Graham Carr interview

Introducing Newcastle Chief Scout Graham Carr
June 22nd, 2011 by Ed Harrison

Newcastle have already brought in three good players in Cabaye, Ba and Marveaux in June.



Graham Carr – Newcastle Chief Scout – burgeoning reputation

And apparently the deal to give Neil Taylor a new five year deal at Newcastle is still on track,* in spite of stories on Wednesday that they may have even broken down.

According to inside sources at Newcastle, things have gone very well and Neil is expected to sign on for Newcastle.

Graham Carr was responsible for bringing in Cheick Tiote for £3.5M from FC Twente, and his star has been rising on Tyneside over the last year, and he ahs been concentrating his work in France since* January.

The Newcastle chief Scout was born in Corbridge, Northumberland, back in 1944, and he played at Northampton Town, Bradford PA and York City during his playing career, and managed nine clubs from 1977 until 1997, including Northampton Town and Blackpool.

More recently Graham has built a growing reputation as a scout in the game, where he seems to have that uncanny knack of knowing a good player when he sees one.

He started his scouting career at Tottenham Hotspur, working under David Pleat, and also worked for Manchester City and Notts County, under former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.

And in February of 2010, he joined Newcastle United as the Chief Scout, and essentially took over the job that Dennis Wise had been doing, but we don’t think Graham is getting the huge wages Newcastle paid out to Wise, who was on £1M/year on Tyneside, as Director of Football.

Graham gave an interview with the Sunday Sun in March and that specific article became extremely popular article with Newcastle fans.

This is what Graham had to say at that time about his scouting activities:

“When I was at Tottenham I worked under David Pleat and he was full of good football knowledge and little sayings. I remember him saying to me ‘Never waste a flight,’ and that has stuck with me.”

“So I go to a country and I’ll watch two or three games if I can. Last weekend I was in Lille, this weekend I’m going over to Germany to watch two games. You have to put that leg work in and get out to games – being passed a DVD of someone just isn’t the same.”

“And 90% of the players that agents pitch to you just aren’t up to it.” “So my passport is pretty well thumbed, but I love my job. My dad played for Newcastle United and I’ve always wanted to be here – now I am I’m desperate to help bring some success back to the club because it deserves it.”

“We are looking at a lot of players. We have teams of players that we’re looking at lined up in 4-4-2 formations because we want to have someone in every position,”

“I think we need half a dozen players in summer, to be honest. That is a personal opinion, mind, but that is what I’m working towards – having options to put before the manager when the season is over.:

“And we won’t just watch a player once. With someone like Cheick, it was the result of four years watching him. I’d first seen him playing for Roda against Arsenal in 2006 – they were hammered 4-0 I think, but you could tell he was going to be a good player. He never stopped running.”

“So you keep an eye on him and track his progress, which is where we are with plenty of other players.” “People will all look at Arsene Wenger and say he’s got the French market covered, but we’ve got a good handle on it, believe me. The same is true of other countries too.”

“You know you’re not on your own – you know there is competition out there from other English clubs and you have to be realistic – you can’t keep everything you’re doing off the radar.”

“A player that I was watching last weekend we’ve been watching for months, yet suddenly there were six scouts there from English clubs, all probably watching the same player.”

“The key is to react quickly – that is what will get us our targets. That and the fact that Newcastle United is a big, big draw overseas.” “The players that come in will have good pedigree. We will expect them to improve the squad.

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No wonder he celebrated like crazy when that goal went in, it must have felt like Groundhog day at half time

 

4 years though imagine if we bought him 4 years ago, he would have taken over the world by now quite easily

 

Yeah but Carr wasn't here 4 years ago

 

*cough* **** you Martin Samuel *cough*

 

Preach!

 

Didn't know that his dad played for Newcastle, nor that Graham was a player then a manager for 20 years. Shame that his son didn't inherit the footballing ability, and instead is an annoying ****.

 

I clicked on 'next page'.

 

imagine if it was the other way round and his SON played for the Toon....... more mince than a butchers that bloke....