It seems another slow news day for Newcastle United, and certainly the efforts to transfer 26 year-old striker Shola Ameobi have met with little success this summer so far.
Shola Ameobi - no takers yet
This is what happens when you overpay a player at the club, because then other clubs are unwilling to meet his wage demands, and it also looks like the fee of £3M we want for Ameobi will need to be reduced.
Ipswich Town manager Jim Magilton is now looking at other strikers and said yesterday:
“We have not heard a dickie bird from him, his agent or Newcastle, so I imagine he has gone back to Newcastle,â€
The transfer saga is now a source of frustration for both the player, who has more than 160 first team appearances for Newcastle United, and 20 England Under-21 caps, and his home town club.
Sources close to Ameobi have told The Newcastle Journal this morning that Shola will probably not leave the club in the next 2 weeks and it may be towards the end of August when his move finally happens.
The Newcastle valuation of £3M seems fairly reasonable, but seems to be putting lots of clubs off, and may need to come down, if we are to transfer a player who clearly has no future on Tyneside.
The sooner this transfer happens the better for everyone concerned, but we probably shouldn’t hold our breath.
Comments welcome.
56 responses so far ↓
1 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:20
Is it the valuation? His wages? His injuries? His attitude towards other clubs - it needs sorting out!
2 Davies // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:21
This is getting a bit sad now. It’s not that I desperately want shot of the lad, but he’s not getting used, because he’s not good enough.
If he’d pulled his finger out this really wouldn’t be an issue.
3 Kash2 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:23
I reckon its his wage demands. I’m sure there’s plenty of Championship clubs that can afford £3m, but his wages are alot higher than they’re used to paying!
Either that or he’s gonna run down his contract!
4 MattyDread // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:23
I think it’s time to bite the bullet and accept the fact that we’re not going to get £3m for Ameobi. Try for £2m at the most; anything we can get is a bonus as far as I’m concerned as there’s certainly little point in keeping hold of him.
Management should also prepare themselves for making a big loss on Alan Smith because he’s in exactly the same boat: get whatever we can for him because he’s not worth keeping hold of.
5 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:24
To be honest i am getting fed up now with how slow we are moving in the transfer market. If Ashley does not pull his finger out then he will see a dramattic fall in season ticket sales. Guthrie will NOT make ppl buy season tickets i’m afraid.
6 WesToon // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:25
If we dont get the 3 mill for him, i think we should just take whatever the other club is offering,no matter what we make a profit out of him,and it cuts the wage bill,problem solved..
7 Black and White Blood // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:29
@Toon1978 - It’s too late, we’ve already renewed them..! Deadline was the 17th June….
8 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:31
Clubs that we are meant to be bigger then ie Villa,Spurs,Portsmouth, Everton are making strides in the Transfer market, what are NUFC doing absolutely nowt apart from signing kids that cost very little. Don’t get me wrong it bodes well for the future but we need to worry about the present also. Pompey have signed Crouch, Campbell, Diarra , and now look set to get Bridge, bloody hell what are NUFC doing to stop these clubs from leaving us behind.
9 gorskino10 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:31
I heard he could be going with Big Sam to Mallorca which Freddy Sheppard is trying to buy.
10 Danny // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:32
Isn’t this very much like the case with Luque?
Linked several times, talks several times, but his wage demands were too high.
Bet it’s the same with Shola…
BTW, way to go all former Newcastle management, we kept a player that was always too poor, until an age of 26! NOW he has to go down a division…
11 Kash2 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:32
Slightly optimistic, but maybe Ameobi’s transfer won’t be concluded until our planned signings have been wrapped up?
Ipswich did say they heard nothing from Newcastle or the player. It seems everyone is on lockdown about giving anything away!
THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME!
12 broon ale // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:33
listen Shola! your transfer seems more complicated than Ronaldo’s.
please leave!
the ironic thing is that keegan gave him a chance. he brought it him out of the cold and started him in his first game in charge against bolton.
I was at the game in the directors box which my company owns and i couldnt beleive it when he was named in the team.
everyone agreed though, here is your chance shola. clean slate! keegan showed faith in him.. what did shola do… he blew it! he looked like he couldn’t be arsed!
he girlfriend(soon to be wife) works at my company (sage software) and i can only assume he doesnt want to move away from her and this is why he is dragging his heels!
please leave shola!
you had your chance and you dropped a large shit on your own door step!
plonker!
