Ben Arfa to go on strike to try and force Toon move.

Posted on August 15th, 2010 | 159 Comments |

Ben Arfa on strike.
Ben Arfa on strike.
Hatem Ben Arfa has vowed never to return to Marseille, and is prepared to not play football all season to try and force Marseille into letting him join Newcastle.

It’s another twist in the strory that has given us all a good laugh over the summer, and as more details become public, it would appear it isn’t our club who are messing about.

The agent of the player, and now Ben Arfa himself have both said that Marseille set out the terms for Newcastle to take the player on a loan-to-buy deal. Newcastle then met all of those terms, to the point where the Marseille chairman said at the back end of last week that a deal was nearly done, but then they decided to shift the goalposts and block the move from happening.

Talking to L’Equipe this morning, Hatem had this to say.

“It’s because the club officials don’t give a damn about me that today I announce that I am prepared to put my career on hold if they do not accept the offer from Newcastle as agreed at the start,” he said.

“I am prepared not to play all season. I am not just a sack of dirty washing or a piece of shit. I will do what it takes and I will organise myself to train physically.”

“I will not return to La Commanderie [OM’s training ground]. It’s over. I am ready to not play this season. I have my pride, my dignity. I am not a stop-gap. Over time, people will see that I was right. Just because we are paid does not mean we are slaves.”

La Commanderie may sound like some form of military camp, but it just what the Marseille traning ground is called.

There are some quite stern words in there, and if the part about Marseille is true and they have backtracked on the potential deal then it reflects poorly on them. Having said that, they do have form for it. Does anyone remember the Habib Beye deal?

Marseille are trying to play hard ball, but it would appear that has backfired spectacularly. The original deal may not have been what they wanted and they would have only recieved a small fee and had the benefit of losing his wages, but that is much better compared to what they have now.

As it stands, they have no money for him, still have his wages on the books, although I imagine most of that will be getting spent on club fines, and have a player that is of no use to them whatsoever.

I understand that they are trying to get the best deal for themselves, but to apparently agree to a deal then backtrack on it is poor form. Marseille are actually making Newcastle look well run at the moment!

More to come later on probably!

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Comment on this post

159 Responses

  1. I wonder when OM will realize that as long as this saga don’t end quickly,it will eventually affect their team as well.

    They Lost again btw. ;)

  3. He sounds like the ‘right character’ that Huighton is looking to bring in. Or was that statement just an excuse as to why we’re doing cock all?

  5. Yo Stuart you can always be trusted to put a different spin on things mate…well done…

  6. TOONSY bet you have wrote this in your sleep a few times m8,when will it end,seems like toon are not to blame this time,how do they deal with it now,could stall other deals like.
    but then again this is newcastle so its the norm

  7. Well there loss they will still be paying his wages for a player who is not playing. How much would it cos for him to buy out his contract?

  8. If you remember when we did this to Milner he managed to knuckle down and give his best for our club for another couple of seasons before Villa came back with a bid we couldn’t refuse. I guess we treated him like shit too but Ben Arfa is clearly a different character, who seemingly cares more about personal pride than doing what’s right for him football-wise.

  9. Ice – For once, it actually seems as though it isn’t us doing anything wrong. I would be pissed off if I was Ben Arfa. To be told that I wasn’t wanted, to be told to find a nother club, to go through all that and then be told that he is staying. I’d tell em to feck off and all.

    Well played Hatem. At least he wants to be here!

  10. Looking at things from a Marseille perspective, Hatem wants to leave now, the cards are on the table. Marseille have nothing to win by accelerating the transfer…so they’ll stone wall and hope someone else comes in to meet their terms… petty by Marseille, penalising the player by stretching out the whole episode…

  11. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 12:38 pm
    So then Stuart, I take it you would be chuffed to be treat like shit by your employers?

    So you think he sounds like a real team player?

    Normally it wouldn’t bother me but all we’ve heard the last 6 months is “whoever comes in will have to be a certain character, who fits in well”. Does he sound like you’d want him in the trenches when things go wrong?

    I’d like to have him in the side because the chances are he’d be our best player by a million miles, but the hypocrisy of it all is ridiculous.

