The Newcastle United Transfer Thread: D-Day [Spoiler: Not Much Happens]

[Robster]

"The truth is that Newcastle could not sustain buying the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's. These are recognised European footballers. They have played in the European leagues and everyone knows about them. They can be brilliant signings. But everybody knows that they are brilliant and so they, and players like them, cost more than £30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals. My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. It takes time. It can't be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about. We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don't cost the earth."

What possessed him to go after the recognised European Footballer Modric ?

 

keegan wanted him? the deal was right? he's a young, talented player?

 

it hardly the same type of deal as spending £30 million on shevchenko or robinho is it?

 

Yes it is. How old is Robinho like ?

[Unbelievable]

True, but that was never said before Keegan left, was it? No, it wasn't.

 

not in as many words, but it was obvious enough. we knew that we were going to be buying young, promising players instead of old, experienced ones wanting big contracts like the ones we're stuck with now. we all knew about this all summer.

 

Load of rubbish.

[BottledDog]

"The truth is that Newcastle could not sustain buying the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's. These are recognised European footballers. They have played in the European leagues and everyone knows about them. They can be brilliant signings. But everybody knows that they are brilliant and so they, and players like them, cost more than £30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals. My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. It takes time. It can't be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about. We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don't cost the earth."

And look at the date:14/09/2008. That's after he'd shown his true colours.

<--

 

that quote epitomises "the transfer system" that keegan apparently agreed with to come back a year ago.

 

im still waiting for you or somebody else to show where he's said we'll spend our way up the league btw.

 

No, that would have been this (contradicting one)..

 

"The caliber of player we want to bring in is someone with a lot of Premiership experience or Champions League experience and they are in short supply. We are at a stage where we don't want to just bring players in to add to the squad, we want players who are going to be in the first team."

Chris Mort 02/08/2007

 

The one you refer to is from after Keegan left.

 

But where is the contradiction? What they don't want to do is just bring in squad players or young players like Bassong, Taylor, Guthrie, Ranger etc.. but get players in that can go into the first team ala Collo, Jonas, Nolan, who have Premiership or top European experience etc, but that it's difficult.

 

What is not at least understandable about that? How does that go against them saying that we cannot sustain bringing in the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's, but will build up slowly.

[Guest The Libertine]

"The truth is that Newcastle could not sustain buying the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's. These are recognised European footballers. They have played in the European leagues and everyone knows about them. They can be brilliant signings. But everybody knows that they are brilliant and so they, and players like them, cost more than £30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals. My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. It takes time. It can't be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about. We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don't cost the earth."

And look at the date:14/09/2008. That's after he'd shown his true colours.

<--

 

that quote epitomises "the transfer system" that keegan apparently agreed with to come back a year ago.

 

im still waiting for you or somebody else to show where he's said we'll spend our way up the league btw.

 

No, that would have been this (contradicting one)..

 

"The caliber of player we want to bring in is someone with a lot of Premiership experience or Champions League experience and they are in short supply. We are at a stage where we don't want to just bring players in to add to the squad, we want players who are going to be in the first team."

Chris Mort 02/08/2007

 

The one you refer to is from after Keegan left.

 

the first part is true. players with lots of premiership and champions league experience at the right age ARE in short supply, especially as we're not a very attractive prospect compared to other clubs bidding for similar players.

 

the second part is true enough as most of the players we got in have gone into the first team. guthrie, jonas, bassong and coloccini are regulars and 2 of them have been our best 2 players. the adding of the younger players for the youth teams is a different area altogether.

[Guest The Libertine]

"The truth is that Newcastle could not sustain buying the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's. These are recognised European footballers. They have played in the European leagues and everyone knows about them. They can be brilliant signings. But everybody knows that they are brilliant and so they, and players like them, cost more than £30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals. My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. It takes time. It can't be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about. We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don't cost the earth."

What possessed him to go after the recognised European Footballer Modric ?

 

keegan wanted him? the deal was right? he's a young, talented player?

 

it hardly the same type of deal as spending £30 million on shevchenko or robinho is it?

 

Yes it is. How old is Robinho like ?

