67 year-old Graham Carr has given a long interview, and he’s taken some of the mystery away of what exactly he does for Newcastle, and how Newcastle are able to sign new players.
Graham Carr – done great job at Newcastle the last two years
Graham was born in Corbridge, Northumberland way back in 1944, and he’s even older than I am.
And he’s now been at the club just over two year as the Chief Scout, and is essentially doing the job once held by Derek Wise at the club, although he doesn’t have the fancy title of Football Director.
Graham has explained what he does for Newcastle, and says that Ashley and LLambias have to take credit for the turnaround at Newcastle, since he’s been here:
“I’m the Chief Scout at Newcastle. I went there with Chris Hughton in February, 2010, and I’ve been there just over two years and basically, I’m just recruiting players.”
“‘I’ve been doing the scouting job for fourteen years. I was at Tottenham for five years, Chief Scout at Manchester City for seven, and I’ve been mostly in Europe as well, so I’ve been been on the job for quite a long time.”
“I go and pick up three matches in Holland, three in France over the weekend, or midweek, or in Germany and I get a list of names together, sit down with the manager, Derek Llambias and Lee Charnley and our staff and we discuss them.”
“Then, if we think we want to sign one then Lee Charnley goes and gets a price for him.” “The club have got to take a lot of credit – Derek Llambias works hard, Mike Ashley, they’ve put the money there.”
“They’ve took the necessary stick from the supporters. On the outside looking in, I was a bit like what’s happened at Newcastle in the past.” But, since I’ve been in there working for them, I can’t speak too highly of them.”
And Graham is very complimentary on Alan Pardew, and has said this about the Newcastle manager:
“I think Alan Pardew’s done a great job because he’s actually organised the side into a winning side. Cheick Tiote has improved. Hatem Ben Arfa, he was a little bit temperamental in France. He’s a talented player who played for the French national side two years ago.”
“He had a problem, he fell asleep on the bench when he was at Lyon. But I think Alan Pardew’s putting an arm around him now and has got him playing to his true capabilities. Yohan Cabaye had a get out clause in his contract which was a major signing for us.”
“He was valued at £10M, but we found out he had a clause for £4.5M, so that really gave us the green light to go out and sign him and the club worked hard to get him.” “Cheick Tiote was available at the right price, at the right time.”
“Hatem Ben Arfa had played in the national side for France, we got him on loan.” “Then we’ve had Cabaye and Cisse come in, and Sylvain Marveaux too, who hasn’t played yet.” “Those are the players I was involved with.”
“I think at Newcastle that we haven’t been able to pay the big fees, so we’ve gone for what you might call realistic targets .” “But I just go and watch matches.”
It’s good that Graham has given another good interview yesterday, because he tends to let the fans know what’s going on, and how the Newcastle club work together on their transfer targets.
So all we want to know now from Graham is – who are the targets for the summer?
Who do you think they are?
Comments welcome.
49 comments so far
Dannyo
Apr 3, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Comment #1Oh how i love Graham Carr, may u live forever 😉
In Carr we trust!!
lewytoon
Apr 3, 2012 at 9:57 AM
Comment #2still think jose and carroll suitt he black and white stripes more 😛
http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2012/03/31/jose-enrique-failed-to-see-big-picture-alan-pardew-61634-30663385/
yep the grass isnt always greener! ha ha ha
i want gerogino winjaldum, he looks a quality player
Dannyo
Apr 3, 2012 at 9:57 AM
Comment #3@WWJBD (last thread)
HBA is on fire atm, and at the right time, along with some other players. It’ll be vital in the last 7 games to have them on form. If HBA doesn’t go the Euroes i’d be devestated for him.
Willo having a goal or two, i know mate, but he’s a notoriusly bad header for his size. It should’ve been his number 1 trait.
dmac
Apr 3, 2012 at 9:58 AM
Comment #4Graham Carr gets alot of praise and rightly so. Im glad to see he is giving praise to DL and MA. Football is a team sport from the board down and everyone at this club deserves praise for the way the team is performing.
Wor Shearer
Apr 3, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Comment #5If anyone at the club deserves a statue right now it’s Sir Carr!
