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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2011 7:42:49 GMT
Guardian/Ewan Murray
Charlie Adam left distraught after Blackpool reject £10m Liverpool bid • Tottenham fail to complete late move for Scotland midfielder • Blackpool put £14m asking price on player who cost £500,000 Charlie Adam has been left distraught by Blackpool's unwillingness to sell him to Liverpool after heated talks between the player and club officials at Bloomfield Road tonight. Adam, who had been targeted by the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, made it clear to Blackpool that he was keen on a move to Anfield by submitting a transfer request last week. However, the Premier League newcomers steadfastly refused to sell their captain and key player of this campaign. That matter will leave the Blackpool manager, Ian Holloway, with at best a frustrated, and at worst disgruntled, player for the remainder of this campaign at least. Tottenham also made a last-ditch attempt to take Adam to White Hart Lane. Harry Redknapp is a long-time admirer of the midfielder, although he confirmed that the offer came to late. "We pushed on and tried to do it. Daniel [Levy, the Tottenham chairman] was confident he could get it through. It went to the wire but we missed out by minutes," Redknapp said. "Apparently the boy was definitely up for coming … apparently the chairman couldn't get hold of two shareholders who had to sign the forms as well. It's just one of those things."On a frantic final day of the transfer window, Blackpool are understood to have rejected offers from Liverpool of £8.5m and £10m for the Scotland international – the latter bid arriving as late as 8pm. Blackpool have valued Adam at £14m, despite paying just £500,000 to sign him from Rangers in 2009. Adam held discussions with the Blackpool chairman, Karl Oyston, in an effort to secure his dream move and a huge salary increase but to no avail. The playmaker believes he should have been allowed to join Liverpool as a show of gratitude from Blackpool for the part he has played in their rapid rise to top-flight prominence and that the valuation placed on him is unrealistic. Blackpool contest that Adam's worth to them is significant with Premier League survival in mind. The Scot has 18 months remaining on his contract. Oyston said: "What we've got to consider isn't so much valuation – obviously that's a consideration – but its what's at stake for us and the fact that we really don't want to lose momentum or part of our spirit or affect things badly.
"Looking back on other Premier League newcomers if they lose the manager or lose some key players that's when things really tend to start to fall apart.
"The offer was nowhere near what we could even begin to consider and more importantly we'd gone past the stage – and I did flag this up to them a fair while ago – that if they were seriously interested then they'd better put their best offer on the table."www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/31/charlie-adam-blackpool-liverpool-bid
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2011 8:13:36 GMT
INDEPENDENT
I was forced out of St James’ Park, rages Carroll after £35m transfer
Liverpool break record for a British player to replace Torres - but there’s trouble already
By Sam Wallace, Ian Herbert and Mark FlemingAndy Carroll last night launched a scathing attack on Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley for selling him against his wishes to Liverpool for £35m in the most extraordinary transfer deadline day in memory. The England striker said that he had been "pushed out the door" by Ashley whose chairman Derek Llambias negotiated a club record fee for the 22-year-old. Carroll, currently injured, was flown to Liverpool by private jet. The replacement for Fernando Torres, sold to Chelsea for a British transfer record of £50m, Carroll texted a fans' website to express his disgust at his former club. Carroll, whose fee broke the record paid for a British player, said: "I'm gutted to be leaving my hometown club, I was told to go. I didn't want to leave that's why I signed a five-year deal [with Newcastle in October]. I was pushed out of the door." Related articles Carroll must prove himself in spotlights at Liverpool Search the news archive for more stories There were the makings of an ugly public relations battle over Carroll's departure with the club claiming earlier that the player himself had put in a transfer request. There was further dismay among Newcastle fans last night when it emerged that the club had attempted a £12m bid to sign former player Charles N'Zogbia from Wigan Athletic. Sold for £6m two years ago, N'Zogbia was unpopular with fans. Carroll has signed a deal that keeps him at Anfield until 2016 and he inherits Torres's No 9 shirt. Liverpool also completed the signing of the Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez from Ajax for £22.6m. On wages of around £175,000-a-week, Torres has also signed until 2016. The club completed the