Jamie O’Hara for £8 million? Is it worth it?

Posted on May 25th, 2010 | 113 Comments |

£8 million, because he's worth it?
£8 million, because he's worth it?
Jamie O’Hara is a name that has been linked with a move to us numerous times over the last few months, and the genreal concensus is that he would be a great buy.

Now it seems his days at Tottingham Hotspuds are numbered as their sack-faced boss, Harry Redknapp has said the player is free to leave White Hart Lane and look for first team football elsewhere. I say free, but it isn’t meant literally as Redknapp has reportedly slapped an £8 million price tag on the midfielder, which is far too high in my opinion.

There have been reports of a rift between Redknapp and O’Hara after the player said he would like Tottenham to lose in the FA Cup semi-final so he could play in the final with his loan club Portsmouth, so maybe that rift could be used as a bargaining tool? There would certainly need to be some bargaining if we ever were to sign him, as that price is way out of our price range and Spurs nearly always get good deals for their outgoing players.

Any money Spurs make will surely be going towards strengthening their team in preparation for Champions League football, so with that in mind we will need to dig deep to sign him.

Or will we? There are plenty of ways to wheel and deal nowadays, and it could be that we have to do that if we want to sign the player. Doubts remain over the future of Steven Taylor on Tyneside, and if he or the club are going to dither over this new contract then we should get him sold and cash in as soon as we can. He could fetch in anywhere between £6-£8 million which could go towards signing O’Hara.

The problem with that is it would leave us short in defence, with only Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Willaimson and Tamas Kadar in real contention for the two central defender positions. With that in mind, rumours have been flying around suggesting that Middlesbrough’s David Wheater could be trading in his tacky Teeside home for a more tasty Tyneside abode. For that to happen though would take around another £4 million in my opinion, so where could that come from? How about using the last £4 million installment that is due in from the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa two years back?

Now before people get their knickers in twist about how Mike Ashley wont be spending any money, think about it like this. The sale of Taylor and the money from Milner would be self generated by the club, meaning Ashley wouldn’t need to dig into his own pocket, or indeed take anything away from our income next season. For that we would get two players that would make our team no worse off in defence and would add a bit more craft, and a left foot, in the midfield.

Both players are only 23 years old and have their best years ahead of them, and both are players that just want to play football. I realise some may view this as pie in the sky thinking, but it does have a sound theory behind it. Now if only I was the owner.

Football management, it looks easy from here!

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

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Comment on this post

113 Responses

  1. Never get him.
    Don’t think he will even be on the outer edges of the clubs Radar Toonsy.

  2. Even 6 million would be way to rich for MA-Think 1-2 million and we would be sniffing his backside though :)

  4. Im a spurs fan and can tell you if you sign O’Hara he will be great for your team, he is still young and always gives 100%, keeping in mind you have only just got promoted again he would fit in perfectly in your team, i agree that maybe £8mil is a bit high but £6m is a good deal for both partys

  5. Icedog – Even £6 mill is too much in my opinion. £5 mill would be alright.

    I couldn’t find the £6 mill as a source, the closest I could find was the £8 mill link ;)

  7. 6 Mill is a bit rich for us Mahoney…although he would be a good addition I can’t see it happening.

    For 6 Million we could invest in the future and buy 20 foreign kids for the Ashley Arsenal Academy.

  8. He’s got a broken back, avoid, let’s not do a piece on every rumour please, in the interest of morale :)

  9. wallace says:
    May 25, 2010 at 6:20 pm
    1-2 million? Clearly you havent seen him play… £5-6m would be fair.

    Wallace I was referring to the fact 6-8 Million is out of our price range and that if he was going for 1-2million it would be more within our means.

    I didn’t say he wasn’t worth 6-8m-where did you read that?

  10. TOONSY your becoming a skin-flint,whats a mil between m8s,price quote was on transfer-talk ssn this morning,whittingham racist????

  11. Much the same as what we’ve already got in my opinion and I don’t see him being much of an upgrade on either Barton or Guthrie in what he brings to the team.

