KaKa Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Serious moves Sam Allardyce’s first forays into the transfer market hint at a shift away from trophy signingsJonathan Northcroft Newcastle United have not won anything in 38 years and no domestic honour since the FA Cup in 1955. Their last league title was clinched in the same month that the television was invented – April 1927. None of this has stopped the stream of trophies flowing into St James’ Park. Obafemi Martins was the one for 2006 and Michael Owen for 2005. We are talking, of course, about trophy signings – not cold, hard, bankable silverware. On Thursday, Sam Allardyce made Mark Viduka his first acquisition since succeeding Glenn Roeder. There was a certain inevitability about the transfer: new Newcastle manager ergo new high profile striker arrives. And yet the Viduka deal may have been misleading because Allardyce’s next bit of business was to activate the release clause in Joey Barton’s contract at Manchester City by faxing a £5.5m offer for the mid-fielder. He then persuaded Barton to choose Newcastle over West Ham, who also made a £5.5m bid. Allardyce’s next moves were to negotiate with his old club, Bolton, over Tal Ben Haim, and register an interest in Charlton’s Luke Young. Ben Haim – tired of waiting for Chelsea – may join Newcastle within the next few days. Barton, Ben Haim and Young are hardly the flair player signings that usually pepper a summer at St James’ Park and even buying Viduka is as much about adding physical solidity to Newcastle’s ranks, particularly up front where they are short, as it is about bringing to the club exotic skill. His transfer activity suggests Allardyce might be the first Newcastle manager in more than a decade to prioritise team building over romance; he arrived, like Kevin Keegan, in a helicopter but no one has ever doubted Big Sam is grounded. Underlying his tendency of acquiring elderly, but still useful, foreign superstars at Bolton was a belief that when spending has to be rationed a manager is better investing in proven ability than potential. Sir Bobby Robson paid £23.5m for Hugo Viana, Carl Cort and Titus Bramble on the basis of the latter. That Bramble – freed by Allardyce – was able to find another Premier League club to take him (Wigan) was a transfer more miraculous than when Socrates agreed a short-term move to Garforth Town. The glitch for Allardyce is that Barton’s switch cannot be sealed until he resolves a dispute with Manchester City over his extraordinary demand he should be paid a “loyalty bonus” of £300,000. Barton argues he is entitled to the sum because he did not make a transfer request; City say he did effectively ask to leave when he asked permission to talk to Newcastle and West Ham. It comes down to semantics but City believe they are on very solid ground and even Barton’s advisors are said to be keen he drops the matter. A source at City indicated last night that Alistair Mackintosh, the club’s chief executive, and John Wardle, its chairman, are willing to “dig in” and not only block Barton’s transfer to Newcastle but see the player in court if necessary. Barton’s lawyers must be busy people: on police bail until July 11 while an alleged assault on a teammate, Ousmane Dabo, is investigated, he was also spoken to by the constabulary following a row with a taxi driver in Liverpool in March. “City are not going to budge. We think we’re on solid ground with our fans who got sick of Joey a long time ago and are now saying why should their club be asked to pay for one of its best players to leave,” said the source. One means of breaking the impasse might be if Newcastle paid the £300,000 but they are already committed to paying Barton £16m over five years, having agreed to triple the player’s City salary. West Ham offered Barton even more money to move to Upton Park and could reenter the scene should Barton’s move to the northeast break down. Alan Curbishley has already paid £7m to bring Scott Parker back to London and is in the bidding for Darren Bent, who will leave relegated Charlton. Liverpool, Tottenham and Valencia are also rumoured to be interested in the 23-year-old even though Charlton’s asking price is £15m. Bent would also command Barton wages of £60,000 per week plus bonuses. The amount middle-ranking clubs are willing to invest in middle-ranking players such as Bent, Barton, Parker and Andy Johnson – offered £90,000 per week by West Ham to leave Everton – demonstrates the goldrush that is taking place. Granted an opportunity by the league’s new £2.7bn television deal, clubs outside the Premiership’s Big Four are determined to break the oligarchy. Everton bidding as much as £4m for Phil Jagielka, Aston Villa £7m for Nigel Reo-Coker and Portsmouth spending £7m on Sulley Muntari are further examples of the trend. Takeover fever is also raising the market’s temperature. Villa are still flush following Randy Lerner’s purchase and West Ham following the arrival of new Icelandic owners. Should Thaksin Shinawatra be able to push through his attempt to buy City, the billionaire former Thai prime minister would ensure there would be serious money available to revamp the squad. For their part, Newcastle have a rich new owner, the sports tycoon Mike Ashley who has just paid Freddy Shepherd £37.6m for his shares in the club. Shepherd, who has retained his £500,000 per year post as chairman, pointed out last week that Newcastle had spent £104m in five years with him in charge as if that, in itself, was a sign of his prowess. They reached no cup finals in that period, had four managers, and in the past three seasons had league finishes of 14th, 7th, and 13th. At least Allardyce seems to realise that what St James’ Park needs is not the gesture of spending but joy of silverware. