Almost immediately after Demba Ba had sealed a deal to Newcastle United, my Toon Army supporting friend rang me absolutely steaming,
He had had enough of witnessing what can only be described as a curious transfer policy and a prolonged period of instability under Ashley’s ownership.
With Kevin Nolan, arguably their talisman and best player of last season, leaving for West Ham for a relatively small fee and Joey Barton tweeting ‘#mejoseandjonasnext’, you can understand my friend’s frustration.
Were Newcastle to lose Enrique, Gutierrez and Barton, it would be a hammer blow for their chances of staying in the Premier League, let alone pushing for places higher up the table.
Players of genuine quality who would not be easy to replace, Pardew needs to focus on securing the services of this indecisive trio before spending a lot more wisely than he has been doing so far.
With £35 million from Carroll’s transfer to Liverpool, fans should expect some high calibre replacements and I’m sorry but the capture of Ba, Cabaye from Lille plus a bid for full-back Neil Taylor from newly promoted Swansea does not meet that criteria.
I do appreciate that we are still in the fledgling stages of this transfer window, and I’m sure that Mike Ashley will spring a surprise somewhere along the line, like he has at almost every opportunity that presents itself, but the current influx of players will not appease discontented fans.
In an attempt to settle unhappy supporters, Pardew has promised signings in the coming weeks that will ‘excite fans’. Tranquillo Barnetta and Blaise Metudi, who have been linked with the club, both have potential to become leading stars in the top flight, but they do not have the ‘wow’ factor that was last felt on Tyneside with the capture of Michael Owen.
It is with that point that Pardew might have his strongest argument when explaining his approach in the transfer market.
Despite his obvious quality, Owen was ravaged by injury in his time at Newcastle and £16 million was an expensive price to pay for 71 appearances and 26 goals.
A shining example of what over-exuberance in the current market could get you, thus possibly explaining Pardew’s apparent reluctance to shell out big money.
There is no doubt he needs to spend wisely, but he also needs to be realistic. Talent costs, and the possibility of a season flirting with relegation will become a reality for their tortured fans, who have suffered for a long time.
Since the great Sir Bobby Robson was fired in 2004 after finishing 5th in the Premier League, Newcastle’s fall from grace has been nothing short of spectacular, culminating in relegation two seasons ago.
Under the guidance of Chris Hughton, they immediately re-established themselves in the top flight and the atmosphere around the club appeared to be changing positively, buoyed by a series of class performances against the likes of Arsenal and Aston Villa.
Then Ashley fired Hughton, hired Pardew and sold Carroll, effectively taking them back to square one.
Both Ashley and Pardew have a lot to prove, and the transfer window might just be where they can earn their corn. Whether they earn it or not, we will have to wait and see.
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michael owen may have had the ‘wow’ factor, but he didnt pull his weight. I’d rather have players who play for the shirt than for their own ego’s.
We werent that excited about tiote when he signed, but he’s a legend now.
Lets give the new players a chance before passing judgement.
OK mate in case you didnt notice – Ashley isnt going out and paying over the odds. So you have to spend big? How does Tiote fit into that, and Simpson?
Apparently you dont rate Cabaye, or Ba, who has a much better strike rate than Carroll. So who are you expecting to come in?
Sorry – but you have to be pushing it a bit if you’re having a go at Ashley and then bring Bobby Robson into the equation.
Lets be honest – it was hardly surprising that we came straight back up. We went down with a wage bill of 71 million. We were hardly going to struggle. So how good was Hughton? Average. Nice guy but knew sod all about tactics.
The problem is that the transfer window hardly creaks open and everybody starts bitching about everything.
Why not wait until the end of August and comment on whats happened rather than what you think might, maybe perhaps have happened by then
Sorry, but I must disagree when you say that Ba, Cabaye and Neil Taylor aren’t good quality signings by the club. Add to that the capture of Rennes winger Sylvain Marveaux and we have 3 great players here, and one for the future in Neil Taylor.
Nolan being sold was a bit of a shock, but the £4-£4.5million for his transfer means that we have actually spent nothing in the window as yet and yet we have recruited 4 quality players, all internationals.
Ashley has already said that Pardew can spend all of the £35million (including wages) from the sale of Andy Carroll last January and so you can certainly expect some big signings over the coming months. N’zogbia could well make a return, Erding could be brought, Sturridge on loan is a possibility with a view to buy.
Hopefully we can hold on to Jose but that is looking more unlikely by the day, so a quality left back will definitely be brought in, and cover as well. Patrick van Aanholt could be a possibility.
Time will tell how our squad is looking come the start of the season, but with the likes of Ben Arfa, Gosling, and Guthrie added to the mix of Cabaye, Marveaux, Tiote – with either of Barnetta or N’Zogbia being brought in, possibly Barton staying – then I don’t really see how we could have offered Nolan any nmore than a two year extension.
