Tiote loves Newcastle but is Gervinho going to join him?

Posted on February 28th, 2011 | 43 Comments |

Cheick Tiote prefers Newcastle to London
Doing his stuff for the Ivorians
Newcastle United’s Cheick Tiote reveals some reasons why he was happy to sign a new contract. Furthermore, could he help us sign his fellow Ivory Coast team-mate Gervinho?

Cheick Tiote has been talking to the Daily Mail. That’s the sort of thing this writer would normally recommend strongly against, like running with scissors, playing with fire or sticking your face in a fan.

In this case, however, Tiote reveals much about his contentment at the club, saying:

“As soon as I arrived here the players made me welcome. They helped me settle in and that meant I could do a good job on the pitch.”

The Mail suggests that Tiote rejected a transfer day move to Chelsea, which may be true or it may be something they’ve just read between the lines when Tiote expresses his preference for Newcastle over London as follows:

“Newcastle life is good for me. It is not like London – London is too busy, there are too many people.

“Newcastle is not so busy. That makes it easier to focus on your job. For me it is important. I would like to be here for a few years. I can learn here.

“I feel settled here. I enjoy it here. The fans are good and the new manager likes me. The club has looked after me and I do my best for the team and the fans.“

Tiote went on to explain that the difficulties he faced during his upbringing helped develop the winning attitude he now shows on the pitch.

“I made sacrifices to be a player. I had to leave my family, my six brothers and three sisters. It was so difficult,” said Tiote.

“Now I have a better life and I am happy for that but I had to be focused.

“In Africa the young boys want to go out all the time, they want to do something different.

“But for me the being different was to make it as a professional. To do that I had to leave that life.

“Going back would have been like saying, ‘I lose’.

“I don’t do losing. I want to win every challenge, every tackle, anything.”

And it shows. Tiote is a great player of course, but even when he has an off-day he works hard and gives it everything and I can forgive a player lots when they give 100% effort.

Rumour has it that he negotiated a £50k/week deal as part of his new contract, although I haven’t seen anything official about that. Even if true though, I don’t begrudge players a decent wage when they’re contributing as much as him to the team. It’s when we’re paying old, past their prime, permanent sick notes a fortune that it rankles.

There are also rumours that having Cheick Tiote here might help us secure the services of his Ivory Coast team-mate Gervinho, who Newcastle are allegedly interested in at a speculated £10m from Lille.

If my careful insertion of the words ‘rumours’, ‘allegedly’ and ‘speculated’ in the sentence above aren’t clue enough, I’ll reiterate that press reports have connected us to a stack of players and – as far as I’ve seen – not one of those connections has any confirmed substance yet.

Time will tell whether we’re actually interested in Gervinho and, if so, whether we manage to tempt him to come to Newcastle or not, but Tiote looks settled enough for now.

Best not to count your chickens before you teach your Granny to suck eggs, eh?

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.

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Comment on this post

43 Responses

  1. Lots to be optimistic about, I think.
    Tiote staying, people back from injury, money available for the summer window. All we can do is wait and watch. (and speculate and spend hours and hours discussing! :P )

  2. I’m glad we have him on a decent contract. It means his head is less likely to be turned by another club and he and the fans can concentrate on his football. It shows how much the team value him and gives other players every reason to sign on for the future. It really is just Barton and Enrique. If we lose Enrique I hope it is overseas so we dont have to play against him or he can go to Chelsea in exchange for Van Holt and Sturridge. Barton I really dont want to see go but if he did as one of the best midfielders in the game, even with a year left, we’d be looking at 12 mill minimum as he would go to a top 4 team. That may also allow us to go for someone like Charlie Adam.

  3. Hugh…have u seen Gervinho play? Is he any good?

    Lot of fellas have blogged that he would be a good buy but i havent actually seen him play. But then again if he has half the attitude n skill of chuck with an added goalscorer’s instintc then grab him fast.

  7. Wow…youtube clips show he has the skills. Would be a great addition if he’s consistent. And at that age has potential to get better. Like how Stroller had potential haha

  8. Its sad that OBa has to leave NUFC , and then gets silverware at what some people would describe as a less glamourous club Birmingham. 1969 is along time ago 42 years , does that mean we are now less glamorous or 42 years behind Brum !!!
    We need silverware SOON please !

  9. Guthrie is being touted this morning for a loan move to Forest, strange one that but if he mmoves it must mean other midfielders are ready to play.
    Will be interesting how the Rooney the Looney incident will turn out today and it will be a massive test of the FA’s integrity, incident on video looks a lot worse than Mike Williamsons.

