Are Newcastle prepared to let Colo and/or Simpson go?

Posted on February 28th, 2012 | 22 Comments |

Coloccini in contract negotiations with Newcastle United.
No new deal for Coloccini yet
Newcastle United have been trying to negotiate new contracts with Danny Simpson and Fabricio Coloccini, so far without any success. We’ve seen before that the club is prepared to let players go if they demand what the club thinks is ‘too much’, so what does the future hold for this pair?

It seems like the contracts of Coloccini and Simpson have been ‘outstanding’ for ages and new attempts to get both players to sign new contracts this week have apparently failed. Nevertheless, Alan Pardew is upbeat about the negotiations and said:

We’ve had conversations. I can see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel now. I can understand why fans are concerned, but we’re making progress.

It’s not easy, contracts, and we’re trying to do what’s best for the football club and what’s best for the player. Sometimes, they are worlds apart.

There’s been a bit of antagonism with contracts in the past. There’s a lot more communication here and I think we’re trying to work through the process in a sensible manner.

The press have suggested that Danny Simpson has turned down a £25,000/week 5-year deal and, although he still has 18 months left on his contract, there have been rumours in the past that he might favour a move away from Newcastle (and the higher salary that might bring him).

Simpson seems to have received plaudits and criticism in roughly equal measure from fans since his £750,000 transfer from Manchester United in August 2009, but my guess is that the Toon hierarchy will soon reach the ‘take it or leave it’ stage with him and he’ll be allowed to leave if he doesn’t sign on the dotted line. I’m not sure what he’s worth now but it’ll be more than the £750,000 we paid for him and he could certainly be sold at a profit.

Meanwhile, Colo – who is allegedly the Toon’s highest paid player – has also apparently turned down a new ‘4-year plus 1-year option’ deal he was offered and there have been reports in the press that further negotiations have now been postponed until the summer. But when Colo was asked if he wanted to remain at Newcastle he said:

Of course I want to stay. We’re speaking. It’s a normal process. Everything’s okay.

I think most would consider Colo to be ‘important’ to the side, although things haven’t looked so good in central defence since his partnership with Steve Taylor was broken up after Taylor’s injury.

Coloccini is 30 now and I reckon a 4+1 year contract is as long as he’d get anywhere. I reckon the club – and in particular Alan Pardew – will battle a bit harder to keep him than they would Simpson, but as we’ve seen in the past they’re quite prepared to let players go if they don’t take deals the club thinks are fair.

Having said all that, it’s probably not worth making too much of things at this stage. A certain amount of negotiation is normal in contract talks. But in answer to the title of this post, I’d suggest that – yes – Newcastle will let both Colo and Simpson go if they have to, although I have no idea where the limit is on what they’re prepared to pay them.

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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22 Responses

  1. Good question Hugh – and unfortunately there’s only one recently-looking-quite-trim person who really knows the answer – as everyone dances to his tune at United these days.

    There’s an old saying “you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. Nobody wants to go back to paying fortunes for “Michael Owens” – but there has to be some flexibility between the going rate for a player and the rigidity of Ashley’s policies if, and it’s a big “if”, they want to keep both players.

    Personally I reckon if they both went (no doubt for good money), Santon was switched to right back and United bought a classy french left back and centre half of the Carr variety in the summer – would anybody be worried about either of these players halfway through next season?

  2. Remember all the panic when Nolan was sold? You can’t award five year deals on the highest money to players about to tip over thirty – Freddie Shepherd lumbered the club with a host of dead weights by doing so. Alan Smith is STILL being paid £65K a week until he leaves in June. A top class footballer, with a few exceptions, becomes more injury prone and slows down after his late twenties -its called nature. The decision to let older players go whilst they still have a residual value is not only Ashleys, its a financial necessary that the truly great Liverpool sides of the eighties carried out ruthlessly – as soon as a coach felt that someone was slowing down they went. With regard to Simpson, quite frankly for £25K a week we can get a far superior model abroad.

  3. love collo to stay! simmo can go,got santon and raylor for now,pards seems to be groomining tavernier for next season also salor back next season

  4. Collo a good player but getting on & on high wages.
    Simpson lucky to be with NUFC on low wages.
    I’d withdraw the contract offers & find replacements now.
    I think the uncertainty over their future was a factor in not getting a decent defender in the Jan window – so act decisively, start the process to get 2 top defenders now!

  5. getting two top defenders in now isnt going to happen

    that was the whole reason we didn’t buy a left back until we knew enrique was going.

    it will be a case of “gone and get in” rather than “be prepared”

    ashley doesnt mind playing the waiting game and the last few signings and sales have proven this. until one leaves he doesn’t seem interested in getting a replacement in.

    personally with 18 months left on both contracts if they havent signed in the summer, if we can sell them on, get what we can. i get the feeling colo will go to scousers or arsenal depending on how much cash they have to spend.

    personally i dont see simpson going anywhere other than the like of qpr, norwich, west brom, west ham, Southampton and what ever club decides to come up through the playoffs.

    i do think simpson is a good player and the stats show he is (on paper) our best defender and imo hasnt put many feet wrong, but personally williamson has not come back into the team as good as he left.

    williamson seems sluggish, slow, lacks pace, doesnt seem confident running and his passing seems short.
    not the player he was when he initially kept saylor out of the side.
    why this is i do not know, but something doesnt seem right. has he been rushed back? is he carrying an injury? to be honest i think he is struggling with the ankle injury that kept him out, they have rushed him back into the team and now it is catching up with him.

    pardew maybe things 60% Williamson is better than 100% Perch

    but there are more contracts coming to an end sooner guthrie, lovens, smith and 13 others.
    id probably keep 2 out of the 16 and rebuild get a few free transfers like the makems did fill out squad with those and promote some youth team to the reserves.

