Newcastle must be taken seriously even if they still have questions to answer

The shock has faded, but the smiles are spreading. Newcastle United are not content with being the Premier League’s surprise packages, they want to become serious contenders again.

Most anticipate a slump at some point, most believe the Magpies have over-achieved after ten games, but nobody is denying they need to be taken seriously.

It may still be autumn and Guy Fawkes remains unburned, but a quarter of the Premier League campaign has already gone.

In case anyone needed reminding, Newcastle’s impressive 3-1 win at Stoke on Monday night moved them above Chelsea into third, one point behind Manchester United, three points ahead of Spurs, four clear of Liverpool and six better off than Arsenal.

Newcastle’s achievements cannot be dismissed as a flash in the pan success, their unbeaten start cannot be waved away as a quirk of the fixture list.

Detractors may point to their relatively easy run of games, but try telling Stoke City they are a push over at home. Try persuading Arsenal and Tottenham they are not good enough to play in the Champions League. All three have faced Newcastle this term and failed to beat them.

Stoke were made to look distinctly ordinary in front of supporters who have seen their side beat Liverpool at the Britannia Stadium this season and draw with Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay Alan Pardew’s side is I wasn’t even surprised they won at Stoke.

Others were, most notably Gary Neville. The former Manchester United player has proven to be an excellent pundit for Sky Sports and was clearly impressed by what he had seen from the Magpies.

Not only did he concede that Demba Ba – eight goals in nine starts – was a far better player than he had ever given him credit for, he tipped Newcastle for Europa League qualification.

They will need some good luck along the way. Pardew has been careful not to say so publicly, but his squad lacks the strength in depth to cope with anything approaching an injury crisis.

Should either centre back, Fabricio Coloccini or Steven Taylor pick up an injury while Mike Williamson remains sidelined they are in trouble. Should Yohan Cabaye pick up an injury while Chiek Tiote recovers from a knee problem, it’s the same.

Foreign imports to English football normally start to feel the strain of a hectic schedule, the climate and the lack of a winter break around Christmas so we do not know how Cabaye, Ba, Sylvain Marveaux and, as he was injured last season, Hatem Ben Arfa are going to cope.

The fact Ben Arfa still cannot force his way into the starting line-up is encouraging of course and Marveaux provides cover for Obertan on the right, but there is not a specialist left-sided player to deputise for the industrious Jonas Gutierrez.

Newcastle are moving into unchartered waters and there are plenty of hazards waiting for them over the next month or so.

If Newcastle haven’t played anyone yet as some argue, they will play virtually anyone who is anyone in English football over the course of their next four games.

Everton arrive at St James’ Park this weekend, before the international break is followed by successive away games at Manchester City and United. After that Chelsea land on Tyneside.

Should Newcastle remain in the top four at the end of that daunting run of games, nobody can dismiss their European credentials.

Of course, there are other important questions to answer. The chief complaint against owner Mike Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias has been the club’s performance in the transfer market, so will that also change for the better now the club is on firm financial ground?

Will Newcastle resist bids for their star players in January? Will they look to strengthen the squad from a position of strength?

Striker Modibo Maiga is expected to arrive from Sochaux in the New Year, but is there room in the budget for another centre-back and a left-winger as well?

Finally, will Coloccini finally put pen-to-paper on the new contract that has been “virtually agreed” for more than a month?

There are murmurings of interest from Liverpool for a player who will have one year left on his current deal at the end of this campaign.

Kenny Dalglish has already stolen Jose Enrique and Andy Carroll – albeit paying hugely over the odds for the latter – from his former club, he must not be allowed to take another.

If Newcastle really want to be taken seriously again, they must stop their best players signing for a rival which, at the moment, they look strong enough to stand toe-to-toe with once more.

Liverpool are right to raise anomaly of TV rights – but it is La Liga that should change

Ostensibly, it appeared that Ian Ayre, the Liverpool chief executive, had given a series of interviews to coincide with the one-year anniversary since Tom Hicks and George Gillett were successfully ousted as owners.

Yet, deliberately or not, the story today is not the changes at Liverpool over the past 12 months but his call for the Premier League to allocate more of their £1.4 billion from overseas television rights to its most popular clubs.

As it stands, the Premier League markets its product collectively and broadly shares the income.

It means that Manchester United, with their vast global fan-base, benefits just as much as Swansea City or Wigan Athletic from the sale of television rights to 212 countries outside the United Kingdom.

Liverpool have understandably pointed out that in some other countries, notably Spain, clubs sell their rights on an individual basis. It means that Barcelona and Real Madrid can generate considerably more income from this specific revenue stream than any English club.

Yet it also means that the smaller clubs in Spain’s La Liga earn dramatically less than their counterparts in the Premier League.

