Hypocr…Ashley?

Mike Ashley

Mike Ashley
Hypocrisy?
Thursday the 13th July, the day that brought news of Newcastle United’s unpredictable transfer saga full circle.

It started with the news from the proverbial horse’s mouth that a certain Charles N’Zogbia wouldn’t be joining the French revolution on Tyneside, if indeed this was ever the case.

Alan Pardew came out with the seemingly peculiar statement of the ever-changing stance on transfer targets and what lay ahead for in terms of future recruitment of players this summer. Could this be a change of heart from those above? Or has Pardew finally got to stick his oar in when going forward with signings?

Pardew stated: “I am told that Charles has got an imminent move, so I don’t think that will be us.”

Now, what to make of this little snippet of information? First off, you have to ask yourself as a supporter, were we ever really interested in N’Zogbia and was it all to do with a certain social networking site that many have come to either love or hate?

However, when you take a few steps back from all the rubbish and rumour, you will quickly be reminded of how in January a certain Andy Carroll was sold virtually last minute without any form of replacement. Sky Sports News then broke the news that Newcastle had out of nowhere bid TWICE for N’Zogbia from Wigan. Seemingly this was sanctioned from above Pardew and to some extent is viewed as a softener for the loss of our local number nine.

You may be asking yourself why the Hypocr…Ashley headline?

Well, surely if Mike Ashley was willing to bid close to £10 million for him in January on transfer deadline day then he would have bid that same amount again once the transfer window re-opened?

In terms of who is a target for Newcastle United these days is anyone’s guess due to the over saturated market of player price, contract situation and media exuberance to sell a paper. On the other hand, you begin to look at the players Newcastle have already brought in and what good acquisitions they are to the current squad regardless of price and how much they are paid a week.

With these players and hopefully the purchase of a couple more as stated by Alan Pardew then hopefully the majority of fans will begin to calm down and disperse any memories of transfer failings whoever the player.

Then again, there are always the sceptics that will question these almost u-turn decisions and lack of clear statements from the club and its executives. Honestly, I am probably one of these sceptics
that fall into the category of believing Ashley’s saying one thing one minute then going along with it until it all changes.

Getting irate at the lack of understanding between management and supporter is something I think we all have to accept as apart of the modern game but keep on supporting the players and team that we love no matter what.

Thanks to ethi-toon for sending this in.

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.

138 thoughts on “Hypocr…Ashley?

  1. Because we were desperate in january but now we have hba, marvuex, ba in. Look at seb larsson, willubg to pay a few mill in januaey but nit prepared to get him on a free in the summer.

    Finding anything to moan at ashley about now. Buy tbh i thibk we bid for zoggy noing too wel it was too late.

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  2. We were never really interested in N’Zogbia. It was clear when we started trying to tarnish his reputation via The Chronicle with claims that he was a “mercenary” and that his attitude was still poor etc.

    Don’t know if you have noticed, but it’s something we do when we miss out on/sell a player. It’s very transparent in truth.

    Saying that, we don’t need him and would much rather we signed a versatile midfielder like Perotti or Barnetta and a striker.

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  3. Nobody from the club ever said we bid £10m.
    Jeez, get a bloody grip, this is getting worse than The Sun.

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  4. Given, Milner and Carroll and of course under the previous owners, Woodgate were all sold late in the restraint of trade otherwise known as the Transfer Window. What are the chances of Enrique going in the last week and a skirmish to find an expensive free transfer replacement?
    I am not going to try and make any sense of Pardew’s pronouncements. He is the only one saying anything at all and none of it makes any sense but then contradictions never do. Reading what he said after Carroll was sold has not helped him.
    In the next few weeks we expect Enrique, Smith, Routledge, Xisco, Ranger and Lualua to go saving us additional wages on top of those previously paid to Campbell Nolan and Kuqi. Plenty of scope to bring in what is needed.
    The squad is small but not weak. A few more injuries like Guthrie’s will however expose weaknesses. Maybe it is all in hand but holding our breath may not be healthy.

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  5. Let’s be honest. Ashley will not pay big money for any players, nor will he pay big or even average wages. Hopefully our scouts can find some good younger players that perform in the prem league. The problem I see happening is when Ashley sells 2 of our best players (high earners) just before the transfer deadline.
    Hopefully that won’t happen.

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  6. Blaydonson
    July 16, 2011 at 20:00

    “The squad is small but not weak.”

    I disagree with that. It’s the other way around IMO. The squad is larger than a lot of others in the Premier League. Unfortunately it’s filled with people like James Perch, Ryan Taylor, Xisco and Alan Smith meaning that once you get beyond the first team there isn’t a lot to write home about.