  12. He’s just left a relegated club why would he wanna join more relegation fodder?!!

  14. It’s the chairman. Wants 15m for Keane, he wanted 16m or so for Bent and wants 12m for Pavlyuchenko, the guy thinks you’re worth more because you sit on the bench

  15. yidango-Hope the wheels fall of harry’s spuds I really do-I hate spurs fans more than mancs and scousers.

    C@nts.

  18. He’s worth £6m in the real world considering his age and talent. Unfortunately we live in Ashley world, so unless Spurs are prepared to pay us for him forget it!

  19. sirjasontoon… what a lot of hate you have! Combine the supporters you mention and that is well in the 10’s of millions.. I love Geordies!!!!

  20. yidango says:
    May 25, 2010 at 6:26 pm

    “He’s just left a relegated club why would he wanna join more relegation fodder?!!”

    If you need any tips on how to break your Champions league virginity then come back, we have plenty of tips for you ;)

  22. i believe that Tottenham still owe us 6.8 million for Bassong imo that would be more than enough to pay for o’hara and maybe £1.8 million still owing to us

  25. i doubt ohara would come this far north,his lass is expecting and shes a pig for the limelight are i and other footballers :wink:

  26. yidango says:
    May 25, 2010 at 6:37 pm
    sirjasontoon… what a lot of hate you have! Combine the supporters you mention and that is well in the 10’s of millions.. I love Geordies!!!!

    I don’t care if you love geordies of not-I fkin HATE SPURS-HATE HARRY-AND HATE YOUR SHITHEAD FANS.

  27. HITMAN,i said taylor 8mil 6mil ohare 2mil change for ashs back pocket,can spend it in a club in the smoke like

  30. 2 million will Keep Ashley and Owl Heed round the mayfair casino’s for a few hours….think he fires 500k a blast on roulette-Plonker

  31. sirjasontoon says:
    May 25, 2010 at 6:29 pm

    “I really do-I hate spurs fans more than mancs and scousers.

    C@nts.”

    sirjasontoon says:
    May 25, 2010 at 6:45 pm (Edit)

    “I fkin HATE SPURS-HATE HARRY-AND HATE YOUR SHITHEAD FANS.”

    Alot of my best friends down here are ‘Spurs supporters. Absolutely nothing wrong with them, until you mention the “A” word that is.

  32. Yidango-No not jealous at all-I support my hometown club and have very little emotion for other clubs to be honest.
    Just hate spurs.

    Now Jog On back to hamstead heath and get laid by some tottenham truckers.

  33. Worky I have a mate in London Spurs Fan Season Ticket holder and is a Good Lad…doesn’t go on blogs of other teams spouting 5hit and giving it the biggun like many do.

  34. He’d be a good signing for Newcastle or any other Premier League club. He’s a starter for pretty much any team outside of the top 6 and worth the money too as he’s young, English and left footed. £6m will get him, but there will be plenty of interest, and if he does end up at Newcastle you lot will love him, he gives his all and doesn’t hide from anything….he’s also pretty handy with the ball too.

    Nice to have you back and good luck for next season – and lets try and put the Spurs / Newcastle hate nonsense to one side, we’ve both got more important things to focus on these days.

  35. …Oh sirjasontoon by the way Chris Hughton is a massive Spurs fan.. how can you hate your own manager after what he did last season?!!

  36. Boy you Geordies throw around a lot of insults for a poxy little northern club. You’re bankrupt, haven’t won anything since 1969 and you’re going to go straight back down. I’d shut the f*ck up if I were you. Absolute joke.

  39. dan just having a bit of banter obviously sirjasontoon doesn’t have a sense of humor

  40. Dan – I agree, it’s just a shame that your fellow fans like the ones at No 36 don’t think the same isn’t it?

  41. Would spend money on a better player than O’hara as he is to similar to Guthrie/Barton, however i would buy him if he was 2-4 mil. If we sold Taylor, i would rather get Nedum Ohuoha than Wheater to replace him.

  43. HITMAN divit bite m8,i always let gob-shites talk to themselfs they get sick

  45. ya reet,the yids want to enjoy next season it will be a good journey, we had our fun now its there turn..

  46. Yidango, i totally appreciate that, but we should have some respect for the contributor and ignore the narrow minded and make our points about the real subject matter of the blog. We’ll soon see them disappear….

