Manchester may be the centre of the footballing universe as the Premier League season reaches its climax, but Newcastle United continues to provide an intriguing sub-plot to the battle at the top.
From relegation from the premier league in 2008/09 under the leadership of the idol of the terraces, Alan Shearer, to Champions League contenders under a man the majority of football pundits thought was a terrible choice in Alan Pardew, in 2011/12.
The way in which owner Mike Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias have turned the club around in such a short space of time has been nothing short of remarkable.
The sale of local hero Andy Carroll to Liverpool almost sent the supporters into meltdown. It was seen as a sign of the clubs outlook. The seemingly sell first and think later approach was a far cry from the ambition fans had been calling for.
But while Carroll left a giant hole in the squad the £35m pounds Llambias extracted from the hands of the Reds recently sacked director of football Damien Comolli was more than fair compensation.
Whether the club would spend any of that money was doubtful and with a dubious recruitment record behind them some thought that wasn’t a bad thing.
Instead of overpriced and overpaid flops came five of the biggest bargains seen in the premier league for some time.
Deals were done that were meant to be dead in modern football.
Demba Ba was taken on a free transfer from West Ham, Yohan Cabaye (£4.8m) and Hatem Ben Arfa (£2m) were signed from Lille and Marseille in France, Papiss Cissé (£9m) from Freiburg in Germany and Cheik Tiote (£3.5m) from FC Twente in the Netherlands, capped off a scouting masterclass.
Observers have been waiting for the fall of the frugally assembled squad since Christmas.
Pardew has exceeded even the wildest expectations to be in with a genuine chance of playing against Europe’s elite next season.
To put this into perspective Liverpool blew close to a combined total of £75m on Carroll, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson.
While Carroll is only just starting to find his feet in a red shirt, Downing and Henderson have been far from impressive.
The Merseysiders are sandwiched between Fulham and Everton in eighth place on the table. Their new found financial power irrelevant. Another post-transfer window period filled with regret.
Buying British is always a costly task, but the signings made by Llambias prove the whole football transfer market isn’t an over-inflated waste of time.
The argument that clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City are unable to do cut-price deals because they have wealthy owners has some merit.
They’re all forced to pay above the odds, but what Newcastle has managed to achieve with its cheque book since emerging from the second tier of English football should be an example to others.
Mutually acceptable deals are clearly not a thing of the past. The biggest challenge is still to come for the Magpies though.
The hidden diamonds they uncovered have shone so brightly that others have taken notice.
Cissé, Ben Arfa and Cabaye in particular could all be sold during the off-season for significantly more than they were bought for.
Whether Llambias and Ashley will consolidate and build or cash in remains to be seen.
Regardless, they’ve proven a lot can be done with what football considers a modest transfer budget.
ItsCalled AussieRules
Roar Rookie
They already have a say in who will win the EPL title. Massive game against City, not just for the ECL spot.
ItsCalled AussieRules
Roar Rookie
When Ange comes off contract with underachievers Victory, Newcastle should snap him up.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Hopefully. All the talk is that we were very impressed with him and that an offer is coming. Always nice to have an Aussie connection!
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Might be able to add the name Curtis Good to that lot soon. Fingers crossed and may a good deal come his way.
Matt F
Roar Guru
It's a great time to be a Newcastle fan! The board/owner have baffled the fans countless times (actually baffled is putting it mildly) and yet have been proven correct almost every single time. The club is no longer losing 30-40million a year but is now on course to turn a profit for this season, something almost unheard of in football, the recruiting has been exceptional and the team are playing some fantastic football. Comparing Liverpool's transfer dealings to Newcastle's really does tell a story. Rather then overspend on English players, or players already in the premier league who are by and large grossly overvalued, we looked to the likes of France, Holland and Germany for good players at much cheaper prices. I remember reading after Newcastle's 2-0 win over Liverpool that Newcastle's starting XI cost less in transfer fees then Andy Carroll alone! That being said, in the interests of accuracy, we didn't use the Andy Carroll money to sign Tiote, he was already at the club when Carroll was sold. We did however use it to upgrade him to a six and a half year contract extension in January 2011 so we would have used some of the cash there. I have no idea how a player like Cisse wasn't snatched up by other clubs long before now. His record at Freiburg (37 goals in 65 games) was exceptional, especially when you take into account that they are consistently in the lower half of the Bundesliga. If a player can score at that rate for a struggling club in a high quality league then it's no real surprise that he's scoring goals straight away for Newcastle (though 13 in 12 is insane!) The fact that we signed him for only 8 million pounds (according to our chief scout) really does say a lot about how overvalued many big name players are, and how little effort some clubs put into finding players. One aspect that often gets overlooked is that there are also a number of fringe/squad players, who have been at the club for a little while but had never really looked up to the task, have taken their games to another level. Players like Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Mike Williamson, Danny Guthrie and James Perch have all been quite justifiably derided early on in their Newcastle career but have taken their games to the next level. For this Alan Pardew deserves alot of credit.
roarr
Guest
I think Demba Ba might be getting a little bit annoyed that all the spotlight has gone from directly on him before christmas...to directly on Cisse (rightfully). Depending on his ego, I think one of the two will leave over summer. As for Cabaye and Ben Arfa... fantastic.
Fivehole
Guest
Freiburg, whilst not discovering Cisse (he bounced around the french league prior i believe) was where he flourished, and was easily their best player. Surprised they gave him up so cheaply. Was atop the scorers in the Bundesliga despite not having a team near the top, which is tough when the opposition can specifically target you as the main goal source. Smart pickup for Newcastle.
Broncos Hilevuo
Roar Rookie
From the German Bundesliga to the English Premier League Papiss Cisse is a sublime striker & the goals that he produced against Chelsea show the breadth of talent he has to offer. Newcastle United are immensely benefiting from his services & if you have a striker with that much ability teams are always going to struggle to win in the EPL. Newcatle are now currently 5th in the Premier league & from relegation just 4 years ago it's a immense benefit for the English Competition.