Glenn Roeder is no stranger to Newcastle United, having captained and managed them throughout his footballing career, and he is absolutely delighted at the progress they have made this season:

“Absolutely brilliant. That is a club that is very dear to my heart having spent eight years up there as a player and a manager. It's great they are having such success under Alan Pardew, who would be the first to admit that it was Chris Hughton who got them going again after they were relegated.  Hughton did extremely well to get them back up again at the first time of asking, which is very important. If you don't do it at the first time of asking then it gets more difficult. The club then made the decision – which was quite unpopular at the time - to let Chris go and bring in Alan. Alan is doing a fantastic job at Newcastle and Chris Hughton is now doing brilliantly at Birmingham.

“The person that keeps getting mentioned with Newcastle's success is their chief scout, Graham Carr, who has done wonders with the players that he has found in France, Holland and Germany. I watched Papiss Cisse for Freiburg earlier this season and was very positive about him.”

One of the reasons Newcastle have made great progress this season has been their summer transfer policy that saw some astute signings brought in. Roeder believes it underlines why Mike Ashley has been so successful in business and why the club are in safe hands for the future:

“I think Mike Ashley has proved why he is so astute in business. He has sold at the highest point and bought at value for money. He has found the highest prices possible for the players he has sold, and he has reinvested in others who have all proved to be bargains. If they suddenly had to have a fire sale, they could sell all of those players they have bought recently for three or four times what they paid for them.”

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