Pardew to get £20m to spend in the summer?

Posted on April 30th, 2011 | 46 Comments |

Alan Pardew, Newcastle United, £20m to spend?
£20m available for players. Maybe.
Press speculation suggests that Alan Pardew will be given £20m to spend on players at Newcastle United in the summer.

If Louise Taylor of the Guardian is to be believed, Alan Pardew will have £20m of the £35m we got for Andy Carroll to spend in the summer. Taylor doesn’t say how she knows that and merely states it as fact, so there may or may not be some truth in it.

Apparently the remaining £15m will go on players’ wages.

As part of the article, Alan Pardew reflects on the sale of Carroll:

“Selling Andy was a watershed moment. You couldn’t tell what would happen. It was a bit like Kenny Dalglish going back to Liverpool – that could have been a disaster but proved the opposite.

“Fortunately we stepped up to the challenge and it’s definitely been good for some of our players. Our fans might be looking at strikers like Shola and Peter in a different light now.“

Pardew then goes on to mention how he thinks Simpson and Williamson have progressed:

“Danny Simpson and Mike Williamson have done marvellously. There’s a loyalty to those players now. Only to a degree though because I’m not a sentimentalist and I’m looking at next season. We’ve got a very good understanding of the European market and we’re talking to clubs, agents and players.”

And then, looking ahead to the transfer market, Pardew explains that the number of players we buy will depend upon how well we do as securing the services of existing players:

“I haven’t put a figure on how many players I want yet.

“It partly depends on the contract negotiations, there’s a lot of work to be done.”

The club is already spending money though. Under-soil heating has been installed at the training ground, meaning it will no longer be unusable due to ice for 2 months in the winter, and a bore hole has been drilled which will allegedly save the club £40,000/year in water bills.

Pardew commented:

“We’re working hard making improvements at the training ground.

“We’re ensuring we’re up to date.”

Personally, I’m reluctant to believe anything about Newcastle United until I see it actually happen. That’s partly because Ashley can be unpredictable and I still have no definite idea what his plans are for the club in the long term. Is he staying for good now? Or does he plan to sell?

But I will say that this sounds about right to me. I think we all knew Pardew would never get the whole £35m to spend, yet I never really believed he’d get none of it to spend as some of the more cautious observers have suggested. If I’d had to guess I’d have said he’d get about £15m to spend, so if he gets £20m then I won’t be too disappointed.

Who he buys with that remains to be seen and it’s yet another test Pardew will have to pass to win over his less enthusiastic followers. A couple of strikers are likely to be high on the list and possibly a left back to replace Enrique if he goes.

It will be an interesting summer!

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

46 Responses

  1. Louise Taylor knows shit that’s why i always complain to her editor about the crap she writes, move on not worth even writing about

  2. Won’t believe anything until you know who we sign it’s just all paper talk wait til the summer before people start moaning

  3. don’t want to start moaning, but the club is run by a bunch of clowns who have diluted the atmosphere for next season by getting rid of the ‘singing section’ huge error

  4. It is of course mere speculation but, as I said, it sounds about right to me.

    I can see Pardew being given £15m-£20m of the Carroll money to spend in the summer.

    I never expected him to get it all but neither did I expect the most pessimitic option – that he’d get none of it – to be true either.

  5. You missed an interesting bit, Hugh:

    “Nonetheless Pardew’s fear must be that Ashley who, according to city analysts, has now placed the club on such a firm financial footing that potential Indian buyers could yet test his resolve to stay put, may decline to speculate to accumulate.”

    I don’t know anything about that but I have a friend in (shall we say) interesting circles in India and he reports that an Indian consortium is preparing a paper looking at the feasibility of buying a “mid-range EPL club”. Not thought to be Newcastle, though.

    Just thought I’d let you in on that.

  6. I put little credence in what Sunderland supporter Louise Taylor says. It’s not like she has a history of being anywhere near correct is it?

  10. I don’t think he will get a budget. I don’t thunk any manger gets a budget as such. They identify players and recommend them to the board, then the board do the rest and make the money work and crunch the numbers. Didn’t Hughton have to justify signing Campbell to the board as they didn’t really want to pay (wages) for him? As Bris said, if Pardew can justify it I think the club will spend it.

  11. I’d have to disagree there Toonsy. Pardew will certainly have to justify buying players but there will be an upper limit to what he’s allowed to spend. And, IMHO, that upper limit will be less than the £35m he got for Carrol.

