If you take off the black and white glasses for a moment you’ll see that he is just talking honestly about things on this one. No player in their right mind would turn down the chance to move to such clubs, either from a prestige point of view or a financial one, so really there is nothing to see here and nothing that deep down most of us don’t already know.
Pardew said all of this in his BBC Newcastle radio talk-in last night, where he sat with John Carver and answered a number of questions posed to him by fans. However this is the one that people will latch onto so let’s take a look at what he actually had to say.
“It’s impossible to restrict Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City from coming in for one of our players. We have players who are not on the salaries these top clubs can offer,” said Pardew.
However Pardiola insists that the situation is no different to the one Arsenal found themselves in last summer with Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, and could well find themselves in again this summer should Manchester City firm up any interest in Robin van Persie.
“Forget about Everton and Aston Villa, we have put ourselves in a similar position to Arsenal,” he added.
“The one security I have is that Mike Ashley is a difficult seller. He is not going to let someone go for £7m, he is going to want top, top money.”
“But if Yohan Cabaye gets a call from Manchester United and they tell him he is going to be the next Paul Scholes I am not going to be able to stop him.”
“It is going to cost Manchester United a shedload of money, but until we have Champions League football, and we might have that by this weekend, we can not compete with that.”
People may not like it, but it’s the truth at the end of the day. No matter how big some fans think we are as a club they would have to be seriously deluded to even contemplate us being on the same level as some of the clubs mentioned.
This wasn’t the only worthy soundbite from the interview however, and I’ve rounded up the most important ones below although naturally if you feel that I’ve missed anything then please feel free to add it.
AP on Demba Ba and “that” clause: “Demba’s release clause has been widely publicised, there is some truth to it, and some untruth. There is a clause there.”
“There is a situation with his contract and we are in talks with him and his agent. It is not a foregone conclusion that he will stay, but the Newcastle public have played their part singing his name. He must love that. Demba is not all about money.”
AP on incoming players: “I am contemplating bringing in someone because we don’t have a dominant header of the ball. On the scouting front we are looking at a centre-half who can come and score us eight goals next season.”
“We are trying to bring another player to the club who is close to Yohan Cabaye. That is another little connection and a bit of a clue for you.”
I wonder if that would be Mathieu Debuchy, who Yohan Cabaye recently revealed he’d been chatting to about joining Newcastle? Mind you, he is not a central defender…
Like I said, there are loads of other little titbits, but these for me are the most important ones. If you really want to know what his Goal of the Season is then it’s Hatem Ben Arfa’s against Blackburn in the FA Cup (Carver’s was Cabaye’s free-kick against Manchester United). Other than that, nothing but refreshing honesty from the newly crowned Manager of the Season.
I am contemplating bringing in someone because we don’t have a dominant header of the ball Andy C arrol springs to mind 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
How the f do I get the iplayer link for the interview, can’t find it on the iplayer website .. Someone enlighten me pleeeeeeease
TOONPIPES(Quote)
it’d be good to see us reach a bracket where when we do sell players it is mainly the fringe players rather that first teamers and still make a profit on them, will probably be the case with simpson and best this year and would probably be the same with guthrie if he had a little longer on his contract
if we sign a few stand out players now then next year we will see more of the same i reckon, making profit on other players on the fringes eg maybe marvauex, obertan, perch, ryan taylor, players you dont want to sell but makes way to bring in players to kick us on to another level
alanthedog363(Quote)
I was thinking he mean’t at CB.
premandup(Quote)
Toonpipes – there you go: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00r955t/Total_Sport_Alan_Pardew_phonein/
They’re on for the last 30 minutes of this, so just skip the first part if you wanna go straight to it ..
funkness(Quote)
I am not at all seeing this as a real possibility, given all the rosy things he has said about Spurs recently, but the one CB that has actually scored 8 goals this season is – wait for it – Jan Vertonghen ..
