Is Cheik Tiote heading for the St James’ park exit door?

toonsy

Chelsea bound?
Where oh where is Cheik Tiote? He is of course injured, apparently. Or is he?

Call me cynical, paranoid even, but to me it just seems as though there is something not quite right with Cheik Tiote.

To me it smacks of the whole Andy Carroll scenario again. Cast your minds back. Remember Carroll was injured and was ‘touch and go’ for quite a few games before he finally packed his bags and trotted off to Liverpool. With Tiote training well then not training then being available then not being available and not training all week it kind of gets me all jittery and leaves me wondering if we’re heading down a familiar path once again.

Interest from Chelsea doesn’t exactly calm my nerves either, much like Alan Pardew’s words from last weekend where he effectively said that if any player leaves it’s going to be for mega money. There then is this that is printed in The Observer today.

“You’re talking about Newcastle United – nothing is certain here. We could lose one of our great players, who knows? Some of the financial decisions are taken out of my hands,” said Pardew when asked about the same of any of of his key players in January.

“I want to strengthen in one or two areas but we’ll have to be on our guard against one of our best players going when the window opens. You can never think you’re OK. I learned that in my days at West Ham, but the Andy Carroll thing brought that home more vividly than most things.”

I really do hope that I’m just being paranoid about the whole thing, but a look at the form book is enough to make me feel, shall we say, pensive, about the whole thing. It gets back to the whole question of ambition. Do we have ambition to build a team that is affordable and can run from within our current income? Or do we sell yet again and start from scratch?

My Dad thinks I’m bonkers for thinking this, but I just can’t help thinking there is something amiss. Like he pointed out, would Tiote be shielded from a potential injury so far away from the January window? Probably not, but this is Newcastle United and common sense is a rare commodity.

Does anyone else think it’s a bit fishy?

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.

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116 thoughts on “Is Cheik Tiote heading for the St James’ park exit door?”

  1. Carroll was injured though – he didn’t play for Liverpool for weeks following his transfer. Sorry don’t buy the conspiracy theories – Tiote may or may not be sold in January but the only reason he isn’t playing is because he is injured IMO

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  2. Yeah but toonsy remember that though it was suspicious at the time Carroll didn’t play for the first month and a half for his liverpool career so was genuinely injured.

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  3. Looking at guthrie’s recent performance i’d say tiote would have a hard time getting back into the 1st team and i think he knows it 🙂 great performance by the lads yesterday.

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  4. Yep was March before Judas played for Liverpool so there’s defo no conspiracy there so if people want to say there’s something shady about the Tiote injury then there are 4 options
    1) He’s faking injury, in which case he can **** off
    2) The club are bullshitting about his injury, in which case why wouldn’t Tiote come out and say something?
    3) Chelsea, NUFC and Tiote are all involved in a big conspiracy…..seriously!!?
    4) Tiote is really injured, he’ll be back when he’s back and if a mad bid comes in for him he will probably go, that’s football I’m afraid.
    Option 4 for me.

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  7. “Does anyone else think it’s a bit fishy?”

    Not in the slightest, Pardews comments are just **** covering after what happened with mandy last year…

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  10. Option 4 as well no big deal. Don’t think cheik needs any shielding anyway. To be honest i am just really happy that guthrie has came in and performed well always been a fan of his like karlos says although cheiks the better player guthrie has the shirt and is performing admiraby. Defo justy **** covering if a big bid comes in he’ll go but thats the same with any club just ask manu and ronaldo.

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  12. not worried in the sliiiiiiightest with the way guthrie is playing!!!

    off topic – 30th in the fantasy prem league 😎

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  13. Ritchietoon – yup option 4 for me, can’t believe people think there’s some bizarre conspiracy going on – he’s injured ffs, pards and co saying he may be available for next game is to make the opposing team have to cater for him playing against em and therefore having to make more plans

    Fergie

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  14. If tiote does get sold it would have to be for more than 30 mill and with that money we can easily bring in a quality CM and even a new striker. Alot more players will want to go to nufc now we are in a europian spot 😎

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  15. Thought he had a knee ligament injury?

    If it is a mild ligament injury he should not be able to train for about six weeks.

    If it is more serious he could be out from 8 weeks to 12 months.

