Ben Arfa: "Very buoyant" says Pardew.In a rare interview, Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, has been speaking at length about Hatem Ben Arfa, at times making him sound like a kind of Gallic Joey Barton when he got on to the subject of the players character and temperament.
He also likened him to a brand of well known lager which allegedly reaches the parts other beers cannot reach as he swooned over the “creative”, “elusive” French-Tunisian playmaker.
Starting with the beer analogy, Pardew purred:
“He’s a player that can reach heights that other players can’t reach – that Heineken player if you like.
“He brings a creative force to the team that is different to what we have and he’s different to a lot of players in the Premier League. He’s elusive.”
Of course though, the player has had scant chance to prove this where it counts, on the pitch, since Pardew’s predecessor, Chris Hughton, brought him to the club on loan in August 2010. Speaking on the injuries Ben Arfa has had to endure since he came to Tyneside, Pardew continued: (more…)
Geordies, lets get ready to rumble! (with the media that is)After reading what I classed as quite hostile comments from Oliver Holt regarding Stevie Taylor’s antics trying to distract Paddy Kenny the thought crossed my mind, why is NUFC always a target for the media, and football fans in general?
Are we deserving of the abuse we get? Is the problem created by the Toon faithful themselves? Or is it just to shift newspapers? In the eyes of this blogger, all 3 have elements of truth. Let’s face it, over the years we haven’t endeared ourselves to other fans, with the sacking of many a manager (let’s not forget Bobby Robson; ever) Constant claims that we are a big club, refusing to play at Stevenage the first time round because at the time we were too good. The list goes on…
However I still grimace every time I switch onto Sky Sports after our latest scandal hits, as they always choose some brain-dead Geordie fan to artificially continue this persona that we are all living in a Shearer/Keegan wonderland. (more…)
Owlheed: Nothing to hide.As question’s are asked over the alleged £2.5 million in agent’s fees involved in Joey Barton’s transfer to Queen’s Park Rangers, Newcastle United’s Managing Director, Derek Llambias, washed his hands of the affair, insisting that he is “more than happy” for Newcastle United to be probed by the FA over the deal.
According to the Sun newspaper (I know, I know), The FA have been “urged” to probe Barton’s transfer to the west London “Hoops”, more specifically, the issue of alleged fees paid to Barton’s agent, Willie McKay, and a mystery company brought in to represent Barton. There has even been specultion that this mystery company may even be Barton himself, or someone else very close to the player.
To explain: In this case according to the Stun, rather than McKay acting for Barton as his agent, as would usually be the case, he is alleged to have acted for Queen’s Park Rangers instead, with the above mentioned mystery company acting for Barton’s interests.
There fees were said to be £1.3m to McKay, and £1.2 million to the mystery company who acted as Barton’s representative. The newspaper also alleged that a £1.5 million signing on fee was paid to Barton himself on a four year contract with £40,000 per week salary. Beisdes this, it also said that Barton would be paid a £250,000 end of season bonus if QPR avoid relegation at the end of the season.
When grilled by a Stun reporter on the unconventional arrangement, McKay said of the deal:(more…)
Building up expectationsAlan Pardew puts paid to the idea of bringing in any free agents to plug any gaps in the Newcastle United squad, and he looks forward to the return of Hatem Ben Arfa.
You are probably not surprised to find out that this is ‘it’ now in terms of the squad until January. Pardew has previously told us that the loan market isn’t the way the club wants to go to plug any gaps – such as the striker we missed out on in the transfer window – and he has today confirmed that we won’t be pursuing free agents either. Pardew said:
“I’ve no intention of bringing a free agent in. I’ll go with the group.
“I think you have to remember I’ve got Hatem Ben Arfa training now. His imagination and flair on that pitch would have been a big asset for us – hopefully, fingers crossed, in two weeks’ time he’ll be on that pitch for us.” (more…)
I couldn't help myself!I swore to myself I wouldn’t get involved and would stay away from this fight as Ashley has got the fans at each other throats with the current state of affairs at SJP but after reading a recent ‘blog by my colleague on here, and the fairly large response to it, I couldn’t hold my water any further!
I had decided i would reserve my judgement on the current regime and thought it would be fair to see where we are at after the window has closed and we are a few games into the season, hopefully with a new striker and some sensible investment in place, I had hoped we wouldn’t be having the Ashley argument again as we all just want NUFC to move forward with sensible investment. But after the appalling lack of squad strengthening and ambition from the current regime, the nonsense printed in the Chronicle’s Q&A and amazingly some fans actually backing Ashley as a master of business and Professor in the school of running a football club, I feel the need to point out a few things missing from this boiling pot. What immediate springs to my mind is:
What about the fans feeling more interested and enthused and therefore more inclined to forking out more money to support Newcastle United as well? (more…)
