Sam Allardyce talked again today about two players at Newcastle who seem to be in his plans for the future – Michael Owen and Kieron Dyer – our two current England Internationals.
It’s still uncertain whether both or neither will be at the club once the season kicks off in August.
Michael Owen
This is what Allardyce had to say today regarding Michael Owen and Kieron Dyer:
“I was pleased with the response from both players. It was nice to meet in a nice relaxed environment just before the Champions League final. I sat with both players and told them of my plans to take the club forward.
“They weren’t really going to express an opinion at that stage, they just listened to me. But, hopefully, it has given them some encouragement so they are looking forward to coming back to pre-season training in July.
“I’ve only talked to Kieron about the fact he is such a versatile player. It’s a major asset but constantly being moved around doesn’t always help maintain his best form.
“We talked about how he started as a right-back at Ipswich and Steve (McClaren) has been looking at using him as a right-back for England recently. But until we get to know each other a little better we don’t know.“The only thing is I can’t put everything in place straight away, there is a massive list of areas and facilities we need to change. I was selling my ideas for the future to them and I hope they want to buy into that.”
Kieron Dyer
Owen is yet to announce to Newcastle fans where he will be next season and there has been reported interest in him from both Manchester United and Arsenal.
We’ve always been surprised at Michael’s attitude on this – he has a four year contract and we think he should honor it. What if Newcastle had announced – say last January – they were canceling his contract because he had been injured too much. That’s akin to what Michael (or his agents on his behalf) are threatening. The sooner this is sorted out the better for all concerned. If he wants to join another club he should announce it and go – and let Newcastle and Big Sam move on.
Kieron Dyer has also stayed quiet on his future following recent press reports linking him with West Ham, Tottenham and Chelsea. But Sam Allardyce would seem to want both players with him next season – and again admitted there is a chance that Dyer could be converted into a right-back – we reported on this story yesterday.
Comments always welcome.
22 comments so far
Neil
Jun 7, 2007 at 10:35 AM
Comment #1Doesn’t sound like Owen is planning on staying from Sam’s comments
STEPHEN
Jun 7, 2007 at 10:46 AM
Comment #2if owen is going to stay he needs to say so, it’s not fair on us supporters not knowing what he wants to do. he owes the club a hell of a lot and should have the decency to repay that by banging in the goals next season
Tommy
Jun 7, 2007 at 11:08 AM
Comment #3If Owen leaves now, his reputation will be in tatters and rightly so. I wish he would just have the guts to come out and say either way, he at least owes the flans and the club that…
Ed Harrison
Jun 7, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Comment #4As we’ve said many times on this site – he needs to make a decision – now.
The Big P
Jun 7, 2007 at 11:22 AM
Comment #5Look at things from Mr Owens perspective, the fans were promised ‘big things’ at least three or four key players on more than one occasion and what happened? Nothing except last gasp signings and all the eggs in one basket signings, (Duffy). So Big Sam comes in and says that he will do this and that, including bringing in key players to make a properly balanced and confident squad. So what, heard that before. I believe that Owen wants to see it to believe it. Thus Alleydice is going guns blazing to make the point that what he says he will do, at least I think that is what is appertaining.
And when Owen can see he is not just a magic wand in a mid-table championship squad, but instead one key player in a strong premiership squad he will commit.
Shepherds Newcastle ……… Promises, Promises, Promises.
Dp the geordie
Jun 7, 2007 at 11:46 AM
Comment #6On the whole Michael Owen situation, is it worth trying to start up a website (Like many toon fans did with Otmar Hitzfeld) to try and find out Michael’s intentions for next season? Surely we won’t lose anything by trying, and if we can get enough interest then it could possibly force Michael’s hand in saying ‘yes, i’m here for the long haul’ or ‘I’m just another premiership footballer with absolutely no loyalty, and i’m off!’ Just a thought, because lets be honest a fully fit MO is a daunting prospect for any Premiership defence. regardless of what happens, exciting times ahead at barrack road. HOWAY THE LADS!
