Pardew – “I don’t envisage too many coming in”

Posted on July 11th, 2012 | 84 Comments |

Alan Pardew Press Conference.
Pardew: The silly season intrigue continues!
Newcastle United’s Silver Supremo, Alan Pardew, played down transfer fever at the club, saying that he doesn’t expect too many players to be coming in during this transfer window.

Speaking at his first press conference for the forthcoming pre-season programme, instead, Pardew preferred to put the emphasis on younger players such as Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vuckic breaking through for more first team action in the absence of departees such as Peter Lovenkrands, Danny Guthrie, Leon Best and several others. The Grey Gaffer said:

“I don’t envisage too many coming in.

“We have a lot of young players here who haven’t played much football.

“People like Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vuckic.

However, he was heartened that the club were still looking at players who could take the club forward, adding:

“But we are out there looking at players who will take us forward.

“We have various options still and nobody has left.”

Which was quite a strange thing to say as several first team players actually HAVE left the club, as pointed out above, albeit that the club have made two younger signings for the reserves in the form of Romain Amalfitano from Reims, and Gael Bigirimana from Coventry City.

On the seeming coolness on new signings, could this all be be a grand bluff to teams who have players coveted by the NUFC hierarchy to make it look as if we can take them or leave or leave them?

Since writing the piece above, I have heard another interview for BBC Radio Newcastle, so I thought that I should add an extract from this below, where Pardew speaks on the same topic.

This time he remarked on current targets that he was looking to bring in two, maybe three new signings. On these he remarked:

“We’re not close, but we’re making progress.

“I think certainly over the next 14 days that maybe one will come in, we’re looking to bring in two, maybe three.”

Continuing on the other theme, that of keeping existing players, he then added:

“The most important thing is keeping hold of our good players, our great players.”

“We’ve got a very good team here, and we have aspirations to improve next year.

“It isn’t easy, but so far we’ve done well, most people have been away and we’ve had a few enquiries.

“But people now realise if they want to take anyone away they have to pay way over the odds.”

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Comment on this post

84 Responses

  1. Phew!

    “Gotta go forward if ya’ wanna go back”- Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder).

    :)

  2. Must of got the money they wanted from season ticket holders now he’s telling us were not getting many players in. great being a Newcastle fan

  3. i think he just wants keep deals under wraps look at the deals the media got hold of …. lists of club start enquiring bout the player availability, he doesnt want people trying to identify our target but seriously we only really need a centre half an versitile fullback and a 3rd striker …. we have quality youth in midfield … hopefully Anita can be signed the next Seedorf apparently and Geal is the next Essian i think Vuckic is well able to do a job up front or middle of the park and lets hope young Sammy can rise to his potential … we have that young centre half streete who will push for a 1st team berth an also Curtis Good if we can tie up the deal… youth can only improve if they get to play

  4. Maybe the new EPL TV money revenue stream has jacked up prices to English teams. Or maybe the non-England teams are holding out on sales so the EPL does not become the 1 and only big money league in the world.

  5. “we have quality youth in midfield”

    “i think Vuckic is well able to do a job up front or middle of the park”

    “we have that young centre half streete who will push for a 1st team berth an also Curtis Good if we can tie up the deal… youth can only improve if they get to play”

    Yeah so lets not bother bringing any players in !!!!!!

    FFS get real will you ! Five players from the first team squad have gone. Best, Forster, Guthrie, Lovenkrands and Smith plus the other youngsters from the reserves.

    We were a poor fifth last season yet somehow we’re supposed to deal with a European campaign as well as the BPL plus a Cup run (yeah right).

    Anyone who sees this current squad as big enough, both in terms of numbers and quality, should get themselves on the NHS waiting list for a lobotomy as soon as. :(

    gone and two

  6. Don’t think the ‘sky-hike’ happens ’til next season mate.

    Although that probably doesn’t matter, you’re probably right.

  7. Andy,

    so 2 players from the first team, Best & Guthrie.
    Smith, Forster & Lovenkrands barely featured mate.

  8. Since writing the original piece, I’ve included another Pardew interview for BBC Radio Newcastle at the bottom where he speaks on the same topics.

