Barton’s contract negotiations stall – Nolan wants the club to keep him
Posted on May 22nd, 2011 | 14 Comments |
I have a stinking cold, which will probably turn into rabies, and I overslept, so I’m not feeling too chatty at the moment. I will therefore simply get down to business and report anything that might be worth reporting.
Rumours abound that there’s a bit of a sticking point with Joey Barton’s new contract, which he has so far refused to sign. This is allegedly over the length of the contract with the club offering two years and Barton wanting four. Pardew said:
“It is up to the player and his agent to settle the deal that’s now on the table.
“Contracts are complicated in terms of how they are paid, tax issues, length. I want Joey to stay.”
That sounds a bit like the club is adopting a take-it-or-leave it approach and I assume they’d therefore be prepared to let Barton go. However, this may just be part and parcel of the negotiation process and some sort of compromise may yet be found.
Barton has previously declared that he’d stay on at Newcastle if fellow midfielder Kevin Nolan stays at the club, so it’s feasible that Joey is waiting to see what happens in that respect.
Nolan, for his part, has made it clear that he wants Barton to say, saying:
“I’d like us to keep Joey. He’s a big player for us and he’s come out saying he wants to stay.
“We all want Joey to stay, we want to keep this squad together. We can’t afford to lose any other big players.”
Nolan then went on to explain what he thinks the club’s aims should be over the next three years:
“The Europa League is the minimum that this club should be aiming for.
“We have the potential to do it. If we keep making the right decisions, keep bringing in the right personnel, then we’ve got a chance.
“The most important thing is bringing in the right people, who understand what it takes to play for this club.
“That’s what they do at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. As soon as new players arrive, they know what is expected of them. That’s what we need here.
“In three years we want to be up with those clubs, hopefully we’ve got the wheels in motion.”
Nolan finishes up by talking about how well we recovered from relegation:
“It was amazing. We didn’t get the credit we deserved last year.
“Let’s be honest, we annihilated the league last season.
“But then you get pundits saying that we were going to go straight back down.
“We never thought we were going to go down – and now we feel we’re on the road to something special.
“Over the last two years I feel I’ve proved myself here but I don’t want it to stop at that. I want it to go on over the next three, four or five years.
“Being one of the players who helped get this club back where it belongs pleases me.
“People might think that I’m this happy, smiley character. But the lads will tell you, I’m a seriously grumpy man if things aren’t going exactly as we would like them!”
I have always thought that Barton would be one who’d stay with us but you never can tell with these things. He’s had a great season and would certainly be missed if the club did let him go.
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.
dont know about you but starting to get a bit worried with jose stalling with contract talk’s(think he is a goner but here is to hoping) and barton stating he wants to stay with the club but we are not fulfilling his wishes. if these two happen to go that’s just ridiculous as they are part of the heart of the team, which will be replaced by god knows who.hopefully everything is resolved at seasons end which i think barton is waiting for and see’s what happens next