Is Andy Carroll leaving? And does it matter?

Posted on November 24th, 2010 | 57 Comments |

Arsenal bound?
Arsenal bound?
Is he? Or isn’t he?

I have not written for quite a while on this ‘blog, so this post is just a gentle reintroduction from me without much substance, but I feel I can get away with it just this once to ease myself back into things.

It gets worse because I’m about to do some dreaded hearsay Daily Mail style reporting.

I had reason to hire a ‘Man With A Van’ recently to help clear out a house after a bereavement. This ‘Man With A Van’ happened to be a Geordie and came accompanied by a son at no extra charge. I’m not entirely sure of the son’s purpose in the whole house clearing thing I had to do as he seemed reluctant to lift anything and merely ate all my biscuits. However, this son apparently dates a girl who worked in the press office at SJP and we got onto the subject of whether or not Andy Carroll is for sale because, obviously, there has been much speculation about that recently. According to my ‘source’ (hey, I feel like a real reporter now!) Andy Carroll is for sale, but so is everyone else at Newcastle United.

Now of course, I am not silly enough to put any faith in what is essentially gossip, particularly as it came from someone who ate all my biscuits. I am however getting to a point, the point being: Does it matter anyway?

I have been absent from NUFCBlog for a year and thought that one thing I might have a particular perspective on is how things have changed in that year. I have read this blog most days but when it actually comes down to writing an article you tend to sort of ‘dig around’ in strange bits of news and whilst I was doing that it occurred to me that Newcastle United is a very different club to the one whose news I was ‘digging around’ in a year ago. I notice now, for example, that when we get ‘bad press’, it is handled discretely by the club. The newspapers huff and puff and try to create a scandal but it does not really gain the ground it did a year ago. A year ago I would have been asking for ‘more communication’ from Mike Ashley on anything to do with the club. Now, though, I think he’s correct to keep his mouth shut (and that certainly helps prevent him putting his foot in it, which he was rather inclined to do).

On the financial level too, there is more restraint than there was a year ago. As fans we often want huge transfer fees and lavish spending but the reality of football clubs is changing. I don’t like to see my football club as a ‘business’ because that lacks the passion I want for Newcastle United, but it is a business and I think we have to accept that and work within it.

On the pitch we are inconsistent, which is troubling, but better than being consistently bad. However I really don’t think we are relegation material. I’ll eat my hat, publicly on Youtube, if we get relegated. I’d rather not as I’m quite fond of my green Fedora.

What I’m saying is that we have gone from the depths of being relegated to winning the Fizzy Pop and now holding our own in the Premiership in a little over a year.

I think we should give the club a break and a chance to continue its on and off pitch progress. When I went to my first Toon game with my father and my Uncle Stan – back in the days when cars had macho names and the drivers wore Hai Karate – you never booed your own team. Of course part of being a football fan is post-match analysis and we’re within our rights to criticise our team. But not on match day. I believe we should just get behind them when they’re on the pitch.

So, to get back to my original point. I wouldn’t actually care even if Andy Carrol is going. I have given up ‘transfer market panic’. Players come and go, budgets must be observed but I think Newcastle United is heading in the right direction and if Andy Carrol goes, someone will fill the gap.

I’m guessing many will disagree with my thoughts and that’s fine, but I shall leave you with this thought on clear thinking. They say that when a butterfly flaps it wings in the Amazon, it can cause a hurricane in China. Now, boffins will wrap this up in all sorts of equations on chaos theory but, personally, I’d just take a slipper to the butterfly. Problem solved.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:


57 Responses

  1. Carroll for sale – whey aye, if the money is daft, everyone is for sale.

    On Carroll leaving – don’t want him to, however for every Cole sold, there’s a Shearer and a Firdinand round the corner ;)

  2. He isn’t leaving YET , the lad is still on a learning curve and the club know it , there is more to come from the lad and when it does his value will increase and a bigger fee will be got . That said , if at the end of say next season we are in Europe and challenging the top 4 again i believe he will do a Shearer and stay at the club , the club he loves .

  3. “A slipper crushing a butterfly in Hugh’s house, causes a tsunami in my auntie Dot’s bath”.

