Plan B required, as Killa knocks back Toon to stay with Blades?

Posted on January 6th, 2010 | 67 Comments |

Unknown agenda?
Unknown agenda?
News today from a number of sources seems to indicate that the Toon’s move for Sheffield United’s coveted defender, Matt Kilgallon, has collapsed. Newcastle had reportedly made a bid of around £1 million for the player, who is out of contract in the summer, and could be snapped up on a free transfer in 6 months.

The player is seemingly committed to helping Sheffield United obtain promotion to the Premier League. In a statement from the player’s agent, Paul Masterton said:

“We have spoken to Kevin Blackwell to say Matthew is fully committed to Sheffield United until the end of the season. We have also informed Newcastle United about the situation.”

“Matthew is keen to win promotion with Sheffield United. If that happens, we will re-assess the options in the summer.”

This seems kind of fishy to me and has the stench of an agent trying to get the best deal for himself. After all, such a committed player has refused to sign a new contract and could leave his current club in the summer, earning them no money whatsoever. I like to think the best of people, so perhaps the lad is comitted to The Blades after all?

Masterton went on to add:

“We have done what was asked and made Matthew’s intentions clear. Now the club knows that they do not have to get anyone else in and that Matthew is concentrated fully on helping the club win promotion.”

“It’s not about money, It is about picking the right club for a player who wants to play at the highest level during the best years of his career. He is totally committed to Sheffield United, has a good rapport with the supporters, and does not want any uncertainty over his future affecting his team-mates.”

Now surely if Kilgallon wants to “enjoy the best years of his career” playing in the Premier League, then Newcastle may be the best place for him? I mean that with no disrespect to Sheffield United. Perhaps, as I said, the agent is trying to manufacture the best possible deal for himself. If the player leaves for free in the summer, then that is generally reflected in the player’s new club paying a slightly higher signing-on fee, something the agents no doubt get a slice of!

Either way we can only take this statement on face-value, but it certainly looks like Newcastle have suffered a setback in our early transfer-window efforts to bolster the squad. So what of a contingency, assuming we have one, and which alternatives do we have lined up for this eventuality?

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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67 Responses

  1. I think bowburn altered it mate. I reckon he has snatched it so he can use it himself someday :D

  2. lol “It’s not about money, It is about picking the right club for a player who wants to play at the highest level during the best years of his career.”

    translated – its about money.

  3. It could also be translated into ‘He thinks NUFC is a basket case with no plans for the future’.

    Although I doubt footballers are too bothered about things like that as long as they get paid.

  4. Believe me………..
    We will end up with a couple of ropey loan signings at the end of the window.
    There is no intention to splash any cash.

  5. Lets see ! what`s that about ?
    He`s gonna stay and see who gets promoted, eh !
    Or see if anyone else wants him as a free agent, where lack of any fee could result in a larger salary.
    So whats in it for his agent, who aint gonna get a percentage of any transfer fee.
    Whatever, they have probably got a deal worked out.
    Unless of course it`s an attempt to sweeten the deal that could go down during this window.
    A bid of around 1m., he`s worth more than that, so sweeten the deal Mike.

  6. Wish I hadn’t changed it to be honest. It was for the good of the blog but my creative side is ashamed I curtailed the creative mind of a fellow writer. 8O

    Please accept my apologies!

  7. bowburn – Dont worry mate, im only jesting :)

    Johno Toon – That’s classified, secret information. I could never reveal the original title ;)

  8. “It’s not about money, It is about picking the right club for a player who wants to play at the highest level during the best years of his career. He is totally committed to Sheffield United, has a good rapport with the supporters, and does not want any uncertainty over his future affecting his team-mates.”

    Basically, he’s waiting to see who goes up before moving. It’s no good to him signing a 4 year contract with us and then us inexplicably not getting promoted.

  9. And now we have supposedly made a 3rd bid for Beckford.

    1st £1million = rejected
    2nd £1.25 million = rejected
    3rd £1.5 million apparently = ?

    I bet Ashley is baulking at thought of paying that much!

  10. Yeah on contemplating it`s about the offer, not enough, agent wants a bigger cut.
    It`l happen.
    The deal I dont care about is for Beckford, watched a re run of the Man.U.game was not impressed, really no better than what we have.
    We need a striker badly and have the opportunity to sign a future star in Moses, what may look like a lot right now will seem the deal of the decade later.
    But a combination of parsimony and shortsightedness will no doubt, put the kebosh on that going down.

  11. Chuck,
    Good comment mate,totally agree it’s all about personal terms.
    The same will happen with Beckford, he will stay with Leeds until the summer and then negotiate a free where he will receive a hefty signing on fee and a better wage salary. A LA Geremi me thinks.

  12. for what it’s worth although he’s a good player I just wish he had signed for you boys. At least then we can get on with replacing him with someone who really wants to play for Sheff United.

