Hughton strengthens his case for new, improved contract.

Posted on November 2nd, 2010 | 34 Comments |

Sign him up....
Sign him up....
Much of the debate and rumour last week was regarding the future of Chris Hughton, and the lack of a new contract for our current manager.

Speculation reached fever pitch in the run up to the defeat against Arsenal which prompted the club to release a brief statement backing the manager and revealing that a new contract for Hughton would be on the agenda in the new year.

After the performance and the widespread backing that Hughton recieved from the players and fans at St James’ Park, I would suggest that Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias move their agenda forward and sort out a new deal for the man who has saved them a fortune by getting the team promoted last season, and looks to be saving them a frotune again this season by getting some fantastic results on a very meagre budget.

Some pundits, like Warren Barton, have suggested that Chris Hughton has turned down a new contract at Newcastle as he didn’t like the terms of the compensation package, but how would Barton know this? I doubt that Chris Hughton will have phoned him up and told him as we have seen time and time again that Hughton values privacy. I smell a bit of bullshit from Barton there! Think about it…

Anyway, it matters not what a pundit claims to know, and it matters not what various media sources claim to know. Surely, by now, Newcastle fans have become a bit more aware of the crap that the media spouts, and that includes ex-players aswell.

What really matters is what the current players are saying. They are the ones who have to work with Hughton, and have to enjoy working with him. The meesage from the players is that they want Hughton to get another contract.

Players like Joey Barton, Shola Ameobi, Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan have all backed Hughton, and they dedicated the weekend win over Sunderland to the man who has brought stability and a quiet dignity to our club, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the day of Sir Bobby.

Whether or not the club decide to bring forward contract negotiations is something that we will have to wait and see about. I firmly believe that Ashley has had his fingers burned with having to pay a huge amount of compensation to former managers in the past, and it is a path he doesn’t want to go down again.

This is where there needs to be a bit of balance. On one hand it is all well and good trying minimise financial exposure for the club, but on the other, the club will need to be aware that what Hughton has achieved in his fourteen months in charge will not have gone un-noticed at other clubs who are perhaps looking at their own managerial situations.

My own personal view is that it would be better if the club could sort out Hughton’s contract sonner rather than later which would quash the rumours and leave the press having to find something else to start chipping away on.

I’m well aware that most contractual negotiations are sorted out in the new-year, and that is what the club have said with regard to Hughton, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens between now and then eh?.

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

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Posted on by toonsy in category: Chris Hughton and Derek Llambias and General miscellany and Mike Ashley and Thoughts and reflections and Toonsy , with tags: ,
Comment on this post

34 Responses

  1. Know its silly but am first to comment for the first time ever on this site:-)anyway even i beleive he should get a new contract immediately:-)

  2. Do people really think giving Hughton a new contract will stop all the BS???

    I ‘m sad to say that I think Hughton’s fresh 3 year contract will stand for diddly squat if we go 5 or 6 games without a win. And the press, along with a few of our famously fickle fans, will be waiting with their sharpened knives at the ready.

  3. The press will spout shite like “ashley expects european football after awarding hooters an improved contract” blah blah blah zzzzz

  4. Slightly off topic, but can I just say I’m lovin’ Chrissy’s new look.

    It seems to have given him the kind of presence on the touchline that a tracksuit never could.

    Dare I say it, but his new found sharpness reminds me somewhat of Guardiola, or even Mourinho, come to think of it!

  7. Can’t believe people (not on here) are clinging on to what Warren Barton said in the US….

    I repeat what I said in the article, how the hell would Warren Barton know anything?

    I just wish people wouldn’t take everything that anyone says on face value. It’s rather gullible if you ask me.

  8. Sorry toonsy only re reading your article , Warren Barton said it then it must be ture , did he say anything else? New players been signed? Winning lotto numbers? When the world is going to end? I need to know!

    Gulible is not in the dictonary , Dont belive me? Look it up!

  10. I strongly suspect that the attitude of all concerned is simple: there was an agreement to look at it at the end of the year, as is the norm. That is what will happen. Just because some useless bastid hack tries to sell papers by stirring Sh@te will not alter their plans.
    Good on em if that is the case. Why should the gutter press dictate what goes on in our club? Feck the lot of ’em and anybody who believes a word of what they write.

  11. media are out to get us…andy gray must be pissed off..if u read his shit..each game on us then..he has lost all his money..he is the worst of the lot..the players say they pin every crap that they say about us on the board each gameb4 they go out..as for steve clark coming here was never going to happen..he would wont more then ch is getting paid..if chelsea score 5 or 6 it is because they are great..we do that it is a fluke..jealous jealous keep it up media scum

  12. I just dont get this clamour for a contract business ?

    The whole rumour thing about CH getting the elbow was web inspired mischief making from, among others, Anal Oliver. If we accept that there was never any threat to CH’s employment from FMA then where’s the problem ?

    Both parties agreed to a one year deal which ends in May. Quite rightly the club have said they’ll start negotiations in December, well ahead of the May deadline.

    Personally I dont blame the Board. They are naturally cautious, having made several bad managerial decisions, about giving a newbie Manager a contract which MIGHT have to be torn up by the end of the year if we lose six or more on the boounce as TC said.

    If we go back to the dark days, with the Fat Tw@t in charge, how many times did we have to pay up contracts of poorly chosen managers who left well before their contract renewal date ? Dalglish, Souness, Roeder and Allardyce all received substantial settlement figures for doing f all and that was wasted money as far as the club was concerned.

