Newcastle United now the only Premiership club to have signed no players

Posted on July 12th, 2013 | 29 Comments |

Jeroen Zoet.
Jeroen Zoet – Possibly the strongest link so far?
Well, it’s been a very busy transfer window so far with all that extra TV money swelling the coffers of Premier League clubs around the country.

No fewer than 61 players have been signed to Premier League clubs at the time of writing, with almost every club signing at least one new player. Sunderland have even signed seven. However there is one rether predictable exception, and there are no prizes for guessing who it is. Of course it’s Newcastle United, who have recently lost Danny Simpson, Steve Harper and James Perch, with Dan Gosling possibly on the way too. Another important issue is that this further English exodus could cause problems with the 8 “home grown” players in the 25 man squads teams have to hand in at the start of the season.

Having written that, there are currently high hopes for the signing of a younger flying Dutchman called Jeroen Zoet to keep existing flying Dutchman, Tim Krul, on his toes more than Robbie Elliot can. If so it would be good move and not just for the mere fact that it’s a body “over the line” as our Silver Supremo is so fond of saying.

Although we have signed no players yet, the back from holiday Alan Pardew has already taken the baton from new Director of Football, Joe Kinnear. Now it’s Kinnear’s for a holiday in transfer window, it is now Pardew’s turn to open his big mouth in front of a microphone, then proceed to ram his foot down it with some force. This time it was the obvious double standard of publically giving Darren Bent and Loic Remy the glad eye, whilst simultanoeously picking a fight with one of the nost important men in French football, Paris St.Germain manager Laurent Blanc, for suggesting that Yohan Cabaye looks rather fetching this time of year. Aren’t we supposed to be rather fond of French football at the moment? Surely, it ill behoves Pardew to go parking his tanks on the lawn of Laurent Blanc and moneybags PSG unecessarily, especially not whilst making yourself look like a bit of a hypocrite at the same time? As you may know, Pardew’s a bit of a serial offender at this already.

To refresh your memories, Pardew said of Aston Villa’s Darren Bent and QPR’s Loic Remy:

“Both of those players are on our list. I make no bones about that.”

Then, as if it would excuse his obvious public faux pas he hastily added:

“But they are under contract at other clubs. It’s difficult, you have to be careful.”

Though some have argued that both Villa and QPR have been flaunting their strikers in the marketplace, all the speculation has been media driven. Whilst Bent has been decidedly out of favour since the rise of Christian Benteke at Villa Park, he hasn’t been transfer listed and he hasn’t put in a request either. Meanwhile, Benteke has. Ditto with Loic Remy on the transfer front and since Pardew’s above quoted words, QPR manager Harry Redknapp has stated that he wants to hold on Remy, saying:

“I wouldn’t want to get rid of Remy. He is a top player. He would be fantastic for us next season. If I can keep hold of him, I will do.”

I have already mentioned Laurent Blanc and his importance in French football. Though Redknapp may be something of a “Marmite” figure amongst fans, whatever they / we think about him, he is a very popular and influential character in the coaching fraternity, more than Pardew will ever be and once again, it ill behoves the Silver Supremo to keep losing friends and alienating people with his big mouth like this. It is also something he has even been doing with with his boss too in his recent interview to Radio Newcastle. After telling the public that he hadn’t said anything face to face, he then tryed to play to the gallery with fans by issuing a thinly veiled warning to Kinnear that he wasn’t going to let him step on his toes, saying:

“Joe has come to do Derek’s job – the most important thing for me is that I have a seven year contract to manage this football team. I’ve not said anything but trust me, anyone who knows me will tell you will tell you that in my career I’ve not let anyone step on my toes. I will be my own man because ultimately I carry the responsibility of the team.”

He also repeated the point almost verbatim later, before accusing his boss of being disrespectful by adding:

“Well I think some of things that Joe said he’s apologised for, especially getting the names wrong of our players. I think that needs to be corrected because there’s a certain respect needed there. I spoke to one or two players this morning and made them very aware (and my staff here) of where the position lies. But it’s very, very simple for me: If Joe can persuade Mike to invest in the football club in the right manner then that will be the best outcome for us.”

It seems like it’s all one big happy family behind the scenes then.

Seriously though, saying things like that in an interview about one of his Newcastle United colleagues, when he admitted that he hadn’t even mentioned it to Kinnear face to face is cowardly and deplorable, not to mention potentially damaging to the club.

Oh well, onwards and downwards as usual!

Below is a summary of the signings of the Summer transfer window business so far.

Arsenal: Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre, free).

Aston Villa: Antonio Luna (Sevilla, undisclosed), Jores Okore (Nordsjaelland, undisclosed), Leandro Bacuna (FC Groningen, undisclosed), Nicklas Helenius (Aalborg, £2m), Jed Steer (Norwich, compensation).

Cardiff City: Andreas Cornelius (FC Copenhagen, £7.5m).

Chelsea: Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen, £17m), Marco van Ginkel (Vitesse Arnhem, £8m), Mark Schwarzer (Fulham, free).

