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West Ham agree fee in region of £15m with Liverpool for Andy Carroll

Pilko

by Pilko
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Guest Thump 1892

Guest Thump 1892

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Posted

Anybody read this?

 

http://soccerlens.com/lies-what-andy-carroll-and-newcastle-arent-telling-the-fans/64987/

 

“Despite getting the best financial deal of the day you suspect Newcastle will end up being the window’s biggest losers.” – Adrian Clarke.

 

In a nutshell, that’s what Liverpool’s record £35m signing of Andy Carroll from Newcastle United boils down to – they got silly money that they couldn’t refuse, but with no time to reinforce the squad, they now face 4 months without one of their best players and might as well be dragged into a relegation battle given the tight nature of the bottom half of the table.

 

Andy Carroll has said that he didn’t want to leave Newcastle, and that the board asked him to sign a transfer request and basically ‘backed him into a corner’. Adrian (see his twitter stream from the link above) argues that clubs force players out all the time, and objectively speaking if Newcastle had received the £35m bid at any other point in the transfer window (or indeed the next summer) it would have been madness not to sell – £35m could easily be spent on much-needed strengthening of the playing squad.

 

Andy Carroll: “[Managing director] Derek [Llambias] asked me to hand in a transfer request, so I was pushed into a corner and had no choice. I wasn’t wanted by them and they made it clear they wanted the money.

 

Then I flew down in (owner Mike Ashley’s) helicopter. I didn’t want to leave.

 

I’m gutted that I wasn’t wanted at my home team after everything I have done and the progress I have made.

 

I didn’t want to leave at all. Make sure they know I didn’t want to leave.”

 

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has hit back at Carroll’s claims of being ‘forced out’, saying that in light of Liverpool’s offer he had asked for a new contract (after recently signing a long-term deal) and that once that request was turned down, asked to leave.

 

Alan Pardew: “I went to see Andy, and face to face we had a conversation about him wanting a new contract, even though he signed on in October, and (he said) if he didn’t get that contract, he wanted to go.”

 

So what really happened?

 

Firstly, I don’t think Carroll wanted to go. He (or his agent) knew about the Liverpool offer, knew the wages that were on offer, and probably decided to use that as leverage to get an improved contract. Problem was, the money on the table was too high to be dismissed out of hand, and the wages on offer were too high to match for a club that has been desperately trying to curtail expenses / wages in the last two years.

 

Secondly, did the Newcastle ownership think it was a good deal to cash in on Andy Carroll when the first offer came in? Probably. You’d consider it, even if you knew that the club needed to keep the player to re-establish themselves in the Premier League, and that keeping Carroll in the face of bigger clubs making silly bids would bring them some much-needed credibility after the Hughton decision.

 

“Sounds like Carroll and his agent had their bluff called by Ashley. One push too far, owner cracks, game changes and Carroll’s in a corner.” – Iain Macintosh

 

It seems like Carroll went ahead and asked for a raise, and if so, it was rightly rejected by the Newcastle board for being too soon after his previous contract signing. And it also seems likely that Newcastle were aware that a big-money, last-minute move for the player was due to come in, and they had at least entertained the idea of

 

Newcastle say Carroll asked for a raise, and asked to leave if he didn’t get it. Carroll says he didn’t want to go. You can’t have both, so while it’s likely that Carroll did push for an improved contract, it also seems like Newcastle were less inclined to keep him than he (or anyone else) thought, and when they saw the money and Carroll’s strategy on the last day, they pushed the deal through.

 

Carroll, for what it’s worth, gets a bumper wage hike, a nice signing-on bonus while his agent gets a good deal too. He’s going to play in a bigger club with bigger aspirations, although the move is probably an year too soon for him and it remains to be seen if Liverpool can properly manage him.

 

Newcastle will suffer, although if Pardew can keep the team in the Premier League and is given the 35m to spend on rebuilding the squad this summer, they might come out of it all right.

 

Regardless of what fans may feel about agents, Mike Ashley and Alan Pardew (or young footballers), this is what happens when there’s a lot of money involved. Loyalties are cast aside, and only the ugly truth remains. The thing with football is, we spend so much time pretending this isn’t true that we get surprised every time it happens.

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midds

midds

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Bitterly disappointed to see him go but I can't say I'm that surprised either. As the bids got bigger and bigger they would have been harder and harder to turn down.  :undecided:

 

This is the sport we follow though. Players come and go all the time but with him being a local lad it does leave a sour taste in the mouth but it's not the end of the world. I'm sure I've read that it's a British record and only 7 players have gone for more cash in the history of the sport. He's not the first diamond we've sold on and he certainly won't be the last.

 

Pretty philosophical about it now. I think the main bugbear is the fact we're not sure if the £35m will be pumped back into the team/squad.

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Guest Thump 1892

Guest Thump 1892

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Mate at work was a couple of years above him at Joseph Swan and has always said he was an absolute prick. And has always stood by his opinion through last season and this. Seems he was right.

 

A lad I went to school with played with Carroll and said the same thing.  His words were "He has the ego of Shearer with a quarter of the ability - no word can describe how much of a prat he is."

 

...and that was him being nice! :o

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Dokko

Dokko

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Mate at work was a couple of years above him at Joseph Swan and has always said he was an absolute prick. And has always stood by his opinion through last season and this. Seems he was right.

 

A lad I went to school with played with Carroll and said the same thing.  His words were "He has the ego of Shearer with a quarter of the ability - no word can describe how much of a prat he is."

 

...and that was him being nice! :o

 

Tbh not one person who's known a football through school has ever had a good word to be said about them. Not that they are insanely jealous or owt.

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Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken

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Mate at work was a couple of years above him at Joseph Swan and has always said he was an absolute prick. And has always stood by his opinion through last season and this. Seems he was right.

 

A lad I went to school with played with Carroll and said the same thing.  His words were "He has the ego of Shearer with a quarter of the ability - no word can describe how much of a prat he is."

 

...and that was him being nice! :o

 

Tbh not one person who's known a football through school has ever had a good word to be said about them. Not that they are insanely jealous or owt.

 

Apart from  :tiote:

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Guest Thump 1892

Guest Thump 1892

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Mate at work was a couple of years above him at Joseph Swan and has always said he was an absolute prick. And has always stood by his opinion through last season and this. Seems he was right.

 

A lad I went to school with played with Carroll and said the same thing.  His words were "He has the ego of Shearer with a quarter of the ability - no word can describe how much of a prat he is."

 

...and that was him being nice! :o

 

Tbh not one person who's known a football through school has ever had a good word to be said about them. Not that they are insanely jealous or owt.

 

Nah this was after school; when he was playing at the academy iirc.  My mate was on trial and met him, trained with him, went out with him etc.,

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Guest Thump 1892

Guest Thump 1892

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My mate played with Shola and said he was a lovely lad. Make of that what you will.

 

Funnily enough I've heard that a few times from the long standing fans and staff of Walker Central.  I live just round the corner from them so I usually have a bit of banter now and then (when they aren't doing the club out of money ofc).

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Tooj

Tooj

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I'm more pissed off with Kevin Nolan, he can fuck off with that shit like. Fucking disgraceful from the supposed captain.

 

Aye, exactly.

 

Let's hope Barton comes out with a counterpiece along the lines of them being wall pushers etc.

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Mick

Mick

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Tbh not one person who's known a football through school has ever had a good word to be said about them. Not that they are insanely jealous or owt.

 

I had a mate at school who played for Newcastle, he was as sound as a pound.  I've had a few mates who were professional footballers and they were all spot on.

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