  48. Stoney:
    May 25th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
    Boy you Geordies throw around a lot of insults for a poxy little northern club. You’re bankrupt, haven’t won anything since 1969 and you’re going to go straight back down. I’d shut the f*ck up if I were you. Absolute joke.

    Nice comments, we used to play in the champions league (proper not qualifiers) while spending way over the top on players and wages and look where it got us, things can change quick in football, you ain’t really done anything yet have you?

  49. Hitman – everyone knows that the position we’re in is a gift and a curse – so much possibility for either boom or bust, hopefully we’ve had such a long wait that we’ll put ourselves in a better position to cope then the teams that have been there before us. Its all progress though…

  51. dan,yous wont make top4 next season,man shitty are going to spend money like its going out of fashion,good luck trying tho

  53. I knaaa, All this anti-spurs nonsense!?

    I realised after our ,, cough cough,, hiatus last season how much I dislike every prem club that isn’t us. There’s a damned good historic reason for just about every one. Spurs, everton, west ham, fulham are juuust about alreet though. Compared to the horror that is the Arsenal lot they’re honey pies. Been to emirates and highbury on numerous occasions and they boo every single substitution by the opposing team, and chant the most horrific 70s bile about northern scum and women dogs.. then when they walk home to their islington town houses they look like they’ve been to the cinema to watch a werner herzog documentary. It’s laughable.. great club wasted on awful fans as they say.

    Spuds are normally good craic by comparison – as well as 6 points in the bag for us often times.

  54. Jay Jay – we’ve tried to maintain quite a disciplined wage policy at Spurs and have always had a strong commercial revenue stream, we may spend big on players but we’re developing a good academy and are building for a bright future – only time will tell if it proves to be the boom but i can’t see Spurs being crippled financially like others have been.

  55. O’Hara is a good young player who can clearly improve further based on what we’ve seen of him this season. He’d probably fit quite well into the NUFC midfield imo. However I think 6-8mil is a stumbling block.

    I’ve been a fan of the player for a while and have to admit that if I had the cash to splash and my 2 choices were O’Hara or Jenas, it would be a no-brainer – O’Hara every day of the week.

    Having said that, I don’t see Ashley buying many £6M plyers this summer. Who knows though, now the club is back in the league where it obviously belongs, perhaps he’ll get a bite from a more committed and realistic future owner.

  56. Listen Dan-we have been there got the T-Shirt-We don’t want to hear about Spurs,Harry,Big Signings etc Look after your own back yard as we don’t give 2 Shits about any of it.

  57. A player most teams would be happy to have in the squad. Worth £8Million? no way.

  58. Oh aye on Jamie O’Hara,,, not sure it’s what we need is it. He’s mebbes 10% better than what we’ve got – barton, nolan, guthrie but I’d prefer to see the money spent on a utility left sider – pederson or Riise and a support striker/playmaker in the no.10 mould who scores 12 goals a season but can drop back to make it 5 in midfield out of possession – so Beardsley in other words – Or dyer hmmm.

  59. Good Comments WayneKing :)
    I wouldn’t pay 3m for Jenas..Headless Chicken.

  61. its a mute point really ashley wouldnt pay 6-8 mill anyways,ya fker ashleys arse would hit the deck so fast..

  62. Are you seriously telling me that the massively supported Geordies have no money and are bitching about a few million quid, you are back in the big time of the premier league. Minimum £90 million in TV + Sponserships etc. You need to start thinking big again or you will go straight back down with Blackpool and West Ham.
    So get Mike (the Spurs fan) Ashley to get the cheque book out and buy yourselves a good quality player that will help keep you in the Top league

  63. Like what I’ve seen of O’Hara. Would be a good buy at 6M if we have a decent bit of money to spend. If not, I think a quality forward, leftsider and depth on the right are more pressing needs.

  64. That’s right Dan. Spurs are one of the most responsibly run businesses in the Premier League and, as a result, one of the wealthiest clubs in Europe. We spend no more than we can afford on player fees and salaries and are always well in the black come April 4th. No sugar daddy and no need for one either. Our fans must be some of the highest spending around to generate the kind of revenues we manage to year on year.

