It seems that in every transfer window, Demba Ba’s release clause will become active, so if for some reason he’s still at Newcastle in February, the release clause will again become active in the summer – is this a sorry state of affairs or is this a sorry state of affairs?
Alan Pardew – at his press conference
Alan Pardew talked about the Demba Ba situation in his press conference today, when he asked about the Senegal International:
“It’s unfortunate that the contract he has leaves open a lot of questions because we have this clause and every window that comes around, I have to answer the same questions.”
“It would be disappointing for him to leave in this window for this club and for his team-mates here, but the decision will be his, ultimately, because that clause is there.”
“The most important things we have got with Demba is he is someone who is a goalscorer and he is scoring goals, and that’s very, very important to a side.” “His commitment to and work-rate for the team, I don’t fault.”
The interview Ba gave recently to Canal+ came up in the press conference, and Alan Pardew said he had talked to Ba about it, and that his comments were misinterpreted when the translation was made into English – and Alan was satisfied that Demba Ba did nothing wrong and he would not be fined.
This is what Alan said about that interview:
“I have had to because it was quoted in England not correctly, and that’s unfair on Demba and unfair on us.” “There will be no disciplinary procedure against him. There was one procedural matter where he could have informed us and should have, really, but that’s neither here nor there.”
“The most important thing for me is that the content of that conversation was about trying to turn the situation around, like all of us.” “We are professional people, we want to win. That’s what we are paid for and I have got no problem with anything he said in that interview.”
Alan was more than down to earth in the news conference, and in a way it was refreshing that he accepted Newcastle were in a very bad situation currently – yes it’s doom and gloom he said – but he also said it’s up to himself, the coaches and of course the players to fight their way out of the mess we are in.
And Alan said the fight against relegation could well go on until May – when the season ends.
I hope he was saying that with tongue in cheek – but it didn’t look like it. 🙁
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100 comments so far
toonarmydownsouth
Dec 20, 2012 at 8:36 PM
Comment #41ToonBano
Aye true enough you do get some proper extremists out there
Remember reading about a fan group from an italian club, can’t remember which one like, but basically they drove down the street on scooters through the away fans and slashed them with knives!
toonarmydownsouth
Dec 20, 2012 at 8:41 PM
Comment #42JFA
It does seem a bit dated like and its actually a pretty long comp if you start in the qualifers a real drain on club resources and as you said no real reward other than pride!
And with the ‘elite’ clubs in each league the CL really is only for the rich
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 8:51 PM
Comment #43I read something a few weeks back saying they were considering ditching it and expanding the Cl .
jasper
Dec 20, 2012 at 8:59 PM
Comment #44I love Santon’s runs as much as the next fan but…..
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/12/20/the-trouble-with-dribbling-why-even-at-barcelona-only-lionel-messi-is-allowed-a-mazy-run/
When did one end in a goal?
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:00 PM
Comment #45Tads,
Still can’t understand how fifth place had to qualify but the league cup winners get an automatic spot but I suppose that’s the league protecting their Mickey Mouse cup which incident no other top league has,and to think they really tried to milk it a few years back with the Full members cup.
Lee Dodd
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:03 PM
Comment #46Here We Go Again !!!! Release Clause Release Clause. Get Him Gone and Get Carroll and Remy In. Simples. !!!!
Magpies-till-d3ath
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:06 PM
Comment #47http://m.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/newcastle-boss-pardew-admits-interest-in-france-star-remy-1-5244727
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:08 PM
Comment #48Lee Dodd ,
If you expect anything less I would suggest ignoring this blog till Jan 31st which I wish I could.
toonarmydownsouth
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:09 PM
Comment #49Jfa
Yeah there talking about scraping it and making one massive european comp which could be great
The league cup does seem a bit dated just think 2 domestic cups is too much with the league and then if your in europe aswell its makes a very congested fixture list especially when the FA p1ss and moan PL clubs aren’t taking it seriously!
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:11 PM
Comment #50Magpies
Wtf say has he got in the matter anyway its up to Dirk Dastardly and his orrible negotiations round the gaming table.
Ghost Of Catchy
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:13 PM
Comment #51Carroll cant play for 3 clubs in one season.
So that aint gonna happen.
And if you think we play awful football at the moment,it will get worse if he returns.
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:13 PM
Comment #52Tads ,
I could be wrong here but I think the league cup is a run by a different association than the FA cup.
toonarmydownsouth
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:16 PM
Comment #53JFA
Lol true 😉
Super Magpie
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:23 PM
Comment #54Jail
It’s a good idea to have a 64 team CL but it wouldn’t be the CL anymore. What they should do is get rid of the group stages and make it a KO tournament. This means there will be less games and more to play for.
