Because life is a popularity contest, some sites love to post stories claiming transfer deals are done, close to being done or being looked at. This way they get hits on their sites and they look like they are ‘in the know’.
We don’t tend to do that here, so lets buck the trend by highlighting all the players linked with moves to and from Newcastle United in the last fortnight. If we name them all, we are bound to strike lucky with one or two, right? Looking at the stories, sites such as NUFCBLOG.COM and WHAT CULTURE seem to me to be pretty prolific at printing any old guff based on no direct source at all. So lets list their claims;
According to the CHRONICLE, Tim Krul and Fabricio Colloccini could well be allowed to leave this summer. That is because we are apparently going to make a few new signings – and the above first teamers may be surplus to requirements. Outstanding journalism.
Moving on then and lets look at defense. The Sunday Express claim we have made a FIRM BID for £21 MILLION POUND rated defender Aymen Abdennour. That’s right. Mike Ashley has stated his intention to not leave until we have won something, or qualified for the Champion’s League – so clearly he is going to buck 8 years of strategy to go large on one player. You heard it here first second third fourth fifth…. Meanwhile according to NUFCBLOG.COM we are in with a very good chance of landing Micah Richards at right back. The reason? He wants to get back into the England team and will want 1st team football. It’s apparently between us and Liverpool and we are more likely because we are not as good as Liverpool, so he’ll get more game time with us. Excellent news. According to The MIRROR we are also in for £10m rated James Chester of Hull. He just has to chose between us, Villa and West Brom. Meanwhile, according to WHAT CULTURE, Mike Williamson is likely to be off to the Championship because he knows we are going to sign defenders and knows his game time will be reduced. He is open to the Championship apparently, although no actual club has been quoted as being interested in him.. They also claim we are in for Daniel WASS, the Danish right back who likes to get forwrad. It does not stop there, as they also claim we are battling Sunderland for Burnley right back Kieran Tripper, who is rated at £3.5. This is because we are likely to lose Daryl Janmaat – who has become disillusioned with life on Tyneside following a poor season. So, now that defense is sorted with £31m worth of talent in the middle and 2 from Richards, Tripper or Wass at right back, lets see what is happening to our midfield;
According to the METRO, Andre AYEW is choosing between us and West Ham. He prefers a free transfer switch to the Premiership and we are at the front of the queue for the exciting winger. All we have to do is give him a competitive wage, signing on fee and convince him we are ambitious. What could possibly go wrong? Back of the net!
One day Moussa Sissoko is pledging his undying love to the Magpies and intention to stay, the next day he is on French radio claiming Jose Mourinho is tracking him and he’d love to go play for him. Good to see the lack of consistency is not only confined to his performances, but also his words. According to the TELEGRAPH, this move could happen. The DAILY MAIL claim we are set to sign Marseille playmaker Florian Thauvin, whilst WHAT CULTURE claim we are in for goal scoring Dutch midfielder Georginho Wilnaldum. Meanwhile, Mehdi Abeid is off to AEK Athens (CHRONICLE) and young Reading winger Tariq Fosu is a target (NUFCBLOG.COM). What a different make up our midfield is set to have…
Juiciest of all is up front. WHAT CULTURE link us to the following transfers: Papiss Cisse is a strong target for Sevilla because get this – he scores goals. Apparently, if he does not go to Sevilla, we may get rid of him anyway – because of his age. This move is necessary for Sevilla because their top scorer Carlos Bacca’s agent has hinted at a Toon move, according to WHAT CULTURE. Interesting, what did he say? Turns out not a lot, other than he is open to a move away from Sevilla – therefore that means a Toon move. Really? Ours for only £14m. You heard it here first second.
Patrick Bamford is a target now that Steve McClaren is signing, according to WHAT CULTURE. But hang on, apparently he won’t come here because he did not like Steve’s coaching techniques (The NORTHERN ECHO). So, which is it? Not to worry though, because the CHRONICLE say we are interested in Manchester United’s James Wilson as well as David Concha from Racing Santander. The DAILY MAIL are at it again by quoting the Partizan Belgrade Chairman in claiming we have agreed a £15m fee with Anderlecht for their 20-year-old (and untested at the highest level) Aleksander Mitrovic. Exciting and definitely not a huge risk at all. If that does not happen, we still have Andy Carroll keen to re-join us (claimed by the METRO with no actual quote from the player or anybody close to him).