13 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:34
Blacknwhiteblood i mean in the next season or two we cannot continue to let the world go by and let other clubs steal a march on us. I have renewed my Season ticket UNFORTUNATELY he needs to bring in the goods because if this continues he will see a fall in season ticket sales IN THE FUTURE!
14 Fernando // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:36
news from palace this morning that you are in talks with moses. Have to admit he has potential but after spurs nicked bostock for peanuts , jordan will make you pay over the odds.
15 Leo // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:38
this is getting ridiculous
16 darren grech MALTA // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:38
i am realy fed up with the way newcastle utd are in the transfer market.as i said before we need to strenthen our squad more than other teams.our squad is small and we desperetly need more 5 quality players.
ashley must sell the club if he is not big enough to run it.i’m sorry to say this but as a supporter only interest me good signings and results.i don’t care how expensive is to run newcastle utd.
17 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:41
The squad is paper thin yet very little progress is being made, what is ashley doing with his money i wonder, Casinos, dirty women and chip shops.
18 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:41
1978 - Look at the team 3 years ago and look at it now…3 years is a long time!
We can’t sign world class players yet because we have nout to offer them and we’re all in agreement that the last-pay-cheque-signings rarely work out…So the only sensible thing we can do is buy young exciting players with a lot of a promise - that way, IF they develop into good players, they’ll already have the knowledge of/loyalty to our club to help the world class signings attracted by European football to settle well!
19 natedawg // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:43
very depressive board here , come on lads i no we all like a good moan . both our signings are good decent signings , keegans already said we have the base of a quality squad we just need to polish it up with some good signings, its been just over two weeks since the window opened and we have got two new player , not to bad i dont think and am sure there are more to come.
by the way i no a lot of us have problems with spurs , me included, does anyone think they are going to get bullied on the pitch , i mean modric santos are both lightweights, and thinking about there squad cant really see a lot of strength , might be some lack of premiership experience from ramos there
20 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:44
ALSO - The transfer window has been open for 15 days…In the first 2 weeks we signed 2 players, if we carry on at that rate we’ll have 9 new faces before the start of the season…
Some of you will never be happy - if we did all our business pre-window (a la spurs) you’d be complaining you’re bored now…Just be patient - Ashley is a billionaire for a reason and Keegan is Keegan - enough said!
21 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:46
Martin i understand what you are saying BUT why are we letting Pompey of all clubs snatch the likes of Crouch, Diarra, and the likes of Campbell and now it looks like Bridge while we stand back and sign young kids that will not come to fruit for another few years. We need proven players now to keep us in the top flight at least.
22 Chris // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:48
Toon1978, Portsmouth are willing to pay their extortionate wages that’s why. There’s something in the papers today on Distin saying we wouldn’t pay what he was wanting.
23 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:49
natedawg its just depressing seeing all these proven players going to clubs that cannot offer half as much as NUFC. We didnt even attempt to sign Crouch and it seems we wont even attempt to sign Bentley.
24 tapir // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:50
i fully agree with Toon1978
it not that i hate MA but he need to start investing and show his true eagerness to the Toon and not only as a profitable stepping stone.
Do not say we still have to wait and see as if we are very very slow then we will loose all our target!
25 natedawg // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:50
we will be fine toon1978 if you look at the players we have got rid of
carr
diatta
emre
rozenal
ramage
troisi
i mean they werent exactly first teamers last year were they, my theory is the kids will take there place , and we will sign 5 or 6 first team regulars 2 of which we already have.
26 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:51
Well Chris, Natedawg and Martin i will continue to keep me fingers crossed and hope for better things to come.
27 Kash2 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:52
@Fernando: Where did you see that link?
28 Toon_Army // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:52
Ameobi Just seems to be a player we cant get shot of. He played his best football under Roeder so I’m suprised that Norwich haven’t bid him.
29 sirjasontoon // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:53
If he had of pulled his socks up years ago and listened and learned from Shearer he would probably find him self in a different situation now.
Even if he goes down a division he will still struggle to match the type of goal ratios that kevin philips etc scores for fun.