GeordieToon89
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:26 PM
Comment #55We dont need Carroll back, Sell Ba if he doesnt sign a new deal and then buy Remy,
Ben Arfa————Remy
————–Cisse
This would equal nothing but quality and goals both Remy and Benny would bring the best out of Cisse
addiosamigo
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:27 PM
Comment #56I love Demba just as much as any other NUFC fan, I say pay him what he wants, which is reported to be 90k. He’s definitely a proven goalscorer and he’s proven that he’s worth those wages. Look at RVP, Ba has the same amount of goals yet RVP is reportedly on 250k a week. Some other club will pay what he’s asking for, I bet even QPR would. I know we have a strict wage structure but it should be broken for special circumstances and this is one of them; we are in trouble, we need to keep our squad. The club can definitely afford it! Lets face it I certainly wouldn’t work for less wages than someone who’s doing exactly the same job as myself, no one would, Ba is no different. But saying this it maybe a load of rubbish what’s being said, and he may genuinely just not want to play for us anymore, which would be a shame, but until January were never know.
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:27 PM
Comment #57Super,
Do you mean the EL,I think whatever they do its a poor cousin to the CL unless they make some incentives like automatic qualification to the big one.
Graeme
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:28 PM
Comment #58Super Mag, the whole point of creating the league format was to ensure every team would get at least 6 money spinning ventures BEFORE they could get knocked out.
It was purely for the financial benefit of the clubs taking part, AND of course UEFA!!
Super Magpie
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:41 PM
Comment #59Jail
Both ideally. It would make teams put more into the competition because they could be out with one bad performance while with the group stages you can afford to slip up. But like you have said, the EL will never be as big as the CL. I see where you are coming from by saying group winners should go into the CL. But, would you make the teams who finished 3rd in their group ( this is CL teams) go into the EL knockout stages?
Graeme-
It’s not like clubs make that much is it? Isn’t it something like £2m altogether for all 6 games?
Ghost Of Catchy
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:41 PM
Comment #60The uefa cup was always good.Then they messed around with it & now its pish.
NUFC FOR SALE
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:43 PM
Comment #61This Ba situation is an absolute joke.
This is Newcastle United for god sake, we’re not Wigan or Southampton or Fulham.
Its time this club started to take back some pride and stature and tell Ba he either signs a new contract this weekend without the clause of hes dropped for the Man Utd and Arsenal games and he WILL be sold in January.
This club shouldn’t be putting up with this cr@p every transfer window.
It just proves to me yet again that the people running this club have no back bone and don’t hold the club in the same regard as we do…..don’t even get me started on the Nile Range situation…..do you think for one minute Ranger would still have a contract at Man Utd…Ferguson would have kicked his @rse out of te club and tore his contract up in his face.
Ba either sign the new contract, sack your Del Boy agents or find yourself another club and we’ll get on with being Newcastle United.
lannywm
Dec 20, 2012 at 9:45 PM
Comment #62Hi all
Never commented on this site before, i feel the passion for the toon and thats a very good thing. But why don’t all the fans protest about watching good football. Be that with the use of banners or protest. I would not pay 1p to watch poor football with any team. Football should have evolved in England with pass and move being the key. I don’t want to protest about Pardew being sacked, but why not protest about the sytle of play.
Graeme
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:00 PM
Comment #63Super Mag, you were talking about the CL – Champions League, its worth MANY Millions. The EL – Europa League is only worth £3-4 Million if you win it.
NUFC for sale – The Ba situation as you put it was created by NUFC for NUFC, to protect NUFC. They were determined not to get caught out if Ba’s knee gave up. This limits Ba’s wages, but gives him playing incentives ie, if he is out injured, it reduces NUFC’s bill.
As a consequence, Ba accepted lower wages, BUT a release clause was inserted to allow Ba to move for a set fee so once he proved his knee was ok, he could leave to improve his wages. NUFC can remove the clause, by renegotiating the Contract, but they will have to pay Ba a lot more than they are now and they don’t want to do it.
Once again NUFC are gambling that no other club will risk taking him on because of the knee, while refusing to pay him what he’s worth, to remove the clause.
Ba knows what he is worth, his “advisers” know what he’s worth, every manager in the country know what he’s worth. I get the impression Ba would like to stay, but he wants paying nearer his value.
Its a guess, just my opinion!
Super Magpie
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:09 PM
Comment #64Graeme
I know that, I’m saying that if the CL became a 64 team tournament then it wouldn’t be the CL anymore. However, it would be good financially as the teams in it would make lots of money and so would UEFA. At the end of the day money will win.
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. But the current format needs to change.
Anyway, I’m off for the evening. Good night.
bottle
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:09 PM
Comment #65What I admire about SAF is that no player is bigger than the club. Not keen on him personally like but players come and go and he even faced down Rooney.
Wish we had that bottle with Ba.