As a whole, La Liga also earns considerably less than the Premier League. The result? Barcelona and Real Madrid are exceptionally wealthy and well-placed to dominate in Europe while the rest of La Liga begin just about every season playing for third. Indeed, over the past two years, no club has finished within 20 points of either Barcelona or Real Madrid.

In that context, it is easy to understand the temptation for the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

They are the clubs with the largest global fan-bases and, in theory, the most to gain from selling their television rights individually. The wider and more long-term question, however, is just why those clubs have developed such a vast worldwide fan-base.

All of the evidence suggests that it has really snowballed during the incredible booms years of the Premier League. And why has the Premier League been so popular? Because it is generally very competitive. Widen the gap between the clubs and that key quality would be lost. The Premier League certainly subscribe to this theory and are certain that it is the collective strength of all the clubs which underpins its vast global reach.

In his interview, Ayre cited the 80,000 fans who came to watch Liverpool in Malaysia, but would they really have been so aware were it not for the type of league his club plays in?

In any case, the hard reality of the situation is that it is not the Premier League who Liverpool have to convince of their case. To pass a change in the way overseas television income is distributed, they would have to persuade a two-thirds majority of their rivals clubs. That’s 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs. Given that Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are all opposed to the idea, it is clear that there is little prospect of change.

If Ayre cannot convince those who would most benefit, he has no chance of persuading others to sign up to something that would reduce their income and further cement the dominance of the elite clubs. It should also be noted that Ayre’s comments have been met today with significant scepticism from around the country.

After all, with Liverpool having made such little progress on building a new ground and with their commercial revenues dwarfed by Manchester United, they are currently faced with limited options as they try to build their income.

Yet at a time when Uefa are introducing regulations relating to ‘financial fair-play’, Ayre was right to highlight the obvious anomaly of clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid being able to sell their TV rights individually.

If Uefa are serious about financial fairness and introducing collective fiscal rules, they should surely also insist on a uniform method among the major leagues for selling their television rights. And it is the model of Spain’s La Liga which should be changed rather than that of the English Premier League.

Liverpool are right to raise anomaly of TV rights – but it is La Liga that should change and not the Premier League

Ostensibly, it appeared that Ian Ayre, the Liverpool chief executive, had given a series of interviews to coincide with the one-year anniversary since Tom Hicks and George Gillett were successfully ousted as owners.

Yet, deliberately or not, the story today is not the changes at Liverpool over the past 12 months but his call for the Premier League to allocate more of their £1.4 billion from overseas television rights to its most popular clubs.

As it stands, the Premier League markets its product collectively and broadly shares the income.

It means that Manchester United, with their vast global fan-base, benefits just as much as Swansea City or Wigan Athletic from the sale of television rights to 212 countries outside the United Kingdom.

Liverpool have understandably pointed out that in some other countries, notably Spain, clubs sell their rights on an individual basis.

It means that Barcelona and Real Madrid can generate considerably more income from this specific revenue stream than any English club.

Yet it also means that the smaller clubs in Spain’s La Liga earn dramatically less than their counterparts in the Premier League.

As a whole, La Liga also earns considerably less than the Premier League. The result? Barcelona and Real Madrid are exceptionally wealthy and well-placed to dominate in Europe while the rest of La Liga begin just about every season playing for third.

Indeed, over the past two years, no club has finished within 20 points of either Barcelona or Real Madrid.

In that context, it is easy to understand the temptation for the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

They are the clubs with the largest global fan-bases and, in theory, the most to gain from selling their television rights individually.

The wider and more long-term question, however, is just why those clubs have developed such a vast worldwide fan-base.

All of the evidence suggests that it has really snowballed during the incredible booms years of the Premier League. And why has the Premier League been so popular? Because it is generally very competitive. Widen the gap between the clubs and that key quality would be lost.

The Premier League certainly subscribe to this theory and are certain that it is the collective strength of all the clubs which underpins its vast global reach.

In his interview, Ayre cited the 80,000 fans who came to watch Liverpool in Malaysia, but would they really have been so aware were it not for the type of league his club plays in?

In any case, the hard reality of the situation is that it is not the Premier League who Liverpool have to convince of their case. To pass a change in the way overseas television income is distributed, they would have to persuade a two-thirds majority of their rivals clubs.

That’s 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs. Given that Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are all opposed to the idea, it is clear that there is little prospect of change.

If Ayre cannot convince those who would most benefit, he has no chance of persuading others to sign up to something that would reduce their income and further cement the dominance of the elite clubs.

It should also be noted that Ayre’s comments have been met today with significant scepticism from around the country. After all, with Liverpool having made such little progress on building a new ground and with their commercial revenues dwarfed by Manchester United, they are currently faced with limited options as they try to build their income.

Yet at a time when Uefa are introducing regulations relating to ‘financial fair-play’, Ayre was right to highlight the obvious anomaly of clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid being able to sell their TV rights individually.