  6. Crazy talk on here. Assuming we can always get cheaper, better replacements abroad is folly. We’ve been super lucky recently vivid some of our purchases, in no small part to Mr. Carr, but cheap class players who can slot into the Premiership and the Toon are not easily and readily available. I say pay Colo handsomely. He’s got 5 quality years of experience and leadership in him and has been loyal to us also. As for Simmo the jury is out. He grafts and conducts himself with passion and professionalism. I think he’s getting better all the time. My priority would be to keep them and look to haul Williamson off ASAP. Even Titus Bramble was better in the middle!

  7. cLINT???????????

    TITUS WAS BETTER IN THE MIDDLE????????

    the only thing titus was better in the middle at was a gang rape.(allegedly)

  8. Danny Simpson on Twitter:

    “Just to clarify with all the fans, paper talk is rubbish n the main thing is 4 the team 2 keep doing well until the end of the season n I’m 100% committed 2 that.”

    It hasn’t stopped the abuse though:

    “@dannysimpson12 its true, we have cabaye, benny, guthrie + guti, all good technically, then we got danny playing hoofball!!”

    “@dannysimpson12 when u fuk off to qpr or villa i will still be following #nufc home and away, you and williams r not good enough”

    “you still like @dannysimpson12 now after his contrat “situation” hahaha”

    “@dannysimpson12 hopefully u will fuk off back to manchester you r shit and not good enough”

    http://twitter.com/#!/dannysimpson12

  9. “The press have suggested that Danny Simpson has turned down a £25,000/week 5-year deal”

    So where is that coming from then? Are the media just making it up? Or are the club leaking the information?

  10. The difficulty with Tweeter is that you never really know who the twits are….

    I suspect Mackems at work (and that’s a novelty on it’s own LOL!)

  11. UTD111 says:
    February 28, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    “The difficulty with Tweeter is that you never really know who the twits are….”

    You can get a pretty good idea if you follow them up UTD111. ;-)

  12. Hey ! i agree with you Clint.
    Simpson for all you critics is a good young and continually improving defender, that we got for peanuts and paid him peanuts.
    Just because he does’nt perform the spectacular, people tend to think he’s not doing the job.
    The club would be foolish to let him go and i’m sure everyone at the negotiation table knows that.
    Does he not now, having proved himself, deserve a taste following the years of low money.
    I dont get it, there are fans on here who think Williamson and Raylor are terrific players, but dont rate Simpson.
    Sez more about their knowledge of the game, i suppose.

  13. Stephen C
    Whats your problem with Bramble (who incidentally is a much better player than Williamson will ever be)
    Is it a racial thing ?
    Allegedly indeed.

  14. chuck says:
    February 28, 2012 at 5:44 pm

    ” Is it a racial thing ?”

    I’m sure it’s not a race thing Chuck. Bramble’s brother has been jailed for rape, and Bramble himself has been arrested for rape and has faced several sexual assault charges, though I seem to recall that he wasn’t convicted.

  15. chuck says:
    February 28, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    “The club would be foolish to let him go and i’m sure everyone at the negotiation table knows that.”

    Chuck, they let the man who is currently the best left back in the Premiership go for £5.5 million after saying they made him a “fantastic” contract offer, which Enrique claimed was a lie.

  16. WORKEY
    Oh yeah, and what makes you so sure it’s not racially motivated ?
    Certainly sounds that way to me, otherwise why mention it ?
    “The fact he was never convicted”…..
    Sounds as lame as “ellegedly”, dont know why you defend these obvious jerks.

  17. Workey
    Jose was determined to go.
    He was probably tapped up long before, else why wait until the last moment.
    And we only have the word of proven liars, as to whether a “fantastic” offer was made.
    There’s a world of difference here, apparently niether Colo or Simpson want out, what they want is a decent contract.

  18. chuck says:
    February 28, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    “WORKEY
    Oh yeah, and what makes you so sure it’s not racially motivated ?”

    You seemed to have missed the fact that he was defending Danny Simpson in the post before that Chuck. After a fair bit of correspondence with Stephen, I have seen nothing whatsoever that would suggest that he is that way inclined at all, actually, the opposite.

    At the risk of stepping into a PC minefield, no-one seems to be too concerned about the amounts of extreme and overt homophobia displayed by far too many men of African and Caribbean extraction, including footballers.

  19. chuck says:
    February 28, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    “Workey
    Jose was determined to go.”

    Yes and I don’t blame him when the club and his own manager were trying to wage some kind of propaganda war against him in public when he was still at the club. That sort of thing should be kept behind closed doors.

  20. Workey
    You got that right, “a minefield”
    So why mention it ?
    Again seems like most disclaimers, a bit lame !
    And i know where these things go.
    It never ceases to amaze me how slow a curve the UK is on as far as political correctness is concerned, probably due to a hard headed tude, ah well!

  21. chuck says:
    February 28, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    ” It never ceases to amaze me how slow a curve the UK is on as far as political correctness is concerned, probably due to a hard headed tude, ah well!”

    Chuck, are your own prejudices are beginning to unravel now? ;-)

  22. Yeah we keep getting fed these propaganda pieces about how to-gether everyone is and what a great espirit de corps there is at the club.
    When the reality is, they are in it for the money and if offered a better deal would be outta here in a heartbeat.
    And with a, say ten year working window, who can blame players for maximising their earnings?
    Certainly Jose and Andy are living proof of that, as are Joey and his scouse buddy.
    But all that aside i cant say i really enjoy watching this side play, it’s not entertaining, yet could be if they employed the right style and tactics.
    Whats the point of having technically good players playing hoofball with eight men playing defence and the other two hanging around up front, for the passes that never arrive?
    Then what do i know ?