Did he walk? Or was he pushed?

Was Carroll at fault?
It looks like a war of words is about to ensue regarding the departure of Andy Carroll to Liverpool on transfer deadline day.

We are starting to hear more reaction to the transfer that rocked the majority of Newcastle fans to the core. The ‘did he walk/was he pushed’ argument looks set to dominate the headlines for the forseeable future as mud is slung from both direcions. One thing is for sure, it’s going to get messy.

Carroll has said today that he was forced out of the club. He claims that he was backed into a corner by Derek Llambias and Mike Ashley and was made to feel unwanted at his hometown club.

That may or may not have been true, but at the end of the day there is no way a player can be forced to hand in a written transfer request, even if he was apparently asked to do so by Derek Llambias. There is a fantastic word out there, which is only two letters long and goes something like ‘no’.

Naturally the club, namely Alan Pardew, have responded today and said that nobody was forced to leave. Pardew claims that Carroll wanted a new contract yesterday, only three months after signing a long term deal, and once it was established that Andy wouldn’t be getting a new contract he handed in a transfer request.

Pardew was visibly angry when he was interviewed by Sky Sports earlier today. He insisted that he wanted to keep Carroll and stressed that he is unhappy that he now has a weaker squad than the one we started off with at the start of the window.

I just don’t know who to believe. At the end of the day I don’t trust Ashley, Llambias, or Pardew, but on the other hand I just can’t see how Carroll could be forced to hand in a transfer request. Remember, all bids had been rejected until that request went in, and as Pardew said, Carroll didn’t have to get in the helicopter, or put in the request.

As I said earlier, it’s going to get messy as both sides fight their corner. Nobody wants to look like the bad guy, which is why both sides are putting their case across. We’ll probably never know the full extent of what happened but I have no doubt that the rumours will continue.

This one is going to roll…

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

59 thoughts on “Did he walk? Or was he pushed?

  1. He walked FFS. He didn’t have to demmand a new contract did he? Probably had a slimey agent in his ear telling him to get the most out of the situation as possible, the board called his bluff and a transfer request was handed in. If any of what Andy said about being forced out was true, he would have made a special effort to arrive at Anfield stoney-faced and forlorn-looking, to at least soften the blow. I can say that’s fully how I expected him to look on sky sports, suffice to say I was completely gutted when he turned up grinning like a f*ckin school boy 😡 😥

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  2. I’ll copy this over and then that’s me done with this, onwards and upwards. Come on Ranger son!

    The transfer request is within the request for a new contract. It is not a question of believing or not believing, they are interpretations of exactly the same event. Hours before transfer deadline is not the time to be discussing new contracts, once he asked for a new contract or he would go that was his transfer request. He can read it as them asking him to put forward a transfer request or they can say we want your position in writing so they can act formally. It is basically the same. If he hadn’t made his staying contingent on getting a new contract he could well be here now.

    To repeat old ground, a contract was agreed 3 months ago, his request for a new one dependent on some other clubs offer was his transfer request, in spirit if not necessarily in fact.

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  3. sounds to me like Carroll triued to hold the club ransom for a new contract after he found out a new transfer request came in. Porbably had his agent in his ear telling him that Lpool will pay him a fortune and let’s use it to your advantage. Good for the club for calling his bluff

    So it might be true that AC would have preferred to stay, but only if the club had met his salary demnads.

    The club did what they had to do. Renegotiating the contract would have set a dangerous precedent. I’m glad they didn;t

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  4. Got to be honest, bloody impressed with Alan Pardew’s press conference today. I genuinely believe what he has to say, and I think he’s right to point out that there’s no point going over it all time and time again, we need to do our talking on the pitch.

    The players won’t be happy, Pardew isn’t happy, Andy Carroll isn’t that happy, I think only his agent will be! But we wouldn’t have had him for the next 4 or 5 weeks regardless, so we need to crack on and get points on the board like we would have anyway.

    We have a couple of tough games this week, Fulham are flying, and so are Arsenal, so I wouldn’t be expecting 6 points. I just hope if the worst does happen on Wednesday and Saturday people remember big Andy wouldn’t have been there anyway!

    But like the boss said, there’s nothing we can do about it except get on with it.

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  5. Who, with hours of the transfer window to go, comes and says he wants an improved contract, making him the highest player at the club? (report)

    Someone with ulterior motives i’m afraid. And i’m sure he was being well advised at the time, his agent is starting to look like he had a major role in the move.

    Saying that, he probably only did that after he heard that the club would be prepared to accept the £35mill offer, maybe he panicked.