    This type of injury will certainly deter other clubs from making a bid in January but I wouldn’t rule out him being sold next summer.

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  17. nee good worrying about speculation,therse’s gonna be rumours about outgoings and incomings from now until last day of window,in the words of the great doris day,[friggin hell im that old] que serra serra 😆 😆 😆

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  18. Just injured. Not leaving. Newspaper talk. No owner in their right mind would part with one of their best assets at this time. 😐

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  20. Personally reckon he’s injured – still a bit too far away from the transfer window to wrap him in cotton wool.

    Hope he’ll be back for Chelsea.

    It would make sense to rest him against City and Man U (and even Chelsea) just to ensure that he’s back for the more winnable games.

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  21. We got battered yesterday once Jonas went off, but we were well worth our point imo.

    I just love the sight of diamond geezer floppy chops Rio Ferdinand whingeing about the penalty…nice one 😈 😈

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  23. Don’t forget that Tiote is on an Ashley-approved contract. His wages are set at a sustainable level. There is no pressure to move him on because of wages that are out of whack. Yes, he’ll go if someone offers way more than he is worth. But surely the same can be said of pretty much any player at any club?
    If you can go and get a same-quality replacement and trouser a £10m profit, why not?

    The bigger worry for me is Coloccini, who IS on old style wages, and may be expecting to stay on them, because his performance justifies it. His age and lack of sell-on value at the expiry of any new contract will make that a tough deal to agree. But I think we will reach resolution on that too.

    I actually think, when it comes to the business side of things, we have a VERY shrewd operator running things. He is achieving excellent value for the club, both in terms of capital outlays and ongoing wage costs, and I believe in the future that that degree of business soundness will be needed to underpin all successful clubs that don’t have a sovereign state as a sugar daddy.

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  26. Archie Brand….it’s quite interesting how we have fared against the top two without Tiote in the side….kudos to the toon midfield imo..

    I still think our best midfield will ultimately be Marveaux Tiote Cabaye Obertoon, with Jonas pushing Marveaux and Guthrie pushing Cabaye.

    I think at the moment Tiote is genuinely injured, but hopefully the bloke will be back for Chelsea. Unfortunately the sale of any of our top players in the January window cannot be discarded 😥 It’s a known fact that clubs tend to somewhat “panic buy” in January, and what better time to sell to one of the “money clubs” read Chelsea, who are going through somewhat of a crisis. Hoh hum…another shoyt January to put up with with the usual gash media speculation.. 👿 👿 👿

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  27. Well let’s go through all the scenarios and how we deal with them.

    1. he’s not injured and he’s had his head turned by Chelsea or whoever and Pardew doesn’t think his mind is right……..POSSIBLE. If so what do we do as a club and how do we react as fans?
    For me , If that was the situation, then you sell him for the right price but also knowing we have identified his replacement.

    2. He is really injured and Pardew can ease him back gently knowing that in the past we have rushed players back too early due to no quality cover and suffered the consequences for that…This time though Guthrie has stepped up to the mark and made is easy for Pardew. PROBABLE.

    3. Pardew maybe could be trying out different players (Guthrie) knowing Tiote will be off to the ACN and needs to find which players can effortlessly step into the places without costing us valuable points. Possible.

    4. Tiote could be believing he is too good for the contract he is on and rocking the boat in trying to get a re-negotiation to maybe make him the top earner and the club are playing hard ball, which could be rocking the boat…DOUBTFUL….

    So for me , scenario 2 seems most probable but that is based solely on my own thoughts and naturally is a guess simply because we never know what’s going on behind the scenes do we.

    Having said that, let’s look at the worst case scenario of him wanting out.
    In the past when we have lost players of his Quality we have struggled but that was when we literally didn’t have a team of quality players and losing someone like him naturally can upset the apple-cart.

    I think this club is wiser and better equipped to deal with this sort of thing now as much as it panics us.
    If he does leave, I believe that although it would be a blow…The money we would get would be invested in quality, because that “in my opinion” is what this club is all about now and it’s not about filling a gap with any old rags.

    I also know that many fans would say “well that’s it, we are a selling club and we will get relegated by going this way once again”…
    I say the opposite is true and that we get stronger as time goes on because of our clever dealings when one of our players gets sounded out by the money bags clubs.

    Forget the Andy Carroll situation and where the money went because I think that went way too fast for all of us..

