Radio 5 now

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Featuring one Steven Taylor.

 

Good listen so far.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Shearer interview later.

 

France Football magazine guy being interviewed at the moment. Full of praise.

[Happy Face 29]

Did Steve Taylor just use the word 'divideance'

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Did Steve Taylor just use the word 'divideance'

 

Several times

[Monroe Transfer 0]

This guy seems certain that Tiote will be off soon.

[PaddockLad 14585]

That blog writer ripped off that Lyon story lock stock and barrel from a chapter in a book called "Why England Lose" by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski. I've referred to it a couple of times on here and I think Leazes has read it too. "Christian" has just been on national radio claiming it as an original idea of his. Prick.

 

 

 

 

NUFC Views

 

Nov 9, 2011

Kris Heneage

11 Comments

Lyon-on-Tyne: The Unlikely Inspiration for Newcastle United

 

While analysing the promising start to Newcastle’s season, many pundits have identified the new Gallic vibe at the club. With Yohan Cabaye conducting the play and over half a dozen French speakers in the first team set up, it would appear that this certain ‘je ne sais quois’ stretches far beyond the playing staff.

A parsimonious business model that saw Andy Carroll depart for little short of £40 million has spread a pessimism amongst fans that every player has his price. While I admit to not comparing the relevant success of Olympique Lyonnais and the Magpies, it would appear that Mike Ashley wishes to adopt a similar set of rules to those that Lille owner and chairman Jean-Michel Aulas enforces in regards to Lyon and their transfer policy (outlined in the book ‘Soccernomics’ – a great read). It shouldn’t surprise you that like Ashley, Aulas is also an entrepreneur. Although it is fair to say CEGID software company has slightly more elegance than cheap jogging bottoms, the two clearly hold similar business ideologies.

A new manager wastes money on transfers; don’t let him

The first of such ideologies goes as follows; “A new manager wastes money on transfers; don’t let him.” In January Newcastle received a record fee for their local product Andy Carroll. Before the deal had been finalised many began speculating about who would replace him in the summer, which striker Alan Pardew would bring in and how would he spend that obscene amount of money. The truth is he wouldn’t. Despite supposed assurances otherwise Newcastle hardly touched the money gained from their business in January, instead preferring to operate on a one in one out policy. Although by the summer Pardew was technically no longer a ‘new manager’, his inherited squad was largely that which had been overseen by his predecessor Chris Hughton – to all intents and purposes the philosophy applied the same.

Centre forwards are overvalued; goalkeepers are undervalued

Liverpool’s valuation of Carroll leads me succinctly to one of the next important rules; “Centre forwards are overvalued; goalkeepers are undervalued.” As impressive as Demba Ba and Leon Best have been this season, little has been made of Dutch custodian Tim Krul. At 23 and already in the national team set up, his fantastic agility has saved Newcastle on countless instances already this season – the games against Wolves and Tottenham being particularly striking examples of this. It also makes a strong statement about the business done in securing Demba Ba on a free transfer – his eight goals already seeing him well on the way to matching the feats of the player he replaced.

Sell when a club offers more than a player is worth

Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas

Aulas is also keen to stress that a player’s passport can sometimes affect his value, by that he means certain nationalities are overrated. That may explain just why Newcastle were able to ask such an exorbitant fee for their courted number nine. His advice to “sell any player when a club offers more than he is worth”, while sounding simple, further cements just why the club chose to cash in on their local produce. With Lyon having sold half a dozen of their more talented players in recent years for fairly healthy profits (Michael Essien, Karim Benzema, Mahamdou Diarra, Eric Abidal etc) you can see a method to Aulas’ madness.

This sentiment was echoed by Derek Llambias himself in a recent Q&A session via Tyneside newspaper ‘The Chronicle’, saying; “We could not have imagined when we rejected offers for Andy of £25m and £30m that any bid in excess of that would be tabled. And that was our position in January: do we continue stubbornly to refuse to sell at any price, or is the offer now so high that it deserves serious consideration. The fee offered was a deal too good to turn down”.

Replace your best players even before you sell them

Selling when a club offers more than a player is worth may also explain why, despite scoring 12 goals last season, Kevin Nolan was allowed to depart for pastures new. At 29 and far from the most physically adept member of Newcastle’s squad his time was limited. Therefore, when West Ham offered the chance for Newcastle to recoup their outlay on him you can begin to understand why Mike Ashley was so happy to take the offer. With Aulas also stating that older players are overvalued, Nolan was arguably coming down from his peak rather than rising towards it.