  12. Interesting article on Jaaarman text today regarding players salaries. Karl Heinz Rummenige, chief bottle washer at FC Bayern reckons that players wages europe wise will drop DRASTICALLY this coming season. Apart from the real big money earners, Christian Ronaldo etc, cos they can demand this type of wedge, but the “middle of the road” players, who think they can demand exorbitatnt wages are gonna struggle…players will not be in a position to hold clubs to ransome. We’ll see if that applies in England !

  13. SpencerTheToon – i believe he has offered to buy himself out ,by paying 22ogrand per month until june 2012 ,which would be the fee they ask which is arounnd 5mil

  14. Stuart, why do you doubt Hatems character ? Difficult doesn’t necessarily mean disloyal and not a team player..

  15. toonsy says:
    August 15, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Well played Hatem. At least he wants to be here!

    Does he want to be here, or does he just want to leave O’M?

  16. I personally couldnt give a shit if he ruffled a few feathers with the Newcastle hierarchy:

    Ashley
    Lambias
    Nolan
    Hughton
    Smith
    Harper

    We are crying out for pace and Creativity, This lad would give us that by the bucket load

  17. Munich Mag says:
    August 15, 2010 at 12:49 pm
    Stuart, why do you doubt Hatems character ? Difficult doesn’t necessarily mean disloyal and not a team player..

    What would you have said about Milner if he had done the same after the debacle with Glen Roeder and calling him back from Villa’s training ground?

  18. Stu – I see your point, but lets be honest, he is really only being petulant because he is being shit on.

    We are only hearing things from an angry Ben Arfa at the moment. He could be as nice as ninepence when he gets his head on the training pitch and can focus on football.

  19. Thanks toonarmy. Why dont we just offer the fee OM want. In my eyes hede be worth every penny.

  21. Come-on Toonsy its so obvious that this is all just an elaborate plan by ashley, he obviously panicked when L’OM agreed the deal & had to promise their president some sports direct vouchers if he cocked on the deal, as a bonus he even got the guy to slag us off & accuse us of tapping the player-up & then the master-stroke!He gives an afra look-alike a weekend break in the toon, even arranging for him to be snapped at the airport. This fat, greedy money grabbing cockney is desperate for us to get relegated again so that he never gets his money back or even a return on his investment!

  22. Stuart

    I agree with you about this guys’ temperament, but like Moncur said, these types of explosive young players are rarely vicars. Their games rely on confidence and with that comes arrogance and petulance. I suppose we have to take the risk if we want real flair in the team.

    Saying that though, I’m not half as excited as the everyone else about him joining. he really hasn’t done much in the last few years.

  23. If you heard what Joey Barton was like I would not want him anywhere near the club, however if you have play(ed) a team game you realise sometimes these arseholes are actually right at the heart of team morale/spirit and the squad would be worse of without him in it.

    We have no idea what the guy is like, if he comes he might turn out to be an outstanding professional, who knows.

    So lets stop presupposing someone’s character that no one knows eh.

  24. TBH, I think its not just a matter of him wanting to leave OM b/c they screwed him over. I feel he genuinely wants to come to Newcastle, he could have easily set his heart on any of the other clubs that were in for him but he desperately wants to come to Newcastle. To me, this could be because of a couple of things.

    He has been promised the role in the team that he wants, a creative central midfielder type.
    He saw Goal and wants to be the next Santiago Munez, hopefully without buggering off to Madrid with Mickey Owen in swap deal.
    Honestly, I feel he knows its a big club, and he knows if he’ll come, he’ll get all the attention and love he could ever crave, as he will be a star at this club.

  25. El Toro ~ says:
    August 15, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    Don’t get me wrong, I’d be more than happy with him – He would stand out a mile as our best player.

    But he seems to be the very opposite of what Hughton has been saying he’s looking for.

    Either way we need someone like him. I’m not half as confident about this season as others. But I guess we’ll know more after half a dozen games or so.

  26. Mmmm, Toonsy has kept theorising on the money we would make on this deal (£12m, apparently?), and at the same time many on here are bleating about Arfa’s rights. F(all)YI for a club to make money players contracted have effectively become goods & chattel (like pre-union labour), even after Bosman, OK? Uncomfortable, too bad, welcome to the 21st century.

