There was news today that Newcastle are still interested in Manchester United winger Wilfried Zaha, who has been on loan at Cardiff City since January, and will very likely leave the Manchester club this summer, after a very disappointing first season at the club.
Tom Ince – Blackpool winger a free agent in summer
Alan Pardew has been keen on the winger over the last two years, and there’s no doubt he has very good skills, but he’s a bit like one of our current wingers – Hatem Ben Arfa – and a strong part of his game is not tracking back to help out the defense.
It’s looking like Ben Arfa will leave this summer, certainly if Alan Pardew remains on as manager, and Newcastle want to sign a lot more British players, so Zaha fits the bill, and he is still only 21 years old, and would cost around £7M.
And another good English youngster is 22 year-old Blackpool winger Tom Ince, who came on for Crystal Palace as a substitute in that amazing game at Selhurst Park against Liverpool last night.
We still cannot believe that for the first time since 1990 Liverpool gave up a 3-0 lead in the league – and what a time to drop two points.
Ton Ince’s Blackpool contract runs out in the summer, and he will become a free agent, but any club that signs him will have to pay Blackpool a compensation fee, which could be as much as £5M.
Tom can score goals too, and is more of a hard-working winger than Zaha, so maybe he would be a better choice?
£5M shouldn’t be a deterrent to Newcastle in the summer, because our finances are in excellent shape, and if there was ever a time for owner Mike Ashley to spend big money at Newcastle, it is this summer.
We should be getting at least £80M form the Premier League later this month for finishing in at least 10th place, and we still have the £20M from the Yohan Cabaye sale – and of course we don’t have to spend it all – and should still try to get some good deals.
But we may have to pay a little over the odds to get our transfer targets this summer, and for the good of the club – we need to do that when its appropriate – but we would be stupid to hold out simply because the fee is slightly higher than Mike Ashley wants to pay.
Either one of Wilfried Zaha or Tom Ince would be a good signing, but we’d probably go for Tom Ince.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
287 comments so far
Mike's Iron Curtain
May 6, 2014 at 4:26 PM
Comment #81Kevy
Wacky world, eh? The Fat Controller casually checks the stock markets each day, to see if he’s up or down a few million each day, either way having nominal effect on his life, whilst some Newcastle supporters save up all year the hundreds necessary for a season ticket to go and watch the club he’s got a stranglehold on and cares nothing for.
Sad.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:28 PM
Comment #82Spoof
Cabaye leaving without replacement was a huge cock-up, no mistaking that. I felt that with LDJ we had exactly the squad I think we should have had in the summer but with Cabaye leaving at the same time, it was a real shame. But other clubs have lost their top players too, it’s just the way things go.
And we have no way of knowing who is to blame for him leaving and no replacement coming in. The MAOC brigade have their own political agenda and blame Ashley yet it’s actually more likely that it was JFK’s incompetence, which obviously does link back to why the hell did Ashley hire him…
I get that there are problems, I just really wish the fans would band together properly and address the real issues.
Spoof
May 6, 2014 at 4:28 PM
Comment #83Online Guy @58
Calm down m8 or you will lose the war before the first fight has started, Ashley’s revenge because his family was threatened, if that was true that is what he would want, think about what you say bonny lad, calm and composure, statements like yours are throwing the towel in before the battle has started, leave the statesment to those who know how to compose them.
Average_Contents
May 6, 2014 at 4:28 PM
Comment #84It’s fans like you that give us a bad name by accepting shite and believing every word the club says, not the ones who do something about it or at least try to do something about it instead of just sitting there when the truth is staring you right in the fcuking face!
GeordieTwo
May 6, 2014 at 4:28 PM
Comment #85I can’t argue with your top 5 TDS mate and I know we won’t compete with them. But look at our form since Christmas. We’re a bottom 3 club since then. Total dross. Embarrassing to watch. A manager who has to hide from his own supporters. An owner who has to do the same. It’s ridiculous and Ashley has done nothing but hurt himself with his behavior. We’ll never forget or forgive the hiring of Kinnear as DoF nor should we.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:29 PM
Comment #86scottoon
It’s not bringing the club into disrepute for sure. But when fans of other clubs called those people who walked out “a bunch of idiots”, I did try explaining some of the issues but as I don’t agree with the walk-out, my heart wasn’t really in it…
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:31 PM
Comment #87Average_Contents
Carroll was not our best player. He was a first team player in the same way that Colo, Enrique, Nolan, Barton, Krul and the rest were but I wouldn’t put him above any of those.
