Joey Barton: Saying what he sees.Well, Joey Barton did promise on Twitter that he would “tell all when the time was right” and he’s finally kept his word.
Speaking in a long audio podcast interview for the Queen’s Park Ranger’s ‘blog “Open All R’s,” he finally lifted the lid on his time at Newcastle United and his strained relationship with the infamous Ashley / Llambias regime. In the interview, he revealed what he felt were the real reasons why he and other senior members of the squad have been forced out St James’ Park, how the club tried to force him to sign a contract on a fifth of his old wage whilst he was in Walton prison, what he feels were the real reasons behind the sacking of Chris Hughton, how despite his profound hatred of Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias, he still feels a strong affinity with the club and more…
Some (misquoted) sections of the interview have already appeared in the media and other ‘blogs, so I decided to make a more accurate and extensive transcription of all the sections which related to Newcastle United. I’ve have also included the mp3 podcast of the entire interview at the bottom of the piece.
Responding to a QPR fan’s question on what swung it for him to come to Queen’s Park Rangers, Barton began by outlining the reson’s why he had to leave his former club saying:
“I was obviously deemed by the board at Newcastle “Persona non grata” (Person not welcome). They didn’t want me because I asked questions.(more…)
Dressed for MiddlesbroughIs there any truth in the rumours that Virgin Money are in talks about sponsoring Newcastle United by way of the shirts and stadium naming rights?
According to a site called ‘Marketing’, Virgin are in talks with Newcastle United about a possible shirts and stadium sponsorship deal. The rumours about such a deal have been bubbling along for a while but I’ve never been sure how much strength there is in them.
Of course it was Virgin Money who took over Northern Rock, our previous sponsors, and I did just wonder if assumptions had been made because of that.
The ‘Marketing’ site stresses that no deal has actually been struck but they feel that Virgin Money are a likely fit for such sponsorship. They cornered an ‘executive’ from ‘brandRapport’ in the middle of his cheese sandwich and he had this to say:
“Virgin Money could benefit enormously from taking on the Newcastle shirt sponsorship. The passion and loyalty of the Newcastle fans is legendary and the fans could definitely see it as a very positive move and confirm Virgin Money’s commitment to the area.
“The Newcastle shirt is one of the most iconic, most recognised and highest-selling shirt in the Barclays Premier League.” (more…)
Chelsea sniffing around?Newcastle United midfielder Cheick Tiote is rumoured to be on Chelsea’s shopping list for January with – supposedly – a £20m bid in the offing. But would Ashley sell him?
The latest news from the rumour-filled world of Toon speculation has Chelsea considering a £20m bid for Cheick Tiote in January. The report, coming from Brian McNally in the Sunday Mirror, seems to suggest that Tiote would indeed be sold, although only if big bucks are offered.
On the prospect of losing players in January, Pardew said:
“It is going to cost a hell of a lot of money, a hell of a lot of money because we’re in that position now.
“I think any of our players that get linked to other clubs, those clubs are going to need to know they’ll need to pay a shed load of money to get anyone out of this football club.” (more…)
What's in a name? Lots of potential damage seemingly.I was planning to write a follow up to my previous piece on why Mike Ashley’s “rebranding” of St James’ Park was ill conceived from the very start and doomed to fail.
In it I was going to outline how the value of Newcastle United’s brand has been damaged so much by this that it will lose far more in the long term that the minimal amount gained through selling the stadium’s naming rights. Going on similar deals on considerably less problematic new build stadiums, this amount will be nowhere near the £8-10 million foolishly quoted in public by Derek Llambias in an interview with BBC Radio Newcastle. Going on similar examples such as Arsenal’s Emirates Studium and Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, it will be more like a third to a half of that sum unless a shirt deal is also included and even then, the price is still somewhat ambitious.
As most of you will know, current shirt sponsors, Northern Rock, recently pulled out of their recent rather meagre £2 million per annum shirt sponsorship deal, and it has even been suggested that the furore over the Ashley’s second attempt at a stadium rebrand will jeopardise this sponsorship, as potential sponsors distance themselves from this now toxic brand. As I mentioned in my previous piece on the subject the offer has been almost universally derided by the people in the sponsorship industry who advise corporations on the efficacy of such deals, with one exception, from someone called Jonathon Gabay, who was reported as being an “unofficial consultant” to the club on the renaming issue. (more…)
Ashley, Llambias and Pardew - Did they deceive us over Carroll?A few days after Newcastle United’s already despised Managing Director, Derek Llambias, announced the club’s corporate renaming of the club’s traditional home as “The Sports Direct Arena”, it would be hard to imagine his or Mike Ashley’s reputation sinking any lower.
However all that has changed now after one simple drunken rant in a bar which was recorded by fans and passed on to the Mirror newspaper. My erstwhile collegue, Hugh, has dealt with his jealous and contemptible potty mouthed rants about former managers, Alan Shearer, Kevin Keegan and Chris Hughton in this piece. Here I will concentrate on how his words about Andy Carroll’s move to Liverpool seem to suggest that both he and manager, Alan Pardew, deceived the fans about the circumstances leading up to the controvarsial transfer, leading fans to brand Carroll a “Judas” for deserting the club he had supported since boyhood.
If you recall, after a completely bogus story was put around the media about a very large Tottenham bid for the Bensham Bomber, Liverpool’s first bid for Andy Carroll was a lowly £30 million (what on earth were they smoking that day???). When one fan asked Llambias if he thought that Andy Carroll was worth that amount, Llambias replied:
