There are two areas of contention. One of them, which I will look at later on in the article, is about the ambition of the club whilst the other one, which I will take a look at now, is about our wages. I’m assuming that those who are kicking up a fuss can’t really read though as they seem to be hinting at something entirely different to what Alan Pardew said.
Basically, the question Pardew was asked was about the ability to attract players over the likes of 5th placed Tottenham and 6th placed Liverpool. Here is what he said:
“I don’t think we’re anywhere near Spurs in terms of the wage bill. Theirs is double ours, so you can forget about Spurs.”
“That doesn’t mean to say we can’t compete with them on the playing pitch. On transfers, we can’t compete with their wages. We can’t compete with Liverpool’s wages. We’ve got to face that reality. We can’t.”
Now somehow this has translated into us having a wage cap that is half of what the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool pay their players. Now my eyes aren’t brilliant, but even I can’t see the words “wage cap” mentioned. I can see the words “wage bill” though, so the real story is that two teams that finished 5th and 6th have a higher wage bill than a team who is only in the second season of Premier League life. So where is the problem?
You look at the income that the two clubs in question and it far exceeds what we generate. Liverpool rake in more than double what we make each season, even without Champions League football, whilst Tottenham rake in a lot more than us – £130 million a year roughly. The best that we’ve ever done is £100 million in one season (£99.4 million back in 2008 in fact). although the last time we were in the Premier League our income was closer to £80 million.
So is it really any wonder those two clubs pay more wages than us? Also, can anyone give a credible reason why the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye signed for us, and why Cheik Tiote and Steven Taylor signed new deals if our wages are so derisory?
The second bone of contention seems to be regarding ambition. Once again, here is what Pardew had to say in that very same Sunday Sun article:
“Having said that about wages, we can get a top-10 finish, we can get a top-eight finish – we can, even, get a top-six finish maybe, if things went really, really well for us. That has been proven.”
“Then we need – at some point – to kick on. I think where Mike is at the moment, he wants the club to be stable. He wants to see that there’s some stability here.”
“He wants to see we can get a top ten finish next year and then, maybe, we can get him excited enough to attack the top level after that. That’s where we want to be.”
From that it has been gleaned that the club want to settle for top ten year after year, with no improvement. It’s not what Pardew himself says though is it? He is saying we can go higher. Does anybody really think that the club would bemoan the fact that we finished 8th instead of 10th? Please, have a word.
What is wrong with top ten for our second season back in the Premier League anyway? I think it’s a perfectly reasonable target and it would of course be an imporvement on last season. Isn’t that what we all want? Improvement?
I just think that sometimes people need to take a step back and realise where we are. I don’t think there is anything essentially wrong with what Alan Pardew is saying as it’s all pretty much common sense if you have the ability to look at things in a balanced way. I do question the wisdom of saying anything at all though, but then again, in black and white, the questions are there and Pardew is just responding to them.
Interestingly though, the same people that are kicking up about these comments are some of the same ones that hint that Alan Pardew talks shyte quite often, yet this time he isn’t.
When it suits eh? When it suits…..
More reflection time for Bobby is appropriate but don’t forget his bible Toonsy
witters(Quote)
CH is a ***** manager it wasnt his tactical genius that got us up it was the players.
hitman(Quote)
I wonder if the same amount of money had been given to a top european manager instead of Keegan. a) what we would have achieved at the time b) where we would be now.
DJG(Quote)
Not posted before, but reading comments about keegan riles me proper.
IMO, ashleys biggest mistake was bringing him back. If any of what did happen had happened to another manager, no one would be half as ar$ed as they are.
It’s probably why he never kept shearer, if he’d failed in the championship, he’d have needed sacking, but people like some of the above would have been in outrage.
Get over it and try and be positive about the prospect of watching tiote cabaye and Ben arfa up against bramble and turner next season.
H150(Quote)
For those talking about an American player earlier then how about a swap deal Barton or Nolan for Dempsey from Fulham ? we could even offer Ranger as part of the deal .
Axel(Quote)
You don’t need to pay massive fee’s or wages to get great players! Rough diamonds are best value for money! Andy cole for example! Buying unproven players from abroad is asking for trouble! Ok so there is some great players in the perm now from abroad, but is nobody else put off after the likes of, luque, xisco, Andreas Anderson, marcelino, etc etc etc, let’s be honest we’ve had more than our fair share of moppets! What some people seem to forget is the perm is the best league in the world, it’s know as such for a very good reason! Some of the best players in the world have tried their hand in our league and failed! Chevchenko, robinho, mascherano! If you ask me, a year in the championship has done us the world of good! Returned to the perm a much stronger team and without those who clearly didn’t deserve a black and White shirt! We want only those who want to play here and not for the pay check!!!
S114nka(Quote)
Welcome along H150 – I agree with your sentiment 😉
toonsy(Quote)
Toon buzzword of the week: Derisory.
