Newcastle Transfer Policy

I wonder how many times someone has mentioned that Debuchy isnt doing the business? When the **** will AP realise that the bloke is not cut out for the PL. Get him dropped and get him moved on ASAP. Write this chapter off as a disaster and move on.

 

Fixed

 

Good fix.

 

It's the only fix that needs to happen now. I cannot believe literally ALL of our players have simply become sh!t of their own accord. You're talking about Sissoko, Cisse, Ben Arfa, Santon, Debuchy all going from top class, International footballers to "not good enough for the EPL". These players are being reprimanded by Toon fans on this board as being not good enough. Horsesh!t. I would understand if we were like Sunderland - a massive influx of second rate players are unlikely to suddenly become world-beaters. But we're talking about players who have International caps for nations like France and Italy, players who have consistently been recommended by the best in the game. They, simply put, are not bad players. Sure, I understand that the owner is the cancer at the heart of it all and nothing will really get better in terms of long term strategy or ambition until he's gone. But what we have witnessed for the past 16 months (and counting) is a consistent decline in quality of football, individually and as a team, that cannot be the collective fault of 20+ players.

Bottom line is that if you "blame" the players or feel they aren't good enough, then 17th is your ambition for this club and there should be NO complaining getting beaten at Goodison, or Cardiff, or Sunderland. If that's your belief, then your aim this season is to scrape to 40 points. I don't share that view. I have been told by my club that the players at its' disposal are good enough to finish higher than 10th. I agree with this view. The manager currently has us as the 4th or 5th worst team in the country, more than likely in the relegation zone by December. He's a fckign tool, he got REALLY lucky getting to 5th (more like the club was pushed to fifth by Everton, Liverpool and Chelsea's collective failure) but HE HAS TO GO.

 

I mean, has anyone read this fckign garbage??

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8952295/

Basically Pardew now saying he "still believes Newcastle can get top 10", but the way it's phrased is he knows it's already a fcking challenge. One that he originally intimated we'd easily achieve. He and his own players laughably spoke of a "return" to Europe, a competition he in particular moaned about. I am just sick, sick, sick of hearing the same tired fckign crap come from this inexcusably poor manager. His record is abysmal, every game seems to result in him talking about "reactions" and "must do better" - so at what point will we actually DO better? When will we actually win a league game by more than the odd goal? When will we see what he has talked about for SIXTEEN FCING MONTHS?????

 

When he speaks I tend to tune out now as all that falls from his mouth is little, nicely parcelled pieces of dog ****.

 

Can't see any problem with what he has said to be honest.

It is yet to convert into actual performance. I don't believe it will either with what he has at his disposal. Relegation fight ahead. But don't worry, Mike will bail us out in January by signing a couple of French lads who are ill suited to the league and available in January because nobody wants them.

 

So you feel the players are not good enough? Fair enough if you do, I just don't subscribe. I also grow tired of Pardew's lip service. Like I said, he's said "the right things" for over a year and we're still to offer any kind of consistency. "Looking for a reaction" is his second most used sentence (behind "Over the line"). I'd rather he didn't say a fcking thing right now until he gets a few consistent performances. At that point he's able to comment on whatever failure he may then have learned from. As it stands, we lurch from game to game with fingers crossed. Beat Cardiff and his arrogant swagger will be back, all over his smug mug, at which point I'd say we're MORE likely to lose against Liverpool. Then when we lose, be that Cardiff, Liverpool, whoever, and it'll be "that was an unaccepable performance for this club, I understand why the fans are disappointed, but we've got the Intl break now to regroup and put things right against (insert next opponent here, repeat ad infinitum)".

He's a bit like a Z list celebrity - doesn't know when to just stay out of the camera's way.

 

I don't think they are bad players. I just think as a collective they will never prove successful in this league. The team has a soft centre basically due a transfer policy which is about profit rather ambition. We buy in January because unless you are buying top class, you can pick up bargains - often due to contractual situations or players not enjoying their current club. We buy French because they are cheap, wages are reasonable. What we ignore is that these players are not made for the league in large doses. You end up with a team full of players who have no knowledge of the English league, do not like the lack of protection/tackling, and the pace.

As I have said many times other clubs recognise this. Look at Everton. Martinez started 7 british/irish players the other night. That club has invested correctly and reap the reward of consistent performance. Mourinho success at Chelsea? Terry, Lampard, Cole x 2. Mancini success at Man C? Lescott, Richards, Milner, Hart, Barry. Man U throughout the years. We don't even have to look that far as Sir Bobby pointed the way a long time ago and said it in express terms, you need a home grown core. Woodgate, Speed, Bellamy, Shearer, Dyer, Jenas, Given, Bramble. By all means add a bit flair from abroad with a Robert or Solano but remember the core value.

We couldn't have veered any further from this obvious requirement, indeed we have actively sold our home grown players like Nolan, Barton, Perch, Simpson, Carroll. This despite our manager saying we need more home grown talent. Our fanbase saying we want more home grown talent. Not just for the obvious qualities they bring, but because we can identify with them better too.

I actually look forward to Pards departure because I believe it will expose the failings of our awful transfer policy once and for all.