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article1909844.ece Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Luke pigging Young? F*cking hell man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thespence Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Elsewhere on Timesonline: Meanwhile, Mark Viduka – that personification of the modern club player, a remarkably skilful individual who chooses to put himself out and run about a bit only when faced with the sort of opposition he believes to be commensurate with his immense talents – is on his way to that Theatre of Perpetually Buggered Dreams, St James’ Park. Where he will be enjoined by Sam Allardyce to form a striking partnership with that other mercenary Obafemi Martins. A partnership: now let’s think about that for a moment. Have either of these players, throughout their careers, been able to form successful partnerships with anyone other than their accountants? Or shown the slightest wish so to do? There is no great surprise or displeasure among the Boro fans at the departure of the great Australian pie-bucket, despite the fact that he scored a lot of goals for them last time out and their side will probably struggle next season and be fortunate to stay up, in the end. At least, with Mark Viduka, you cannot even kid yourself about such stuff as loyalty; he has never remotely pretended to have any. Seems a bit harsh on you Oba Link:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/rod_liddle/article1909839.ece Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shido Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Jesus what a piece of shite that last article is. Fuckin' needless abuse of oba there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummie Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Rod Little is a dreadful, dreadful twat, and best ignored. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Spectrum Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Sigh...has he no gone yet. You know, I'm not sure how good my maths is but if Barton signed for Newcastle tomorrow without the greedy-fucker-bonus, I'm pretty sure he'd get more money than if it collapsed, he sat on his current £30k City contract till the next transfer window and signed for you then on the same £45k deal thats been mentioned, AND got his bonus... I don't know why he doesn't just fuck off and get it over with...all this arsing about is costing him £15k a week PS: He's in fucking la-la land if he thinks he's ever gonna get another penny out of City. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alberto2005 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Sigh...has he no gone yet. You know, I'm not sure how good my maths is but if Barton signed for Newcastle tomorrow without the greedy-fucker-bonus, I'm pretty sure he'd get more money than if it collapsed, he sat on his current £30k City contract till the next transfer window and signed for you then on the same £45k deal thats been mentioned, AND got his bonus... I don't know why he doesn't just f*** off and get it over with...all this arsing about is costing him £15k a week PS: He's in f****** la-la land if he thinks he's ever gonna get another penny out of City. It's getting to the stage where it's starting to piss me off, it's quite ironic only a week ago he was talking about how trophies is his main ambition and he doesnt want to be judged on the money he has and fair enough 300k is a lot of money but when he's on the reported 70k per week here he'll get that within months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shak Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Wish Barton would just waive it, I know it's a lot of money but does he really need it FFS? I've started a Master League at Pro Evo and put him on the team, I'll be annoyed if I've to start again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicago_shearer Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 I don't see how the hang up with the Barton deal would be any different if West Ham renewed their interest. Either Man City pay up or they don't. He's already turned down more money, so Barton is fighting City for the sake of it. Regardless, I really, really hope West Ham end up going down when the report comes out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummie Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 It does reflect a bit poorly on the bloke, and I absolutely see the situation from Dr Spectrum's position - he's got a bit of a nerve to expect anything, given the circumstances of his departure. Excellent player in need of a manager who'll give him a good slap around the gregory peck and get him in line. