Busted?

Cover your tracks Graham!
Cover your tracks Graham!
So we lost out on Loic Remy and after spending much time and probably a lot of effort in trying to lure the Frenchman to St James’ Park the former Marseille man opted to join QPR instead.

Did we dodge a bullet? Well the fact that Remy’s mind was swayed by a wad of extra notes would suggest so. Likewise would the rumours that he just fancied staying in bed a bit longer rather than meeting with NUFC officials but ultimately time will tell.

Personally I’m over it. Move on to the next one, and quickly. However there is one thing that came out of Remy’s move to QPR that has made me wonder about our transfer policy and the continued success of it. Is it possible that we’ve been outdone by our own shrewdness in the transfer market? Are we now at a point where things need to be done differently to avoid the same situation happening again?

Now not for one minute am I suggesting we should have suddenly matched what QPR offered Loic Remy to try and get him to sign on with us. It would be stupidity to lay out that much in wages and make a player who has barely hit top form in a few seasons and is untested in the Premier League one of our highest earners right from the word go. However I refer you to words from Harry Redknapp when he revealed that the deal was all but done between QPR and Remy.

“Newcastle United wanted him and Graham Carr doesn’t make too many mistakes. Graham’s got good judgement.”

And there, for me anyway, is part of the problem. We have a Chief Scout who seems to be widely respected within the game who has done a cracking job in alerting us to some quality players over the past few seasons. It’s pretty clear his niche or preference is in the French market as that is where we seem to look for most of our business and it’s worked when you look at some of the players we’ve managed to pick up that would have cost a lot more with a little less knowledge. I’m talking players like Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa and Papiss Cisse as examples.

It’s not impossible that the work he has put in for United has not gone unnoticed elsewhere. As Redknapp says, Carr doesn’t get much wrong when it comes to rating players so is it not possible that as soon as other clubs become aware of our interest they suddenly crank up their own relatively safe in the knowledge that if we’re interested then it’s probably worth them being interested also?

Of course this is where we hit the buffers with our transfer policy and the steadfast refusal to deviate from a strict wage structure that has been put in place. We find a player, put the legwork in, scout them, watch them and then, when the time is right, we bid for them and usually get along the line of signing them before another club pops up that will offer more money or perhaps more incentive, such as Champions League football or something like that meaning that ultimately we lose out.

For our transfer policy to work there needs to be secrecy, but the problem is that the secrecy has been blown by our success. Clubs are basically not scouting players, they are scouting our scouts and taking action on it. I’ve mentioned Remy in this article but he isn’t the best example as it’s well documented that Harry Redknapp wanted him at Tottenham, but is it not possible that our actions alerted QPR to the availability of the player?

We need to get back to how it was a few seasons ago. Suddenly the press have a pretty good grasp of our targets and actually get more right than they have done for a while, but these leaks need to stop if we are to see more Ben Arfa’s and Cabaye’s turn up at St James’ Park.

And they need to stop soon!

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.

189 thoughts on “Busted?

  1. Sharpy – By that score we should never listen to a word a manager says. What a sad state of affairs!

    Pardew didn’t have to slag the board off. All he had to say is what he’s saying now. If he thought we were far worse than he was saying, he would know he was going to be found out; he would just be delaying the inevitable.

    Was he trying to fool the fans or the media or the players? The players would know the score better than anyone and they’d be thinking and saying to each other “What the hell am I doing here?” “Who is he trying to kid?” “It’s obvious we need about 4-5 players, 2 to 3 defenders, a centre forward and one or two midfielders on top of what we’ve brought in.” What is he saying to them to satisfy their ambitions? Why would Debuchy come?

    The only thing that makes sense to me is that our squad was decent enough and we were looking to improve it steadily. I thought it at the time, so did he, and so did the players. The spanner in the works has been that Pardew has been found out this season by players and fans alike. He’s fallen out with some of his best players and they’re either gone or going. He’s even lost all confidence in himself. Look at his words at 88 above? He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s like a gibbering wreck. What the hell does he mean? Nobody knows his plan. He’s got no intelligible answers.