 

his age is irrelevant when he cost twice what modric did and is on £160k a week. we simply cant afford that.

[Guest The Libertine]

True, but that was never said before Keegan left, was it? No, it wasn't.

 

not in as many words, but it was obvious enough. we knew that we were going to be buying young, promising players instead of old, experienced ones wanting big contracts like the ones we're stuck with now. we all knew about this all summer.

 

Load of rubbish.

 

if you couldnt see that we were after younger players who we would get the best out of instead of buying old-ish players who we would be getting on their way down then no wonder you're disappointed. did you not hear the "players that are right" talk?

[Bad Mongo]

But where is the contradiction? What they don't want to do is just bring in squad players or young players like Bassong, Taylor, Guthrie, Ranger etc.. but get players in that can go into the first team ala Collo, Jonas, Nolan, who have Premiership or top European experience etc, but that it's difficult.

 

What is not at least understandable about that? How does that go against them saying that we cannot sustain bringing in the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's, but will build up slowly.

 

We've never brought in "the Shevchenko's (sic), Robinho's (sic) or the Berbatov's (sic)". We've had players like Robert, Bellamy and Solano, all far better players than anyone brought in under the Ashley regime.

[Syrette]

I thought that NOTW interview with Ashley was fabricated.

[Bad Mongo]

I thought that NOTW interview with Ashley was fabricated.

 

No, it was confirmed as real. The "journalist" was one of Ashley's mates.

[Unbelievable]

True, but that was never said before Keegan left, was it? No, it wasn't.

 

not in as many words, but it was obvious enough. we knew that we were going to be buying young, promising players instead of old, experienced ones wanting big contracts like the ones we're stuck with now. we all knew about this all summer.

 

Load of rubbish.

 

if you couldnt see that we were after younger players who we would get the best out of instead of buying old-ish players who we would be getting on their way down then no wonder you're disappointed. did you not hear the "players that are right" talk?

 

The players that are right are the players that have the qualities required to achieve the ambitions the club sets, not the cheapest possible squad capable of clinging on to its Premiership status. No wonder you are so pleased if that was the level of ambition you expected from Ashley.

[Guest The Libertine]

True, but that was never said before Keegan left, was it? No, it wasn't.

 

not in as many words, but it was obvious enough. we knew that we were going to be buying young, promising players instead of old, experienced ones wanting big contracts like the ones we're stuck with now. we all knew about this all summer.

 

Load of rubbish.

 

if you couldnt see that we were after younger players who we would get the best out of instead of buying old-ish players who we would be getting on their way down then no wonder you're disappointed. did you not hear the "players that are right" talk?

 

The players that are right are the players that have the qualities required to achieve the ambitions the club sets, not the cheapest possible squad capable of clinging on to its Premiership status. No wonder you are so pleased if that was the level of ambition you expected from Ashley.

 

we were talking about last summer i believe?

 

2 minutes of mort quote hunting and.....

 

"I'd be surprised and disappointed if Kevin wasn't pushing us to invest," he told The Independent.

 

"We have to make sure we don't do a Leeds, where the club is unable to cope if success doesn't come. It's a balancing act.

 

"Historically, the club has looked to please fans by making a 'statement signing' every now and again.

 

"Looking back, I'm not sure if that's the way to develop long-term success. I want to bring players who are going to develop the club over three to five years.

 

"Kevin's return has clearly lit a spark - the team were looking down in the mouth. A dramatic transition has started and Kevin and I would both like to raise the game.

 

"But we're not looking to make one-off signings to appease fans."

 

plus

 

Mort and owner Mike Ashley have already sanctioned the manager's summer recruitment plans, although they suffered early frustration when Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Luka Modric turned down a more lucrative deal to join Tottenham Hotspur instead.

 

Writing in his programme notes for Monday's Barclays Premier League match with Chelsea, Mort said: "Over the summer, we will look to strengthen the squad further.

 

"In addition to making any immediate fixes that may be required, as with everything else we have done since Mike acquired the club, we will want to acquire players that can help make Newcastle United a top team for the medium and long-term, not just for the next season or two.

 

"That is why we put a substantial offer in for Luka Modric, who is aged 22.