    This time, if it’s a case of Tiote “wanting to leave” and the offer is mammoth, which it will have to be before we would do business anyway, then that leaves us unbelievable scope to really stock our shelves with quality all over the park .

    Remember, Man Utd sold Ronaldo and everyone wondered how they could replace him but they still carried on as if nothing had happened…

    Roy Keane..Man Utd’s version of Tiote was replaced…
    I use Man Utd as a yardstick and in no way am I saying we are as enriched in squad depth as they are ..but I do think we have a manager and set up that is more than well geared to dealing with the loss of influential or even iconic players.

    What we as fans have to do is, to sit back and relax and believe that whatever happens, we have to take it on the chin and move on and wait and hope that anything that gets dealt out of this club will be replaced with similar or potentially better and then some.

    Just call this…me thinking out loud and it is just my opinion and the way my outlook is. 😀

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  28. Frankly, and honestly, I haven’t seen any evidence of newcastle getting rid of anybody who doesn’t want to go. From what I read, Tiote doesn’t want to go. End of. For all his faults, I don’t think Ashley would deliberately undermine what is going on at the moment. The man might be an arsehole but he ain’t stupid

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  31. He’s probably just injured. It’s a bit early to be holding him back for a potential transfer, does not make sense to keep one of your best players out of the side for 8 games just in case a transfer comes off. That would be counter productive, especially if the interested club decide they have found somebody else for better value in the meantime…

    That said, we have to accept that £25m plus for somebody like Tiote would represent good business for us. A nice return in profit, a bit of debt to Ashley paid off and plenty left over to get a replacement in.

    Naturally I would rather we kept our best players and build around them, but we all know Ashley does not think like that and wants his money back so lets not kid ourselves!

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  40. Ill be honest I’m worried and will be immensely gutted if we lose tiote because a replacement won’t be brought in straight away.

    I know villas boas wants his own team, however essien is still to return. Don’t think he rates obi mikel then they have lampard Ramirez and meireles. Why go for tiote when they really wanted modric in the summer who is a creative attacking player they need not a defensive player in tiote. Personally it’s just the press stirring again. But we all know anything can happen…..

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  45. TelegraphNews Daily Telegraph News
    BREAKING: Wales football manager Gary Speed has been found dead at his home after apparently committing suicide. Story follows.
    7 minutes ago

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  47. Just saw on SSN , I looked on the net and it appears that he’s committed suicide.
    I don’t know how true that is. 😥
    R.I.P. Gary.

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  48. As much as Pardew is trying to be honest with regards to players leaving for big fees in January, he should keep his gob shut and not broadcast it. Simple as that.

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  50. *** stunned. Gary Speed one of the finest players to pull on a black and white shirt. RIP Gary you were a legend. Thoughts are with his family

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  55. Batty that’s horrific, my god if that’s true the poor man must have been in such turmoil. Feel sick.

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  60. Puts things into perspective doesn’t it ….We all think life is rosy for some when obviously deep down they are in turmoil for whatever reason but put a front on.

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  65. Ashley is a businessman and will do what is right for is business.
    My guess is Tiote will not be sold for a few years yet.

    No evidence but I believe Collo will be sold as doubt he will take a pay cut!

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  68. muck fee. Just realised about Gary Speed. Terrible, terrible news. Heart goes out to his family. Waaaaaay too young. Such a shame he couldn’t get help.

    RIP Gary Speed

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  69. Ah man, what a pisser this is…imagine his family now having to try and make sense of it all in the middle of utter numb shock.
    I can’t get my head round it especially with someone like Speed who looked to have everything going for him.
    Just shows how fragile the mind is doesn’t it.

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  71. wolfie agree mental health is terrible ,the poor blokes head must of been shot to peices ,you can be ok 1 day then bang your heads gone 🙁

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  72. 😥 😥 😥 😥

    absoulutely gutted about gary speed , i thought he was a level headed bloke , just shows you what you dont know whats going on in peoples lifes!! 1 of the best center midfielders weve ever had!! GUTTED

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  73. Absolutely shocked and gutted at the terrible news about Gary Speed’s apparent suicide.
    True pro for the Toon and every other club he played for.
    Just goes to show we don’t ever know what’s going on in peoples minds.
    RIP

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