And the best for last, all stories run by NUFCBLOG.COM: Dame N’DOYE has been talking to the (outgoing) Papiss Cisse about joining us, even though no ‘source’ has suggested we are interested in him. We are in for Andre-Pierre Cignac, but may be upstaged by West Brom in the race for his signature. We are seriously looking at Saido Berahino of West Brom, who is only rated at £20m – and finally Newcastle are WELL PLACED to sign Charlie Austin. Why you ask? Here is direct quote from their story on the 26th May:
We’ve been after Charlie for a few years now
and
he will be a target for Newcastle at around £10M.
. They are very sure of this, so it must be true.
Of all these transfer links, the only quotes I can find to substantiate any of it is a Chairman of a 3rd party club claiming the Mitrovic deal is agreed, whilst Sissoko has tried to talk himself into a Chelsea move. No direct confirmation from any club about any of the above moves being discussed. Silly season is well and truly in full swing!
Troysta: I haven’t made up my mind on McClaren but will give him a chance. You only saw me talk about Pardew who I thought should have been sacked and had an irritating personality. You know I was against Carver from the start as I thought he was complicit in Pardew’s failures during the last 2 years and did not have the credentials to be even considered for NUFC. It turned out that Carver was even more full of BS and made some of the most bizarre statements I have ever heard.
At least McClaren has the credentials to be a NUFC manager. Far more than Pardew when he was chosen. The hierarchy have backed themselves into a corner with the structure they are imposing and the fact they are insisting on keeping the coaches. McClaren seems to be just about our only choice at the moment.
You think I am against NUFC managers in general and just trash them. No, I was against Pardew and Carver for their awful football and awful records over the last 3 years. Their annoying personalities didn’t help either and were the final nail in their coffins for me.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
A lot of this confusion about who does what could be alleviated by changing Carr’s title to Director of Football. That seems to be what he is acting as so call him it. I also think McClaren thinks he will have some input into player choices as he supposedly has a close relationship with Carr and is Carr’s personal choice. In most respects Carr’s future at NUFC is very much tied to McClaren.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I actually like the transfer window.. it is a month or two of potential excitement and a time to dream of all the great players we may get. Everyone should embrace this time of year before the bleak reality sets in again and the season starts! 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
dos not rate carr meself if he was a good as every1 made out we would have a proper defence,if hes fatboys main advisor why the hell aint he point that out to fatboy
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Bris to be fair the blog position has always been consistent regarding press rumors: if it paints the club in a negative light it’s true, if it paints the club in a positive light it’s false.
MDS(Quote)
pointed out last summer we were ganna be weak in the air but i was expecting it to be just collo but by nov it was clear williamson wernt wining the balls in the air like he was the season before,so for carr not to point that out tells me quite alot about his surposed footie iq
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
and to top things off carver come out on record saying we did not need a defender in jan,could not blooming beleive it meself
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
seen people say it was because we sold that cb mapa or whatever his name was that had nothing to do with it he was also a short **** and would not of made much difference if any to stoping them high balls into the box,toons mistake was not bring in a cb that was good in the air
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<<<<< this dude here cant see us making any progress til all 3 of our wimpy cb are gone
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
TAE… how can you blame Carr?
Let’s be honest, the way the club handles transfers, we are probably down to his third or forth choice of player before we actually get one through the door! 😕
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
AUSSIE MAGPIE FAN
if hes fatboys advisor how can ya not blame carr is he giveing values to fatboy that aint right i wonder
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
how many we bring in last summer 9 out of them 3 made the grade thats a 1 every 3 success rate could do better than that meself
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
which works out at about 67 per cent failer rate so how can ya not put blame on him 😯
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
hes part of the problem not the answer
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
TAE: you are totally twisting Carrs record last year. Yes, 9 came in but two of those were out on loan. So,
Loans: Darlow and Laschelles
Successful: Colback, Janmaat, Perez
Injured: de Jong
Jury out but showed flashes: Cabella
Probably not suited to PL: Riviere
We won’t know how Carr did until we see the Forest lads, until de Jong is fit (if ever) and until we see if Cabella just needed to settle.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
sickandtired
June 4, 2015 at 15:38
Vieira story was the best example of watching spin develop I have witnessed.