transfer from Benfica of the Brazilian centre-back David Luiz in return for £21.5m and Nemanja Matic, the Serb midfielder. Torres risked further controversy with Liverpool fans last night by saying that he was now at a "top-level" club. He said: "It [Chelsea] is the top level and I think it is the target for every footballer to play at one of the top-level clubs and I am doing that now." He said he had a "very hard" four days while the transfer was finalised "for everything I left behind in Liverpool". "I'm really happy and I am sure I am taking a big step forward in my career joining a club like Chelsea. It's a great club with a responsibility and everyone will be expecting good things for me and I am prepared and ready for the challenge." The Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said the Torres signing was a "significant day" for the club and signalled their "continuing high ambitions". Torres will not be permitted to play in the club's game away at Sunderland tonight because he signed after yesterday's 5pm deadline for registering players to play the following day. A first £30m bid for Carroll from Liverpool was tabled overnight on Sunday and rejected by Newcastle yesterday morning. Liverpool were adamant that Torres would not be allowed to leave until a replacement was found and the prospect of a deal with Chelsea was looking very slim as late as Sunday night. With Torres' agents pacing around Liverpool's training ground Melwood yesterday, tension mounted as Newcastle themselves asked for time to find a replacement for Carroll. Tottenham's Peter Crouch and Cardiff City's Jay Bothroyd were both suggested but the window closed last night without Newcastle spending any of the Carroll funds. It was only yesterday afternoon that the Carroll deal was tied up, freeing Torres to depart for a medical in west London. Newcastle quoted Tottenham £30m earlier in the month when they inquired about Carroll and could not refuse when Liverpool met the £35m valuation. Carroll's wages are expected to rise from £20,000-a-week to £70,000-a-week. The size of the Carroll deal almost overshadowed Chelsea's own huge straight cash offer for Torres, which they are understood to be paying in cash instalments across the course of a five-year deal. A record £214.5m was spent in this transfer window. Liverpool manager KennyDalglish delivered an advance parting shot to Torres by saying any player who believed he was bigger than Liverpool was "a wee bit stupid and irresponsible". The Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge has gone on loan to Bolton Wanderers www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/i-was-forced-out-of-st-jamesrsquo-park-rages-carroll-after-35m-transfer-2200214.html
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2011 8:15:51 GMT
David Conn/The Guardian
Financial restraint goes out of the window when the big clubs struggle Uefa is fighting a losing battle in its attempt to rein in spendingThe frenzied extravagance in the transfer window's final hours prompted a puzzle about the Premier League as we believed we understood it. For months the clubs had assured us 25-man squads, Uefa's "financial fair play" rules and the horrors of Portsmouth's insolvency last season had prompted a new era of restraint. Then, yesterday, football went mad again, spending £200m on a few footballers even as the country enters an age in which we are told we cannot afford to keep libraries open. To the headline question – are clubs reining in their spending, or spending lavishly again? – the answer is both are true, and the only place to make sense of that riddle is on the famously understated yacht of Roman Abramovich. Three weeks ago, by Lake Geneva, Uefa presented its annual report documenting the vast, unnecessary losses top‑flight European clubs are making, overspending, on transfer fees and wages, in the game's greatest ever commercial boom. Based on the 2008‑09 annual accounts, income across the continent had continued to rise but more than half the clubs, 56%, had made a loss, with total losses adding up to €1.2bn (£1bn). The Premier League, by far Europe's most commercial, charging the most for tickets and reaping more from fans' pay-TV subscriptions, made higher income than any other league – £2.3bn overall – but 14 of our clubs made hefty losses. The debts of the 20 clubs, owed to banks or owners bankrolling the clubs, were £3bn. Michel Platini, the Uefa president sadly maligned by little Englanders for trying to wrestle some financial balance into football, uses that data to demonstrate the need for "financial fair play". And whenever Platini explains the reasoning, that clubs should spend what they make, plan long term and build teams gradually, not rely on a random parade of owners, he customarily cites Abramovich as a supporter. The Russian oligarch, we have been told, has seen the sense of sobriety after spending £726m on shaping Chelsea into his "trophy asset" since he bought the club from Ken Bates, and the club's other then shareholders, some named, some still