As
everyone who farts about on the internet knows, the received wisdom holds that
Newcastle United fans are thick, deluded, morbidly obese Geordies (or Jawdies if you want to be really
hilarious) in replica shirts, who never used to follow their team a quarter of
a century ago (10,004 v Oxford in March 1991 is a favourite statistic), but
then suddenly started watching them, even though they’ve never won anything,
from 1992 onwards and, since Keegan finally left, they’ve spent all their
energies trying to drive the manager out of the club because he wasn’t born
within the sound of the Tyneside shipyard hooters. Utter horseshit all of that,
of course; even the stuff about Pards, who left of his own accord for a pay
hike at Palace.
One
thing (positive or negative; you decide) about Pardew is his longevity; he was
the second longest serving manager in the Premier League when he decamped to
Selhurst Park between Christmas and New Year last season. The Silver Fox’s last
game was a 3-2 home victory over Everton; a shade over 4 years after he’d taken
charge in December 2010, recording a 3-1 win over Liverpool in his first game.
Sat
on the bench as an unused sub on that freezing Saturday teatime almost half a
decade ago, as sleet fell incessantly, was an 18 year old from Ljubljana. Even though Haris Vučkić didn’t kick another
ball competitively for Newcastle United in 2010/2011, after his third and final
appearance in his second full season at the club, all in the League Cup, which
saw him named Man of the Match in a loss to Arsenal in late October, he must
have made a positive impression on his new boss as January 2011 saw the
Slovenian pen a 5 ½ year contract, which has just been extended by an extra
year at the same time he heads to Wigan on loan. Strange though that
combination of factors seems, it isn’t unique; Steve McClaren gave a 2 year
deal to out of contract Sammy Ameobi, before sending him to Cardiff City on
loan before the campaign started. For both Vučkić and Ameobi, this season is
probably their last chance to gain enough playing time, even if it is away from
Tyneside, to convince the club hierarchy that they have any kind of a future at
SJP.
It
seems that Vučkić has been permanently enjoying a late-night lock-in at the
last chance saloon for half a decade or more. He arrived from Domžale for an
“undisclosed” fee in January 2009, aged only 16. That season ended in farcical
circumstances, with Newcastle United relegated after the cowardly, arrogant and
demotivated collection of has-beens on huge wages we called a squad couldn’t
manage to accrue the 35 points required to stay up. Luckily, the next year
didn’t see the club “do a Leeds,” as had been widely anticipated. Instead,
following a raft of free transfers and a small scale fire sale, Chris Hughton’s
remodelled and chastened side showed admirable application and moral fortitude
in assembling 102 points to be promoted as Champions. Somewhere, in very small
print, is a footnote that says Haris Vučkić made 2 substitute appearances in
August of that season; both at home, both in injury time, against Huddersfield
in the League Cup and Leicester City, then suffered a training ground knee injury
that ruled him out for the rest of the campaign. All I remember about his debut were people in
the crowd commenting what a big, strapping lad he was. Well over six foot,
barrel chested, good in the air and strong in the tackle. Why didn’t he go on
and cement a place in the team? Tough question…
Not
having appeared on the pitch in a first team game since the previous October
and in a league game since his brief, late debut almost exactly 2 years before,
Vučkić came on in the 70th minute of a 2-1 league cup success away
to Scunthorpe in August 2011. As the game went to extra time, he actually spent
50 minutes on the pitch and retained a spot on the bench for that weekend’s
game. In the 78th minute of a
2-1 home win over Fulham, Haris made his Premier League bow; sadly he left the
pitch 7 minutes later, having suffered a dislocated finger. You couldn’t make
it up.
He
returned to the side as a substitute in an emotion-drenched 0-0 with Swansea, that
was first home game after NUFC hero Gary Speed’s tragic suicide. Events on the
pitch mattered little that day, but Vučkić must have done enough to impress
Pardew, as he kept his place for the next two games, starting both of them,
which we lost. The first was a 3-2 reverse against West Brom in a storming
contest, where Haris got Man of the Match and hit the underside of the bar with
a stunning volley from 35 yards that would have rescued a point. He also played
an hour of a tight 3-1 reverse at Anfield. As 2012 dawned, with Newcastle
having a good season that saw us finish fifth, everything seemed to be geared
up for Haris to cement a regular place in the first team, but it suddenly all
fell away.
