Transfer Policy at NUFC

[Hughesy]

More a point for next season.... but, as a general rule (and yes, there are exceptions...), I've come to the conclusion that a club like us is far better off spending smaller amount of cash of foreign players than ever splashing out big money for more 'established' players.  My theory being that if we are paying big money for a player (ie 6 million plus), if he is any good, a far bigger club than us will have bought him already.

 

Possibly not a groundbreaking theory or one that will be met with universal appreciation, but as a general rule I think it works.

 

 

How exactly are you classifying "a club like us"? ie one which not so long ago was constantly in the top 20 of the highest turnovers in the world in spite of supposed completely incompetent ownership (so obviously with a lot of room to improve it's finances), and which would certainly go straight back in the top 30 at least immediately on promotion.

 

Which clubs has it worked for out of interest?

don't confuse turnover with doing well. seems like you are forgetting the outgoings.

 

Not at all. When run properly we have a financial advantage over a lot of teams in this country, all but half a dozen or so at the moment. We can afford higher transfer fees and wages than a lot of teams in the Premier League. There are limits of course, but just because we didn't cross the line and win the league or a cup when we were actually trying doesn't mean we should just give up and be happy to just get by as a club without any ambition other than to stay in the Premiership.

 

This lad is proposing "a club like us" shouldn't get ideas above our station and should settle for buying a couple of cheap players on low wages a year. This is apparently the road to success, but actually it's the road to mediocrity which leads you down the path of falling attendances and reduced merchandising ending up back where we were 30 years ago.

 

Eh??? I'm not proposing we settle for mediocrity... I'm just suggesting we have a more sensible transfer policy.  I can't see any merit in us buying foreign players for large sums of money for the reasons I listed earlier.  I would also prefer we didn't buy players from top 4 clubs.

 

Yes you are. Completely. Any player over £6m who was any good would have been bought by a bigger club than us, no sorry, by a FAR bigger club than us, and they wouldn't want to play for us anyway even if we fluked into the top 4 because Newcastle's s*** so why bother. Let's just go for players who noone else wants or ever wanted (don't want any cast offs from "big" clubs do we) to avoid disappointment. What an amazing strategy for success.

 

I'm still waiting for a list of the teams it's worked for.

 

Because buying cast off from big clubs worked so well, didn't it?  Duff, Butt, Geremi, Owen, Smith, Babayaro, Carr.  They all performed and provided good value for money, didn't they?  Oh wait... they didn't.

 

As for our record of buying expensive foreign players (or players on high wages)? Martins, Luque, Coloccini, Boumsong, Viana, Kluivert, Bassedas, even Emre and Robert ffs.

 

Even if you think that some of those foreign players are decent, they certainly were never good enough to play for a top 4 team - which is what we were aspiring to be.  You think that Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea wanted any of them?  Genuinely?  So why should we go and spend huge amounts of money on them?

 

You seem to think I am denigrating us as a club - the complete opposite.  I'm suggesting we shouldn't buy players who aren't good enough for those teams.  We need a better scouting network and we need to steal a march on the richer, bigger teams who will be hoovering up the good, established talent.

 

I love the way you suggest that a strategy we haven't even tried is worse than one that's failed.

[Crumpy Gunt]

I think the policy looks something like this;

- Buy cheap with potential

- Sell high

- Salaries as little as possible

 

Will only work if we have a very strong scouting team as every time we sell for a profit we have to hope the replacement will come in and the team won't be negatively impacted.

 

It's more the sports direct strategy than the Arsenal one imho.

 

Ashleys plan from day 1 as the court case showed.

[UV]

We seem to be a "cheap as possible, but young enough to improve"  club these days.

 

You mean like Barton (24), Martins (21), Owen (25), Emre (24), Parker (24), Boumsong (25), Babayaro (26)? 

[Crumpy Gunt]

More a point for next season.... but, as a general rule (and yes, there are exceptions...), I've come to the conclusion that a club like us is far better off spending smaller amount of cash of foreign players than ever splashing out big money for more 'established' players.  My theory being that if we are paying big money for a player (ie 6 million plus), if he is any good, a far bigger club than us will have bought him already.

 

Possibly not a groundbreaking theory or one that will be met with universal appreciation, but as a general rule I think it works.

 

 

How exactly are you classifying "a club like us"? ie one which not so long ago was constantly in the top 20 of the highest turnovers in the world in spite of supposed completely incompetent ownership (so obviously with a lot of room to improve it's finances), and which would certainly go straight back in the top 30 at least immediately on promotion.

 

Which clubs has it worked for out of interest?

don't confuse turnover with doing well. seems like you are forgetting the outgoings.

 

Not at all. When run properly we have a financial advantage over a lot of teams in this country, all but half a dozen or so at the moment. We can afford higher transfer fees and wages than a lot of teams in the Premier League. There are limits of course, but just because we didn't cross the line and win the league or a cup when we were actually trying doesn't mean we should just give up and be happy to just get by as a club without any ambition other than to stay in the Premiership.