 

"It is frustrating that Modric, like (Jonathan) Woodgate before him, should take less money than we offered to move to the bright lights of London, and European football with Tottenham next season, but these are the sorts of difficulties that should get easier to address once we build a squad that competes at the right end of the table."

 

 

so what i said is true regarding transfer policy.

[Bad Mongo]

None of the signings so far "are going to develop the club over three to five years". So far, we've only regressed.

 

Also, the only thing that doesn't make the Modric signing a "statement signing" is the fact that he never signed.

[Guest The Libertine]

None of the signings so far "are going to develop the club over three to five years". So far, we've only regressed.

 

Also, the only thing that doesn't make the Modric signing a "statement signing" is the fact that he never signed.

 

so you've written off every player (youth and first team) we've bought since the start of the summer?

 

nice. throw some eggs.

[Syrette]

None of the signings so far "are going to develop the club over three to five years".

 

Some of them very likely could. It's not so much the individual players that we've brought in that are the problem, it's their existing teammates.

[Guest The Libertine]

None of the signings so far "are going to develop the club over three to five years".

 

Some of them very likely could. It's not so much the individual players that we've brought in that are the problem, it's their existing teammates.

 

+ manager.

[Syrette]

None of the signings so far "are going to develop the club over three to five years".

 

Some of them very likely could. It's not so much the individual players that we've brought in that are the problem, it's their existing teammates.

 

+ manager.

 

Well, yeah. But I defy anyone to get Duff, Butt and Smith etc playing adequately on any form of a consistent basis.

[Unbelievable]

So which players have we brought in since Ashley took over that will help us reach our five year goal (only three years left) of being back amongst the European places or, in the words of our esteemed owner: "a team that will go all out to try to give Chelsea a walloping, that'll try to stuff Tottenham and that will be brave and bold enough to attack Man Utd"? Being very optimistic (question marks for the one I consider debatable at best) I would say Enrique (?), Colo (?), Bassong, Guthrie (?) and Nolan (?). In that same time we have lost Given, Milner, Dyer and N'Zogbia who have proved they are more or less capable of that level. The reality is we are on a cost cutting operation at the expense of the quality on the pitch, and as things stand we are equally likely to be in the bottom half of the Championship as we are of being back in Europe in three years time. If that is good enough for you, bless you..

[Guest The Libertine]

So which players have we brought in since Ashley took over that will help us reach our five year goal (only three years left) of being back amongst the European places or, in the words of our esteemed owner: "a team that will go all out to try to give Chelsea a walloping, that'll try to stuff Tottenham and that will be brave and bold enough to attack Man Utd"? Being very optimistic (question marks for the one I consider debatable at best) I would say Enrique (?), Colo (?), Bassong, Guthrie (?) and Nolan (?). In that same time we have lost Given, Milner, Dyer and N'Zogbia who have proved they are more or less capable of that level. The reality is we are on a cost cutting operation at the expense of the quality on the pitch, and as things stand we are equally likely to be in the bottom half of the Championship as we are of being back in Europe in three years time. If that is good enough for you, bless you..

 

i dont have time to fully go into this post but we got a 0-0 with chelsea, stuffed tottenham a few times and attacked man utd in august 

 

as for the last part, ask yourself WHY we are a cost cutting operation. ask yourself WHY we cant spend massive money. ask NE5 why actually, he'll probably know.

[cp40]

So which players have we brought in since Ashley took over that will help us reach our five year goal (only three years left) of being back amongst the European places or, in the words of our esteemed owner: "a team that will go all out to try to give Chelsea a walloping, that'll try to stuff Tottenham and that will be brave and bold enough to attack Man Utd"? Being very optimistic (question marks for the one I consider debatable at best) I would say Enrique (?), Colo (?), Bassong, Guthrie (?) and Nolan (?). In that same time we have lost Given, Milner, Dyer and N'Zogbia who have proved they are more or less capable of that level. The reality is we are on a cost cutting operation at the expense of the quality on the pitch, and as things stand we are equally likely to be in the bottom half of the Championship as we are of being back in Europe in three years time. If that is good enough for you, bless you..

