The Sunday Mirror yesterday, reported that owner Mike Ashley has intervened personally in the Steven Taylor contract dispute.
Steven Taylor - Ashley stood by young Taylor
Apparently Mike Ashley has instructed the club’s new Managing Director, Derek Llambias, to make Taylor’s contract a top priority at the club.
Taylor is a good player, and at just 22 years old, his best years are ahead of him, and if he did become available, there would be many top clubs after him.
But Steven has said repeatedly he would like to stay at his home town club, and apparently he was very pleased with the developments, and the fact the owner stepped in personally, to solve his contract difficulties.
Steven will be offered a 3 year deal worth £30K/week.
Negotiations between Taylor’s representatives and Newcastle had come to a standstill last September, and negotiations only started up again in early May.
A Newcastle insider told the Sunday Mirror:
“Mike Ashley let Steven Taylor know he wanted him to stay and that meant a lot to the player. “
“The lack of contract activity over the past year left Taylor feeling he was being forced out of the only club he wanted to play for.”
“With Ashley committing Newcastle to a major wage reduction policy it was a bad time to be negotiating a new contract.â€
“But the owner gave his managing director Derek Llambias and his negotiator Tony Jiminez the go-ahead to make Taylor an exception.â€
“Things are now moving towards a satisfactory conclusion on a three-year deal and it looks likely that Taylor will sign a new contract when he returns from holiday.â€
“It makes a lot of sense for the club to secure the future of a player who is on the fringe of the England team.â€
“In six months’ time he could have agreed a deal to move on and Newcastle wouldn’t have got a penny.â€
“And Ashley doesn’t have to break the bank to keep Taylor.â€
“Even with his new deal he will still only be on half what the likes of Alan Smith, Damien Duff and Joey Barton earn.”
Taylor was earning less than £10K a week on his old contract, but the new offer will give him parity with fellow young players such as Charles N’Zogbia and James Milner, who both earn about £30K a week.
Our information last September was that both Charles and James were offered £30K/week deals yet Steven was offered only a £20K/week deal, which he refused.
I’m not sure we can blame him for that, because he would have known what the other two were getting, and he was on parity with them on the field - and they were our best three youngsters at the club.
Why we just didn’t offer Steven what he knew Charles and James were getting last September, and get him signed up, we’ll never know.
But the right thing has now been done, if indeed this report is true. But why we had to wait 10 months to sort this out, is a complete mystery to us.
And we think Smith, Duff and Barton may all be gone by the end of August, depending if we can get good, younger replacements in for them.
They’re not worth the money we pay them, based on last season’s form. The only one that is would be Joey Barton, but he’s in a mess he’s made all on his own.
If we replace Smith, Duff and Barton, with appropriate good and possibly younger replacements, that would be excellent for both the squad long term, and the wage bill.
This also augers well for our captain, Michael Owen, because we think Ashley will also make an exception for Michael, and Kevin Keegan will ask that he do that, you can be sure of that.
It will also help greatly if Mike doesn’t have to pay Smith, Barton and Duff their exorbitant wages next season.
Comments welcome.
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65 responses so far ↓
1 cooldj // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:03
wall virginity. 30k is a good wage for taylor. lets get him on a long term one! don’t often see articles at this time do we???
2 richie // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:04
id love barton to be playin next season for us
3 Piers // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:05
Sounds Good…..its a necessity to lock the future stars up! Get it done.
4 Tom_Toon // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:07
Future star? Future bench player, future being next season!
5 Matthew // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:11
There was an interview with Allardyce at the time on Newcastle World where he said Taylor was offered the same as players of similar age and experience were signed up to, which to me suggests the same as the deals Milner and N’Zogbia signed in the summer.
Taylor tried to be greedy and the club called his bluff, he’s now having to except similar terms but it’s cost him over £1 million in wages by trying to be clever.
6 dcbashore // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:15
Don’t get me wrong, I hope Taylor re-signs and stays and continues to improve. But what good is a wage structure if you’re making exceptions to break it?
7 tam toon // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:28
The Newcastle insider does not exist. Anal Oliver tried to suggest there was one. Yeah maybe then but he must have been sacked as Anal has no exclusives now. Ashley has a policy of letting people know knob all about his business. Any insider crack is total bull. Talent wise Taylor is worth 20,000 if n’zog is 30,000. 50% better player simple maths. Attitudes —well thats another blog!
