KaKa

Bale is quality. Seen him a lot for Southampton.

The best thing about him is that he plays with so much maturity. You tend to forget you are watching a 17 year old. Physically strong too.

southampton deny a deal has been agreed. Well done Sky Sports.

 

Aaaaahhh!

 

That would be Freddy putting in that last minute bid after Spurs have done all the hard work and scouted the player for us.

 

Works everytime. Suckers!

 

wouldnt be suprised tbh

Apparently you'e offered him £40,000 a week but Freddy's scuppered your bid with an offer of £40,000 a week and half a cornish pasty.

southampton deny a deal has been agreed. Well done Sky Sports.

Aaaaahhh!

That would be Freddy putting in that last minute bid after Spurs have done all the hard work and scouted the player for us.

Works everytime. Suckers!

£6 million rising to £10 million

 

Thats some kerching!!

Not really ...

It's an excellent investment when you think about it. At only 17 years old and already a first team player every week for club and country. Also physically mature so will not struggle in that regard.

Can't knock them. It's a good move for them.

I think Baines is more appropriate for us though as we need someone who is more experienced due to the tatters our defence is currently in.

If someone offers £9m for Martins, you don't accept it.

Exactamundo!

See it's not rocket science!!!

Did Henry have the vision and awareness he has now when he first arrived from Juventus?

 

Nope.

 

How old was Henry when he came to Arsenal?

 

22 years old.

 

 

 

Anelka was said to be better than Henry in their early 20's.

Exactly ...

No longer the case though is it.

Henry has become infintely better due to Wengers tutoring.

He was so unimpressive upfront Juventus actually played him on the left wing! Despite the fact Wenger was developing him as a striker at Monaco.

Did Henry have the vision and awareness he has now when he first arrived from Juventus?

Nope.

How old was Henry when he came to Arsenal?

22 years old.

Already got a perfectly good left winger on the books already. He's called Charles N'Zogbia...and the lad deserves his place back imo.

Would be the only one we had till November. Considering his regression this season it might be a bit of a risk.

Would really like to see Muntari here. Would cost too much for us though, especially considering the situation we are in atm..

Harry's got that all tied up.

We might need one at this rate ...

Newcastle suffer Duff injury blow 

Duff scored just one league goal for the Magpies last season

Newcastle United's Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff is unlikely to be fit to play for new boss Sam Allardyce until November at the earliest.

Duff had foot surgery three weeks ago after injuring his ankle during a 2-1 defeat at Portsmouth in April.

"It's six months but it depends on when he gets the cast off," said Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton, ahead of a friendly with Ecuador in New York.

"Who knows what we're looking at, but it's at least five to six months."

Duff's injury means he is likely to miss the Republic's four remaining Euro 2008 qualifiers.

The Republic are away to Slovakia and the Czech Republic in September, before home games against Cyprus and Germany in October and November respectively.

Staunton added: "I think we'll be planning without him for the campaign because he'll only be regaining his fitness.

"If he comes back before that, brilliant for us. And if he doesn't, well, I'll have planned without him."

When Allardyce took over as Newcastle boss last week he said he would introduce the sort of scientific approach at the club that was he patented at Bolton - and hoped it would help solve the Magpies persistent injury problems.

Allardyce said: "There have been too many injuries. They seem to be forever talking about the everlasting injury list. One of the first things I will have to look at are why those injuries have happened.

"Far too many players have had too many injuries too often."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/6682317.stm

Thing is though, 15m?

 

I reckon we could get Ashton for that, who IMO is alot better. Fair enough he has had a couple of injuries but......

 

For 15 m we could completely re-structure our defence. I'm sick of spending so much money on strikers TBH. It's not that Bents a poor player but 15m is a massive amount of money for one player.

Once again any money spent on Bent would be generated by the sale of either Owens or Martins as we would need to replace them. Therefore we would not be 'wasting' money as you say.

Why do people keep claiming it will hinder our other plans? Why does making this buy mean our defence will be neglected to some?

Come on now this isn't rocket science!

It begs the question ... why do Spurs constantly fantasize about the likes of Torres, Robinho, Robben etc. when they know these players could command more than £40,000 a week at any other club that is interested in them?

