Pardew Throws Light On Newcastle United’s Transfer Policy

Posted on January 25th, 2012 | 51 Comments |

...And Cash Up Front Please!
This transfer business can sometimes be similar to a game of chess between the clubs involved, but if it is a game then one thing is for sure, over the last couple of seasons Newcastle United have shown themselves to be one of the better players – with the quiet but efficient aquisition of plyers like Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba smoothly and with the minimum of fuss.

In contrast with the past, United go about their business quietly and sign up some gems before other clubs are alerted and can compete. We don’t always get the players we want of course, but that’s life!

Take the most recent example of our interest in Watford defender Adrian Mariappa. Nobody saw that coming, and it was Watford who let the negotiations out of the bag, with their boss Sean Dyche telling anyone who would listen “Newcastle United are miles away with their bid”. However, the game is afoot – the Hornets have refused to give United a valuation for the player and are obviously just waiting to see how high they can get the price to go as the clock ticks towards transfer deadline day.

United apparently have an interest in the player, and Watford have clearly decided they want to screw the Toon for as much as they can get, but they need to be careful that they don’t end up with nothing should United turn to an alternative option. And yes, with the current scouting set-up we have, I’m sure we’re also working on other options.

Alan Pardew recently spoke about the way we conduct transfer business under the current management. It makes interesting reading and provides an insight which lines up with what we see in practice.

Speaking from United’s training camp in Tenerife, Pardew told BBC Radio Newcastle:

“We’ve tried to be as honest (as possible). Certainly my philosophy in terms of the media and fans is to get the message out there of what’s going on. I don’t like there to be surprises.

“Unfortunately in the transfer market it’s very difficult because people then come in at the 11th hour. We’ve had big success in the transfer market just recently and other teams have noticed, it isn’t lost on them.

“So when we come in for a player suddenly another club gets interested and the prices start going up. Suddenly we get into a bidding war. That’s something we try to avoid.”

With a week to go, there’s still plenty of time to get the centre back that everybody knows we need, but it’s clear that the club won’t pay over the top and nobody will be allowed to hold us to ransom. That’s good. On the down side of course we still have to live with the reality that one of the so-called “big clubs” whatever that means, might come poaching one or more of our much sought after stars. As we know, Ashley & Co would be willing to do business on outgoings at the right price, but that right price would be top dollar. So far no bids apparently. Pardew also gave an update on that situation:

“It’s seven days too long as far as I’m concerned! We’ve got a great side and some outstanding players. They’ve been marvellous this season, they really have and I just hope we can keep it all together because the way the league is structured at moment – with one or two of the bigger clubs having a few problems – it’s an opportunity for us.

“We’re a young side, we haven’t been together long and if we can maintain our form and keep getting the wins we need we might surprise ourselves.”

Maybe clubs are holding back with a view to making a move in the summer. Maybe they are waiting until the 11th hour or perhaps they’re just a little apprehensive after the experience of the Liverpool deal with Andy Carroll. One thing is for sure though, if anyone does come in for our players, Mike Ashley will demand big money and cash up front just like they did for Andy Carroll. And as we know, there isn’t a lot of cash around at the moment!

NUFCBlog Author: UTD111 UTD111 has written 59 articles on this blog.

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51 Responses

  1. As the window goes on, though, we can make our counterpoint: got any other offers? Next year is the last of Mariappa’s contract and the Hornets don’t strike me as locks for promotion. Diminishing returns and all. Tick tock, tick tock…

  2. I can’t even read Partridges comments anymore……I am sure he licks himself clean instead of showering.
    Anal.

  3. sirjasontoon says:
    January 25, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    “I can’t even read Partridges comments anymore”

    I actually enjoyed reading some of the Silver Supremo’s comments on Ben Arfa recently(ish) SJT. Perhaps our twinkle toed Tunisian tornado may actually be turning him a bit?

  4. Ridiculous and laughable football fact of the day:

    In the latest IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) official world club rankings, The top four English clubs are

    1) Manchester United (4th in the world)
    2) Manchester City (5th)
    3) Arsenal (17th)
    4) STOKE CITY (20th)

    http://www.iffhs.de/?10f42e00fa2d17f73702fa3016e23c17f7370eff3702bb1c2bbb6f28f53512

    ps Newcastle United are now the 215th ranked team in the world according to them (up from 226th).

