Newcastle have made another official bid for Watford center-back Adrian Mariappa.
Adrian Mariappa – last bid made by Newcastle
Alan Pardew has told Sky Sports that Newcastle have now made their final offer today for the 25 year-old center-back, and if Watford turn that down, which is likely, Newcastle may not get another center-back through the door today.
We don’t know if Newcastle have a Plan B in case the Mariappa bid is turned down, but Watford want £4M for the player, and Newcastle are unlikely to pay that much, for an unproven player in the Premier League.
This is what Alan Pardew said today:
“We have made our last bid now and it’s a final bid so if he doesn’t come today then he probably won’t come to this football club because in the summer we will probably look elsewhere.”
Maybe the best deal Newcastle could offer Watford would be to pay say £2M up front, but then pay the other £2M (or less) in installments, based on the number of first-team appearances Mariappa makes at Newcastle.
Since Newcastle pay their transfer fees up front in cash, Watford would still get more money up front than any other clubs said to be bidding for the player, which includes Wigan Athletic.
Of course we’d be a lot happier if we get some cover in for Coloccini or Williamson today, otherwise we will have only James Perch and/or Tamas Kadar available in case the two first choices are injured or get suspended before the end of the season.
It’s important Newcastle do well in the remaining 16 league games, because we have a decent chance of finishing in the top seven in the league, and even qualifying for the Europa Cup for next season.
Since that could mean big bucks for Newcastle, we would have thought that Mike Ashley and Derek LLambias would be keen to get cover in, with Steven Taylor being out for the rest of the season.
But it’s all been very quiet at Newcastle so far today, and that’s more good news than bad, since at least it looks like we will not be losing any of our top players, like we lost Andy Carroll last January.
That’s got to be good news, even if we don’t manage to bring in another center-back.
The latest on the transfer front is Liam Ridgewell of Birmingham is undergoing a medical at West Brom, and we tried to bring him in last August 31st, but were unsuccessful, so he’s not coming to Tyneside.
And 31 year-old Wayne Bridge of Manchester City, who was a target of Newcastle back in 2002 when he was at Southampton and Bobby Robson was the Newcastle manager, is going on loan to Sunderland until the end of the season.
Comments welcome.
256 comments so far
Charlietoon
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:42 PM
Comment #241Ahh there is is on the clicker 🙂
Toon_Jock
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Comment #242He wants to come to the Toon!!! Mariappa en route to training ground??
solano
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Comment #243We have some “pull” on Championship players! 🙂
Can he play?
Toon_Jock
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:45 PM
Comment #244Charlietoon: I’m watching SSN at home – they’ve confirmed he refused to talk to Wigan!
Lynxie
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:45 PM
Comment #245Selbymag:
getting tickets for York City must be murder is it. Or Goole…… or Scunny? Talk about people being fans…..
Following a team from afar doesn’t make anyone any less of a supporter.
At Fulham last week, I was talking to a MAG, who had flown over from Philadelphia especially for the Fulham game. Not much of a fan him is he? Please go and take your head for a shite.
Charlietoon
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:50 PM
Comment #246I live in Australia and have never had the chance to go and see a match. I get up between midnight and 3am often on a Monday morning to watch the game and I have an old Newcastle Brown Ale shirt and a Northern rock with Shearer on the back which I wear depending on which one is lucky at the time. I dont have fox so I watch it on my little computer and often spend the entire game dealing with a crappy stream or having to switch constantly as they get taken off line. My mates support the Top 4. I am the only NUFC supporter in my group so I get crap all the time from all angles everytime we do something stupid and just sometimes I get the give them some back and it’s all the more sweet. I chose the team because I liked the way they played football and choosing one of the big four would have been too easy.
What am I? I count myself as a fan/supporter/honorary Geordie whatever…I just love the team so it does not really matter.
Zebras4Life
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:50 PM
Comment #247232 Selbymag // Jan 31, 2012 at 5:35 PM
Supporter = someone who attends games truly feels the highs and lows of the club and is part of the match day passion.
I understand there are exiles and peole who can not attend for personal financial reasons who are supporters, but I dont get the stick a pin in a list and support Newcastle mob.
There I said
– Never assume lil kid.
I attend the Newcastle/ManU game every year, (probably have travelled more miles to support my club than you) watch every game on TV, and played professionally (knowledge aspect). Ur a joke of a so called supporter. I would think a true fan/supporter would welcome one who appreciates history and sport!
Charlietoon
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Comment #248I wonder if we went in for Ridgewell? With the rumours going about that houghton wanted Lovenkrands a think a swap could have been a good way to go.
newcastleu22
Jan 31, 2012 at 5:58 PM
Comment #249Selby…
You completely and utterly full of… can’t even think of a word.