AndyT
Jun 7, 2007 at 12:07 PM
Comment #7“What if Newcastle had announced – say last January – they were canceling his contract because he had been injured too much. That’s akin to what Michael (or his agents on his behalf) are threatening.”
I disagree. He has a release clause in his contract that was only activated when we failed to qualify for European competition. And then we also get £9M if he goes. He is not “threatening” to do anything that wasn’t agreed as part of that 4 year contract. He wont be “dishonouring” anything.
Oh – and if there was a clause in his contract that said “If he’s injured while on international duty NUFC only pick up the bill for re-habilitation, not his wages” Do you think we’d have been saying – yeah but we owe it to him from a loyalty point of view. Rubbish – the board would have exercised the contract option and we’d be talking about how the money saved was paying for his cover – that we were already spending a fortune on getting him back to fitness and that he’s a multi-millionaire and doesn’t need the cash.
Pete
Jun 7, 2007 at 12:13 PM
Comment #8I am not that fussed if he goes. If he stays then fair enough he is a quality player but after the injuries he really does not look as good as he used to be (yeah the match fitness factor, but I doubt he will ever be as good as he once was).
His wage bill is huge we could get two quality players to replace him if he goes for 9 mil.
It is more important that we keep oba, he is still young, got the pace and I reckon he will be amazing under the tutorledge of big sam.
As for Dyer – well likewise he is overpaid, it may be time to let him go.
We have Zogs, Duff, Barton, Emre, Milner selling Dyer for a decent amount will allow us to get another really good attacking midfielder in who actully wants to play for the club instead of going on a piss up
Ed Harrison
Jun 7, 2007 at 12:40 PM
Comment #9AndyT – understand but wouldn’t it be ironic if he activated the clause because we didn’t qualify for Europe – he’ done nothing for us in two years – and did nothing to help get us there. (Yeh – i know it’s not his fault). Don’t agree he is not threatening (maybe that’s not a good word to use) – he is at least looking at possibilities – and if he himself isn’t his agents are – what a cheek.
Ed Harrison
Jun 7, 2007 at 12:45 PM
Comment #10AndyT – let’s quickly add that Michael is in his rights as far as the contract goes – no problem with that. But if he goes – fine – we only want players who want to play for the club – whoever they are. In fact £9M for him and his wages of £115K a week – or whatever – hey – Sam could bring in 5-6 players for 9M 😀
AndyT
Jun 7, 2007 at 1:59 PM
Comment #11Agreed Ed,
But I also have know problem with Owen not commiting his future to Newcastle and not publicly putting anyone off from coming in for him, provided when hes “on duty” – i.e. training, working with the back room staff, in the dressing room and when he walks out on the pitch with a black and white shirt on he gives 100%. I beleive he does that, because he is a very professional footballer. I don’t beleive in the modern game any of the players have any moral obligation to the team, or vice versa over and above the agreed terms of their contract. I agree that over the last two seasons he hasn’t exactly helped us get into Europe… but then its a team game, not down to a single individual. I think that there are two ways to look at Owens behaviour. One is to say “He doesn’t want to be here”, the other is to say “There are places he would rather be”. They are very different. If he doesn’t want to be at Newcastle then he should go. If he is willing to give his all for Newcastle until a better offer comes his way, or the team acheive things that mean there are no better offers – I’ll take that.
AndyT
Jun 7, 2007 at 2:06 PM
Comment #12Oh – and of course his agents are working it…
I bloody would too – assuming at least 10% of any fee goes their way and its unlikely his wages are going to drop, so their cut of that isn’t going down. Would you opt for “Michael, inspite of the options open to you – you owe it to the fans.” and gain £0.
Or “Hello, Mr How would you feel about Michael Owen for £9M” and a £900,000 bonus to put towards your summer holidays.