The height of delusion.

Then they label anyone who doesn't go there are some sort of mercenary? Becaus ethey are obviously a club everyone should want to play for? why? What have they done that is so great?

Maddening bunch of people those lot. Extremely irritating folks.

At least we know what our flaws are and we are not adverse to admitting them. We do not act as though we are the greatest club in the universe for all players when it is not the case.

It's that wage structure which will hold them back from breaking into the top 4, and why the real top players will leave after 2-3 seasons.

Exactly. I admire what they are trying to do with the wages there but a ceiling  of £40,000 is a joke in today's football. So you cannot blame players for going to other clubs if they are offered slightly more can you?

I mean it's not as though they are winning the league every year and neither are they in the Champions League every year.

Even Portsmouth have a higher wage ceiling for goodness sake!

GET REAL!!!!!

We are a f****** joke and we will go into bankruptcy if we pay £16million for the likes of Darren Bent.

 

Hmmmm....that's basically bollocks.

 

Hyperbole.

 

The rumour's more than likely to be a load of s****, but if it's the truth, then it's madness. £11m + £5m add-ons was what Kaka said.

I'm pretty sure that if we are willing to spend that on Bent it will be because we are getting at least the £11 million we would pay upfront when we sell either Owens or Martins.

Therefore it is in effect swapping one for one without mcuh extra outlay.

Why can't people understand this? Isn't it fairly obvious we would not bring Bent in and keep both Martins and Owen.

I'm sorry but this deserves it's own thread ...

"I have found out just now that DB is on the verge of completing a move to the bardcodes. Apparently they bid 11m upfront with 5m in add ons. Which was far ahead of our 9m with 2m add ons.

Contary to commmon belief Db did not expressly wish to join us. Instaed was put off by the number of strikers and pitentially being third choice. Big Sam has garaunteed that he will be the staruong target man , with iether OM or MO playing off him."

And....

"Told from my source within the club that we are definatley not going for or getting Micah Richards. Too expensive, Chimbs is staying and other clubs are ahead of us. Notably Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.

More to the point MR does not want to play RB. Considers himself a CB. Is looking to stay with City, replace Distin (villa bound possibly) and look for the new owners to invest in the team. A move away the following season is more likely."

Would be hilarious they have been waxing lyrical about Bent and Berbatov for ages now.

A friend of mine showed me the thread on COYS and the bitterness towards Newcastle made me sick. Spurs fans might be the worst alive. Claiming Bent must be all about the money. Claiming Newcastle are the next Leeds and on the verge of Bankruptcy. Worst of all and most laughable ... claiming we wait till they scout someone and then steal their targets!!! Pretentious or what? Like Bent is some big secret!!! Is it our fault they link themselves to every player under the sun?

PATHETIC!

It surprises me the amount of people who still believe that there is actually a clause.

 

Shepherd's daft, but he's a businessman, and i honestly see absolutely no way that he would pay £17m for Michael Owen, and then include a clause that states he can later leave for half of that. It simply wouldn't happen!

 

Owen probably wants away sometime in the future, although i don't think he is so inhuman to bugger off now. I honestly reckon that he'll use this season as a stepping stone, at the very least.

It actually surprises me more that there is someone out there who STILL believes there is no clause!!!

I have a little feeling that the club might actually be looking to get rid, but can't generate any interest from the top four, who are the only teams Owen wants to go to.

This is going to go on forever isn't it ...

I think we honestly need to move Owen on.

It is such a distraction and it always makes the club look bad. Youk now the whole Owen wants out of Newcastle because they are a mess thing the media always runs with.

I put in a very itneresting article about Barton's progress in his behaviour and the efforts he has been making but it got lost back there somewhere. Having read the article I must say I am a lot more receptive to him coming to Newcastle should we show any interest, especially bearing in mind the man we will have in charge.

Can you give me an example of a manager who has significantly improved the movement of a player of Martins' age NUFC06?

 

el hadj diouf, 23 when he joined bolton, under sam allardyce. he is our new manager iirc.