    Well maybe OM thinks the same way, after all he is there ‘property’ to buy and sell and merchandise (just like toonsy wants to do), and wtf has it to do with NUFC? If the sponsored boot were on the other foot would be be happy if Big Andy or Joey started flying off to whore up to a new club while still under contract. Crivens, no-one ha a good word for Xisco since fake-injurygate and all he was trying to do was get out of a mad-house and play some football.

    Double standards, chaps.

  27. STT thants the point the toon did offer what they wanted then they shiffed goal posts i would be pis- off,he might be a strange one,but as bob mon says you cant have a team of vickers and do oot

  28. The more you look into it, it is OM who are messing around. First they asked him to find a new club, he did that and presumably NUFC agreed their terms for a loan and option to buy. £800,000 for the loan or whatever so not cheap. Then at the last minute they blocked the move. I think they have been trying to flush out interest and start a bidding war. It is clear that he is a good player and they would prefer to keep him but it seems like Dechamps and Ben Afra are two clashing egos. These french clubs are crap to do business with like. The money we were offering seems fair for a loan deal with us paying his wages.

  29. I’d be bloody gutted if Newcastle went anywhere near this petulant french pig! he can have all the talent in the world, but his attitude stinks! he’s thrown his toys out of the pram and refused to play for his team… This is the last sort of character we want at the toon!

    as far as I’m concerned… he can jump straight back on that easy jet that brought him over here and get off who cares where!

  30. If we give Hatem the benefit of the doubt he is showing loyalty to Newcastle who he felt he had given his word and made an agreement.
    Marseille’s about-turn has made him angry and damaged his personal pride when he has already burnt the bridges.

  31. STT (19) – because on past, and perhaps present, form, whatever was accepted by Marseille would change as soon as the deal was near completion and they would / will try to gazump us again – they do not seem to understand the concept of a deal is a deal.

  32. Stuart, sorry, but you’rs is a different point mate, I’m not quite sure if the toon fans accused Milner of disloyalty at the time of this episode. I remember thinking only bad things about the club, poor showing and stuff, getting the player all wound up, then pulling the plug at the last minute. Bit like what Marseille have apparently done to us. My point is you doubting Hatems character as being difficult and not a team player, you moved the goalposts in the direction of how the club takes the pee out of the player…

  33. noir9:
    why would he plan to get us relegated again, he knows how much it costs to get relegated so why would he want to spend more money, he’s a busniness man not a moron that likes to spend the odd 100million and not want to see a return of course he wants his money back but he wants to do it by getting the club on a steady footing by only living within our means which is what every club should be doing bar man city obviously, im sure we are working behind the scenes bringing in a couple of players but yes we will be working on a very tight budget which is why he wants a loan so weve got more of the budget left for other areas of the squad.
    also i am not sticking up for ashley by all means i hate him for what hes done to this club but its just obvious the plan hes trying to do, wher going to be like stoke basically working on tight budgets for a couple of seasons then we’l hav built up a good kitty to go and press on for european places in 2-3 years time etc.

    mufc 1-2 NUFC

  34. As Sir Bobby said, “Our players aren’t monks and we don’t want them to be; we want them to be football players because monks don’t play football at this level”

  35. Munich Mag says:
    August 15, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    My point is that Milner and Arfa were both treated equally as shabbily by their respective clubs, but they reacted in very different ways.

    Milner came back, got his head down and turned into one of our best and most valuable players – Arfa has done a runner, shouting from the roof tops that he’ll never play for OM again.

    If Milner had reacted like Arfa has, what would you have thought of Milner?

    I know which one reacted the best.

    Personally I think Afra wants to play in the PL more than he wants to play for Newcastle – Maybe put himslef in the shop window for the bigger clubs…

    I don’t know for sure obviously but it wouldn’t suprise me.

