Would UEFA close the door on Newcastle? When a football club takeover involves a cast of characters including the World Trade Organization, the United States Trade Representative, Amnesty International, Saudi Arabian Pirates, Neil Kinnock, a Middle East proxy war, the fiance of a brutally murdered journalist, a former World Chess Champion, FIFA, UEFA, AFC, The Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and many others it could only be for one club, Newcastle United.
At this time, the Saudi led consortium’s bid to take over the Magpies hangs on the (much delayed) decision by the Premier League as to whether the prospective buyers are ‘fit and proper’ people to take over a Premier League club. Many column inches and web pages (mostly drivel) have been wasted on it. However, there is another aspect of the deal which doesn’t seem to have been thought of at all. What I mean is that overcoming the Premier League hurdle will not necessarily be the end of the story if the new regime have ambitions for the Magpies to compete in UEFA competitions such as the Europa League and the Champions League. (more…)
Mike Ashley: A heavyweight who’s always up for a fight With Mike Ashley’s recent attempts to take over at Rangers, and specifically his problems with the Scottish FA for having an interest in both clubs, it has often been said recently that Mike Ashley would be willing to leave Newcastle United so he can take over Rangers completely. There have been several hypotheses put forward for why he might do this
Champions League exposure for Sports Direct?
One which makes no sense at all is that Ashley would be willing to sacrifice Newcastle United and the English Premier League to expose his cheap sports goods in that great league of leagues, the Champions League. This would be once Rangers get through the small formalities of getting promoted back to the Scottish Premiership and then beating Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership title. This one is a complete non-starter though as there are two crucial things the proponents of this hypothesis have overlooked.
1. As both Newcastle United and Rangers fans should know from previous European competition, Rangers or any other side are only allowed to display advertising for their shirt sponsors and kit sponsors. There could be no pitch side hoardings or anything else emblazoned with cheap Ashley brands like Sports Direct, Firetrap and all the rest. Only UEFA sponsorship partners are allowed to advertise in both the Europa and Champions League competitions. (more…)
Pardew: Sticking with his old excuses.After Jonas Gutierrez publically criticised Newcastle United’s lack of intensity in their training sessions last season, Alan Pardew went away for a while, had a think, and has decided that both his staff and himself “need to be honest about it” and admit that mistakes were made.
He then goes on to suggest that Gutierrez saying training sessions are “a bit too easy” was a little misleading at least by once again pointing the finger of blame at the stresses of playing in the Europa League, injuries and a lack of quality players.
“You’ve got to be open and honest about it as a staff,” the Silver Supremo began, continuing:
“My staff – my immediate staff and myself as manager – need to be honest about it, mistakes were made. You need to be honest enough to admit them and look at when and why they were made.”
Pardew then went on to discount Gutierrez’s critique, falling back on his old chestnuts:(more…)
Pardew – Fist pumping his way back to the top ten?Speaking exclusively to Sports Direct News, Alan Pardew saluted Mike Ashley’s “bravery” in saving Newcastle United from the Championship, but also suggested that he may not be able to do it a second time should the club be relegated again.
He also revealed that without the handicap of European football in the coming season, though his first aim will be to avoid relegation, he will be ambitious and go for a top ten finish or possibly even higher. Though how he could aim higher than the top ten, he didn’t explain.
“I think realistically we should look to finish in the top ten and hopefully get ourselves in a position where we can attack higher than that” said the Silver Supremo, adding:
“When it gets to February we’ll have a clearer indication of where we’re going to be.”
Pardew then spoke of how it is relief from the pressures of European football, along with good players which has enabled him to aim so high after last season’s disappointing 16th: (more…)
Who made it? And who didn’t?Below you can see two Newcastle United “teams of the season,” which I have assembled based on player statistics from whoscored.com, OPTA and transfermarkt.co.uk.
The first (and most important) is based on performances in the Premier League, with the second based on performances in the Europa League. The figures below the player’s names are their ratings from whoscored.com, which are based on a range of performance metrics based on OPTA stats. To put these into some kind of perspective, whoscored’s most highly rated Premier League goalkeeper last season was Sunderland’s Simon Mignolet with an average of 7.0. In defence it was Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen with 7.6 and in midfield the honours were shared between Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla and Tottenham’s Gareth Bale, both with 7.9. Finally, up front, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez narrowly pipped Manchester United’s Robin van Persie (7.8) with his 7.9 rating.
Getting back to Newcastle United though, although the goalkeepers, defenders and strikers were pretty straightforward overall, things became more complicated when it came to midfielders who had been played in several different positions during the season, gaining different ratings in different positions. However, after some work, I have finally managed to sort it out. (more…)