  9. The players who need replacing are Best and Guthrie. Abeid and Sammy can take Smith’s and Lovenkrands places in the squad

  10. When Obertan was described as like a “new signing” I though Oh Dear here we go again.
    Real shame that we are again probably going to be sold down the river….reminds me of when we where linked with Modric and Arda Turan etc and we ended up with a slap in the chops with a warm eel pie.

    Some good players for decent wedge available but it seems we are again about to be held back…with a bit of vision and proper investment this coming season could have been the best in living memory……sadly I think we could be heading a few more steps backwards as is usually the case.

  11. CLiNT FLiCK says:

    “Andy,

    so 2 players from the first team, Best & Guthrie.
    Smith, Forster & Lovenkrands barely featured mate”

    Even you must realise its a numbers game CF.

    Clubs must register 25 players to the BPL before the season starts and that’s supposed to be enough to take on the European campaign. Outside of a 1st team XI we’re struggling to find an alternative quality European line up and I certainly wouldnt want to see Elliot as No. 1 for the club’s first European fixture :(

    Current 1st team squad

    Keepers

    Tim Krul
    Steve Harper
    Rob Elliot

    Defenders

    Fabricio Coloccini
    Steven Taylor
    Davide Santon
    Mike Williamson
    James Perch
    Ryan Taylor
    James Tavernier
    Danny Simpson

    Midfielders

    Cheick Tiote
    Yohan Cabaye
    Hatem Ben Arfa
    Sylvain Marveaux
    Jonas Gutierrez
    Gabriel Obertan
    Shane Ferguson
    Haris Vučkić
    Mehdi Abeid
    Romain Amalfitano
    Dan Gosling

    Forwards

    Papiss Demba Cissé
    Demba Ba
    Foluwashola Ameobi
    Samuel Ameobi

    Plus
    Paul Dummett
    Michael Richardson
    Conor Newton
    Brad Inman
    Gael Bigirimana
    Yven Moyo
    Remie Streete

    IMO we’re four quality players short at 1st team level, including FB’s, CB’s, DM’s and AM.

  12. Taylor and Marveaux have also been described as “like new players” by Carver. Pffft.

    I’ll wait until the window closes to form a judgment but if AP thinks our squad plus 1-3 will take us deep into Europe and give us a cup run, I’ll just say I disagree.

    I’d say we need 5 (CB, CB, FB, FB/CM, FW), plus replacements for any who leave.

  13. “PREMIER LEAGUE teams have to reveal their 25-man squads after the closure of the transfer window.

    Clubs have to name a line-up of players who are OVER 21 and at least eight of them have to be homegrown”

  14. Andy,

    I don’t disagree mate.
    I was just picking up on that 5 that have gone.

    We defo need at least 3 in.

    FB, CB & a Quick (LCG) striker.

    & not lose anyone.

    Gotta be the right guys though, that fit the purpose.

  16. Andy,

    it is a numbers game, to an extent.
    But we do have age on our side too.If we can build on what we have, all the better.
    Team work goes a long way!

  17. CLiNT FLiCK says:

    “Chelsea had one of the smallest squads last time, 21 i think”

    Pretty sure they didnt have an Obertan in that 21.

  18. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    July 11, 2012 at 8:15 pm

    “Chelsea had one of the smallest squads last time, 21 i think.”

    They had more than that Clint, and more depth too. They currently have 29 in the first team, two more than Newcastle United. Smaller squads aren’t necessarily a bad thing and some coaches prefer it that way, but you need to have lots of depth.

  19. If you accept that

    Krul
    New RB Saylor Colo Santon
    New DM Tiote
    HBA Cabaye Jonas/Marveaux
    Cisse

    is the first XI

    and

    Harps
    Tav Perch Williamson Raylor
    Abeid Jonas
    Obertan Vuckic and Sammy
    Ba

    is the 2nd XI then we can assume we’re short on numbers !!!!!

  21. workyticket says:

    “Who’s the new Right Back, Andy?”

    Your guess is as good as any WT ?