 

i dont have time to fully go into this post but we got a 0-0 with chelsea, stuffed tottenham a few times and attacked man utd in august 

as for the last part, ask yourself WHY we are a cost cutting operation. ask yourself WHY we cant spend massive money. ask NE5 why actually, he'll probably know.

 

 

 

I wonder who our manager was, that would attack Man Utd

 

[BottledDog]

But where is the contradiction? What they don't want to do is just bring in squad players or young players like Bassong, Taylor, Guthrie, Ranger etc.. but get players in that can go into the first team ala Collo, Jonas, Nolan, who have Premiership or top European experience etc, but that it's difficult.

 

What is not at least understandable about that? How does that go against them saying that we cannot sustain bringing in the Shevchenko's, Robinho's or the Berbatov's, but will build up slowly.

 

We've never brought in "the Shevchenko's (sic), Robinho's (sic) or the Berbatov's (sic)". We've had players like Robert, Bellamy and Solano, all far better players than anyone brought in under the Ashley regime.

 

They are not saying we have, nor should we expect such players in the near future which clearly needed to be said the way some were going on. I think we are trying to bring in players certainly a par with Robert, Bellamy and Solano if not better (even in terms of the transfer fees paid) as well as investing in youth more than the previous lot. And it's pretty telling that those are the biggest successes in recent years, two of which were got shot of for far less than they were worth.

 

I think the current team have already managed a better hit rate with the likes of Jonas and Bassong being the standouts and even the likes of Guthrie and Collo in one transfer window. I was dissapointed with the winter transfer period, but not with the players signed or lost really. Just hoped for one or two more. Stop losing players on the cheap, keep building the squad up with exciting youth and a smattering of experience and internationals until we are in a possition to atract the top players again and I'll be happy.

 

But what does worry me is that such sustained progress can only be made with a manager the players, board, and supporters can have confidence in, and Kinnear frankly scares me shitless.

[Bad Mongo]

None of the signings so far "are going to develop the club over three to five years".

 

Some of them very likely could. It's not so much the individual players that we've brought in that are the problem, it's their existing teammates.

 

Could they? We seem to be buying players based on who's the best bargain (with the exception of statement signing Coloccini), not on what they actually add to the team. Jonas is fine as an individual player, but his goals and assists ratio is far worse than Milner's or N'Zogbia's. (Those are the kind of players that we're selling.) Why don't we have a creative player somewhere to take advantage of what Jonas actually does bring to the team? There's no vision for what we're trying to achieve on the pitch. No coherent plan. We're a selling club.

[Mike]

Rob Lee's take on the Derby and transfer window

 

Derby Draw - Deadline Day Disappointment - Insomnia

Posted by Rob Lee 17 hours, 25 minutes ago

 

After a thoroughly disappointing 2-1 defeat at Manchester City, we could then only gain a single point at home to our local rivals Sunderland. Much like our display at Man City, we were once again awful in the first half, and played reasonably well in the second.

 

Djibril Cisse put the visitors ahead after Fabricio Coloccini failed to play the Frenchman offside, allowing Cisse a clean one-on-one with our new number one, Steve Harper. Harper did well to save Cisse's initial shot on goal, only for the striker to prod home the rebound with an open goal.

 

 

The only real positive from our first half display was a looping header from geordie boy Andy Carrol, which went over after hitting the visitors' crossbar. Second half, Newcastle looked a different team, with Jonas Guttierez and Jose Enrique playing particularly well down our left flank. Damien Duff was booked for a dive when trying to win us a penalty, when just moments later Steven Taylor also dived, but won us a penalty. I for one had no complaints, as the un-fit Shola Ameobi blasted into the top right-hand corner to level the score.

 

From then on, both teams had chances, with geordie-born Michael Chopra blowing the best chance in the dying minutes. Why Chopra didn't shoot when clean through on goal is a mystery. Instead, he opted to square the ball for Jones, awfully, and the chance was gone. Perhaps his geordie roots got the better of him and he simply could not sink his former club. Overall, a draw was probably a fair result. However, if we cannot beat Sunderland at home, then who can we beat? Both teams on display here were poor and will no doubt be drifting around the lower region of the league come May.

