What went wrong?“We do not want to put prices up. People might say we have put membership up on the season tickets. But that is going straight into the Academy. It was discounted for the first year but that is going into the Academy because we need to find the money from somewhere.”
Said Derek Llambias defending the introduction of compulsory membership to buy season and away tickets, and also it’s subsequent increase from £15 to £25 after only a year.
There was also much bragging about the huge sums being invested in the Academy, with Newcastle seeking to emulate the Barcelona “la Masia” model started by Johan Cruyff, which has acheived so much success for the Catalan club. As we predicted back in June, and now know for sure, when it came to attaining “Elite Player Performance Plan” Category One status, it turned out that they didn’t even manage to emulate the Wolves, Stoke City and Blunderland models, with even Championship neighbours, Middlesbrough looking likely to achieve what Newcastle United couldn’t. The other clubs who have now been informed they have been successful are Fulham, Southampton and West Ham, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, with Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Aston Villa, Reading, Bolton Wanderers, Norwich, West Brom and Watford still waiting to be audited by the organisation carrying out the inspections, “Foot Pass England.” Troubled Blackburn Rovers and Crystal Palace are the other clubs who have been told they have failed in their repective attempts to obtiain the highest designation.
Douglas: Nutter.Speaking in an interview for “talksport” radio, their consultant on matters of Dutch football, Marcel van der Kraan, suggested that Newcastle United’s alleged pursuit of FC Twente centre back, Douglas Franco Teixeira, has been complicated by the fact that he is a Brazilian who is owned by three Brazilian agents, who will all want “a big share of the pie” as van der Kraan put it.
After explaining that both Newcastle United’s manager and scouting department have been in the stands at Twente closely checking out the “big unit” centre back, van der Kraan went on to outline the difficulties of signing Brazilian players in general due to the highly complicated ownership of players by agents rather than clubs, saying:
“The tragic thing about this is that Brazilian players are owned by three different people in their own country. When they’re young, they sign contracts for agents instead of clubs – The agents hold the ownership of the player. It’s a card, what they call the player’s pass, and that is usually signed by the player and his parents for about ten years or even longer. They’re sold to the agent, and the agent has ridiculous power over the player for so many years. (more…)
Ashley: Will he look so smug at the end of August?Of course, there have been many stories in the media linking players with Newcastle United, and of bids being made, nearly all of which should all be taken with a pinch of salt.
Most are told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing to quote Shakespeare. In terms of what is verifiable, the club have made a few derisory bids and have rattled a few cages in the hope of unsettling players, possibly in the hope they will submit a transfer request, or even go on strike to force a move at a price which is way below the market. The most recent examples being a €5 million (£3.9 million) for Yohan Cabaye’s former Lille team mate, Mathieu Debuchy, a French International left back who is now valued at around £9-10 million since the recent European Championships where he impressed, another €5 million bid for Ajax’s Dutch International midfielder, Vurnon Anita, and a highly confusing chase for another Dutch player, FC Twente centre back, Douglas Franco Teixeira. Indeed, the pursuit of Douglas has been so confusing that even Twente’s chairman, Joop Munsterman, was led to remark, “It’s unclear precisely what Newcastle and Douglas want.” Perhaps he doesn’t know what one UK banker said of Mike Ashley, that “He likes to park his tanks on people’s lawns.” Whilst there have been reports of higher bids in some quarters of the media, they have not been substantiated, just “understood” or “suggested,” which can be media speak for “complete and utter guff.” Now of course, the latest attempt to park his tanks has been has been a concerted and brazen attempt by his manager Alan Pardew to unsettle Andy Carroll at Liverpool, with Pardew assuring Carroll that he has no future at Liverpool and that the Merseyside club must let him go at a much reduced fee, preferably to the club who sold him in the first place. (more…)
Nee scran for Ramadan?In more Demba Ba news to add to my story from earlier today, it’s that time of year again (Ramadan) and the Senegalese hitman is already off his scran during daylight hours for a month.
Of course, many of you will remember the fuss from last year when Ba had just joined the club, and the debate on how it affected his performances, and his goal scoring. Having written that, it did begin 11 days later in the year of 2011, and Eid Al-Fitr, which brings the end of the fasting, didn’t come until the end of last August, after several weeks of Premiership games had taken place. On the other side however, with the added burden of European competition to contend with, the demands on players will be higher than ever. Lee Ryder from the Evening Chronic stated in one of his pieces on Saturday the Demba had indeed started his fasting for this year’s Ramadan last Friday (January 20th). Whatever the dates in any given year though, there may be a solution to the problem in years when Ramadan fall within the Premiership calendar, which I will explore a little below.
Tracking back a little though, the same observance of the fast will almost certainly be true of the other Demba too, Papiss Demba Cisse, as they seem to be like peas in a pod. Though if it is true, it certainly didn’t stop Cisse scoring freely with Freiburg at the beginning of last season. (more…)
Pardew: More hot air?In an interview with the Evening Chronic’s ace football reporter, Lee Ryder, Newcastle United’s Silver Supremo exclusively revealed on Saturday that he will be playing Demba Ba centrally “in 90% of the games next year” in a bid to keep Senegalese hitman happy on Tyneside.
Pardew said:
“Demba wants to play in a central role. He wants to get himself chances to score goals, and I think that in 90% of the games next year that’s where he will play.”
But what could this mean?
Will Pardiola be abandoning his fancy foreign experiment with the 4-3-3 formation and return to his good old fashioned, decent, British 4-4-2 with Ba and Papiss Cisse as the two big lads upfront? Or will it be Cisse who will be shunted to the flank this time, or even left on the bench as an impact sub? (Admittedly, those last one would be somewhat doubtful!) (more…)