  12. I dont think Ashley will actually put a figure on the amount he’s willing to spend this summer, he will do what he did with Hoots & just say ya or na to different players & amounts… £20m sounds about right tho if he was to say an amount, as we already knew that the £35m would cover wages & agents fee’s..

    Well at least it will shut those whinging gets up who’ve said Ashleys gonna pocket the £35m now… I wonder what they’ll moan about now!!!

  13. Good article Hugh…

    The first quote from AP interests me…“Selling Andy was a watershed moment. You couldn’t tell what would happen…. It was a bit like Kenny Dalglish going back to Liverpool – that could have been a disaster but proved the opposite”…. either he is quite naive about Andy Carroll, did he honestly not know what would happen…?… or trying to play some alternative Fergie like psycho-oneupmanship on Daglish before the big game on Sunday ?…he aint gonna win that one…!

    Agree with toonsy@10….don’t think AP will be given a budget as such, but there will be money to spend, time will show how much. I think there will be new players coming in, but probably a combination of 1 or 2 african/french foreign players, backed up perhaps with one or two good Championship players who will step up… The days of “marquee” signings are gone, not necessarily a bad thing though, as in years gone by these type of signings haven’t always proven to be value for money..

  14. why all the negativity lets all just wait and see what happens some mights be surprised to see what AP gets of the fat man. We don’t really want to be shouting our mouths of saying we got millions to spend on over priced players do we!!

  15. I don’t think there’s too much negativity danny. It’s more about speculation. I’ll be happy enough if Pardew gets £20m to spend and – importantly – does so wisely.

    I’m certainly not a huge Ashley fan after some of the nonsense he’s put us through but I have always agreed with his idea that the club should be financially viable.

  16. Lets be honest , the only person that really knows how much will be spent is Ashley . So lets all just wait and see , my thoughts are he wants to get the club into Europe for the resale value to be higher and that means investment in the playing staff .

  17. Good read Hugh, My view is that of most of the previous copy, but, what if the right players became available just at the right time, who knows, Ashley may indeed spend a little more than that mentioned. It wouldn,t surprise me at all if we spent closer to 30M than 20M.
    Who knows, It,s a wall of death at the TOON and you just got to keep going or you fall off with a bump. Good luck to the lads themorra. A draw would be more than satisfactory. HWTL.

  18. Porciestreet man , sorry it will be NO MORE THAN 15 MILL , HE Ashley, will bin 20 mill no dooot abooot that.

    And us finishing top 4 in next three seasons , never until we get some more cash , ie we sell the club onto some arab consortium , otherwise it will be same story nixt year mid table stuff no better ..

    But really if we we were expecting more from first season back up we should be happy with tenth place if that’s roughly where we finish , because with the troops we have at our disposal at mo we have done great , highlights for me beating arse at emirates priceless ! cheslki in the league cup , and 6 nil of villa tremedous , low point getting dumped out of cup embarrassment ….

    ktf tho…..

  19. Ashleys ‘promise’ when he came into the club was that £15m a year would be available to purchase players. He did not state whether that money would come from him or from the sale of players. I suspect its the latter. If (when) we sell Jose, that money will not be given back to Pardew I reckon.

  20. not the magic twenty million again?”i’ll put in in 20 million a year,that’s my pledge”.if this is true it comes on the back of the high season ticket sales,now the job is done,we are now being hit with the small print.

  21. wouldn’t suprise me if,jose is hawked around clubs,to the highest bidder.say he’s sold for 15mill,pardew will get that,then ashley will chip in five mill from the 35 mill,then the jobs a good’un for him.i hope i’m wrong,but i’ve always said,i was expecting more skullduggery.

  22. For all Ashleys seemingly enormous wedge, he aint gonna splash the cash as the fans would seemingly like it, he’s gonna drip feed investment into the club fortunately/unfortunately. Any one of us would do the same, no matter how much money we have, frugal “investment” is the way. Chelski are unfortunately a bad example to look to of an extravagant owner…we shouldn’t look to them for guidance. They and the arabs have a bunch of cash that they don’t mind hoying aboot, wor man doesn’t work that way…

  23. It may well be more than 35m.
    That’s just the money we received from Carroll, at the beginning of the season it was said numerous times that our target was safety, then to add to the squad and push on. So by rights, we could have more than the Carroll money to spend.

