Liverpool accused of ‘entitled arrogance’ over Alexander Isak pursuit
The actions of the Big Six are angering Newcastle, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace fans as the Alexander Isak saga drags on.
Thankfully there’s football coming; watch some and mail us at theeditor@football365.com
Deluded?
Newcastle fans aren’t ‘deluded’; they just have decent values.
Lorraine Mackin
…It’s Liverpool and their deluded entitled fanbase who think that everything revolves around the NW and the Mersey and Isak deserves a move. If they want him then pay the £150m and move on. We don’t want any more prima donnas that we have had in the past. Eddie is right, we only want players who want to play for the Club.
David Graham
…In response to your query are toon fans deluded over the sale of Isak? No we are not the southern media and social media outlets like yourself have relentlessly gone for the jugular to unsettle a NUFC player who still has three years left on his contract, and so do contracts now not mean anything?
You have also turned his head through this constant hounding of a move to Liverpool who I hope are going to be investigated by the Premier League for illegally tapping up another team’s player and action should be taken but the PL will not take action as Liverpool are members of the special club of 6 aren’t they!!
So do you think that the so called big 6 clubs should be allowed to just go and unsettle and sign other team’s players especially with the discriminative approach to NUFC by the PL and their rules drafted in immediately after our takeover? No I do not think that we are deluded as a fanbase or do we just have to roll over and say nothing when Liverpool come calling and with the richest owners in world football, I am amazed that they are sitting back and letting the corrupt PL and big six dominate and call the shots with their questionable rules.
From a so called delusional toon fan.
Angus Watson
MEDIAWATCH: Newcastle make ’emergency Alexander Isak decision’ as Liverpool nonsense spreads
…Never thought that I’d write in but… here I am.
I’ve read all the banter, petulance and irritation about how Isak wants to play for Liverpool and that Newcastle should just let this happen. What absolute bollocks!
Liverpool, apparently like all of the Big Six (Tottenham? Really? I mean, really… ?), seem to believe that directly approaching players from other clubs is legitimate. That’s even though these players are under contract and have committed (… sorry, had to laugh) to playing for these other clubs.
There is an entitled arrogance amongst these big clubs and their supporters. They can approach who they want and offer what they want. Our part in this transaction is to say “thank you ever so much for your consideration”. (… sorry, another moment needed to compose myself.)
Now down here at Selhurst, we’ve had the monotony of Liverpool wanting Guehi and Arsenal wanting Eze. Terms, apparently, agreed with both players but not CPFC. It’s blighted our summer transfer strategy and is still going on. Personally, I’d now sell the players for slightly less but not to these clubs. They can go forth…
We’ve had the best few months in the club’s history. I wouldn’t change a moment of it. Yet, I approach this season with pessimism. That’s partially because of the UEFA and Forest shenanigans. It’s mostly because of Liverpool and Arsenal. We have the best manager in the league who’ll walk at the end of the season because ‘other’ clubs are making up the numbers. We’re not respected and allowed to compete.
I’m rambling but you get the idea.
Eddie from The Eyrie
…First, a quick apology: I don’t imagine anyone is clicking on the last pre-prem mailbox thinking, oh I hope there’s more talk about Alexander Isak. So, sorry about that everyone.
Next – Dave LFC. During the season we have to deal with fans – of 2 clubs in particular – who spend too much time online. And during the off-season, it looks like we have to deal with fans who spend too much time on computer games.
Almost 3 years ago, Isak joined Newcastle United from Real Sociedad. At that point, he and they agreed a deal whereby Isak would play football for the club for the next 6 years, and they would pay him a sum of money in exchange for his time and labour; and they paid RS about £60m to transfer his registration. Aside from the usual gubbins with image rights, bonuses, etc, that’s it. The default position is: he plays until 2028, they pay until 2028.
If this situation is to change, both sides need to agree. There’s no such thing as a ‘market valuation’ for something that’s not on the market; if someone knocks on my door and offers to buy my house on the basis that they’re offering the same price that one went for down the road, if I don’t want to sell, the answer is No. To release his registration earlier than the agreed date, Newcastle need a persuasive offer – nobody else was keen on paying £60m when Isak was in Spain, for example.
