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Albert Luque (Thread #3463225)


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Infuriatingly honest read. Surely when you earn over £xx000 a week the first 2 x's are almost irrelevant. Maybe not when you compare say 10k to 90k but im sure that both his wages for depor and us were somewhere in the middle. Complete fuckin idiot in my opinion I would never go somewhere I know nothing about and where no-one I know is, for the sake of more money when Im already doing pretty well for myself anyway!

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Absolutely shocking stuff and I do not really blame Luque really. Any anger or disgust has to be at Shepherd, who is an absolute joke. We can now pretty much assume that all his signings were pretty much done this way, as everyone has always said about us.

 

Didn't Owen essentially say the same thing as Luque? Didn't he say to Sven that he only joined Newcastle because of the ridiculous amount of money he was offered?!! I have no doubt Duff is probably on a similar type of deal too. Absolutely disgusting stuff.

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i don't care what you say - the guy is a cunt - it took him two fuckin years to realise that life isn't only about money.

 

don't blame him for signing - but sure as hell blame him for not leaving because of wage demands he admits were ridiculous.

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if he was good no one would be complaining. i'd be happy for the club to pay top wages to top players, even if the money is one of the main incentives for signing.

 

the point is he wasn't any fuckin good.

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Fair play to him. Refreshing to hear a footballer speaking openly.

 

More evidence against the way this club was run under the previous regime mind, if it was ever needed.

 

At least now we know it's definitely not a mistake to have sold him, he was simply fed up and wanted to go despite the offer of a chance from Allardyce.

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I can't say I'm surprised.  For Luque read any foreign player who's joined us in the last 10 years.  They don't come to the toon for the stotties, they come for the readies.  The failure of the club is that we've utterly utterly failed to properly integrate and motivate many of our most expensive flops - Maric, Marcelino, Andersson, Guivarche etc etc etc.

 

Shepherd did his job in getting the players in.  Anybody who thinks these players come top NUFC for the toon or the club is kidding themselves imo - most of them come for the money, it's the way it is these days and we're not a top 4 club and/or a London club so we have to pay extra to get foreigners in.  Whether the manager wanted players like Luque or not, it's his job to get them playing for us.  So Luque didn't care about the club - so what?  How many of the non-Geordie players care about our club do you think? 

 

The fact that so many foreign players have flopped for us is an indictment of the whole club - we've been totally crap at integrating them into the club and the toon, and we've been totally crap at integrating them into the premier league.  We tend to chuck foreing players into the team and if they don't adapt within a few matches they're dubbed failures.  The ones who've thrived either have come from other premier league clubs or have exceptional characters or talent imo.  If Luque has been unprofessional, how much of that is down to the management at the time and the messages that were given to him?  How would you react if you felt you had no chance at all of making the team?

 

If we want to attract top foreign players, we have to offer glory or silly money.  Personally I think Shepherd can be criticised for many things, but I don't blame him for paying over the odds for players when we don't have CL football or the likelihood of trophies to offer a player.  There are many questions like, whose choice was Luque?  Why was he signed?  What formation was he meant to fit into?  What steps were taken to ensure he settled in and integrated into the club properly?  What steps were taken to ensure he would settle into the premier league? Why did Roeder drop him and never give him a chance?

 

The reality is, we will never know.  But I for one won't be saying "Luque is disgusting" or "Shepherd is a wanker for signing him" because I think the blame probably lays wider than that, and I wouldn't blame Luque for signing for the money cos I would do the same given half a chance and so would any foreign player I suspect who wouldn't get into a top 4 team.  A start would be for the club to take a professional stance in helping these players adapt to the club, the city and the premier league, before the fans get on their backs and write them off. 

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aye, great post kitman, sums up my feelings about the situation.

 

reading luque's comments tho, not all of it seems accurate. like the negotiations being instantaneous, when in fact it took over a week, with us looking to have pulled out completely and switched to anelka/boa morte, only for the deal to be resurrected, and them allegedly asking for ameobi, and then shepherd saying he would never deal with the deportivo chairman ever again. and he wasn't signed with boumsong, boumsong came in january, and when he returned from the hamstring injury Souness was still manager, not Roeder.

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“I gave Newcastle a negative reply when they called,” the 29-year-old recalled. “I was having a great time at Depor. I put in fine performances, lived in a beautiful town and there was no reason to leave. (But) they came up with an offer too good to refuse. I had a talk with then-chairman, Freddie Shepherd, and told him how much I wanted to earn. It was a ludicrous amount, but he didn’t bat an eyelid. The negotiations with Deportivo were also over in no time. (President Augusto Cesar) Lendoiro told Shepherd the asking price was £9.5m and Shepherd simply said ‘yes’ twice.”

 

My memory must be failing, because I seem to recall a protracted transfer where Deportivo initially wanted £10.8m and we wouldn't pay that. A 20+ page thread on here ensued calling Shepherd every name under the sun for not stumping up the cash immediately in case we missed out on this great opportunity to sign the Spanish superstar (youtube links were provided to prove the point).

 

“I was going to earn lots and lots of money at a club I had never paid attention to before and move to a town I knew nothing about,” he said. “I hardly knew any of my new colleagues and hardly spoke any English. I tore a hamstring in my second league appearance, was on the sidelines for three months and when I returned there was a new manager (Glenn Roeder).

 

Memory failure again. I could have sworn he was back from injury for 2 months while Souness was still manager.

 

“The stadium is invariably packed and 5,000 to 10,000 fans support their team vociferously at every away game. But the club never raises silverware.

 

I have to commend Luque here. For someone who couldn't speak English 2 years ago, he's now got to the point he uses words and phrases not in the vocabulary of half the native english speaking population.  ???

 

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makes you wonder what luque had to say to enrique on their jaunts to the metro centre though

 

"aye enreeky son, just do ya hammy in, then you can basically fart around for a couple of years getting paid a mint"

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luque criticises roeder & shepherd, but i didn't see any comments about souness.  did i miss something or why wouldn't he talk about THAT wanker?

 

More importantly: why's he only mentioned the chairman and not the manager who signed him? Was he a Freddie purchase, do we think?

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Guest DazzaNufc1892

as i always say. Most footballers are council estate boys, who have been brought up with nothing, no cash, no fame, no flashy lifestyle. They are raised on hand-me-downs from their brothers, and sometimes have to tolerate having tesco own cola insted of the real thing. So when the opportunity comes, to see a huge pay day, thats what they will go for. When younger the dream would have been a great lifestyle, no money worries, get away from what they are used to, and have a bank balance that is through the roof. The fact that they are playing football doing it is inconsequencial, it just so happens that they are more talented in that area than they are at maths or science. The truth is that when you are 10, you play for the love of the game, 18 you still are but realise soon you have to make it, or else the cash you are on isnt going suport you or your family. So when the big time hits, you go for the biggest deal each time, to maximise yourself. Anybody who thinks life is any different is surely on a different planet

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Souness and Sheppard, whether you need to offer more money to attract a player, make sure he is gonna graft and fit in.

 

Luque, you got shitloads of money, you could have at least made an effort for it. Or if you were trying, you were obviously not good enough.

 

Probably backed up by the fact none of the managers (even the one who signed him) wanted him in the team.

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