As for Enrique, didn’t we replace him with Santon in the same window?
Online Guy
May 6, 2014 at 4:32 PM
Comment #88On a football note
I can take all the defeats , I can take the fact that we will never win the prem under this regime, I take it as read that we dont try to win a Cup..
What I cannot take is dishonesty, and the way Alan Pardew talk’s to the supporter’s ..He speaks in circles and mistruths and never answers a question straight ,,there is never ending politician/commercial management type speak…”we will have to crystallise our options” might be one phrase he might use ! and other’s .
The man is a shithouse..womanising, jumping into bed with player’s Wife’s, Gambling, Violent mouthed, and Violent act’s, shows he has no class..
The very fact that he said we should recruit more players from the south, as they seem to be more educated, and have more intelligence, than people in the north, should have seen him sacked .
The way Pardew talks to Newcastle United fan’s is the one thing I cannot take.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:33 PM
Comment #89GeordieTwo
But the protesting fans aren’t making things any better by calling for his head! I think Pardew should go because of the dreadful form since January. I think it’s dreadful not being able to compensate for the loss of one player, however good he is.
But there needs to be focus on the problems.
kevymartins
May 6, 2014 at 4:34 PM
Comment #90Ano like how the f can someone sitting on $6.5 billion not even fire a few hundred to make tons of toon fans around the world happy.
MA has near caught up on Roman Abramovich. Just shows what sort of stingy tight arse we have got.
I bet when MA goes shopping he goes straight for the discount shelf…Sitting on $6 billion the miserable get.
GeordieTwo
May 6, 2014 at 4:34 PM
Comment #91Santon’s been crap for ages TDS. I partly blame Pardew. He has skill but things just fell apart for him as it has for so many other players. I don’t think it’s a coincidence so many have completely fallen out of form. It has to do with the way the club is run.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:37 PM
Comment #92My NUFC manifesto if I was running a fans group:
– Ashley to appoint someone experienced in the DoF/Chairman/MD role who can sometimes deal direct with fans, fan groups and the media
– Pardew to be moved on as he is tactically inept and keeps embarrassing the club
– Assurances that whoever is managing the transfers will not allow a top player to leave without us having a replacement
– Communication between club and fans to be seen as a higher priority (manager and DoF/Chairman/MD to be selected with this in mind)
– Target for 2014/2015 to be top 8
kevymartins
May 6, 2014 at 4:37 PM
Comment #93Could anyone ever imagine being a Billionaire?
Why would you even need to make anymore? He has enough money to last himself 2 billion lifetimes.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:38 PM
Comment #94GeordieTwo
Enrique hasn’t exactly been brilliant since he left either mate…and I think Santon has been alright. Tell me what better left backs we’ve had at our club…our history isn’t great!
Online Guy
May 6, 2014 at 4:39 PM
Comment #95Spoof……Sonny….
That’s a patronising pile of shite you just sent to me ,,Go wash behind your ears.
Spoof
May 6, 2014 at 4:39 PM
Comment #96TDS, the thing is we never try to improve m8, thast is what is galling, if I was the owner would I have taken £35m for Carroll, too right I would, but as Pardew was expecting I would have expected to be able to strengthen, Pardew has never had that luxury but now even by me he is getting hounded out of his job
GeordieTwo
May 6, 2014 at 4:39 PM
Comment #97I think the supporters should protest the bollocks they get served. They have been very patient and paid their money to watch dross. Now they want change. It’s not surprising at all. If Ashley can’t bring more entertaining football to the club he’ll continue to see demonstrations and hate from the supporters. It’s a fact of life Mike. Change or get out.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:40 PM
Comment #98Lilongwe
The biggest thing about the walkout is that everyone knew about it yet it proved that only a minority of fans felt it was the right thing to do. The majority stayed to support the team and we won 3-0. 🙂
croftus5678
May 6, 2014 at 4:41 PM
Comment #99a few champ’s players worth taking a punt on are;
tom ince
danny ings
alex mccarthy
liam moore
rhodes
liam bridcutt
scott dann
jamaal lascelles
and ofc ross mccormack and will hughes.
kevymartins
May 6, 2014 at 4:42 PM
Comment #100And to think someone with $6.5 billion is yapping over a £129 million loan to his own club and taking free advertising as intrest makes you wanna be sick like.