For
no readily apparent reason, his star began to wane. He spent a month on loan at
Cardiff City, playing 5 games and scoring his first senior goal returning in
March 2012, with niggling hamstring and knee injuries that meant his season had
been curtailed. Ironically, his next appearance was as an early sub in a Europa
League qualifying round tie, coming on for cruciate victim Ryan Taylor, who’d
not be seen for 2 years in a first team shirt. Vučkić made the most of his
chance, grabbing the only goal, sending the Magpies through to the group
stages. He started the first of these games, a 1-1 draw away to Maritimo, as
well as a 2-1 League Cup loss at Old Trafford the week after, but he was
withdrawn each time. An injury to his knee sustained in the latter game ended
his season and, as far as can be told, robbed him of the pace that helped him
to function as an attacking threat.
Perhaps
this injury, as well as his slow recovery, meant his card was marked as an
underachiever. Haris was now about to embark on his fifth full season as a
Newcastle player. He returned for his usual League Cup outings against
Morecambe and Leeds (you know that’s what Eric and Ernie would have been called
if they’d both adopted their birthplaces as stage names), but was nowhere near
the first team. Eventually, he left for Rotherham United on loan and stayed
until the end of the campaign, making 22 appearances and scoring 4 goals as The
Millers achieved promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.
It
was widely assumed he’d sign permanently for Rotherham and Vučkić made it clear
he was keen on such a move, but it didn’t happen for whatever reason and he
returned to Tyneside, but now in the number 23 shirt vacated by Shola Ameobi as
the laughable, alleged striker Emanuele Riviere had claimed 29 ahead of the
Slovenian former Wonder Kid. 2014/2015 started late for Vučkić; his first
appearance was as a substitute in a 4-0 League Cup howking at Spurs in
mid-December, followed by 8 minutes at Old Trafford in a 3-1 reverse on Boxing
Day, before his last appearance in an NUFC shirt, which was an atrocious 1-0
non-performance by the whole squad, away to Leicester in the third round of the
FA Cup. Astonishingly though, this dismal failure was not the end for him; from
that point on, the only way was up for Vučkić.
Whatever
Mike Ashley’s connections are with Rangers these days, they were close enough
to see 5 of our fringe players journey to Ibrox on loan on deadline day at the
end of January. These included Swiss defender Kevin Mbabu who has never made a
senior appearance, Burundian midfielder Gael Bigirimana who scored in the 3-0
win over the Latics in December 2012 but hasn’t been seen in a black and white
shirt since, leaden-footed centre back Remy Streete who is now a Port Vale
player and proud follower of County Derry’s Gaelic Football team Shane
Ferguson, who presumably kept that interest and everything else about his
family background quiet while on the payroll of Her Majesty’s Team. Of those 4,
the first two were permanently injured and the latter pair only played a couple
of games each. The only success was Vučkić.
My
Scottish team are Hibs, so I’ve seen a fair bit of Scottish Championship
“football;” it isn’t great to be honest. What I’d seen convinced me Vučkić
would be a massive hit at that level and so he was. Frankly, he looked like
Zinedine Zidane in such company. His lack of pace was countermanded by speed of
thought, strength and the ability, unseen south of the border, to find the net
on a regular basis. He scored 8 goals, several of them spectacular solo efforts
or thundering drives, in 15 games as Rangers just missed out on promotion,
losing in the play-off to Motherwell. Same as the season before, Vučkić was
keen to move permanently to a club that had offered him a chance of regular
football at a level commensurate with his impaired skill set. However the
complex and intractable financial problems that the Ibrox outfit remain beset
by meant they couldn’t afford him. Instead James Tavernier is looking like
Roberto Carlos against Alloa and Dumbarton.
So,
what can you expect? Strength, power, tackling, physical presence, a few goals
and regular absences through injury. Being positive, his two successful seasons
have been out on loan; if he stays fit and replicates his form at Rotherham,
he’ll serve you well. If he gets injured and fails to get regular game time, I
can see a “contract cancelled by mutual agreement” scenario in summer 2016. One
positive thing is that there hasn’t been a scrap of gossip about the lad in his
almost 7 years on Tyneside. He probably knows he hasn’t got it in him to
succeed at the top level, but he’s an honest pro and he deserves an even break.
As do the Latics.
No comments:
Post a Comment