Bookies odds created the story, ‘papers and blogs then ran and re-ran each others articles. Several actually inserted their own interpretations into Vieira’s comments in order to make them sound something else.
Great point, and it’s exactly what happened with the 34m “war chest” story. When the 2014 accounts were published an unnamed journalist read one of the accompanying notes which included this information:
Bank (overdraft)/cash at bank
(£’000)
(4,488) At 1 July 2013
38,597 Cash flow
34,109 At 30 June 2014
What that means is simply that there was a positive cash flow of £38m over the course of the year. The club’s total income for the year was £129m so that would have been roughly the total of all the amounts banked during the year, with approximately £91m paid out. However, this is how it was reported in the media:
“£38.6million was transferred into Newcastle’s bank account as a cash-flow sum – paying off a £4.5million overdraft and leaving £34.1million available”
That sentence is complete gobbledygook, because cash flow isn’t an item that you transfer into a bank account (it’s a bit like saying that the level of water in your rainwater tank increased because you poured in 38 litres as a water-flow amount). Yet that didn’t stop every newspaper hack in the land copying and pasting it, and putting their own particular spin on it. The worst one I saw was in the Times, of all places, which read:
“£34 million was squirrelled into a separate account (for tax purposes, obviously) and left unspent.”
Absolutely shocking “journalism” and a completely misrepresentation of the facts. Having said that, however, it’s true that there IS a separate account which contains money which isn’t being spent, but it isn’t the £34 million that everybody keeps talking about – it’s £19.5 million, and it’s been sitting there for a number of years. I’ve arranged for a question about that to be raised at the next Fans Forum meeting.
Chris G(Quote)
Sorry – typo
That should have read £11.5 million, not £19.5 million. It’s the cash sitting in the account of the holding company:
£11.5m Newcastle United Limited (holding company)
£22.5m Newcastle United Football Company Limited (trading co.)
£34.0m Total cash at bank and in hand (Group)
Chris G(Quote)
West Ham acted quickly after Benítez said no having said yes – they called Ancelotti. They had already told Jürgen Klopp’s agent that his client could name his price if he fancied taking over. And they are still saying that.
• West Ham summer holiday cut short
An annual salary of £6million-a-year is not out of the question. That is the going rate for a top Champions League coach. West Ham made similar overtures to David Moyes but he will stay at Real Sociedad; at least for now.
They even inquired about Italy coach Antonio Conte, the architect of the Juventus team that has reached the Champions League Final.
See the difference in West Ham! How can we hope to compete when clubs like this try to get the best man possible not just the cheapest.
It’s all a bit pointless being an NUFC I’m afraid.
Stuart79(Quote)
The club could feasibly bid £30million for a player this summer as a statement of intent. It has been discussed. They are determined to make a concerted effort to break into the top six and, who knows, maybe even challenge for one of those Champions League places. Although the general public may be unaware of what might be happening, other clubs are not.
More on West Ham.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: West Ham have that new gift of a Stadium on top of all the extra TV money. They should be rolling in it and I think are more attractive than us with their ambitious ownership and location. They could rival Spurs very quickly and be another club we fall behind because of the stagnation that Fatty has let develop over his 8 years.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The problem with West Ham currently is that their squad is not that great and even though they are going after top managers they are all turning them down, just as they would us. So, there is always a bit of a counter-argument to any Chairman’s bravado and Journalist’s puff piece.
West Ham were for a long time a lot of people’s “second-favourite club” so I am sure that a lot of journalists still hold a lot of affection for them because they grew up when that was the case.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric @ 90:
Spot on.
I truly believe if the purse strings were loosened Carr would be a priceless member of staff. Nobody could find consistent top players for peanuts. Look at the amount of players he’s recommended that Fatty wouldn’t buy because they were 1 million over his own valuation.
We wouldn’t pay £10m for Lacazette. He then scored 31 goals in 33 games last season and is being bandied about at £25m to Liverpool and Man U.
Carr’s eye for talent is not the problem.
You Yew(Quote)
It has been rumoured that McLaren is Carr’s choice because they work together as a good team. Might be the case.
Premandup(Quote)
Don’t forget we have had a stadium that size for the last 15 years, Eric. I’m not sure why West Ham seem to be in better financial shape than us considering all we hear is how well Jabba has done sorting us out in that respect.
