It’s obvious that because of the poor showing of our youngsters and fringe payers this season, Newcastle will have a clear-out of some players in the summer, and we could see some lads like Mehdi Abeid and Romain Amalfitano leave, if clubs come in for them.
Mehdi Abeid – in danger of being shipped out in the summer
News today in the Journal that Mike Ashley has created a transfer fund for up to 10 players to be brought into the club by next September, and that includes players who will be brough in during January.
And the recruitment seems to already be in full swing with news last night that Newcastle are keen on Valenciennes left-back Gaetan Bong and we’ve also been linked with Bastia striker Florian Thauvin.
This is what Newcastle tried to do several times in the past, and we had a clear-out of some of our youngsters from the Academy last summer, because they were simply not good enough – but it seems the difference this time around is that Mike Ashley has made a transfer fund available to bring in the new players.
We’d love to know how big that fund is because it includes first team players and younger players too.
And the Newcastle delegation to France last week was linked to this new initiative, as Newcastle just don’t have the players to step up to the plate when our stars are out injured – and it seems Newcastle have over-rated the youngsters, and we are paying for that now.
This is what Alan Pardew said today:
“It’s frustrating the teams I’ve been able to put out because I didn’t envisage we would be putting these types of teams out.” “I thought they would be stronger. The players who should have developed from the Under-21s, I can’t even begin to explain the frustration.”
“The frustration of our fans, the trust we built up last season, has started to erode away and we need to repair that over the second half of the season. For me it’s been very frustrating.” “My mentality towards it is to make sure everybody is doing their jobs 100%, keeping on top of my stuff, trying to lift my players and kick a couple of them up the bum in terms of the responsibility they have here.”
“Particularly one or two of the younger players, the work ethic needs to improve and they need to improve as individuals. Those younger players have not produced what I wanted them to produce so they’re going to have to work harder or they are going to have to leave this football club.”
“We’re going to have some tough decisions in the summer.” “We’ve got 17 games and at least two in the Europa League to go. I’ll have a lot of questions answered about what I think is under the first team here, because at the moment, what has been under the first team at the moment hasn’t produced as I hoped it would.”
Newcastle have taken a backward step this season, there’s no doubt about that, and we just have to hope we can do well over the final 17 games of the season – and every game will be a chance for 3 points and we may just be able to save our season.
The goal at least has to be to finish in the top 10 – and right now we are 9 points behind Stoke City, who are currently in 10th position.
A top half finish would be decent enough – given what’s happened this season.
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39 comments so far
G
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:00 AM
Comment #110 players of which particular calibre here? Are we talking decent players, or development players.
WorJordi
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:02 AM
Comment #2Re-post
@G 20
My dog knows more about whats going on at NUFC than Lee Twatter on Ryder…lol
If he wrote today is Tuesdya and its 4.17 I still wouldnt believe him.
Wait until next week….
Pardew sacked, Raffa signed up, he brings Torres with him. He hits a new vein of form playing with Cisse, just behind him.
8th place finish with 2 new CB’s and 1 DM
Next season top 4 and a cup to boot
Oooooooooooh its so exciting
HWTL
Ben3arfa
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:02 AM
Comment #3according to Lee Ryder, we’re not interested in BONG
hdavid23
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:02 AM
Comment #4G,
i think combined… 4 senior and 6 development maybe?
5ilverbr1cks
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:07 AM
Comment #5You must be joking. We’ve got to battle to stay in the league. Top 10 is no chance. These runs are hard to get out of, and we don’t like we will get out of ours anytime soon
Indian Magpie
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:09 AM
Comment #6I can see that happening
Ashley sanctioning 5 million for 10 players
last minute window lies
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:10 AM
Comment #7Have you been drinking this morning ED !!
pawl250
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:10 AM
Comment #8Pardew makes no mention of 10 players, Ed has plucked the figure from mid air now this is what annoys me about Eds article.
He has ASSUMED it means we will get new faces in and ASSUMED the amount of new faces is 10.
We will get new players in, we need them.
We need to remove the remaining dead weight
Obertan
Gosling
RTaylor
Simpson
Harper
Williamson
Ranger
Xisco
They are all not good enough to be in our starting 11 and should be the very last option available yet some actually start right now.
These players need replaced with new individuals who can contribute when asked, not play 1 game get injured (Gosling), get paid too much (RTaylor on his 30k+ ,contract still, Harper and Xisco), refuse to work hard (Obertan), Be greedy for the caliber player you are (Simpson), simply not good enough (Ranger, Xisco, Simpson, Williamson)
Hopefully we can sort this problem out in the next year or so. We want more Birgirmanas, young upcoming talent for buttons. We need some experienced replacements to cover Simpson, Williamson, Obertan.
Next year, unless we win the Europa League we lose the European games.
