Can you really knock our transfer policy?

All is well with our transfer policy
I’ve been trawling various NUFC websites and forums throughout January, just to see what people are saying more than anything.

One of the things that has struck me though is just how many people seem to not get what our transfer policy is all about.

It occurred to me when I read a whole bunch of comments regarding Alex and a proposed move to QPR – a move which has since collapsed by the way with the player and QPR unable to reach an agreement. Basically there was a fair few people saying that we should go for him, even though it would go against every rule in our transfer book.

Why? Well for a start he is 29 now and will be 30 in the summer. We generally don’t sign players over the age of 26. When the only real exception to the rule is Shefki Kuqi you can see that we generally stick to the age profile.

Then there are wage demands. High wages at the kind of level which Chelsea pay will not be tolerated and will scupper any deal before it even gets out of the starting blocks. Of course there is a chance that the player could drop their demands, but in the modern game there aren’t many professionals who would do such a thing.

Then there is the price. Now I personally feel that this is less of an issue. If the player is worth it we will pay the cash required to secure a deal, but if the fee starts to become unreasonable then you can forget it. £10m for Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace? Forget it… A bit of research goes a long way and it’s why we’ve uncovered players like Yohan Cabaye who we picked up for a fraction of his true worth thanks to a release clause in his contract.

The vast majority of deals we conclude will fit all three of these criteria. On occasion we may skip one, but in general all three of the boxes must be ticked for a deal to go ahead. To be honest, you can’t really knock it can you?

I mean you just have to look at the players we’ve brought in to see that, somewhat against the odds in a mad football world, our policy is actually working. Cheik Tiote, Hatem Ben Arfa, Davide Santon, Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Papiss Demba Cisse, and Demba Ba all fit the profile, and that is the majority of our first team!

My only real bone of contention regarding our policy is the keeping hold of our players part. If we can sort that then I really don’t think it can be criticised at all, but even then we seem to have a canny knack of losing a player and replacing him with a player of equal or better quality.

It’s quite mad really!

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.

162 thoughts on “Can you really knock our transfer policy?

  1. Troy Bellers can be a bit special, so skillful and a never give up attitude, and he will always up his team mates game, and never let their heads drop.
    But I wonder how he is with Carroll would he be understanding towards him, and maybe try to help him. Or would he just think that while Carroll is **** he will always get in the team ?

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  2. troy that’s mad… i was thinking that this morning whilst watching sky sports news and getting ready for work.

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  3. @BD

    Who knows with Bellers but he inspired his team last night. He sprinted for every ball, all game and led by example. Cracking performance.

    I do recall us saying in the summer he would be great for us but many scoffed. 😯

    @Nobby

    You need to see the entire game to appreciate how good he was.

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  4. Big Dave,
    Was that your young un that sent me an XBox friends request? if yes apologise to him on my behalf and ask him to send another request and I will gladly accept. Mind you I am ***** on MW3 lol

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  5. TGS yeah I think it was mate, he said to me a couple of times that you hadn’t accepted his request 😆 . I’ll tell him to send you another, don’t worry he wont pester you to play, I think he likes having lots of friends on it 😀

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  6. Aye Dave, I wasn’t certain that it was your young un. 😳
    If he has FIFA 12 I am sure that my 9yr old will be keen to play against him 😉

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  7. Shamrock, I’d have hoped he’d have changed, he was playing in Germany at the time so Bayern would have been the obvious one to say, and Liverpool and Man Utd apart Foreigners always plump for the big London 2.

    Troy… I didn’t scoff, I’d have loved him back, I said he would be too expensive which is why he’s at a club who pay silly wages and he’s too old, that was candy floss dreaming of the highest order from you back then 😉

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  8. TGS…..everyone from our era is ***** on it 😆 Battlefield 3 is even harder online, doing me heed in. 😥

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  9. TGS he doesn’t have fifa 12 just the demo as he has11 but was never on it, only MW3 as his mates and my Bro and my son inlaw has it, so he would normally play them.

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  10. @richie

    Don’t be so defensive. I didn’t name names. 😛
    I always stated we would never be in for him but we should have been. Some just said he was past it. 😯

    Tinpoops comes to mind. 😛

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  11. Troy… I’m not, but couldn’t write what I wrote without it appearing that way, so it was a chance I had to take 😉

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