AndyT
Jun 7, 2007 at 2:14 PM
Comment #13Oh – Ed, is this is just a test to see if I can get the > and <: symbols to appear – you can delete it later 🙂
AndyT
Jun 7, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Comment #14– wondered why the <Wenger/Furgeson/Mourihno/Houllier > after Mr disapeered, XML driven blog 🙂
lee
Jun 7, 2007 at 2:37 PM
Comment #15The best thing for the club to do over the Owen affair is to approach a potential buyer now. Thia will do one or two things… it will force Michael to state his intention vis-a-vis the club and/or it will enable the club to buy a replacement striker. So, the club is just as guilty over this whole affair as Michael is… if fact the club is more at guilt because it was the one which offered to put the get-out clause in MO’s contract in the first place… Owen just accepted the offer. So, it is the club management who have to sort the mess not Owen. Perhaps, when this takeover thing is done, Big Mikey will look into the Owen matter… in the mean time he is too busy with making sure he owns the club 100%.
lee
Jun 7, 2007 at 2:52 PM
Comment #16Just because Owen’s contract has a get-out clause, it does not mean that he will use it even though now it is already activated. Our fear is only based on the activation of the clause rather than naything Owen has done… in fact Owen has not done anything to indicate that he is not happy at the club. If he wan’t happy, I am sure he would have told the club management that he wishes to leave for a different club, perhaps to Liverpool or Man Utd. This he hasn’t done not because no other club doesn’t want him, but because he wants to stay at Newcastle. So we should not get too paranoid just because a get-out clause is activated. We should only panic if Owen indicates verbally that he wants to leave. If we have to be paranoid of every single thing, we should not even cross the street because there are cars out there…. what a miserable life that would be.
Ed Harrison
Jun 7, 2007 at 4:38 PM
Comment #17AndyT – i still expect Owen to stay though. It must look exciting to him the players Sam is bringing in and with Ashley taking over.
Ed Harrison
Jun 7, 2007 at 4:40 PM
Comment #18lee – don’t disagree – maybe it’s just me – but would like to know one way or the other.
AndyT
Jun 7, 2007 at 5:50 PM
Comment #19Ed – I also expect him to stay and would be delighted for him to come out and state that. The biggest thing that worries me is the number of people saying “Say you want to stay or p1$$ off” and claiming that it is in the name of loyalty. How much loyalty and respect does that show the player? As I’ve said before – He went off on internaltional duty (where he’s under orders from the FA press guys not to talk about club stuff – although thats usually surpassable 🙂 ) while the club and fans are hounding him for wanting to play for his country (only the highest honour a player can have but hey…) not knowing who was going to be his manager, then spends a couple of weeks not knowing who will be running the club and who he needs to make promises too. His agents are probably telling him to keep stum because they want to line their pockets. What he really then needs to hear to get him all lined up to stay is the fans whinging on about his lack of loyalty!
How about we try the tack of – Bloody hell you’re a fanastic goal scorrer and we’d love you to be out there in black and white banging them in next season while also helping England get into the Euro Championships. It’d be great to have a good Newcastle representation in the England line up again and we share your desire to be playing at the highest levels.
The one thing that stops me worrying too much is that Big Sam is a great man manager and also very adept at getting people to buy into his vision and help make it happen. But we could help him out on it – that’s what support is!
Ed Harrison
Jun 7, 2007 at 6:28 PM
Comment #20AndyT – good point on Allardyce – great man manager – and players (including Michael i suspect) – want to play for him.
lee
Jun 7, 2007 at 11:52 PM
Comment #21This whole Owen affair was a superb job by the media to get some sensetional story to kick start the transfer window period… but unfortunately we are too easily duped by the pathetic, no-basis rumour of Owen wanting to leave. So we are not at guilt, only a little gullible… that’s all.
Ed Harrison
Jun 8, 2007 at 1:45 AM
Comment #22lee – that could very well be the case – but why does Owen let thing go on – he could stop it dead if he wanted to.