The Andy Carroll Question
Posted on December 30th, 2011 | 35 Comments |
The question – when he was transferred, did he jump or was he pushed? This has never really been fully clarified for us, and opinion is divided. Let’s look at some of the facts and statements made by people close to the transfer deal.
In the January 2011 transfer window, Alan Pardew made numerous statements to anyone who would listen, to the effect that “Andy Carroll is going nowhere”. As we all know, Andy Carroll was sold to Liverpool for £35M at the end of the transfer window, with no time to sign a replacement, and the whole saga left Pardew looking a bit foolish. Did Andy Carroll want to leave or did our owner take one look at the money on offer and shove him out of the door?
Since the transfer, statements have been made by some of the people who were close to the deal. Perhaps the most revealing comments were attributed to Managing Director Derek Llambias, who is alleged to have opened up to some United fans in a local hostelry.
Llambias on Andy Carroll:
“Is he worth £35m? No – he’s worth f*** all.
“It is about control. We had the control. We knew the Torres deal was there. We drew that f****** deal, perhaps the ultimate. So £30m? F*** off! Don’t waste my time and I slammed the phone down.
“£35m? Everybody including Pardew all agreed. But the £35m they wanted to pay over four years. It was rubbish. Mike said – and he is a brave boy Mike I promise you – get all the £35m up front. We got it all up front and then they never paid us on time and we charged them 12 grand f****** interest.”
Nothing there about Andy Carroll wanting to leave, the only consideration seems to have been the money on offer and whether they could get it all as cash up front.
The player himself was quoted at the time in the Evening Chronicle:
“Derek [Llambias, Newcastle’s managing director] asked me to hand in a transfer request, so I was pushed into a corner and had no choice,” Carroll said.
“I wasn’t wanted by them and they made it clear they wanted the money.
“Then I flew down in [owner Mike Ashley’s] helicopter. I didn’t want to leave. I’m gutted that I wasn’t wanted at my home team after everything I have done and the progress I have made.
“I didn’t want to leave at all. Make sure they know I didn’t want to leave. The players, staff and fans were fantastic.”
In the past few days, recent Alan Pardew comments have been quoted in the Newcastle Journal which seem to confirm the theory that Andy Carroll had no say in the matter, and was pushed out of the door.
Pardew said:
“You never want to lose great players and we never wanted to lose him. I would take him back if I had the chance. If the fee was not as high as it was, then he would still be here.
“It was a decision, as a football manager, which was a very difficult one for me.
“I was 60-40 for keeping him, but for the finances of the club there was a strong opinion upstairs.
“They are my employers. We all looked each other in the eye and said it was going to have to happen.”
The fact that Carroll hasn’t exactly pulled up any trees at Liverpool is used by some fans to somehow point to the sale being a kind of master stroke by business genius Mike Ashley. But the facts seem to suggest that he was sold over his head, and his own statements that he did not want to leave appear to have some truth.
I’ve heard some scathing condemnation of Andy Carroll and his abilities as a footballer recently – from both United and Liverpool fans. In my view, it’s still early days for Carroll at Liverpool, and he’s now been handed a golden opportunity with the lengthy suspension of first-choice striker Luis Suarez.
Certainly, any suggestions of Carroll being a “donkey” should be whispered very quietly by United fans ahead of Friday’s visit to Anfield – especially the way our defence has been playing recently.
NUFCBlog Author: UTD111
UTD111 has written 59 articles on this blog.
Good or bad I don’t know but he’s not here anymore. Wish the best for him in the future but not tonight. HWTL !