The Ashley regime has installed a clear transfer policy over the last ten years, with mixed results. Profit and re-sale value have usually been the main priority. With the new TV deal and transfer fees increasing dramatically, will Newcastle move with the times and secure the recruitment they need this summer?
Ashley’s usual transfer policy
The cornerstone of Ashley’s transfer policy at NUFC has been to scout and secure young talent from the continent, tie them to long contracts with the idea of a large re-sale fee. The worked well with the likes of Cabaye (sold £20m), Debuchy (sold £12m), Wijnaldum (sold £25m) Sissoko (sold £30m). However, for every success there have been flops like Riviere, Thauvin, Cabella and M’Biwa. It is also frustrating for fans having players who are not here for the long term and as such, become viewed purely as assets.
Derek Llambias famously said Newcastle would sign a ‘few purples’ (high quality players) and that was all we could afford. It was the job of Carr to get these players in at a low cost. Release clauses was also an avenue we explored to find a bargain.
The manager role was also switched to a head coach role with Graham Carr all but the director football. Two relegations and one top half finish suggests this policy has not worked on the pitch and a new direction is needed.
Rafa’s transfer ideology
One of the reasons there is speculation regularly that Rafa will quit is that this transfer policy goes against Rafa’s stance on new players. He has regularly said he doesn’t want players who view NUFC as a stepping stone and that experienced players are needed too for the dressing room. He also feels British players are important to help connect the playing staff and the fans and squad depth is pivotal to a long hard season. Vitally, he insists on the final say on all transfers and is effectively more of a manager not a head coach.
Why our old policy won’t work this window
Times have clearly changed. The new TV deal has meant that £17m gets you Harry Maguire, with Bournemouth set to spend £20m on Nathan Ake. To think that is higher than our transfer record shows how NUFC have really stagnated. If we have any hope of getting back in the top half, we need to invest in quality players and pay the premium. Hidden gems are great but Ashley has gambled and lost on this policy already; we can’t afford another relegation fight.
We have a large fan base and a world class manager. This will certainly help to attract players but to get to that point we have to at least match what other Premier league teams are willing to pay.
Ashley beginning to change?
Ashley has already moulded the policy last season to fit to Rafa’s needs. Ritchie, Shelvey and Gayle came in as a new British spine. Murphy and Gamez both were signed despite being over 30 and for the first time in a while we had good squad depth last year. Having four capable centre halves for once was quite a novelty for Newcastle fans…
Graham Carr leaving also strengths Rafa’s hand. Press articles will always link Rafa with a departure because of his pedigree. But the known facts are that he stayed when we went down, announced he is staying after one meeting with Ashley this summer and now the club structure is being changed to fit around his needs.
Until this is backed up with quality signings though, it is going to be a restless summer. Let’s hope Ashley realises his transfer policy needs to continue to keep up with the market.
Simon in must change because we will be a championship team in the premiership. I cant see Rafa staying if that happen’s mate. Then here we go again, Pardew back, counter attacking football.
Stem(Quote)
It has changed, that is why Rafa stayed and we got the likes of Murphy in. The big question is, will Ashley keep his promises and leave Rafa in charge of transfers. If he reverts to the previous policy we will struggle and probably lose the Manager before a ball is kicked.
My other concern is that Charnley has been given instructions to revert to the penny pinching antics of the past. We have been haggling over Lejeune for 2 weeks now, he has a release clause of £8.8 million so why are we still haggling?
I am hoping the delays are because of a reluctance to spend until the new financial year which starts on Saturday. Time will tell but if Ashley changes anything he promised to Rafa it could be disastrous for the club.
mactoon(Quote)
The problem is Charnley & Rafa don’t have that unlimited funds cheat that exists on a video game.
If you have a budget of £75m and spend £17m on Maguire & £20m on Ake – there’s half your budget blown. Are these players worth that money – not in my opinion. Maguire performed relatively well in a poor side last season – and went to Leicester. I know they won the league, but a top 6-7 side they are not. They are also in a very different position to us, in that they are improving on an established PL side and don’t need 9-10 players in to improve there squad.
Likewise with Bmouth and Ake, and feel free to add £30m Pickford to your list.
Spending tens of millions on 1 player might increase the chance of quality. But it does not guarantee the player you bring in will be a success. We don’t have to kind of money City & Utd have to waste on bang average players – if success went in hand with money spent on players, Man Utd should be champions every season.