 

as for martins playing in the most tactically astute league, is this spin intended to make him look worse than he is? serie a is also the most static of all the strong leagues, the one in which pace and making runs is least valued and least important. it's obvious that martins' play when he arrived was more suited to serie a, ie holding a position and waiting for a change in opposition formation, rather than the premiership ie making a run in advance of a pass being made. even then there has been a massive improvement in his anticipation and movement under Roeder (though he regressed a bit end of season), so i could see an even better improvement under Allardyce.

 

it is laughable to think he is the finished product or that his all round game can not improve. in fact he has shown in sporadic glimpses that he is capable of everything that is being asked of him - usually when something goes right for him (like a goal) his head is up and all a sudden he looks unstoppable, intelligent movement, good touch, link up play, non stop running and so on. the question is not can he do these things as he obviously can, but whether he can produce this on a consistent basis. that is sam's challenge, if he can get it right he'll have a fantastic player on his hands week in week out, rather than just for 20 minutes here and there.

Great post.

Two very good points made in this post. Was Martins even taught how to make runs behind defenders in Italy where such space doesn't even exist 95% of the time? How many strikers in Italy play this way?

Also, it was also very clear to me that when things start going for him he became an infinitely better player, which tells me he still needs to settle into the league and as he becomes more confident the consistency will come.

Would be a shame if he went back to italy. Not sure if he will ever become the player he can in that league.

If he leaves it would be interesting to see what he could become at another premiership club.

The Times says Baines is valued at £3 million!!!

Outstanding value!!!

Why Joey Barton is a fine young man

Peter Kay, the chief executive of Sporting Chance, on the other side of an ‘errant’ player

“Uninitiated, young men will burn down the village just to feel its warmth.” African proverb

Recently, Joey Barton was involved in what the newspapers called “yet another chapter in the misdemeanours of the troubled young man”. “How many more chances are we to offer him?” they asked as “experts” were brought in to fathom the Manchester City midfield player’s thought processes. One article even desecrated his whole family.

I was left wondering if they were debating the life of the same young man that I had been working with for the past 20 months. I am told that this is the price one pays for being a professional footballer, castigated without recourse, labelled and condemned, your family as well.

Football is a strange sport, which has a strange way of preparing young men for the pressures that being exposed to the limelight in a professional career entail. It tells those with often limited education that they are great. Their families tell them the same thing and their friends believe it because everyone else has been saying it.

They are put through the academy system, after which their services are either dispensed with in a short, blunt conversation, or they are handed the club blazer, the keys to a sponsored car and a contract that will earn them thousands of pounds per week. Then, as they leave the office, they are reminded: “By the way, you’re a role model now.”

Some young men receive superb mentoring from academy directors and coaches, others from their own families, or, when they embark on their professional career, from their managers. This helps them define their own moral codes. Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, for example, is a master of initiating young men into maturity.

But not all managers have the experience and natural aptitude of Ferguson, while not all young men respond to this mentoring.

In the world of testosterone-charged adolescents, one of the qualities needed is the will to win. That comes from an anger from within. Whether it’s tennis or tiddlywinks, winning is everything.

If the role models have not been there during this time, how can we expect these young men to change patterns of behaviour that have worked for them for so long within a nanosecond of them signing professional papers?

We seem to think we can sprinkle magic dust on them that enables them to think of others, do the right thing, be humble and become emotionally articulate, yet since reaching puberty they have found out that displaying any of those characteristics is deemed “weak” and, therefore, unacceptable.

Sporting Chance Clinic was started by another once errant young man called Tony Adams in 2000. Three years earlier, the Arsenal captain had announced that he was an alcoholic. At first he had to fund the project from his own pocket, which he did willingly until the Professional Footballers’ Association stepped in to provide funds. The FA and FA Premier League have since started to contribute, too.

Adams’s mission was to provide the programmes of treatment, the environment and the expertise that would have helped him at the time of his announcement, when nothing similar was available.

The clinic is fulfilling Adams’s dream on a daily basis.

It was here in the autumn of 2005 that a 23-year-old Barton embarked on a seven-day programme of behavioural management, “anger management” as the experts in the media would have it. Contrary to general belief, he has continued the work since.