30 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:54
We didn’t go for crouch (IMO) because if rumours are true we’ll get Derdyok both younger and cheaper instead…
I think Keegan and co are very concious of building a team, not just a squad, both Crouch and the Duke would want/expect to start when fit (something that’d be bad for team morale as one would be left dissapointed), whereas a youngster would be more willing to bide his time on the bench until the inevitable happens and wor mark gets injured again!
I know it looks like half-arsed business but I think just because it’s not exciting doesn’t mean it’s not quality business!
Danny Guthrie hardlys cunjurs up images of skillfull brazillian style footie, but neither does Rob Lee, Peter Beardsley or Gary Speed and if Guthrie is half the players they were then for about 1m/2m it’s an absaloute snatch!
31 sirjasontoon // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:54
I see the spurs sad act is on here again…sad lad.
32 natedawg // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:56
i dont think we were ever after crouch or similar player , because of our policy , i would of love to of got crouch in my opinion would of complemented owen and marts perfectly. but if our clubs ethos is now based on arsenals think when was the last time
arsenal signed a player over 25 or 26 , i just hope swp is in our reach, he would take us up a place or two in the league , i mean martins zog and swp running at you with owen knocking balls through for them to chase , would scare the cr*p out of any defence.
33 Kash2 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:57
@Martin: Weirdo Beardo was a geordie brazilian. That is blasphemy!!!! Haven’t you ever seen the “Beardsley Shuffle”? Even Pele at his best couldn’t perform that type of magic!
34 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:58
Martin i do admit Rob lee was my favourite player back in the good days of potentially winning the PL . Robert Lee was so underrated it was shocking. If he was playing today at 24 he would walk into the england 11 imo.
35 Toon1978 // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:59
I, and Beardo was world class, one of the best players ever to grace the PL.
36 Chris // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:00
There’s no panic Toon1978, plenty time yet. I know it seems slow and players are being snapped up by other teams, but Keegan will have a list of players he wants and if Crouch and the like aren’t on the list then he won’t o for them.
I agree we do need at least 3 or 4 quality players coming in and I’ll be surprised as anyone if we don’t get them. Keep your chin up mate, I can’t wait to see some decent signings aswell, but I won’t show my frustration until the transfer window closes!
37 bailey // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:01
The no sale of Ameobi should prove to him how average he is as witness his valuation and the sort of clubs that are allegedly interested in him.
Supporters have always been right about him; lazy, cannot be bothered, has the nerve to actually smile/smirk when he does something wrong. I don’t think I have ever seen him break sweat. Allerdyce gave him a full game against Derby and he just ambled around not seeming to care that it was a chance to prove himself.We have waited and waited for the potential which the likes of Anal Oliver kept telling us about and this potential is still mentioned today when he is 26 for goodness sake. Even if he was given a free transfer hardly any club (of any merit) would want him.
Just a thought but I was under the impression that SKY gave millions to each premiership club every season so where has that money gone and surely it could and should have been used for transfers.
38 Kash2 // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:04
Alan Oliver doesn’t seem to be writing any reports lately!!!
39 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:04
kash - I was brought up wanting Peter Beardsley to be dad! Obviously I’d get all the non footballing genes from the mother’s side!
What I’m saying is - Just because Guthrie doesn’t sound like massively exciting, exotic signings, neither did the other names mentioned and look how they turned out - Give the new’ns time before writing them off!
40 Derdi4Toon // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:06
well take 3m for any offers and use part of the fee collected to subsidize his wage, for whichever club he’ll be playing. it kinda sounds strange, but as our academy product he costed virtually nothing in the first place and now we really need to trim the wage bill and rid the deadwood … so financially it’s not too bad a deal. if Emre can go for only 3m the management should let Shola go for 1m i suppose?
41 Kash2 // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:14
@Martin: I know what you were getting at and I agree. I personally think Guthrie will be a very good signing. He certainly has the technical ability and had a very good first full season for Bolton. If he pushes on and gets better, then that would be very satisfying.
The whole point is that 2 signings isn’t enough, we need more numbers and better quality. Frustrating as it is, the lack of communication between the club and the fans is disgraceful IMHO.