  10. be a bad move imo with raylor red carded and barton with injury lacking on the right side which guthrie can play in

  11. and the same thoughts as well nzedtoonman at the club for 5 minutes and picks up a bit of silverware must be pretty easy to win trophy’s then ;)

  13. In years gone by, players used the fact they didn’t want to live in Newcastle and too far from London as a reason to get silly money as a trade off.

    It is refreshing to hear someone come out and state that Newcastle actually is not that bad!

  14. Good blog, Hugh.

    I wonder how close Tiote and Gervinho are. If they’re good friends rather than just national team mates then it’s a possibility – an understanding, in an unsaid, wink wink sort of way. Obviously, given Joses comments, ‘understandings’ are part of the life of a footballer, and it’s a good way to bed in a new player in a new country.

  15. Gervinho would be great, but lets make that a double deal and snatch Hazard as well now that we are at it.

  17. I think the Gervinho is close to being a done deal, I am sure assurances were made to tiote that Gervinho could very likely be joining the club. A reason why he signed such a long contract. And If its good enough for a player of his standard to stay with us then it should be for some of the others too. A few of them who are stalling over should remember they were paid top money in the championship, and a few played few games due to ‘injury’ but collected their wage.

    Barton wont be leaving us, no other team wants the reputation he comes with, if not the manager other players will be put off by him at their club. I doubt it would take much under certain circumstances for him to lash out at new team mates who give him a rough ride, he is also guaranteed 1st team football not as a sub, which many of our players have gone on to be at ‘top’ clubs. We moaned about being stuck with him a couple of seasons ago now we all want him to stay. Seems hes gone from thug to hero.

    And if Enrique wants to go then no point in hanging on to him we know what happens to a player when that happens. What we get for him will go towards another player, hes a good player but no the only one around. If he thinks little of our club that he wants to go then, I dont see any point in keeping on about him. Madrid/ Barca over Liverpool would be my preference.

  18. guthrie going out to forrest on loan till the end of the season… strange one with taylor out for three games, barton injured plus also prob having his head turned now by clubs lining up to sign him, Arfa still a way away from being fit, Ireland not ready etc etc… you would think it wise to keep guthrie. So much for strengthening in the jan window ready for the run in. I guess ashley feels its worth a gamble as he could save 25k a week on guthries wages.

  19. tooneye @17……barton will be off mate. Gervinhio issue…. why are you SURE that assurances were given that he would be brought in. The length of the contract is irrelevant as he will still be flogged on asap once ashley gets good strong offer.

  20. @Craig Chisholm….you’re absolutely right man. Spot on. What were all of us thinking….that Ashley and his cockney mafia and Pardew would actually even try to run the club well. Of course not. They’re all actually Sunderland supporters just ruining our lives and want to get the club destroyed. They probably already plan to sell the stadium and turn it into a parking lot and get us to share the stadium of plight. Why oh why are we even bothering to support this club. Thanks to you Craig I’ve seen the light. Will stop watching footy from now on and stick to volleyball or something. Don’t we have an ice hockey team?
    :)

  22. Come to think of it i’d rather watch female ice skating or gymnastics….I find that strangely relaxing too. Hehe.

  23. “And if Enrique wants to go then no point in hanging on to him we know what happens to a player when that happens. What we get for him will go towards another player, hes a good player but no the only one around. If he thinks little of our club that he wants to go then, I dont see any point in keeping on about him”

    Almost everything you write I disagree with Tooneye but this is up there with the “Carroll only left for the money” line.

    These players have ambitions. Would be strange if they didnt. Jose’s been here for four years of a five year contract. The club have shown spectacularly little in terms of ambition so as he comes to the end of his contract he’s bound to be thinking about his future.

    Fundamentally this club has failed it’s key players through a mix of gross mismanagement and under investment. Even though he was a robbing crook it wasnt Fat Fred who took us down.

  24. Tooneye, I agree with you that no-one will pay the transfer fee reqd and pay Joey what we will as he may be a great player but is damaged goods.

    I too have read the rumours Enrique is going back to Spain with Barcelona the likely destination.
    He makes no secret that he wants to force his way into the Spain squad.

    It would be great if we could get Van Arnholt back from Chelsea permenantly.

  25. interesting spread of comments today… so what is the genral feeling then… i think we are weaker now than before the window. We must be, carroll gone, xcisco, routledge and now looks like guthrie. Dont get me wrong as i know xcisco never set the world alight at newcastle, he has to be a better option than that old donkey they wheeled in though, kufqi or whatever his name is… who cares too.
    Now enrique a gonner for defo too plus barton hot on his heels…another summer of so much hype and nothing deleivered?