    No one looks good, but as has been said, seems like he gave the club an ultimatum, and they didn’t bite, so he handed in a transfer request. As toonsy said, I can’t see how he was forced to do it or ‘backed in to a corner’ as he said.

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  6. Pardew (in my opinion) came across very well in the interview, and I tend to believe his side of the story rather than the story from the money grabbing, back stabbing b*stard.

    He wanted a hell of a lot more money after signing a 5 and a half year contract. Money is more important to some people than loyalty and principles.

    Another thing … Pardew had to say that that all the money would be re-invested in the summer to keep us lot happy.

    However every club in the summer will now know that we have £35m to splash which puts the selling club in the driving seat, and prices for average players will rocket.

    He can’t win …

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  7. Agree with the last couple of comments. Although it is hard for me to trust the current regime I do thend to nbeleive pardew on this one. He did come off well in the interview as he has since he has come ot the club.

    Goodbye AC. Now it’s onwards and upwards for the toon.

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  8. I think the contract talk shades a different light on things to be fair. Why approach the club so late in the window with a demand like that?

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  9. IMO carroll tried to screw his beloved hometown club for more money, and the club called his bluff.
    As Pards said if the Judas wanted to be here he still would be.
    Fuk him i say onwards and upwords, we are bigger than Andy Judas Carroll

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  10. I believe Carroll and Pardew. However, I’m not naive enough to think both didn’t weave little white lies into their stories in order to come out looking the better.

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  11. BREAKING NEWS – Newcastle have demanded Andy Carroll be returned to NUFC after discovering that they would be paid in monthly Giro cheques 😆

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  12. The only losers here are the fans, and even that should only be in the short-term. Carroll gets a pay rise and an opportunity to become a legend at a massive club with plenty of history. NUFC/MA now have the ability to strengthen in the summer without the pressure of having to dig too deep into the wallet, but we are now left without our no.1 striker for the rest of the season.

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  13. ET – Same mate. I think the real truth is somewhere in the middle now we’ve heard both sides of the story.

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  14. toonsy
    Posted February 1, 2011 at 3:09 PM
    At least we can bin the long ball stuff now
    ———————-

    That and somebody actually took Xisco and his 60K a week off our hands. Brightside of things.

    I saw on another thread there was talk on when the club would actually get the full fee for Carroll. It looks like nearly all of the the fee for Torres was paid up front, so hopefully that money is just transferred on to us.

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  15. Agree with the others. Greedy little sh*t tried it on, it back fired and ends up on Mike’s chopper (oo er) to scouseland. Tough luck matey, that’s what you get for trying to screw the club. I’m glad they called his bluff. Not happy we don’t have a replacement but as has been pointed out earlier we have done ok without him and we wouldnt have had him available anyway for several more weeks if reports are true. Lets forget him and focus on the team, the one’s who really matter.

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  16. Whether he asked for a transfer or not – the club should have just refused and said wait until May as they cannot replace him in 5 hours.

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  17. The fact we dont have a replacement suggests that the deal wasnt done a few weeks ago as some a***holes are suggesting….

    Anyone know where i can watch pardew press conference online?

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  18. Moreno – I’ll have a dig. Check out footytube in the mean time though as there is sometimes interviews up there.

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  19. “At least we can bin the long ball stuff now”

    Aye i was thinkg that as well, Do you think we may even try and play without an orthadox striker with Benny and Nolan taking turns in dropping back into midfield a bit like Arsenal when Van Persie drops off and the total football dutch sides where the midfielders and strikers changed position throughout the match making it nigh on impossible to mark.

    —Barton—-Tiote—-Ireland—Gutierrez—
    ————–Nolan——-Ben Arfa————-

    Or am i just getting carried away… 😉

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  20. I blame everyone!

    The agent is at the centre of it; the only winner. Absolute ******* who’s done his client a massive disservice. I expect AC is distraught this morning now he’s realised what he’s done. Worse, he’s burned his bridges, having told the world that he doesn’t want to be at Anfield. Oops.

    AC got greedy and should not have been asking for new contracts; it’s wrong in just about every way. He should sack his agent, who was clearly thinking a lot more about the £5m in commission and not much about f**king up his client’s life. AC should have backed down and not gone on that helicopter. Idiot.

    The club, once again have made a hasty, emotionally driven, on-the-spot decision when they needed to keep a level head and look to the long term rather than going googly-eyed over the money in front of them. Again, the agent made sure they did exactly that.

