Decka on the disappointing Summer

[Happy Face 29]

DEREK LLAMBIAS has lifted the lid for the first time on Newcastle United’s transfer activity last summer.

 

 

He admitted the Magpies: “made a mistake” by signing just one senior player in the shape of Vurnon Anita.

 

United have since endured fierce criticism from their fans as well as pundits, who expressed concern that fighting on domestic and European fronts could result in trouble if injuries kicked in.

 

However, Llambias says Newcastle had worked hard to keep star players like Hatem Ben Arfa, Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye and Cheick Tiote last summer.

 

He insists steps are already in place to make sure Newcastle do not end up in the same situation next season.

 

Llambias feels an “unprecedented” injury list had a devastating impact on a season which started with such promise at one stage and almost spiralled into a disaster before a recent revival which gives Geordie fans hope for the spring.

 

All clubs have injuries, but even trusted chief scout Graham Carr explained to his board when tasked with helping to bolster the squad this winter the “freak” situation had left United short on bodies in a campaign which has already resulted in 35 competitive games so far with at least 15 more to go.

 

The treatment room has accommodated Fabricio Coloccini, Hatem Ben Arfa, Steven Taylor, Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba, Davide Santon, Yohan Cabaye, Cheick Tiote and Sylvain Marveaux at times this season – to name but a few – plus long-term absentees like Ryan Taylor, Haris Vuckic and Dan Gosling.

 

However, looking back, Llambias told the Chronicle: “I think it was a massive plus to keep our star names.

 

“We do not give ourselves much credit because that is not what we think we should be doing.

 

“For us it is a big plus to keep those players.

 

“When you look back, and we always do, Mike and I always look at where we are as a business – but did we make a mistake in the summer?

 

“I think we did.”

 

United spent much of last summer chasing Mathieu Debuchy before he eventually made a January move to Tyneside.

 

The Magpies believed they had landed the French full-back but, when they thought they had agreed a fee with Lille, the former Ligue 1 champions moved the goalposts.

 

Newcastle were also involved in lengthy talks to try to lure then-FC Twente striker Luuk De Jong to St James’ Park.

 

However, the striker ended up signing for Borussia Mönchengladbach when the prize was pushed out to £12.9million – and as it turns out the striker ended up sitting out much of the season with a knee injury.

 

It left United with a group of players in new boys Romain Amalfitano, Gael Bigirimana and Curtis Good as squad players pushing for first-team spots along with Shane Ferguson, Sammy Ameobi, James Tavernier and Mehdi Abeid.

 

However, a combination of inexperience and failure to grasp their chances left Newcastle short.

 

When asked if Newcastle should have done more to sign more senior cover, Llambias added: “We were so fundamentally tight on the model maybe we should have taken more of a risk in the summer.

 

“I do not think it is the cost. We just thought we had enough depth and that is where we went wrong.

 

“We just did not give ourselves enough slack.”

 

Optimism was still high on Tyneside among fans when the season kicked off, and rightly so after Alan Pardew’s side finished fifth and narrowly missed out on the Champions League.

 

However, reflecting on a season which sees United now fifth bottom, Llambias said: “There have been three stages to the season.

 

“If we go back to the summer, we had a fantastic season last year, it was way above our expectations.

 

“We worked really hard to keep our players.

 

“We had interest and pressure from agents and clubs wanting to buy some of our players.

 

“People perhaps do not realise it can be a difficult task to retain them all.

 

“We kept them and kept them happy. We brought Vurnon Anita, who I think is going to be a star.

 

“Then we had the horrendous injury list – and you cannot have a working model that is set up to withstand such a horrendous injury list.

 

“So we found ourselves in a worse position than we expected. We had too many top players out for too long.”

 

 

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2013/02/07/llambias-nufc-made-a-mistake-by-not-signing-more-last-summer-72703-32761783/2/#ixzz2KDKRViqR

 

I feel a "Mike Ashley Lies" post coming out of this.