unidentified, in 2003. The years of spending, from Abramovich's oil fortune, vastly more than Chelsea could otherwise afford in transfer fees and wages, culminated in a £71m loss in 2009-10, as revealed in their accounts released yesterday. Abramovich reorganised his £726m loan the previous year so that it is no longer owed to him by the club itself, but by his holding company which owns the shares, and the explanation from Chelsea – Abramovich himself has not granted an interview here since 2003 – was the owner agreed with Platini's ideas. It is said he really means the club to break even, believes it should live within its handsome west London earnings. When Chelsea began this season recording imperious wins Abramovich looked to have timed and judged it right, but yesterday was his response to the team's fall from form: not to sack another manager, but to equip him with another, A-list striker, at £50m. The effect of the signings of Fernando Torres and David Luiz, and their wages, on the 2010-11 finances will not be declared until the club publishes its accounts next year, but unless there is a major clear-out in the summer it is impossible to imagine Chelsea breaking even. Abramovich has been, it seems, convinced of the need for restraint while his team were topping the league. There is nothing in the financial fair play rules which excuses a club from breaking even if their billionaire owner finds it unbearable to see them stutter, and if Torres's signing does plunge Chelsea further into the red, and Abramovich's largesse, that could prove the stiffest test of Uefa's credibility when the rules come finally to be enforced from next season. The other club with stark problems falling into line, Sheikh Mansour's Manchester City – losses £121m in 2009‑10 – were also responsible for bumping this transfer window spending up from the quiet £32m last January to busting the £175m record of 2008. City's £27m outlay on Edin Dzeko was spent on the day Platini, in Nyon, was outlining European football's overall losses and calling for calm, and in the week that Manchester City Council announced 2,000 redundancies. Responding to the charge that their spending knows no bounds and they will monumentally breach the break–even rules, City said Dzeko just about completes the massive outlay – upwards of £500m – Mansour has lavished on the club since he bought it two and a half years ago, furnishing Roberto Mancini with a squad which can challenge the one compiled by Abramovich. City's January was also marked by getting Roque Santa Cruz (to Blackburn Rovers), Emmanuel Adebayor (to Real Madrid) and Wayne Bridge (to West Ham United) out on loan, signalling an intention to reduce a galactic wage. City keep maintaining, despite the mountainous losses, that they intend to comply with financial fair play. Aston Villa's signing of Darren Bent, rising to £24m, can be isolated, too, as the tale of an owner, Randy Lerner, who does not intend to see his investment, £105m on top of the £62.5m he spent buying the club, flounder into the relegation zone. His is another club a long way from breaking even – their loss was, for Villa, a quite shocking £46m in 2008-09, the last accounts available. The £35m Liverpool's US owners, John W Henry's Fenway Sports Group, agreed to pay for Andy Carroll, and £23m for Luis Suárez, do not fall into the same category, as they are largely accounting for the £50m the club received for Torres. So Carroll's transfer is the most eye-catchingly excessive, probably ever, yet does not rock the Premier League or Uefa equilibrium like the Torres deal because Liverpool are mostly spending out of income. It may seem a touch Monty Python to argue that apart from the record transfer fee between British clubs and Carroll's fantastic fee this was, indeed, a month of restraint but outside those five deals, it mostly was. Manchester United and Arsenal continued to eschew big spending in January, appearing to embody clubs who build teams over the long term, although given United's Glazer-imposed debts, Sir Alex Ferguson has long made a virtue of that necessity. Even at West Ham, Wolverhampton Wanderers and other clubs staring at relegation, there has been no reaching for the panic button of unsupportable spending. Parachute payments have increased, to £18m for the first two years of relegation, and four years altogether, so dropping down no longer means certain financial catastrophe. Insolvency beckons only if the clubs overspend – so that, at the bottom, rather than Uefa's financial fair play rules at the top, may seem finally to be nudging clubs towards an outbreak of sanity. www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/feb/01/transfer-deadline-day-financial-restraint
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Post by harlowranger on Feb 1, 2011 8:25:17 GMT
Ashley eh , wanted the cash , but 35 million for Carroll think he had to take it didnt he ! Providing now Newcastle still score goals and stay up , then if Ashley spends this money in the summer they could get 3-4 quality players!