    Zen mate.
    ;)

  4. Don’t think he’ll be going for a while(I hope) but every player has a price, like you say players come and go thats life.
    Do they wear slippers in the Amazon? ;-)

  5. First of all, welcome back Hugh!

    “On the pitch we are inconsistent, which is troubling”

    I actually find it to be a reassuring sign of progress towards something better. Before people, or teams fully achieve their potential in something, they can often be inconsistent. They can often give a glimpse of what they can be, then it goes. But, if they are doing the right things, it will come back more and more until consistency and complete mastery is achieved. I have confidence that this will be the case with Newcastle United, unless, that is, they give in to impatience and destroy everything once again.

  6. workyticket says:
    November 24, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    First of all, welcome back Hugh!

    “On the pitch we are inconsistent, which is troubling”

    I actually find it to be a reassuring sign of progress towards something better”

    I actually said something similar the other day, though we haven’t got the point we should have, shouldn’t we be happy that as a newley promoted team, we’re really disapointed that we didn’t get more points out of several games?

    It’s a sign that we are more than holding our own in my opinion. Staying up is still no1 priority though.

  7. welcome back hugh , a ilm there will never be another shearer round the corner ,i actually i think carrol is the nearest thing weve had too shearer

  8. Tut tut Mr de payne. Your headline is top drawer tabloid attention grabbing.
    Have you been taking tips from oldc uncle ed?

  9. A combination of relegation, John Hall, Freddie Fletcher and Mike Ashley’s shennanigens, and some down right bad management over the years has dented the spirit of the toon fans somewhat. Maybe the MA way will be the right way, or did we prefer the halcyon days of Champions League and crazy spendings and signings ? Andy Carrol leaving, could posibly happen, but it’ll cost someone a lot of money to prise him away..

  10. Every player is for sale… Of course they are! If a club puts an enourmos bid in for a player like Carroll we would be daft to not even consider our options. As #1 comments:
    “however for every Cole sold, there’s a Shearer and a Firdinand round the corner.”

    However i think that the club was pretty desperate at the time we were relegated; at that time every player probably was at the “unofficial transfer list”.

    At this certain time i don`t think the club will sell players like Andy Carroll. Why should they? He represents everything Newcastle United works for: he is a geordie, talented, a player capable of wearing the nr. 9 and an academy product.
    This guy will certainly make sure that Newcastle sell shirts the next seasons. That is money to isn`t it? :)

    Howay the lads!

  11. “Tut tut Mr de payne. Your headline is top drawer tabloid attention grabbing.
    Have you been taking tips from oldc uncle ed?”

    haha. Ed The Legend ;)

  12. Micky Toon says:
    November 24, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    “Tut tut Mr de payne. Your headline is top drawer tabloid attention grabbing.
    Have you been taking tips from oldc uncle ed?”

    I thought that Bowburnmag was the shaneless at that sort of thing, Micky. Do you remember when “Raul” was on his way to Newcastle?

  13. I’d hate him to leave, don’t think he will either, he probably worships that number 9 shirt.

  14. I think if the club get a reasonable offer, he will be sold. Simple as that. Not just Carroll, any of the players.

  15. The bodies coming into NUFC since promotion all seem to be first class. They had a choice on where they would sign & chose NUFC. From that I conclude that there is a plan in place & it includes winning silver and Europe. If injuries and suspensions continue, there might be purchases in Jnuary, maybe even a purchase to fill out the thin squad. But as far as selling assets, it does not seem likely. At least not until NUFC has 3 quality players competing for the same spot on the pitch.

  16. It’s an interesting question, and with Lovenkrands, Ameobi, Ranger, Best, and Xisco on the 1st Team and Airey (sp) and others in the wings, it could be a shrewd (albeit risky – consider he is top goal scorer right now) bit of business.

    So, if he’s sold, what would the price be, do you think? Is he 20 GBP? Less or more? Does MA pay off some of the club debt (owed to him of course) and make the club that much more appealing to a buyer…so many things to ponder.

  17. Welcome back, Hugh.

    On Carroll being for sale, I actually think every NUFC player is for sale if an offer came in for them. Would Hughton get the money to reinvest? I doubt that too.