  13. Beatski – “Basically, he’s waiting to see who goes up before moving. It’s no good to him signing a 4 year contract with us and then us inexplicably not getting promoted.”

    Thats fine, but then he becomes a risky signing if he waits until we’re up as he is relatively unproven at premier league level. Would he get a game ahead of Colo and Taylor now, let alone in the premier league?

  14. beatski – aye agreed, he’ll have known or been told the following:

    – Risk of being tied into a deal with a club not yet promoted and still very much in disarray in many respects.

    – More money for signing-on fee in the summer.

    – No guarantee of 1st team football if he comes here.

    You can see why he’d be reluctant but there’s the prospect of better wages, Premiership football, playing at sizeable and passionate club like the town.

    The agent would have swayed him ultimately, over a few cheeky beers, because it means more financially to him.

    But like Stu79 said, it could just be a means to get more wedge from us. He’s barking up the wrong fat basket if that’s the case.

  15. NevtheBlade – I dont want to get into an argument, but Kilgallon is not better than Colo.

  16. toonsy says:
    January 6, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    “NevtheBlade – I dont want to get into an argument, but Kilgallon is not better than Colo.”

    Colo and Enrique have been in a different class to most Championship defenders this season.

  17. NevtheBlade says:
    January 6, 2010 at 5:26 pm
    from what I’ve seen of Colo, Killa is certainly better than him
    <<<well sorry from what ive seen of killa colo is twice the player he is

  18. how many goals have u leaked this season so divent come on here slagging king colo alreet nev and w divent want killa hes shite

  19. Yes and a warm welcome to our Blades visitor? :)

    Haven’t seen much of Kilgallon to be fair but reports are good. And last season you could have named any Championship defender and I’d have said they were probably on par with Colo, and in some cases far better. But this season he’s been immense, and truly made me eat my words. Commitment, class, composure, quality, the works. So I’d be surprised if there were any better than him. He’s certainly better than most I’ve seen in games we’ve played so far.

    Enrique is a different class altogether. No way is Kilgallon a better option at left back. Simply because there can’t be as good a left back knocking around down here.

  20. agree we’ve shipped way too many this season and part of it is down to killa – he had his head turned by supposed better offers even before the season started. When his head is right he’s a good player

    batty – just as well you divent want him, cos you haven’t got him !

  21. Doesnt matter if its Kilgallon or Beckford, once again the powers that be have leaked the names to the press before they were signed and the manager also confidently predicted that his number one targets would be sorted at the beginning of the window rather than the end.
    One thing about Keegan, the player was in the bag before anyone knew about it not like this shower of shite.
    They will once again be running around like headless chickens, pannicking towards the end of the month and certain posters on here have been praising the supposed era of stability, what a laugh!

  22. NevtheBlade – aye that’s the strange thing eh?

    I had assumed this was nailed-on since the summer. Seemed like he was always intent to leave and that he fancied it up here.

    Strange backtracking? Probably not when you consider the agent is heavily involved.

    Fair play on the left-back thing. Honestly, Enrique is like Roy of the Rovers from left back. He’s the main reason I tramp up 400 steps every home game. Otherwise it might get too grim.

  23. bigbadbob > Doesnt matter if its Kilgallon or Beckford, once again the powers that be have leaked the names to the press before they were signed and the manager also confidently predicted that his number one targets would be sorted at the beginning of the window rather than the end.

    That was maybe the whole idea ;)
    as for Killa and Beckford im not that fussed on Killa as we have better and I dont think he would be happy warming the bench. Beckford I dont want I think he would be another flash harry than thinks he is better than everyone else, we have been there before.

  24. bowburn – “He’s the main reason I tramp up 400 steps every home game. Otherwise it might get too grim.”

    Could you tell your lover-man that he doesn’t have to try to play his way out of trouble every time. Sometimes a smash up the line would do :)

    I’ve actually met Enrique. It was the Sunderland game at SJP and i was having a pre match pint in the Fluid bar when he walked in. He lost a set of keys for his big Porsche Cayenne that was parked outside and the doorman went round asking everyone if we had seen them. My mate used that opportutnity to barge a kid of about 4 years old out the way and grab a photo, which i took for him. My mate is 24 by the way but acted like a teenager at a pop concert just to gat close. I still rip him about it from time to time.

  25. Am i the only one glad that we’re not getting him, imo signing killa would have just paved the way for colo to be sold. 1 million for killa, maybe 6-7 for colo. 10 grand a week for killa, and 80 grand for colo. it’s a cashley special, the fat man’s probably in tears!