We are probably not gonna be able to land him, but when listening to the interview yesterday, I still found myself thinking – well, well .. Why the h*ll not?
funkness(Quote)
@ Premandup: Agreed – he was talking ’bout a CB ..
funkness(Quote)
ALANTHEDOG363
i dont think well make a profit on best mate said all along he was ****
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
cant even get in the irish team best says it all really
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
think **** is a bit harsh, think we signed him for around the million mark, so even two million back wouldnt be bad, wouldn’t be surprised to get about four million for simpson if there are a few interested clubs but obviously none of these are certain
alanthedog363(Quote)
ALANTHEDOG363
was hopeing for about 5 mil for simpson meself 😮
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
neither could wes hoolohan, not surprised best wasnt picked as hasnt been playing, just back from injury, no form to judge, keane and doyle are rightly ahead of him anyway
alanthedog363(Quote)
That iplayer link doesn’t work for me leek 🙁
witters(Quote)
who knows, but we have a chance to fill the places left by smith, lovenkrands, guthrie and those who are sold with much better players (or lots of potential) rather than just fill gaps, who we take advantage of that
alanthedog363(Quote)
Funkiness thanks but still no working …chief takes me to cover page and can’t find the program …. Faaaaaack
TOONPIPES(Quote)
I was pleased that he intends to get our set pieces sorted out.
It has been a weakness of ours all season.
Does he intend to bring in a specialist coach ? as that wasn’t clear to me?
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
That’s annoying – sorry, lad. I just had it in an open window from last night, listening to it again this morning .. I’ll see what I can find and get back to you – cheers …
funkness(Quote)
I reckon from what he has said there we will be looking to land Douglas and Debuchy but who knows.
lualua17(Quote)
Was a decent interview, liked the honesty and nice that he credited carver as the best signing he’s made
Think this links back to your fans being realistic post the other day, most of us know if real Madrid, mancs or some other major club comes in for our players they’ll prob go but also good he said we can forget everton, Aston villa trying to nick players 🙂
stevep(Quote)
Things must be going right when clubs like real, Barca, man Utd etc could be interested in our players.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
still gonna be a long summer tho, but at the end of august, I wont be surprised if we haven’t lost one key player. And I’m sure we will have up to 5 new faces in the first team.
Its a big game tomorrow, but I think spuds will feel the pressure more than us or Arsenal. Unfortunately its out of our hands now and all we can do is try and win our match.
Howay the Lads.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Does anyone know if Tiote is suspended for tomorrow, and if so for howmany matches??
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
BB….No, he’ll get a slapped wrist and told that he’s a “very naughty boy” 😉
richietoon(Quote)
good read toosy, missed the radio, show 🙁 sounds if it was really good 😛
the bit about “bringing in someone close to Cabye” Eden Hazard???
why not???
for all we know, Ashley might of done a deal months ago 😉 😉
yes,all the papers talk about him going here, there , everywhere for £25 mil etc: but how can they be soo sure?? have they talked to him personally??
dont forget, Hazard was at the benton training ground around christmas time to visit cabye for his birthday, or was this just a smokescreen?? 😯 😯 😯 we will NEVER know , what Ashley will do next!! 😯 😯
toonsoldier9(Quote)
No one is irreplaceable.
I expect Guthrie , Simpson and possibly Best or Ranger to go in this window along with Smith and Lovens.
I don’t think Cabaye will go but I do think Ba and Tiote could go.
Plenty of players out there to replace them.
Amalfitano seems a done deal and he is a great prospect.
I see that Fulham have got Assaidi in their sights ( as good if not better than Ben Arfa) but we could go for his team mate , Bas Dost , to replace Ba. He is possibly the dominant header of the ball Pardew is referring to. I hope so cos this guy is already twice as good as Carroll will ever be.
Any front line combination of Amalfitano , Cisse , Dost and Ben Arfa will produce plenty of goals.
If Tiote goes I think we will definitely go for Vertonghen to replace him and I hope we bring in Yanga-Mbiwa for RB/CD.
sidekick(Quote)