Toon_Fresh
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:10 AM
Comment #9I just went to Wikipedia to look up a Senegalese player Sunderland bid on. People update Wikipedia fast…
http://twitter.yfrog.com/0s9pt1j
bills-son
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:11 AM
Comment #10repost:
Pardew is dead right when he says most players and agents will sit tight until near the end of the window to see what offers come in. They know that January is the month when teams panick about relegation, when injuries pile up and when they are trying to push on for a title or Europe. Count us in the first two brackets.
So, why take the first decent offer you receive? A player isn’t bothered that the offering club needs a player urgently – another 2 or 3 weeks to see if you can get a million quid or more a year is time well spent.
I’d love us to be signing players right now but I’ll save my judgement on Ashley until 1st February. Having said that I won’t wear any excuse that ‘we tried our best but it didn’t come off’. We HAVE to sign a CB and CF and it would be great if we could also get a LB and a creative dominant midfield player. All four – with nobody but Simmo going out – would be great. But a CB and CF are a MUST. No excuses.
toonarmydownsouth
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:12 AM
Comment #11Said at the statt of yhe window i expected us to bring in a few youth players given how many we releases and how dissapointing some of “youth” players have been
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:13 AM
Comment #12Betis’ Jose Canas is going to Swansea (June the latest)
ToonDownSouth
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Comment #13pawl
No, Ed just read the article in the journal…
Indian Magpie
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Comment #14Lee Ryder ?@lee_ryder
Sources close to Coloccini have confirmed to the Chronicle that he wants to leave the club in the January window #NUFC
It never rains
Jail for Ashley
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Comment #15Repost
Article from the lads at NUFC.COM saying Remy has got his heart on signing for Arsenal likes the way they play, supported them as a kid and has been speaking to Terry Henry about them.
naptoon
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:17 AM
Comment #16billson you re going to save judgement on ash til end of the window. lol.
Rotonda heights
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:19 AM
Comment #17Talk about imploding. Pardew’s really playing a blinder with his tactics and stupid comments.
Ba gone
Captain Colo going?
Benny previously unhappy
Santon possibly going ?
A united dressing room – yeah right. Morale seems to be on the floor right about now a la West ham and Southampton when he left.
As someone said if Pardew can’t see the problems, how the hell is the right man to solve them. His misplaced arrogance and stubborness is threatening to destroy and dismantle the best squad we’ve had in years.
tannerabag
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:21 AM
Comment #18I hope some of this funding will be used to bring in some better player development coaches. In my opinion, Newcastle should be looking to emulate what they do at Ajax, and we could do a lot worse than bring in some of their coaching staff. As other have said recently, we seem to be able to bring in promising youngsters but they go backwards in terms of skills and tactical development.
bills-son
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:22 AM
Comment #19The thing with young players is they can look great in training, great playing for the reserves and look half decent coming on for the last 15 minutes when they can run at 100mph until the end of the game.
However … put them into an away game in the Cup against a full baying crowd and a first team of hardened Championship players … THEN you find out if they have what it really takes to be a player. As we found out last week, with the exception of Bigi, our young players struggled. Abheid more than anyone.
The same happened with Vuckic last season at Liverpool, Sammy and Fergy have been given plenty of chances this season and not shined and Tav hasn’t looked too clever either.
The real test of Pardew and Ashley is how they react to the realisation that the younger players are not up to scratch. Do you persist with them in the hope they’ll improve or look for more Bigi’s at £500K-£1M?
If the Journal report is correct it looks as if the latter decision has all but been made.
bills-son
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:23 AM
Comment #20naptoon – what the big laugh?
mumbaNi
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:24 AM
Comment #21Finally the manager gives an honest and frank interview that I can get on board with! No mention of injuries, a confirmation that these young players haven’t done enough, some had poor attitudes and some need to be replaced.
Now, maybe the reason their development has stagnated or they haven’t stepped up is the coaching teams fault but at least he isn’t making excuses for them now. I honestly would just like this season to be over with us still in the EPL and a very thorough inquest into the season as a whole and what we can learn.
naptoon
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:24 AM
Comment #22on colo. nightmare. think we need to play hardball with him under contract, desperately needed and dropping team in shite springing this on the team now. should tell him hes going nowhere till we got replacement and offer at correct value i rekon bout 5 mill.
naptoon
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:27 AM
Comment #23billson your the founding member of the ash fan club tho you did say few weeks ago that you may change your opinion this window dependant.
big bob
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:27 AM
Comment #24our reserve side is shocking cant see any making it apart from maybe ferguson who needs to bulk up ameobi is a waste of space the brighton game them young players should have not stopped running all game but all looked so lazy and disinterested also senior players should have been lined up and signed 1st january now half way through month and still no forward by the time we get someone else in we would have dropped more points starting with norwich on saturday we are in a serious relegation battle and points are needed now
blew
Jan 11, 2013 at 10:54 AM
Comment #25Tannerbag @ 18
You are spot on, we have not developed a decent player since Gaza. He was so good I doubt if he needed the coaches. Beardsley had them top of the league, now Donachie has them bottom and useless.