  5. i can see why stoke are so high, they will obviously get points for being in Europe.

    how points are awarded is obviously a mystery.

    maybe you get more points for being in Europe more recently and awarded points at a flat rate for being in Europe pre-1970s.

    worky do you know how points are allocated for rankings?

    either that or not signing Strola Amiobi is worth 195 ranking places.

    did stoke have him on loan? me thinks the world sees what NUFC management doesn’t.
    i would quite happily sacrifice 195 ranking places just to get rid of him.

  6. wasn’t ali baba Tunisian? do you think ben arfa might have magic carpet?

    more to the point do you think he might have a genie?

  7. I don’t pay much attention to AP anymore either. Too much of what he’s said has turned out to be all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

    That list of rankings, however, seems even more devoid of meaning.

  8. tunyc

    not signing shola ameobi on a permanent deal has to be worth 195 ranking places in anyones book.

    so i completely disagree.

    as for listening to pardeux i never started to listen to him in the first place. there is something about his, we wuz robbed, cockney vocabulary that is completely void of any intellectual ability, possibly showing a deeper more void understanding, possible causing conflicts in communications in the future and causing a systematic failure in changing room attitudes amongst fundamental players in the team.

    i think to understand pardeuw you have to dissect various sound bites and create your own ethical and moral understanding, taking into account his two up two down double glazing attitude that re-empted his football career.

    im just hoping the Buy One Get One Free mentality stops and we actually get some cash reward for players that choose to leave in the summer months. i would hate to see a repeat of the buy Nolan get Barton apply to other players.

    mmmmmm then again with Ba looking to go to PSG we could always do the BOGTF(buy one get two free) Ba sold – Strola and Smith free. obviously will sell separately, must apply.

  9. Demba-Demba … on way home VERY soon???

    1-0 down….to the UNDERDOGS

    Can’t quiet believe what I;ve been watching

  10. Stephen C says:
    January 25, 2012 at 8:55 pm

    “worky do you know how points are allocated for rankings?”

    See here Stephen:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Federation_of_Football_History_%26_Statistics

    “wasn’t ali baba Tunisian? do you think ben arfa might have magic carpet?”

    Aye Stephen, Tunisia’s recently deposed President Bin Ali nickenamed “Ali Baba”, not the fictional character from Arab mythology.

    Of course Ben Arfa has a magic carpet, didn’t you see it against Blackburn? It can glide both him and the ball effortlessly through six defenders before scoring.

  11. EQG 2 – 1 senegal ba and cisse are returning home soon.

    eee aye ee i o up the premier league we go

  12. he was a full back.

    i dont think we need another full back.

    but the mid fielder who was sent off got some rave reviews.

    on a decent pitch maybe the team might play decent. we might get the whole Senegal side for half of what Sunderland payed in the summer and still. but then again i would hate to take a leaf out of Sunderland scouting and think mass bulk buy actually works, i forgot myself for a moment.

    im not living in sunderland, where things are rationed and buying in bulk makes the pennies go further.

    apologies every one….. but that was a good goal. the Sow did ok up front as well when Ba Came off.

    but very scrappy game on a pitch you might find at croft park this weekend when Blyth Spartans are at home.

    did anyone watch the Libya game before? same pitch but more water it was nearly called off. never seen an international match played on a pith like that in a few years. the last time i seen that type of pitch was when england played a few months ago with daisies and clover growing through the grass.

  13. i was jokin about signing him – tongue in cheek.

    I’m hoping that for their final game senagal knock a few goals in, just so our guys can get a bit of practice…

  14. on those pitches dreamer……

    you can dream on.

    it was like playing on a pitch in the northern premier

    its best Pardeux asks if he can have his players home sooner so we can protect them.

    that pitch was a disgrace, the game would have been called off anywhere else.

    get them home get them on the bench for Saturday.

  15. Stephen C says:

    January 25, 2012 at 10:43 pm

    “on a decent pitch maybe the team might play decent.”

    I wasn’t watching that game Stephen but the Senegal one I did watch they were trying to defend with a very high line which was being penetrated like a whore at a barracks. Probably the manager’s bright idea.

