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Newcastle put Martins on sale to raise transfer cash


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Newcastle put Martins on sale to raise transfer cash

By Sam Wallace

Published: 31 July 2007

 

Obafemi Martins is the latest Newcastle player to be told by the new regime that he can leave if the club can find a suitable buyer this summer. The Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce will have to sell players in order to raise money if he is to bring in new faces and the Nigerian will be used to raise transfer funds.

 

So far there have been few takers for Kieron Dyer, with reputed interest from West Ham and Tottenham cooling of late. Allardyce would like to move the England international out but he has not attracted the kind of interest that he would have done even two years ago and already injury problems could potentially derail the start of Newcastle's season.

 

With 11 goals last season after his £10m move from Internazionale last August, Martins is an attractive prospect although his wages, understood to be £60,000 a week, could discourage buyers from outside the Premiership. Despite his impact during the season doubts were raised over his refusal to play against Watford on 13 May - though he claimed he was injured. During an eventful summer he claimed his car was shot at when he was driving in Lagos.

 

The imperative for Allardyce to sell goes to the heart of Mike Ashley's £133m takeover. The injury to Joey Barton has left Allardyce short of fit players and there are increasing suggestions that the new manager does not see eye-to-eye with the man who took over the club shortly after he was appointed.

 

Reports over the weekend of a comeback for Kevin Keegan as director of football with Alan Shearer in a coaching role may not be as far-fetched as they sound. There has been a reluctance from the new owner to spend any serious money on transfers until the strategic review of the club - undertaken by the board - has been completed.

 

No quotes so it could all be bollocks but it is looking increasingly likely that Sam is going to have to sell to buy which is very worrying given we have such a thin squad as it is. The optimism I had for this season is starting to fade.

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They really shouldn't offer him a new deal then.....

 

 

 

Obafemi's headache for Allardyce

 

 

Posted to the Web: Tuesday, July 31, 2007

 

After scoring one goal and assisting another in two pre-season games for Newcastle, Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins says he wants to better the 17-goal tally he racked up last season and give manager Sam Allardyce a selection headache.

 

“It’s always good to score goals and for me, it is important to improve every season,” Martins told KICK OFF. “I scored seventeen goals last season so this season maybe I should be looking at doing better than that. Twenty goals is possible and I hope I can do that.”

 

The Nigerian is expected to face stiff competition from Michael Owen and Mark Viduka for one of two starting places in the Magpies forward line but says he is up to the challenge.

 

“Both of them are great players and it shows that the manager is serious about achieving something this season. But I want to play all the time and as long as I am scoring goals, I think I can make it hard for him not to play me. And even when I am not scoring, I can make myself a problem for the other team and allow my team mates to score.”

Martins has finally committed his immediate future to Newcastle after a summer of speculation linking him with Arsenal, but the striker says there was no contact at all.

 

“Like I told you before, everything I knew about the Arsenal thing was what I saw in the media. I am a Newcastle player and my part is to score goals for Newcastle and I am happy to be doing that.”

 

It was learnt that Martins is currently in negotiation with Newcastle over a new contract, the finer points of which should be sorted out later this week but the striker was keeping his cards close to his chest.

“We are talking, that is all I can say for now.”

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Worrying if its true but I cant see it. Ashley needs to get his cash out to prove his intentions.

 

Liverpool get Hicks & Gillette

City get Sinawatra

West Ham get Magnassun

 

all of who have splashed the cash and shown their commitment to the team

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Ashley will want a return on his investment, the only way to do that in football is to have successful team. I think the press are looking for stories because they do not have the access into the club's dealing anymore because Sheppard last left and we are no longer a PLC. We should just wait and see what happens.

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The press aren't getting to know anything about what's going on at SJP and are trying to stir shit as much as possible imo. I mean this story is just total bullshit.

Agreed. No quotes at all. Pretty pathetic from a supposedly 'quality' newspaper.

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Aye, after having a chairman who couldn't keep his mouth shut or wait to speak to the press, we now have complete silence coming from the big boys at SJP. And that, is going to fuck off the press.

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The press aren't getting to know anything about what's going on at SJP and are trying to stir shit as much as possible imo. I mean this story is just total bullshit.

Agreed. No quotes at all. Pretty pathetic from a supposedly 'quality' newspaper.

 

In total agreement with you both. They've seen a 'billionaire' take over and automatically assumed that when the takeover completed, we'd start pissing out the money in the same way that Chelsea did.

 

The fact that we haven't has led them to the conclusion that Sam's obviously been told to sell before he can buy. Pretty wild assumption IMO and not backed up by a single comment from either Ashley, Mort or Allardyce.

 

The only thing that has been echoed is that Dyer can leave if he wants on the grounds of 'personal reasons'. Absolutely nothing to do with finance at all!

 

Pathetic journalism IMO.

