Posts Tagged ‘80m’

Championship: Newcastle United 2-1 Doncaster

Newcastle United scrambled back to the top of the Championship in such ungainly fashion that even the most ardent of their fans must fear Chris Hughton’s side are in a false position.

Unconvincing throughout, Newcastle lived dangerously before Kevin Nolan curled in an injury-time winner from 20 yards. But, nonetheless, the resultant three points will almost certainly prove sufficient for Hughton’s appointment as manager to be rubber-stamped this week.

Although Barry Moat was due to meet Mike Ashley for a final round of talks about a long-mooted takeover at St James’ last night, the possibility of the Tyneside property developer stumping up the £80m demanded by the current owner remains remote.

With Moat apparently able to pay only in instalments, the ovewhelming feeling is that Ashley — who last night issued a statement saying that the club had broken off negotiations with another, American, a consortium fronted by Geoff Sheard — now intends to lower the “For sale” sign until next summer. His hope is that promotion can then be achieved, the club’s price will rise accordingly and a genuinely wealthy buyer may be found. If so, Ashley would be advised to speculate to accumulate during January, as, right now, the texture of Hughton’s squad is gossamer thin. A raft of injuries to key individuals — Shola Ameobi, Steven Taylor, Joey Barton, Alan Smith, Fabricio Coloccini and Danny Simpson were absent here — has exposed a lack of strength in depth. Not to mention highlighting the team’s overall lack of pace.

Such deficiencies were emphasised when the 19-year-old centre-half Tamas Kadar, starting his first lague game and looking every inch the novice, fluffed an intended first-half clearance, thereby permitting Billy Sharp to advance and centre for Dean Shiels to shoot Doncaster ahead from six yards. When Doncaster’s Martin Woods, the afternoon’s best midfielder, prompted a superb save on Steve Harper’s part after being allowed ample space to try his luck from 25 yards, the possibility of Newcastle extending their winless run to five games increased.

Booed off at half-time, Hughton’s team looked sluggish and nervy. Sean O’Driscoll’s sweet-passing Doncaster had been responsible for the majority of vision and improvisation on view — not for nothing is he known as South Yorkshire’s answer to Arsène Wenger.

If lateral thinking is not Jonás Gutiérrez’s strong point, the Argentine winger emphasised that he is not too hot at finishing either when spurning a glaring chance from seven yards in the wake of Ryan Taylor’s cross and Nolan’s flick-on.

As driving rain finally gave way to weak sunshine a double rainbow appeared over St James’ but, ignoring such promising portents,Andy Carroll missed an absolute sitter, stabbing wide from seven yards. Although he swiftly redeemed himself, scoring with a fierce volley after connecting with Danny Guthrie’s dropping chipped pass, such parity proved fragile.

Indeed, Woods should have restored Doncaster’s lead, but miscued completely from the penalty spot following Ryan Taylor’s handball. Shortly afterwards, Zurab Khizanishvili was sent off after intervening in a scuffle between Sharp and Kadar by apparently trying to strangle the Doncaster forward.

Geordieland was sinking into depression, but Nolan had been quietly unsettling Doncaster with an amalgam of unnerving physical presence and distracting backchat. So much so that when he collected Carroll’s rolled pass the visitors politely stood off and watched his ensuing strike wreck their weekend.

“Yes I am relieved,” admitted Hughton. If Newcastle are to remain on top of the pile, he will require a surfeit of similar luck.

The Managers’ Verdict

Chris Hughton “I’m relieved because at 1-1 they had an opportunity to go 2-1 up – but overall, on the balance of the game, we deserved to win it. In the first half Doncaster played a good tactical game, but they will keep possession against any team. Over the 90 minutes, if there was a side that was going to win the game I felt it was us.”

Sean O’Driscoll “There’s no point hiding behind the penalty miss: we pride ourselves on doing certain things and at times I thought we didn’t do them very well. Penalties will be scored and missed as long as there are football matches. Martin Woods took responsibility and the modern game needs players who will take responsibility.”