    Simmo should still be at SJP come opening day but I get the impression that Pardwho and/or the Fatman want him out which is a classic case of nose cutting off ! Clyne is too young/inexperienced and Debuchy too expensive.

    One thing I have to say about the so called talent spotter guru Carr is why were de Jong, Debuchy and Anita not signed before the Euro’s if they had been the No. 1 targets for the close season ?

    Alternatively if we knew there was a possibility of them going for big numbers why didnt we get a second tier transfer project lined up before the shit hit the media ? FFS what’s the bloke been doing in Europe for the past six months other than renaming three players we knew about in January ?

  22. worky,

    at the start of last term, i’m pretty sure they had 21.
    Some have maybe passed 21y/o now & stuff.
    & they do have a few that don’t pass muster.

    Andy,
    It’s all very well expecting players to move before the euro champs but getting them to is another matter.

    How many players did?

  23. Hey Worky,
    on topic as has been the norm for the last god knows how long, it’s all smoke and mirrors and all the speculation in the world won’t get you the info we want.
    Off topic, sorry I didn’t answer you last night as I had to go to a barby. Its a tw4t of a life in Cyprus. And yes, I was that man. I took over the park when Bill Mcgarry was gaffer . I had two very good years there although it was in the seccond division at the time. Although I had a centre paddock season ticket, I was always standing just inside the tunnel entrance with my No 2, a lad called George Green who was a black and white nut.
    The old stand was the new stand in them days and when I think of what opposing teams must have thought of their walk to the pitch down that dim dank tunnel past the cubby-hole where we mixed the line marker, I shudder to think.
    I eventually had a major bust-up with McGarry after a couple of seasons ( he was a complete Tw4t) . We were on MOTD on the wed evening following a draw at Wolves (his previous club) in the cup, and with the nets up, the corner flags in, penalty spots marked and all ready for the camera’s, he decides to practice some set piece stuff and wrecked the pitch. The following morning, I threw the keys at him and walked out. I ended up working at Sunningdale G C. so I actually won that one.
    Has anyone heard anything of George Green ? I would be pleased to drop him an e-mail if poss. So much to tell but can’t let all the skeletons out in one go. Perhaps I should do an article ?
    Good luck with the blog mate and a fantastic season to all.HWTL.

  25. The need of players is evident. The youth players that come in is more for the future still. There are need of two CB so that the fight for those positions are more strict as well as one LB and one RB.. The fact that we lost three matches 5-0 killed our goal difference as well as hindering our progress to automatical champions leauge. The team that we have going forward is almost complete, we need a few youngsters in the striker position that can learn from the senegalese. Maybe Guidetti and jordan Rhodes from Huddlesfield. Then the youngsters would be able to take on the low levels of the cups, so that the more experienced teammembers would have a break.

  29. Andy Mac I understand you’re a bit frustrated at our lack of transfer activity but the way you sort of have a dig at Carr like it’s his fault we haven’t signed anyone is pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

    He is the guy who watches players and sends his scouting team out to watch players.

    He does NOT control who we bid for, when we bid for them and how much. OK? You understand that?
    He’s the chief scout, not the manager, the club secretary or the managing director. We can use your churlish name “talent spotter guru Carr” if you prefer. He spots the talent, he doesn’t decide when to move on it.

    I can’t remember Carr coming out and renaming those were our targets in January or since then, or anyone at the club for that matter. Have you got a link to that article? With a decent source, some quotes maybe?

  30. so the point he makes is relevant. Top five club with a GD of 5 when others around us were at least in double figures.
    Even Everton had a GD of 10 !

  31. We were/are still a team in transition.

    We beat manure & liverpool, well.
    Lose to spuds, albeit, they had a bump from the ‘arry for ingerland thing.
    Fulham were one of 2 teams that got 2 pens against us in one game.

    Typical behaviour really.

  32. So Arfa your remit is to unearth talent ?

    Why not just jet off to the America’s and notch up your top ten players to buy for the next season ? Mainly because you know (or should know) that Fatman wants cheapies (free transfers, end of contracts, buy out clauses etc etc)

    So wtf target de Jong, and Debuchy (if you have half a brain) when you know they’ll go for more than the Fatman will ever stump up ????