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  2. Remy: “I spoke to Alan Pardew and Tony Fernandes. Unlike what has been reported in the press, I was not in the advanced stage of discussions with Newcastle.”

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  3. D’après nos informations, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa devrait prochainement s’engager avec le club anglais de Newcastle.

    Toujours selon nos informations, les derniers détails du transfert ont été réglés ce vendredi entre les différentes parties.

    L’indemnité de transfert devrait avoisiner 8 millions d’euros. L’international français percevra de son côté un contrat de 3,8 millions d’euros par an.

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  4. Who said this in December?:

    “We’ve put a new resilience in the team.” “I don’t care if Hatem’s fit or not, he needs to come in and understand there’s a different look to the team.” “The team’s got a little bit more drive in it, a little bit more energy.” “He needs to bring that in if he comes in against Fulham, or Manchester City on Saturday. We’re not far away from being a good side.” 🙂

    The same man who said this a month later:

    “I think we shouldn’t be lost to the fact that we could be relegated. Better teams than the one I manage have gone down before. We definitely need a player or two in this window to make sure of our Premier League status. We’re under a little bit of pressure. 😯

    😥 😥 😥

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  5. Google translate says:
    According to our information, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa will soon engage with the English club Newcastle. According to our information, the final details of the transfer were resolved Friday between the different parties. The transfer fee should be around 8 million euros. The French international will receive a contract on his side 3.8 million euros per year.

    What’s the source on that, Stuart?

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  6. Ignore the stuff about the bid being accepted etc. It’s nonsense from a French paper known for bollocks. The bid is apparently real though. Montpelier haven’t responded.

    Thing is, QPR will just match whatever we offer and then double the wage offer. They need a CB too and are exploiting our frugal approach.

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  7. Who siad this?

    “I wouldn’t mind it (the transfer window) closing now – I’d be quite happy to keep all my players. But if we manage to add another one that would be the icing on the cake really.” 😀

    The same man who said this five months later:

    “Our full accompaniment of players hasn’t been enough for a club of this size …” “I don’t think we have one of the weakest squads, but our squad is too weak.” 😳

    😥 😥 😥

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  8. B&B, good to see you back on board mate. Troy told us that you had gone into hiding and weren’t talking to him any more? Is this true?

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  9. Regarding the regurgitation of Pardews quotes on here…. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones – I can toll back through his sites history and drag up ‘gems’ from near on everyone so people need to relax with their judgements. Like the quote in B&B’s last post. Pardew stated that at the start of the season and was backing the players he had on hand. What do you fecking expect him to say. And when he is asked a question by the press, he answers it… I prefer this to the stoney silence we had under Hughton. People are getting really picky on here and to keep dragging up quotes to prove a point and it has become petty and tiresome. There is plenty to be concerned about other than 6 month old quotes..

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  10. B&B – I understand the point you’re making but the fact is that Pardew has 2 rather large banana skins when it comes to speaking openly and freely to the press mate. 1) he’s an employee, just like the players. Only unlike the players, if he steps out of line he’ll find himself sacked. 2) The press nowadays will turn anything into a story. I believe what Pardew does is take the sting out of the situation at the time, then later puts the record straight – ie when the summer window closed and the press were desperate for Pardew to say we failed in the window so they could run a week long story on it, he didn’t give them that coz that would be negative for players and fans. Instead he waited til the approach of the Jan window to say, yes we made a mistake but we plan to try and fix it.
    You know that it’s all mind games and mine fields with the press mate. That’s why they love Arry and Alex, coz they’ll give them their headline. It’s also why Manchini sometimes sending Platt to do the press confrence as well.
    Pardew has 13 players in a 34 player squad that are 22yrs or younger. He knew he didn’t have the strength or experience in depth, but when the window closes what can he do about it?!.
    I only hope that these kids have been scared for this and lost too much confidence.
    But one thing is clear, we need more experience in the squad either 1st team or 2nd string players, and the sooner the better.