 

How do you have to "work hard" not to sell someone. It's not like any of them got contract renewals.

[Happy Face 29]

NEWCASTLE UNITED managing director Derek Llambias today insisted the Magpies must keep their eye on the prize this season when it comes to maintaining Premier League status.

 

Llambias admitted today that Newcastle “made a mistake” last summer, but also insisted that the future of United was in safe hands with a long-term blueprint of bringing value-for-money signings to St James’ Park to work with a stable backroom team.

 

The United chief was open and honest in his assessment of the campaign so far – but with top flight clubs set for a windfall up to £70million next season due to the new worldwide Premier League TV rights, there is only one place to be for the Magpies.

 

And while that may come at a cost for winning cups in the short-term, Llambias says that United HAD to act in the January transfer window – or face dire consequence that could have put the club back three or four years.

 

Indeed, that was the reason why Newcastle splashed out on SIX new signings in January as they look to cement their Premier League future.

 

Llambias – speaking at the club’s launch of a new six-game ticket package – told the Chronicle: “If we are relegated we’ll have put ourselves back three or four years.

 

“That’s not what the fans want. Do they want to go to Barnsley again?

 

“No, so we have to concentrate the Premier League.”

 

Newcastle will soon be facing a last 32 Europa League clash with Metalist Kharkiv following Saturday’s trip to Tottenham.

 

And while the Toon MD did not rule out pushing on in the competition, he said the Premier League must remain the priority – with Alan Pardew’s side actually regarded ahead of schedule last season with a top-five finish.

 

He said: “We can’t jeopardise our position. It’s like Europe, we weren’t prepared for Europe so soon.

 

“It is a very difficult competition for us.

 

“Even now we have to concentrate on the Premier League. In reality, this year we aren’t as ready for it as we’d like to be.

 

“Our priority is the league.”

 

But with new faces like Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran, Mathieu Debuchy and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa hoping to dovetail with Yohan Cabaye, Papiss Cisse and Hatem Ben Arfa, Llambias expects more focus on both the domestic cup competitions next season.

 

When answering one of the fans’ most asked questions from the Chronicle’s Big Toon Survey, Llambias said: “Next year we will have more depth and we will have a better foundation.

 

“Then we can go for everything, then it’s different.

 

“Once this squad gels, this squad is capable of achieving great things in a very difficult league.

 

“If we have this squad and we can add the depth to it, we can give a run to anybody. I really think that.

 

“But do I think we’re really ready to be in Europe?

 

“Talking as somebody who runs this part of the business, we just haven’t got enough depth yet.

 

“The Premier League is where we have to be. Let’s concentrate on that. That’s what we have to build on.

 

“We are building.”

 

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2013/02/07/derek-llambias-premier-league-is-our-main-focus-72703-32761790/2/#ixzz2KDMMVUoC

[David Kelly 1260]

The injury list we've had this season isn't unprecedented at all. Anyone who knows anything about football knows that. Yes we've had no luck in that area this season but we should have known it could have easily happened. They were duped by the luck we had in that area last term (Ben Arfa's injury in the first half of the season and Taylor's in the second were really the only issues we had). You can't blame back luck in that area when it was clear to everyone that it could happen!

[PaddockLad 17649]

The injury list we've had this season isn't unprecedented at all. Anyone who knows anything about football knows that. Yes we've had no luck in that area this season but we should have known it could have easily happened. They were duped by the luck we had in that area last term (Ben Arfa's injury in the first half of the season and Taylor's in the second were really the only issues we had). You can't blame back luck in that area when it was clear to everyone that it could happen!

Various injury situations under nearly every manager since KK left in 97 have been infinetly worse than this season iyam. Its the comparatively piss weak replacements in the squad that have caused this seasons shambles. Who's responsible for that again?....

[David Kelly 1260]

Various injury situations under nearly every manager since KK left in 97 have been infinetly worse than this season iyam. Its the comparatively piss weak replacements in the squad that have caused this seasons shambles. Who's responsible for that again?....