    He’s had six months to find cheap, out of contract, low buy out clause players and he comes up with Amalfitano ?

  34. CLiNT FLiCK says:

    “We were/are still a team in transition”

    Is that all you got ?

  35. Andy,

    it’s a common situation mate.

    Not quite got the consistency down yet, getting there though.
    Not bad for a team in second season syndrome, more consistent than most thought possible, huh?

  36. My remit is to let you know you’re an idiot for having a go at Carr. Why not berate Pards, or Ashley or Llambias? But no just the one guy who’s a geordie and gives us hope. He’s clearly working to restrictions on wages and transfer fees or he’d be scouting the best players in the world.

    Why jet to the Americas when most won’t get a work permit unless they’re international stars which they would be worth circa 25 million.

    Don’t forget we’re still 140 million in debt we have to spend wisely

    If the right player is there we’ll spend the money. Debuchy is relatively cheap in my opinion for 8 million. I personally don’t think we were ever interested in De Jong, do you have any proof we were? Apart from lee ryder saying dekka is over in Holland. How do you know that wasn’t for another alleged target Douglas? Or that Anita?

    Of course fat man wants those types of signings, who wouldn’t? I do if we can get good players in like Ba and Cabaye for cheap. But out of curiosity, what category of ‘frees, end of contracts and buy out clauses’ does Cisse fall into? I can’t use my half a brain to work that out???????????

  37. Andy Mac, show me the part where Carr is quoted naming those three players? I still can’t see it, Google doesn’t help with putting text into articles. But because mark douglas or lee ryder says it then it MUST be true!

  38. Arfa chance says:

    “He’s clearly working to restrictions on wages and transfer fees or he’d be scouting the best players in the world”

    So go find those players not the de Jong’s, Debuchy’s etc etc

    “Of course fat man wants those types of signings, who wouldn’t?”

    Ultimately players with low buy out clauses, out of contracts etc will become few and far between because of what we’ve done in the past. Its no coincidence that Twente upped the ante on de Jong after Tiote left for £3.5m.

    “My remit is to let you know you’re an idiot for having a go at Carr”

    Classic response from a numpty :lol:

  39. Well you rhetorically asked if my remit was to unearth talent? Classic question from a numpty then?

    How do you know who he’s finding and who he’s not? Because the Sunday Sun said so? Why not just wait until the end of the window and then you can cry about not bringing in who you wanted. You know as much as the rest of us, and that is the square root of fck all.

    Debuchy is very worth 8 million and in our price range, nothing wrong with that. Pards dropped a hint ages ago he was trying to get one of Yohan’s friends to the club so that seems realistic. Where as the De Jong one, Twente are asking ridiculous money, even the player said so him self so we move on to the next target. Why would we buy him when we have Cisse and Ba? On the off chance he might play for 6 week in January if they make it to the Africa Cup? He’s too good to be sitting on our bench, FFS man even Leon Best wasn’t prepared to do that!

    And I like the way you side stepped this

    “But out of curiosity, what category of ‘frees, end of contracts and buy out clauses’ does Cisse fall into? I can’t use my half a brain to work that out???????????”

  40. Arfa chance says:

    “Andy Mac, show me the part where Carr is quoted naming those three players? I still can’t see it, Google doesn’t help with putting text into articles. But because mark douglas or lee ryder says it then it MUST be true!”

    If you had half a brain or were a true NUFC supporter you would know that the rumours about de Jong, Debuchy etc etc were all over the place last year.

    As for “Don’t forget we’re still 140 million in debt we have to spend wisely” = piss boiling time. Yet another Ashley stooge ???

  41. I know times have changed but back in the ’70s and 80’s we would only ever get a couple of tranfers in a season and I wouldn’t know any of them – Mark McGee, Alan Gowling, even Malcolm McMoaner!

  42. Well you rhetorically asked if my remit was to unearth talent? Classic question from a numpty then?

    How do you know who he’s finding and who he’s not? Because the Sunday Sun said so? Why not just wait until the end of the window and then you can cry about not bringing in who you wanted. You know as much as the rest of us, and that is the square root of f*ck all.

