11 Bizarre Transfer Stories Involving Newcastle United
3. Joe Kinnear Tried To Sign His Own Player From Birmingham
The Claim Joe Kinnear was so impressed with a player he'd seen at Birmingham on a scouting trip that he insisted Newcastle sign him. Unfortunately when he made the inquiry, he was told that it was impossible to sign the player - Shane Ferguson - as he was already owned by Newcastle and was merely on loan in the Midlands. The Truth According to Alan Oliver, it definitely happened. He used his column in the Sunday People to swear that Kinnear had raved about Ferguson to City chiefs during the Midlands side's league cup game with Swansea, and asked to sign him. The club thought he was winding them up, naturally. They even had a "source": Ferguson had a particularly good game that night and Joe Kinnear told one of our officials he was interested in signing him. At first our guy thought he was joking but then he realised Kinnear did not know Ferguson was already a Newcastle player.
