You have to think this is as close to the big time as he will likely get (unless he absolutely smashed it at Newcastle and gets a top 6 team for the last couple of years of his career). NU will be spending big and I think he will have a better chance of staying up by moving to them. Hopefully he hits the ground running and establishes himself as a pivotal player who can retain his spot beyond the summer which is when I'm sure NU will bring in even more talent. Right now though he just needs to focus on helping the team win games and not get relegated!
you'd certainly think this is his last big payday, I can see him helping to keep NU up and then them buying in new strikers for next season and maybe Wood spends a bit of time on the bench behind younger, more potent strikers. Maybe then he looks for an out after 1.5 seasons with NU.
you'd certainly think this is his last big payday, I can see him helping to keep NU up and then them buying in new strikers for next season and maybe Wood spends a bit of time on the bench behind younger, more potent strikers. Maybe then he looks for an out after 1.5 seasons with NU.
Surely hes got a stint in China after this for the $$$$$
What I like about all the media stuff surrounding this signing is how much Chris seems to be pushing his AW respect. He's clearly super proud to play for NZ.
Guna miss Burnley and particularly Sean Dyche. The NZ thing works for them on several levels- the black and white, the captaincy but also a bit of see NZ guys are okay with the new owners. Doesn’t hurt the sportswashing at all. Okay debut tomorrow ish? Let’s go!
If you've got Spark Sport (or you can probably find it elsewhere online), they have the 17m long press conference with Chris which is worth a watch. He confirms he'll be playing the WC qualifiers games in the March window for NZ, but will be missing the ones not in the window.
Turns out he’s the most expensive premier league transfer ever for a player aged 30 or over.
Wow that's a crazy stat. Of course there is some bias towards players in recent years as I assume the average/mean fee is likely going up season on season too.
I hope that the NZ media interview former All White Mike McGarry (father of James) about Chris Wood signing for Newcastle. Mike spent a few months as an 18 year-old playing for Newcastle's youth team in 1985 with Gazza. https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/football/football-newcastle-memories-mcgarry It came about after Newcastle toured NZ to play four matches against the All Whites in 1985 and sent two players on loan to Dunedin City in our national league. One of those players, long-serving Peter Haddock, recommended McGarry to Newcastle's management and they invited him over. https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/sport/8069633/How-Gazza-almost-came-to-town I think that Mike was a bit of a homebody and never strayed much beyond Dunedin or Christchurch, except for a stint in the Aussie national league for one season in 1989 and one summer season at the end of his career with Miramar in 1996-97. Definitely one of our most talented players of all time: Frank Arok, Socceroos coach in the 1980's, rated McGarry as the best foreign player to ever play in the Australian National Soccer League in his autobiography published in the 1990's. Wynton Rufer, when asked once who he rated from the players he lined up with in the All Whites said that Mike McGarry was good enough to have been a starting player in his Werder Bremen side that won the Bundesliga.
I don’t think that is quite right. I thought I had read most expensive striker or something but is Ronaldo a striker? He’s definitely older than Woodsy, but do they mean only between prem clubs? Or what?siac
Fitzy
Turns out he’s the most expensive premier league transfer ever for a player aged 30 or over.
Wow that's a crazy stat. Of course there is some bias towards players in recent years as I assume the average/mean fee is likely going up season on season too.
I don’t think that is quite right. I thought I had read most expensive striker or something but is Ronaldo a striker? He’s definitely older than Woodsy, but do they mean only between prem clubs? Or what?siac
Fitzy
Turns out he’s the most expensive premier league transfer ever for a player aged 30 or over.
Wow that's a crazy stat. Of course there is some bias towards players in recent years as I assume the average/mean fee is likely going up season on season too.
I don’t think that is quite right. I thought I had read most expensive striker or something but is Ronaldo a striker? He’s definitely older than Woodsy, but do they mean only between prem clubs? Or what?siac
Fitzy
Turns out he’s the most expensive premier league transfer ever for a player aged 30 or over.
Wow that's a crazy stat. Of course there is some bias towards players in recent years as I assume the average/mean fee is likely going up season on season too.
One of the biggest English papers (who I will not link to, as I know many don't like them for good reasons) reported he is the most expensive 30+ year old transfer in English history. And a fourfourtwo article also has him listed as the most expensive transfer for a 30+ year old in England history, and the 10th most expensive transfer ever for a 30+year old world wide!
It makes me feel old, that 30 is considered old, ffs.
According to this list it’s the top transfer by a mile. Even when adjusted for inflation (as someone mentioned) only the Makelele transfer comes close, with £18m in 2003 being roughly £30m now.
Edit: it’s also bigger than the biggest sale from a Premier League club for a player over 30, with Arnautovic’s sale from West Ham holding that record at £22m.
Well he’s only just over 30 and they can all sod off the jealous +>~#%%. Thread to Newcastle please please 🙏 If he scores it’s guna feel a bit like that time Gandhi slept with virgins to test his virtue, but hey, that’s football right?
If you've got Spark Sport (or you can probably find it elsewhere online), they have the 17m long press conference with Chris which is worth a watch. He confirms he'll be playing the WC qualifiers games in the March window for NZ, but will be missing the ones not in the window.
It's annoying that AFCON (terrible British media acronym) can have access to all African players for a month or more no questions asked (which I fully support) but UEFA blocks a few Oceanian players for just a couple of more days.
I really do not like how despotic football can be, especially in Europe.
I watched him in this game for the first time. Never seen him play a full game at Burnley. Those that have might comment, but I was impressed with him. He seemed to be getting plenty of service and he had a couple of touches and near misses that can often turn into goals. I think he will have plenty of chances to score. He has shown he can score in the Burnley system, is it looking like the Newcastle system will provide him wit( more opportunities to score?
With Norwich winning and Watford getting a late goal here they don’t have much time or margin for error. At Burnley he usually played in a front two. Here in the first half he did well, but his most useful contribution was keeping the ball in the opposition half or tying up defenders creating space for Joelinton or Saint-Maximin. The midfield often seemed so far away from him and it seemed like he had 4 red shirts around him. He had a good couple of poacher half chances but couldn’t convert either. Just needs something to drop really. Had a scoring lull this season so far.