    What they should have said (hate to agree with Shepherd) is ‘no’. He has a contract. He’s staying. End of. They had no pressure at all on them to ‘reluctantly accept’ anything and I’m sure if £35m hadn’t been put in front of them they’d have realised that in the cold light of day it would all be fine and back to normal.

    Idiots.

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  21. El Toro – I disagree that we’re the only losers.

    The club has lost out, as it now stands little chance of a European place and a much higher chance of another relegation. It’s also lost a potential talisman, builder of loyalty and (let’s be honest) huge marketing weapon.

    Carroll, arguably, has lost more than anyone. He can’t set foot in Toon again, and he’s being paid astronomical sums to pull on the wrong shirt. He is royally screwed and I’d not be surprised if he tries to back-track at some point.

    Liverpool have lost because there is NOT WAY IN HELL they’ll get £35m worth out of him. They are also going to be in serious danger of qualifying for Europe only to be chucked out for breaking the new fiscal constraint rules. Bleedin fucknuggets.

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  22. OK, here’s another thought: what if the club knew this was another Woodgate situation? What if that Sweded blerk has told them he’ll keep breaking down forever, and they engineered all this to cash in?

    It’s all a conspiracy!!! 😯

    Ok, probably not. Just saying, like… 😳

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  23. Looking forward to seeing Pardews press conference. Carroll will have had his agent in his ear the entire time yesterday. Doesn’t help a young lad who thinks he’s a big shot if he knew what Liverpool were offering. Sad to say but even hearing both sides of the story, Carroll still comes off worse. He clearly didnt think MA had the balls to show him the door and was essentially trying to hold the club for ransom. He couldn’t go back on his threat for risk of looking a fool/losing leverage when it came to negotiating a new deal in the summer. If he made false threats now and tried to in the summer he wouldn’t be taken seriously.
    Unlucky big lad, it didn’t work and you walked out on us.

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  24. I wonder if there’s a statutory cooling off period in these contracts? That’d be interesting…

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  25. Your probably right Toonsy, Would like to see it though.

    This must be Nile Rangers time he needs a goal, But he has more pace, Tricks, Running the channels and hold up play are superior to Carroll.

    Last season i remember a match where Ranger played as a lone striker (Leicester ❓ ) where guthrie scored the winner and ive not seen hold up play so good since Al was in his pomp, Fantastic Talent if he can get his brain sorted…

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  26. How did you feel when you first heard of Liverpool’s interest?

    I was a bit surprised and didn’t really know what was going on at the time. When I knew it was real and that there was a chance for me to come here I knew it was a great opportunity and I had to take it.

    thought you didnt want to leave judas

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  27. Hopefully this shows up on my mobile….

    CC – Yeah Leicester. I also remember he did it against Cardiff aswell

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  28. Cometh the moment cometh the man – the future has to be Ranger or even Phil Airey to be promoted

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  29. Cometh the moment cometh the man – the future has to be Ranger or even Phil Airey to be promoted

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  30. Good point about Airey. About right having him come in as our backup level 5; move everyone else up. Gawd, I hope Ranger grows up reaaaaal quick… 😯

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  31. Interesting interview. Can’t watch the video, but from the transcript he’s making the best of a huge blunder on his part.

    Do I want him to do well? Ummm…

    Nah. I want him to crash and burn and be sold back to us for £5m in the summer, tail between legs and full of contrition. Not that unlikely, as I don’t know if he’ll ever be the same player in another shirt.

    Rose-Tinted Tuesdays, or what?

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  32. hitman- yeah i just read that too mate..
    well he’s pissed on his chips now eh! probably wanted to be on good terms with us aswell as his new scouse scummy followers.
    its funny isnt it, i think to our credit weve understood when weve lost a talent to a club for the right reasons. but imo carroll has taken a sidewards step.. even if it was chelsea or united or real madrid id understand him trying his luck at a bigger club, but pool haha…sickening

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  33. I think the fact that Pools paid so much for him shows that they’re not as well set up for the coming years as we are. They want to be in the CL, but that £35m represents almost 20% of their annual income and that simply isn’t a viable proportion if they’re to avoid Platini’s penalties.
    NUFC are (partly due to deals like this one) likely to be profitable over the next few years, which puts us in a good position compared to these lumbering giants who just haven’t started adjusting yet.

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  34. Mark – You could look at it in a different light. Liverpool put their money where their mouth is and showed a bit of ambition. Perhaps Carroll appreciated that?