  36. Alot of talk regarding this lad having potential attitude issues and it would appear he does, yet at the same time I sort of feel for him. He’s fallen out with the club, been told to play elsewhere, he finds a new club and is under the impression he can get back to playing football only to be told he’s not being sold. Clearly he’s went slightly OTT with his choice of words/actions over the past couple of weeks but it seems to be Marseilles that are fecking both us and him around

  39. I dont blame him at all. They have told his agent to find him another club and then blocked the move at the last minute to try and drum up interest, he feels completly used. He is right, they are not trying to sell peanuts on a market to the highest bidder. Just because he is contracted to them, they dont own him as in a property sense, surely there are correct codes of practice and they shouldnt be pulling these tricks.

  40. That is true dedication lol. Refusing to play, train and telling the manager that u dont trust him to bring forward a move to Newcastle United well played Hatem. Newcastle Unitee Till Death !

  41. What HBA is doing is completely wrong and unprofessional,,and i think if Marseille doesn’t wanna do business then that’s fine with me.Let them keep him cos dont forget…you never know whats gonna happen tomorrow.
    We thought we got Jonas on a free and then look what happened….sometimes cheap things cost much more expensive than the expensive things in life.

    All in all i would like to have him in our team cos he’s a fantastic player,,but at the same time i dont want my club to go into war with Marseille for someone who might do the same thing to us like he did to OM.

  42. GeordieToon89 says:
    August 15, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    The fact that the club is spending no money suggests that they could well be preparing a safety net for going back down.

    Ashley cannot achieve anything at NUFC now. He hasn’t got the wear with all or the inclination to do it. He knows for us to achieve anything it will cost money – He isn’t prepared to cough up because he won’t get it back.

    I believe he’s laying the land for a sale (Again). Why else would he risk the club going back down without any investment? Any money he puts in now will be lost, he won’t get it back on the sale of the club as the value won’t go up that much.

    He’s playing with fire – He knows that, but he’s a gambler.

    I would like to know where the £20m a year he promised us has gone????

  43. Although saying that he could the same here, all it takes is for barton, carroll or nolan to get pissed off by him and next thing u know he looking to leave.

  44. 41 Partizan

    ‘….sometimes cheap things cost much more expensive than the expensive things in life.’

    Very true mate very true. And have you noticed how what starts off as an ‘easy job’ can very quickly turn into a nighmare.

  45. every good player is the same.name a top player who isnt a saint in england thats why people talk about them.the boy wonts to come here.that is good enough for me.he could go anywhere but he wonts to come here.lets get behind him for fu..k sake.fu..k sake he hasnt done a carrol or joey barton or robbed us like owen.

  47. noir…”Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit” as said by those incapable of its proper application and as such suffer from it a lot ;-) :lol:

  48. We are looking at this through english rose tinted glasses aswell remember.

    This is quite normal business in france, they can be quite moody aswell about differing opinions, anybody remember N’Zogbia and Robert?

  49. My worry is that with all this carry-on, Afra is not leaving OM away of getting out of this without lookin stupid.
    There was a list of players on one of the french sites yesterday of players who have pulled similar stunts, wiltard (sp) was one & deschamp another, can’t remember the rest but its not that un-usual on the other side of the channel. Think that dutch striker who played for celtic & forrest doing it…..van something?

  50. Partizan
    “We thought we got Jonas on a free and then look what happened….sometimes cheap things cost much more expensive than the expensive things in life.”

    To be fair, I think we got him for about 4mil which is a decent price for an Argentnian international.

  53. DJG…It’s always like that mate.Its called rushed decisions,,,we rushed with Jonas and we never looked all the angles,,same thing with Nacho cos it was a last day transfer…i wont say anything about Xisco cos i’m not dissapointed in someone who hasnt been given a fair chance to prove him self yet.

    For example Wenger,,,,he has been scouting that kid Keko from Atl Madrid since 3 years ago and he’s been major success for the Spain U-19 this European Cup and for sure he will make a move for him in the near future.

  54. ice.aye won 5 nowt.They’ve just reformed so have to start in the second div but think they’ll walk it.Beat to of the prem teams pre season.Remember Peter Haddock?…his 2 lads were playing on either wing.
    It’d good to watch lads playing for the fun rather than money.