8 Matthew // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:30
Off topic but does anyone know what day Barton’s trial starts? End of June is all I know.
9 Leo // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:43
oh tom toon, you dont rate him? why is that? because he is english…
10 Tom_Toon // Jun 23, 2008 at 0:44
Dont be so silly, there are many english players i rate.
Taylor is just overrated, his positioning in defence is awful.
11 Yahya Ahmad // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:01
Hope we can sign Pablo Aimar 2moro!
12 Yahya Ahmad // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:02
Its a good thing to see that Mike Ashley is trying to do help out with the club!
13 Yahya Ahmad // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:02
Its a good thing to see that Mike Ashley is trying to do help out with the club!
14 Yahya Ahmad // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:05
I am going to sleep now, and getting excited to wake up and see if we are linked a with a player! lol
15 sirjasontoon // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:06
Taylor is nothing special bit like Milner just another average player on our books..be honest lads if he left would we really be bothered.
I am just waiting to see the pile of scrap Dennis buys in this window..bet we fall off our chairs laughing at the players they bring in….eventually : )
16 sirjasontoon // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:07
cooldj
This wall virginity stuff is so Gay…are you a raving HOM?
17 Yahya Ahmad // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:08
‘Ed’ Can you edit the design of the website to make it look good as any other football websites such as: http://www.teamtalk.com, http://www.nufc.co.uk http://www.skysports.com etc
18 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:23
thing that annoys me about steven taylor is that people try to defend his ridiculous mistakes way too much. When both played, he made just as many, if not more mistakes then cacapa did, yet he probably saved us half as many times as cacapa did. Yet it would always be “Cacapa is s**t!”, “its all cacapa’s fault” completely diregarding who was the culprit of inviting the pressure on to the defence in the first place i.e. the terrible midfield and of course the world class steven taylor. Also, people on here always refer to the season before last when he was good and brand those that no longer rate him highly as “fickle”. The thing is, even in his “good” season he made some trully ridiculous mistakes that made me cringe at times, its just that myself and many others were less critical of him as we thought he would soon eradicate such mistakes and make the required improvement…he hasn’t. in fact, he seems to have gotten worse and his mistakes have become more frequent.
The last time i checked,
1 good season & 1 shit season didn’t = a good player.
next season i expect drastic improvement from him
19 natedawg // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:29
well at least he has stop handling the ball then clutching his stomach , that had me rolling around on the floor with laughter
20 Bill F SPLASH THE CASH ASH // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:35
Thing is if he is tied up with a long term contract, then if he doesn’t improve the way we all hope then he becomes a saleable asset. Its seems wrong to talk about him as an asset, I’ve just been watching Amistad, I suppose football is a sort of slave market although they are very pampered slaves.
I think I have sussed MAs tactics however, I think he will wait till the new season is nearly here, see what players have not been signed by other clubs then say. “Hey no one wants you why not come to us , unfortunately we can’t offer as much in wages or transfer fee.”
Mind you I don’t believe the Americans have landed on the Moon so my theory could be wrong.
21 Nizo // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:39
Cacapa is a quality centre-half.. He hasn’t a fair crack of the whip since KK arrived, but thats partly due to Faye and Tayls doing well. Tayls for me a solid enough centre half - isnt blessed with pace but can read a game well. I think he’ll do well for us this coming season.
What happened to the Coloccini rumour - I wouldn’t mind him here.
22 clinta // Jun 23, 2008 at 1:54
good news about taylor, i for one am happy with this news if its true. for you doubters of taylors ability and worth out there like the ever present ‘i know everything about football’ tom toon, i’ll say this- taylors still young, has a hell of a lot of premiership experience for his age, and at times has done really well for us at the back while people like boumsong and bramble were falling over one another.
credit to the lad, that even though the club tried to rip him off with a poor contract due to him being a local lad, he still performed for us and worked hard, instead of wanting to look else where for the big money like so many would of.
i for one would struggle to perform at work if my peers were unjustly on better wages then me, not to mention the smiths and bartons on double?
i can’t believe we gave barton a 60K deal considering his situation when we signed him!