 

This lad is proposing "a club like us" shouldn't get ideas above our station and should settle for buying a couple of cheap players on low wages a year. This is apparently the road to success, but actually it's the road to mediocrity which leads you down the path of falling attendances and reduced merchandising ending up back where we were 30 years ago.

 

Eh??? I'm not proposing we settle for mediocrity... I'm just suggesting we have a more sensible transfer policy.  I can't see any merit in us buying foreign players for large sums of money for the reasons I listed earlier.  I would also prefer we didn't buy players from top 4 clubs.

 

Yes you are. Completely. Any player over £6m who was any good would have been bought by a bigger club than us, no sorry, by a FAR bigger club than us, and they wouldn't want to play for us anyway even if we fluked into the top 4 because Newcastle's s*** so why bother. Let's just go for players who noone else wants or ever wanted (don't want any cast offs from "big" clubs do we) to avoid disappointment. What an amazing strategy for success.

 

I'm still waiting for a list of the teams it's worked for.

 

Because buying cast off from big clubs worked so well, didn't it?  Duff, Butt, Geremi, Owen, Smith, Babayaro, Carr.  They all performed and provided good value for money, didn't they?  Oh wait... they didn't.

 

As for our record of buying expensive foreign players (or players on high wages)? Martins, Luque, Coloccini, Boumsong, Viana, Kluivert, Bassedas, even Emre and Robert ffs.

 

Even if you think that some of those foreign players are decent, they certainly were never good enough to play for a top 4 team - which is what we were aspiring to be.  You think that Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea wanted any of them?  Genuinely?  So why should we go and spend huge amounts of money on them?

 

You seem to think I am denigrating us as a club - the complete opposite.  I'm suggesting we shouldn't buy players who aren't good enough for those teams.  We need a better scouting network and we need to steal a march on the richer, bigger teams who will be hoovering up the good, established talent.

 

I love the way you suggest that a strategy we haven't even tried is worse than one that's failed.

 

Robert went a long way to securing NUFC CL football.

[Hughesy]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

[Village Idiot]

To be honest the foreigners you've signed have (for the most part) been mediocre and overpriced. The s*** you have bought off Spain is stuff of jokes down there.

 

It would be different if you bought them at bargain prices, but you paid big coin for players that -in the best case- were merely seen as decent in this league, and a club aiming for CL football should have done better.

[OzzieMandias]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

 

You're basically correct. Robert is the only one of the names you mentioned about whom there can be any real argument. Both him and Bellamy, signed at the same time, basically came from the "bent tins" shelf, though. Notoriously difficult players that Sir Bobby was prepared to take a risk with, and had the exceptional man-management skills to make it work.

[OzzieMandias]

Meanwhile, when did we last have such a decent January window?

 

2003 when we bought Woodgate (and no one else)?

[TRon]

To be honest the foreigners you've signed have (for the most part) been mediocre and overpriced. The s*** you have bought off Spain is stuff of jokes down there.

 

It would be different if you bought them at bargain prices, but you paid big coin for players that -in the best case- were merely seen as decent in this league, and a club aiming for CL football should have done better.

 

I have always been a bit suspicious of the signings from Spain considering that Freddie Sheperd's son was in charge of doing the deals and we went out and whacked £10m on the likes of Luque from the middle of nowhere. Ashley has continued in this vein with some strange signings from Depor.

[cp40]

Transfer policy= Cheap will do.

[Village Idiot]

To be honest the foreigners you've signed have (for the most part) been mediocre and overpriced. The s*** you have bought off Spain is stuff of jokes down there.

 

It would be different if you bought them at bargain prices, but you paid big coin for players that -in the best case- were merely seen as decent in this league, and a club aiming for CL football should have done better.

 

I have always been a bit suspicious of the signings from Spain considering that Freddie Sheperd's son was in charge of doing the deals and we went out and whacked £10m on the likes of Luque from the middle of nowhere. Ashley has continued in this vein with some strange signings from Depor.

 

Well, Luque is the least suspicious of the lot. I mean NUFC swooping with €15m for him at the time raised some eyebrows, but he still was a Spanish international that had a few solid seasons... nobody thought the move would work for him (Torres is the first Spanish forward to succeed in the PL, and even people like Morientes flopped), but he wasn't a bad player. Now the other Depor signings really were a bit more strange. Coloccini is actually a good continental defender for a midtable side, physically not enough for the English game. And Xisco... really... My friend from Galicia told me the other day that Newcastle is like the Fairy Godmother of Deportivo, since your coin has helped them a lot in difficult times.

 

Marcelino Elena was a decent gamble. I mean Madrid got Iván Campo too (his pair at Mallorca's CB) and it flopped for them. Although it was a lot of money for a defender.

