Birmingham’s Oba Martins has admitted that he is still disturbed by his Newcastle exit, sating he was forced out of the club, after the side were relegated.
Oba Martins – crying while at Newcastle – it was tough
It’s interesting to hear Oba Martins talk about Newcastle, and he’s had just a shocking time of it since leaving Newcastle in the summer of 2009, obviously trying to get into the Newcastle fans’ good books.
Oba has played very very few games since he left Newcastle and the lad is just pleased to get back to England where his girlfriend and family reside, and he seems really keen to make the deal at Birmingham a permanent one.
Oba will be nowhere near the £10M that Glenn Roeder paid for him when he brought him to Tyneside in the summer of 2006 from Inter Milan.
The 26 year-old striker made his debut for Birmingham during the 1-0 win against Stoke on Saturday – a game that Birmingham won with a 93rd minute winner from Zigic.
Martins left for German club Wolfsburg in a £9M deal in 2009, and has surprisingly said he is still coming to terms with his departure from the famous newcatsle club, who were on their knees when top players were sold that summer.
This is what Oba said today to the Daily Telegraph:
“The only bad memory we had was when we got relegated,” “It was normal when I left because they couldn’t afford the money, that’s why they asked me to go. I have good memories of there with the fans and the players. We had good players but things weren’t right.”
“We kept asking ourselves, ‘Why are we relegated?’ and we don’t even know ourselves why we were relegated. We don’t know what was wrong with the team. There was a problem with the chairman Mike Ashley, who we didn’t know whether he was going to stay or sell.”
“Alan Shearer tried to save the team but he didn’t and it was a sad story.” “It was definitely the lowest point of my career and it affected me because when I went to Germany my profile was lower and they knew my team had got relegated.”
“It is not a good thing but you have to continue and take pressure. It was painful when we got relegated. Just because I left there that wasn’t it, it was painful for about six or seven months because I was still thinking how we got relegated. But I am very happy they are back in the Premier League.”
There’s no way Newcastle could afford to pay Oba’s wages in the Championship, and just had to unload him, but those players who left the club never got the job done in the league that season for Newcastle, it’s as simple as that.
Newcastle were the sixth top club in the Premier League in terms of paying out wages to their players, with £71M that season, and to think they finished 18th in the league is both amazing and disastrous.
Oba can hardly expect Newcastle fans to applaud him tonight, when he was one of the highly paid players, who simply let the club down that season.
Oba Martins wore the famous number 9 shirt on Tyneside, and in 104 appearances scored 35 goals for the Magpies.
Comments welcome.
31 comments so far
andre29
Feb 15, 2011 at 11:59 AM
Comment #1Birmingham City FC – Newcastle United FC live on http://stjamesstream.blogspot.com/
Markaccus
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:09 PM
Comment #2Approx. 1 goal every 3 games. Not bad (although not no. 9 class I admit). When oba didn’t score, he had often made a gap and created a chance, just for no one to turn up in the right space (mr owen, mr viduka).
He never had a bad word to say about us, and I don’t think he should be held too responsible for our relegation, he always seemed to try his best. We had to sell for 9 mil as a relegated club, and since 1 in 3 is better than what we have now, I’d have him back in a heartbeat
Sinner
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:11 PM
Comment #3He was a great player for us!
toonbrother
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:26 PM
Comment #4He was a decent player for NUFC. A million times better than Owen and Ameobi. But he was also too inconsistent given his wages. I wish him the best at Birmingham all the same
ginkoh
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:26 PM
Comment #5It’s all about money talk. what’s surprise ?
Davies
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Comment #6I had thought, before we sold Carrol, that we should get Oba back on board. Sure, he was a bit of a headless chicken at times, but I think the two of them would have been deadly together. I still hold him in great affection and would consider having him back even now.
There were playes who just didn’t turn up in our relegation season, but I don’t feel Oba was one of them. Can’t help but think he’d have stayed if we could have afforded to keep him. He may not have been considtent, but he was always a threat and he used to scare the sh1t out of defences.
Good luck to him, I say, as long as he doesn’t score against us tonight, or give Zigic any ammo.
Funny, when Martins was our number 9, I was one of many who thought Zigic would have been a good buy for us.
cgrizzly87
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Comment #7Anyone that says you can’t blame Oba for us getting relegated clearly didn’t watch many games that season. He missed SOOOO many sitters! Against Fulham? Pompy? Man City? Smogside? Etc etc etc
He missed 3 or 4 in a few games, he has the composure of a coked up rabbit
connor_nufc
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Comment #8Plz dont boo him tonyt it wasnt his fault
jim
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Comment #9Oba-Obafem!
Klatoon
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:31 PM
Comment #10remember THAT GOAL against the spuds at white hart lane.Even in slow-mo it still flies in2 th net at rocket speed,ridiculous power.
Mo Drysdale
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Comment #11Attack is the best form of defence.
————————–Harper———————–
———–Campbell—-Willo——Collo————
Simo——-Barton——Tiote——Nolan——José
——————Jonas———–Ranger————-
Bench: Krul, Perch, Loven, Kuchi, Fergie, Best
1. 3 Big lads to cover the ariel threat of the Brum Freak.
2. Simo and Jos’e working as wingbacks and covering back when necessary, Jose will put Bentley in his back pocket, and get forward at every oportunity.