  16. well the previous game was nearly called off.

    eurosport comentators suggested it may have been sponsors that prevented the game being called off.

    before the first game the referee went for a walk around and there was literaly ankle deep water, there was a stream of water heading down the tunnel.

    it stopped raining and they got the rollers out and brushed as much water as the could, away. but there was still big pools of water around the center circle and two large patches you could swim fish in on the left hand side towards the dug outs, when they actualy started playing the ball was just getting held up and players had to chip the ball out of the water, there was a nice little bit of skill when a player gave up trying to dribble the ball out of the water. he chipped the ball up and played keep ups until he passed two players and got a half decent cross in.

    there was no flow due to the heavy water and no sign of anything other that long balls.

    shame demba and cisse didnt play in the first game they could have got some practice in for pardeuxs new long ball tactics. did i say new?

    these two we need back but it might do us a favor if tiote stays a little longer. although if tiote suddenly signs for Chelsea i will get more than a suspicious feeling of tapping up by the other 28 ivory coast players Chelsea have in their squad.

    lets hope its quiet for un in the next 6 days.

    i could handle no more in comings as long as there are no out goings.

  17. Worky they will return each time i use my mobile phone to post on this blog.

    i can foresee that as a certainty.

    although foreseeing that jonas would be sent off in Manchester is now a rarity. i did get the 5-0 stuffing of man u right a while back. and that shocked a good few. had people asking how i knew one week earlier what the score would be last night.

    when you are a school kid its quite cool to know these things. if only i had have known then what i know now. my virginity would not have lasted so long. as for this dry patch im on……..

  18. Stephen C says:
    January 26, 2012 at 2:47 am

    “Worky they will return each time i use my mobile phone to post on this blog.”

    Stephen, well that mobile of yours seems to have no powers of prophecy whatsoever. I’ve noticed that the text prediction thing on it has led to a few strange comments on here. What was that “Korean” one again?

  19. you would have to remind me of that one.

    but it rings a bell.

    my attempts at quick typing can often save words, i didn’t know existed, in memory and randomly reproduce them when i type something similar to what i was hoping to type in the first place.

    thanks to the HTC desire we got to talk about space craft, aliens and makem hillbilies, without it we would be none the wiser.

  20. and the truth would still be out there………instead of in the reality of our own minds.

  21. I’m glad to see Pards talking sense these days, it wasnt that long ago he would issue a press release about the opening of a door twice an hour….

    as much as it pains me to say the current “policy” on transfers is actually a good one, no more “Albert Luque” incidents thanks!

  22. MonkeySan says:
    January 26, 2012 at 6:43 am

    “no more “Albert Luque” incidents thanks!”

    How about Sylvain Marveaux incidents MonkeySan? An explosive winger’s groin can’t go three times like that and both he and Ba were spins on the Roulette wheel. Of course Ba has been a roaribg success so far but he was signed on a three year contract. “Free” or not, Marveaux’s contract was 5 1/2 years and that’s alot of wages for someone who’s adductor is shot to pieces.

    Stephen, are you on commision from HTC? that isn’t the first time you shared with us the many advantages of your beautiful “Desire” :-)

  23. yeah well im being told by my HTC desire is short on memory.

    it was supposed to be the fastest of its time, which it was. faster than the Iphone 4. but with a meeeeeeeeeeeezily 100mb internal memory, with some major apps not being able to store onto memory card leave me with 15mb running memory left. i’m having to continuously delete different photos and emails just to keep space.

    wouldn’t mind finding a replacement but i’ve got another 12 months left. aaahhhhh the wanders of a 24 month contract…………. watching the ships come in………… and watch the ships go out………………………but what ships worky? what ships?

    5 and a half day left lads, whats you feeling? are things a little too quiet for you liking?

    oh and i had another dream last night…..Andy Carroll Being sold in the summer. he is unhappy, unsettled and he doesn’t get on with the liverpool players, least of all Dogleash. but in my dream he went to Aston Villa.

    i think i need to stop sleeping near my HTC. its normally under my pillow in case the tooth fairy come, she can leave me her number when she is there.

  24. Aye,
    the ‘desire’ has been surpassed by the ‘sensation’, but the galaxy sII is the one to have now & that’s probably about to be out done by the sIII, any time soon.
    ;)

    :)

  25. If we just let Marveaux take his time to recover, he should be ok.
    Still way cheaper than luque years later.

  26. Gutted for the Senegal lads, but glad they’re on the way hyem after the weekend.
    Bonus!

  27. Someone mention Sow ?
    Thats who we shoudda gone for.

    As for Mariappa, following a reported bid of seven hundred grand, they had every right to make it known, cheap fcuk!

