Journo’s 140-word Friday thoughts
New-found loyalty on Tyneside?
Pardew gets 8yr contract at Newcastle. What a joke. So what does Mike Ashley do when Newcastle go on a one win in 14 matches run and languish in the relegation zone? The pay-off would be monstrous. Nice work if you can get it. Nice one, Pards.
Terry jumping before he’s pushed
JT innocent in court, guilty at the FA. Confused? You should be. How he clearly got the nod that he would be damned by the FA – and pre-empted the verdict – should be examined also. And will Anton and Rio be satisfied now?
“He’s cracking up”
Brendan Rodgers showing first signs of paranoia by contacting refs’ chief Mike Riley to discuss why Liverpool do not appear to be getting “the rub of the green”. All decisions are, apparently, going against his side. Come on, Brendan. Look a bit closer to home to spot the malaise.
I don’t think the pay off would be monstrous at all. While many people dislike the man, Mike Ashley is a fantastic businessman. You only have to look at his profit-sharing scheme at Sports Direct to see this. He has also mentioned that he will share cash with all club staff depending on the league position. He isnt this satan like figure the media present him to be.
Also, Don’t be fooled into thinking if Pardew was sacked in say 2014 he will get six years worth of wages.. It will be capped at 12 months pay for termination (It was Paul Jewell who stated this about managerial contracts as they may as well be rolling contracts as they all have the same termination).
Pardew joined on a 5/6 year deal from the start which was a great surprise. I’m sure this contract has just improved some of the termination clauses for the club e.g. England managers job became available, Newcastle get a larger payoff (Daniel Levy at Spurs is the king of adding in such clauses) in return for a longer deal. Long contracts are nothing new, Sam Allardyce was given a ten year one at Bolton.
In terms of spin, it looks good for Newcastle. Pardew has a decent reputation and it shows great stability at the club in recruitment and retention of players. Think they are heading in the right direction with this move.
You’re right. I spoke with a north-east journo friend at a game at the weekend and he told me that there are multiple clauses in Pardew’s new contract.
The John Terry thing isn’t hard to understand. The legal charge requires intent to cause offense, where as the FA take the route that such words have no place on a football pitch in any context, so merely using them is an offense in itself irrespective of whether or not he was merely repeating what he thought he heard Ferdinand say.
Given this, Terry’s admission in court that he used the words was basically all the evidence that the FA needed to find him guilty. No-one needed to give him a nod, and given that it was an independent panel I’m not sure who would have done, all he needed to do was understand the exact charge and he would have known there was no real option but to find him guilty.
Terry was not found innocent in the magistrate’s court. The chief magistrate said: “Mr Terry’s explanation is, certainly under the cold light of forensic examination, unlikely.” However, he also found that Terry’s defence was “possible” and so had to record a not-guilty verdict.
The FA tribunal is not bound by the “beyond reasonable doubt” criterion so their verdict was totally reasonable.