    Hugh, if Carroll was sold we’d be fcked! He’s the only striker we have that scores goals.

  18. workyticket says:
    November 24, 2010 at 9:13 pm
    I thought that Bowburnmag was the shaneless at that sort of thing, Micky. Do you remember when “Raul” was on his way to Newcastle?

    Worky…I can remember when “Socrates” was on his way :-)

  19. In the short term I’m more worried about Tiote and Benny leaving (well not arriving) because I think either of those two is more likely.

  20. Great to see you back Hugh.

    As others have said, everyone has their price, but I can’t see it happening – famous last words, you watch!

  21. dont think he will leave, is agent mite want him to leave but he is mad geordie n he is at the only place he would want to be, my trouble with this is why sell him for 20mill after half a season or season in prem this lad is so unique as in there aint no player like him if you hold on to the lad for 2 to 3 season you could command 50/60 million for him some laugh but its i mean 20mill after only 1season as a championship player n 14 prem games n to think most fans thought he wouldnt succeed in the prem

  22. I am surprised there are even people debating whether he should be for sale.

    i understnad the argument that every player has their price – especially for a club operating in the financial situation we find ourselves in, but say we even get GBP 20 million for him (which i think is ambitious) what would we do with the cash?

    logically we would need a replacement goalscorer which would cost a fortune (and probably a big pay packet) and the risks would just be massive that the replacement isn’t either up to it or passionate about playing in the number nine shirt i.e. owen. we really dont need another established mercenary ‘star’ here for another pay day. those days i hope have gone.

    whoever we get in no matter who he is would not be able to replace the fact that the fans love AC because he has come through our academy and is a geordie . .how do you put a price on that?

    I realise it is far far too early to make comparisons with big Al but is AC the most suitable heir to that throne since wor shearer retired? like several people have said every player has a price but i just hope that the fact he is local boy means the price we want to charge is just too high for anyone to pay.

  23. clapham geordie says:
    November 24, 2010 at 9:57 pm

    “I realise it is far far too early to make comparisons with big Al but is AC the most suitable heir to that throne since wor shearer retired? like several people have said every player has a price but i just hope that the fact he is local boy means the price we want to charge is just too high for anyone to pay.”

    Clapham Geordie, Perhaps that has been one of the problems with Newcastle United in the past. Football is a team game and we focused too much on certain individuals and make them totemic to the detriment of the collective?

  24. speaking of transfers… David bentley would be a good shout for us in january. I think hoots may be forced to sell some high end waste of spaces. Smith to leave along with one of our non scoring centre forwards

  25. I’m with Stuart on this one like. If Chelsea knocked on the door in 8 months time or whatever and said there’s 10mil, we’ll have Carroll, you better believe Fat Ash is biting their hand off.

    However, whether Carroll wants to leave is an entirely different matter. Like Worky said, incosistency on the field is merely a glimpse of what we’re capable of should we be able to continue to rebuild/advance at a steady, sensible pace. Regardless of the pathetic performances this season we’ve put in a few belters that newly promoted teams normally wouldn’t be capable of. In players such as Tiote, Jonas, Colo, Carroll and others, we have players that newly promoted teams usually wouldn’t have the pleasure of being able to stick on the field week in week out.
    I personally don’t think he will want to leave, or would leave having only worn the no9 shirt for a season. He knows as well as anyone what the club COULD be and to be quite honest he knows he’s regarded as the dogs B@llocks when he’s wearing such a famous shirt for us. He seems to be thriving under the pressure and long may it continue.

    That..and as Stuart mentioned earlier, he’s our only bloody consistent goal scorer. Please don’t leave Andy! lol.

  26. Hugh welcome back mate and after a hard old day with work your blog made me laugh mate the secret is dont give them biscuits until all the work is done, I hope they wern’t fancy biscuit you we’re giving him :lol: .
    I dont want Carroll to go as I think he is one of the best things to happen to the club for a long time, but I do thing he will have big ambitions and if we cant match them he will move on :(

  27. I cant believe anybody supporting Newcastle United would even think about wanting to sell Andy Carroll and everybody should care if he is sold, it would be a disaster for the club.

