Should Newcastle United follow the Golden Rule?That is the maxim which has been known as “The Golden Rule” for several centuries, but how would Newcastle United feel if they were treated the way they have been treating some other clubs recently?
Make no mistake, there have been reams of complete fiction embroidered around our recent attempts to sign players in an attempt to titillate the excited Newcastle United fan. That empty mantra about Newcastle United not being “held to ransom” over players any longer has been repeated constantly, as if other clubs have been somehow unreasonable for refusing to sell their finest players for sums far below their true worth. The longest and most notable saga in this particular transfer window has been that of Lille right back, Mathieu Debuchy, and this is the case I will concentrate on mostly here, as this piece would be far too long if I looked at all of them in the same detail.
Just to get things straight, Newcastle United’s two bids for Debuchy were equivalent to around £3.9 million and £4.75 million respectively (€5 and 6 million). Hacks such as Lee Ryder from the Evening Chronic were incorrect in quoting them as £5 million and £6 million. As to whether this was deliberate, or just lazy and incompetant “journalism” I cannot say with complete certainty. Neither of these bids had a hope in hell of being accepted by a strong Champions League club for a French international player who has three years left on his current contract, and has been estimated as being worth as much as £10 million in the current market. Lille’s Chairman, Michel Seydoux, made it clear himself that we could have had Debuchy for an very reasonable £6.3 million (“Our price is €8 million, because he is a quality player” said Seydoux). However, that may not have been the point as even after Seydoux’s clarification, Derek Llambias persisted with the same strategy of making another derisory bid which he must have known would not be accepted, perhaps in the possible hope that Debuchy might go even further in his attempts to force the club into letting him go at a much reduced fee. In the event of course, it led to Lille withdrawing the player in complete exasperation with Newcastle. (more…)
Highlights from yesterday evening’s monkey hanger massacre at Victoria Park. There are also some other highlights here.
Hartlepool United were trounced 5-1 with Shola Ameobi opening the account for Newcastle after only 3 minutes, latching on to an irresistable low cross right across the face of the Hartlepool goal by new lad, Romain Amalfitano. Sadly though, the big lad picked up some kind of knock just before half time and was out of the game for the second half. (more…)
Highlights (if that’s the right word) from today’s 0-0 with Den Haag at the Kyocera Stadium in the Hague.
It was something of a lacklustre performance from the Magpies against a Dutch side who were about the equivalent of a middle ranking Championship side over here. It was once again a return to Pardew’s “back to basics” 4-4-2 style of early last season rather than the Pardiola 4-3-3 / 4-3-2-1 of later in the season, with Ba and Cisse as the two big lads up front. The other big lad, Shola, came on to join the party later, and the Fenham Eusebio did indeed have the ball in the back of the net at one stage, though sadly, it was judged to be offside.
The definite lowlight was the monkey chanting from Den Haag fans at Papiss Cisse as he had a word with the referee.
Storks v Magpies this time.Date: Saturday, 4th August Venue: Kyocera Stadium, the Hague. Kick off: 5.00pm local time, 4pm UK time UK TV: None.
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our latest “match banter” feature.
This match will see more birds in combat as the Magpies of Newcastle clash with the Dutch Storks of ADO Den Haag at their Kyocera Stadium in Den Haag, or “The Hague” in English.
If you were looking for some more in depth background for the game, please check out part two of my previous guide to Newcastle United’s pre season fixtures. To give you some idea of the opposition here though, Den Haag were 15th in last season’s Eredivisie. As I also pointed in the abovementioned pre season guide, rather like Millwall over here, it used to be that Den Haag had more of a reputation for their fearsome fans rather than their football, though they did once have Austrian tactical genius, Ernst Happel, as their coach. He brought them Dutch Cup success in 1968 before moving on to bigger and better things, including a European Cup triumph in 1970 with another Dutch club, Rotterdam’s Feyenoord. (more…)
Highlights of Newcastle United’s 2-1 victory against S.C. Braga in the pre season “Guadiana Torneo” at the Estádio Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
It was Demba Ba who opened the scoring in the 64th minute. It was a decidedly lukewarm penalty which was saved by Beto in the Braga goal initially, however Ba made up for it by taking good advantage of the rebound and sticking it in the back of the net at the second attempt. Braga were to equalise four minutes after though with a timely strike by Amorim, but thankfully, it was Ryan Taylor who had the final word with another one of his handy set piece masterpieces in the 73rd minute. (more…)