    NB Please note I am not anti CH :)

  13. Haven’t been on for a while but have been reading the posts most days…. The “Press” need to brought to task over the rubbish they print about certain clubs and individuals… How can a loss to the Gunners with a second string team suddenly turn into a “sack Hughton shit storm” – only the press can conjure something like that up…. Surely there would be no other profession out there that allows so called proffesionals to sprout utter BS at will… The world would be a better place with out these hacks…

  14. Is this not a private and very personal matter? That’s
    what gets me the most. This whole thing is more embarrassing for Hughton than it is for the club. He doesn’t want this story so why do they keep banging on about it. They, not the club, are showing him a total lack if respect.

    I agree with what TC is saying about fickle fans etc but from a lot of fans point of views we are just glad to have such a professional man in charge. We have had too many idiots at our club over the years.

  15. A.M.i think the days of 3/5yr contracts are comeing to a end,they mean dog shit anyway as do players in the land of agents,imo a 1yr rolling contracts are the way to go for both partys,the club could give c.h.a new much improved contract starting when his old one runs out that way it keeps both sides on there toes,and should keep everyone happy.which coach would join c.h.when nobody knows what happening at the club?

  16. I don’t how true this is at all i just heard it off someone yesterday and just thought i’d pass it on, apperently after the game on sunday ashley and llambias were in aspers casino in the gate or something and some guy shouted ‘ashley your ruining the club’ with ashley surrounded by guards ashley let the man through, the guy asked him why he hasn’t been giving hughton more money and ashley said were stabalising at the moment and then you see a significant improvement in funds, he then asked the man if he was a season ticket holder and he said yes so gave him a chip worth £500.

    Like i say i have no idea if it’s true or not but i thought i’d pass it on. DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER :D

  18. i think Ashley is getting it rite, slowly but surely, let his business acumen take over, its looking rosy in the garden at present!
    when have we ever seen such a united team!!??

  21. Daan – apparently a similar thing happened at a casino in 5under1and…

    Some dirty mackem shouted at Niall Quinn from across the room – so Niall went over, reasoned with the man and gave him a big fat chip – covered in cheese! :lol:

  24. Asim – Of course you can get £500 cips in casino’s ye daftie ;)

    Not every casino is the same.

    At the casino I go to in Birmingham the £500 chips are gold.

  26. Lacedaemonian says:
    November 2, 2010 at 11:20 am

    “Is this not a private and very personal matter? That’s
    what gets me the most. This whole thing is more embarrassing for Hughton than it is for the club. He doesn’t want this story so why do they keep banging on about it.”

    Because they want to get a self perpetuating story going, Lacedaemonian. They heard a few of the corner fans booing Hughton, so they went with the sacking Hughton angle. We “deluded” Geordies were supposed to help them by coming out with bedsheets and demanding a “big name”, but, sadly for the press, we don’t oblige them as often as we used to. Since it became apparent that most of the fans were behind Hughton, they have changed tack and are going for the fans coming out against Ashley for NOT giving Hughton a new contract immediately, not offering Calderwood a good enough contract to stay, then supposedly blocking him from appointing his own replacement too etc. One of them, has also resorted to playing the joker, a return of Fat Freddy. Ie the reason Hughton HASN’T been sacked isn’t because he is still happy with his work, but because of Ashley’s reluctance to bring in a big name as he will immenently selling the club to the Byker Beelzebub, who, despite past differences, will give we simple, impressionable, impatient, Geordies what we really want.

    “Shepherd, who endured his fair share of controversy during his time as chairman at St James’ Park, might not have been the most popular owner in the past, but the fans would welcome the exit of Ashley given the club’s recent history.”

  28. on the contract, what gets me is HE ALREADY HAS A CONTRACT!
    Why the need to give a new contract now? He has a job to do of keeping us up, that’s the prioirity and i’m sure CH would agree.

    Sort it out at the end of the season.

    I’m sure the board will be going all out to get new players, if needed, in January and after that, they will sort it out.

    We should not only take what the media say with a pinch of salt but also what the media constitute as a ‘story’ with a pinch of salt.

  29. Loving Hoots at the mo, has to be said but I believe he’ll get a new contract soon enough and it will be all sorted out, and the end of the day its just more media bullsh*t which we have to deal with as Toon fans virtually on a daily basis anyway, the press will get bored soon, or hopefully Liverpool will implode or something and turn everyone elses attention away from us for the first time in a decade or so.

    Also, never really paid attention to it before but did anyone notice in the post match interview with the scum that Hoots’ hair was virtually one half white one half black? Its like it was meant to be! he’s our messiah… :) seriously though, good bloke.

  30. Warren and Hughton are supposedly mates. he defends the hell out CH every week in a way that makes it seem like they are friends. Don’t know why he would make the claim about the contract.

    Either way, ashley should wait to see where things stand in January, though they are lookinggood at the moment

  31. Love it or hate it

    Ashley is running the club with a sense of reality. Why give someone a long contract. Ashley has to decide how important Hughton is to the business that is NUFC. Is he irreplaceable or could he get someone in the door tomorrow that could do an equal if not better job.

    I don’t know about you guys but i don’t have a contract in my job that says if a perform badly I will be replaced and given three years salary for performing badly. Equally I can chose to walk wawy whenever I want.

    So somewhere between a length of contract that is attractive to the employee and not too much of a liabilty for the employer is where the two parties should meet.

    A rolling contract of one year may I suggest

  33. Hughton has created great team spirit out of adversity – he seems to thrive on the seige mentality much the same as Fergie has done over the years. The criticism in the press, Carroll situation, contract situation etc. all works in our favour as we have a manager who uses it for the positive……I don’t think CH is in an enormous hurry to sign a new contract, it is just more fuel to his fire to get the players playing for him and each other……not sure that a new contract would be a positive step right now while we try and gain momentum, keep it as it is – it’s working!

  34. Worky @26: Excellent analysis. Absolutely wonderful to see that people are looking behind the words these days. This is the reason why this site is the most important Newcastle blog there has ever been.