    Unfortunately it’s not quite as easy for most other English clubs. NUFC is a great club, with great fans, from a really great city and I’m certain they’ll never be too far from Premier League status, whatever happens. But I hope last season served as a reminder to what can happen when a club is poorly run and that Ashley will either buck up his ideas or sell to someone better suited to club ownership. I also hope he bites the bulllet and does buy a couple of high quality players, so that they can push on instead of scraping by. The fans certainly deserve it. If he doesn’t, I fear NUFC may really struggle with their current squad.

  65. Way I’d have Jenas back from a footballing perspective- good creative box to box player, but sirjasontoon and the rest of the mob would have a field day and I don’t know if I could be arsed to hear their screeching all summer.

  66. catcher, our owner is tighter than a hair line fracture,we will be lucky if he gives hughton 5 mill to spend ..

  70. Evening Lads nice to see a bit of banter threw about between different supporters and not ourselfs as much as lately. Although a bit surprised to see some talking about getting rid of S Taylor :(
    Icedog how da hell are ye mate where have ye been ? helping Batty finish the bunker were ye.

  71. Catcher says:
    May 25, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    “So get Mike (the Spurs fan) Ashley to get the cheque book out and buy yourselves a good quality player that will help keep you in the Top league”

    Hate to disappoint you, Catcher, but Ashley was actually a Chelsea fan who absolutely loathed Tottenham.

  72. hitman says:
    May 25, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    “catcher, our owner is tighter than a hair line fracture”

    Because he has had to clear up the mess from the dishonest Geordie bastards who preceeded him.

  73. I’ll do my best to avoid some of the banter…though it is entertaining.
    Personally, I don’t think he’s worth the price. We’ve already got his skill in several of our players. There’s no doubt he’d be entertaining though, and we do love our entertainment. I just think with Barton back and Guthrie getting better, we need not spend the money on O’hara. And, he’s surely not going to force Nolan to the bench, Nolan being the flavor of the moment and all.
    This is not to say I’d be sad if he showed up in the black and white, mind you, I just don’t think he should be where we focus our rumored scant funds.

  75. Hey Norcal- which areas do you deem most pressing? As I stated above, a compliment to Carroll, RB/LB-RM/LM would be my priorities

  76. Sorry to all you NUFC fans but O’Hara is a class above you, its going to be a long hard season for you, just thank your lucky stars that Blackpool are there to finish bottom, if you can find two more teams worse than you you could even stay up, just don’t hold your breath.

  77. Id agree with that Mds , tho i ahve a feeling Hughton will deploy the 4-5-1 for the majority of the season so a striker might not be on top of his list

  78. forget o:hara! tom cleverley is going to be a star! if united dont wont him get him on the cheap far less then ohara would cost and a better player. lads u will come back to me and say i was right getting him on loan will only get him back to united u watch best young midfield out their.

  79. harry u talk the talk but u cant walk the walk! the prem is a finished league any body can beat anybody my son so u dont no what will happen. if fulham and birmingham can do well so can we.

  80. MDS, I am not sure the most pressing…if anything, the pressing positions are cover for what we already have. I, unlike so many, have faith in Danny Simpson, so, I think at most cover…but then you have that in STaylor and RTaylor. I think for me, it comes down to a striker to partner AC up front, but I don’t know who…the USA side of me hopes for Jozy…but that’s because I am wearing my USA glasses.

    Most pressing, I think is all cover positions, LB and RB. Strikers we have several that I think can do the job…I know I am going to get crap, but Shola, Loven and Carroll have all scored in the Prem…and they will/can do it again. Best…we’ll have to see, but I believe…sort of. Defense is solid, with 4 players vying for CD, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to have one more given injuriues.

    But def cover for LB and RB are essential. Wish we could get that kid from Chelsea back, even on season long loan. Next would be cover for the wings
    as one or both are sure to get injured.

    Ok, so after all that, I say cover for the outside positions are priority as the center of the pitch is well covered. My opinion, and fotunately, it’d take someone with a 5,000 mile long arm to slap me silly…

  81. ohara class above he got them relegated didnt he! if he was that good he would have kept them up. why isnt he playing at spurs because he isnt good enough apart from shagging a girl who has had every prem player he realy is stupid.