My relationship with Joey started then and there has not been a week that has passed since in which we haven’t “checked in” with each other, discussed our working days or chatted about some event or other, he seeking my counsel on a particular matter, or me seeking his.

We have spent time at his house, at mine, on the golf course, in a restaurant or perhaps on one of the several visits he has joined me on to a school or remand centre. So I look at Joey with respect and honour him for how far he has come in 20 months. Since his week-long residential stay at Sporting Chance, Joey has matured into a man of huge quality, integrity and sensitivity.

He embarked on the programme we set up for him with total commitment. He attended an open meeting of a self-help group when he did not need to because he is not an “alcoholic”. He was deeply moved by what he heard. In 20 months he has drunk alcohol only on two occasions, feeling that his career and ambitions need total commitment. He had become aware that he had choices.

He had a little episode in front of the FA disciplinary committee for baring his bottom at a group of Everton fans but he accepted the fine, apologising for his behaviour and thanking the committee for a fair hearing.

He was then supposedly involved in an altercation in a taxi, where he allegedly caused damage to a glass partition, but no evidence of this was found. Joey walked away from the situation. He was stone cold sober.

The recent training-ground incident is a continuing legal issue.

Joey is a pretty honest and straightforward man, as the Times interview in December, when he criticised England players for bringing out books after their poor showing in the World Cup, shows. He sometimes speaks without caring about the possible ramifications, although this is an area he has been looking at improving. His recent declaration that he would not pay to see City play was perhaps ill-timed, with the season-ticket deadline approaching, and his observations regarding several foreign players at the club undoubtedly produced a response.

But Joey is full of pride and passion, gives his all to the team and cares deeply when they are beaten. He boils with frustration and anger when he judges that others are not committing the same energies as he to the cause. He is a human being, not a saint, and makes mistakes. He will probably carry on making mistakes, as most people do in life. But he is more aware now and awareness is integral to what we teach.

However, it seems that whenever Joey “makes a mistake”, his past is relentlessly dredged up, dissected and he is again vilified. This produces an automatic reaction of self-preservation: his defences go up and the monosyllabic responses he gives basically send out the message that he does not want anyone near him. More often than not in these cases, the opposite is true and the person concerned wants to talk about how they’re feeling.

On three occasions, I have witnessed him walk away from situations where he and his family have been abused. We have discussed afterwards how good it felt to do “the mature thing”. Such huge steps forward are not reported by the press.

He has embarked on a relationship in which he has had to show his vulnerability – not something that he was taught to do as a young teenager

At 14, he went to live with his grandmother and without her solid set of values, love and affection, I do not think that Joey would be where he is today. At 15, he was released by Everton. He grew up in Huyton, a learning ground where, if a person raises their hand to hit you, you make sure they do not get the chance – and that they do not get up in the near future.

It takes a pretty strong character to turn that kind of teaching on and off like a tap and react to similar threats by walking away.

For Sporting Chance, he has taken on the responsibility of being patron for The Tamsin Gulvin Fund, which supports people with problems but without the financial wherewithal to get them treated. He attends our annual fly fishing competition, even though he hates fly fishing, to raise funds for the Trust.

He attends schools and remand centres with me to talk about his upbringing, the mistakes he has made and how young people can change the way they do things. We were in Cumbria delivering the last of five sessions in a day and were running late. I had to get him back to Manchester to see the Arctic Monkeys. When I said that we had to go, he refused until those in the group had had a chance to ask questions. He has taken the time to talk with several people who might be “troubled”, and then they have subsequently phoned me for support.

These facts do not appear when the headlines focus on the “errant Barton”.

Getting selected for England was a big day for him. I spoke to him as he was driven to Manchester to join the squad. We talked of everything he had worked for coming to fruition, how the changes in his lifestyle had contributed massively to this day, and we also talked of his fears.

Through being an England squad player he tasted professionalism throughout the whole squad and the set-up. He experienced the food, the preparation, the organisation and the total desire and will to win, from everyone from the head coach to the kit man. He was with like-minded souls. Then three days later it was back to Carrington and although he respected Stuart Pearce, it was light years away from what he had just sampled. You could see the frustration in his demeanour. Joey sets extremely high standards for himself and this is one of the attributes that make him the talent he is; however, it is also his nemesis.