Wor Shearer
Apr 3, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Comment #6….actually the whole team do atm
Dannyo
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Comment #7Carr, Carver and Beardsley have all spoken highly of MA and DL. Obviously they know something we don’t.
U could say “well ofc they wouldn’t say bad things”.
No they wouldn’t, but i think they wouldn’t say anything at all if that was the case…
The turnaround is happening.
dmac
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Comment #8Read alot of rubbish on here recently hence why i havent posted. Good to see Wwjbd and Dannyo are maintaining the normality.
Toon_Tom
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:01 AM
Comment #9Carr has the best job in the world!!!!!!!!
Pardew's fist pump
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:01 AM
Comment #10“But I just go and watch matches.”
Best job in the world!?
Pardew's fist pump
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:01 AM
Comment #11Toon_Tom
SNAP!
dmac
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Comment #12That made it seem like i was implying you responsible for the rubbish haha i meant the exact opposite! Rather that you can always rely on atleast 2 posters to talk sense.
WWJBD
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Comment #13Do we take it that Ba and Obertan were not Carr scouted then? Also doesnt mention Santon?
Dannyo
I would be a bit gutted for HBA if he doesnt go to the Euros but honestly if him and Cabs are dropped out of the squad it just means they wont get crocked when not in a black and white shirt imo
Aye Willo isnt the best with his head but he has hit the post a fair few times now
WWJBD
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:03 AM
Comment #14Hahaha cheers dmac lad
Trent Toon
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Comment #15Graham Carr was alive when Hitler was alive. Hitler was a loser – Graham Carr is not!
Dannyo
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:09 AM
Comment #16Lol, kindly said of u dmac 😉
However i do think that wwjbd fella is a bit dodgy. He once forced me to sing his praises in a post (!!!)
dmac
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Comment #17Obertan is a good player, he opens the channels up regardless of what his end product is like at the moment. This can only improve.
On HBA i think hitting form now stands him in with a good shout at a euro spot. Cabaye is practically a regular in the squad under Blanc id be seriously surprised if he didnt get a spot!
Dannyo
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:12 AM
Comment #18@wwjbd
I think it’s been said that Ba and Obertan where Pardews observations yes. Pretty sure it came from the club, but dunno who said it. Might actually have been Carr during an nufctv interview.
Toon_Tom
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:14 AM
Comment #19Trent – strange post there!!!! True, but very strange…..
WWJBD
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Comment #20Dannyo
Haha there was no force required as I recall u just wanted to explain how great, amazing and fantastic I am out of the blue 😉
Pardew's fist pump
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:18 AM
Comment #21WWJBD’s back. The arse-licking ensues.
Why not just meet up and shaft each other, have done with it?
WWJBD
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Comment #22dmac
Aye I like Obertan tbh just wondering if the more domestic targets are primairly done without Carrs input, not to say he wouldnt of wanted them though but ud think Carr is all about the over seas targets
Dannyo
I figured as much mate 😉 what about Santon? I would of thought he would of been Carr’s but he doesn’t mention him here?
Dannyo
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Comment #23@WWJBD
Hehe, well, we’ll see if there are any witnesses then 😛
Dunno about Santon mate. Could be he just forgot to mention him, he’s an old man u know. Also could be one that another scout picked up?
jimmymagpie
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Comment #24A word of caution – as Roy Hodgson has warned his club, you can only get so far on freebies, and young players, and there comes a time, if you want to progress, that you have to pay a bit more to add quality. I only hope that what I am hearing is true, that Ashley is allowing Pardew to go all out to get Pieters and Mbiwa in the Summer, as these 2 would cost in the region of £15m.
WWJBD
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:33 AM
Comment #25Dannyo
Yeah fair one just seemed to be a run down of his successful players and I’d of thought Santon would be in that bracket. Not really important though at the end of the day
jimmymagpie
Its a very fair point but the Cisse signing might be a sign of change only summer will tell though.
Marty-Toon
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Comment #26Glad that Perchy and Willo have improved along with Hba who we knew had the quality
Just hope it’s the same with the speedy Obertan
Anyone think it’s possible that he’ll improve?