  55. All these people saying they dont want him. It is OM who have basically screwed him and us over. In anycase it there was a genuine world class player out there who wanted to come to Newcastle I would say get them onboard. Screw this only accept people good for team spirt. We wont score at old trafford with team spirt. We might with some world class players tho. I would have bellers back aswell tbh.

  56. Stu – there maybe is soom truth in what your saying but its also possible that he is attempting to make sure that if the worst happens the club can survive, just depends on your viewpoint. My guess is,
    Short term goal = survival
    Mid term = mid-table mediocrity
    Long term = sell us

    If we can stay in the epl & get back in the black we will be a very sellable club. Have you noticed none of the liverpool bidders have given proof of funds….sound familiar?

  59. partizan every team in the world does the same.they are either hits or not.thats why they all move on.we did get harris who every 1 wonted.he may be a great player in the future but at this minute we dont now.so what u have just said is wrong.

  60. WhoTheVuckicHaris…Thats not the point mate cos MA thought he’ll get him for free 100%.

    And tbh,,,he’s a Argentinian international only on a paper but for 4 mill i’d rather have Weiss than Jonas.

  62. I think it’s easy to say Milner is the better professional but let’s give Ben Arfa a chance. They are after all two different type of characters we dealing with and who knows Ben Arfa could come here and do well. If anybody is to blame it’s Marseille as they have been totally unprofessional.

  63. Asim….Vuckic is younger and didnt cost us a thing,he doesnt even have a spot in his file,while Ben Arfa can write a book at his age.

  64. JAY JAY thats the best ive seen up to now well done m8 its how you finish that will count ;) still dont know whos top

  65. That’s fair enough Partizan but I was happy that we went for Jonas like we have with Gosling to push the boundaries and try and exploit loopholes to save cash. Jonas had been valued between 8 and 12mil in previous transfer gossip and so we still got a good deal by gambling on a cheeky deal.

    They are all decisions made to try and get the best financial deals fo the club. Jonas could have been free, Gosling is and Ben Arfa is a top player who we are desperate to get in at a good price for the club.

    With money tigth I’d rather we do this than spend whatever cash we do have on very average players because we’ve seen this summer how much teams like Wolves are shelling out on the likes of Hunt and Fletcher.

  66. Ice I’m just lulling them all into a false sense of security before I go storming up the league.

    when the Toon were promoted in ’83 we got invites to the teams promotion party off Haddock at Tuxedo Junction.I’ve still got a menu from there with a load of the players autographs on the back…happy days.

  67. Typical Stuart spouting negative shit. Have you attended all the meetings between Arfa and Marseilles? How do you know what has gone on behind the scenes?

  69. alright lads, going down the beer garden 25° here today and sun…!

    I’ll be in Marseille for 2 months from the start of Sept, I hope this Hatem blather is sorted by then !…looking forward to gannin to the Stadt Velodrome or whatever they call it …

  70. Munich….enjoy have a weissbier for me………went over to Marseille when we played them in the Uefa cup,amazing atmosphere loud as f***.

  71. JAY JAY keep it ganning m8

    RICHIETOON better have the points than be chaseing them ;) got any players for sun/mon ?

  72. I still maintain the lad who got the first goal for wolves yesterday should be a target of ours. he is yet to sign a contract extension. dave jones. surely we can lure a player from wolves or are we that that bad of an attraction

  75. I can’t see why Dave Jones would come to us from Wolves. They have established well and are better equipped than us to fight relegation this year. I do like him, he’s better on the ball than our current crop of central midfielders and scores some nice goals. But if we have to keep wages low I don’t see what we can really offer him – his place wouldn’t exactly be guarenteed given Nolan’s captaincy and the current availabilty of Barton who’s a better player in my opinion.

    Maybe get him on a free next year.

  76. I am trailing in the fantasy league but it a marathon not a sprint. think there are a few blackpool’s at the top who will drop like a call girls knickers

  79. TOONSY not me m8,but my lad uses it all the time,mind he looks were he shouldnt i think,he says its quicker like

  81. TAT – And is the blog running fine for you? I have been having problems for days now and it’s pissing me off. Seems the problem is my end as nobody else has mentioned it so just trying to eliminate causes.

    I’m actually running in IE at th moment and it seems fine.