Crystal Palace: Dwight Gayle (Peterborough, £8.5m), Stephen Dobbie (Brighton, undisclosed).

Everton: Arouna Kone (Wigan, £6m), Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan, free), Gerard Deulofeu (Barcelona, loan).

Fulham: Fernando Amorebieta (Athletic Bilbao, free), Derek Boateng (Dnipro, free), Maarten Stekelenburg (Roma, undisclosed).

Hull City: George Boyd (Peterborough, free), Maynor Figueroa (Wigan, free), Curtis Davies (Birmingham, undisclosed), Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull, £2m), Allan McGregor (Besiktas, £1.5m)

Liverpool: Kolo Toure (Man City, free), Luis Alberto (Sevilla, £6.8m), Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo, £7m), Simon Mignolet (Sunderland, £10m), Danny Wilson (Hearts, free)

Manchester City: Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk, £30m), Jesus Navas (Sevilla, £15m)

Manchester United: Guillermo Varela (Penarol, undisclosed)

Newcastle United: None

Norwich City: Javier Garrido (Lazio, undisclosed), Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Sporting, undisclosed), Nathan Redmond (Birmingham, £3.2m), Martin Olsson (Blackburn, undisclosed), Carlo Nash (Stoke, free)

Southampton: Dejan Lovren (Lyon, £8.5m), Victor Wanyama (Celtic, $12.5m)

Stoke City: Jermaine Pennant (free), Erik Pieters (PSV Eindhoven, £3m), Marc Muniesa (Barcelona, free)

Sunderland: Cabral (Basel, free), Modibo Diakite (Lazio, free), Valentin Roberge (Maritimo, free), David Moberg Karlsson (IFK Gothenburg, undisclosed), Vito Mannone (Arsenal, £2m), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar, undisclosed), El Hadji Ba (Le Havre, free)

Swansea City: Jose Canas (Real Betis, free), Jonathan de Guzman (Villarreal, loan), Jordi Amat (Espanyol, £2.5m), Jonjo Shelvey (Liverpool, £6m), Alejandro Pozuelo (Real Betis, undisclosed), Wilfried Bony (Vitesse Arnhem, £12m)

Tottenham Hotspur: Paulinho (Corinthians, £17m)

West Bromwich Albion: Nicolas Anelka (Shanghai Shenhua, free), Goran Popov (Dynamo Kiev, loan)

West Ham United: Razvan Rat (Shakhtar Donetsk, free), Adrian (Real Betis, free), Andy Carroll (Liverpool, £16m), Danny Whitehead (Stockport, undisclosed)

Thanks to site user “Pete Toon” for providing the original inspiration for this piece.

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.

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Posted on by workyticket in category: Alan Pardew and Club Policies and Politics and Interviews and Joe Kinnear and NUFC gossip and speculation and Thoughts and reflections and Transfers and Workyticket and Yohan Cabaye , with tags: , ,
Comment on this post

29 Responses

  1. Worky: Lee Ryder did say that Remy and Bent were put in the shop window by their clubs whereas Cabaye wasn’t. His logic is that Pardew wasn’t “tapping up” whereas Blanc was. Make of that what you will.

  3. its the 12th july and still no senior or markee signing i for one personally dont think we will be that good in this window i did have high hopes and they have all been shattered we did sign midfielder KEMEN but only 16 years old so going straight into development squad get your finger out ashley tight fisted a hole

  4. yeah we signed kemen and maybe in 20 years time he might be ready for the 1st team squard time for peeps to vote with there feet and stop being blooming mugs

  5. Ashley dosent intend to buy anybody he will take tv money sell top players reduce wage bill take parachute payment good buisness he will make about 90 million every body wake up

  6. Ashley got a nosebleed with the signings he had to make in order to keep us up last transfer window.
    He’ll try and get by on nowt again this summer (as last time) and hope that next winters window he’ll not have to make that same expenditure.
    No ambition. No respect. No idea of how to run a football club. No hope.

  7. I am always optimistic and always give people the
    benefit of the doubt….. but we better move quick for 2 strikers or we’ll be left behind and struggle for goals
    again !!!!!!
    hurry up

  8. Spot on. Pardew’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. I hate to think he’s got a free pass with some fans because JK is an even bigger hate figure. I do believe Pardew’s hands are tied re transfers but if he had an ounce of integrity he’d say so.

  9. That list of transfers is terrible, names wrong (JAMES Okore? Who?) and transfers wrong (Danny Wilson to Liverpool? Huh?)

  10. Don’t think there is any hypocrisy in declaring interest in 2 players who are in the shop window and available for transfer.

    That’s very clearly the case with Darren Bent who has been made to train outside of the 1st team squad etc. although

    I’m not 100% sure on Remy’s situation. I assume he has a clause that gives him the right to leave for a certain fee if so chooses in the event of QPR’s relegation.

    That’s not the same as talking to the media about a player whos club has stated he’s not for sale. I don’t like Pardew but that doesn’t mean we need to be willfully ignorant of the difference in these cases.