numba9
Jan 11, 2013 at 11:24 AM
Comment #26Proves we are buying too many young uns with potential rather than a good mix with experience. Esp after a great finish last year we let some experienced squad members leave and never replaced them. Instead of strengthening we got weaker all this and an extra comp and injuries see us desperately thin we need at least 5 proven players to sign
NUFCWill1986
Jan 11, 2013 at 12:21 PM
Comment #2710 players of Bigi’s talent would do as backup,but reckon we need more than that lol
Sav
Jan 11, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Comment #28Fund for up to 10 players?
That’s like saying you’ve enough cash in your pocket to buy 10 assorted items, isn’t it? This statement smacks of the sort of cynical level of nonsense that passes for Public Relations we’ve come to expect from Mashley and Llambsarse, like giving Pardew an 8-year contract with a one-year pay-off. Might as well say its a 12-year contract, then. Or 20.
I heard there were 10 Bongs on News at 10 last night. Maybe that is what they meant?
Munster Mag
Jan 11, 2013 at 12:55 PM
Comment #29Billson, I agree with much of what you say there , and you have definitely cooled in terms of your ongoing praise for the purse holders at NUFC. Correctly so IMO. They have ballsed up badly in the summer but people like me were shouted down as “neggers” because I could see plain as day what they were doing / not doing. Its time to act. Pardew will have another excuse if Collo leaves. And u can be sure he’ll use it !!!!
smoke beer, drink tabs
Jan 11, 2013 at 1:28 PM
Comment #30It is becoming very obvious that our transfer policy of signing young players just is not working. Out of all the young signings made, how many will be regular 1st team players?
Ketsbaia9
Jan 11, 2013 at 1:56 PM
Comment #31We’d be mad to get rid of Abeid. He is probably the best youngster at the club.
Munster Mag
Jan 11, 2013 at 2:02 PM
Comment #32I wouldnt get rid of Ameobi Billson. The lack of effort by the second string suggests a huge lack of respect for Pardew. Not surprising, given what he said after the game re fellas not being big enough to fill the jersey. This club is not being run the right way in many areas IMO, and Pardew walked into that role in strange circumstances.
toonbrother
Jan 11, 2013 at 2:15 PM
Comment #33the player is average at best. Good riddance
Novocastrian66
Jan 11, 2013 at 2:17 PM
Comment #34Munster. The performance against Brighton showed a lack of respect for the whole club, including the fans. Especially the 2500 who made the effort to go down and back them.
Pardew was right to have a go. Those lads showed have bust a gut to show they want to play for our club. They should not need motivating.
LEROI
Jan 11, 2013 at 2:27 PM
Comment #35Just reading that comment above about remy wanting to play for arsenal has p**sed me off. right forget the jumped up little so n so move on to someone else & no not P.E.A he’s unavailable (f. him aswell) get negredo or kalou & why the hell are we looking at LB’S & CM’S when we are desperate. for a bloody CENTRAL DEFENDER!?!
jimmysmith
Jan 11, 2013 at 6:58 PM
Comment #36We don’t have a single young player, other than Bigi,who can successfully cover the position of a starting regular.
These lads need to be moved on or given loan spells at championship clubs and then re-assessed.
Pards blaming the players is pathetic. He should have known the limitations of his players long before they were thrown into first team service.
The Manager has under performed too. I think it has to be recognised now.
Jinky Jim
Jan 11, 2013 at 7:39 PM
Comment #37I think this blog should be put on the fek.n comedy channel.
cockneymagpie90
Jan 11, 2013 at 11:01 PM
Comment #38Romain amalfitano hasnt gad a chance to shine!!!!!
I really rate him but pardew never plays him, its a joke!
Get pardew out!!
BigBen
Jan 12, 2013 at 9:34 AM
Comment #39I prefer managers who back their players. These kids are not up to scratch, true. However we bought potential. It’s the management’s job to encourage develop and nurture that potential, then reap the rewards. Let’s see how many of these ‘rubbish’ players flourish at a better run set up. I’m not saying all will become superstars, but there’ll be a gem or two.
Also, let’s be honest. Ashley & Llambas are only interested in youth because it’s cheap. The lack of Geordies (or at least hardened British players – Nolan & Barton) may seriously cost us in this relegation scrap. It’s their fault we are here. We performed miracles with a small quality squad (which was largely injury free). Any one with half a football brain could see that CB cover, striker cover and some first 11 improvement was required (in my uneducated opinion, we need a new first choice left wing and although I love him, we need competition for Tiote who has been poor by his own high standards). Ok now I’ve poured my heart out I’m off to dread the results coming in at 5pm!!