  26. 24.. Doug, you guys are kidding yourselves… we will sell barton for 2 million quid in summer, put your life on it. And there will be plenty of takers as he is 28 not 29 and is in his prime. All the lad wanted was a three year extension so he could see out his career, he even offered to drop his money which is rare as hell. BArton offered a hand out but newcastle did not shake it, instead we offered a 2 year extension for reasons i have no idea. Now he is packing his bags mentally already. No matter what anyone says.. we missed him the middle of the pitch on saturday.. missed him alot, he is our engine room and drives us on.

  27. craig chisholm says:
    February 26, 2011 at 2:53 pm
    The figures are correct, i can even name all the players that make up the figures in and out if you so wish. OK, lets put it another way, NUFC has made 60 million quid out of players sold since ashley came into power”

    think you should ready this son, this is from a year before Ashley took over, seems your maths are out a bit. But keep on trying

    http://www.transferleague.co.uk/league-tables/2006-2011.html

  28. “OK, lets put it another way, NUFC has made 60 million quid out of players sold since ashley came into power”

    :lol:

  29. i love mike @27… sorry mike but my figures are bang on and i only took figures from 07th June 2007 onwards.. lord voldermort came to power in the May 2007. Without taking the p1@s… would you like me to name the players and amounts for each year as i can if you dotn belive that NUFC (not voldermort of course!) have made a 60 million re-coup on players sold to bought. let me know and i will list them.

  30. craig chisholm says:
    February 28, 2011 at 12:53 pm
    i love mike @27… mike that was a really bad link you gave there if it was trying to prove a point mate as either you have read it wrong or you now just want to back me up cos it shows that out of all the prem clubs since 2006 that newcastle lie BOTOTM of the team league including relegated teams in terms of expenditure on players. It shows in big red letters that we have to date made over 47 million quid since 2006 – THATS MADE, NOT SPENT. In addition mike, thats from 2006 not 2007 when ashely took over, my figures of 60 million in the profit under ashely are therofre clearly accurate as you are taking into your equation freddies last year in charge… a year when we bought owen for 17 million and others and spent big. If this table was from 2007 to 2011 it would show it even worse light for ashley.

  31. We are all missing something today!

    Tiote said he refused a move the Chelsea in Jan before signing a new contract.

    My god, that must mean they we trying and willing to sell him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  33. Craig, They are spinning Tiote’s new contract as Ashley’s committment to the club!
    If that was the case it would have been report that the club had refused the bid.

    Instead Tiote has come out and said he refused to go!

    Two steps forward…One back!

  34. doug , yeah i agree and if you want to take it one step further mate… cos we have given tiote a pay rise of a reported 20K a week we are getting shot of guthrie to offset it now…ashley is a joker and a lier. The thing with liers and bullsh!tters is.. they always get found out in the end.

  35. hey….. i love mike.. where have you gone mate with your helpful (for me) links. All joking aside though mike, that is a good website so thanks for that.

  36. dont forget your season ticket renewals – the large chap needs your money to move the club foward.

    good lads xx

  38. @ 37 – you another one of the – ps3 – toon scouts ? you’d get the fright of your life if you’s lot ever seen a player in the flesh.

  39. Yeah Gervinho would be a good buy for around ten million,
    but dont see it happening.
    Apparently been rumored that Al. has watched Toulouse a couple of times, the only player there worth watching is Momo Sissoko, excellent so called box to box midfielder.
    Would`nt come cheap, but excellent player.
    We need quality in depth in which to allow platooning and resting players, plus a horses for courses scenario, where say we could put Tiote and Sissoko to gether to hold a lead etc.
    Gervinho, Kranjcar, Sissoko brought in plus Joey, Ben Arfa, Ireland, Gosling, Nolan and Jonas.
    Would give us an outstanding front two lines and probably a top six side.
    Well we can dream !

  40. I don’t see why we cannot get him. Didn’t we try and sign him last year but they wanted him for this season? Then we have Tiote who will blag him to join us.

    I have a good feeling for our summer transfers for once.

  42. It’s all good an’ well trying to sign Gervinho but i don’t think it’s going to happen to be honest. He’s playing for a good french side who are currently joint top of the french league and are more than likely going to be in champions league next season. If he was to come to us the best we could offer him is Europa League at best and in all respect to our club, it would be a step backwards from where he’s currently at.

    Hopefully our scouting team can uncover another couple of gems like Tiote who can help us move forward.

  43. @ #17 – I kinda agree on the Enrique “saga” (IE media BS) – but what concerns me is the figures being banded around for him.

    £6m for arguably our best player is a joke – if the long-haired wife-beater was worth £35m then surely the spaniard is worth more?