GeordieTwo
May 6, 2014 at 4:42 PM
Comment #101Enrique had some tremendous games for us as I recall and he left because we have no ambition as he said at the time. He was right. Ashley has no ambition. The main issue is management and the owner’s attitude. Ashley’s performance as owner is an embarrassment to football everywhere. Who else would hire Joe Kinnear as DoF? Ashley has the emotional maturity of a 6 year old. Who else would want to watch LameArse run naked across our pitch? Get out Ashley.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:43 PM
Comment #102Spoof
Of course they are trying to improve, but you have to realise that every other club is trying to improve too. It’s not like we can have a constant upward curve of improvement. Look at our squad when we got promoted and look at it a year later with the likes of Cabaye and Tiote in it.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:45 PM
Comment #103GeordieTwo
And we finished above Liverpool the following year…and Enrique now barely plays for them even when fit…and he never got into the Spain squad.
Liverpool are a bigger club than NUFC and more likely to get into the CL. There’s a middle ground between “no ambition” and a club that has won 18 titles and many other trophies and has been underachieving in the Premier League since it started and keeps targeting more.
Lilongwe Geordie
May 6, 2014 at 4:45 PM
Comment #104TDS,
The majority stayed, I’m not sure there was much support of the team, there was plenty of vocal abuse of Pardew and Ashley though from the stream I was using – which funnily enough crashed for a few minutes around the 67 minute mark.
Personally, I think a far more effective protest is a vocal protest during the matches, but I don’t claim to be any source of great knowledge on an effect way to oust an owner, so I won’t dismiss other methods.
I would call for more effective organisation though, and delivery of the method, whichever method is chosen.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:46 PM
Comment #105I’ll add something to my manifesto:
– a commitment to playing more attractive football in the tradition of NUFC
So that’s 6 items so far…votes? 🙂
Ciaran
May 6, 2014 at 4:46 PM
Comment #106TeDiouS up to his old tricks again? Nowt changes there then with his dire need for “everyone look at me”
As for what fans of other clubs think of us? How in any way is that relevant to what matters to us as a club? They are disconnected and out of touch with NUFC and our fans. Bit like you really.
Average_Contents
May 6, 2014 at 4:47 PM
Comment #107Yeah we bought Santon who is in fact a right back but because he can kick a ball with his left foot got slotted in at left back but the fact remains he is predominantly right footed and is a right back!
And your trying to tell me Carroll wasn’t our star player after bagging 11 goals in half a season? I’m not saying the other players weren’t stars but as far as us fans went he was the main one everybody wanted to see leave the least! Ya know being a big geordie centre forward n all! Again you are clutching at straws trying to justify selling our “normal” players! Get real!
Lilongwe Geordie
May 6, 2014 at 4:48 PM
Comment #108Croftus,
Bridcutt joined the mackems.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:49 PM
Comment #109Lilongwe
I think it’s extremely hard to oust an owner! Why would he leave unless he wants to? And he strikes me as the kind of personality who could just become more entrenched and use our club in whatever way he can.
I think a silent protest at half time with every fan turning his back on the pitch would be good. Then roar the players on.
Or…if they really want to show their displeasure, don’t turn up at all!
Why should Mike Ashley care that a few fans left early? It’s daft.
In fact…the only point of it was to draw the attention of the wider football community to their views…and yet you said you didn’t care what they think.
Can you work out what the potential gain of the walk out was? I can’t…
Bambams
May 6, 2014 at 4:50 PM
Comment #110The ‘Fit and Proper Test’ set up by the Footballing Authorities should be altered to make sure any Chairman genuinely wants to and shows over a period of time actually improves the club in all aspects and not just for their ‘own business interest’ ie advertising SD
Just because the finances are in order means nothing in the bigger picture. Fans want to see improvement and not a huffy fat businessman sitting counting his profits from OUR club.
I dont want to bankrupt the club but just want Ash to do as he said….Add £20 million each year to any money the club makes itself…..Yeah right !
Rant over
Online Guy
May 6, 2014 at 4:50 PM
Comment #111Pardew always seems to state at every opportunity that we have financial constraints, and we are poor when it comes to competing in the transfer market, because of having little money to spend ..He states this just before every transfer window is about to open..