A nice article anyway friend, however, I just feel that my above points cast some doubt on the ‘Terrible’ transfer window that Newcastle are supposedly having.
Nick
To be honest why spend big if you don’t have to? Getting Ba and Marveaux (providing they both stay fit) on free transfers is good business, and exploiting cabaye’s contract clause is too. I would take deals like this which have potential over ‘big’ signings like Owen any day. Like other people have said, Tiote only cost £3.5M, Liverpool just paid £18 plus add ons for Henderson, I know who I would rather in my team…
Cabaye is a quality player. He was part of the title winning Lille side this season. Ba scored at over a 1 in 2 ratio at West Ham. I think you are a little harsh – it is early in the summer and there is plenty of time to bring in new people. He certainly does have the “wow” factor.
We have a similar issue at my club, Aston Villa. You just have to have faith in the manager to know what he is doing, and give him time to build the right team.
(by which I meant Cabaye has the wow factor, not Ba who has potential. Cabaye is around the french squad and has a good scoring/assist record from midfield as well)
Are you mad? I’m a Newcastle fan and I’m obviously a bit miffed at the sale of Kevin Nolan who I rate as a fantastic player and I hope that Barton and Collocini stay because their performances last season were fantastic. Jonas I’m not so sure about because his end product is mostly non existent and I’d rather have Ben Arfa or even Barton playing out on the wing. But I’m well impressed with the recent signings. Cabaye looks like a class act and seems to be with us for the long haul and for 4 million it’s a steal. Similarly Ba is FREE and he was a goal machine last season for West Ham. And seeing as he doesn’t wasn’t the number 9 shirt, suggests that we are going to sign another, maybe higher profile, striker. But for FREE, who wouldn’t have Ba? and this new winger Marveaux for FREE who was on the verge of signing for Liverpool also seems like a decent signing. these players don’t cost us anything and have a good few years in them. If they don’t work out it’s not catastrophic like Luque or Xisco. I agree with Archie, wait until the end of August and then we can pass judgement on Pardew. And may I remind you that none of us were too happy a couple of seasons ago with the signings of Coloccini and Enrique because, for the first season, they were crap. Lets give Pards a chance, he definitely deserves that.
What a load of nonsense this article is. Demba Ba is a monster of a man that has already proved he can score goals even in a poor West Ham team, you have written off our signings already without even seeing how they get on! would you write them off if we had paid £7 mill for both? I think not, and saying that we would be fighting relegation if we lost Joey/Jose ect is just a bollocks
Sorry but this article is the biggest pile of shite I have ever read!! How can you not rate cabaye (a french international) or ba (7 gls in 13 games!!) Annd prefer nolan. Yes he was a great captain but he has no speed and so would not fit in our new look squad time to move on.
Any more news on adabeyour??
Pardew needs to become someone else…chris hughton perhaps!!!!PARDS has no chance of that,useless,weak,SACKED from southampton.says it all,as for ‘waiting til the end of august to comment’ I’m talking about pardews poor past…high profile manager,JOKE,he said he will spend EVERY penny from the carroll sale,show me where and when.I’m talking about what has happened,and it stinks.
I think the article has a point but I am not condemming the players we have bought and think they seem to have impressive C.V’s. The problem I have is that the only proven premiership player we have bought is Ba but we could possibly lose Barton, Collocini, Enrique and Jonas along with Nolan. My problem with this is that we had a strong spine to the team already and all we need to do was to add to it to make progress, now we are gambling that all of the signings we have made are immediatley going to be able to adapt to the premiership and England in general. Surely Enrique’s and Collo’s first seasons in the premiership could highlight the dangers of what could happen. Then again they all may take the premiership by storm so those worries may be unfounded however I still feel it is a big risk. I also worry that if the players do well what is to stop us from trying to sell these players and look for replacements again in the near future?
An interesting piece at an interesting time in the geordie wunderland….fact is that Newcastle United are always going to be lower half Premier at best because the very presence of Mr Ashley enhances the instability of the club….all the claims of being a BIG club will continue to fall on deaf ears until they stabilise the leadership ..Pardew remains a championship manager and has never been anything more…if he was he would have taken West Ham further than the deep meaning full relationship with relegation they endured with the same consitency as this Newcastle team endures when making the claim of being a BIG club but performing well below par..every season!How can you struggle headed towards div one, sack a manager , put the trainer in charge who then promptly gets them up the table, out of the championship, back into the Prem and does so well that they sack him! Idiots = Newcastle Management thats for sure!
A French international. Er, is it that supposed to impress us then? Didn’t Cabaye get his first cap while the rest of them were still standing on the naughty step after South Africa? All for giving the guy a chance, and he may well turn out to be good business, but he contributed only 2 goals to Lille’s last campaign (13 the season before) and has got everything to prove. Cabaye, Ba, Marveaux, Taylor – all aeems a bit mid-table to me.
excellent excellent piece. what a well written article, something you don’t see a lot of these days! do you do any other forums/blogs?