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Post by cpr on Feb 1, 2011 8:35:09 GMT
Ashley eh , wanted the cash , but 35 million for Carroll think he had to take it didnt he ! Providing now Newcastle still score goals and stay up , then if Ashley spends this money in the summer they could get 3-4 quality players! Too right H, £35 million for a player who, as yet, has done nothing in football terms. I would have bitten their arm off for twenty mill if I was Ashley. Only £15 mill more for a European and World champion striker must make Torres a bargain eh?
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Post by Lonegunmen on Feb 1, 2011 8:58:44 GMT
Apparently to sources down here, none of the money is going anywhere except Ashley's pocket!
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2011 9:03:04 GMT
Wonder if there was anything behind the Lita/QPR reports
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Post by Lonegunmen on Feb 1, 2011 9:08:46 GMT
Loan?
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Post by cpr on Feb 1, 2011 9:39:01 GMT
I bet Taylor's not sorry to see the back of Carroll.
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2011 10:17:06 GMT
Leroy Griffiths Sutton Guardian Sutton boss hails Griffiths signingTuesday 1st February 2011 Paul Doswell reckons the signing of striker Leroy Griffiths could prove a masterstroke as Sutton United take aim at the Ryman Premier title. Staines Town forward Griffiths, a former QPR and Leyton Orient hitman, added to a day of good news at Gander Green Lane after agreeing terms in the wake of the 2-1 defeat of Aveley. And Doswell is delighted to have got his hands on the veteran striker, who has signed until the end of the campaign. He said: “We first spoke to Staines about Leroy about six to eight weeks ago and it has been in the pipeline since. “I just felt that having watched our recent games we needed a bit more spirit and hunger up front and Leroy provides that. “Not only is he a great player but he also gives you that goal threat. “You know you are going to get 100 per cent effort week in, week out - in many ways he reminds me of Craig Dundas. “I have been saying for a while now that it would be great to have two Craig Dundas’ and now we have them!” Despite Griffith’s arrival, Doswell insisted it does not spell the beginning of the end for Richard Jolly, who fired four goals for Wealdstone at the weekend as his loan spell continues to produce results. He added: “Let me make this crystal clear - Richard is a Sutton player and when his month loan runs out he will be back here. “We sent him to Wealdstone to get games and goals and he has done both and we are delighted. “It just proves he is the goalscorer we know he is and hopefully he will come back to us with more confidence.” United bagged a vital three points on Saturday thanks to a Dundas penalty and a Sam Page header as they overcame a half-time deficit. And the Sutton boss was eager to praise his comeback kings. Doswell added: “It was certainly a deserved victory and we could have been four or five up at half time, but it takes some real character to come back like we did. “No disrespect to the likes of Croydon Athletic or Aveley but if we want to achieve our goals this season they are games we have to win, and we have done. “Every time we have lost a game this season we have come straight back and to get six points from six after the loss at Bury is really pleasing. “All I want this season is to make sure we finish in the top five and games like that, as with Cray this weekend, are the key to achieving that.” Sutton United’s next three matches: Feb 5 Cray Wanderers (a), 8 Hornchurch (h), 12 Lowestoft Town (h) www.suttonguardian.co.uk/sport/8824564.Sutton_boss_hails_Griffiths_signing/
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Post by cpr on Feb 1, 2011 11:01:47 GMT
LOL Newcastle calendar has Andy Carroll for February!!! ;D
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Post by Jon Doeman on Feb 1, 2011 11:50:43 GMT
LOL Newcastle calendar has Andy Carroll for February!!! ;D All them geordies turning that over this morning! ;D
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Post by haqpr1963 on Feb 1, 2011 11:57:45 GMT
Yeah, but they are the best fans in the world, don't ya know....
And for £35,000,000 I think even I could live with that......
Bloody hell, the world has gone mad..........
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Post by samp99 on Feb 1, 2011 13:07:34 GMT
LOL Newcastle calendar has Andy Carroll for February!!! ;D All them geordies turning that over this morning! ;D ;D My flatmate's a Geordie fan, and he was seething last night. Whilst laughing at the amount of money, of course
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Post by rolands59 on Feb 1, 2011 14:33:35 GMT
Liverpool wouldn't give 14 million for Adam but gave 35 for an injured woman beater I'd have to think the folks running Liverpool for Red Sox owner John Henry might be joining Torres out the door pretty soon
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eskey8
Dave Sexton
www.cycle2austria.com
Posts: 2,274
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Post by eskey8 on Feb 1, 2011 14:42:16 GMT
Its a strange decision them panick buying. They have enough quality to not get relegated, they should have kept the cash and started a fresh from July.