If Uefa are serious about financial fairness and introducing collective fiscal rules, they should surely also insist on a uniform method among the major leagues for selling their television rights. And it is the model of Spain’s La Liga which should be changed rather than that of the English Premier League.

Andy Carroll needs to take Capello warning seriously or he will fail at Liverpool

If Andy Carroll isn’t careful he will have achieved the seemingly impossible on Tyneside – made Mike Ashley look good and the decision to sell him to Liverpool for £35m a masterstroke.

There were those who, even if Carroll went on to play 100 games for England and led the Liverpool line with distinction for the best part of a decade, would have argued the money was too good to turn down.

At least they would if Newcastle had actually spent any of it on incoming transfers this summer rather than grabbed it to balance the books.

Others, the more romantic souls, who were thrilled to see a Geordie in the club’s iconic number nine shirt again, will never accept it. Well they might, if as is rumoured, Newcastle have a buy back option should Liverpool decide to part with him and Carroll returns to St James’ Park for less than they sold him for, but I’m getting off track here.

At the moment, even though Newcastle have ridiculously failed to sign a replacement for Carroll this summer despite sitting on a great big wad of cash, it is the selling club who have come off best in the deal.

The stark, brutal stats of his time at Liverpool, are this. Carroll has played 13 games for Liverpool and scored just three goals, one of which came against Exeter City in the Carling Cup. The other two in a solitary game against Manchester City.

To put the Carroll transfer into some sort of context he is the most expensive British footballer and joint 13th in the all-time world list.

Yet, this is a player who moved to Anfield after just six successful months in the Premier League. A year earlier, the young striker had not even been guaranteed a start in Newcastle’s Championship-winning promotion side.

Liverpool paid a huge price for potential, but potential isn’t always realised, particularly if the person in possession doesn’t fully appreciate what needs to be done to unlock it.

Early days of course. Carroll hasn’t even been at Anfield a year and has spent a lot of that time recovering from a niggling knee injury.

There is still plenty of time for the 22-year-old to come good and rediscover the rampaging, uncontainable old fashioned centre-forward quality he appeared to have in black and white stripes. But, for the first time in his young career, Carroll is under pressure and we don’t know if he can cope.

He is being questioned and criticised, something he never had to contend with on Tyneside. For £35m, Liverpool don’t want potential, they want performances and goals, or at least a suggestion they are on the horizon.

As a local lad, fresh faced out of the Academy, Carroll’s failings were ignored at Newcastle, his bad behaviour forgiven and his liking for a night out just part of his charm in a city where everyone, young and old, enjoys doing the same.

At Newcastle, Carroll could do no wrong. He was encouraged and supported, even when he first broke into the first team and was so raw he looked blue.

Carroll thrived in that environment as an unknown quantity and was more accustomed to having smoke blown where the sun doesn’t shine rather than kicked around the same area.

The move to Liverpool looked a good one. He would learn from an old master like Kenny Dalglish and would develop at a club which could curb his wild streak and turn him into a finely-tuned athlete.

It has not quite worked out that way. Carroll regularly returns to Newcastle to enjoy his home town and he does not appear to have curbed anything.

Dalglish is sensibly trying to protect his player and has never criticised Carroll in public, but England manager Fabio Capello will be gone in a year’s time and has no interest in the long game or the hope Carroll matures with age.

He wants performances from Carroll now and he isn’t delivering them, hence his presence in the stands, not the squad, when England beat Bulgaria last week. Carroll has looked heavy and slow so far this season and there are suggestions he has put on weight since he left Newcastle.

No wonder Capello is worried about his lifestyle. The English drinking culture is alien to the Italian, but he has a valid point where Carroll is concerned.

There was another player like Carroll who once took the Premier League by storm. He was unplayable on his day, a devastating target man defenders were terrified of. His name was Duncan Ferguson.

Ferguson was a nearly player, someone who had 10 excellent games a season when he was fully fit and firing. As he got older and his lifestyle caught up with him, his body began to protest and he spent most of his time at Everton and Newcastle injured or recovering from them.

He was a brilliant player, but he never did it enough to be considered a great. Carroll could find he is following in his footsteps.

Does anyone remember Michael Ricketts? He scored 24 goals for Bolton Wanderers as they won promotion to the Premier League and had scored another 15 by February in his first season in the top flight.

It was form that rightly earned him an England cap against Holland in 2001. His career has been in free fall ever since, taking in the delights of Middlesbrough, Leeds United, Stoke, Cardiff, Burnley, Southend, Preston, Oldham, Walsall and finally Tranmere, who released him at the end of last season.

Carroll is a far better prospect than Ricketts, but his rapid decline is a timely reminder of what can happen to one season wonders in the Premier League.

Carroll could be a magnificent centre-forward for club and country. He could be the player Newcastle supporters always dreamed he would be for them, but at the moment he is danger of becoming the most expensive transfer flop of all time. Capello’s warning must not be ignored.