Exactly.

Whether it's naivety or just them being tight, they clearly got it wrong. He is admitting that to an extent but still with the caveat that the injuries are to blame. Injuries or not we should have went into this season with a stronger squad.

[BigWalrus 0]

Llambias has admitted they got it wrong in the summer and should have strengthened. No argument from me.

 

The signings in January look like they're of real quality.

 

I'm not going to dispute his comments about holding on to the big names. It seemed to be a certainty that Tiote was going to Chelsea, Ba to Liverpool and Cabaye to Spurs / Man Utd, but none of those transfers happened. Not sure the phrase "worked hard" is the right one, but I was surprised that we managed to hold on to everyone.

[BigWalrus 0]

Injuries or not we should have went into this season with a stronger squad.

 

To be fair, that's pretty much what he says.

[Toonpack 9943]

 

Various injury situations under nearly every manager since KK left in 97 have been infinetly worse than this season iyam. Its the comparatively piss weak replacements in the squad that have caused this seasons shambles. Who's responsible for that again?....

 

How well did those equally decimated teams do though, to be honest cant recall so many key players being out together.

 

Few teams can afford losing their best and expect no drop off in results or have replacements good enough to deal with it.

 

Mistakes are good if you learn from them.

 

They've admitted the mistake, we'll see if they've learnt, Ashley didn't make his money by not learning though.

[PaddockLad 17649]

Llambias has admitted they got it wrong in the summer and should have strengthened. No argument from me.

 

The signings in January look like they're of real quality.

 

I'm not going to dispute his comments about holding on to the big names. It seemed to be a certainty that Tiote was going to Chelsea, Ba to Liverpool and Cabaye to Spurs / Man Utd, but none of those transfers happened. Not sure the phrase "worked hard" is the right one, but I was surprised that we managed to hold on to everyone.

So was I but if we are going to compete long term on wages with the likes of Liverpool,Spurs,Everton etc then selling key players for vast sums is the name of the game. To me that's where we fucked up this summer...." It doesn't grow on trees"

[ewerk 31200]

Roeder and Souness both had extended periods where we had a number of first team injuries and very little on the bench.

[PaddockLad 17649]

How well did those equally decimated teams do though, to be honest cant recall so many key players being out together.

 

Few teams can afford losing their best and expect no drop off in results or have replacements good enough to deal with it.

 

Mistakes are good if you learn from them.

 

They've admitted the mistake, we'll see if they've learnt, Ashley didn't make his money by not learning though.

Isnt that the difference between squad numbers and squad depth though? Weve got numbers, its just the lack of experience among them that's the problem . None of the managers post KK had us in the bottom 5 in late January because when first teamers were out there was usually and experienced Premier League player to replace them,not the likes of Sammy,Fergie,Biggery etc etc; all novices. Not saying some of the squad players of yesteryear were all top quality by any means, but a lot of them weren't still learning the game.

[David Kelly 1260]

Aye the inexperience of our back up has been a big problem. I had no complaints about reducing the size of our squad as long as the players you're left with can do a job. And you can't expect youngsters to come and do that job. If you think back to when Ossie was manager he tried it with the like of Clarkie, Watson, Howey, Roache etc but they stuggled badly without having the senior players around them. Keegan saw the problem straight away and brough in Killer to help.

Obviously very few (if any) teams can have backup players that are as good as their first eleven. If they were that good they wouldn't be back up in the first place. You'll only ever have the odd few players on the bench that would be good enough to be in the starting eleven ahead of any of the others(since the transfer window you could say that we could have (assuming everyone is fit) Jonas, Mbiwa, Anita, Maveaux), you can't replace a whole team. But what you need is to have reasonable squad players of a certain level. Raylor & Simpson would probably be examples of players of this level. Youngsters like Sammy and Ferguson should only ever be coming in one at a time behind these players.