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  7. Toonsy – I’ve got an article on the way for you. it’ll be up in drafts in around half an hour ;D

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  8. the sooner pardew pays of his gambling debts to jaba the hut and gets out the better,you can tell when pardew lies,his lips move.

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  9. It would make sense that at the last minute he would pay 10 mill (if we did bid at all) .. but that we wud bid less now considering the forwards we have .. ba will start / hba will start / barton will start / tiote will start / cabaye will start which leaves one spot for marveaux/gutti/gosling – not to mention youngsters so perhaps less valued now? wud be wicked to have him but based that analysis cant see it happening ..

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  10. Nico are you trying to say we pay below average wages ?so the new guys are all on low wages 😆
    As for Zog I really dont think we need him even if I would take him, as for bidding for him how do we know that we really did ? or we could have knowing that Wigan wouldn’t sell knowing that they needed as much help in staying up ❓

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  11. Its a belta rumour about pardew being in debt to MA, but can’t really see why any employer would put a failed gambler in charge of one of his businesses probs a tad unlikely

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  12. Aye 😆

    “You owe me money so I’m going to put you in a position whereby you can lose me more money”

    Can nobody see how much sense that makes 😆

    I think I’ve cracked it with Pardew. Don;t put too much into what he says, don;t take everything as gospel, and judge him only on his football management as that is the only area where he has carte blanche IMO.

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  13. think you right Toonsy – i think there is a slim chance, say 15%, that it is a cover story and we are after him

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  14. Toonsy

    #15 – Agreed.

    We will sign a couple more players, but they won’t be first teamers. Therefore, don’t expect the club to spend too much in the remainder of the window. There’s going to be a lot of unhappy fans come September 1st…

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  15. El Toro, they will be baying for blood – wheres wor £35 mill player?! – we don’t care who it is, where they play, if they worth it or not – JUST SPEND £35 MILL ON A PLAYER

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  16. TP – I don’t just mean about N’Zogbia. I mean in general. People read too much into everything when in reality there are games being played all over the shop.

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  17. The thing that makes me laugh is that you get people like Tom @ 9 stateing as fact that Pards has a gambling debt to Jaba, then states that all Pards does is Lie 😆 😆 So Tom must have proof or maybe he is lying the choice is yours Tom wheres your proof 😉
    Toonsy @ 15 I agree with that

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  18. Toonsy – yeap i agree … i think its hilarious that everyone thinks MA et al are totally f ucking useless – i would say that there will be few better deal makers/negotiators than him in business today and that if there is an opportunity he will make it happen

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  19. TP

    People need to step back and realise that the investment has to match the aim. Look at our first team squad. It’s good as it is and we just need a few squad additions in order to achieve our goal of a top 10 finish next year. I suspect the year after will see our aims shift to a top 8 finish and so on. That’s clearly how we are playing it. Slowly but surely improving and not getting carried away.

    It’s a cautious and slower road to progress, but it’s definitely a road to progress.

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  20. 100% agree with you ET …. correct growth model which the current climate/our past dictates and which is standard for all most successful organisations .. whats good is that our owners actual resources would permit quicker growth which is why i think that once the club is healthy financially, MA could be tempted to buy a few really tasty players – years off yet and he might well sell before then if someone offered substantial returns .. but there is still a chance in my opinion ..

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  21. ET – Agree, although on the flipside of that I can understand why people are frustrated as we could have really invested in the first team and aimed that bit higher than just top ten.

    Mind you we were minutes off 9th last season so who is to say that we won’t finish that bit higher anyway? 😉

    Hate to say it, but I said right at the start of the summer that it would be like this with the money once people found out it wasn’t getting lashed about.

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  22. Ashley does spend, look at Colo 11 mill and theres others, but its pretty obvious he likes his debt paid back too. We’ll get very little from ashley, we were never bidding for Charles its just paper talk the toon chiefs were happy not denying as it makes them look ambitious.

    Lets get used to spend less save more attitude from ashley because thats the way it’ll be until he sells the club.