  11. wonders how many more lots of tv money this fatboy owner ganna pocket hes more than had back what he paid for the club in that alone

  12. bent and remy most of the world and there wifes know they for sale unlike caybeye.So we got the mouth water prospect of bent a dude that could hardly get in the villa team last year or the other dude mr up in court rapist if you beleive the press what a blooming shambles

  14. Hell we are all aware that football players are much like ourselves, being that most of us would go for what we consider a better job.
    My point is , we need a centre forward, Remy is available, go for a straight deal as I’m sure he has a release clause.
    Alderwiereld has put himself on the market, wants to play in the big league, with the possibility of Norwich signing him, FFS at least put in a bid.
    Unfortunately all I can see us doing is signing a re-tread reduced price Bent, who though a goascorer in his time, will be trouble and doubtfully as prolific .
    Though we have Saylor, Colo and Yanga m’Biwa what about bringing in insurance by signing a veteran CD for the season rather than having to depend on Williamson .
    Hell I would be satisfied with someone decent like the two I mentioned or similar in quality to Alderweireld and Remy, but hang on to young Ferguson, who I believe has the making of a decent winger, which we need to supply Cisse and whoever his partner up front is .
    As we can rely on Pardew employing the same old 4-4-2, unless he learned something about tactics during the summer, yeah right !

  15. I forgot to thank “pete toon” for providing the inspiration for the title and the first paragraph or two of the piece, the bit before I start digressing wildly and going into another rant about Pardew.

    Thanks Pete!

    It was originally for Metro.co.uk in a shortened form, but they seem to have “lost” my blog somehow so I posted my extended remix version on here, but I forgot to put a little thankyou at the bottom when I switched it over. Sorry about that.

  16. Sam are you some bedsit blog critic?
    Get a grip and suck some Dick….you will feel so much better :lol:

  18. On Topic….for a change.
    I see little being spent on players.
    Even if we bought some class Pardew would destroy any talent quickly.

  19. sirjasontoon says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation.
    July 13, 2013 at 12:39 pm

    Huh?
    :)

  20. sirjasontoon says:
    July 13, 2013 at 12:36 pm

    “How come you get to type in nice bold black typesettings Worky?”

    Because I’m the “Super Admin” of this site and I know HTML, SJT.

    I cleared your last comment and posted it by the way. I don’t know what happened there but I’ll hold an inquiry.

  21. sirjasontoon says:
    July 13, 2013 at 12:35 pm

    “Sam are you some bedsit blog critic?
    Get a grip and suck some Dick….you will feel so much better”

    I nicked most of that bit from the Stun so he should take it up with them, SJT. :-)

  22. Yes, AP is a hypocrite-being “in the shop window” is no official status and there’s etiquette to be followed. As usual, AP puts his foot in his mouth. By the way, Cabaye has talked about how going to certain clubs would be desirable, so maybe he’s just as much in that window anyway. I pleases me none at all to comment on the various plot lines of the soap opera that is NUFC at this particular time. Football, sure: hard to believe the lack of activity in the market; I assume Ashley thinks that the team we have is mainly good enough. With a better manager and a bit of reinforcement at forward and out wide in midfield, he may be right…my kingdom for a real manager…

  24. Here’s an idea for a poll Worky:

    Who talks the most shyte:

    a) Alan Pardew

    b) Joe Kinnear

  25. GS, Pardew has talked more shite than anyone else in the history of humanity. Even if every word Joe Kinnear had uttered from birth until now had been utter shite, he still wouldn’t have talked as much shite as Alan Pardew has since he bacame a football manager. He’s like a machine who fires 50 rounds of shite per second whenever he opens his mouth.

  26. Bl**dy Hell, but for my “just now” vote it would be 50% for him being almost an adopted Geordie. Can’t believe he has got so many positive votes, got to be some outsiders or idiots voting!!

  27. GS says:
    July 12, 2013 at 8:53 pm

    “Worky: Lee Ryder did say that Remy and Bent were put in the shop window by their clubs whereas Cabaye wasn’t.”

    GS, If Cabaye or any of the other players aren’t in the shop window, why does Pardew (and Llambias before he left) keep saying that the club will sell them if the price is right?

    And how many times have Villa and QPR said the same about Bent and Remy?

  28. Worky: isn’t Bent training with the ladies? I have seen ‘Arry say he wants to keep Remy but there is supposedly a cheap get out clause in Remy’s contract which sort of means he is for sale.

    Anyway, the fun should really start on Monday with Joe back. We might sign a player or two and be able to dissect that.

    What I would really like is for Alan and Joe to do a joint interview. We were so shite last season that this is all I have left for entertainment.

    I really hope we improve though and if Pardew insists on playing his way a poacher like Bent, or someone who plays off the shoulder of the last man like Remy could at least keep us mid table.

    I am totally pissed off that Hughton and Laudrup seem to be doing good business.

  29. Once again total lack of urgency in getting new players bedded in for the start of the new season. See Bony and Pieters have gone to other clubs too even the makems have bought another full team.See us taking up where we left off last season only this time we must be relegation candidates nailed on.Makes you wonder what Asleys wants out of our club no ambition no plan no signings NO CHANCE.