No doubt that Joey has been a huge hit for the Toon in the 2010/2011 season, and also a big influence on the dressing room team morale. However, could the club actually benefit by bringing in a younger, creative and more mobile player?  Will Newcastle United actually benefit from the departure of Joey Barton on the pitch?

Newcastle better off without Joey?

Joey does have the fantastic ability to pick out a defence splitting ball, and his short passing game is exemplary. Then when I try to think what else he offers in terms of a football player, I struggle.  

What has held Newcastle back this season is their lack of creativity and mobility in the midfield.  One of the weakest aspects to Joey’s game is his mobility. If we compare Barton’s game to say David Silva or Luka Modric, you will notice that once either of these players passes the ball, they immediately follow up play in the same direction staying within close proximity of the receiver. This in turn creates more options for the player with the ball, and also makes marking them a lot more difficult. Not only that, but by following play and constantly moving around it allows Modric and Silva to drift into open space more frequently.

A prime example of Barton’s shortcomings was the 3-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield. Barton constantly went for the long ball which kept gifting the opposition possession. On top of that, once he has passed the ball he strolled forward and rarely got involved in each play more than once.

I’m sure you have all watched Barcelona play – how many times have you seen Xavi or Iniesta pump the ball long into the box? My guess is rarely, if ever. Now I’m not saying I expect Barton to play like Xavi or Iniesta, they are simply on another planet to everybody else. Although the way Newcastle fans have reacted to Mike Ashley’s decision not to extend his contract sounds as if we are losing a Xavi.

Many Newcastle fans might argue that we don’t need to strengthen our midfield. I strongly disagree; the midfield is the engine room and driving force in creating goals. An average striker can be made to look like a prolific goal scorer with a dominating and creative midfield. Take Lille’s striker Moussa Sow. He left Rennes on a free transfer, not highly rated, and now he is the Golden Boot winner in Ligue 1. Why? Well take a look at the midfield and creative wingers at Lille. Yohan Cabaye, Eden Hazard and Gervinho have basically put the ball on a platter for Sow to strike home 25 goals this season. With a midfield like that, even Shola Ameobi will be banging goals in as if he was Teddy Sheringham at his prime.    

What Newcastle fans must put into perspective is that this is Joey Barton’s first proper, uninterrupted season at Newcastle. The club has stuck by the player through all the controversy and his past problems.  To be fair to Barton, he has repaid that support by insisting he would take a pay cut just to stay. However, as a Newcastle fan, the club always comes first. It just doesn’t make any financial sense to give a long term contract to a player who will be 29 at the start of next season and poses a risk in terms of his volatility.

Not only that, if Barton was so confident in his ability to play football at the highest level when he reaches 31 years of age plus, why not take the shorter contract that was offered to him? Surely, if you were still the same player, Newcastle would have no choice but to extend the contract for another season or two.  It also doesn’t help Joey’s cause when he rant’s on Twitter about how Mike and Derek are terrible at running the club. Joey is intelligent enough to know that scathing comments against the owner will force their hand into putting him on the market.

With the recent capture of a younger, cheaper, less volatile and perhaps more skilful midfielder Yohan Cabaye from Lille, it actually seems as if Newcastle United are finally back on the right track. It promises to be a fascinating transfer window, and if Pardew can persuade a few more players of Cabaye’s calibre to join the club then Newcastle will be back playing the beautiful game, as it was meant to be played.

I often fondly look back at when I first started following Newcastle United in the 1995/1996 season. I was a teenage boy, new to football and the English Premier League was really just starting to push its brand to the overseas market. That season, Kevin Kegan had signed the talismanic French Winger, David Ginola from Paris St Germain for £2.5million.

Watching Ginola on TV, I was mesmerized by his technical ability. He weaved in and out of defenders with ease, never appearing to lack confidence in his own ability. Every time he touched the ball, a sense of expectation overcame me. I expected him to attack, dribble past defenders, whip in a cross, or take a long distance shot with his blistering right foot.

However, it was not only Ginola that had the ability to make defenders grasp at thin air. Players like Keith Gillespie, Peter Beardsley and the formidable striker Les Ferdinand (signed from QPR for the then club record of £6million) all made the world sit up and take notice. A team that would play gung-ho attacking football, suicidal defending at times with the attitude ‘if they score 2, we will score 3’. Kevin Keegan had assembled every neutral fans second favorite team; Newcastle United – The Entertainers. This was football, this was my team!

Fast forward to the current era, Newcastle United is a shadow of the side that was nicknamed ‘The Entertainers’. Watching the 3-0 loss to Liverpool on 1^st May 2011, it was almost embarrassing to see how the club that had at one time gone to Anfield, and participated in what many people consider to be the best Premier League game ever (a 4-3 loss), put out such a disheartening and unimaginative display.

Newcastle hardly threatened, and resorted to unattractive ‘long ball’ football. Even with the large amount of set pieces that were presented to Newcastle, Pepe Reina was untroubled throughout the match. There was no penetrating approach, a few passes around the midfield, followed by a hopeful 50/50 ball lobbed up to Shola Ameobi, who more often than not, lost possession.

No inspiring runs from midfield at the heart of defense, followed by a through ball to an open attacker. No player that had confidence in his ability to take on a few defenders and play a defence splitting through ball, ala Peter Beardsley. This has been all too common with Newcastle United in the past decade.

So, if you ask me what is missing from Newcastle United at the moment – one of the things would be flair. Allen Pardew also recognizes this: “Newcastle are renowned for getting them [the fans] off their seats, and we know that’s probably what is missing and is going to take us beyond where we are at the moment.”

In all fairness, had Hatem Ben Arfa not missed most of this season, Newcastle fans may have had that player that can create something out of nothing, one that has the fans on the edge of their seat. However, one player alone is not able to change the manner in which the whole team plays football. This transfer window offers Newcastle United the opportunity the reignite their fan bases passion, and bring in some players that can capture the imagination of football fanatics around the world – just like ‘The Entertainers’ did.

A lot of fans have been shouting their concerns regarding the lack of stripes. Personally, I tend to agree, in keeping with tradition; I would have liked to have seen more stripes.

On the contrary, you could also argue that it’s a refreshing change with the all white sleeves, and the feel of an actual magpie. Either way, I will probably end up purchasing the home, away and alternate jerseys as usual.

Rumours are that the away jersey will be orange!! We will just have to wait and see.