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  23. Mark, without doubt there was a short period at the start of MA tenure where he bought into a totally different ideal/stratergy to that which he is currently implementing. That included lavishing cash on players like Colo and employing KK – which to me looks now to have been quite an immature decision based upon buying into the glory days of ‘the entertainers’ – i don’t mean immature like a young kid, i mean i think it belied his status of being a novice owner of a football club .. since then, i think he gained a better understanding of the terrible debt we had and of course the relegation revealed a very very stark picture .. since then i think he has taken owning the club very very seriously and we should benefit as a result. he will want his cash, he will sell, but he will make us a healthier club in the process

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  24. ….. and he might not sell for some time and if he gets a real taste for it and starts to spend some of his own cash, as he is not scared to do that irrespective of what some people think, it could be wickeed

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  25. Let’s be honest, the £35 million, even if all spent on transfer fees, was never going to sort the club out in one hit. It was going to take time, and it’s still going to take time. Evidently it’s not quite quick enough for some but each to their own I guess. Would be boring if everyone thought the same 🙂

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  26. yeh defo … wudn’t be right to have your own opinion and not expect others to have theirs .. not to get too philosophical about it

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  27. when we appointed pardew there were better managers around,what has pardew done to merit managing the town,i have supported the town for fifty years,open your eyes jaba,lambadis,and pardew,are liars no doubt about it,pardew is up to his eyes in debt,ashley paid of his debts,to make pardew his puppet,no matter what what you say supporters are being ripped of,i’m a season ticket holder,loved it up in level 7,out of the blue we were told we were being moved to level 4,where are we ending up?the gallowgate end,MORE LIES,you can buy your tops from jabas cheap shop,for less money than the club shop i wonder why?WAKE UP WE WILL GET NOWHERE WITH THESE LIARS IN CHARGE.

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  28. At the moment I think that we do have a pretty strong 1st team and bench. However, once you get past that 18 players we only have Championship players and kids. I think that they have decided that to strengthen any of those positions is prohibitavely expensive, except perhaps for a striker. Getting, the likes of Erdinc, Barnetta, Matudi & M’Bengue on top of the current 18 would give us a squad aiming for maybe 7th but the cost would be in excess of £40m in fees alone. Given that we have contracts up over the next 12 months perhaps the logic is to consolidate to a top 10 finish and then see which youngsters have come through and who we actually need. Makes more sense than a pure knee **** spend spend spend routine, but personally I would be delighted if they decided to go for it.

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  29. Hope you aren’t right Tom .. but you could be .. but it would certainly be a gamble for MA to buy a club and then purposefully destroy it and purposefully lie to everyone so that everyone gets p issed off and stops going to the match or stops buying strips, which as you correctly point out he makes money from selling, so that he loses even more money .. surely it would be more realistic that he would want to find a way to keep supporters sweet – even if it takes some time to bring them round .. that way he would make more money – which you think he wants – don’t you think?

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  30. Looking forward to seeing Kadar, Tavernier, Sameobi and Ferguson getting in and around the first team. It’s not all about spending money – particularly for back up players – some of these lads need to get a chance and all have looked decent when they’ve played (albeit a limited amount). I’d love to see the Toon bringing on their own talent – it’s part of Ashley’s plan and I think it’s the right way to be going about things. If we add another striker and get in a decent left back if Enrique goes then i would be happy to see some of these lads getting their chance from the bench.

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  31. Tom @ 31 your spot on they have lied to us, but as I said where is your proof that Pards has a gambling debt to the Fatman or is that you just stateing as fact something that you have heard ❓ ❓

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  32. Yes 3HOURSWASTED, looks like Ferguson can do it doesnt it .. be wicked if he was like Bale – kind of see some similarity already! … and if SAMEOBI came through – belta..

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  33. can’t name names but i know an accountant who worked for lambias,and pardew is in debt to ashley,,look mate ashley doesn’t care two monkies about newcastle fans,he knows that the fans will turn up week in week out,and like i have said he will milk this to the limit,it’s like a production line to him,buy young players if they do good sell them at a profit,keep the profit made,now in all honesty can you see us winning anything with a policy like that?

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  34. “can’t name names but i know an accountant who worked for lambias,and pardew is in debt to ashley,,”

    😆

    Love it when sentences start like that.

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  35. Tom – We’ve tried numerous policies, and won nothing under any of them. Let’s go back to the smoking room with brandy and mull over team selections.

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  36. ….like the selection committee used to. They are the only ones who have guided us to succes on a sustained basis.

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  37. Ok Tom .. suppose you are right … given the substantial debt of well over 100 million owed to MA alone, it is going to take quite a lot of good performances from lots of players that are sold at substantial profit over the price paid for them, as a result of the good performances, to get to a point whereby the club doesnt have any debt .. do you think that will be achieved with the team dropping down the league or moving up the league? ..

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  38. Tom my eldest Daughter is an accountant but she wouldn’t tell me about the in’s and out’s of her clients finances 😉 .
    Oh and do you believe that the new boys are all getting below average wages ?