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  35. I think Carroll is like some other sportsmen: not much Brain, but 95% of it full of football. Doesn’t leave much space for things like level-headed business and life decisions. I think he was very professionally railroaded, first by his agent and then by an angry (and equally petulent) Ashley, both of whom played on Carroll’s greed and naivity.
    I’d like to think that he’s pig sick this morning having woken up with his life upside down and no way back.

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  36. Toonsy

    You could look at it another way that they have showed a lot of bollocks buying two unproven players for £58m, Carroll is a good player and was important to us, Not as important as Barton, Tiote, Coloccini and Enrique IMHO.

    He is also needs quality delivery and i cant really see Kuyt and Rodriguez whipping in crosses like Barton, He is a loose cannon as well and will end up in prison or rehab by the time hes 24.

    Suarez is just another of a long line of goalscorers from the dutch league, Remember Kenneth bought us Tomason after he won the golden boot there, Also Kezman, Kuyt, Alfonso Alves and Kalou have looked ***** here and i can easily see him flopping.

    Not bitter at all like… 😈

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  37. at the end of the day we will just be going in circles, we will never find out what really happend as we do not have an owner that will come out and talk to the media. but now we must go forwaerd, i know he was an exceptional player, but we need to get over this, look at it this way, we sold a player who cost nothing for £35 million, the only reason we are bothered is because of his sentermental value to use. we must look up and prgress now and leave this behind us!!! ower main aim has always to been to stay up lets not forget that just because of were we are now.

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  38. Rich

    Its funny how many called Taylor a mercenary before he signed and how he should copy Carrolls example and show loyalty to his club… 😆 🙄

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  39. mike ashley’s much talked about plan for newcastle united will always fail imo.the upshot will always end with situations,like the one we faced with carroll yesterday.because of the strict ceiling wage on players coming in,or players renogotiating contracts,will always end with us losing players,as we are simply not offering players any incentives to stay.
    in a way i could understand carroll asking for more money,if clubs are willing to stump up more than 30 million pounds for him,then he must think he is worth more than alan smith sitting on his backside,getting 60 grand a week.
    this is where ashleys plan will always fall flat on it’s face,we could bring through a young player,who lets say gets an international call up,they are then thrust onto that stage,also the players they are mixing with,are saying i get this much a week etc,
    when the player gets back,his head is turned,then how long is it going to be before they are knocking down ashley’s door for more money,and we all know ashley isn’t having any of that,then the chances are we are never going to be able to hold onto players because of his strict criteria.it is even getting to the point where we cannot get any one to sign for us,because of the age barrier ,wages etc,we have a very limited scope to work within,for any manager.
    so when we are looking at the future,it’s pretty bleak as we will never see any class players here because ashley wont pay their wages,we will never see any players in their prime playing for us,just raw kids who will use newcastle like a stepping stone,to further their careers,then be sold on for high turn over.
    ashley seems to be on a one man crusade to change football,which on one hand is all well and good,but at this moment in time,he is in a minority of one,as money still talks unfortunatley.until they have a salary cap,ashley will plough a lone furrow,but he is also turning newcastle united into a footballing pariah,in the meantime.

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  40. Trojan: that’s exactly what Platini’s new rules are supposed to avoid, but I’m not sure how effective they’ll be.

    The alternative to Ashley’s approach is to just accept that footie is all down to how big a sugar daddy the owner is. At the end of the day Liverpool cannot possibly justify what they just spent, and it could cost them very dearly. Fat lot of use buying their way to a CL spot then being excluded from it because they spent £50m more than they earned. Which they will.

    We’re in an awkward change-over period, and I personally give Ashley some credit for seeing what’s coming and adapting to it. That said, I still think he should have just told AC to sod off to bed last night, as letting him go could cost a hell of a lot more than £35m.

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  41. Trojan, there are only a few clubs that can pay that sort of stupid money, and with greater and lesser frequency depending. And not all the players will get bought up for stupid money, most clubs are trying to be more sensible like us. You just can’t legislate, or you can but it may or may not work, for those exploiters of the masses with their billions.

    “We will never see any class players here because ashley wont pay their wages, we will never see any players in their prime playing for us”

    I reckon Barton, Nolan, Colloccini, HBA, Simpson, Gosling, Tiote and Enrique are all class and are or will be soon in their prime (though would say I am a bit worried about the latter two staying), but if they did leave we would again make some serious cash on them and then can enjoy some more shopping.

    They are not all going to leave all at once, and a football club is always evolving, if we are forced to sell the odd player from time to time we will be doing so generally with huge profits which should still keep us improving.

    The top 4 are basically out of sight for now, but who knows what is going to happen down the road, our policy should keep us on their coat tails, and that is just going to have to be good enough for now.

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