23 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 2:13
i cant believe someone just said taylor can read a game very well, thats exactly what he cant do
24 steven1979 // Jun 23, 2008 at 2:26
cacapa quality..faye good..taylor read the game good..!!!!!!wtf..are u from mars??
we were 12th position at the end of the year..conceded unbelievable stupid goals just becoz of individual mistakes..
we need too much new signings in summer..at least 7..we wait…
25 craig chisholm // Jun 23, 2008 at 4:50
steven taylor is an average defender, he has so far to go and if we are all honerst, he is often caught out of position. he’s ok though and thats about the right money for him, certainly no more. why a three year contract though?? seems very short to me.
26 Pete // Jun 23, 2008 at 6:48
3 year contract so we don’t end up with another ameobi like
27 shorla // Jun 23, 2008 at 7:33
spyro talks shit he is acting like he is a better defender than taylor, dont forget he is only 22 plus keegan can see a future john terry also RAUL MEIRELES 4 THE TOON he can play dm and can pass
28 The Entertainers // Jun 23, 2008 at 7:55
It amazes me the amount of people who want to have a bash at the club, owner or players on this site.
Taylor has had an average season by the standard he set him self the season before that. Expectations are high for Taylor, but that is due to him bursting on the scene.
Taylor is only 22 and is miles ahead of most of his colleagues. Does he deserve the reported 30k p/w, of course he does when put in perspective of some of the other fat cats earners.
Hes still a defender with a very bright future. Its now up to Taylor to go on and prove the doubters wrong. Unfortunately that seems to be many of his ‘fans’.
With friends like that who needs enemies son?
29 Wezside // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:21
Firstly yahya, if it looked like teamtalk etc, it wouldn’t be a blog now would it? Secondly, I’d hope the quality of the site at least remains better than teamtalk’s garbage they dish out at times. Thirdly - is this the same insider that quoted there was no wage structure being put into the club a couple weeks back? Everyone was happy with the story that day, so if this is true, we have to assume that the other story was garbage
30 51times // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:34
The Entertainers - I couldn’t agree more, some people on here do nothing but make snide comments about Taylor, Milner, Wise, Ashley and even a few about Keegan.
31 Ian // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:37
Happy if that happens 30k is not over the top for that player.
32 MIKE HOOPERS POOPER SCOOPER // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:18
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11881_3726049,00.html
Arshavin: Offers made from England - but he’d prefer Spain
33 Anthony // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:18
Tom toon is one of the poster in here continues to overrate players but he thinks Taylor is overrated…haha
he is just 22 for god sake…of course he makes mistakes and he will continue to do so…until he mutures
King, Toure and Carragher were poor when they were 22…Ferdinand made loads of mistakes as well…Adams was average before 25
List me one young CB who doesnt have at least one below par season?
34 dick // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:24
worth keeping taylor just to see if he can improve he’s still young yet for a centre half.
ps- on another subject has anyone else noticed all the toon ”insider’’stories have gone since pearson left
35 51times // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:28
I seen that Arshavin thing before…that slav dog, the Premierleague has killed La Liga and Serie A, at the very least they are in the throes of death, and he has the nerve to say that? He should beg to come to England.
36 geordiegraham // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:41
off the topic: does any1 know anything about cassio lincoln my m8 says we shud sign him but i dont no anything about him
37 Dirk // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:43
lincoln is a brilliant player, hes an attacking midfielder, not well known bu i think he’d b good if we bought him.
38 geordiegraham // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:53
cheers dirk. av just watched a vid on him he scores some canny goals like. the price 4 shola is gan doon now hes joinin wba for 2 mil but still better than nowt
39 Ericles // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:58
On another note. Gossip linked us with Kaboul of Spurs. Guess who is after him now? You’ve got it! Harry Rude Crap of Portsmouth.
40 tam toon // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:04
Cassio Lincoln good player, too old for Ashley. He is also an injury prone troublemaker, sounds like-Dyer!
41 geordiegraham // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:15
i wud like 2 see aimar come in but is he 2 old for ashley
42 toonfan1 // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:17
given refuted claims that he wants to leave the club
http://www.newcastleutdfc.blogspot.com
43 toonfan1 // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:18
aimar isnt old hes only 28- prime age. he will be good and lets hope we can get in there quickly as we badly need a good playmaker.
