Welcome to the fifth part of my transcription of Alan Pardew’s long and very revealing interview for BBC Radio Newcastle’s ‘Total Sport’.
In this one, Pardew spills the beans about Newcastle United’s alleged pursuit of Mevlüt Erdinç, and whether he or any other new strikers might be joining joining the club before the end of the transfer window. He also spouts on the new signings so far and how he thinks they will adapt to the Premiership, the “huge fees” paid for them and how he needs to ‘mark the cards’ of the fans on Summer spending.
Total Sport:“Is Mevlüt Erdinç someone that you’re pursuing?”
Alan Pardew:“Well, it’s very difficult to comment on players when no agreement has been reached and he’s one of those players where we have no agreement so I don’t really want to comment too much. (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…)
How will that £35m be spent?The transfer market is a strange and sometimes scary place, with confusion abound by exactly how much money we apparently have, others have the knowledge only provided by Football Manager and FIFA and you’d be surprised how correct that actually is. The long and short is, we have never had £35m to spend – never.
There’s a lot of confusion around exactly what we have to spend since the sale of local lad and full time thug Andy Carroll to Liverpool for £35m with £30 of that being handed over in cold, hard cash – just how we like it. Alan Pardew himself stated that the money was to be reinvested in the squad and even went as far as to say that he wanted it solely for players but unfortunately, that isn’t how it works.
At the start of the season, the manager and the chairman sits down and discusses season targets, contracts, incoming players, outgoing players and everything else you’d come to associate with a professional football club. (more…)
Steve Stone: Youth is the key for new signings.Newcastle United first team coach, Steve Stone, has been on the qualities required in Newcastle United’s transfer targets, emphasising that the club is looking for young players who can inject a bit of pace into the side. This is has been a quality which has been seen by some as lacking in the United squad in recent days until the transfer of recent signings such as Hatem Ben Arfa and Sylvain Marveaux.
Speaking to the club’s official website at the annual NUFC Heroes Golf Day at Ponteland Golf Club, Stone began by saying he thought that it was great that Newcastle United had hit the ground running as the club’s transfer season got underway with the signing of players such as Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba and Sylavain Marveaux, as well as youngster, Mehdi Abeid. Getting in with some early signings is, once again, something that some have criticised the club as failing to do in recent windows. On this, Stone said:
“I think it’s great that we’ve made some moves in the transfer market, I think it’s important that you do it quite early and that’s what we’ve done.(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…)