Thad(Quote)
Why do any of you TRUST the word of Alan Pardew?
following is paraphrasing:
‘i can assure newcastle fans that carroll is going nowhere, it was one of the conditions of me taking the job’
2 weeks after Carroll sale
‘I said all those things about Carroll as a TACTIC to ward off interest’
Yep I really trust in his word and everything he tells the Toon faithful! He’s the most honest man you could hope to meet Alan Pardew is I say!
Bobby(Quote)
Fair enough MA did not get off the greatest of starts (esspecially by not completing due diligence) but a lot of the mess was left by FS, remember the sponsor money allbeing front loaded and the club still owing other clubs for previous transfers. IMO MA is trying to stabalise the club with paying for players upfront and trying to make the club self reliant with fifa bringing this new regs in for european competitions this can only be a good thing. All in all i would rather be in this position now than just before MA took over. Maybe if MA had completed due diligence he would have walked away laughing and nobody would buy nufc. IMO
timkrulno.1(Quote)
Bobby
What could Pardew have done? We rejected the bids from Liverpool + Spurs then Carroll handed in a transfer request…
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
If any owner has learned anything over the years about sometimes abnormal expectations of us fans it’s Ashley.
We have dined far too much on the past under Keegan and Sir John Hall’s money as well as Freddie Shepherds buy anyone for any price ideals and we have become expectant.
All I think Newcastle are doing now is, keeping us from getting above ourselves and expecting the club to shell out ridiculous transfer fees like Liverpool and the likes have.
Pardew is just playing it safe in my opinion by not giving too much away .
Imagine if he put out a different statement and said “well we can now compete with Man Utd and Tottenham/Liverpool now, so expect big signings. Can you imagine the uproar that would cause with our fans?
All Pardew is basically saying as far as i can see is, we are not going to be mugs and just buy any name that comes along with a big price tag and high wages, but we will find our own quality to match it, in terms of quality or potential quality.
I’d sooner have that any day even though it takes time to get up to full speed because when we get more astute signings in and they do all gel, we are looking at one hell of a good team that can actually match the big hitters on the field and that’s where it counts.
wolfie(Quote)
tiote is on 38k per week…. dont ask me how i recall it but i know thats what we put him on on his new 3 million year deal.. and that was doubel what he was on when we got him. Co-incidentaly , our scouting systen=m nver found tiote… steve mcclaren who was at fc twente at the time rang up CH and said.. take a look at this fell! i have no idea how i recall this **** but i know its true.
craig chisholm(Quote)
craig i thought he signed a new deal on 50 k
hitman(Quote)
hitman.. did we? i guess my memory has finally turned to mush… i might sue ashley for damages.
craig chisholm(Quote)
Was gonna say, £2 million a year is basically 50k a week, so £3 mill a year is nearer 70k. Not even I think we pay that well 😆
toonsy(Quote)
I recall he was on £8k a week and got an increase to £36k a week so £44k . Here is a link and I’m sure there were other reports saying the same.
http://www.tynetime.com/2011/02/26/why-cheik-tiotes-new-6%C2%BD-year-deal-fails-to-excite/
Cabaye’s £50k a week deal was reported in the French press but can’t find a link. No doubt he will be getting something similar to Tiote or more.
Taylor was on around £40k a week and got an increase:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1334829/Steven-Taylor-set-crunch-talks-Newcastle-hierarchy-new-deal.html
3hourswasted(Quote)
Craig….I think CH had went to scout Tiote when KK was manager, so probably before Steve MC knew much about him……..mind I’ve ben drinking this weekend so my memory may have turned to mush too 😕
richietoon(Quote)
stu @ 147 😆
batty(Quote)
and that toonsy gets more like the other 1 every day ,if he dusent want too answer he just ignores you 😆
batty(Quote)
Craig @ 163 Richie is right KK sent CH to watch Tiote and CH said that himsel.
Must say it looks like it was getting a bit hot in here 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Looks like my wage cap was right then £35 – £45k.
Genius.
Bobby Shinton number 9(Quote)
Get a grip,
We are not a Champions League Side, we used to be (good reading actually 5th most appearances in CL by a PL side)
But we are not now and very sensibly are not going to pay silly wages to greedy past it players.
Last year we played in the Championship.
We achieved all we needed to last season and this season we should all be looking forward.
I have heard so much heresy and conjecture about Ashley, Lambias etc, I don’t care, do the Man Utd fans like Glazier???
No, but they are the most successful British team ever, who have stuck with their manger for the past however many years.
We have not gone bust, we are in the Premiership & we have jsut signed a French International from the double winners of La Ligue.
Stop moaning, you could be from Middlesbrough.
Dan(Quote)
Reliable sources (the chief editor of the daily sun star full of mail sport talk) tells me that BSN9 is the online identity of one Mr. Steve Wraith.
You heard it here first!
Thad(Quote)