JAMSHA
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Comment #27offtopic
im planeng to get ps3 for my birthday wich is on 10th may . all i wana know is do i have to take a broadband connex to play online?
NotAGhostToon
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Comment #28jimmymagpie- As far as I can see, there’s two reason why we may spend a bit of money! We’ve shown that if a player is good we’ll pay that little bit more than usual, even if Cisse ended up being a bargain, there was still collocini at 10m. On top of that I just think we kept transfers inline with what we had to spend. Yes we had that 35m but most of that probably dissappeared elsewhere, if we get into europe etc. I think we’ll start to see greater income and therefore higher cost purchases (if we can’t get someone just as good cheaper) but by god imagine what Carr could do at the upper end of financials!
JAMSHA
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:40 AM
Comment #29Marty-Toon
HE WILL, but nxt season
Dannyo
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:44 AM
Comment #30@jimmymagpie
U do have a point. But, as Pardew and others has emphesized. They want value for money. Even Carr says that in his interview, at £8 mill, they saw Cisse as value for money.
Pardew has also said that they thought that £6,5 mill valuation on Long was too much at the time. But in retrospect it would’ve been worth the gamble, as he was worth that now seeing how he’s performed in the PL.
I don’t think its all about freebies and cheap players, i do think it’s about vaue for money. And certainly, all players, side Obertan perhaps, has met their valuation, and increased it.
jimmymagpie
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Comment #31WWJBD – agree mate, the Cisse deal is an encouraging sign that purse strings might loosen a bit. I know we can’t go mad, and wouldn’t want us to, but I think most of us would appreciate a couple of good strong defenders, keep our better players, and perhaps a couple of young players especially up front. I certainly hope one rumour going around isn’t true – if Ba leaves, they would take Carroll back. PLEASE NO!!!!
Munster Mag
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:48 AM
Comment #32WWJBD, interesting points. I have felt from the outset that Obertan was not a well scouted buy, and happened very close ( within dys ) to when Pards and Fergie were talking about Barton on twitter. I would love to see us get Mbiwa and Pieters. 2 reservations – Mbiwa looks small to be a acentre half ( utility player maybe ?) and I’m not sure how quick Pieters is, but am open to advice! Mbiwa looks a very cool customer.
jimmymagpie
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:52 AM
Comment #33Dannyo – agree with you at 30. Not a Ghost – Europa League doesn’t generate much. Heard Peter Coates on the radio saying that Stoke only expect to clear £5m from it. Long journeys, low crowds, and the big sponsorship goes to the Champions League. To me the attraction is to give our young players game time and experience, and it is an additional bargaining tool when it comes to transfers.
Munster Mag
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:52 AM
Comment #34I wonder is it just a case of starts aligning? ( Sorry to sound daft ) ….Pardew was not considered a great manager, and surely if Carr was that amazing ( and i love him like everyone here ) , surely he would never have left City/Spurs? Just a thought. I’m thrilled either way…we have such a versatile squad at the moment, and Pardew coaches well when we are stuck in certain areas – eg left back at start of season.
Munster Mag
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:54 AM
Comment #35Dannyo, I’d always have the big nutcase back. Played correctly, he’s a very good player. But losing Ba would hurt badly.
jimmymagpie
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:54 AM
Comment #36Munster – Obertan had been in England long enough, they should have known all about him without extensive scouting.
WWJBD
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:55 AM
Comment #37jimmymagpie
Yeah mate agree I think we do need to spend on defence and then its all about building depth and replacing those who leave this summer. As for budget wise I have no idea and am not in a position to guess and my guess would be it has not been set yet
Munster
I wouldnt put much weight behind my ramblings mate cos I know nothing haha
Munster Mag
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Comment #38Any thoughts on Mbiwa being a bit small, beside Colo who aint tall either?
jimmymagpie
Apr 3, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Comment #39Munster @ 35 – no mate, I’m of the old school – once they’ve turned their backs on us for the money, let them stay away.
Munster Mag
Apr 3, 2012 at 11:01 AM
Comment #40Old story Jimmy, but I think we rushed him out the door for that money …..fair enough….Liverpool bonkers though. I think he would have stayed. We could easily have negotiated him down to being a good earner, but not top club earner….