Club Statement

A statement from Newcastle United Managing Director Derek Llambias

Now that the transfer window has closed, we have had some time to reflect on the business we have conducted over the summer.

Our aim was to secure young players who represented value for money and could add real strength to the squad. The majority of our transfer dealings were completed in the early part of the window and we feel we have signed some players of exceptional quality. Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Mehdi Abeid, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan were all brought in early and we have seen these players settle quickly into the squad and perform well on the pitch.

Earlier this week we were delighted to sign Davide Santon from Inter Milan to fill our left-back position after the departure of Jose Enrique. Davide is an excellent young prospect and we're sure he'll be another superb addition to the squad. We also welcomed young goalkeeper Rob Elliot from Charlton Athletic who will help us retain healthy competition for that position after loaning out Fraser Forster to Celtic.

Of course we had also hoped to secure a further striker in the window, in addition to Demba Ba. Work to bring a striker into the club began early in the summer. Negotiations were complex and protracted and unfortunately it was disappointing that ultimately we could not secure our priority target.

Whilst we did turn our attention to alternative prospects in the latter stages of the window, we have a very clear transfer policy and will not make knee-jerk decisions at the last-minute which are not in the best interests of the club. We understand that supporters will feel frustrated that we did not sign another striker during the window, but it was not for lack of trying that we did not bring our final target in.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20110902/newcastle-united-statement_2281670_2439966



What do we think? I read this morning that Llambias was about to fly to Paris to seal the Maiga deal, but Sochaux blocked it late on. Obivously tried for Ruiz as well but we did have plenty of time before that. Then again we made serious attempts to sign Gervinho, Gameiro and Erdinc earlier. We can only hope they do sign a striker in January.

 

well that was dissapointing

 

this

 

Can't say fairer than that really. At least they didn't go for the knee jerk reaction of Carlton Cole or someone as ****e as that!

I think from this, they were looking at someone at least as good as Gameiro to bring in, and i'm happy enough to wait for that!

 

Did they really need to make a statement to say 'We tried to bring in a striker but we didn't'

Im sure evey Newcastle fan allready knows this.

 

Nothing unexpected in this statement. We've kinda stood still this transfer window, there's a lot of clubs who haven't fared as well as us though.

Carroll - Ba
Nolan - Cabaye
Barton - Obertan
Enrique - Santon
Marveaux
Abeid

A little disappointed we didn't get Situ after he was here on trial.

 

whats with the camera angle. they trying to hide the east stand still

 

I expected nothing less from these lot!

Trying to brush everything off as if we made an effort but ultimately came up short (i.e it was their fault not ours, honestly)

 

I'm torn, because I do believe efforts (as you said) were made to land a few quality strikers, and the reasons they didn't sign were actually out of the club's control (e.g. clubs accepted the price but the players wanted to play in Europe or at PSG...). That said, not only is it a club's responsibility to identify talented players, but its important to target ones that are available from clubs to buy, or are interested in playing in England, and specifically for Newcastle United.

I'm not mad at the club like some people who suggest they were too cheap or unwilling to buy, I'm just a little annoyed that the club didn't play their cards right and go after players that they could close the deal on.

 

Could still get Remy if he's here.

 

"Work to bring a striker into the club began early in the summer."

Shouldn't it have started on the 1st February?

 

We did go after about 5 or 6 strikers but I would have had Bendtner tbh. At least no good players were sold and no knee jerk signings were made.

 

Blah Blah Blah

 

Well, that was pointless really. Probably just trying to get the club in the news again no doubt.

 

But not unexpected

Wasted too much time on a player who everyone except the hierarchy could see didn't want to come here and could have spent half the time we took chasing him getting someone else in.
If we'd have done that and got the fwd in earlier I doubt anyone would be complaining but there really isn't an excuse for not getting one in.
Yes I'm happy with who we did bring in and all i can say is they better buy a ****er in Jan .....but I won't hold my breath

 

Our aim was to secure young players who represented value for money and could add real strength to the squad.
Great Policy.

We have a very clear transfer policy and will not make knee-jerk decisions at the last-minute which are not in the best interests of the club.
Agree with this aswell, Glad we didn't panic buy.


I read this morning that Llambias was about to fly to Paris to seal the Maiga deal, but Sochaux blocked it late on. Obivously tried for Ruiz as well but we did have plenty of time before that. Then again we made serious attempts to sign Gervinho, Gameiro and Erdinc earlier. We can only hope they do sign a striker in January.

I am confident we will have a new striker in January, I am not mad with the club.

 

Not really, Scouting may have started from 1st Feb, but you can't start working on bringing in the striker until the window is open.

 

They tried and failed

BUT I am willing to wait until they sign a striker who is ment to replace Mandy before passing judgement. As mentioned, it appears we are looking for a quality, reasonably priced striker and are not willing to be held to ransom by other clubs, which tbh is probably the right way to go about things even if it pisses us all off (it really has)

I think the main point of anger is from being told we would 100% have a striker by 2 days ago, so although i am willing to give more time im am still angry it has not happened yet as they said it would have!

 

The way I see it, we scouted a load of strikers last season, and it came to this. Gervinho and Gameiro were the priority targets, both chose another club over us. We had a reserve in Erdinc, so did our best to try and get him. He didnt want to move so we picked another player we had seen a few times in Maiga, who wanted to come but the club blocked it. Then I think the bid for Ruiz was just a knee jerk, as I dont think we'll have watched him as well as all those other strikers, and Pieters, Cissokho, Cabaye etc

 

Knee-jerk reaction?!

It's been over 200 ****ing days since we realised we'd need one