We hear the news that Steve Harper has gone out on loan to Brighton. Many would regard him as being in the top two bracket at the club, so it's got to be a bit of a gamble to send him out, even for a month. If Krul gets injured, Rob Elliot is now our next senior keeper we can call on. And we saw against Forest what he might bring to our defence right now. It was only one game but I wasn't exactly impressed. Harps has never had an easy run in the side over the years but has stayed a loyal and obedient servant - it seems a little sad that another one of our oldguard is leaving. It can't help his confidence that he's now got a future here, but hey ho, Pardew is the boss. But all the best to Steve Harper, hope he continues his playing career for a few more years.
He's been a reserve keeper for nearly his entire career at Newcastle so to leave at his age now for Brighton at the other end of the country seems very strange. Maybe he wants one last chance to get some first team football but that doesn't seem to ring true to me some how, is he the last of the "dressing room collective" that cashley wanted rid of?, hmmmmmm. Elliot is not good enough to stand in for Krul thats for sure.
They could also be keeping Brighton sweet so that they actually buy injury prone LuaLua at the end of the season instead of just loaning every season.
Personaly, I'd rather see Ole Soderberg get a game if Krul were to be injured rather than Elliot. Krul will probably be rested tommorow in the Carling Cup. No doubt Elliot will start.
Is there an option to recall Forster? I don't know how well he's done at Celtic, but I'd imagine next season Krul and him will be our first and second choice respectively, unless we can make any money from Forster's sale.
I'm not sure, its supposed to be a season long loan at Celtic, I don't think Pardew has got much faith in Forster though, his comments about the SPL not being a big enough test for him were telling.