The difference is ambition.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: I don’t think West Ham are in better financial shape than us currently. There is massive potential for a big club in London’s East End though and they have been gifted a stadium.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: I know you are making an analogy between West Ham and us but let’s wait and see who they get as Manager and who we both buy this summer. I fear both sets of fans might be disappointed.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I see Sunderland have promised **** £50m to spend. Add that to West Ham and their spending spree our spending pledge from Jabba is looking distinctly ordinary!
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – WHU are still without a manager, how is that them moving quickly?!.
TAE – you can’t just blame Carr mate. The fact there has been so much disagreement over the potential new manager makes me think that is the reason why our transfer windows are so farcical.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Where did I say West Ham were moving quickly?
Stuart79(Quote)
I thought Sunderland had financial problems, have I missed something? Oh and West Ham plead poverty as the reason for not contributing more to the refit of the OS so where is all there cash coming from?
kimtoon(Quote)
their@105 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
Can’t believe anything you read imo. Weather man said mini heatwave reaching possible 28c by Saturday. It’s decidedly parky here, cloudy and windy and now it’s a max of 17c tomorrow 👿 better off just sticking your head out the window in the morning. And it’s the same with players in, bypass all the **** and wait to see someone holding the shirt in front of a SD ad.
kimtoon(Quote)
It’s true what they say. There are only two certainties in life, death and taxes.
kimtoon(Quote)
The NUFC transfer silly season may have begun. There are reports we enquired about that Monaco centre back:
“According to Get French Football, Newcastle made an approach for the centre-half but Abdennour is only interested in joining a club that can offer European football next term. The Magpies will now have to turn their attentions elsewhere as they bid to improve their options at the back, with Arsenal and Spurs now considered the front runners in the battle to land £21million-rated Abdennour.”
Ha Ha !
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I did watch the Toulon Tournament for U21s and France and Ivory Coast were outstanding with what looked like great young talent. I hope Carr is shopping there.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu @93.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy @ 111 😆 😆 😆
brisvegas(Quote)
“I only want to play European football” fuk me players are full of ****. They really mean.. “big rich clubs come and buy me”
If you are really interested in playing Euro football.. here is a bunch of teams you can play for if the big boys don’t come knocking… wankers!
Basel, Monaco, Club Brugge, Rapid Wien
Red Bull Salzburg CSKA Moscow Fenerbahçe Sparta Prague
Viktoria Plzeň Ajax Panathinaikos Shakhtar Donetsk Young Boys
Steaua București Malmö FF Qarabağ Skënderbeu Korçë
Maccabi Tel Aviv Ludogorets Razgrad Dila Gori Žalgiris Vilnius
APOEL Molde (1st) Kazakhstan Astana Vardar
Midtjylland Serbia Partizan Dundalk
Dinamo Zagreb Videoton HJK Fola Esch
Slovenia Maribor Stjarnan Malta Hibernians
Celtic Milsami Orhei Rudar Pljevlja
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
some ,,,,,,,, might have made that easier to read 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie. True though.
Premandup(Quote)
Nice Aussie – I’m off to play in Malta for Euro football!
georgio(Quote)
I see Emery has turned his back on WHU.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Has anybody sent out a search party for Tiote yet? Last I heard anything was that he was in the middle east months ago. Maybe Steve has his private number and can find him?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Tiote hasn’t got time to play football as he’s servicing all his wives
Stuart79(Quote)
ERIC SYKES
ya want to have a blooming good look at them 2 on loan they aint prem players by a long way so hows that twisting it ?
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
ERIC SYKES
thats fact
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
only a mug would put his faith in carr
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
ERIC SYKES
<<<<<<<<<<<< takes it you did not notice forest condeed 69 goals last season
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
ERIC SYKES
while you blingly put ya faith in carr this dude over here looks at all the angles
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
even picking our boreing managers now
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
https://youtu.be/AWtCittJyr0 and thats were we heading
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
http://talksport.com/football/revealed-top-10-premier-league-clubs-most-net-debt-150605149584?p=9
kimtoon(Quote)
Tiote has been on the nest since the end of February.