    Debuchy is very worth 8 million and in our price range, nothing wrong with that. Pards dropped a hint ages ago he was trying to get one of Yohan’s friends to the club so that seems realistic. Where as the De Jong one, Twente are asking ridiculous money, even the player said so him self so we move on to the next target. Why would we buy him when we have Cisse and Ba? On the off chance he might play for 6 week in January if they make it to the Africa Cup? He’s too good to be sitting on our bench, FFS man even Leon Best wasn’t prepared to do that!

    And I like the way you side stepped this

    “But out of curiosity, what category of ‘frees, end of contracts and buy out clauses’ does Cisse fall into? I can’t use my half a brain to work that out???????????”

    Going to answer it yet?

    There’s many players we’re interested in at any one time but you don’t seem to understand that it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to sign them or do you think that any player who lee ryder or mark douglas says we’re scouting then we’re going to sign? You said Carr was renaming these players I never heard that, and being a true NUFC supporter I’m still waiting for you to show me where it is as I missed it? Or was that just more bullsh!t from you?

    Piss boiled already? Maybe you should log off if you think I’m an ‘Ashley stooge’ for telling the truth. We ARE 140 million in debt, it might even be a touch more. And unfortunately we can’t go on spending sprees. It means we can’t be paying 16m for Luuk De Jong just in case Ba leaves. We aren’t that club anymore and the sooner ‘fans’ like you realise it the better off the whole club will be.

  45. I apologise to everyone else, it’s just unbelievable some one has a go a Carr for trying to scout decent players

  46. Some players are going to have a price on them to put others off.
    We do it too.
    That’s the way it is.
    Then some will wait to move to their ‘ideal’ club/city/league.
    You can scout all ya like but the final decision is the players.

  47. Arfa,
    don’t worry about it mate, you’re allowed to write what ya think man.
    Welcome!
    It’s still a free country, just about.
    ;)

  48. I’d say its half a negotiating tactic/half reality. It must be harder to do deals now we’ve had so many bargains.

    I was surprised we landed Bigi to be honest, given that he was Apprentice of the Champs last season and shows great potential….but at 18 yrs old, he must have been happy to be the understudy to Tiote. Lets hope he can fill in the hole left by Gutherie.

    I think the model is: Get a top quailty starting 11, and the remaining 11 squad have to be:

    Happy to be understudy
    Therefore young and developing
    Good re-sale value
    Low wage
    Low transfer

  49. So long as now 1st teamers leave, I’d say we’ll get 1 or 2 youngsters (18-23 age), and possibly a bigger money replacement/future replacement for Simmo.

  51. Clint mate: wait until the olympics and you will see if it is free by you.

    Hey Milner, you are OK with me, right?

  54. GS,
    there’s already guns on the tower blocks mate.
    BIG guns! (sam’s).

    Residents ‘up in arms’, as it were!
    :)

  56. Internet crap Milner. I misunderstood something you said a while back. Good now though.

    I agree that it will be difficult to improve on our first team, and bloody expensive if we try.

  57. GS, i forgive whatever internet crapping u’ve been doing on my blogs – life wud be pretty boring if we all just ‘got along’.

    And besides, seems like u’ve seen sense now :-)

  58. Chuck’s the only one to make sense on here, at least that’s what he tells everybody :)

  60. I can now officially declare in my capacity as someone who has not been to Saint James’ Park in 20 years that we are not shite.

  61. Graham Carr is undoubtedly a very, very good scout with a very good knowledge of the European market, that’s why Chris Hughton picked him just as he picked Ewan Chester subsequently. He’s certainly far better at that than he was as a manager! But the poor gadgie and his team are so busy that he probably has steam coming out of his ears. This is because besides taking calculated risks on talented “problem” players such as Benny (le sulk), Marveaux (groin) and Ba (knee), where other clubs fear to tread, the club are also playing percentages on players, which means that Carr and his team have to look at alot. Unlike one of our models, Udinese in Ttaly, we don’t have a huge worldwide scouting network or feeder clubs which are actually owned lock stock and barrel by Ashley.

