Strolla: "I want to get it sorted out."Shola Ameobi has been speaking on his future at the club.
Like colleagues Joey Barton and Jose Enrique, his current contract expires in around a years time, something which is also true of fellow striker, Peter Lovenkrands. Although the issues with Barton’s and Enrique’s contract renewals have been very public, with Barton not being offered one and Enrique stalling on his, Shola seems to be be totally in the dark on whether he will be offered an extension on his current deal, or not as the case may be.
Speaking in an interview, the ‘Fenham Eusebio’ revealed that although he wants to get things “sorted”, he has heard nothing from the club yet, saying:
“I want to get it sorted out, but obviously the two parties have to meet somewhere and that hasn’t been the case yet.
“As a player, you want to feel secure. You want to know what’s going to happen for the next few years – but I don’t at the moment.(more…)
Would you buy a used car from these men?I remember thinking that Newcastle United’s Managing Director, Derek Llambias, chose his words quite carefully in the wake of Andy Carroll’s £35 million transfer to Liverpool FC, though perhaps not so carefully in the attack on Alan Shearer that came with it. When defending the decision to sell Carroll and pack him off in Ashley’s helicopter he said:
“Yes, he went in our helicopter. But the sooner the deal was done the sooner we could make our own moves in the transfer market. It was already very late.”
Then adding:
“We will spend in the summer. Every penny of the £35m will stay in the club.”
He also told the Sun:
“Mike Ashley has only ever put money into this football club. He has never taken a single penny out. And he won’t take a single penny of this £35m either – all the money will go to the club and we are already working on identifying transfer targets for the summer.”(more…)
Pardew: Can he bring the entertainment back to SJP?Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, has been speaking in a rare interview of his plans for the new season, saying that he wants to set up the team to be more “exciting”. The usually reticent supremo also added that new signings such as Demba Ba, Sylvain Marveaux and Yohan Cabaye will give his side a “renewed hunger for the forth-coming campaign”.
On bringing a little excitement back to Newcastle United’s style of play Pardew said:
“I am hoping to deliver a side that looks a little bit different, and our style will change a little bit too.
“I am hoping we have a really exciting season – and that is how the team will be set up, to be exciting.
“I can’t wait to start and be around the city and the club again.”
He then expressed delight on how well his new squad is taking shape and gushed about his five new players (including Ben Arfa and Gosling) adding: (more…)
Ba: Degenerative knee condition.In all the euphoria of Mike Ashley recently signing three players of seemingly high calibre, all for under £5 million, it can be forgotten that two of these player have had injury question marks hanging over them, so I have decided to investigate the problem and look to see if Mike Ashley has taken something of a gamble with his recent brace of cut price stars.
Part Two – Demba Ba
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Like his predecessor in this little two part series, Sylvain Marveaux, Ba was signed in a free / nominal fee transfer. He was released from West Ham on their relegation from the Premier League. Supposedly this was a condition of Ba’s contract when he signed for his previous club, though the terms of the deal were undisclosed at the time, it was thought to be highly dependent on appearances due to a degenerative knee problem which saw him fail two medicals at Stuttgart and Stoke City respectively. (more…)
Marvveaux: Hamstring and groin problems.In all the euphoria of Mike Ashley recently signing three players of seemingly high calibre, all for under £5 million, it can be forgotten that two of these player have had injury question marks hanging over them, so I have decided to investigate the problem and look to see if Mike Ashley has taken something of a gamble with his recent brace of cut price stars.
Part One – Sylvain Marveaux.
Signed for free upon the ending of his contract with French Ligue 1 side, Rennes, Marvvaux is beyond doubt a talent, and should be approaching his peak at 25. His signing was also seen as being something of a ‘daring swoop’ after the mighty Magpie seemingly snatched this juicy little Gallic worm from under the noses of Liverpool Football Club. Rumours soon emerged saying that the player actually failed a medical there, something which both Liverpool’s medical staff and the player himself have denied. Marveaux said of this:
“It disgusts me a bit to read things like that because I know it could affect the rest of my career. You can give me a medical today and you’ll see there’s no problem.”(more…)