Like any self-respecting street fighter, when he feels threatened or cornered, he resorts back to the behaviour that served him when he was young. Fists up and f*** off! Behaviour ingrained in our make-up take time and effort to change; he is doing the effort bit, he just needs time.

Wherever he ends up playing next season, be it City or another Barclays Premiership club, they will be getting a man of immense personal qualities.

A positive article for once.

I know right! Also coming from the Times who Owen has a column with so it is pretty promising.

Still think Big Sam will not play two littleuns upfront judging from his history at Bolton, and so if Owen remains Oba might be out.

Owen happy to bestow Allardyce a fair hearingGeorge Caulkin

Michael Owen’s future may remain a matter of conjecture, but the England striker has held positive discussions with Sam Allardyce about the new manager’s plans for Newcastle United. Allardyce made speaking to the club’s record signing a priority on taking up his position at St James’ Park last week.

Owen’s status on Tyneside has become uncertain after the 27-year-old’s long-awaited return from knee surgery. Mention of a £9 million release clause in his contract and reported interest from Manchester United and Liverpool recently provoked Freddy Shepherd, the Newcastle chairman, into saying that Owen should “come out and tell our fans he is happy here”.

That declaration has not followed, although Owen has never expressed a desire to leave the club, having said in October: “I’m here as long as everybody wants me.”

When Allardyce met members of the Newcastle squad for the first time last week, Owen was in Ireland, indulging his passion for horses.

His absence was prearranged – other players, including Kieron Dyer, had also left on holiday – but it did not assist in deflecting the notion that Owen is disconnected from the club who bought him from Real Madrid for £16 million in 2005. It is a situation that Glenn Roeder’s successor wishes to address promptly.

Allardyce, who is on a family break in France, briefly returned to Newcastle last Thursday, when he spoke to Owen by telephone. He detailed his desire to revamp the club’s coaching and medical structure, as well as strengthen the team after a miserable, injury-blighted season. Leighton Baines, the Wigan Athletic left back, is reputedly a target.

Allardyce’s backroom staff should be strengthened with the addition of Mike Forde, the Bolton Wanderers performance director, who rejected the newly created position of general manager at the Reebok Stadium. Bolton will seek compensation for Forde, but they hope instead to appoint Frank McParland, Liverpool’s joint chief scout.

Mark Taylor, Bolton’s head of sports science and medicine, is another on Allardyce’s list. With Phil Brown committing himself to Hull City yesterday, Neil McDonald, the Carlisle United manager, is the clear favourite to be appointed as Allardyce’s assistant.

Owen’s response to the new manager’s plans was encouraging and he will return to preseason training on July 2 in a positive frame of mind should no club trigger the escape clause that Newcastle assented to when they beat Liverpool to his signature two years ago.

Manchester United were pursuing Owen before he suffered anterior cruciate knee-ligament damage at the World Cup finals, while the notion of Liverpool resigning their former player has long held strong appeal within the Anfield boardroom. It has also been suggested that Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has expressed his admiration for both Owen and Obafemi Martins, the Nigerian.

Developments are unlikely before the three imminent England appearances that Owen is anticipating. Having played for only 247 minutes since his recuperation, his match fitness is yet to be demonstrated. But the England B fixture against Albania in Burnley on Friday, the friendly against Brazil at Wembley on June 1 and the European Championship qualifying tie in Estonia on June 6 should give him every opportunity.

The prospect is welcome to Steve McClaren, the England head coach. “Michael Owen and even Joe Cole are going to be like new signings and they are inspirational players,” he said yesterday. “Michael has proved that he scores goals, vital goals. He scores goals out of nothing, when the team is probably not playing well, and every successful team needs a goalscorer like that.

“It’s not going to be easy for Michael; he’s been out a year. It’s just great to have him back. But let’s be patient because the it does take a while to get your timing back, although he looks very fit and very sharp.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premiership/newcastle/article1821553.ece

How's about Tuncay Sanli?

He is on a free right? I wonder who is after him at the moment.