The Fan’s Verdict

Was it a good match? We were true to form – total rubbish. There was only one team trying to play football and that was Doncaster. We were totally pedestrian in midfield. The two loan signings Marlon Harewood and Zurab Khizanishvili were disappointing and not quite as bad, respectively. Nile Ranger should be starting and I’m concerned that Chris Hughton has apparently been offered the job on a permanent basis. The past four results have been poor, the performances have been of relegation standard – but we still find ourselves top of the league. Who played well/who had a nightmare? Danny Guthrie played well and Ranger impressed as a substitute. After that, I’m struggling to think of anyone else to mention. David Holmes, Observer reader

To take part in the Fans’ Verdict, email fans.championship@observer.co.uk

Wenger insists he has no plan to spend Arsenal’s £80m war chest

• Wenger could have almost £80m to spend if he wanted
• Arsenal posted £35m profit after tax and before summer sales

Arsène Wenger said yesterday he will not sign any more players to boost his young squad, even as Arsenal announced record earnings which showed their manager could have almost £80m to spend if he wanted to.

Arsenal’s income, published in the club’s accounts for the 12 months to 31 May this year, was £313.3m, the largest annual turnover ever recorded by a British football club. The club’s profit, after tax, was £35m, boosted by sales of apartments in the old Highbury stadium which had previously stalled in the economic downturn. The accounting period did not include Wenger’s lucrative player trading this summer, in which Arsenal received £42m for Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré from football’s new big spenders, Manchester City.

Yet speaking before tomorrow’s Champions League tie at home to Olympiakos, Wenger took the opportunity to restate his faith in Arsenal’s current squad and explain why he will not be spending the windfall in the January transfer window.

“There is money to spend but at the moment I am very happy with the squad I have,” said Wenger. “It’s not because I’m against spending money; I have nothing against spending money. It is not a personal thing, it is just that I have a squad that is strong enough to compete.”

Wenger mentioned by name several of the young players he rates so highly, and pointed to two more, Andrey Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen, to show that he does spend money on signings he believes will add quality to the squad. However, he argued that if he were to spend money on more star signings, they would swell the wage bill, and arrive at the expense of the players already competing for places.

“I do not spend money because out of tomorrow’s squad is [Samir] Nasri, [Theo] Walcott, [Nicklas] Bendtner. And people want me to buy strikers, but where do I put them? I don’t know. I have to then lose players who, for me, are world class.”

The accounts scotch the speculation which has dogged Arsenal since the recession hit, that the Highbury Square development, which was intended to be a £100m profit-maker, had become a financial millstone. Despite the problems committed buyers have had raising mortgages since the onset of the credit crunch, Arsenal have now sold 445 of the 655 Highbury apartments. The debt on that property development, which stood at £133m six months ago, has been reduced to £47m and Arsenal have refinanced the loan to be repayable in December next year.

The position is now healthy enough for Arsenal’s chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, presenting his first set of accounts since joining the club in January, to say confidently: “We anticipate it is likely we will make a profit out of that [Highbury Square] development, which will then be available to the football side. Exactly what the profit will be, and when it will be realised, will depend on the strength of the property market.”

The previous record turnover for a British football club was earned by Manchester United, who made £256.2m in 2007-08, a figure Arsenal surpassed by almost £60m last year. As a football club, though, Arsenal, boosted by a consistently full Emirates Stadium, still fall £30m behind United; the record figure does include the exceptional £88m from the sale of the apartments.

Wenger’s record as a prodigious earner, not spender, from transfers continued; the accounts record a £23.2m profit from the sales of Alexander Hleb and Justin Hoyteto Barcelona and Middlesbrough respectively, plus sell-on clauses for former players David Bentley and Lassana Diarra. The club’s profit, added to the £42m received for Adebayor and Touré, is almost £80m, but it will not be burning a hole in Wenger’s pocket. “I am very happy with the squad I have,” Wenger concluded. “If in December we need to buy someone to add to the squad, I will do it.”Yet with Arsenal having lost crucial matches at both City and United already this season, Wenger has yet to completely convince Arsenal fans and the football public that he squad does have the depth, and experience, to mount a convincing challenge for trophies.

Wenger’s milestone, page 3

Touré to undergo medical at Man City

• Ivory Coast defender set to earn over £100,000 a week
• Manchester City out in front as Premier League’s big spenders

Kolo Touré is scheduled to leave Arsenal’s training camp in Austria this evening to fly back to England to complete his move to Manchester City after the two clubs agreed a fee of £14m for the defender.