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  39. i am BUZZING at the thought of cabaye and tiote in midfield – mentioned on another article tho that i would really like to know what has been done to try and curb Tiote propensity for getting booked! .. Pardew needs to have been giving him proper training on it

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  40. Dave – Can I remind you that the average wage is 21,000 a week in the premier league. If we’re paying them less than that then hats off to the club 😆

    Let me guess…. These new players were forced to work for relative peanuts and had no other choice other than signing the below average deals we apparently offer :lol :

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  41. don’t know if they are getting below average wages,would you believe anything that comes out of st james,oh for the days of honesty,joe harvey,bobby robson,the pond life that are in charge now are not fit to lick there boots,all i want is honesty to the fans(who deserve it) do any of you believe we will get honesty from ashley.

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  42. Toonsy – And Cabaye left french division champions and a champions league team for peanuts at a small club with no ambition…

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  43. Toonpipes – Do you not think having Cabaye there instead of Nolan will help Tiote out more? It can’t gave been easy being paired with an immobile midfielder who likes to attack now can it? 😉

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  44. Tom – But is that any different to Shepherd, Hall, McKeag, Westwood and in fact most of our owners previously?

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  45. Toonsy, its a very good point, yeh it will .. but hes still a little bit petulant on his tackling and whilst that may well have been down to the fact that he was cheesed off at having to do the running on behalf of shola and nolan, he needs a little coaching also

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  46. JOBEY07 – it was an unblvbl coup no doubt aided by the even more unblvbl coup of luring HBA to the toon .. even if HBA had a bad rep and others didn’t want to risk him – surely some of those less enamoured with MA can see that this is an example of where his gambling style has paid off big time

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  47. Tom – i would say we are getting more honesty. I have a much clearer idea about what our recruitment strategy is today than i have ever had before ..

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  48. Tom the problem is there is fuk all we can do about it unless some of us can buy the club and I don’t see that happening. so until someone does buy the club we are stuck with them.
    I just cant wait till we get back to footie and the window slams shut

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  49. Dave cannit wait for the first game .. wat a belta HBA will be seriously hyped up as he knows he is good and he will want to prove it against the big boys .. no more so than the guy who has been known to promote French talent but didnt go for hba .. yaaahoooo

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  50. Premandup .. presume you mean cos we havent seen hba play much? … but hasn’t it paid off by the fact that others have joined probs on the basis of hba rep??

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  51. Toonpipes maybe Tiote will have learned a lesson or 2 by himsel , and as Toonsy touched on now that he has a partner that hopefully doesn’t go missing for 90% of the games will help 😆

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  52. Totally off topic but I just laughed when I saw this.
    Some construction workers who work on Brightons new stadium took the **** out of the owners. On one of the stands they have their seagull, and these workers made it look like it was shitting!

    There is a picture on the link.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/brighton-hove-albion/8637526/Brightons-new-Falmer-stadium-features-an-incontinent-seagull-pattern-within-its-seats.html

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  53. Andy – Don’t we head out to the US first? Leeds is on the 31st I hope as I’m going to it 🙂

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  54. Ah right! The official site doesn’t put up the pre-season game schedule so i’ve no idea what is going on 😐 Hopefully there’ll be a decent stream for the us game/games? (i’ve no idea!)

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  55. Yeh Dave do agree, but it shudn’t be left to chance and for Tiote to figure for himself .. and i see Pardew as quite a forward thinking type of manager so would like to hear what they have been doing to help Tiote in that respect

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  56. Think tiote was still adjusting to the pace of the epl at times last year which may have been then reason for a few yellows. Probably didn’t help that when other teams were attacking nolan was jogging back in and out of position. Think cabaye will help out more than nolan as already mentioned and provide a more creative threat with the ball as at times last year nolans passing was attrocious. Nolan is quality in the box. Everywhere else he is average and cabaye is the better player

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  57. Andy I said a few times last year that Nolan had perfected the hospital ball passing but I always got abused for daring to suggest that he was anything other than captain fantastic 😆

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  58. yes Dave, wasn’t saying that Pardew should come out and actually tell us all of their coaching strategy and plan – point is that if i was able to know – i would like to! … actually, maybe it wudnt be a bad idea to show the refs that we are taking step to ensure compliance with their rules – what do you reckon?

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  59. They are already doing that – f uckerz!.. Did he get 16 yellows last season? wat a little rag pot – got to love his style

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  60. TP @ 69 there was still loads of fans including on here, that over looked that and still thought of him as our model captain fantastic

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  61. Premandup – i was well disappointed in Nolan after that .. rubbed salt in the wounds

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  62. whoooops Dave .. just realised i used some banned words on the this reply to your 72: …… ”I am sure there were, i wasn’t on here but i wasnt one of them in anycase! – f ****** w****** for doing that + he went well down hill after xmas .. think it is a great deal to get cabaye in for him .. unreal

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