    Im currently living in the middle east but have been a supporter all my life and was a season ticket holder all them years. I get to watch every game home and away out here and I follow the progress online especially Andy Carroll. His performances on the pitch have been outstanding this season he is so consistant every game, more than any other player I have seen.

    He is a local lad and understands the passion of the fans and what we are looking for when we watch the lads every week. He gives lots of options up front due to his style of play. I have never seen any player in all my time of watching football being able to attack the ball in the air like he does. He also gets back to help out in defence and midfield, has good skills on the ball and excellent shooting ability.

    There is no other English striker at this moment in time that is as good as he is. If he was to be sold and we were to bring in some foriegn player who hasnt a clue about Newcastle or English football then that would be a big problem. We still have Shola up front after all these years and he could never perform to the standard of Carroll. The guys like a bad rash that wont go away. Why has no premier league club ever been really interested in Shola after all these years?

    For me Andy Carroll could be better than Alan shearer if he can keep his head down and stay away from all the distractions outside of football. This is the first time in a long time that I look forward to watching my team playing again and like Rooney at Man U I always believe Andy will score.

    As you can see im a massive fan of the lad and hope all you people thinking otherwise wake up and see this also.

  28. NUFC Qatar….agree with most of what you’ve written but I can’t see where anyone says they want Carroll to be sold just that if a daft offer comes in he might.Every player at every club has a price, even Man Utd couldn’t hang onto their best player.Hopefully though if the situation arises AC will dig in and say he has a contract and won’t go. ;-)

  29. It’s very simple.

    No clubs would be that silly now to buy a player who just sign a 5yrs contract,and he is just only started His full PL season.

    every club need to gauge on his performance over the yrs before seriously consider bidding.

    but i guess,by then,Carroll/Newcastle would be challenging top half table or maybe Europa.

  30. Very good article Huge and your headline, despite being classed as red-top style buth caught the eye and drew readers in.

    The club has mde massive strides since the dark days of the 2007/8 season and despite what folk think, MA’s done a helluva of a job – albeit in a sometimes cack-handed way.

    But and to coin a trendy phrase, we are where we are…. in the Prem.

  31. I’ve spoke to andy carrol and all this talk ov him leavin is bullshit he said he will never leave the t00n for any club, only way he will leave is if fat mike sells him for the cash

  32. “Manure” apart name me a team that has’nt been inconsistant this season?
    Could it have been a butterfly somewhere and not that curry I had last night?

  33. Well if you believe what you read in the Crap-loids, then in Jan, we’re going to be selling Carroll for £20m to Chelski, Williamson £4m & Enrique £8m to the Spurts…

    Imo, I don’t think Ashley is selling anyone or the club, I think he’s seen over the past 12 months that he’s got something that can grow into something a lot bigger, the club!!! 12 months ago, he would have sold us for £80m & lost around £150m out of his pocket, since then & promotion, we’ve gone from being a failed PL club into the Fizzy pop champions with a run away victory, beating god knows how many records on the way, we’re now 14 games into the PL season & sit 10th, we should have been higher but due to some of our players getting crocked early on in the season, ie HBA, we’ve lost ground but lets just take a minute to look forward to the next 6 months yeah:::

    We have a Jan transfer window coming up, we have players like Gosling coming back to fitness, HBA still to return in March, just in time for the run in to the end of the season, we’ve got so many talented young players vying for places & currently we have 2 players, yes that 2 players in the top 4 goal scorers :) :)

    If Ashley give CH £5m in Jan, I think he’ll bring in at least 2 decent players, yeah we may have to get shot of a few, like Smudger, Raylor (injured so I doubt it), either Xisco or Best, on loan or sold, but we don’t need many more players to come in this window, someone to cover Tiote & a right winger, apart form that, I think we have the makings of a very good squad for the next 6 months with those coming back from injury at key times!!!

  34. Apparently we are looking a some French striker along with arsenal. Hmm the odds are just slightly stacked against us. French and arsenal= cert to sign if they want him.