  24. Rich @ 19.

    A promise meaning a minimum of, more likely, otherwise he could sell £50m worth of players and return 15m for reinvestment?

    Won’t work. Ridiculous business model.

  25. Knowing women with a brain like I do. Louise has used one simple formulae that all women seem to stick to. 1) speculate 2) put two and two together and always get 6. 3)if 6 is not correct answer blame the man than told you. 4) pick any man at random. 5) If all else fails blame pmt and take a few days out of office until dust settles.

    I read their secret handbook a while ago. It was more explicit than chubby brown diary. Dirty batches.

  26. To supplement her article, Ms Taylor’s identified five top targets for us to go for:
    Gameiro
    El-Arabi
    Ji Dong-won
    Connor Whickham and
    Peter Crouch.

    Peter Crouch? The same Peter Crouch who’s record speaks for itself. 95 league goals with eight different clubs over the last decade! Wow, that’s an average of 9.5 goals a year eh? Surely she can’t be serious, or can she?

  27. Stephen, in the light of her suggesting Crouch, it looks like she’s read the ‘how to guide’

  28. There’s no budget.
    I firmly believe Ashley will buy anyone he thinks he can resell at a profit.
    Anyone who fits the buying profile and he can get under the salary cap.
    So if it’s Gameiro for 9 million or Larson for free he’ll pull the trigger.

  29. Peter Crouch and Shola Ameobi as a joint strike force next season……wehey…doing the “Crouch Walk”… :shock:

  30. fu*k louise taylor.. shes full of shit and thats it, stupid bitch..

    i dont like her btw :(

  31. Did Ashley not state in that his intentions (when he first took over) that his plan was to put 20 mil in each season of his own money for transfers? If so, he’s actually gaining money by only putting 15 mil in of the Carroll money in the transfer kitty for next season.

    15 mil ain’t to be sniffed at but it’s not enough to get top (young or older) players to the Toon for next season. Ashley has fell on his feet in a way with the squad that has stayed to get us promoted and to get us to our respectable premier league position this season.

  32. I’d be happy with a net spend of £20m on the right players and the retention of our best players to go with it. I remain a bit of a skeptic about it happening though.

    Indian potential buyers may be difficult to find, given whats happening at Blackburn. I reckon Ashley might be in for the long haul now unless someone weighs in with a daft money bid. He would be silly to dump what is beginning to look like a sound money making part of his business empire. He might even be starting to realise that the garden don’t grow without a supply of fertiliser, so sensible investment is necessary.

    Buying someone like Dong would be a good move for his business, apart from which the S.Korean players generally do good in Europe. I would take Park in a flash if Fergy deciding to let him go (he won’t).

    A point of LPool would be brill and would take it now, betcha Andy gets one against us. :(

    There are a few Bore Wholes at St James Park starting at management level. :)

  33. geordie ste,therein lies the problem,it’s always been open to debate.does he mean 20 million for transfers,or 20 million for transfers,wages,running costs all in?if you look at it that way,then it’s paltry tbh.the trouble is,no one seems to know,as he never communicates.

  34. There’s actually no guarantee that Alan Pardonwho is the manager allowed to spend what money is available.

    In fact, there’s no guarantee that NUFC will remain in the Premier Divisiopn this year, though it would seem likely that by trick or treat, we will.

    How, for say, is Pardonwho any more likely to remain as mangager for any longer than this year, let alone be given squillions to spend on Torres look-a-likes?

    I may be a cynic, but a trouncing by Liverpool could really seal his season: Ashley speaketh unto yo, sorry and that but a top 10 finish is nowt, I’m bringing back Kevin ‘Dalglish’ Keegan, and I’ll give him umpteem millions to spend. Well, £2 million.

    OK, I’ll shut up.

  35. Just been reading that we are interested in Van Nistelrooy , his contract is up at the end of the season so would come on a free . At 33 i think he is too old and his wages would be massive as well , if we are looking at dutch players then i would like Huntelaar he is unhappy at Shalke and has told them he wants a move . He would cost a big fee i reckon 15 m but is a natural goalscorer he would be a cert for 20 goals a season .

  36. Pardew is on a 5 year contract which was given to him by Ashley so I think he’ll be here for a few years to come. He wasn’t my first choice but he’s our manager so you’ve got to get behind him really. He seems to talk the talk although personally I don’t think he’s got the ability to carry our club to where we want to be (his limited ability and who he works for being the reasons for holding him back).