Considering our fans pay alot of money for tickets and merchandise, alot more should be done to inform us of developments.
42 Spyro // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:46
this lump of **** needs to just **** off!
43 Sav // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:51
Shola saga shows how mad we’ve been to put such a player on high wages and that the new regime plan to reduce overall is correct. We can’t expect to get rid of unwanted players if they’re all on bloody cushie street.
44 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:53
Kash I have to disagree there, for 1 reason - Luca Modric!
If that original deal had been done with the same secrecy as the current signings are being subjected to he’d be in black and white stripes against hartlepool this weekend!
It is irritating, it is boring and it does kill a fair percentage of brain cells with worry…But i’d rather be kept in the dark for 7 more weeks and have a team of quality at the end of it than have the club be 100% open and honest and risk losing another top class signing!
At the minute we’re signing at a rate of a player a week - if we keep it up we’ll have 9 new players by the time the window closes AND I also think, some of the prospective signings are subject to outside circumstances i.e. if he goes there, then we’ll try for him etc.
45 Dondatta13 // Jul 15, 2008 at 11:54
Shola shouldn’t even be allowed to WATCH football ……. let alone “play” it!.
46 AndyNUFC // Jul 15, 2008 at 12:29
What really irritates me is that this could have been done and over with ages ago and we would have got a good price, but Ameobi ruined it for us and said no to the move.
47 Kash2 // Jul 15, 2008 at 12:42
@Martin: I’m not talking about the club informing us on player acquisiton. Any news, any comments, some sort of PR from the club would be nice. Yes, they’ll get grilled about players, but they should be well enough qualified to say “NO COMMENT” on those issues.
The PR at the club is poor, and ut has been for a long time!
48 steve // Jul 15, 2008 at 13:01
@fernando - looks like you boys need a striker with Berb off to Man Utd, Keane off to Liverpool and Bent off to Fulham, you could do worse than Shola (albeit not much) and you can afford his wages - how about taking him off our hands
49 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 13:12
Kash I don’t know mate…I agree the fans are kept in the dark about certain things, but aren’t most fans?
50 Bill F Splash the Cash Ash // Jul 15, 2008 at 13:31
Boinnng, the Bungee man strikes again.
And as for season tickets they would sell even if we had a team of dwarfs in the EPL.
And many people would sell their grannies to get them.
51 oga // Jul 15, 2008 at 14:12
Don’t know why theres so much hate for Ameobi and so much love for Viduka. They’re both under performers, but I know which one I’d keep.
Offloading Duff, Smith, Viduka & Geremi is far more important. And having ready replacements is even more important.
52 SteveD // Jul 15, 2008 at 14:52
£3m is far too much for a player of Ameobi’s calibre. While he was at Stoke he did nothing - absolutely nothing to merit his primadonna attitude.
Strangely the pocket of supporters that have always stood by Ameobi seem silent these days…
53 Martin // Jul 15, 2008 at 15:21
SteveD I think part of the reason they stood so loyally by Ameobi was due to certain managers having real faith in him - mainly Sir Bobby and Glen Roeder…
I’ve never rated him and always thought he was a bit of a donkey but his scoring record isn’t bad and he is a geordie - so I don’t really condone the attitude towards him from some fans - at he’s Alan bloody Smith!
54 clinta // Jul 15, 2008 at 16:06
‘This is what happens when you overpay a player at the club, because then other clubs are unwilling to meet his wage demands’
that’s pretty much what i’ve been saying about the likes of duff and smith, add an attempt to break even on a transfer fee for both and the result is there both playing for the toon next this season.
55 Lutterbach // Jul 15, 2008 at 20:04
It’s time to go, Shola.
56 skin d // Jul 15, 2008 at 22:07
shoala is typical of the lazy pampered players,that seem to exist these days.
they want the money,but are not willing to work for it.
the best game he ever had was against safc,other than the odd scuffed goal has contributed very little.
he has had countless oppurtunities over the years to prove himself.
why is it he always looked like tomorrow would do,and whenever he lost possession he would just laugh.
another annoying thing about him,is for a big lad ,he would never put himself about.
six foot three ,and not alot of heading ability of the ball.
shoala,for me never played like a striker,he didn,t seem to have a forwards nous of where to be.
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