    But anyway, back to “percentages.” I’ve used this analogy before on this blog so forgive me for repeating myself if you’ve read it already, but the club is like some traders on EBay who also play percentages in order to profit. They put very low maximum bids on many, many items knowing that they won’t get most, but that a certain percentage will just be missed by serious buyers for various reasons and they will clean up nonetheless. Such was the case with Cisse, a £15 million striker purchased for around £7.5 to £9 million, and also Cabaye (very low, outdated buyout clause which no one else seemed to notice). However there have also been failiures too. We put a half price £1.5 million bid on Victor Moses, and Wigan stole in, beat us and still got a massive bargain who is now an asset who is rapidly increasing in value and worth several times the £2.5 million Wigan paid for him.

    Without a huge network though (like the Udinese one mentioned above), this is very hard work, and if they don’t slip through the net and a more serious buyer comes along, NUFC are almost inevitably blown out of the water. There is also the issue that once you achieve notable successes with this principle, then other clubs catch on. The originator of this principle at Newcastle, Hughton, will now be doing a something similar thing at Norwich City. At Birmingham he had to sell players all the time but not now. That could be just the tip of the iceberg too. Nothing ever lasts forever.

  63. Porciestreet says:
    July 11, 2012 at 9:00 pm

    “Hey Worky,

    …I didn’t answer you last night as I had to go to a barby.”

    Nee botha Porciestreet.

    Anyway, I wanted to ask if you might be interested in writing a blog (or more) about your time at SJP? It would be really great! I’ll help you and put everything together if you wanted. That’s the sort of stuff I want far more of on here instead of the usual blog shite ie “Toon planning daring swoop for Francois Frenchman?” or “Toon plotting raid for Dirk Dutchman?” or whatever.

    Send me an e.mail via the contact page if you’re interested.

  64. Worky, you write great stuff. I only agree with you a bit @60 because it is sort of hindsight.

    I could have picked van Persie and Henry if I knew they would be that good before I picked them. It takes someone with special skill to pick them in the first place. It is not just percentages.

    You know when you see a player live sometimes you just know he is special. I saw Beardsley in a great Liverpool team and he was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. Maybe Carr has that eye to spot talent and Quay Side Market Mike likes his bargaining sense?

    Failures in the transfer market are like women. You f@ck a few, some get away that you would like to see now and some turn out to be bitches and you wish they had got away. Amdy Faye is the latter.

  65. GS, where does Xisco fit into ur analogy….The cock tease that u keep buying drinks, only to find out she gave up having sex years ago?

    Gonzalez – the one night stand that u wish didnt know ur address?

    Ranger – crab giving badger burner?

  66. Milner, I knew it was a bad analogy when I said it. I just put it on to have a bit of fun.

    On the subject of cock tease there is one doing that to me now. I may as well try and f@ck it though because they don’t come around that often for old Geordie bastirds like me.

  69. GS says:
    July 12, 2012 at 1:31 am

    “Worky, you write great stuff. I only agree with you a bit @60 because it is sort of hindsight.”

    FFS! I spent about 20 minutes writing a long reply to that, then my laptop auto restarted. I’d saved everything I was working on but not the comment. Bastad!!!

    Anyway, it wasn’t in hindsight for me with quite a few of the players we signed who have been successful signings so far. I spend many hours researching and watching foreign games, and writing blogs about some of them too months before they join the club. It’s a pointless task though because no one ever takes any notice. I feel like I’d be better off just copying and pasting ten shitty gossip blogs a day from the Chronic when I read comments like that, or just packing in altogether.

  70. Worky: for my two penneth you are always interesting, so keep it going until you get bored.

    I don’t always agree with you. As Milner said to me earlier, that’s part of the Blog.

    You know a boat load more about football and NUFC than me, so just tell me I know nowt when I know nowt. I wont be upset. And if I make sarky comments, ignore them, just me being a prick.

  71. I had a bit of a spat with Uncle Chuck as well. It doesn’t mean I don’t repect what he says.

  72. I’ll give you an example. I thought catenaccio was a pasta until I came on here. When you and Chuck discussed it, it made me think about the Euros in a different way. I watched the England two banks of four in their own half and saw the Dutch playing something that was not Dutch.