Touré is expected to fly directly into Manchester to take a medical examination tomorrow and finalise the personal terms of a contract that will see him join the growing band of players at City who earn in excess of £100,000 a week.

He will become the second Arsenal player to move from Arsenal to City this summer, following Emmanuel Adebayor for a combined outlay of £39m. In total, City have now made six signings in preparation for the new season, with Roque Santa Cruz, Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez and Stuart Taylor being added to the club’s payroll for a total of £94m. An extensive recruitment programme, overseen by the billionaire Abu Dhabi royal family, has been offset by the departure of 12 players, but Touré’s imminent arrival consolidates City’s position as the biggest spenders in the Premier League by some distance this summer.

To put it into context, Manchester United have spent around £17m in the same period, despite banking £80m from Real Madrid for the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo. Chelsea have spent around £20m whereas Liverpool have made only one major signing, Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson, for £18m and Arsenal have made a considerable profit, their one big-money recruit being Thomas Vermalen, Ajax’s Belgium international defender, for £10m.

City now hope to take their summer spending well beyond the £100m mark by prising their last remaining target, Joleon Lescott, away from Everton, their interest in the player remaining enthusiastic despite his club steadfastly refusing to offer them any positive signs. Information has reached City that Lescott is determined to go through with the transfer but it is also clear that the process of extracting him from a club of Everton’s own ambitions may have some distance to go, and will be considerably more complicated than the negotiations for Touré.

Ferguson: City and Real have inflated fees

• Ferguson says Owen was a cheap alternative for Benzema
• ‘It’s an unusual summer and very difficult to get value’

Sir Alex Ferguson has condemned the “stupid” prices being quoted in this summer’s transfer market after admitting that Manchester United, once the most powerful spenders in English football, have been priced out of signing the top players because of the way selling clubs have reacted to the immense financial power of Manchester City and Real Madrid.

While Madrid have spent £180m since the galáctico-obsessed Florentino Pérez’s reinstatement as president, and City have become the biggest spenders in the Premier League, United have spent only a quarter of the £80m they received for Cristiano Ronaldo and Ferguson said he does not expect any more arrivals because of the exorbitant fees being demanded.

Michael Owen, the manager conceded, had been signed as a back-up option after United refused to match Madrid in the pursuit for his principal target, the France international striker Karim Benzema, who eventually moved to the Bernabéu from Lyon for around £35m. His only remaining target is Douglas Costa, the Brazilian Under-20 international, but Ferguson is frustrated in the extreme that Gremio want £21m for a teenager who has only just broken into their team and, unless a compromise can be reached, United will withdraw again.

“I said a year ago, when they [the Abu Dhabi United Group] took over at City, that this was possible,” Ferguson said. “Some of the values across the world now are amazing; the numbers that get tossed about. The values of players have shot sky high. I don’t think any of the [big] transfers this summer are realistic but for some reason it has caught fire this summer. It’s an unusual summer and it’s very difficult to get value because of that.”

United have spent around £20m so far, buying Antonio Valencia from Wigan Athletic for around £17m and Gabriel Obertan from Bordeaux for £3m, with Owen arriving on a free transfer. The club have been erroneously linked with a variety of expensive targets and Ferguson anticipates many supporters being disappointed not to have replaced Ronaldo with a more highly sought after replacement.

“I can only placate the fans in one way and that’s by not being stupid,” he responded. “We have that wonderful sum of money from Real Madrid but there’s no way we are going to throw it away by putting an extra zero on the end of transfer fees when I didn’t think it was value.

“We went in for Benzema but, as far as we were concerned, the price tag was beyond his value. If other clubs want to go to that level, that’s entirely their business. We had a value that we thought was fair and we didn’t want to go above that position. Maybe Lyon thought we under-valued him and that’s fine, it’s their decision. They got €42m for him and they will be happy with that because they have done well. All this tells you about us is that we are sensible.

“We have always had to pay a bit extra at this club but this summer we were not prepared to do that. We have a very good squad and some good young players. So there was no need to have a knee-jerk reaction after losing him [Ronaldo]. We did very well to keep him for six years. It was his moment to leave and we allowed him to do that. But we should not panic because of one player leaving.