  35. Welcome back Hugh. Good to have you around :)

    Was just in the middle of writing a new article for everyone and had a phone call with some bad news so I’ll have to go. Catch you all in a bit :(

  36. Hugh, ya wind-up merchant!

    Ok, you got me with the headline and opening para – but good article for getting discussions going.

    My opinions:

    1. AC will be a lifelong Toon player. He’s the opposite of Micky Owen – he plays from the heart, and knows he’d never really hit his best for any other club.

    2. Cyprus Toon is right: All these stories about the club and all its players being up for sale is just column-filling fiction and dirt-swilling. Ashley is not daft and he knows he’s got things going in the right direction at last. He is not about to swerve.

    3. Losing Carroll – or any one of several other key players seen as part of our resurgence – WOULD matter hugely. We’re playing, overall, better than we should on paper, and that’s because they’re a close-knit, passionate team. You cannot simply “swap out” players for new ones and expect things to continue.

    So – good article, but, as our exalted boss here said in his speech last week… it’s all bollox.

  37. Well if one of the seriously rich clubs offered £40-£50M for him I think Ashley would be right to accept it as it would pay off some of his loan and would buy us some players, like someone said even Man U’s best player had a price. £60M.

    But if they came in with an offer of £10-15M or something like that I hope Ashley would just laugh it off.

    Anyway I don’t think anyone will offer the sort of money required to buy Carroll, someone will probably just insult us by offering £10M for him and get told where to go.

  38. DJG as you know we are going to hear and read all sorts of shit until jan comes and goes,just take it with a pinch of salt imo m8

  39. I know a ” well placed source” at the club said at the weekend that Carroll was not for sale but i can also remember that during the Keegan fiasco that the direction of the club was to bring younger players in, develop them and sell them on for a big profit, so who knows what will happen if man city or chelsea come along with a massive bid.
    Respective agents will be bang at it as we speak and if there is a chance that Carroll would treble his wages and the club would receive a hefty fee, i can see it happening.

  40. Look, this is a sterile debate. I don’t believe that Newcastle would “cash in” on AC unless the offer was too good to be true. I mean, if James Milner is worth £20 million, then Carroll must be worth more – strikers tend to carry a premium and a rising English star who’s got something different to the usual type would attract interest as you say. An offer of £20 million plus would cause flutterings – anything less, I am not convinced. The market and a bidding war would dictate where his value would end up.

    It’s a bit like the old joke about Winston Churchill asking the attractive woman “Would you sleep with me for a million pounds?”
    “Of course, what a stupid question?” she answers.
    “Well, would you sleep with me for £10?”
    ” Certainly not!” she says, “What sort of woman do you think I am?”
    “Oh” he replies, “we’ve established that. Now we’re just haggling over the price!”

  41. Not a chance in the world Andy Carroll would be sold for less than 30 million pounds at this point. There might not be a more valuable striker in the premier league at this point considering his age.

  42. Very nice article Hugh, well written and humorous. Enjoyed the reference to the ‘Hai Karate’ aftershave. That brought back a few memories, including those awful ads for it! As for rumours, I hear Xisco, Ameobi, Smith and Best are for sale for a conker, a bit of pocket lint and a half chewed piece of gum. Sadly still no takers! LOL What a git eating all your biscuits! Hope you just gave him the plain digestives or ginger snaps and saved the chocolate Hob Nobs!
    As I have now meandered down memory lane, can I ask the question, ‘Does anyone say ‘barrie’ anymore?’ Or is the expression now ‘lush’ or ‘the dog’s bollock’s’? I’ve lived in USA last 20 years and fear I am sadly out of touch with Geordie expressions!

  43. So, to get back to my original point. I wouldn’t actually care even if Andy Carrol is going. I have given up ‘transfer market panic’. Players come and go, budgets must be observed but I think Newcastle United is heading in the right direction and if Andy Carrol goes, someone will fill the gap.

    I’m guessing many will disagree with my thoughts and that’s fine

    Richietoon this quoted from the original post: Was my point about not caring if AC was sold and someone will fill the gap like who?

    Boater:
    nufc qatar. Sit down marra, you’re an idiot.

    The only people I know who use the word Marra are red and white, probably from washington bit of a mixed breed