[David Kelly 1260]

Another thing I noticed in the Deccas bit about Ba was him saying he had no hard feelings towards him, he's gone and we've replaced him. I'm sorry but if he thinks we've replaced him with the signings we've made he's learned nothing from this season. Since the summer we've lost three international strikers and brought one back in. Yes I like the look of Gouffran so far but I have no expectation that he'll score goals at anything like the rate of Ba let alone cover Best and Lovenkrands too!

[Kid Dynamite 7169]

Does anyone believe a word that comes out of his mouth? It's easy saying the right thing when you've just done the wrong thing. He's done it for 4 or 5 years now

[luckyluke 2]

 

 

To be fair, that's pretty much what he says.

 

Nah I'm not swallowing this shit. The way he's going on suggests our poor performance this season was due to a series of freak occurrences that nobody could have predicted when the world, his dog and most people on here in the summer could see that the squad was crying out for reinforcements.

[Barney 0]

In one of the pieces they say that they missed out on another 2 players that they wanted to sign. They didn't name names, but we know that we put bids in for an attacking winger in Thauvin and an experienced striker in Remy.

 

I don't think we can have a go at them not replacing Ba, or calling Gouffran his replacement when we were after an additional front man.

[colinh9 0]

The injury list we've had this season isn't unprecedented at all. Anyone who knows anything about football knows that. Yes we've had no luck in that area this season but we should have known it could have easily happened. They were duped by the luck we had in that area last term (Ben Arfa's injury in the first half of the season and Taylor's in the second were really the only issues we had). You can't blame back luck in that area when it was clear to everyone that it could happen!

 

It's most assuredly not unprecedented and even a beginner's knowledge of Newcastle in the past 15 years will show you that it's actually about normal. You are spot on re: luck we had last year. I banged on that drum a lot, we had luck in a lot of areas and needed investment blah blah.

 

They got it wrong, simple as that.

 

Exactly.

Whether it's naivety or just them being tight, they clearly got it wrong. He is admitting that to an extent but still with the caveat that the injuries are to blame. Injuries or not we should have went into this season with a stronger squad.

 

Correct, but the fact is they KNOW they got it wrong and while they are putting an excuse on it, they realize they screwed up. I'm happy for that.

 

And I'm glad they are big enough now to come out and say it. Also glad they made the investment now....it's a shame as I think we could have had European football again next season if we had the current squad in August.

[@yourservice 67]

We just don't know how nasty they can be.

[colinh9 0]

This is the most important thing he said for my money.

 

“We were so fundamentally tight on the model maybe we should have taken more of a risk in the summer."

 

They recognize that everything isn't going to always work out perfectly and that they need to be more aggressive and flexible instead of fickle

[Kid Dynamite 7169]

Some gullible fools in here like

[ChezGiven 0]

Some gullible fools in here like

How do you mean? He doesnt think they made a mistake? Struggling to find the controversy here.

[Kid Dynamite 7169]

Because he knew fine well in the summer we needed to strengthen. This isn't a revelation to him. The only reason we spent 12mil in January is because we were dropping like a stone and Ashley was shitting it that he was going to lose the TV deal money

[ChezGiven 0]

Not sure many thought we'd be relegated because we didnt get the new RB, CB and CF we needed.

 

I think he has admitted what you just said, just indirectly.

[BigWalrus 0]

I love the mock outrage. What are you going to do about it? Start an "Ashley out" chant? Throw your season ticket on the pitch? Boycott home games?

[BigWalrus 0]

Because he knew fine well in the summer we needed to strengthen. This isn't a revelation to him. The only reason we spent 12mil in January is because we were dropping like a stone and Ashley was shitting it that he was going to lose the TV deal money

 

He says in the interview that he thought we needed to strengthen - hence the bids for De Jong and Debuchy. He admits that they fucked up in not sealing the deal. I think you're looking for something to argue with but he honestly hasn't said anything controversial.