Robson aims to buy success for Newcastle BY GEORGE CAULKIN BOBBY ROBSON, the Newcastle United manager, will place a lengthy shopping list in front of his chairman today, confident that he can attract the world’s best players to St James’ Park this summer. “There’s nobody we would be afraid to go out and buy,” Robson said, but whether the club’s board of directors agrees without reservation is a separate matter. Ambition has not always been a two-way street on Tyneside. After watching the FA Carling Premiership match between Ipswich Town and Liverpool last night — Newcastle play at Portman Road on Saturday — Robson will hold a series of private meetings with Freddie Shepherd in the South of England, when he hopes to discover how much money he will have to spend in the transfer market at the end of the season. Having given himself only two more years in management, he expects good news.

In recent interviews, Douglas Hall, Newcastle’s leading shareholder, described the club as “bigger” than Barcelona and suggested that they should be bidding for the likes of Rivaldo, the Spanish club’s Brazil playmaker. Robson intends to test those claims. He believes, for instance, that should Shepherd and Hall be prepared to back their words with hard cash, his reputation in Europe would allow him to sign players of the calibre of Josep Guardiola, Rivaldo’s team-mate and a Spain international.

“There’s no doubt that we’re still a club that people want to join,” Robson said. “We’ve had Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Ruud Gullit as managers here in the last few years, high-profile guys who bought big-name players, and I don’t see any reason why that situation should change. If we are in a position financially to go for the right players, there would be no problem persuading them to come to Newcastle United.

“Without being egotistical, I would hope that to be the case. Take someone like Guardiola as an example. If he was willing actually to leave Spain and we could afford him, I’m sure he would be prepared to join us. I don’t have any doubt about that.”

Robson worked alongside the 30-year-old midfield player during his spell in Spain. That and similar contacts are there to be exploited. If nothing else, it would make a pleasant change.

At 68 and after illustrious spells at the Nou Camp, as manager of England and with PSV Eindhoven and FC Porto, Robson has spent much of his 19 months at his boyhood club simply attempting to make ends meet. “I’m enjoying it, but I’m firefighting, solving problems,” he said.

The spectre of relegation was successfully avoided last season, but this campaign has been spent treading water. Robson’s most significant signing has been that of Carl Cort, for £7 million from Wimbledon, but that and other purchases have been funded through the sales of players such as Duncan Ferguson, Didier Domi, Alain Goma, Steve Howey and Alessandro Pistone.

Shrewd husbandry made qualification for European football seem likely earlier this season, but injuries to Alan Shearer, Kieron Dyer, Cort and Nicos Dabizas helped to ruin such hopes.

“Some money has been generated, but the board — and I haven’t argued with it or quibbled about it — put a halt on spending because of the European Commission transfer saga, which seems to be unending,” Robson said. “Any buys we might have been interested in to give us a bit of added strength were shelved because we didn’t want to lose unnecessarily some of the money we had made.”

In the past few months, Robson and his staff have been compiling a dossier of players for the day when the purse strings are loosened. He has identified a handful of leading targets, including Michael Bridges and Ian Harte at Leeds United, Hakan Sukur, the Turkey and Inter Milan striker, and Guardiola. Should they be unavailable or deemed too expensive, several alternatives have also been recommended.

Robson is determined that future acquisitions should not be brought in at the expense of players already at the club, chief among them Dyer, who has been strongly linked with a £12 million move to Elland Road, possibly in exchange for Bridges and Harte. “We have no intention of selling Dyer,” he said. “We want to build the team around him. The chairman agrees with me and I’m very pleased he does. We want to add to Shearer and Dyer, our best players.”

While Newcastle have delayed all serious financial activity as they await the final outcome on the future of the European transfer system, clubs such as Leeds and Liverpool have not been so cautious, with David O’Leary, the Leeds manager, spending £30 million on two players, Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Keane, and Gérard Houllier building a substantial and gifted squad at Anfield. In 1997-98, Newcastle were competing against Barcelona in the Champions League. They are in danger of being left behind.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Answers

Foot in mouth reigns again as the Internet press are covered in stories of Robson saying, "We could get Guardiola!". What is worrying is that Douggie Hall's comments must have been applauded by Robson and not roundly jeered because of the unlikelyhood of signing Rivaldo.