    We aren’t Man City in the fact we haven’t got a few spare oil wells to earn us money! All I want if for Ashley to realise that he needs to put in some of his own money to make us a better team than we are now but (cynic I am maybe) I can’t see him doing that as I think he’s happy us just being in the premier league. He bought the club without due diligence and his main advisor is a casino boss so to me that means we’re going to be run in a shoddy ‘oh that’s a stroke of luck’ fashion. That means (as TROJAN69 said) if we get £20 mil to spend, that will include wages also. Spend the minimum to acheive the minimum (finishing 17th in the league as minimum).

    Granted he’s trying to right the wrongs of Freddie but we need someone to take us forward also. I still think he’s trying to shape us up to sell on for a profit to any buyer willing to make an offer

  37. Geordie Ste says:
    April 30, 2011 at 6:29 pm

    “Pardew is on a 5 year contract which was given to him by Ashley so I think he’ll be here for a few years to come.”

    Ste, if Ashley said that he would stick by Pardew for over five years, that means he will almost certainly sack him before too long.

  38. I thought we needed a another striker when carroll was still here. So we need 2 quality strikers aswell as other posistions that need to be stronger. To get all that for 20mill would be incredible, good luck to mr carr, its a good job we have him! To say its all worked out and to say were safe etc is stupid, although we may be safe, what happens to the players mentally when you say were safe, then as history has proven probably get smashed tomorrow by liverpool? The birmingham game (who are fighting for their lives) becomes even bigger

  39. Enrique will be going in the summer for 10m so I’d say well prob get 30m with extra cash!!! I’d say he will get to sign 6 players prob with no set budget.

  40. I reckon ashley will personally ‘frog-march’ Jose to the nearest ATM with A.N.Other club in tow.
    Then sell his girlfriend into the ‘slave trade’, probably shoot a few of the players dogs too.
    Didn’t he drag ‘you know who’ to liverpoo tied by the ankle to the back of his limo?

  41. Clint Have you seen schindlers list? Ashley will probably spend most the money on a tower to go up at the training ground, along with a high powered sniper rifle, couple of tranquilizer darts… Players will wake up at other clubs with a contract under their nose.

    If he could do this he would…

  42. Jimbob,
    i got so far through it mate, then couldn’t take anymore schmaltz.
    :)

    I was taking the piss mind!

    :)

  43. C`mon guys ! you all heard Pardew state emphatically he/we will get the whole magilla thirty five big ones, no ?
    To-days game emphasized how short a bench with almost no quality, we have, Kuiqi and Ranger up front, with another ineffective twosome brought off, Shola and Loverman, pathetic really.
    Seems Pard`s is keen on Ireland, hope so and perhaps he may come cheaper now, that should eat up a five million, wedge i would say.
    Now who we gonna get up front, cause apart from maybe Best the rest are shit!
    Thats another fifteen to twenty for anyone decent (for two that is)
    Guess Enrique will fund his own replacement?
    Soh ! with Ireland and two strikers, that should take care of up front and the midfield, plus Enriques replacement at the back.
    So we have spent say twenty five big ones and whatever Toro`s replacement cost (self funded)
    I think thats about all we can possibly hope for, that`s going on what we know about Ashley and how he operates.
    Yes the tickets have all been sold, with no increases over the next fifteen years, so don`t expect to hear any more about the previously mentioned big names (the only big name at the club will be Pardew)
    It will be Snodgrass and whoever, names most of us have never heard of and perhaps free agents (face it Ashley never met a Free Agent he did`nt like)
    It`s a great regret to me Arry Rednapp did`nt accept a deal with NUFC when @ Portsmouth, couldda saved a lotta time an pain, guess Ashley wanted him cheap.
    Ah well !

  44. chuckles says:
    May 1, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    “C`mon guys ! you all heard Pardew state emphatically he/we will get the whole magilla thirty five big ones, no ?”

    Minus the wages involved in all those long contract extensions which have been negotiated since then. That will be a very big chunk, Chuck.

  45. Yeah I know the story, just rattling cages.
    But unfortunately it`s mixed in with some truth.
    We are aware of Ashley`s history and he aint about to change.
    My point, we have been associated with some pretty familiar and big names and now the ticket have been sold on speculation of their arrival, we hear other names, like Snodgrass, Gradel,some guy at Cardiff, well you get the idea !

  46. If it is up to me, I would spend save all the money each season until we can buy the club from Ashley.