Missing (but not in action)

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Beye's contract was for 3 years I think, not 4.

Phew!
We dodged a bullet there!

Only £6m + in wages.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Salifou is six years off a testimonial.

[The Left Side]

Salifou is six years off a testimonial.

How many appearances has he made, does anyone remember?

[Apyadg]

He must have a collection then.  I saw him last season in a Range Rover - the hilarious part of this was that he turned up at the top of Witton Lane by the church and asked the steward stood by the closed road to let him through.  The steward politely told him to fuck off and he then sloped off back in his car to fight his way round the other side!!

The steward probably didn't recognise him. I don't think I would.

[curiousorange]

He must have a collection then.  I saw him last season in a Range Rover - the hilarious part of this was that he turned up at the top of Witton Lane by the church and asked the steward stood by the closed road to let him through.  The steward politely told him to fuck off and he then sloped off back in his car to fight his way round the other side!!

The steward probably didn't recognise him. I don't think I would.

It makes me wonder if the Newcastle fans thought up his song as a clever marketing gimmick.

[KevinGage]

Salifou's deal isn't as wacky as a few make out.

He's on close to buttons in the mental world of football wages, and is a regular in the reserve side.

It would be great if every single player in that reserve side was a realistic candidate for the first team, but not many reserve outfits operate that way. Team dynamic comes into it too, I guess. Even for the second string, it would be important to have a mix of players; some promising youngsters, senior pro's who are just missing out on the first XI and a few players punching above their weight and happy just to be there. Salifou definitely comes into the latter category.

If you have too many of the first two you have players who are either too green or too disappointed/ disinterested in the side.

Agree on Beye and Warnock, but not many had Warnock down as a bad bit of business this time last year.

[The Left Side]

Is Salifou really on 2K per week?

[Dante Lavelli]

I really don't understand why Salifou is at the club.

He signed in 2007 with a 1 year deal. When he leaves he'll have done 4 years!! For fucks sake!!! .

Habib Beye on £40k a week is unreal.

I have a slightly bizarre theory on this, after the Toga bus was attacked MON came out and said what a great bloke salifou is to have around the training ground and within the squad. Therefore I think he is employed as a very expensive comedian/psychologist/motivational expert.

I know that sounds a bit odd but he has never been close enough to the team to justify these contract extensions

[Sexual Ealing]

wHAT HAS HAPPENED TO POOR BARRY BANNAN ?

I think he's sitting on your Caps Lock.

*Applause*

[curiousorange]

I really don't understand why Salifou is at the club.

He signed in 2007 with a 1 year deal. When he leaves he'll have done 4 years!! For fucks sake!!! .

Habib Beye on £40k a week is unreal.

I have a slightly bizarre theory on this, after the Toga bus was attacked MON came out and said what a great bloke salifou is to have around the training ground and within the squad. Therefore I think he is employed as a very expensive comedian/psychologist/motivational expert.

I know that sounds a bit odd but he has never been close enough to the team to justify these contract extensions

Would that be the Toga bus driven by John Belushi?

[DeKuip]

wHAT HAS HAPPENED TO POOR BARRY BANNAN ?

I think he's sitting on your Caps Lock.

*Applause*

Standing ovation here

[Guy M]

Salifou's deal isn't as wacky as a few make out.

He's on close to buttons in the mental world of football wages, and is a regular in the reserve side.

It would be great if every single player in that reserve side was a realistic candidate for the first team, but not many reserve outfits operate that way. Team dynamic comes into it too, I guess. Even for the second string, it would be important to have a mix of players; some promising youngsters, senior pro's who are just missing out on the first XI and a few players punching above their weight and happy just to be there. Salifou definitely comes into the latter category.

If you have too many of the first two you have players who are either too green or too disappointed/ disinterested in the side.

Agree on Beye and Warnock, but not many had Warnock down as a bad bit of business this time last year.

That's been my take on the Salifou situation since long before the horrific incident that occurred when he was with his national side. MON praised him for his attitude around the place in general and I agree that for what (comparatively) little we pay him, I really couldn't care less. And not just because of what he's been through.

When plenty last season were hammering Cuellar and lauding Warnock, I stood by my opinion that one was playing well despite being played out of position while the other was doing little to suggest he was (being played in his favoured position I mean). The general consensus on here was that Carlos was crap and Stephen superb (nice bit of alliteration for 6:45 in the morning). It's interesting how quickly many turned on Warnock this season. Not to say that I don't think it's warranted. I just didn't think he was playing any worse this season than last. Still think we missed a trick when we didn't off-load him post-WC.