I wasn’t born or raised into a Newcastle family, but was raised in Boston (US) where soccer (yes I’ll call it whatever I want) is at best a secondary sport. I’ve supported (yes supported) the toon for seven years now. I consistently wake up at 6am every Saturday or Sunday morning and head down to my local soccer pub in an area I moved to SPECIFICALLY because they had a soccer pub and a very small contingent of Newcastle supporters.
You saying I’m not a true supporter because I can’t shell out $2,000 to fly to Newcastle to go see a game that you have to pay 30 bucks for is an absolute joke.
Go drown in the brown you clown.
Lynxie
Jan 31, 2012 at 6:00 PM
Comment #250charlietoon / Zebras 4 life:
take no notice of that self opinionated prick, he does not know what he is talking about. You guys are tru supporters in my book, long may it continue. he is probably a ‘joined during the keegan years’ when we were the easy choice. He has numerous ‘loca’l teams to him, he is about as loyal as a Man Utd fan, and his opinions are like his arse, best out of sight..
williamnelhams
Jan 31, 2012 at 6:08 PM
Comment #251Selby – I am one of your so-called ‘stick a pin in a list and support Newcastle mob’
I was born in London and I live in London today. Why do I support Newcastle? Well, from the age of about 5 I was football mad, however, no one in my family cared in the slightest about football. I decided to support Newcastle (mainly because of the name and because I wanted to be different from the other kids who supports Man U, Liverpool etc.)
From that day on I have been a passionate fan; I watch as many games as I can and if I can’t I try to get a radio link and failing that BBC Sport updates. The first things I do when I wake up is check the BBC gossip column for any mention of Newcastle, I search on twitter for #nufc; and read this blog and many others.
Unfortunately due to financial and logistical restrictions I haven’t been to see a home game but this is number one on my bucket list (#2 being climb a large-ish mountain, and #3 being meet Alan Shearer)
I know when Newcastle are playing and plan around this – meaning I have missed the occasional birthday; night out; romantic meal etc.
Believe me; I feel every high and low that a Geordie feels. I remember running out into the street when Bellamy scored the equaliser against Feyenood and I remember running out of the pub in tears when Duff scored that own goal against Aston Villa.
I am a 100% bona-fide NUFC fan, to be told otherwise I feel quite insulted. There are many times that I have cursed my luck that I wasn’t born in Newcastle (it would certainly help when I get funny looks of people when I say I support Newcastle)
I also feel that you are acting in quite a snobbish manner; much in the same way as the FA, the experts, the media etc that suggest Redknapp as England manager – presumably as he is a proud Englishman (Obviously so proud of the fact, that he didn’t want to use our banks…)
Anyway, my rant is over; my love for NUFC is no less than anyone else’s. For most of my life I have taken stick from people asking me why I support Newcastle despite being a Londoner, I certainly didn’t expect anyone to challenge it on this blog.
newcastleu22
Jan 31, 2012 at 6:16 PM
Comment #252Good rant Will.
Lynxie
Jan 31, 2012 at 6:33 PM
Comment #253Guys, Selbymag has not replied, because he has had to dash and find a good seat in the local pub with all of his other Man united mates, in time for the match tonight. He hasnt exactly been to Man United, butwas once given a ‘Solskjaer’ shirt for christmas, and has always been a ‘fan’ ever since the night they won the treble…..
Zebras4Life
Jan 31, 2012 at 6:39 PM
Comment #254Of course Lynxie! Theres always that guy.
Zebras4Life
Jan 31, 2012 at 6:42 PM
Comment #255Lynxie // Jan 31, 2012 at 6:33 PM
Guys, Selbymag has not replied, because he has had to dash and find a good seat in the local pub with all of his other Man united mates, in time for the match tonight. He hasnt exactly been to Man United, butwas once given a ‘Solskjaer’ shirt for christmas, and has always been a ‘fan’ ever since the night they won the treble…..
-Now thats hilarious.
Lynxie
Jan 31, 2012 at 7:04 PM
Comment #256From now on, by order of Mr Halfabrain from Selby, all Newcastle United supporters / fans will be vetted to reveal exactly how far from St James’s Park, in addition to which TV channels they actually watch the games on. All of those who actually travel to go to games (despite there being dozens of teams within a ten minute drive from thier own home), and sing songs and shout at the referee shall be ‘Supporters’. All those who get up at God knows unearthly hours of the day and night, to watch very poor broken and unending buffering of a badly streamed game, then get the mickey taken out of them constantly by thier Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea following mates, and suffer the perpetual kick in the bollix of yet another giant killing, whilst (should they be lucky enough to visit tyneside) will probably not be able to get a ticket, and all the while not ‘really’ a true supporter, shall be patronised as ‘fans’. I hope this clarifes.
Complaints please to Selbymag@Iamamoron.com