On the other side of this is, if NUFC did what’s being asked and folk out the fee to keep up with the moving market – how many on here have said James McCarthy isn’t worth £20m, or Cairney isn’t worth £20m?!. That’s the players fee, but how much would the agent want from that move as well?.
It’s not just the fees. I read earlier this morning that Andre Gray wants 100k pw to sign a new Burnley deal. This is a player we have been linked with – would we be looking to pay him that much?. Say his fee was £10m as he’s in the last year of his contract – we sign him on a 5yr deal on 100k pw – that a £36m deal.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I do agree that we have a history of pissing about and missing out on deals though.
For me it’s more important that if we have identified a player the manager wants, we get the deal done – sometimes whatever it takes. We could have had Bony, Ali, PEA and Kante – these are all players we were in for and opted out instead of making the final push to get the deals done. We didn’t want to exceed £10m for Bony, Swansea paid £13m (sold for double that). We didn’t want to exceed £10m for PEA, Dortmund spent £11m – what’s his worth now?!. We didn’t see Ali as being worth £5m ??♂️ and Kante was also one seen as not worth the risk for a fee of £9m.
But on the other hand, we saw Thauvin and Cabella as players worth over £10m. So has it been bad scouting & advice?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Yes!
georgio(Quote)
A lot of the problems were that Carr (for whatever reason *coughs*) scouted players such as Thauvin and Cabella from a list of players handled by the same agency.
mactoon(Quote)
Thank you Simon good article.
Right, this is my tuppence worth. We are Newcastle united, we are a sleeping giant in the truest sense of the word, 52,000 mad toon fans every week turning up and umpteen others view from all around the world too. We have a truly world class coach in Rafa who could walk into any manner of jobs if he so wishes. Ashley HAS to tap into these facts and dig deep to not only ensure we remain a competitive side but push on next season for a European slot. If he really cannot bring himself to go above a certain amount of money for a player then he needs to sell up to someone who will .We have really stagnated under his ownership, two relegations prove it and I’m pretty sure the only time we have gotten numbers in have been when we have been looking down the barrel of relegation, in the jan windows or the summer after relegation to enable us to get back up.
There has been zero ambition from him and previous managers and transfer policy proves it , Rafa bucked the trend and he was banking on him keeping us safe and then getting us back up from a really tough league. Now that Rafa has rescued his club he has to be true to his word to him and make sure he gets every last penny promised to him to make us a force again.
I am fed up with not being able to keep up with the likes of Palace and the baggies and Stoke all of whom seem in latter seasons to show more ambition than us.
Lastly, If he really don’t want to spend what’s required then all efforts have to go into the youth squad, bring in the very best we can get and hopefully we won’t need to spend on other teams players. Question is , what do we do until we get to that situation ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Ryder says we are linked with a loan for Pools Sheyi Ojo. I want us signing our players not developing someone else’s . If we are gonna loan then make it a name who will get bums off seats at least.
kimtoon(Quote)
As usual I am sitting on the fence. There is no doubt that under Carrs influence and the transfer policy we missed out on some good players that we only needed to take the extra step for, but equally those we did generally flopped. Rafa influence is much stronger and the rumours are that he and Ashley do want to move forward. However it aint easy getting players over the line and early days yet. Le July being a case in point. Whilst it looks like Samaras is the first choice for CD at three times the cost of Fernando I can understand whichever turns up. If neither I would be asking questions. The strikers are a different matter and wide players there is more choice.
Premandup(Quote)
Bristol city just broke their transfer record too £5.3m on Famara Deidhiou
kimtoon(Quote)
bloody loan players hate it,thats two games they miss without injury worries,get some money spent ffs
icedog(Quote)
I am glad Carr has gone because I believe that Rafa is a much better judge of talent and, probably just as important, who will fit into his preferred system. Rafa supposedly has his own proprietary database of talent but with every game in all the top leagues now televised then the playing field is levelled in terms of available information.
The problem is that everybody below the top 6 has about the same amount of money and have also attracted some of the World’s best Managers. Fat Sam, Pulis and, of course Pards are now an anomaly. But we have to get in the game. We have to spend what the Stokes or Bournemouths at the very least are spending.
As Kimtoon says, if the Fat Man is not willing to do this then he should sell up, step aside. At the very least sell part of the club and use that money to buy better players. That’s what Palace did when some Yanks bought 36% for 100 million. They just didn’t factor in that they had a clown for a Manager.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think loans are important this year because we have to catch up before being able to really spend the PL riches. Even the likes of Inter and Juve get players in via loans.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Bolton want Armstrong on loan but deal cannot be made as they cannot afford to even pay a very small part of his wags 😯 😯
icedog(Quote)
wages
icedog(Quote)
true mate but i still dont like,if you can buy after loan then great
icedog(Quote)
Ice, it is just a way trying to survive, as we don’t have enough funds to buy all the players we need. But no worries for you, as Liverpool already said no to us.