44 geordiegraham // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:24
i wud like 2 see us buy raul albiol or vincent kompany both young and have potential 2 be class defenders arsenal say they wont be goin 4 kompany coz they dont want 2 boost their defence so we shud nick him. and i read that raul albiol is available for 5mil
45 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:38
Shorla says i talk s**t, yet he can’t find a counter argument to my point apart from “he is 22″, which is the same old excuse a lot of people on here say, change the record, its getting old.
i can even name other young ENGLISH defenders who prove taylor is not good enough for his age.
david wheater is 21 and much better than taylor
gary cahill is 22 and much better than taylor
curtis davies is 23 and much better than taylor
micah richards is 19 and much better than taylor
etc
and stop all this crap about “he set high standards so we expect so much from him” because that is a load of crap. We just expect him to not make frequent dopey mistakes. Face it, he is way down the pecking order in terms of quality young CBs
46 Dondatta13 // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:40
I think Taylor is a good player (for his age), Really good defenders need time to mature, its the nature of the position. Clubs like Liverpool, West Ham etc wouldnt have there eye on the lad if he was as dross as some on here seem to suggest!.
The premiere league is the hardest, fastest, most relentless league in the world. A league where week after week you have some of the worlds best players flying at you, looking to slam the ball past you into the onion bag we call a goal.
He’s 22, competent and would bleed for this club (after the mercinaries we’ve had, boy do we need that).
Finally, he’s LEARNING his trade in the spotlight and who have we paired him with? The likes of Bramble, Boumsong, Oguchi Onyewu, Moore, Cacapa and even Ramage on the odd occasion. Not the type of players you want your up and comming kids to learn off. Play him along side a solid Faye or a rock like Woodgate and soon he will be playing some sublime football, LEARNING as he goes.
47 51times // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:46
Spyro - Shut up for 5 minutes, would you? I don’t even know why you bother coming on here, f*ck off and follow Man United or somebody because all you do is bitch about Keegan, Taylor, Wise etc. You are boring, mate.
48 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:49
do not compare taylor to a young ferdinand or King, he is miles behind how good they were then. They made mistakes yes, but not as frequently as taylor. Not to mention both are stronger, faster and taller than taylor. Also, Toure was originally a midfielder/utility player so you can’t compare his younger days to Taylor.
I am not saying Taylor cannot improve, i am simply saying he isn’t showing any sign of developing into a top quality CB at the moment.
49 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:51
couldnt find a proper counter argument 51times? didnt think so
50 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:52
…and i dont “bitch” about Wise so what are you on about. When was the last time i “bitched” about KK then?
the only thing i have recently said about KK is that he wont be able to attract the top players to the club like Ramos has for Tottenham, Scolari will for Chelsea, Ferguson does for Man U etc. Thats not being negative, its just being realistic
51 MarK // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:05
spyro do you watch every other team play? ‘they dont/didnt make as many mistakes as taylor’
Im not saying that hes as good as the players you mentioned but dont you think youre being just a bit too critical of him coz hes playing for nufc? From what youve written you’d think he was bramble 2.0 =/ chill and dont get so aggro..
also 51times, are you the guys that thought the mancs should have another air crash or something?
52 Dondatta13 // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:05
Spyro, the argument you require is there in comment 46 mate … he’s been played along side complete DONKEYS and if you cannot see that then theres no point having this discussion.
If he IS so bad, why was he captain of the England U16-17 and U21’s?
53 The Entertainers // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:15
@ Spyro
I think your being naive about Ramos, Fergie and Scolari attracting players and KK not. Do you think its got anything to do with money Spryo?
KK record is fantastic for attracting players in the past. That is all we have to go off at the moment. As due to the transfer window this is KK fist opportuntiy really……so lets give him a chance. So for this reason you do sound negative, the window has yet to open and already your had a go at Keegan.
Regarding Taylor, its all about opinions mate and your welcome to yours. The defenders you mentioned are all very good young defenders and imo Taylor belongs in that group, they all have tremendous amounts of talent, all have floors and all have made mistakes!
The difference is clearly that 51, myself and Keegan would prefer to back our players instead of having a go at them. Now thats being realistic.
54 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:19
I didnt watch every other game no, but i saw enough to make that judgement. You could probably speak to most football fans (not just NUFC fans) and they would agree a young King and Ferdinand, especially Ferdinand, did indeed make mistakes, but just not as frequently as Taylor, and they had more natural ability in their favour. a young Ferdinand is more like micah richards in the sense that micah does make a few mistakes, but his natural ability allows him to quickly recover and make up for it, and he will continue to do this until he eventually filters out the mistakes.