Nolan’s departure was preceded by an important event that leads me to another vital directive; “Replace your best players even before you sell them.” Simple advice perhaps, but one that Mike Ashley was intent on doing this summer, especially after the events of January. Yohan Cabaye was officially a Newcastle player on the 10th of June – just six days later the man he would replace was allowed to join West Ham.

Stars of recent World Cups and Euro Championships are overvalued; ignore them

Cabaye may be earning much of the early season media attention, but last year much of those column inches were attributed to Cheik Tiote. When he joined the club fans knew him more for a dangerous tackle on Elano at that summer’s World Cup, rather than his strong play in midfield. By contrast, neighbours Sunderland decided to swap £13 million in return for Asamoah Gyan. The Ghanaian had impressed many at the 2010 World Cup with his goal scoring as he lead ‘The Black Stars’ to a bitter quarter final defeat against Uruguay.

With hindsight, however, you have to question if Gyan was such a wise purchase. Now on loan in the middle-east, his 10 goal return last season was solid if not outstanding, especially when considering his strike partner Darren Bent cost less and provided more goals, that contextualizes the argument and also alludes to the next point of advice; “Stars of recent World Cups and Euro Championships are overvalued; ignore them.” That means the stars of this summer’s European Championships are unlikely to be targets of Newcastle’s.

Buy problem players

Ben Arfa at Lyon - a problem player?

The other important deal of that summer from a Newcastle perspective involved a man once at Lyon. We all remember the protracted transfer of Hatem Ben Arfa. It took a month from the first rumours on French websites to actually concluding the deal, with a complex soap opera of events interwoven – refusing to train, flying to Newcastle without his club’s permission – and as much as you may admire the player, you cannot argue that his conduct was far from exemplary. At Lyon his attitude was questioned. Mercurial and temperamental at the time, he was a player with personal problems. So you would think that Aulas would wish to avoid such disrupting influences – not at all , in fact he encourages “buying problem players“. He suggests buying such players and helping them overcome their problems.

In the wider context, it goes someway to explaining Davide Santon’s move to Newcastle. A fantastic prospect in his early days at Inter Milan (which included silencing Cristiano Ronaldo for 90 minutes), many have cited the spotlight of the Italian media as to why Santon’s career has halted slightly. He seemed to struggle with public criticism, and when the man who gave him his chance (Jose Mourinho) departed for Spain things became even more difficult for Santon. His brief loan spell with Cesena proved he still had the talent, but was far from the finished article. With much of this country’s pundits struggling to know much about players past Calais, Santon has a quieter, calmer, place to settle and begin improving again. A calculated gamble perhaps, but for £5m offset by his potential the loss begins to minimise itself.

The reverse of this, however, is situations such as Nile Ranger’s. Rewarded with a second chance in the professional game, his personal problems seem never to end. With a five year contract also in his possession, the cost for the club, while not astronomical, may feel frustratingly avoidable.

Give crowds credit

Now the final point may surprise you somewhat. In a footballing era in which owners and fans seem to be at either ends of a widening spectrum, Jean Michele Aulas attempts to narrow this divide by giving crowds credit, even calling them ‘wise’.

With journalist Mark Douglas having discussed the club’s scouting strategy in depth in the Sunday Sun last month, it appears that second and even third or fourth opinions are routinely sought. If we look at players in the Newcastle squad, we are likely to have all had conversations with opposing fans in which their opinion differs to our own. They concede often as they have seen only glimpses of the player, but it is a valid point that crowds can often give some of the frankest evaluations of players.

In summary

Mike Ashley’s tenure of the club has without doubt garnered a mixed reaction. Many of his decisions have been maligned but in truth it seems difficult to truly fault his transfer policy. When juxtaposed with the free spending Freddy Shepherd who so routinely overspent on yesterdays stars, players like Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba are both exciting and good value. I understand the latter rarely appeals to the modern football fan, but if you look at it another way, hopefully fans can appreciate the new found effort and meticulous methodology in which playing staff go through prior to joining the club and the progressive nature in which the club is arguably now ran.

Aulas, like Ashley, has come under intense criticism for running his club like a business, but under his leadership Lyon have became an established Ligue 1 side, winnning the Ligue 1 championship for a record 7 successive seasons from 2002 – 2008, and have featured in the Champions League 11 times, reaching the semi final only four seasons ago. Dare we dream for a proportion of s

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.leazesterrace.com/lyon-on-tyne-newcastls-unlikely-inspiration/

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Given how the Sports Direct Arena story appeared to break during this show, in hindsight it's a little amusing how they were Implying that fans should perhaps be a bit more positive towards Ashley, even going as far as being apologetic.

 

Renaming the stadium is not the end of the world for me but would have definitely been a big talking point for them tonight had the story broken earlier.

[Lake Bells tits 1]

certain that tiote will be off soon? tell me more..