    I am not sucking your c@ck here, but I do like your blog.

  73. workyticket says:

    “Graham Carr is undoubtedly a very, very good scout with a very good knowledge of the European market, that’s why Chris Hughton picked him just as he picked Ewan Chester subsequently. He’s certainly far better at that than he was as a manager! But the poor gadgie and his team are so busy that he probably has steam coming out of his ears. This is because besides taking calculated risks on talented “problem” players such as Benny (le sulk), Marveaux (groin) and Ba (knee), where other clubs fear to tread, the club are also playing percentages on players”

    Agree entirely WT but my beef isnt with Carr’s ability to judge a player just with his inability to tell Fatman how to run the football side of this business !

    Swanning off around Europe every weekend with all the attendant costs involved is a somewhat futile exercise if, when you come back to SJP with your recommendations, Fatman says he’s not prepared to pay the going rate for those players!!!

    Maybe Carr should just ask what the budget is and then go and find players to suit that figure ? Assuming the Fatman’s “I’m prepared to put £20m a season into the club” is no longer an option ?

    PS GS Catenaccio is a pasta dish so dont let WT or Chuck tell you otherwise :)

    http://www.online-cookbook.com/goto/cook/rpage/0000FD

  74. In response to a suggestion above, I highly recommend United States international Brek Shea. He’s tall and physical but also rangey, plays through the middle or on the wing, is left-footed and has 12 caps at 22 years old. Went pro after high school and has well-developed skill on the ball for a yank of his age. The last U.S. player who impressed me as much at his age was Clint Dempsey. He plays in MLS (3 goals in 7 appearances this season), but I’m guessing not for long.

    Go get him, Dekka!

  78. “Who the f calls their son Brek ?”

    Nobody they actually named him “Dane Brekken Shea” !!!! :roll:

  80. Pardwho says:

    “I think he (Ba) wanted to get some reassurances from me that he would play in more of a striker’s role and I think he will. Demba played a couple of roles last season that were unorthodox for him, but he helped out the team. That’s the kind of person he is, but he does want to play through the middle and score goals. That is what he does best.”

    So does this mean we’re back to 4-4-2 ?

  81. AndyMac @80: No, it means Pardiola is paying lipservice to Ba, and talking his usual shite.

    That is not a bad thing as on the other end of the phone Ba will have the greedy agents talking shite as well.

  82. While you were scouring the leagues for new talent WT did you come across Willy Boly by any chance ?

    “Auxerre are in the middle of a dismal campaign in Ligue 1, and are five points adrift at the bottom of the table. In spite of which, Boly was voted the third best defender in France by L’Equipe – which is pretty impressive given the dross that he’s having to to play with.

    As and when Auxerre get relegated, Boly’s transfer fee will fall into line with what Newcastle would be comfortable paying for a centre-back – and it would make perfect sense, 21 years-old, athletic, and a physical 6ft3. This kid is made to play in England”

    http://thepremierleagueowl.com/6173-2/newcastle-united/

  83. AndyMac says:
    July 12, 2012 at 10:43 pm

    “While you were scouring the leagues for new talent WT did you come across Willy Boly by any chance ?”

    Can’t say I know enough about him to pontificate, Andy. I was going Dutch really since Vertonghen. One I haven’t blathered on about for a while is Adam Maher the superbairn from Alkmaar. He’s another North African, like Abeid, but he’s the already the full Monty at 18 and already has a proper Dutch cap. He’s the Johan Cruyff talent of the year and could just go straight into the first team and excel despite his tender years, none of this “one for the future” lark. Thing is though, he’s another central midfielder and right winger and he’s a £5-6 million 18 year old bairn so Ashley wouldn’t feel like he was getting enough “value.” He’d probably put in a bid of 50p and get told to f off.

    That Vurnon Anita is a very good player too, but he’s a Ronnie Corbett sized full back and defensive midfielder so he’d be no good at Stoke!

  84. @82.I found wily Boly in football manager about 18 months ago and he knocked in something like 15-20 goals from centre back (mostly headers off corners). Football manager never lies. Sign him up!