Why we want to sign Guardiola anyway, is beyond me.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

"I believe we could attract player like him, if we has the same conditions as other clubs." (Errrr we don't

"There is no doubt that Newcastle is a club where the fans would like to see him come.

"There is also little doubt that if we were in a stronger financial situation, we could go out and look for our desired player.

"Without being too presumptuous, I believe I could help."

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Bold hopefully off.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

deeby, Guradiola is an immense player, but perhaps nearing the end of his peak. I t would be a bit more sensible to get a player AT his peak and really test the claims. also, shouting off to george c, wasn´t too bright...they can see us coming!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Guardiola looks a very measured and assured midfielder at International and Spanish football level. He will not have the time and space to be so assured in the Premieship.

One thing he would offer us in the middle of the park is leadership and could do a lot of good behind the 'plastic' captain Shearer.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

I wuold like to see a couple of big names coming to St. James' this summer along with 3-4 younger talented players. I do not want to see big stars but the likes of Seedorf and Bridges sounds great. Not superstars but may develop into just that. Suker - sure if we get him cheap. Guardiola - he will be expanisive and not worth it.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Guardiola is on a bosman this summer, so he will be on massive wages. We have to minimise the risk if he doesn't perform but he's an established player and we should know what we are getting, particularly seeing as Robson has worked with him on the training ground.

Robson will have seen him in good and bad times and will have as sound a judgement as we are likely to get on any other player. Also the new transfer system may minimise our risk.

Such a shame that due to past transfers we have to look so carefully at each and every signing!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

More talk - exactly what we don't need. Do Arsene Wenger or happy Alec bang on and on about who they're going to sign? Course they don't, if they fancy a player they make a few discrete enquiries and, if available at the right price, sign them. Simple. You'd think Bobby, with all his experience would have learn't by now not to 'talk up' a player's value.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

i seem to remember a lot of fuss over dwight, and wenger often talked wiltord up

still agree with you on that point dave

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

I think it was Yorke and Gregory who were openly talking up that particular deal and to be fair to Arsenal they had started negotiations for Wiltord when the French started to complicate things.

We just seem to pick a big name out of a hat and spread it all over the press. The pressure is on the Board and Robson to facilitate these big signings or they're going to look fecking stupid and the fans will be pissed off. Season Ticket talk?????

Robson hasn't even met Shepherd about the amount to be spent so how can he say who he thinks he can sign. If this is a veiled message to the board to pull thier fingers out, does it have to be done in public???

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

¿maybe that is bobs ace in the hole?

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

OK - This summer is going to be crunch time for Bobby Robson. If he doesn't receive the financial support he feels is necessary to take the club forward then I think he should consider resignation.

Taking into account the fan base and revenue generated the financial backing given to Toon managers since the sacking of Dalglish has been pathetic. Correct me if I'm wrong but Gullit was given approx 11M to but Goma, Marcelino and Dumas. Every other purchase he made was funded by sales. YBR has realised a net profit on his transfer dealings. This means that the board have invested 11M net in new players over a three year period ( Sep 98 - April 2000 ). I would be surprised if any other Premiership club has invested less. What worries me is that we have no one left to sell without weakening the first team. The fringe players who will leave this sumer may raise 2 or 3 million; to raise more money would involve selling an established first teamer from an already weak squad.

In my opinion the club can go in one of two directions now. Firstly, we could invest a substantial portion of the Sky money we will receive over the next three seasons. If spent wisely ( mainly on young, promising British players ) and combined with good management which I feel YBR can offer, then we are in with a good chance of challenging for Europe again within a 2 - 3 year time frame. We would also see a virtuous circle emerging bringing improved revenues and making the club more attractive to the promising players of the day.