  82. Buda – Firefox is a different internet browser. It’s supoosed to be lighter than the others and quicker, and it was, until the week or so. It’s taking me ages to load pages. On Internet Explorer it seems fine though

  85. Thanks i understand now.
    Internet explorer for me. Not noticing any difference in speed

  86. Well,i always view this blog using firefox.

    Most of the time is Okay for me.

    Ya. ;)

  87. Hmm. I’ll try re-installing Firefox then. I would use IE but it had a tendancy to crash whilst I was writing a blog, which was fecking irritating :mad:

  88. Its maybe what ye were writing or ye were writing to much and the poor old thing couldn’t take it anymore, she’s gona blow captain :)

  90. Firefox is the best in my opinion. Haven’t had any problems when trying to view the blog thus far.

  91. Has there been anymor about Ben Arthur’s whereabouts? I’ve read in a couple of plces that he flew back to France yesterday morning at 11. I hope that’s not the case.

  93. Ice as I said yesterday then Toonsy copied me if he was @ SJP there is noway there wouldn’t have been pics of him on the net lastnite never mind today ;)

  98. 3 reasons i dont want him here.

    1)he’s a fcking frog.

    2)he’s seems like a fcking trouble maker.

    3)he’s a fcking ugly fcker.

  100. I hope we are working hard on other targets and that the rest of the transfers don’t particularly hinge on Ben Arfa because I think this one will run till deadline day.

  101. How the feck anyone can say they don’t want Ben Arfa ‘cos he is a trouble maker is mind boggling really. We have Joey Barton in the team, who ruined the career of a footballer by stubbing a cigar out in his eye, kicked the shit out of someone, and spent time at HM pleasure. Then we have Carroll who is treading the same path as well as allegedly injuring his team-mate!

    Get a grip man.

    Ginola was French, should we not have signed him? I didn’t realise such prejudice was still rife???

    And who cares about how a man looks? Not me, as long as he can play football he could look like quasimodo. I very much doubt anyone would trun down Peter Crouch at Newcastle right now :roll:

  104. Toonsy, saw your comments about Firefox, i switched over to Google Chrome some time ago and find it even faster and easier to use.

  105. Dave – “In 2004, he was also involved in an incident where he stubbed out a cigar onto the eyes of reserve team player Jamie Tandy during a Manchester City Christmas party at Lucid nightclub. This resulted in permanent scarring for the victim although his vision was to return to normal”

    After that incident, Man City released him and kept Barton. We’ll never know if he could have made it, but that incident had a direct impact on the kids future.

  106. toonsy,i think that’s the crux of the problem,we already have characters like barton,carroll and more recently bowyer,and we know what occurred between him and a certain mr dyer.if newcastle had of been in a healthier position financially would barton still be at this club?.
    there were a lot of fans who wanted him sacked,or have his conract rescinded,after his incarceration.
    i seem to remember murmours of ashley wanting to get rid of him.
    we now have andy carroll up on an assault charge,and no idea of how that’s going to end up.he could well be stirring porridge by the end of the year,with the unenviable act of having his own porridge stirred,if he’s not careful.
    i can understand the misgivings of some of the fans towards ben arfa,as we have been stung that many times in the past,with prima donna’s,nutters,radgies etc.
    team spirit will be everything this season,so we cannot take any chances in ruining that harmony,as it will be the difference between 60 mill and parachute payments.
    on the other side of the coin,he could be a good signings,as we are lacking creativity.he’s different to anything we’ve got at this present time,which will make us a different kind of animal.
    he is a risk though,attitude wise,the way he is going on at the moment, you would think marseille had stuck him up the chimney as a sweep.

  107. Toonsy The kid was released because he wasnt good enough he went on to play for 2 other clubs but they released him aswell romour was he was to fond of fighting, drinking and partying . He ended up being took to court by his GF for a real bad assult after spenting 2 yrs of a living hell with him due to drink etc.
    Oh and the papers forget to tell ye why he stubbed the cigar in his eye, the lad was setting fire to the back of joey’s shirt with a lighter
    all alledgedly ;)
    It doesnt make what Joey did right but it explains that it wasn’t for nowt

  109. Dave – Possibly. But people are prepared to give Barton more chances, including me, and he has done far worse than moan about his current employer treating him like shite.