I made the point about Beye and his 'beautiful' car (and equally attractive missus) after the Everton game at the start of the season. Everything there was to hate about modern football wrapped up in one simple package. Even I can't dispute that MON got this one very, very wrong.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Is Salifou really on 2K per week?

No.
£10k pw.

He'll have cost us £1.5m in wages.

Low by Premier standards, but still a complete waste if it's for a player who will never play for the first team.

[pauliewalnuts]

Salifou's deal isn't as wacky as a few make out.

He's on close to buttons in the mental world of football wages, and is a regular in the reserve side.

It would be great if every single player in that reserve side was a realistic candidate for the first team, but not many reserve outfits operate that way. Team dynamic comes into it too, I guess. Even for the second string, it would be important to have a mix of players; some promising youngsters, senior pro's who are just missing out on the first XI and a few players punching above their weight and happy just to be there. Salifou definitely comes into the latter category.

If you have too many of the first two you have players who are either too green or too disappointed/ disinterested in the side.

Agree on Beye and Warnock, but not many had Warnock down as a bad bit of business this time last year.

That's been my take on the Salifou situation since long before the horrific incident that occurred when he was with his national side. MON praised him for his attitude around the place in general and I agree that for what (comparatively) little we pay him, I really couldn't care less. And not just because of what he's been through.

When plenty last season were hammering Cuellar and lauding Warnock, I stood by my opinion that one was playing well despite being played out of position while the other was doing little to suggest he was (being played in his favoured position I mean). The general consensus on here was that Carlos was crap and Stephen superb (nice bit of alliteration for 6:45 in the morning). It's interesting how quickly many turned on Warnock this season. Not to say that I don't think it's warranted. I just didn't think he was playing any worse this season than last. Still think we missed a trick when we didn't off-load him post-WC.

I made the point about Beye and his 'beautiful' car (and equally attractive missus) after the Everton game at the start of the season. Everything there was to hate about modern football wrapped up in one simple package. Even I can't dispute that MON got this one very, very wrong.

I don't recall Carlos getting "hammered" or being referred to as crap at all. I remember lots of people acknowledging he's good defensively but poor going forward, and should have been played at CB rather than RB. That's not saying he's crap, not by any stretch.

Warnock progressively deteriorated last season - especially after the CCF - and carried on doing so this season. If the stories about him being a whinger around the club are true (remember someone posting that he's constantly moaning about how he hates the club, can't stand the area, can't wait to be off), then I reckon Gerard has done the right thing sticking him in with the reserves.

As for Beye, i recall him saying something which sums up the modern footballer, when he was being linked with a move away, which was that he wouldn't mind going to play back in France, but he'd never get anything like the money he's on here, so he was going to sit tight.

He was a month or so short of 32 when he signed for us, on a three year contract. What sort of value Martin thought we'd get out of a 34 or 35 year old Habib Beye is beyond me - as is how he expected him to end up doing anything other than sitting out his contract, as nobody else would even think about giving a bog standard 32 / 33 year old right back 2 million pounds a year to sit on their bench.

On second thoughts, maybe that doesn't reflect too badly on the moderm player after all - who can blame him? I'd do the same in his position. Maybe it - and the entire right back saga for four years, for that matter - says most about Martin's scattergun, wasteful approach to building a squad.

[pauliewalnuts]

Salifou's deal isn't as wacky as a few make out.

He's on close to buttons in the mental world of football wages, and is a regular in the reserve side.

It would be great if every single player in that reserve side was a realistic candidate for the first team, but not many reserve outfits operate that way. Team dynamic comes into it too, I guess. Even for the second string, it would be important to have a mix of players; some promising youngsters, senior pro's who are just missing out on the first XI and a few players punching above their weight and happy just to be there. Salifou definitely comes into the latter category.

If you have too many of the first two you have players who are either too green or too disappointed/ disinterested in the side.

Agree on Beye and Warnock, but not many had Warnock down as a bad bit of business this time last year.

Disagree entirely.

What would Salifou's experience in the Swiss second division bring to the squad beyond having another academy kid there?

It's "only" about 600k a year in salary, you're right, comparatively it isn't much, but that sort of freeness with money is what leads to our current wages - turnover imbalance.