  83. NorCal- no worries, I always have my USA glasses on…

    I still think Altidore will be good, Hull was just terrible and didn’t really play football. He certainly doesn’t have trouble scoring for the nationals. Really sorry we missed out on Holden in January thoguh. They really rate him at Bolton- 23 years old, signed on a free, can play on both wings, excellant crosser of the ball- just what we are likely looking for now.

    I assume you’ll be watching tonight?

  84. MDS, crushed over Holden…man that would have been a coup. I have to record it the first half as I’ll be at work when kickoff begins. Looking forward to it though.

  85. Johno toon – I agree with half of that, I think Hughton will play 4-5-1 away and against stronger sides at home: which leaves stoke, blackpool, wolves, makems and spurs for a 4-4-2 formation.

    I do reckon strikers remains CH’s priority though and we’ll see at least one forward come in – a front man and a mobile support striker.

  86. Yeah i agree that team he feels we should get 3 points ( esp at home ) he will go for 4-4-2

    And i do hope a striker is signed to ease some pressure on Carrol n Mclovin but if we have a limited budget i think he will re-inforce the back 4 n add some more pace to the midfield

  87. You’ve bought worse for more so get stuck in. Whatever the lads eh!
    Happy to sell the stupidest footballer ever (we all remember Gazza too) knock yourselves ooot!

  88. Another Spurs fan! A lot of us will be sorry to see O’Hara leave. I think he has great potential, just needs a run and a manager who picks him consistently. Any club that gets him for £6 million or even more will do well. He is future club captain material, tough, skilled, hard working – a real asset.
    Jamie’s problem is that big clubs these days just sign foreign internationals and young English players kick around in the reserves or on the bench – Spurs don’t run a reserve team.
    Jamie has to go because of silly comments he made about Spurs while on loan to Portsmouth, where he was a real hit in a terrible season for them. However, he could make future England teams – the boy has real heart and never gives up.

  89. Barcodes can’t afford £6-8mil for ANY player let alone O’Hara. Barcodes need to be shopping in Poundstretcher (ie. £1-2 mil) NOT Tescos (£6mil)…failing that, there’s a few hubcaps you can tax in Newcastle.

  91. Acton yid, if you’re gonna take the piss try to be funny, it makes it more interesting for everyone.

  93. feck o hara hes no better than nolan and i think joey barton if he stays injury free will have a good season just a feeling fire at will!!!

  94. As long as you’re happy SJT, and if you’re happy, then I’m happy and we could compare our happy faces in rosies some day :)

  95. in 2003 we played spurs away i was watching in a pub there were a couple of spurs fans in one of them shouted at tv screen ” come on lets do these northern t wats” he seemed to have a funny accent so i went over and asked were he was from he said isle of man i couldnt stop laughing fairly clown mind

  96. 8 mill if Man C buy him maybe!! what a joke! Harry is the perfect manager for the tight wads. Long arms short pockets. Gimme gimme gimme

  98. I reckon these spurs fans should pipe down about us being skint. They should remember that their well run, profitable club still owes us a lot for the bassong deal.

    Well wipe the debt if you give us o’harassment :D

  100. Ashley has spent big money before. Have we forgotten, 10 million on Collocini. That aside, I agree with Asim, that Cleverley is a far better proposition. Left sided central player who can also play wide left or right, so can cover both Jonas and Routledge. Central midfield for me isn’t a pressing issue. Barton has great ability, and is fit again and approaching his best. Guthrie is young, improving and is one of the youngsters with a long future at Newcastle. More importantly we require a decent RB, and cover for Enrique. I’d be happy with Cleverley (loan), Ebondo (Free)and spend some money on Onhua who is a quality kid and a quick young striker.
    I think the players who were relegated still have something to prove to themselves and the fans. They shouldn’t have been relegated and they know it. The players who let the club down badly (Owen,Viduka,Martins and Duff) have gone, and without them the existing squad have shown a togetherness that will prove many people wrong next season. Their job isn’t done yet. Thats why the promotion celebrations were muted on and off the field. NUFC is a very different animal now to the one relegated, and they will bully many teams next season. Watch this space.