    “If I had any doubt I would have dropped Newcastle from the beginning. I know what Hughton thinks about me. He understands who I am. What kind of player I am. It’s for this reason that I’d like to join Newcastle”

    That is a quote from Ben Arfa. Does he not deserve a chance? Or should he be labelled a trouble maker for wanting to come here and his club pulling the plug after the two clubs had agreed it?

    Edit – Fair enough on the cigar thing thing. We will agree to disagree. All I am saying is that actions have consequences, and that lad never had his chance because of Barton.

    The lad that got kicked in head on the floor outside that McDonalds oviously tried to wind Barton up. But I guess he deserved to be kicked to the floor and repeatedly beaten? Stiil, tis all in the past and if he doesn’t do owt again that is fine by me, but the same logic should be applied to Ben Arfa.

  114. Icedog – Big Dave’s golfing buddy has been a complete arehole in the past, yet he gets chance after chance. I don’t mind that.

    What I am getting the arse about is people calling Ben Arfa a troublemaker because he wants to come here, was told he was coming here, was told he was unwanted, was told to find another club, then has the carpet swept from under him. Double standards!

  118. jay jay………he’ll make up for lost time soon enough……..watch behind ya not ahead ;-)

  120. Toonsy I understand 100% how ye feel towards him he has been a problem but he is our problem that we cant do much about. I think he has turned a corner, I do believe that 99% of gifted players come with baggage some more than others. As for Benny boy I cant see him being worse than what we have and this might even be the break he needs.
    No double standards from me bonny lad ;)

  121. Icedog – Like I said. I’m all for Barton getting his chances and whatnot, I don’t have a problem with that, and it seems the majority of fans are the same

    BUT

    That logic should be applied across the board. If people think HBA is a troublemaker then shouldn’t he also get another chance to prove people wrong?

  124. dicktoon says:
    August 15, 2010 at 1:52 pm
    Typical Stuart spouting negative shit. Have you attended all the meetings between Arfa and Marseilles? How do you know what has gone on behind the scenes?

    Right Dick, tell me what is negative?

    If you can (Which you won’t) I’ll debate, otherwise – Goodbye.

  125. Toonsy > If I had any doubt I would have dropped Newcastle from the beginning. I know what Hughton thinks about me. He understands who I am. What kind of player I am. It’s for this reason that I’d like to join Newcastle

    Is that a direct quote from him or just a rags quote ?

  132. Toonsy @ 126 I know mate ;)
    Roy its not like you to hold a grudge I allways thought of you as being mild mannered, A bit like Icedog only with a shopper bag :)

  137. Ice I was thinking the same but do top players not have their own language, I tink Toonsy has took the grumps with me again :(

  142. BIG DAVE,na m8 i was just thinking are the quotes from the horses-mouth,or someone elses

  146. Ice I think they must be direct quotes well they seem so anyhow
    Hollyoaks :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Ice without his pic something dodgy going on there
    Now Ice you see the benefit of having yer pic buddy ;)

  151. ^or Koscielny

    I think I might have Koscielny on the bench because I thought you might be able to sub in between fixtures on the same weekend.

  153. Ice….I’m saving Fab for another day.I had Bassong and he didnt bloody play either yesterday.

  155. They might still lose Torres and Macherano yet, hope they get off to a bad start. 10 men for the whole second half against Arsenal isn’t fun. :)

  158. Stuart perhaps negative was the wrong word. I should have said stop spouting bullshit about scenarios in which you couldn’t possibly know all the facts. You couldn’t know whether Ben Arfa has a legitamate beef with the marseilles heirachy or not so stop judging him you prick.

  159. Roy Cropper (98)

    3 reasons i dont want him here.
    1)he’s a fcking frog. (shame on you)
    2)he’s seems like a fcking trouble maker.(could be right)
    3)he’s a fcking ugly fcker(see below)

    ROY YOU SHOULD SEE THE GUY I SIT NEXT TO AT SJP!!!

    I hope we do sign him!!!!!!