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The press aren't getting to know anything about what's going on at SJP and are trying to stir shit as much as possible imo. I mean this story is just total bullshit.

 

QFT Nothing else derogatory to print about us so they try and unsettle fans by saying players and managers aren't happy....we've never heard this before :lol:

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SAM Allardyce has slammed newspaper stories suggesting he would have to sacrifice Obafemi Martins to raise transfer funds.

 

There were reports on Tuesday morning that the Magpies boss would have to sell the Nigerian striker, who scored 17 times last season in his maiden campaign at St. James' Park.

 

However, Big Sam told nufc.co.uk: "This story is complete and utter fabrication. There's nothing in it whatsoever."

 

Indeed, Martins told Newcastle World in an exclusive interview last week: "I am very, very happy here so I am not going anywhere."

 

Sam and chairman Chris Mort, meanwhile, are continuing to work hard behind the scenes in an attempt to add new faces to the Newcastle squad.

 

From .cock

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this martins story might be bollocks but it does look like we're having to sell before we buy. you'd think a billionaire owener would be looking to invest upon taking over a new club but he doesn't seem interested in splashing the cash so far.

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this martins story might be bollocks but it does look like we're having to sell before we buy. you'd think a billionaire owener would be looking to invest upon taking over a new club but he doesn't seem interested in splashing the cash so far.

 

 

Same was said when Liverpool got took over.

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this martins story might be bollocks but it does look like we're having to sell before we buy. you'd think a billionaire owener would be looking to invest upon taking over a new club but he doesn't seem interested in splashing the cash so far.

 

I suspect the club is in a bit of a state financially, and they're taking time to take stock of the situation. Unfortunate that that's during the window, but nowt they can do about that. I don't think it's true that we're having to sell before we buy though - the £10m story the other day in The Sunday Sun probably has as much credibility as this Martins one, but they're not about to come out and deny or confirm the size of our transfer budget.

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FFS....

 

Oba and out?

 

Jul 31 2007

 

by Alan Oliver, Evening Chronicle

 

 

SAM ALLARDYCE is ready to sacrifice Obafemi Martins in a bid to try to sign a couple of top-class defenders.

 

The word is already out in football that United will listen to offers for their little Nigerian striker – and this will leave many supporters dismayed.

 

Martins has a £13m get-out clause in his contract, and while he has indicated he is willing to stay at St James’ Park, the situation could be out of his hands.

 

And Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp is ready to make a bid for Martins.

 

Big Sam will be as disappointed as the United faithful that he has only spent a net £1.7m in bringing Joey Barton, Mark Viduka, Geremi and David Rozehnal to St James’ Park since taking over from Glenn Roeder, with Scott Parker going out.

 

 

What this means is that United are among the lowest spenders in the Premiership so far this summer, along with Everton, who are trying to find money for a new ground, and the likes of Reading and Derby County.

 

And when United sign a central defender this week it is likely to be another low-budget acquisition whose name will not excite the supporters.

 

Big Sam’s mood will not be helped by the fact that Paris St Germain left-back Boukary Drame, who he had hoped to see at St James’ Park this week, will instead join Sochaux in the next couple of days.

 

To steal a phrase from Kevin Keegan, Allardyce must be feeling “it wasn’t like this in the brochure.”

 

Not many managers would want to sell the striker who was the club’s leading scorer in their previous season, but that’s what Allardyce feels he has to do in the present circumstances.

 

As it happens, while United are short both in midfield and at the back, they are more than well off as far as strikers are concerned, with Martins, Michael Owen, Shola Ameobi, Mark Viduka, Albert Luque and young Andy Carroll.

 

The United boss has already indicated that if he opts for a 4-4-2 system, and not 4-3-3 or the unpopular 4-5-1, he will go for a “Little and Large” strike formation.

 

This would mean that Martins would be in direct opposition with Owen to partner either Viduka or Ameobi and it’s the sort of problem managers say they love.

 

Throw in the fact that Albert Luque is finally beginning to look like a player and young Carroll is looking better every game and, along with his goal-keeping situation, this is one area where Big Sam has to be happy.

 

But there are several other situations in which the manager is not happy, and with the Premiership opener at his former club Bolton Wanderers a mere 12 days away now, Allardyce admits that he fears starting the new campaign with his current squad would be “disastrous.”

 

 

clicky

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:lol: Oliver may as well write for the Nigerian Sun these days for all he knows man! Fucking brilliant that the club issued a denial as the Chronicle was going to press. Imagine Alan Oliver actually twisting his face - he'd look like someone had used it as a stress ball.
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fucking hillarious the denial coming out at the same time. It must be killing him no longer having any inside info.

 

Yesterday, he claimed the Senegalese lad from PSG was en route so NUFC for transfer talks this week. Within hours, he had signed for another team!

 

At the very least though, at least some of his patter was ITK under Roeder. Now, he's about as informed as tribalfootball/a dead person.

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