin. We are now a selling club and will continue to be so while the present management is in situ.
David Dutch
I must say I’ve been bewildered and disappointed by many of the club’s decisions lately. From having one of the most exciting and promising future in the Premiership, Newcastle has rooted itself in mediocrity. The sale of Nobby. What were they thinking? Letting Sir Bobby know that he won’t get his contract renewed, robbing him of the little authority he had left, just to sack him a couple of months later because of lack of authority. Hiring Souey, who has done nothing else than tearing his club’s apart, was to me the final sign that Newcastle has no wishes to eat cherries with the big boys, rather then rotten blueberries (?) with the likes of Aston Villa, Tottenham or Middlesborough. The following signings were close to as ridiculous as Dalglish’s, and what happens now are beyond my comprehension. Answer me this: How do you expect a player like Kluivert to settle in and play good football in a circus (all to familiar with earlier ones…) season like this one??! He was still committed, still motivated, and with a proper pre-season he could still become what we hoped, dreamt and expected of him. You don’t throw away talent like that! At least not without a proper replacement (Robbie Keane?). All of my optimism is gone. So has my faith. A fantastic club, and fantastic fans deserve so much better than what Fat Freddy and Souey has to offer.
Morten Sele
Being a N.Ireland and Newcastle man I have to question how much Fat Fred has to do with the sale of players because anybody who calls them self a manager could not make such stupid decisions. I cannot believe Elliott and O’Brien are still at St. James’s - they are the weakest link in the defence and every time they get the ball the natural reaction of all Newcastle fans is to look away because you can’t help feeling like the circus has just come to town. Hughes was strong confident defender who would not look out of place in any Premiership defence and he has gone for a crazy amount of money and we need to start asking questions and get the right answers sooner than later before we end up fighting for relegation. The article on your website was 110% true.
Craig Reid
As upset as you might be to hear this I am a supporter of the “Villains”. I didn’t really know that much about Hughes prior to his signing but always remember him being a decent player from the games I watched of the Toon, in a sense I am glad that you speak so highly of him, because it means for once (with the exception of Nobby) that we have made a decent signing. But you have to admit Newcastle and Villa are similar in a few senses. Both our chairman are as you put it fat b(astards) and I would throw in useless and out of date for good measure, and have both under achieved again this season or should I say (villa) have once AGAIN underachieved. All I can say is you still have good players but while you have Shepherd and we have Ellis, we should be grateful of any signings we can manage to scrape together.
Nick
If that Scottish yozza Souness is at the club in August only bottom 5 is a cert. Hughes is world class compared to O’Brien and please get rid of Shepherd. I now live 330 miles away from the Toon but we are the laughing stock to these southerners.
Wal Mallin
Spot on. The only other thing I can think of is FS must be a Villa fan!
David
With regards to the Aaron Hughes article, I would just like to say that I agree completely with every point you have made. As far as I’m concerned this is a step in the wrong direction with little logic to it. With Souness bemoaning our lack of depth and wanting players with the right attitudes, to sell a player who can cover four positions, doing a decent job in each, whilst never causing headlines for the wrong reasons is sheer madness. I suppose only time (and the replacements brought in) will tell as to whether it is a good decision, but at this moment in time I somehow doubt it.
David Redshaw
Couldn’t agree with you more, even though Hughes was not one of my favourite players, there are half a dozen others I would like to have seen sold instead of him. He is a great utility player and would have been better kept than sold. Makes you wonder as to the quality of the replacements, Souness does not have a great reputation for picking talent. Can anyone think of a good or great player he has signed since leaving Liverpool??? Sam Allardyce makes good choices with the small amount of money he has, and look where they finished up! Very good post, many will agree with you.
Arty Hume
“Good luck Aaron at your new club, may you have all the success in the world and thanks for all your efforts in the Black & White shirt. Time will tell whether we will miss you on the field of play, off it, we could certainly do with a few like you. Say hi to Nobby for us and give Lee Hendrie and David O’Leary a kicking from us in training. Oh and, remember, O’Brien is a great defender if he asks…” Great piece of writing! Greets from Belgrade! Oh yeah, I have no idea what Souness is thinking. I thought I knew back in January/February, but now…..
The Serbian Mag
Aye I agree on this one, I’m at a loss over the sale of Hughes. We must have some kind of deal with Villa as we keep on selling them players of quality and if we look at it this season, they finished above us and we’re selling them another of our players to make them stronger. I only hope souness has something up his sleeve because up to now, I’ve backed the man but I’m beginning to wonder, though I will give him time to see his signings but I feel it doesn’t augur well for the future. We live in hope (as ever).
Darren Gladstone
Thanks for Nobby who is a top quality player and thanks for Hughes who could also be quality at the Villa. Your chairman is nearly as stupid as Doug.
Craig The Villa Fan
Totally agree with you. No-one at our club has a clue about how to run a football club or a successful business. How a quality international player is allowed to leave in an inflated market for a mere 1 million pounds after recently securing a new contract and to a Premiership rival beggars belief. Hughes was an important utility player in our fragile thread bear squad and a hard working model pro who never once put a foot wrong or looked out of depth in any position he played. What the hell are the people in charge thinking if we are to successfully rebuild a strong squad with strength in depth we need 3 or 4 players in the ilk of Aaron Hughes. Carl Cort was sold for 1.5 million… and if the board, PLC, manager and chairman really believe that Aaron Hughes and Nobby Solano are worth around this amount too we don’t have a hope in hell while they are at the helm. Message to Freddy, Souness - leave now. You make me laugh.
Ben McClew
Erm, the only light I can shed on this is that neither of the managers who sold Nobby & Aaron actually have a clue! You might be signing some “hot” talent like Steve Claridge next…
Dale
Maybe he asked for a transfer because he didn’t want the bit part player role, gets a game when others are injured, and not in his preferred role as a centre half. At Aston Villa he will get that. I know we like it that he’s versatile but I don’t think it’s his cup of tea, he’s left, right, centre, right you get the idea he just wants to concentrate on a defensive non-attacking role.
Ryan Hodgson
You probably sold him as you’re being run by a hapless shower of… you know the rest. It’s a shame that both of our clubs are utterly clueless about something which is obvious to about 40 thousand people each week. It’s a shame the guys with the cash (in both of our cases bloated, bitter old men) are so far detached from what you and I would call the real world that these decisions get made. In the words of a couple of Scousers ‘money can’t buy you love’… The other reason could be that as we sell all of our best players to Middlesvilla, we’re now buying players who’ve been based in that part of the world, just so they don’t feel out of place when they move back up in 2 years or so. It’s a theory…
Lawrence
I’m a bit so-so about this sale. I am certainly less furious about this sale than the sale of Nobby. Aaron Hughes was a great squad member, on and off the field, but apart from his presence behind the scenes, there isn’t alot he can bring to the team, as his positions are already covered from the superb Taylor and the rising youngster Ramage. I am a bit angry at the low price we received for him though, as I was with the price of Solano.
John Watson
I have to say that I fully agree with all your points. Its a disaster to sell Aaron Hughes for 1m, when we probably could have got 3m for O’Brien! Not to forget that Hughes has been at Newcastle for longer, he’s a real black and white! I’m not too optimistic about what is going on in GS and Fat Fred’s heads…!
Simen
Thanks to everyone who wrote in.