    Pardew ?
    HBA’s two brilliant goals has forced our genius manager to play him, plus i doubt Santon wouldda sat forever had it not been we were in extremis.

    Question, would you buy a used car from Pardew ? and what was the last time he took the blame for anything ?

    The big question remains, when do we strengthen our back four.

  28. Stephen C says:
    January 26, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    “it was supposed to be the fastest of its time, which it was. faster than the Iphone 4.”

    Be careful Stephen, you may be attacked by the Apple nazis if you keep writing things like that. They get very upset if you don’t say that their Apple products are superior in every way.

  29. chuck says:
    January 26, 2012 at 4:45 pm

    “As for Mariappa, following a reported bid of seven hundred grand, they had every right to make it known, cheap fcuk!”

    Chuck, their main bone of contention seems to be that the low bid was made to deliberately unsettle their player with dreams of Premiership football, hoping that the player would kick off, put in a transfer request and hence weaken Watford’s bargaining position. Or something like that anyway.

  30. about Marveaux :
    1 – he was a bosman free when Liverpool rejected him when he failed their medical – but we took him claiming there was no medical problem – so did we actualy do a medical? and did we get then insurance on him? or just take a chance?
    2 – his current problem is not just his knee/ligament but his hip, which could be very serious and not easily fixed. If he is medicaly advised not to play again, what happens? You can’t expect (in any job) to just get paid for years if you’re certified as unable do the work.
    And any club that does play him could then be guilty of negligence if he is permanently disabled and could be sued for millions! That includes related problems later in life after he stops playing.
    If he has a hip injury both the player & the club need to take legal advice cos no medic is going to give him 100% clearance.

  31. concerning Mariappa
    – we were once in a similar position when Liverpool (again) wanted one of our lads (Milner?) and publicaly only offered two young reserves in exchange. I think we lodged a formal complaint about it.
    Also, I think one of the lads offered was Guthrie & the reason we got him may have been part of the kissing & making up (?).

  32. so clint if i was wanting a different android phone what would i be looking for? the 100mb internal memory the desire has is pretty annoying when iphone 4 has 8 gig minimum.

    i think android will be obsolete in 5 years anyway. once windows phone catches up with apps it will surpass the little green man.

    and what is the best phone on the market? i need to start looking for a new one but i’m not sure what to get. ive got another 12 months unfortunately but its nice to know.

    and worky the desire has a faster processor so there for faster than the Iphone 4 although the Iphone 4s is apparently not of this world(that will keep the Apple cores happy)

  33. stephen,

    well mate,
    atm the samsung galaxy sII is the iphone killer & that’s from those itk, even when they are ifoneofiles. Apparently, android ‘gingerbread’ is about to be replaced with ‘ice cream sandwich’ (ICS) i shit you not!
    :)
    I think there may be a new SIII out by the time your contract comes up, so it would be worth waiting anyway mate.

    No, i don’t work for them!
    :)
    Just passing on what i know.
    ;)

  34. Pardew says : “We’re a young side, we haven’t been together long and if we can maintain our form and keep getting the wins we need we might surprise ourselves.”
    Sounds good.
    Anyone know what the average age of the team/squad is?

  35. Thanks clint ill take heed of your advice.
    So you say the SII Is the iPhone killer? In what way? How does it compare?
    Does it have anything in the way of the new iPhone 4s app that acts as a personal assistant?

    That app itself would slip into my life better than a benwell slapper.

  36. Stephen, either LTJ Management, LLC located at 900 Congress Ave., Suite L-150, Austin, TX 78701 (512) 895-9500, or someone working for them are spammers and that comment was part of a big spam campaign. Bastards like that have wasted so much of my time running websites in the past and I despise them. I’m deleting the comment.

  37. well you might aswell delete mine aswell to stop them from wasting peoples time. remove all traces of them from here.

  38. Stephen C says:
    January 27, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    “well you might aswell delete mine aswell to stop them from wasting peoples time. remove all traces of them from here.”

    I’ve deleted tham all now Stephen. You should see how many spam comments we get on here that get caught by the system. It’s literally thousands a day!