Archive for category: Interviews.

Probing Pardew’s four French fancies: 1. Yoan Gouffran

January 28th, 2013 | 29 Comments |

Newcastle signings - M'biwa, Gouffran Haidara, Sissoko.
Bienvenue à Toon Yoan Gouffran! (second left).
Hello and welcome to the first in my series where I shall be probing the latest batch of French fancies picked up on Graham Carr’s Eurostar shopping trips to Lille.

I will be looking at the latest four signings in no particular order, who were Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Yoan Gouffran, Massadio Haïdara and Moussa Sissoko. There was of course a fifth who came before them, Mathieu Debuchy, but the pursuit of him went on for so long that I have already written several pieces about him, including this one where I looked at Debuchy in comparison with Newcastle United’s existing first choice right back, Danny Simpson, when Debuchy was still a Lille player. Hence, I will leave him on the backburner for now.

So without further ado I will move on to the first of our French foursome, Yoan Gouffran, purchased from our Group D Europa League opponents, Girondins de Bordeaux for a highly cut price fee of €2.5 million, which converts to around £2.1 million at current exchange rates. This was because Gouffran’s contract at Bordeaux was due to expire in the Summer anyway and he was already free to reach a pre contract agreement with another club which could have seen him leave Bordeaux for nothing in the Summer. Let’s start by getting his statistics out the way!

Vital Statistics. (more…)

Pardew hits out at Wenger over foreign football mercenaries

January 23rd, 2013 | 233 Comments |

Alan Pardew - West Ham.
Pardew: Fuming over foreign Premiership mercenaries.
Speaking from the year 2006, West Ham manager Alan Pardew launched an blistering broadside at Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger over the amount of foreign players in his side.

Speaking in the wake of a 1-0 Champions League victory for Wenger’s foreign mercenaries over Real Madrid, a game where not a single English player was fielded for Arsenal (though Madrid had two, Jonathan Woodgate and David Beckham), Pardew fumed:

“I saw a headline saying Arsenal are flying the flag for Britain, I kind of wondered where that British involvement actually was when I looked at their team. It’s important clubs, especially top clubs, don’t lose sight of the that. It’s the English Premier League and English players should be involved.”

While Pardew acknowledged the contribution foreign players have made to the Premiership, he feared that things were now getting out of hand, adding: (more…)