…and yet we have an owner sitting on a now personal fortune of £3 BILLION pounds …!!!!!!! and we cant compete in the transfer market ?.
Pardew said it again on Saturday ! yet we have £20 million from Cabaye sale and at least £60 million from TV rights ..and then there is all the money that comes from
52 thousand sheep going through the turnstiles every other week.
Ciaran
May 6, 2014 at 4:50 PM
Comment #112I just find the fact that he’s pointedly come on to the blog with an agenda to deride all the fans who decided to engage in the walkout protest, and his basis for doing so is that it looks bad to fans of other clubs.
Utterly ridiculous point of view, from an utterly ridiculous man who will not pass up any opportunity to slate fans who are willing to actively push for change.
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:52 PM
Comment #113Average_Contents
Santon was and is a left back. Simple as that. I don’t care if he’s right footed, several great managers play ‘wrong-footed’ players on wings and at full back.
Carroll was the great Geordie hope. A big strong, number 9 and we all loved that. I hated it when he left as I was buzzing looking forward to seeing him develop, lead the line for NUFC, get England caps etc.
But, why do people still bang on this drum? £35M!!! Does anyone think that wasn’t a good deal??? And didn’t we re-invest it the following summer? Don’t forget that money needed to be found for agent fees, signing on fees and wages too.
Come on…
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:53 PM
Comment #114So my manifesto would be… 🙂
– Ashley to appoint someone experienced in the DoF/Chairman/MD role who can sometimes deal direct with fans, fan groups and the media
– Pardew to be moved on as he is tactically inept and keeps embarrassing the club
– Assurances that whoever is managing the transfers will not allow a top player to leave without us having a replacement
– Communication between club and fans to be seen as a higher priority (manager and DoF/Chairman/MD to be selected with this in mind)
– Target for 2014/2015 to be top 8
– Commitment to playing more attractive football
Average_Contents
May 6, 2014 at 4:54 PM
Comment #115And on the bull, he Clearly wanted to join a club with ambition and hasn’t played because of injury but when he did the Liverpool fans loved him! And that’s not me guessing it’s a fact backed up by the fact that I live here and they say so!
Lilongwe Geordie
May 6, 2014 at 4:57 PM
Comment #116TDS,
I think, rather than the ‘wider football community’ it was aimed at bringing it to the wider attention of the football media, who then highlight the issues which will alter, or not, the wider views of the football world.
However, more than anything, it was a depth of feeling from fans rarely shown in the clubs history, and a way for some fans to demonstrate this. There is nothing wrong with showing your emotions, and how you feel – regardless of the likelihood of success.
Yes, it is hard to oust an owner unless he wants to sell, or there is a willing buyer. It is also hard to oust a manager when an owner has showed complete disregard and dis interest in achieving anything of significance with the club. So we may as well just turn the lights off at the club.
toon kk
May 6, 2014 at 4:59 PM
Comment #117TDS
Whether a walk out was the right thing to do or not, them that walked was there way of showing their feelings to the running of the club. I bet several thousand would have left had we getting beat, but we’ll never know.
What do you suggest people should do to get the message across that we want some ambition?
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 4:59 PM
Comment #118Average_Contents
Half of my family are Liverpool fans. He was dropped a few times for playing poorly and he’s had some injuries since then. I don’t think any fans questioned his commitment but plenty thought he was a weak link.
toonarmydownsouth
May 6, 2014 at 5:00 PM
Comment #119Forget Pardews condescending pressers, forget the distain and disinterest towards the fans from the club, this is by far the most insulting piece of rubbish spouted by anyone
“I don’t like being a fan of a club when people are insulting our fans for being unrealistic, impetuous and ungrateful.”
Haven’t heard a single person describe the fan base this way
Most the football fans I speak to fully back and understand the frustration of the Geordie faithfuls and can’t understand how a club can be so poorly run
It’s staggering that’s it’s taken under a week for a complete flip 180 and the same crap as last approaching summer to be regurgitated
ToonDarnSarf
May 6, 2014 at 5:00 PM
Comment #120Lilongwe
I don’t criticise those who walked out, indeed at least I give them credit for walking the walk as well as talking the talk. I just think they’re misguided in the correct way to improve things at our club from a fans perspective.