Funrafa(Quote)
mint
icedog(Quote)
Klopp saya hes open to loan 😈 👿
icedog(Quote)
But Liverpool made it clear that Ojo is unlikely to be farmed out this season.
Read more at: http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/liverpool-respond-to-newcastle-s-sheyi-ojo-loan-enquiry-1-8621184
Funrafa(Quote)
Now I think about it I am sort of glad we missed out on Abrahams. How many former academy strikers do you see banging them in in the PL at 19? I can think of Michael Owen. Did Rooney score a lot when he was 18-19? Rashford started well but didn’t score many last season. Deli Ali? Anyway, they are few and far between and Abrahams would be bucking a trend if he gets into double figures.
Even Harry Kane and Lukaku took a while to get used to how tough the PL is.
If the plan was to have Abraham as a focal point of our attack I think I would rather have someone more experienced. Sounds tome that Chelsea were probably insisting on gametime.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ojo is a winger so would be more a creator. I doubt we could afford Batsuayi even if he was offered. I think Chelsea paid like 36 million for him and beat competition from Arsenal. He’s probably on 80-100k a week.
Just going through the loan options that have been mooted. Chelsea and Man City are the most likely because they have massive and expensive academies but they hardly ever make it to the first team because the owners can also buy immediate success with established internationals.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Here you go. Rooney’s Everton career was played 67, scored 15. Not sure if he was an out and out striker but he was a forward and was pretty good when he burst on the scene. A lot more PL games and hype than Abraham anyway.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Even Shearer only got 23 goals in 118 games at Southampton. I know he played out wide a bit, but would we really have played Abrahams as the main striker in Rafa’s system?
I am not saying he isn’t any good, just that it would be unusual for a 19 year old to get a lot of PL goals.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I see Arsenal have fallen at first in pursuit of their main targets. It’ll give their fans an ‘I told you so’ about Wenger I guess.
But it’s not just us who are struggling to get players in. Pretty sure it took Lpool a couple of attempt to land Salah as well – trying to ‘haggle’
Sharpy17(Quote)
Talking of Arsenal players, I just read a stat on Kieran Gibbs. He made his debut in 2009 and only recently reached 100 starts. Why is everyone so keen to bring him to NUFC?
We do need competition for Dummett but I don’t think Paul has ever been the problem in our team, it has been the players around him. I like Yedlin, and he shows a lot of attacking intent, but he has had a few stinkers as well. Nobody really criticizes him though.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Hasn’t anybody else noticed that usually when fringe players move on from Arsenal or Man U they turn out to be not as good as advertised. Obertan, Tom Cleverly, Nicky ****, John O’Shea etc. I am not talking about youngsters like Keane or Hayden. I am talking about a 28 year old Kieran Gibbs.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Toon still holding out to pay in instalments for the C/H ,come on for a 9million player what a disgrace,no wonder Rafa is fed up,it is just showing up our club,I cannot believe the bloody penny pinching,will serve jabba and company right if the club come straight back down,maybe jabba is wanting to get the big pay day they get when they come back down
Icedog(Quote)
Wow Bournemouth to pay £20m for Ake, who made only 13 PL appearances last term and is valued at £6m. Madness if that happens.
shamrock(Quote)
It seems there really is a low bar for appearing on Talksport. Getting sacked at Toronto, winning only 3 games at NUFC when hilariously calling yourself the best Manager in the PL and wanting to fight a fan at the training ground and you are still invited. Even getting sacked after 6 months in the Cyrus Pub League won’t keep you off the airwaves.
Just need Pards to pipe up about who NUFC should buy now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sham: I agree that is a lot of money for Ake, but he was recalled by Chelsea in January as backup which limited his appearances. It is hard to fathom these prices and the transfer window hasn’t even opened yet. There is no value in the PL and we have to look elsewhere but it seems anybody that has a few good games automatically gets a 50 plus million pound price tag on them. Saul is now rated at 70 million, MBappe 100 million.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ice – I read that the promotion payments and stuff don’t actually get paid into the accounts until 1st July – I don’t know how true that is. But if so it would explain why most transfer windows start slowly – and why this deal hasn’t been done yet.