3. Jonas with free role and can go to either wing when required to create threats all over the place.
4. Steel in the centre with Barton, Tiote & Nolan. B & N supporting Ranger when neccesary.
connor_nufc
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Comment #12Fastest goal in premier league history
unclepauly
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Comment #13anyone got a link for the match tonight ?
oh thats right, i dont care because ill be at the game 🙂
i for one will applaud martins. composure and missed sitters aside, he always ran his socks off for us.
lewman
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:37 PM
Comment #14thats funny oba as i am sure colo is on almost twice what you where getting paid and we managed to pay for him in the ccc, anyway you have flopped every where else so maybe you are a bit past it as you must be atleast 42 by now.
Markaccus
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:41 PM
Comment #15Cgrizzly 87 the fact he had those chances at least shows he was one of only a few who put effort in to the games. His scoring record is 1 in 3. That’s acceptable, if the other strikers score as often, which owen and viduka did not. Martins scored his fair share and did his share of the work, all in a poorly performing team. In that aspect, he was one of few plus points for us.
stevep
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:47 PM
Comment #16Not Martins fault we were relegated, Viduka, Owen, Duff were players who put very little effort in and were the main reason we were relegated
He may have missed a few sitters but always put effort in, we should have went for him as soon as we knew we were selling Carroll…. oh well, hope he has a stinker tonight
Markaccus
Feb 15, 2011 at 12:51 PM
Comment #17Looking at these posts, martin winning 9-2 on pos-neg comments, witha few that don’t comment either way lol
Mags
Feb 15, 2011 at 1:15 PM
Comment #18Correct me if I am wrong but didn’t Nolan say that at the meeting those who do not want to stay can go and Oba was one of those along with the rest who chose to say they wanted out?
stevep
Feb 15, 2011 at 1:24 PM
Comment #19Mags – Oba had already gone by then, it was after the pre season friendly and it was Duff, Bassong etc who pu thands up
Thump
Feb 15, 2011 at 1:46 PM
Comment #20Huh, if that’s true it’s certainly interesting. I’m fairly certain he wouldn’t have stayed either way.
@stevep: Bassong left because he spat the dummy out about getting a coach. Remember when he stopped going to training?
In all honesty, if Oba sorted himself out financially I wouldn’t mind him back – even if it is just so I can stand in Level 7 (well, level 4 now, right?) singing “Oba! Obafem! Obafemi Martins!” again 🙁
ObaMartins
Feb 15, 2011 at 2:05 PM
Comment #21ED why do you slate players that did well for US ??you did the same with Alan Shearer, Kevin Keegan ..looking at the posts alot on here agree, he was Good for Newcastle..i see why some call you >>>ED JUDAS<<<
USGeordie
Feb 15, 2011 at 2:10 PM
Comment #22I would definitely take him back. He was great for us and always put in the effort. I don’t doubt that MA forced him out because of wages. Yes, he has missed some wide open goals but so has every striker. He’s still within our age range (especially since we got Kuqi at 34…) and I think we should go in for him in the summer.
liam85
Feb 15, 2011 at 3:38 PM
Comment #23Martins scored some great goals!
Burni
Feb 15, 2011 at 3:59 PM
Comment #24oba!!!!????? what are you on mate? where does he slate Oba? he states a fact, that he performed poorly in the relegation season along with everyone else. can recall ever slagging off shearer or keegan either.
I wouldnt have martin back just like taking an ex back, yeah you know its ok but it just aint the future.
Widowmaker
Feb 15, 2011 at 4:07 PM
Comment #25I like Oba and find some comments on him a bit harsh.
We all know that Oba is a trier and he works his socks off for the team. 1 goal in 3 game ratio is definately good enough to be a NO.9 material and he missed some the chances because he tried too hard to get to it. Would Owen ever get connected to some of the chances Oba had?
Don’t forget that he was a fast striker who played in a team that did not play to his strengthes. Never mind that he was one of the very few players who actually played with heart during the regelation season.
Magpies-till-d3ath
Feb 15, 2011 at 4:32 PM
Comment #26He was my favourite while he was at Newcastle, Remember his goal against Spurs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJvM7ufWJdc
I’d love to know how fast he hit that!
The Entertainers
Feb 15, 2011 at 4:38 PM
Comment #27Bit harsh on Martins, I always enjoyed watching him play. Yes he was never a number 9 but would have loved him and Carroll up front together!
Oleg G
Feb 15, 2011 at 4:48 PM
Comment #28a Very good players. Didn’t get to show his best because our team in all of its years, always liked to cross and pass high long balls. For him, a team with more creativity in the midfield and more speed would’ve been better.
Sometimes good players just don’t get to play with the right side, so if you blame him, blame the club as well for bringing a player that doesn’t match the style of the team.
Mr Books
Feb 15, 2011 at 5:52 PM
Comment #29@Lewman – 14
To be fair, Colo cost about the same as Oba, but I dont think anyone was putting in any 9M bids for him in the summer we got relegated. Colo was like a bunny in the headlights that season.
veto
Feb 15, 2011 at 6:02 PM
Comment #30didnt show half of what he can do when he was with us , to busy sniffin round the women and bigg market . used to blow a weeks wages at the weekend , when your in a working class town like this its abit more than disrespectful
Irish Geordie1
Feb 15, 2011 at 6:42 PM
Comment #31i kno alot wouldnt agree, but id take oba back/ not as no.9 though. i think hes a desent player with a savage celebration. looking forward to kickin Birmingham ass, bring it on!!