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 no great displeasure amongst boro fans that Viduka left? is that writer taking the piss? they're practically suicidal! as for the first article, it makes a good point about middle-ranking players going for big sums, which is why it is important that we buy some genuine quality to add on top of the sensible signings, in order to lift or keep us above the likes of pompey, everton, villa, west ham and so on next season. luke young is barely middle-ranking, i think he'd be more Steven Carr, over-hyped fullback on the way down. i think Solano probably offers more. we should definitely steer clear. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummie Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Regardless, I really, really hope West Ham end up going down when the report comes out. I absolutely agree. I fucking hate West Ham, the kitstealing cunts. Their desperation recently is laughable. I read today that they are prepared to pay Craig Bellamy 100k a week. I was reading kumb this week (seeing what they had to say about NRC), and there was a thread where they were talking about him, Barton and Parker. One of their ilk suggested that the obvious thing that West Ham had over Villa and Newcastle was their "history". It struck me as possibly the most bizarre thing I've ever seen on the internet. And I've seen those tubgirl pics. PS Luke Young at 2m would represent an excellent signing, imho Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Rod Little is a dreadful, dreadful twat, and best ignored. didn't realise it was by him, suddenly it all makes perfect sense. bloke who i don't even think is interested in football twisting his miniscule knowledge of the game into misinformed, grotesque vignettes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Rod Little is a dreadful, dreadful t***, and best ignored. didn't realise it was by him, suddenly it all makes perfect sense. bloke who i don't even think is interested in football twisting his miniscule knowledge of the game into misinformed, grotesque vignettes. he's trying to make a career out of being contraversial,next stop will be talk sport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 That article about Oba and Viduka is more nonsense than I ever thought could be packed into a paragraph. As johnny says, the Boro fans are absolutely devastated about Viduka - as my best friend says "he's better than Juninho ever was" and most Boro fans would have Juninho's babies tomorrow - and as for "when has Oba Martins been able to form successful partnerships with anyone other than his accountant? Or shown the slightest wish so to do?", it's such bollocks that I don't even know where to start. Does he even know who Martins is? As brummie says though, Liddle's a slimeball whose opinion is not worth jack shit. God knows why a reputable newspaper like the Times gives him column space to voice his fatuous shite. Back to the original point, Barton's being a total cunt about it all, and not exactly endearing himself to his new fanbase, by refusing to sign for their club over the matter of an obscene amount of money for nothing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Can't see it affecting the transfer tbh, whatever happens. That's all i care about. He's a fucking money grabber - what next, the wheel? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 PS Luke Young at 2m would represent an excellent signing, imho Not a major fan of Young, but it'd be a decent capture for that price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 What are you doing up at this time youngun? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 One of them nights. Can't sleep. Hate them nights. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Svenno Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 i'm drunk now.. But fiuck me, tbis is bad news. I had real.lly big hopes for Barton! I'm gonna regret this sorry ass post tomorrow Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Barton really is the biggest cocksucker the premiership has to offer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest khyberpass Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Barton's a cnut..we all know it...just showing his spots now...if we have any sense, we'll recognise the disloyal, moneygrabbing, toxteth tawt and drop our offer faster than Michael Jakson tries to drop his kids! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
garth Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Barton really is the biggest cocksucker the premiership has to offer Fucking spot on!, I just wish the cunt would disappear, he maybe talented but is it really worth the baggage that comes with it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toontownman Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Really not inspired by Luke Young, an improvement on Carr, Granted, but not any better than Taylor at RB let alone Solano. If we sack Carr off, bring in Young and a First choice RB aswell, ok.. but Im not a fan of Young at all. On his better days he is average. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baggio Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Young is a good player, better than either Solano and Carr. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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