At the moment we only have £6m as the first instalment of the Sissoko fee – that deal suss as well to be honest. I’m not entirely convinced we are getting £30m for that clown after all.
Sharpy17(Quote)
And please do not let Saul move to the PL because we will be seeing Better Call Saul puns endlessly. Or MBappe for that matter as Journos would find a million ways to shoehorn the Hansen teen ditty into their headlines. It looks like we are finally seeing the end of the myriad connotations of “Roo” after a decade and a half and we don’t need any more of that.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
65k for Defoe in a 3 year deal at 34 is a big risk.
shamrock(Quote)
A huge risk imo mate. That’s a lot of money.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I know they probably aren’t the names people would want, and believe we need or could get better – but I would be happy for us to get Snodgrass, Delph & Rodrigeuz. The 3 are probably available for around that £12m mark we seem to like, and the 3 have the experience to go straight in there with the likes of Shelvey & Ritchie. They might not help shirt sales, but I think they would help have us finishing comfortably in the PL.
Sharpy17(Quote)
As usual Sharpy – I disagree and wouldn’t want any of them. Rodriguez is away to W Brom though isn’t he? I do agree though the money being asked is staggering. It’s almost like asking £30m for Sissoko.
I’m just praying Rafa’s going to surprise us all with his signings. Pleasantly.
georgio(Quote)
The Premier League has become like a London Restaurant now, overpriced for a mediocre product. I would much rather go to a nice restaurant in Munich, Milan or Madrid that will cost half to 2 thirds as much and where the Chef and servers won’t think they are too good for you.
We should be looking at the German, Italian and Spanish markets and totally ignore the PL unless there is a contract situation or a loan deal.
I am not even sure we should be considering Man City cast-offs like Delph. How many games has he played in 3 years there? As I said above, when players leave Man U or Arsenal, and now Citeh, they usually tend to be not as good as advertised. Fat and rich probably in Delph’s case and he only really had one good season at Villa anyway. Even Jack Colback was called up to an England squad FFS !!!!!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Rodriguez – bad injury and not played much
Delph – injuries and 15th choice
Snodgrass – just moved 6 months ago to West Ham who have more money than us since they were gifted a stadium.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
To clarify, who I’d like and who I’d be happy enough with are 2 different things. I would be thrilled with those 3 but I’d be confident they could do us a job and have us safe in the PL long before the last game of the season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Delph – 24 appearances in his City career. I am guessing most as sub. He would also become one of the clubs highest paid players because of what City pay.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy: to clarify for me as well. I am not having a go at you, I am expressing my worries about those players.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
NUFC.com confirm that Hellas Verona will be the friendly at SJP. Finished second in Serie B last year. No comment apart from the facts, I said my piece on this a couple of weeks ago.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
No I know mate, and I don’t disagree. But to be fair, most players come with a worry – Shelvey failed at Lpool & Swansea allowed him to leave. Gayle came with his injury worries and wasn’t played often by Palace – and likewise with Townsend.
But Snodgrass was in great form for Hull & I can’t understand why he wasn’t used more at WH the way they were playing.
Delph I think is 27 & I can imagine would be keen to show he’s better than the lack of chances he’s been given at City.
Jay Rod – yeah his injury could be a worry. But if he can stay fit & gets more opportunity for game time than he has at Saints, I reckon he could well get double figures in goals and chip in with assists too.
None will set SJP alight, but would do a decent job for the fee.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – it’s a bit annoying that most of the friendlies are all away. We didn’t have great form at home last season so it would have made sense to get some practice in.
Would have been nice to take the boy as well. Think we are going to go to the Gateshead game, but not the same as SJP and it’s a NUFC XI so likely to be most of the bairns.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: on your earlier point. I know Snodgrass did OK at Hull but he is 29 and West Ham want rid after only 15 games. He has spent most of his career in the lower leagues. But if Tom Cairney (10 games in the PL in 2010) is worth 25 million…. 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – they want rid of him coz their owners think they are some kind of cosmopolitan club & he’s not good enough for them. Honestly we are seen as this club with ideas above our station, but those gobshites take it to the next level!!.