Crazy money, for an unproven striker.
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Post by geoff65 on Feb 1, 2011 15:09:37 GMT
Has to be noted though. Liverpool only spending stupid amount of money for Carroll because Chelsea paid 50 million for a severely out-of sorts Torres. Is it just me or can anyone see how their strikeforce is going to work? It is a double gamble though for Liverpool as Suarez is no angel either and is used to being top dog at Ajax!
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2011 15:15:02 GMT
Palace reportedly turned down Jay Simpson coming to then with Danns going to Hull South London Press Palace reject Hull swap offer Monday, 31 January 2011 By Richard Cawley CRYSTAL Palace have rejected a player-swap deal from Hull for Neil Danns - which would have seen Jay Simpson move in the opposite direction. Sources on Humberside have told the South London Press that the Tigers were ready to send former Millwall loanee Simpson to Selhurst Park as part of the package. But Palace did not want to lose Danns, even though he is heading into the final six months of his contract with the club. Full details on the story are in tomorrow's South London Press. www.southlondon-today.co.uk/Sport.cfm?id=3641&headline=Palace reject Hull swap offer
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eskey8
Dave Sexton
www.cycle2austria.com
Posts: 2,274
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Post by eskey8 on Feb 1, 2011 15:44:37 GMT
I do think Suarez and Caroll could be an amazing strikeforce, albeit highly over priced.
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Post by klr on Feb 1, 2011 16:14:30 GMT
I've thought that Andy Carroll is definately a good player, but £35 Million, wow that is absolutely mental & make no mistakes new ground has been broken here.
£35 Million! ABSOLUTEY MENTAL!
Imagine what Wenger could do with £35 MILLION ?!
Andy Carroll would have to be an even bigger F*ck up than Gazza to p!ss that lot down the drain.
£35 MILLION! WHERE THE F*CK DID THEY PLUCK THAT FIGURE FROM ?
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2011 20:14:46 GMT
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 2, 2011 10:00:53 GMT
BBC - Jimmy Bullard's loan saves Hull City £320kBullard cost Hull £5m two years ago but has played just 24 times Hull City have revealed that Jimmy Bullard's loan to Championship rivals Ipswich has saved them £300,000.
Bullard is on £45,000 a week, a deal he signed with Hull in the top flight.
Tigers head of football operations Adam Pearson told BBC Radio Humberside: "We're getting nearly £20,000 a week and it's a £320,000 contribution."People may sniff at that but in the Championship that's an awful lot of money and more than pays for the three or four players we've brought in." Pearson has been irritated by the figures that have been quoted in the press and was keen to put the record straight after suggestions that Ipswich had taken Bullard on loan until the end of the season for next to nothing. And he has has revealed that Bullard's wages are a fifth of the club's entire playing budget for next season. "We've set the budget for next year at around £12m to get the club back on an even keel and Jimmy's salary is circa 20-21% of the budget," he said. newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/h/hull_city/9384583.stm
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Post by cpr on Feb 2, 2011 19:59:37 GMT
Just watching tonight's game and seeing Nolan preparing ot lead Newcastle out.
Isn't Carroll on bail and having to stay with Nolan? Or did that all disappear under a mire of premier league money?
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Post by Zamoraaaah on Feb 2, 2011 20:17:52 GMT
I do think Suarez and Caroll could be an amazing strikeforce, albeit highly over priced. I agree. If they click they'll score lots of goals.
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Post by harlowranger on Feb 2, 2011 20:20:13 GMT
I do think Suarez and Caroll could be an amazing strikeforce, albeit highly over priced. I agree. If they click they'll score lots of goals. Not as many as Tarbs and Miller.
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Post by Zamoraaaah on Feb 2, 2011 23:03:54 GMT
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Post by harlowranger on Feb 2, 2011 23:12:13 GMT
Miller will get two Friday!
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Post by Zamoraaaah on Feb 2, 2011 23:25:04 GMT
Let's hope so!
After last night I wouldn't be surprised if Hulse started with Miller coming on as sub.
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