“What I have done is bring in youth in Antonio and Gabriel and an old codger in Michael to balance things up because experience is vital and I know that he will score a lot of goals for us. He will give us experience in the penalty box. That is what he has been great at for years and years.”

Yet Owen, it has become clear, was not Ferguson’s first target when it became apparent to him that Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez would be leaving Old Trafford.

“Michael knows that,” Ferguson explained. “We looked at the situation and mulled it over for quite a few months. We knew that his contract was coming to an end but I still had an intention to bring in another player [Benzema]. What confused us was waiting for a decision from Carlos Tevez. That confused us as we were not getting any answers, which put us in quite a quandary in terms of what we should do. We waited long enough. We tried to get Benzema but as soon as that fell through we went for Michael. I’ve explained this to Michael – that, at 21, Benzema was a possibility. But as soon as that looked to be floundering I contacted Michael.

“We had the four strikers anyway – [Dimitar] Berbatov, [Wayne] Rooney, [Federico] Macheda and [Danny] Welbeck. I know two of them are young but, listen, youngsters with ability will always get a chance here.

“With Antonio, we had been negotiating with Wigan for some months and that was straightforward. With Gabriel, we have been watching him since he was 16, when he was probably the most sought after youngster in Europe. His form dipped a little last season, possibly because he had an injury. But that form has returned. He was fantastic in the recent Under-21s game against England and that reignited our interest. He is young and that is what we like. We want a group of young players who can continue our success.”

Ferguson initially said that United’s transfer business was now “concluded”, although that should maybe be taken lightly given that he stated at the end of last season there would be no significant arrivals or departures whatsoever. It was also put to Ferguson that he had previously stated he would not sell Madrid, or “that mob” as he referred to them, a “virus” and, smiling, he accepted that he had deliberately misled the media.

“I had a good relationship with the boy. He explained to me what he felt and it was exactly as [former assistant manager] Carlos [Queiroz] and I had thought two or three years ago. We never thought we were going to keep him for a long time. To have him for six years, we’re very proud of that, very pleased. He’s taken this opportunity to have another challenge and I respect him because he was a fantastic player for us. He was a good lad, he caused no problems and we wish him well.”

Ferguson was reminded he had told the same group of journalists earlier this year that Ronaldo would stay at the club for another five seasons. “I’m very sympathetic,” he said, laughing. “I nearly cried when he came to see me.”

Later Ferguson acknowledged that, if there was a change in the market, specifically Gremio drastically reducing their valuation of Costa, United would be willing to go back into the transfer market. “We have two months before the deadline so it could change. Anything is possible. You never know.”

For now, however, United are watching Madrid’s transfer activity with a sense of awe. “They did this thing a few years ago with [Zinedine] Zidane and [Luís] Figo etc,” Ferguson said. “It’s in their nature to do these things. It’s the way they operate. They are not nearly as afraid of debt as everyone else in the world. You also have to applaud them for the system they use in controlling that debt, whether it’s a bank or whatever. But it’s different from us and we’re happy the way we operate. No matter what players we have got in, we are still going to be strong next season.”

The £80m fee for Ronaldo was “non-negotiable, take it or leave it” but Ferguson still has misgivings about whether Madrid, a team he described as “too slow” to win the Champions League last season, will be more credible challengers now they have added Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema to their ranks. “No,” he said firmly. “Barcelona are the team to aim for.”

Owen arrives at United for medical ahead of shock move

• Owen hoping to join United if he comes through medical
• Striker to have stringent tests on his right knee

Michael Owen has arrived at Manchester United’s training ground Carrington to have a medical with the Premier League champions. The 29-year-old hopes to complete a move to United after his contract with Newcastle United ran out.

The former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker is expected to be put through stringent tests, especially on the right knee he injured during the 2006 World Cup. He ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and had lesser damage to his medial ones only a minute into the group game against Sweden.

Owen scored 30 times in 65 starts for Newcastle but scored his last goal in January. He will be extremely motivated to prove his critics wrong but would nevertheless represent a major gamble for United and their manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. United have sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for £80m while Carlos Tevez has also left the club after his loan deal expired.

United have already signed Luis Antonio Valencia from Wigan for £16m in what promises to be a busy summer at Old Trafford. They did, however, miss out on signing the Lyon striker Karim Benzema, who joined Real Madrid this week for £30m.