So now its his CB partners fault again? (roll eyes)
i am not saying he is “so bad”, he is not Darren Moore, or Paul McShane, but he just isn’t as good as many on here like to believe.
I am not being over critical because he plays for NUFC, people on here are being under critical because he plays for NUFC.
55 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:20
i dont mean KK cannot attract anyone at all. I am saying the names i have mentioned have much more pulling power as they are the current big names in management are they not. those are just examples anyway
56 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:26
concerning the Taylor situation, the best way i can put this is to bring up the Michael Dawson situation.
Dawson and Taylor are very similar in terms of the progress they made in the last few seasons.
Both have had a good season when they needed to step up to the plate for their team, but more recently both have had a poor season. Dawson is another player who shows glimpses of being a good quality CB, but is prone to frequent mistakes, just like Taylor.
Yet when we were “interested” in Dawson the reaction was, “he is crap”, “makes too many mistakes” etc.
And this is exactly how the Tottenham fans i know look at Taylor.
anyway, like you say, it is all about opinions and it is clear we will not agree. SO lets leave it at that
57 Anthony // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:29
Spyro: First of all, did anyone here claim he is the best England CB at this moment?
Second,
david wheater is 21 and much better than taylor
one good season, he is better than Taylor now?
gary cahill is 22 and much better than taylor
you must be kidding…Cahill needs to go to Bolton or loan to Sheff Utd if he is as good as Taylor?…
curtis davies is 23 and much better than taylor
how many games you watch him play to make him think he is better in PL? while he describe his debut was sunday league standard?
micah richards is 19 and much better than taylor
he is the best…but it has nothing to do with Taylor has massive potential
‘do not compare taylor to a young ferdinand or King…’
King was very poor….how many times you watch ed him played anyway?….just like Taylor week in week out?
IMO, dont need to continue to this argument
SBR, Pearce, Roeder, Keegan and McClaren rate him highly.. top 4 managers, Moyes, MON, Redknapp, Jol and Curbishley all want him…I know who is right and who is wrong
58 The Entertainers // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:30
My problems with a lot of comments on this site is we have alot of people who write on this blog who like to ‘follow’ Newcastle, where as the other half like to ’support’ Newcastle.
This comes across with certain bloggers more than others. Of course we have the right to criticise but, criticising players like Taylor who are so young and full of potential just appears short sighted, if hes not made the grade in a year or 2 then fine…….look at Shola we gave him about 4 seasons and at the age of 26 it was time to say goodbye…..does Taylor not desevre the same ’support’.
I have always supported Newcastle, where others follow, imo.
59 Mitch H // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:31
I carnt for the life of me understand why so called Newcastle Utd supporters would slag off Taylor.
He’s one of the best young defenders in the premiership & is a credit to our club.
If he where put up for sale, one of the top 4 would take him, thats for sure.
Get a grip spyro/tom toon, your both taking utter shite !
60 Spyro // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:34
anthony like i said, its all about opinions. However, maybe you should find out what fans of other clubs think about the players i have mentioned and who is better out of taylor and …. rather than simply saying nonsense like “i know who is right and who is wrong”, oh please. This way you will have a more neutral view on it
61 The Entertainers // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:38
Spyro
I’m sure most fans of other clubs would support their own players.
Is that not we should be doing to ours?
62 The Entertainers // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:39
Why do we need a neutral view?
I’m proud to wear my Newcastle googles and see everything in Black and White, its called supporting your team imo.
63 cooldj // Jun 23, 2008 at 13:15
here here. and on top of that sirjasontoon is a huge twat.
BLACK AND WHITE GOGGLES!!
64 Anthony // Jun 23, 2008 at 14:39
Spyro: really no disrespect here
but should we respect other fans’ opinions when most of the top and world class managers rate him highly? works or worked with him week in week out…know him inside out
I might not agree with one manager, but when most of the managers (some of them I have great respect like SBR and King Kev) in PL want Taylor in their squad…then I think their opinion is more important than mine
65 ToonTex // Jun 23, 2008 at 14:49
We need two world class center halves … Taylor is NOT world class.
He has played ok out of necessity, but it is obvious he should be behind two seasoned pros fighting to get a game.
There is relevance in the Cacapa comparisons where the Brazillian is an easier scapegoat than the Geordie boy.
We have all seen him play well and we have all seen him play poorly, but the bottom line is:
OUR BEST CENTER HALVES HAVE NOT YET ARRIVED AT THE CLUB.
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