 

Jonás was a midtable player in La Liga at the very best. But you got him for free and he's being good for you at this level.

[Pilko]

Signing cheap, out of contract players and loans > signing no-one.

[Village Idiot]

And don't get me started on Nacho González! That poor guy has been involved in more shady dealings... was signed under the nose of Valencia's manager too, who didn't want him and got shipped to your place.

 

Incidentally, Valencia just loaned him again to some Greek club this window. Has yet to play for them (and he never will).

[Crumpy Gunt]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

 

Name me a more effectice midfielder at SJP in the last 30 years. Goals/assists he has no peers.

[cp40]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

 

Name me a more effectice midfielder at SJP in the last 30 years. Goals/assists he has no peers.

 

 

Robert Lee?

Kevin Keegan?

Paul Gascoine?

Nobby?

[Darth Crooks]

And don't get me started on Nacho González! That poor guy has been involved in more shady dealings... was signed under the nose of Valencia's manager too, who didn't want him and got shipped to your place.

 

Incidentally, Valencia just loaned him again to some Greek club this window. Has yet to play for them (and he never will).

 

Does he actually exist? or is he some Keyser Soze type figure?

[Hughesy]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

 

Name me a more effectice midfielder at SJP in the last 30 years. Goals/assists he has no peers.

 

I agree with you.  For one season.  Maybe one season and a half.

 

In terms of consistency, Solano.

[Wullie]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

 

Name me a more effectice midfielder at SJP in the last 30 years. Goals/assists he has no peers.

 

I agree with you.  For one season.  Maybe one season and a half.

 

In terms of consistency, Solano.

 

Which season and a half? In his third season, he was unstoppable for the majority.

[cp40]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

 

Name me a more effectice midfielder at SJP in the last 30 years. Goals/assists he has no peers.

 

 

Robert Lee?

Kevin Keegan?

Paul Gascoine?

Nobby?

 

 

Chris waddle as well, as we are talking about a winger.

[Village Idiot]

And don't get me started on Nacho González! That poor guy has been involved in more shady dealings... was signed under the nose of Valencia's manager too, who didn't want him and got shipped to your place.

 

Incidentally, Valencia just loaned him again to some Greek club this window. Has yet to play for them (and he never will).

 

Does he actually exist? or is he some Keyser Soze type figure?

 

The greatest trick Nacho ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. ...

[Hughesy]

I knew people would pick up on Robert.  Yes he was a decent player.  He was amazing for 1 and a half seasons.  He never maintained that form - that's why he was not a consistent top 4 player.

 

Name me a more effectice midfielder at SJP in the last 30 years. Goals/assists he has no peers.

 

I agree with you.  For one season.  Maybe one season and a half.

 

In terms of consistency, Solano.

 

Which season and a half? In his third season, he was unstoppable for the majority.

 

Robert official stats:

 

2004/05

 

5 assists (33rd in the league) and 3 goals (115th in the league)

 

2003/04

 

7 assists (14th in the league) and 6 goals (50th in the league)

 

2002/03

 

5 assists (36th in the league) and 5 goals (69th in the league)

 

2001/02

 

16 assists (1st in the league) and 8 goals (40th in the league)

 

Not sure he was unstoppable for the majority of the 3rd season you know...  If he was, a fair few others were unstoppable as well.

[Delima]

 

5 England DF Fitz Hall (on loan from Queens Park Rangers) - proven solid/good Championship central defender.

6 England DF Mike Williamson - seems excellent. £2M ? Good price.

10 England MF Wayne Routledge - proven excellent Championship right winger. £3M ? Reasonable.

12 England DF Danny Simpson - proven very good/excellent Championship right fullback. £750k. Cheap

14 Netherlands DF Patrick van Aanholt (on loan from Chelsea) - emergency loan. Looks excellent.

20 Republic of Ireland FW Leon Best - proven Okayish Championship striker. Age on his side, has talent. Price unknown.

21 France MF Fabrice Pancrate - proven Okayish Championship right winger. Free. No complain.

 

This is a trully fruitful window. All deals carried out secretly, none this media hoohah. All fees undisclosed - which protects the commercial interest of Newcastle United. All youngish players. Non overpriced. All directly addressing the weakness of our squad.

 

Massive credits to Hughton and the board. I hope Chris do well in the this half season - because he no longer has any excuse. He has all the players he needs on paper. Pressure is on Chris, and I do sincerely hope that the fans won't be jumping on Chris' back immediately if results aren't that good.

[Dave]

The Beckford and Moses 'bids' were hardly done secretly like.

[Colocho]

Young, English players. Good.

[Delima]

The Beckford and Moses 'bids' were hardly done secretly like.

 

Perhaps that's why we lose out. And knowing Leeds / Bates and the obvious talent of Moses, it will be extremely hard to keep our interests and dealing secret.