  26. Batty :) Bellamy was a real cracking player but a bit of a Bad Boy like yourself with Ed lol. and out of interest what made you try eds blog ? as the last time it was just a page about closing it

  27. chuck aye that moses is a fast bugger he held the 400 m hurdles record for years m8 and ive heard hes even parted a sea or 2 :lol:

  28. toons – by a bizarre coincidence, my mates sent me an email this afternoon saying they’d bumped into him. One’s a mackem and the other a Hartlepool supporter. Wasn’t going to bother mentioning it but ‘parently…

    “He was saying how he didn’t like the cold but he didn’t mind as there won’t be snow much longer. He’s either close friends with Wincey Willis or he is moving back to Spain! We had some crack about food and whether he’d been to Greggs. He said Steven Taylor and Shola had made him eat ‘Piss Pudding’. I think he meant ‘Pease Pudding’ but we kept a straight face.
    We mentioned about your blog, he’d never heard of it but said Newcastle fans on the internet were weird. I’m sure he didn’t mean you personally.”

  29. dave i thought he had sent every 1 an email too tell them hes getting things ready to open up on the 10th m8 i had 1 off him it must be cos me and him always kept in touch lol

  30. We could be forgiven for thinking all agents are slimey, money driven, soul-less people who only ever talk about transfers when it means there’s all the more money for them to take from the deal.

    But what if that isn’t the case? Kilgallon wouldn’t start here, he wouldn’t get ahead of our centre back pairing or Enrique. Maybe the lad just genuinely wants to stay because he likes the club…

    … In which we’ll see him sign a new contract soon. I can tell you now though, if he’s making these comments to run down his contract on a possible promotion campaign and thinks either way he can just sign for us, take the fee, share it with his agent and live happily ever…

    … Then forget it, we don’t want any more players like that. We need to say to Kilgallon, listen son, we’ll offer only up to £2million for you, if you don’t want to be part of our club or don’t like our improved wages, you won’t get another chance in the summer or near future. Maybe that will give the kid a reality shock and weigh up out of NUFC and Sheffield Utd (no disrespect) who he’s going to have more of a prolific career with.

    On a personal note though I think Kilgallon could potentially be worth up to £3M and anything around the £2.5M mark for him would be great business.

  31. @ We could always play S. Taylor at RB he has always looked good there and got further forward than simpson does!

  32. Gotta say, when you hand in a transfer request you lose the ability to get a certain amount of money from being sold, so I can actually feel some respect for Beckford who seems to realise what chance he has at his feet and is thinking solely about his career. Maybe Kilgallon should realise it too. I like both of them but at the moment Beckford is winning me over with wanting to come here more :)

  33. Alchemist, Taylor reminds of Enrique when he goes forward in the sense that, JUST KEEP RUNNING! seems to be his philosophy :) He’s a strong and as demonstrated quick player, so can do the getting forward, it’s just the getting back and final ball that means I don’t think RB is a natural suited position for him. I’d get Beye back on loan. O’Neill should do it as a favour just for getting Harewood off his hands.

  34. worky – we’re obviously not top of newsnow’s list.

    SkySports got their’s on and they published it a minute after mine 8O

    Outrageous :)

  35. Would love to have Beye back..but at the end of the day he made his bed.. The Bench at Villa or a hero up here!

    Yeah Taylor isn’t a natural RB but could handle anything in this league. Allows us to accomadate Kilgallon, wouldn’t want him in summer though!

  36. We should be top of NewsNow. At this rate the blog will be more popular than sky soon! :)

  37. Yeah I suppose Alchemist but I do rate Simpson and would think it unfortunate to be playing Taylor out of position to accomodate a player who doesn’t seem exactly head over heels jumping at the chance to join.

  38. I work in Leeds with LUFC fans – most of them would say Beckford is more of a —- (sounds like Punt)

    He’s ok if all you expect of him is goal attempts – can be lazy with a bad attitude. Sounds like a certain pie man who played for both clubs Vid???

  39. If we have submitted £1.25 million as sky have reported we have no chance…I said from day 1 my gut feeling is he will go to the premiership.

  40. We represent his absolute best option.
    He obviously wants out, master bates is trying to play fast & loose.
    They should take the money offered, it’s good money for someone out of contract in months.
    leeds fans are bound to be bitter about him, it’s their prerogative.

  41. Him playing in the chumpionship, with a good chance of getting into the prem is the perfect situation.
    Rather than way too much expectation on him going straight to the prem.

  42. Good! Don’t want another a-se that does not want to play for the shirt, been bred on those for last decade. The money is the key here, at least we will hopefully get players that want to come and play.

  43. I really was surprised we went for him in the first place. I certainly hadn’t heard of him before our interest and the games of Sheff Utd I’ve seen this season, he hasn’t looked any use either.

    He is about 25 or something and has not had any real interest from Premiership clubs either so he is as big a risk as people say Beckford would be.

    I’d prefer we used Kadar instead. About 5 years younger and already on Kilgallon’s level, if not better.

  44. Not sure if this has been mentioned but it could be possible that his agent has come out with this to try and get them to accept the offer we’ve made, as if they don’t then he’s quite happy to sit on the rest of his contract and then move on.

  45. Worry not lads, Killa will arrive with you in the summer. His staying has nothing to do with loyalty, his agent is leading him by the nose to play out the rest of the season at half pace so that they can both share the big signing on fee in May.