If we could get Snodgrass at £10m on a 3 yr deal then I think that would be a decent purchase personally. I think he would contribute and give us time to stabilise as a PL side and look to strengthen over the time of his contract. He’d offer way more than Gouffran IMO who is still weighing up his options having been offered a contract from us ??♂️
Sharpy17(Quote)
Played more games in the PL than Cairney 🙂 He WAS Hull’s best player in a bad team. I would certainly not give West Ham their money back though. Fck em, I think I hate them more than Kimtoon does 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Your kidding me right?a club like us cannot afford 9 mil no matter what money is due in on 1st July,Rafa wanted 5 players in by now he must also have known what money is due and when so Ime not buying that mate
Icedog(Quote)
Personally I have no faith whatever on Ashley. I don’t know what makes Rafa to believe in his words again and again. But since Rafa extended the deadline to August 6th, let’s just wait and see for another month.
Funrafa(Quote)
Well you’d bloody hope so Ice, but something seems amiss at the moment and that suggestion would fit. I don’t like it, but certainly a possibility.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sunderlands new manager … the all conquering Simon Grayson ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I suppose we will start bringing in new players from Saturday and my predictions are:
Goalkeeper ……..Pepe Reina
Centre back……..Florian Lejeune
Left wing back….Kieren Gibbs
Midfield ………….Ryad Boudebouze and/or Andre Gray
Striker …………….Michy Batshuayi (loan deal)
Having made these predictions we will probably sign none of them.
sidekick(Quote)
1st div for them next season imo mate
icedog(Quote)
we hope for some movement mate,non more than Rafa
icedog(Quote)
would hope for Samaras or Fernando in Midfield
Hope you right with Batshuayi may even buy clause
Want a creative wide man as well, say Traore
Premandup(Quote)
Well, Sunderland appointing Simon Grayson leaves the way clear for Moyes to go back to Preston.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Germany in final of Confederation Cup with not even their B team. That’s where we should be looking. Also, their U21s in the final and they were minus about 8 regulars who had been bumped up to the regular squad.
Meanwhile, in PL la-la land Eric Dier is worth 50 mil and Lukaku 100 mil.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
you kidding me ??,hes joined preston today
icedog(Quote)
My guess is the Mackems will be underwhelmed but I think his first game is a pre-season against Lee Clark’s Bury. They will have matchday tickets for that, right? Turnstyles, no member IDs or anything? Maybe a few Geordie walkups at the new NE Comedy Club?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ice: Preston is Moyes’ old cub, I doubt he will go there. It would be such a fall from grace after Man U.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
hes took the job mate for sure,thought you knew that and why you posted it
icedog(Quote)
Oh God, it gets even worse for the Mackems. The reason they appointed Grayson is that the German consortium that might have bought them pulled out AND they had to pay 750k compensation to Preston.
Karma for that banner.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Moyes to Preston? Not seen anything on it.
shamrock(Quote)
I just googled it and he is favourite but Ice is saying he took it. Now that would be a strange turn of events.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Please let it be true that Moyes went/goes to Preston and that they meet the Mackems in the first round of the playoffs and knock them out (and neither get promoted).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
the scum lads i know told me they heard on grapevine he has took it,Gerrard was after it too!
icedog(Quote)
lets face it what other club would give a chance,he failed in Spain,he failed at m/u,he failed at scum,what would be his next step ??
icedog(Quote)
Preston finished 11th in the Championship.
This is almost as bad as appointing Pardew-Carver-McClaren. I should hold back on the gloating due to that three-way clusterfck.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Scotland nation team ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Gutted, Pardew didn’t get the Sunderland manager job that means his waiting in the wings for the Newcastle job. If Ashley gets Rafa to resign with out compensation.
Stem(Quote)
Ashley wants Pardew back
Stem(Quote)
Stem – some thinking that mate, but would that have not been made easier keeping Carr in place to interfere with transfer and **** Rafa off?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I just wonder if the club have been shocked by the fees they’re being quoted. They shouldn’t, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Ake gone for £20m and he’s a only a decent young defender. I personally don’t think we will have enough money to do what Rafa wants – not at these prices. We will need to break our transfer policy and I’m not sure that’s in Ashley’s mind.
Stuart79(Quote)
It is a strange world where we are competing against the likes of Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Swansea. They have been Cinderella stories but they usually turn into pumpkins in the end.
Then there is the strange case of formerly established teams turning to ***** – mainly through disastrous owners. It could have happened to us except Hughton was much better than expected and Rafa stayed on. But now I fear for Sunderland. There was Coventry City who had 21 consecutive years in the top league and look at them now. And Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan were established PL teams with good stadiums. Then of course the Daddy of all falls from grace – Leeds.
The Mackems have appointed a manager who has a history of doing well in League 1, but has been sacked twice in the Championship. I fear for them with no money and a disinterested owner.
Eric Sykes(Quote)