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  11. on the Remy deal – is seems QPR, fernandez and Arry really went out of their way to secure him. which is fair play to them.

    Arry telling him its ‘bloody arctic’ up north and taking him for a meal while Fernandez went to his house to play fifa.. 😯

    Our version of events would of been Pardew telling him he’ll see a lot of the ball, played from the centerhalf while Ashley would of sent Dekka to his house to drop off some Donnay vests… 🙄

    http://www.london24.com/sport/qpr/remy_reveals_how_close_he_was_to_joining_newcastle_and_why_he_left_marseille_1_1799310

    http://www.london24.com/sport/qpr/remy_reveals_how_close_he_was_to_joining_newcastle_and_why_he_left_marseille_1_1799310

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  12. Shola on relegation.. obviously forgetting about Colo, Benny..

    “It feels very different.” “Back then there was a lot of discord.” “I remember thinking there were players who didn’t really want to be here and that doesn’t bode well for any team.”

    “Certainly those that are here now have better characters and better temperaments and hopefully that can help us.” “It is important that the people who are here now want to play for the club.”

    “And I know that when they pull on that black and white shirt they have that feeling that we’re all in this together – and that wasn’t the case before.” “When we lose games I can see that everyone in this squad is hurting.”

    “It’s in their faces. Sometimes we’re in the changing room for half an hour after the game discussing it ­because we care.” “It means so much to the players – and four years ago it wasn’t like that.”

    “Many of them knew they’d be leaving at the end of the season and I think that is the difference.” “Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t as if they did not want to win and it’s important to state that, but afterwards they’d be smiling again within a few minutes.”

    “This season you can see that every single player is prepared to knuckle down.”

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  13. Sick of hearing about feckin Remy, I couldn’t give a toss if Fernandez sucked him off to get the deal done.. move on, you can’t miss something you never had..

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  14. Agree with DJG on the diving thing. Pards is obviously playing a card to get officials’ eyes on the lad – but with Jonas in his squad that’s serious glass houses and stones time.

    I HATE it when a Toon player cheats; I’d rather lose. He needs to have a word with Jonas.

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  15. 3-2 to us today… and as you can tell from my posts, angry is the feeling I have for this game 🙂 🙂

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  16. FFS Aussie I had us down for a win, but now im not so sure, after your prediction I might go for a draw as your record is a bit off and I think your a bit of a jinx

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  17. Big Dave, I don’t have a good feeling tho… that makes all the difference 🙂 🙂

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  18. Ill take any kind of win we can get today,own goal,offside,penalty or just a glaring error by the ref,We need these 3 pts and im missing that winning feeling and grinning from ear to ear on my way home.Howay the lads,do it for the fans.New Thread up

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  19. (THIS IS A GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING. THIS POSTER IS LIABLE TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR POINT OF VIEW. ONLY ENGAGE IF YOU AREN’T SENSITIVE AND DON’T TAKE HISSY FITS)

    @Aussie

    You’re learning. Learning fast. 😉

    I find it very strange that B&B has the views he has but doesn’t want him sacked. 😕 😛

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  20. Troy, I didn’t want to open old wounds for poor old B&B and I gave it some serious consideration and thought. After deliberating for some time I thought, you know what…fuk it, why not 🙂 🙂

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  21. (THIS IS A GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING. THIS POSTER IS LIABLE TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR POINT OF VIEW. ONLY ENGAGE IF YOU AREN’T SENSITIVE AND DON’T TAKE HISSY FITS)

    @Aussie

    No wounds with Troy. 😛

    It’s B&B who is in a hissy fit. 😛

    I find it hilarious. 😉

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  22. DJG@163, more worrying about Pogrebnyak is that I recall in the first game he gave our centre halves a real battering, and THAT is more worrying than the bloke falling over. Surprised that he has done so well in the EPL, because in the supposed weaker Bundesliga he was not so hot.

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