Poll: Is Cabaye on strike or just being protected for a sale?

Posted on August 29th, 2013 | 18 Comments |

Yohan Cabaye v Braga.
Cabaye: The soap continues…
There have been many baffling comments so far from Alan Pardew on the current Yohan Cabaye situation which have been about as clear as mud.

There have also been conflicting reports about Cabaye being on strike / Cabaye not being on strike, with Pardew speaking of Arsenal trying to drive his well maintained Cabaye 2.8 away from the car dealership (NUFC motors presumably) without agreeing a price, suggestive comments about how “there has to be a way back for Yohan,” how he is protecting the player and the club, how the club always comes first with him and much more…

Now, in his latest suggestive statement on the imbroglio, Pardew says that he “expects” Cabaye to be playing against Fulham:

“What I have said to Yohan Cabaye is I expect him to play this weekend. Until another bid comes in from Arsenal that is accepted or not that will be the situation.”

However, if Cabaye is on strike and Pardew is trying to protect the player from a fan backlash as some have inferred, why would he be saying this?

One other aspect in this labyrinthine tale is that Cabaye has already lost his place in the French International side because of his absence from competitive football, with France manager Didier Deschamps saying:

“If you don’t play for three weeks, how can you be in shape to play an international? It’s impossible,”

Cabaye would also have known that refusing to play would jeopardise his place in the France squad, why would he want to do that?

Meanwhile, reports in France, most notably L’Equipe are saying that Cabaye is NOT on strike, and that he wasn’t playing with the full agreement of Alan Pardew.

When Pardew is asked directly whether the midfielder is refusing to play, he either refuses to answer, or the interviews are interrupted by a female Newcastle United censor. On the other hand, When he was asked in this interview “Are you being told not to play him?” Pardew said “No” before the interview was interrupted by the abovementioned lady censor.

On the other side, if you string together everything Pardew has said in the last few weeks, it certainly seems as if he’s trying to suggest to us that the player is on strike, but that for the sake of protecting both the player and the club, mostly from the savagery of we fans, he cannot mention it outright. But if that has been the case he has failed miserably. If he really is protecting Cabaye, saying he is protecting him because “there has to be a way back for Yohan,” this gives the game away completely. it is so stupid it’s almost as if it is deliberate. Instead, he is only damaging Cabaye’s reputation through snide innuendo rather than open disclosure. If true, it would also mean that he has lied to fans on several occaisions when he said that he dropped him from the team because he felt that Cabaye’s head had been turned.

The more you look into it, the more convoluted it gets, and it seems as if Pardew and the club have been trying to lead us by the nose on what to think about Cabaye. Even if he IS refusing to play, the club have once again been scheming and dishonest in their handling of the issue.

But what do YOU think of this sorry mess? Do you think that Cabaye is indeed refusing to play in an attempt to force a move? That he is being protected from injury by the club in anticipation of a possible sale? That Pardew was right initially when he said he wasn’t selecting him because he felt that his head had been turned and wasn’t in the right place anymore? Or finally, none of this things.

Besides our usual comments section, I have also written a poll (below) with all of those options to see what all of you think the truth is.

It will be interesting to see the results.

More Pardew waffle on Cabaye.

New Poll!

On the current Cabaye transfer saga, do you think that:

 (view results)

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Comment on this post

18 Responses

  1. I think with his new baby it’s all good time off for Yohan and hopefully he’s enjoying himself, he’s a good bloke and deserves some new family time. If he leaves and we get a crazy price then good luck to him I for one am a big fan of him bit like scholes at times. good luck in whatever you do Yohan

  3. Parpoo asked cabaye to play up front on his own,cababb gave him a slap and they are being kept apart on the fatmans
    Say so…No seriously I think cabaye wanted to go last season when we didn’t get debouchy on his command,or when we sold demba or when he couldnt go to spurs..he wants to go,Ashley and the press office don’t want the press to have a field day with what is obviously s*@t central at s.j.p,Taylors sending off at city was a combination of animal stupidity,and frustration,the team looked scarred last night and played like a team with no direction,or confidence.The majority of the squad have come out in the press early on talking about how we need new
    Players,even lapdog Jonas has said we didnt train hard enough last season,and now nobody is saying anything to The press,not a pip.Just wait until we don’t get a result sjp against Fulham,then you
    Will see an implosion.

  4. What is so difficult? Cabaye wants to leave for Arsenal. He has decided that he should refuse to play to force the deal through. It’s a common French footballer method. Pardew wants him to stay so is frightened of lashing out at him in public. Hoping he can talk him round and re-integrate him. It’s very simple. It’s embarrassing how so many fans are so gullible that they can’t believe their’Dreamboat’Cabaye would ever think of doing such a horrible thing. Do you seriously think that Cabaye would sit in silence letting the world’s press and everyone say he is refusing to play if it wasn’t true? He would be absolutely fuming if that wasn’t true. Straight on his twitter account in denial. But no, he’s silent. Wake up people, he is unprofessional and disrespecting the club, don’t feel sorry for him for God’s sake, he doesn’t care about you.