 

I think many said and agreed with the opinion towards the end of last season that the club was in dire, desperate need of 'leaders'. So I don't disagree with your comments. However, who sits atop the Premier League right now? Who sits second? Who sits third? These are not teams with an English core. There's one or two in there, but their best players, which you elude to in your response, are foreign. I'm not sayng we should be toe to toe with these guys, they invest in talent that outstrips us by some distance (Ozil/Coutinho/Erikssen), but I just don't think - British core or not - we're 16th. Let's face it - by the time we get rolled over by the SMB, we'll be in the relegation zone, and I cannot accept that this collection of players is as bad as that. Although we all accept 5th was an utter anomaly, many of those players are still here. Santon was quite a bit younger and less experienced too. We relied heavily on Ba, Tiote, Jonas, Cabaye, Cisse, Colo, Krul that season. Sure, Raylor added some points here and there, but the difference isn't in losing Perch and Simpson, surely to fcking christ? Debuchy was immense at the Euros, a league winner in his own country. It's not a guarantee, but he cannot be complete ar$e. It's unlikely Santon has got progressively worse as he got older. Perhaps Sissoko wasn't as good as first thought, but Tiote was good when he came, got better then suddenly went backwards. Maybe the off the pitch bullsh!t affects the players. But it's getting harder and harder to look past the manager. And I'd take your scenario in a heartbeat - I'd sooner the club at least TRIED a different manager. It couldn't get any worse than where we're going anyway, which appears to be down. I'll give it a month before some of the players head out on strike.

 

Key thing for me is that Cisse, Sissoko, Tiote, Debuchy, Santon, Bigi and even Obertan (who was poor at best to begin with) have all gone alarmingly backwards under the current manager.

So seven players there which to me means it's a problem with the management/coaching and not the players.

If you look at it from the other side of the fence, how many have improved under Pardew? Errrmmm, maybe Krul? Other than that I really am struggling to name another player that has progressed under our current manager. Your could argue Dummett but that was due to a loan deal and he'll probably get "Pardew'd" this season and become bang average.

 

Some people even think Krul's gone back under Pardew.

 

I'd say that would be slightly harsh as Krul was great in Pardew's first full season, last season he suffered a lot of injuries and that can be pretty disrupting for a keeper. Didn't have the best of games against Everton but has earned international recognition under Pardew to the extent that he's in every Holland squad these days.

I really am struggling to name another player that has progressed under his leadership though.

 

As I say I don't mind a different manager, I just think our problems run much deeper.

If the likes of Debuchy, Sissoko, MYM, Gouffran, etc are so good, why were they available in January? Why was no one competing for their signatures? What did Arsenal see in MYM that made them look but not go through? If Debuchy was so good, why weren't they clamouring for his signature? How was Sissoko allowed to leave for 2m? I refuse to believe that our French connection, our reputation, our brilliant world respected manager, or our boards hard nosed bargaining are the reasons for this. Its because they are not all some seem to think they are for me. This notion of blaming a manager for player performance is just a cop out on behalf of the players. A manage can do many things but it is obvious to me that at some point, there has to be a certain amount of responsibility that lies with individuals and the collective.

Maybe my examples of English core are not the best. Just look across the league, what is the common denominator? British/Irish cores. Which teams have achieved consistent performance? The ones who have maintained a core of british/irish players

As for the top teams now?

Arsenal - Gibbs, Wilshere, Ramsey, Jenkinson, Walcott
Spurs - Dawson, Rose, Walker, Townsend, Defoe
Liverpool - Sturidge, Johnson, Gerrard, Wisdom, Henderson, Sterling, Moses, Allen
Chelsea - Cole, Terry, Cahill, Bertrand, Lampard
Man City - Milner, Rodwell, Lescott, Hart, Richards
Man U - Jones, Smalling, Evans, Giggs, Carrick, Young, Rooney, Cleverley, Fletcher, Zaha, Welbeck

Obviously they all have more but I've just picked out guys who are fairly regular picks over the last couple of years. All these clubs have understood the value in investing in British talent particularly in the spine of their team. Its not a coincidence. It is not a coincidence that Martinez went out and bought Barry, McCarthy or putting so much faith in Barkley. It is more important outside the top 6 bracket though who clearly operate in a different market to everyone else. They are buying world class talent who come with a greater ability to adapt and their pure class bridges any physicality. All the other teams have a core of british players, none collapse like a bunch of fairies.

How many have signed since Pardew came? Eliott and Bigi. Who else do we have Saylor, Willo, Shola, Sammy, Raylor, Dummett, Gosling, Tav, Streete, Campbell. Only Saylor could be considered as any sort of regular and none of the rest would get in PL teams.

 

Must say. never quite understood the "British players are hard/foreigners are soft" business.

 

No it is not a coincidene that teams that can afford to buy the most expensive players (which English players are) do well. Money is an advantage.

 

Nope, nor do I. You could probaby list at least 100 foreigners who dispel the myth. I don't agree with Hacky Sack on this one, I think the players at Newcastle are plenty good and tough enough. Debuchy seemed to take the League Cup and West Ham rough and tumble in his stride. Sissoko has, all to infrequently, bullied teams. Cabaye's solid, Tiote more so, Anita's no fairy. Maybe I'm wrong and it's all down to the players. But I personally don't believe another manager couldn't get more out of them.

 

Hard/soft is not the right term though. It comes across in frustration as "fairies" etc but really what is meant is players who struggle to adapt to the league which is faster and more physical than the one they've come from. As such the league is presents a bigger mental challenge too. The foreign players themselves have confirmed this over the years. It challenges them in a way they are not used to and will often think is unfair. British/Irish players grow up with this challenge so deal with it better overall.

It is all about opinions but history suggests you need a british/irish core. If the likes of Mourinho, SAF, Sir Bobby, Wenger think so, there is probably something in it in my opinion.

 

What about Everton then? Not massive resources but have seen fit to invest in Neville, Jagielka, Baines, Barry, McCarthy, Gibson, Naismith and so on. Why do West Brom do it? We're the only club in the PL who have abandoned british almost completely. And we are the ones who collapse mentally on a regular basis.

 

Individuals yes, but I'd be interested to see you name a great number of teams of foreigners like we have currently who dispel the "myth". I suspect there are zero.

I have no problem with foreign players, they certainly bring different dimensions to our game. However I think it is a given that what you are familiar with comes easier to you, than something which isn't.