Matip gets my vote for 10mill, a pittance these days
Total Radgy(Quote)
TAE: I am not putting faith in Carr, I am saying that your assessment of last years players was biased and I explained why. As for the Forest players, I think it is perfectly reasonable to say we cannot judge them for NUFC until they play for NUFC. A lot of premier league players go on loan to the championship and their teams do not do well but it is not necessarily the fault of the loanee.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
TAE: Let’s say Armstrong goes on loan to Boro next season and they finish mid-table. Will that be Armstrong’s fault or will there be a lot of other factors involved?
On the other hand, I have not seen Darlow or Laschelles play. I am assuming you watched most of Forest’s games?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
so its been announced SM as the new boss. yipee champions league! here we come
mark(Quote)
I am not sure if Carr has had many total busts, maybe Marveaux and Bigi?
Maybe:
Ben Arfa – a ray of sunshine in a dour team but clashed with Pardew. Probably suffered from Pards wanting to play wingers as second fullbacks. Fans loved him.
Gouffran – cost 500k, will probably get money back
Abeid: I think he cost 1M and we might get that for him
Obertan: was supposedly Pardew’s pick.
I am not trying to defend all Carr’s selections but on the whole given the budget I would say he has done well. THE JURY IS OUT ON LAST YEAR.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Mark and the following season SM will win the champions league for us 🙂
Stem(Quote)
@stem steady fella, it will take at least 3 years for that
mark(Quote)
There is always a flip side though. Carr did not bring in a competent centre back so you could call Mbiwa a bust even though we got most of our money back. Santon was certainly not a bust, we got good service from him and shouldn’t have sold him IMO.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Some people have very short memories as well. This time last year the knock on Carr was that he was selecting players that were not suited to Pardew. An oft-used term was that a player had been “Pardewed”. The Sackpardew.com website went on endlessly about this.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric I have seen Carr get some stick over the years, but I cant help think that he is capable of better but is held back by the regime, I sometimes think that some of the players were maybe 3rd or 4th choice players, and the 1st or 2nd were to dear.
Big Dave(Quote)
Agree Dave…The only way to really find out how good(or bad) Carr’s choices are is if NUFC start buying his first or second choice players. #Health Warning! don’t hold your breath! 🙄
richietoon(Quote)
Apparently Carr told the club to ‘move heaven and earth’ to sign Lazacette last summer. He was right about that and now he’s worth double!
Stuart79(Quote)
If Steve McClarens Dutch accent was authentic and not offensive, Would we be more responsive?
I’m saying this after reading for the umpteenth time how Karanka would have been a great appointment, Steve will have us playing ye old cagey, English style while Aitor would have been silky Spanish attacking tiki taka stuff.
After doing some digging on the championship, This is nonsense and actually the other way round:
McClarens Derby: Played 94, Scored 176, Won 54.26%
Karankas Boro: Played 87, Scored 122, Won 50.57%
They both joined mid October 2013; McClaren led Derby to 3rd & 8th, Karanka led Boro to 12th & 4th, Both reached the play off final and came up short.
Neither really should be considered for the position considering the clubs resources. But given McClarens record at Man Utd, Boro & Twente at least makes him a credible candidate, Karankas not even that. If Karanka was English would there be any mention of him, Let alone a clamour for someone less of a breakaway from the tedium of Pardew/Carver era ?
CC(Quote)
Glad to see some are agreeing with my comments at 85 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
God dammit, I’ll have to withdraw my comment @138 😛
richietoon(Quote)
Ha, don’t stress mate, you’re normally a day or so behind the times so its nothing to beat yourself up about! 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
CC: We can forget Boro and Derby today and watch…… Barca and Juve. Happy Day.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Hard to believe weve beaten them both, We’d do well to beat Boro and Derby nowadays
CC(Quote)
Aussie…I’m getting better then if it’s only a day 😛
richietoon(Quote)
😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
http://www.london24.com/sport/football/clubs/tottenham/southampton_set_to_beat_spurs_liverpool_and_newcastle_in_battle_for_10million_qpr_star_1_4102088
kimtoon(Quote)
comment from Sissoko:
When asked about Steve McClaren the French midfielder commented:
“I don’t know who this manager is but I am happy for him.” 😯
kimtoon(Quote)
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/newcastle-united-behind-steve-mcclaren-9397557
kimtoon(Quote)