 

Having said that, new boy Kevin Nolan, a £4million signing from relegation rivals Bolton Wanderer's, put in a fairly solid if unspectacular performance, whilst we do have several players returning from injury in the coming weeks. Mark Viduka, Obafemi Martins and Alan Smith are all said to be ready to play on Saturday, when we play a simply 'must-win' match away at West Brom. I would expect Martins to start on Saturday alongside Andy Carrol, with Viduka and Smith being introduced in the latter stages due to their lengthy stays on the injury front.

 

Also, the transfer window proved to be fairly successful for us in my opinion. Incoming, we have signed Kevin Nolan (as mentioned), Peter Lovenkrands on a free transfer from Schalke 04 and promising England U21 international Ryan Taylor from Wigan Athletic. Outgoing, Charles Insomnia (N'Zogbia) joined Wigan Athletic for £6million as part of the Ryan Taylor transfer (Taylor costing £1million as part of an exchange deal), whilst Toon legend Shay Given joined Manchester City for a fee thought to be in the region of £6-8million.

 

Whilst I, amongst many others, am highly disappointed at Given's departure, I do feel that we have a good replacement between the sticks in Steve Harper, who has been at the club since 1993. It is obvious Shay was becoming disillusioned with life in the North East, due to the instability at the club, whilst a player of his calibre will no doubt want to win things, something that he would be not be doing any time soon at Newcastle United, it is safe to say.

 

Elsewhere, it was a shame that we failed in our bid to sign Miguel Veloso from Sporting Lisbon, whilst it was also disappointing that Michael Johnson apparently failed a medical after Man City reportedly accepted our bid of £8million.

 

Also, the ongoing transfers of Rennes' Stephane M'bia and Albin Ebondo from Toulouse never materialized and neither did the rumoured attempts at signing Fiorentina's Marco Donadel, Real Madrid's out of favour striker Saviola and Coventry City's young left-back Daniel Fox. These are all players that would have strengthened our squad and we can only hope that perhaps one or two of them join us in the summer, providing we are still in the Premiership, that is.

 

So in terms of numbers, we are one player better off after a frustrating January transfer window. Assuming that we can keep players fit between now and May, I feel the likes of Viduka, Martins, Nolan, Taylor (Ryan), Guttierez and Owen will provide the quality we desperately need to survive relegation this season.

 

Assuming that we do stay up, we will have funds in the summer from our January sales to invest in a couple of quality players like Veloso and Johnson, perhaps.

 

Also, on a final note, it is brilliant that Charles N'Zogbia has left the club, for not Arsenal, PSG or Chelsea, but Wigan Athletic. The French whinger stated that he would never play for NUFC again after Joe Kinnear accidentally called him Charles 'Insomnia' in a TV interview. Pathetic excuse to leave if there was one, but his moaning was becoming tedious and to see the back of this over-rated little brat is a delight. Good luck Steve Bruce at Wigan, your turn to keep this horrible little man happy...and don't get his name wrong, or else!

 

Comments welcome

 

Takes a hell of a shot at Zoggy at the end there.

 

Link to the rest of Rob's posts.

[dcmk]

So Micheal Johnson fails a medical now?

 

Where do these journalists get their information from?  I wouldn't be at all surprised for that to have been leaked out of St James Park.

[Rebellious]

So Micheal Johnson fails a medical now?

 

Where do these journalists get their information from?  I wouldn't be at all surprised for that to have been leaked out of St James Park.

 

We would have gotten an inexperienced, injured player with no return date, who is also a rumoured alcoholic and has played three times this season.

Indeed, he would have saved our season and kept us up

 

Havn`t paid too much attention, but wasn`t he going to cost 8mill ? Also had a long standing ongoing pelvic problem ?  Failed medical. I`m glad would rather save the money for the summer, weather it be to get us promoted or if we survive to carry on building.

 

He would have failed here 5 games in with that price tag anyway.

 

It was reported on Setanta the second the deal fell through.

[thomas]

Takes a hell of a shot at Zoggy at the end there.

 

Link to the rest of Rob's posts.

Could a man BE more in love with the word 'whilst' ?