14
A CLUB TO BE PROUD OF?
Newcastle United; if they
didn’t exist, would anyone give
them credence if we made them
up.
Firstly, club captain and most valuable
player Yohan Cabaye, tired of the
breathless race for 9th spot in the table,
was peddled to Paris Saint Germain
when the magic figure of £20m was
offered; this was of no surprise to the
Magpie faithful as alleged manager /
Ashley’s errand boy Alan “Pards”
Pardew had admitted in a press
conference he was powerless to stop
the player, who must have established
some kind of record by scoring the
third at Upton Park with his final touch
of the ball as an Newcastle United
employee, going back home if either
Cabaye or Ashley decreed this to be the
case.
At what other club would an
alleged manager be happy enough to
put themselves up for public ridicule by
explicitly announcing their utter lack of
authority? Cabaye’s sale was
inexplicable in playing terms, with only
kneejerk apologists for the despised
Ashley regime able to find any
presumed reason for suggesting that it
made economic sense as, following the
collapse of the Remy Cabella deal and
Clement Grenier ruling himself out of a
move to Tyneside, the money would
simply be banked by Ashley as
Newcastle United remain £55m in the
black on transfer dealings in the past
three years. Sadly, that’s not even a
scarcely credible statistic any longer;
it’s a depressingly predictable one.
No Cabaye, no Remy, no
Coloccini (still injured) and further,
irrevocable proof that “Pards” has no
authority at the club meant the
preparations for the Mackem derby
game on Saturday 1st February seemed
as needlessly chaotic as ever.
On the Friday night, I
predicted a 2-0 away win. It didn’t take
a genius to work out Poyet would set
his side up to easily defeat the risible
double Ameobi selection and aimless
hoof ball tactics of the utterly
discredited “Pa ɑ̻