The other direction would involve exercising financial restraint and taking a more long term view and investing in youth and cheaper players from the lower leagues and abroad. If we use clubs such as Ipswich and Charlton as an example we are probably looking at a 5 - 8 timespan before we can be competitive again, and football wise it will mean treading water or even going backwards before we see an improvement. If the club goes down this path, and comments from Stonehouse and Fender would seem to indicate that this is their vision of the future, then YBR is undoubtedly the wrong man for the job. Ability wise he has the pedigree to do this job but age and the duration of the job in hand would count against him. I would hate to see YBR finishing his career managing a stagnant Newcastle with the crowd slowly becoming frustrated but that is what I forsee if he doesn't get the financial backing he believes he needs.

Whatever I forsee an interesting time ahead at the club. I only hope that we get the team that we undoubtedly deserve although given the past record of our board this isn't going to be plain sailing.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Sorry - shoud have said ( Sep 98 - April 2001 ).

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Unfortunately, I can see a flaw in your argument Sellelena - you will inevitably find that the majority of the additional Sky money will find its way into the pockets of the players.

IMO, because of this it would be flawed to assume we will have an additional £30 million per year to spend on new players, although I'm sure this is largely where Douglas Hall is coming from.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Season ticket renewal forms will be going out in a few weeks, and right on cue, Bobby Robson, Freddie Shepherd even Douglas Hall has been saying just how wonderful things will be next season. All of the deadwood will be booted out and in will come a host of huge stars. The likes of Rivaldo, Guardiola, Hakan Suker, Conceiçaio, Kluivert, Victor Fernandez McManaman and even Matt Jansen will be knocking on Bobby's door begging him to sign them up for a season in which Newcastle will be back up there challenging the likes of Liverpool Arsenal and Leeds for a place in the Champions league. And what of Dyer, Solano, Harper and our other decent player? SOLD? No chance, we'll be building the team around them. £20m,- £30m, -£40 million? money will be no object for Newcastle.

The Future is Bright, The future is Black and White!

Don't forget, when that application form comes through your letter box, you better be quick and give em your money cos if you don't someone else will snap it up and you'll end up missing one of the best NUFC seasons ever.

I AM SO EXCITED !

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

......mmmh..... er......yeh; me too.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

As a follow up to my earlier post about players hosing the money out of the game, I've just heard on Radio 2 News that the average wage for all PL players is now £8 grand per week.
Chelsea's wage bill is the highest at £47 million pa, edging out manure's at £44 million!
I believe the Toon's wage bill is only around half these amounts - this shows the magnitude of the present gap and our problemgoing forward. It is also begs the question of how the hell can Chelsea afford to be paying £47 million pa? Incredible.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

So much depends on continued commercial and sporting success enabling clubs to meet these wage demands. Should the current boom turn into a bust, or a big-spending club find itself relegated, I wonder how many would remain solvent.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Have you ever tried to buy a ticket at the Bridge, Clarky? Most expensive in the EPL, I believe. Now of course, everything in Lahndaan is expensive, but I guess being close to King's Road, they have a certain reputation to live up to.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

If my memory is right and Chewsee & manure are indeed paying double what we are for players wages - and yet we are barely breaking even financially with 51,000 attendances - then it scares the hell out of me.

How do we possibly close the gap on them?

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Clarky, list of clubs in Scottish Sun today, % payed out in wages against turnover , Newcastles average home gate was shown as 36,000 , last years figures?

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

They are last season's figures. Chelsea's figures include all staff employed by Chelsea Village Plc so that is an inflated sum.

Sunderland's wages doubled due to their promotion to the Premiership.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001

The figure are for 99/00 (yes Buff). We had the 5th highest wage bill - behind Chewsee, Manure, Liverpool, and Arsenal.
Our figure was £28.9 million, up from £24.5 million the previous season. I'm sure I read somewhere recently that BR had reduced the 99/00 figure by 14%. So, our current wage bill should be around £25 million pa.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001