  101. spurs be the next pompey especially when they lose champ league qualifier and get knocked out europa league in first round theyve had one good season wouldnt be surprised if big club goes in for modric anyway not going to slag them off too much we normally take points off them southern slags

  102. “spurs be the next pompey”

    Yeah. They have a self-serving unprincipled spiv for a manager. He’ll f*ck off as soon as he gets a better offer ;)

  103. lambeth mag agree with everything apart from the bullying other teams bit gone are the days when you can kick people off the ball biily bremner style arsenal chelsea man utd move the ball that quick we wont get a chance to bully them weve got to concentrate on our footballing game not gettin yellows and reds constanly wont do nee good but your other points are well said

  104. Danny, I may have used the wrong terminology in saying bullying. What I meant was that over the years in a physical sense we have been bullied. That isn’t going to happen with the set of players we have. Last season I saw some pretty cynical tactics from many players in the squad. Professional cynicisim, the likes of which we have only seen from the top sides such as Chelsea and Man Utd. It seems as though the will they have to win games at any cost is bordering on some cynical tactics, and I can see us being very frustrating to play against next season. Especially away from home using 4-5-1. I think Nolan, Collocini and Carroll have led the way in this style of play, but they have all shown it at various stages of the season.
    Yes I agree with you, the days of Chopper Harris, Bremner, Hunter and Storey to name a few are well gone. They get away with it now because its done in a way where its rarely detected by officials, and all of the top teams use it.

  105. Spurs from what i’ve heard are ran rather well as far as the financial side of things goes. There was a rather lengthy piece on them on TalkSport a couple of weeks ago and it certainly doesn’t seem like they’ll have money issues anytime soon. To be honest, I only know one Spurs fan and he is a bit of a cnut, along with that idiot who used to parade himself on the “other” toon blog. In saying that though, it’s nice to see some of their lads on here discussing the matter at hand. As for the ones who pipe up with comedy gold along the lines of “You lot are crap. Northerners are stupid, spurs forever”…Ignore them!? Canny simple like, lol.

    As for Ohara, i think 6 mil is acceptable. As far as i’m concerned he’s a great little player and fits in with our whole new (whatever “new” plan we’re going with now) plan. He’s young, a natural left footer, and just wants to play football. He’s another one that would come to us and play for the shirt-something you can’t really have enough of. Sadly, I can’t see us splashing the cash for him. I think it’s pretty clear we’re not going to have a substantial amount of money to play with. However-He does fit the mould, I could imagine him being the type of player Ashley likes.

  106. It willl be sad to see him leave. He is such a hard worker, as well as extremely versatile. He can play as a defensive or offensive minded midfielder, as well as anywhere on the left flank. He is not an amazing player though and I think Newcastle having Nolan which of what I’ve seen has been fantastic for you, is too simler as a player. Money could probaly be better spent away from overpriced young English men in positions which could realy do with improvements. As for the banter, I feel some of both our fans should grow up, because banter with no humer and full of aggressiveness is just silly. Good luck for next season I hope you fail to get points from us. Also tottenham is a well run club, prole always forget how much we sell when talking about our spending. I also don’t think we will manage a consecutive 4th as we will be spending to much time focousing on Europe. Hopefully champions League.

  107. Jamie is a steal at 6M. Iv always like Newcastle but most of you sound like twats. Good luck with Chris in charge next season, you will need it. You boys can take the piss when there is footage of your lot winning something decent in colour. Intertoto and Championship dont count! lol

  108. locky like i says we had our turn in CL now its your turn enjoy it while it lasts..

  109. i agree i would love ohara here its just the price,to rich for us im affraid.

  111. I would love him to play for us. And I think we can get him for around 5-6 mil. Thing is if spurs wants to sell him and he wants to come to us then we can get him for 5-6 mil. But if Ohara is waiting for best weekly wages, then I am sure there are some clubs who will be willing to pay that.

    Overall it will be good signings if we can get him.

  112. O`Hara would provide the energy and box to box ability so badly needed on this side, he knows how to put his foot in, a decent passer of the ball and gets his share of goals.
    Niether Nolan or Joey can do that, both being more attacking players and Nolan does`nt have the pace for that role.
    Whether he is worth more than 5m. is questionable, but if he improves like he has during the past couple of years, probably worth a punt.