Federico Fernandez 6m Done Deal

[bodacious benny]

Yep Colo was brilliant for us once he got used to English football and before his home sickness set in.

He did like is annual Xmas trip back to Argentina.

[TJR]

Colo was great for a couple of seasons. Probably consistently our best player over those years and we had some decent players. Sadly though, he's tarnished by his last season where he was pretty awful and seemed to just give up at times.

Same as everything, it takes a lot to build a reputation. Which he did as a real fan favourite and a great Premier League player (if I remember rightly he got into the official Premier League team of the season). Though it doesn't take much to tarnish a reputation as he unfortunately did. On balance across his time here he should be remembered more fondly than he is and over time I'm sure he will be.

[Remember Colo]

I think I need to revise my name again on here if people need reminding of how good he was for a few years.

[lassassinblanc]

I think I need to revise my name again on here if people need reminding of how good he was for a few years.

All caps and flashing?

[TBC]

Colo, like Cabaye before him, will be remembered mostly negatively by me for the manner in which they ‘downed tools’ in order to force a move from the club.

Yes, this is modern day football and not everyone sees Newcastle like it’s natives, but there’s a way of going about things and as TJR says, a reputation is easily tarnished.

[Colly]

I do find it strange though that while everyone is complaining about the toxicity around the club, the multiple terrible managers etc etc, a player can still be blamed for apparent disloyalty. Cabaye's refusal to play that August was pretty awful, but in Colo's case a couple of injuries were seemingly bolted on top of his alleged misdemeanours. I just find it hard to criticise anyone for wanting to go home after lasting five seasons in that dressing room.

[Remember Colo]

I do find it strange though that while everyone is complaining about the toxicity around the club, the multiple terrible managers etc etc, a player can still be blamed for apparent disloyalty. Cabaye's refusal to play that August was pretty awful, but in Colo's case a couple of injuries were seemingly bolted on top of his alleged misdemeanours. I just find it hard to criticise anyone for wanting to go home after lasting five seasons in that dressing room.

I'd add, there was so little confirmed, about Colo in particular, but also Cabaye. It's funny people criticize journalists or twitter ITKs for their unfounded rumours when it comes to transfer talk, but when it comes to negative rumours about an existing player, people to believe every one.

Specifically about the Cabaye thing, always seemed to me that the club were more than happy to have Cabaye sit out till they got a big pay cheque from PSG - I wouldn't have been surprised if they encouraged it.

[Heisen]

Hang on do people think Colo was s***? He's easily in the top 3 CB's we've had in the Premier League, along with Albert and Woodgate. He was outstanding for us for most of his time here.

[TBC]

Who said he was s***?

[Colly]

A few people have recently, I've had to put them right in the same way I used to for the people who thought Danny Simpson wasn't s***.

[Remember Colo]

A few people have recently, I've had to put them right in the same way I used to for the people who thought Danny Simpson wasn't s***.

Yeah, I've definitely seen people who deny he was ever good, when he was arguably our best player for a couple years, and as others said, one of our best CBs in the PL era.

[bodacious benny]

Yeah I've read back a few posts and can't see anything implying he was s***, other than perhaps his last season.

[Colly]

I've just done a quick check and both of my "are you kidding?" posts are unintentionally to the same poster in two different threads...

[krully]

wasn't one of the injury stories was he got someone pregenant and his wife did him in or something

[Colly]

Yep. Took the song a bit too literally.

[TBC]

Wasn’t the woman he got pregnant actually a barely legal girl of 17ish? Rumours obviously but..

[omegaprimevkm]

A few people have recently, I've had to put them right in the same way I used to for the people who thought Danny Simpson wasn't s***.

Yeah, I've definitely seen people who deny he was ever good, when he was arguably our best player for a couple years, and as others said, one of our best CBs in the PL era.

OK, I need to clearly make my point as I'm fed up with the denial about Colo.

A club captain takes responsibility, accountability and ownership. Colo did not do this over several years with the armband. He didn't organise the defence, he didn't speak to the media (under strict orders). This is despite the fact that later into his years with the club, he was one of the senior players and the most experienced, never mind being captain. You don't have to look far to see how Lascelles compares, it's night and day.

He didn't visibly improve team performance when on the pitch in my opinion - yes he had a couple of good seasons and yes he knew his way around the ball, but you'd expect that for £10m spent in 2008 as a minimum. In his period within the team, we had numerous capitulation performances which simply don't happen anymore. He took 2 years to really settle, which is fine because when he did he was good, but considering he was on the books for 8 years and the first 2 of those were write offs, and 3 of those were him phoning it in when he didn't fancy being here any more, that is bothersome. The circumstances around his last 2-3 years, with his family issues and morons like his father demanding the club let him go even though he had just signed a new contract says a lot. You got the impression that the wrong people were constantly in his ear.

He certainly had external pressure to leave and was here under the worst stewardship in memory but the fundamental point is that for the top earner, who left in circus like circumstances having been entrusted with so much and not really taking the right level of responsibility or showing any leadership means he just wasn't what he should have been at all. Perhaps association with the Pardew / Carver / Llamb Curry axis of embarrassment has tarnished him more than he deserves but he never came across as actually giving a s*** about playing for NUFC or putting his hardest effort in.

[bodacious benny]

Back on Fernandez, I was thinking of my team for Cardiff and forgot that we'd signed him

[overseasTOON]

Say what you like about Colo on the pitch but no-one can deny he was bloody great at BBQs!

[Remember Colo]

Didn't visibly improve the team? What revisionist history. It's no coincidence the team always did worse when he was out injured. And I guess I just imagined that 5th place season - which at this rate, was the best result in ages, and likely will remain that way for years to come.

More than half of that long write-up is conjecture about off-field stuff, and has nothing to do with his generally strong on-field play, when he was typically surrounded by a circus of frequently injured or otherwise mediocre defenders.

We'll clearly never agree on this, so I won't try convincing you, but it does highlight that the perception of him from some fans is heavily influenced by the off-field rumours and stories, while other fans care less about that. I'm not saying one side is right or wrong, just different.