  6. Pardew said: “There’s some sympathy from myself for Yohan for the pressure that he’s under from other sources. There are other people involved – his agents. But I disagree on some of the things he has done”

    “If Arsenal don’t come back in, then I think he will be involved. And I’m sure it will be a positive reaction from our fans.”

    http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/335461/Alan-Pardew-calls-for-Yohan-Cabaye-s-commitment-to-Newcastle-clashes

  7. @4 – you seem very sure of your argument- despite the fact it’s entirely speculative, and based on sweeping national stereotyping, amongst other things. Carroll, Nolan, Enrique, Barton – all left under somewhat of a grey cloud, with the club more than happy to tarnish them as overnight deserters. To ignore patterns like that seems pretty gullible to me also. We don’t know, so it’s really not the time to get all worked up over supposition.

  8. Everyone get’s an “A”, in regard to guessing who was “the ignorant”,”the clueless” and “the big mouth” congratulations children !

    So! Geordie Moore, Wor Yohan’s a new dad eh ?
    Didn’t even know the bloke had a wife/partner, but I did read where Cisse had this miss something or other girlfriend, you know one of those beauty contest winners, but the sad news is he broke up with her.
    Maybe now he will score a few goals, eh!
    Though I’m not sure about Yohan’s, you know how baby’s cry all fguging night and the missus sez, gan n tend teh the Ben man, that’s no fun I can tell you, especially if you got to get up and gan training like.
    Actually might put him in a bad frame of mind and he will kick the shit outta The Fulham team,
    Gotta look on the bright side like.
    Could be his missus want’s him to gan teh London they got better crèches there I hear, better fguking everything actually and probably Arsene will give him a raise, London weighting or whatever they call it.
    On the other hand, I doubt if they will meet the asking price and right now it appears to be a seller’s market, in which Arsenal are not doing so good, so who the hell knows ?
    Hey it’ s the same old shit at NUFC, crisis control, but then what do I know ?

    ,

  9. Do I think Cabaye threw a hissy fit – no. Do I think he would prefer to go to Arsenal – yes. Do I think he made a big scene about not playing for NUFC – no. Do I think Ashley said don’t play him if he doesn’t want to play – yes; with an eye on not getting him injured and raking in the 20 million. In short, probably a storm in a teacup. A grey area with Pardew not outright lying but trying to explain why Cabaye was not in the team.

  10. Grey Lord

    Is that a play on names, you know Lord Grey, like the gadgie on the top of the monument .
    But you are right in fact @4 is quite speculative and presents it as fact, on the other hand he could be right, that is the speculation could turn out right .
    But whether it’s a common practice for French players to refuse to play for a side in order to get transferred, I would speculate that that’s not a common procedure,
    I mean Gomis blamed it all on his agent cause he wanted teh gan teh Germany, the bloke must have no taste buds FFS.
    Hell he could come to Newcastle and avoid all them sausages, get some stotty cake, peas pudding n a savaloy (oh sorry that is a worst in it) ermm fish n chips like.
    and @4 sez we are gullible, hey you gotta give him that one, I mean fifty thousand showing up every home game, for a side that’s won jack shit in half a century, that’s a no brainer, right ?

  11. Ah, now I think you hit the nail on the head Paul on the Left Coast, it appears to be a case of keep things quiet, tell them fgug all cause I want my £20 m.
    But I don’t want to see any more fguging bed sheets?
    Yes a tempest in a tea pot
    But Pardew ain’t gonna say shit , it’s all under control like.

  12. basement says:
    August 29, 2013 at 10:48 pm

    “Do you seriously think that Cabaye would sit in silence letting the world’s press and everyone say he is refusing to play if it wasn’t true? He would be absolutely fuming if that wasn’t true. Straight on his twitter account in denial. But no, he’s silent. Wake up people.”

    I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of a confidentiality clause, basement?

  15. Another rumour concerning both ourselves and Arsenal in competition for the new Patrick Viera, currently playing for Lille.
    It never ends.
    Why would we need another defensive midfielder, we got Cabaye, Sissoko, Tiote, Anita, Bigiramana, Gosling and sometimes Jonas.
    That’s the fguging problem here we are over stacked with defensive midfielders.
    What about a cople of wingers, or are we going to depend on Santon and Debuchy ?
    From my perspective, we need someone who can assist Cisse or put the ball in the net, we can’t expect him to get all our goals.
    We are going to have to depend on Gouffran, Marveaux and HBA to step up their attacking game
    In a 4-2-3-1 lieup

  16. This is my side for Fulham

    -*************KRUL************
    YANGA-M’BIWA*****COLO
    DEBUCHY*********SANTON
    *****CABAYE**SiSSOKO***
    MARVEAUX. GOUFFRAN
    *************HBA***************
    ***********CISSE**************

    ANITA
    SAMMY
    TAYLOR
    BIGIRAMANA
    GOALIE

    With no hoofball please !

  17. Taylor’s suspended and Pardew said Remy should make the bench and have a 10 minute cameo. He also said some rubbish about us leaving it late to score in this game because Cisse scored in injury time in our last game against them.