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:26 PM
Comment #66Bottle,
Like your idea but Rooney didn’t exactly get faced down probably got a bollocking for going public but ultimately got himself a new contract on par with the other top earners at the club.
bottle
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:31 PM
Comment #67JfA
Rooney really did back off pretty quickly. Contract bribe or no. My point stands as we all know who SAF has transferred out. Prima donnas who thought they were bigger than the club. No names no pack drill
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:36 PM
Comment #68Bottle,
We all know who SAF has shipped out but like I said Rodney got himself a fat new contract on par with the rest of the highbearners at Old Trafford after his shenaniagans .
bottle
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Comment #69Jfa
Do you not think we should show the same cojones then ?
Is Ba more trouble than he’s worth – that seems to be the equation
nufc7lad
Dec 20, 2012 at 10:58 PM
Comment #70Kruk
Santon Douglas Colo Ferguson
Anita Tiote
Ben Arfa Cabaye Remy
Cisse
DREAMING
Jail for Ashley
Dec 20, 2012 at 11:13 PM
Comment #71Bottle,
Maybe if we really want to keep him pay him what he’s with and tell him to sack his advisors.
Tsunki
Dec 20, 2012 at 11:18 PM
Comment #72Dont know if its been posted before but heres an interesting recap of our new boy
http://omarseilleuk.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/is-remy-looking-north/
Remy Remy,
How you thrill me
Ah – Ah, Loic Remy..
Needs a bit of work here and there …..
t00ntime
Dec 20, 2012 at 11:20 PM
Comment #73Dont know if its been mentioned yet, but according to the daily mirror Our offer for remy has been accepted. 10mil+marveux
I really hope this is true but not getting excited yet
beefman13
Dec 20, 2012 at 11:43 PM
Comment #74A decent lad is remy if we get him, hes had a bit of an injury hit season so far, certainly got a good pedigree 17 french caps, just needs to get up to full speed and we could be on a winner big time. here`s hoping!
BigKirky
Dec 21, 2012 at 12:03 AM
Comment #75Would love Remy and Ben Arfa either side of Cisse as a front three. Cisse starts scoring again, no problem.
mattyNUFC
Dec 21, 2012 at 12:09 AM
Comment #76ahh it’s been a nice hiatus from the blog. will stay that way but a few thoughts on everything as of late:
who could blame any player for wanting to go? Ba, whether he fits in our system (whatever the hell that is) or not is a 70-80k a week striker, easily.
on the EL draw: it’s an easy draw? we’ll lose two on the bounce the way we’ve been playing. the Ukrainian league is no mickey mouse league. get your heads straightened.
on Pardew: improvement? vaguely. we’re still losing. we still have zero cohesion. cuts one of the saddest figures i’ve ever seen- game after game after game
QPR: worried
this blog: think i’m pretty much over it. same old same old. i feel the same, you feel the same, we all feel the same as we did a year ago. i’m getting fed up with the football to the point of indifference.
my dad watched the MC game with me. told him beforehand we’d lose. said we’d be lucky if it was by no more than 3 goals. out of all the little quips he muttered, the greatest two stood out:
– “He’s (pards) bringing on a defender when you’re two goals down?”
– “What the hell is that guy doing on the field? Disgusting (verbatim)” – in reference to Jonas
someone said it perfectly not too long ago; Jonas is the new Alan Smith
oh…..well
hadthetshirt
Dec 21, 2012 at 12:10 AM
Comment #77I can remember quite a few slagging Ba off when he was on ramadan and not scoring.Let’s face it we got him on a free,he has scored goals for us consistently now he can go and make a lot more money.Fair play to him.What we we have said if he had a recurence of his knee injury.Listening to the way some fans are slagging Cisse off I don’t blame him for taking the money.Maybe Cisse might get some goals again playing as our main striker.Add Remy up there and were cooking again.We still need defenders and a creative midfielder.Lets hope we get them this window,and not another end of January doom and gloom scenario.Merry xmas to all and in Johnny Craddocks words “I hope your mince pies turn out like fanny’s”
Baro
Dec 21, 2012 at 1:38 AM
Comment #78Mirror claiming we have struck a deal seeing Marveaux going the other way as well as 10 million agreed….
Baro
Dec 21, 2012 at 1:42 AM
Comment #79I hope we sign Remy as well with SIssoko, and a defender, preferably center back
santonthenewmaldini
Dec 21, 2012 at 2:25 AM
Comment #80Man why do we have to get rid of Marveux in this deal??
The guy will leave and go back to France and will probably become a good player again because he gets a run i dont think he has had a fair crack of the whip
The guy is not a winger he is a central midfielder and the only game where he has got to play there was against Wigan and he was really good that game
Also the long ball football that we have been playing has been terrible and did not suit him either hopefully we look to play it on the deck when we get our new signings and hopefully Williamson is nowhere near the pitch when we get our new defenders…