And as for giving him a wage increase, just because other clubs want to sign him now: if Isak wanted more money than he’s getting at the minute, the time to sort that out was in 2022, when he agreed to take these wages for the next 6 years. Yes, the club did faff about with not offering him a new deal a year or so ago, but would he have signed it, and locked himself into an even longer deal?
Maybe he doesn’t like getting paid less than Haaland; neither do I. But has he earned it? And what if he gets injured; do his wages go down to minimum wage when he doesn’t play? I don’t imagine Ally Pally’s James Maddison is getting a wage cut this season. If he doesn’t like his salary, he has one person to blame for that.
Are there any Liverpool fans who actually watch and understand football? The supposedly silent supposed majority, who we’re told were understanding and grateful towards Trent, who understand what a contract means for good and bad; could we have a bit of input from this quarter for once?
I heard yesterday the King of Wrongful Thinking Rory Smith doing his usual schtick of going nuclear when Liverpool don’t get their way about everything, and is now saying that every player in the world will have a release clause within 5 years, or transfer fees will have to be abolished. Right.
I don’t have a dog in this fight – other than a Bernie Sanders meme which is once again asking F365 to set up an alternative mailbox for Not The Big 6, so we could have some football chat here again rather than the nerd pissing contest that the site has turned into – but if Isak no longer wants to be bound by a contract he signed, and is too greedy to put in a transfer request, he’s in the wrong. If Liverpool won’t pay what Newcastle want to release his registration, they can’t complain their way to getting a transfer. There isn’t anything else to talk about until any of this changes.
Neil Raines
No, Isak should do exactly what he wants
I’ve had enough, reading Nicky talk out his Butt regarding Alexander Isak has pushed me over the edge. I know the human race and particularly football fans are often hypocritical and illogical, but someone needs to call out this utter hogswash. Alexander Isak should absolutely try every available option to force his way out of the club because football fans, clubs, media and general public have a wildly unreasonable expectation over mercenary football players.
And before we get into the weeds on this, all homegrown and trained players, particularly those who are also lifelong fans of the team whose youth academy they came up through, are absolutely different to players who are bought after they’re 20 years old for a random club with which they have no affiliation. For clubs who have trained, nurtured and developed players the relationship is vastly more complicated and nuanced. That can be saved for an email all by itself. This is for your mercenary football players…
Let us begin by looking objectively at Isak’s situation. He has gone from AIK to Dortmund then via Willim II on loan to Sociedad. Through being good at his job his employers have sold him for a profit each time he has left. Currently he plays for Newcastle who signed him for £60m and recently turned down a £110m plus add-ons offer from Liverpool.
Before he joined Newcastle he had never played in England, had almost certainly never been to Newcastle, and probably thought Geordie was someone’s first name. But through being good at his job, he is now/was a hero to people in the city. Those people expect him to turn up and play well for their team, whether he wants to or not. He should honour his contract, because that’s how contracts work. He has a duty to all those fans who worship him, all those kids with his poster…
However, if Mr Isak had been bought for £60m and scored 4 goals in his first season and reached the following Christmas having scored only another 2, his treatment in his adopted home city might have been a little different. Now fans and pundits would be stating he isn’t good enough, that Newcastle need to get him off their wage bill, recoup as much of his transfer fee as possible so the club can have a spin of the transfer roulette wheel to see if they land on the world class talent jackpot.
Isak might have been a model pro, turning up on time and trying his best, but that doesn’t matter. He could have set up a charity and cleaned the toilets at the local Church, that doesn’t matter. He could speak through the press and insist he loves the city and the people, IT DOESN’T MATTER. If you are not good enough, the fans want rid of you, preferably for the most money they can get so that a new complete stranger from another country can take your place and possibly become its new adopted son.
For an example of this at work, lets look at Rasmus Hojland. Here we have a young player who came to Manchester United as the great new hope. Signed instead of Harry Kane, he was supposed to become what Kane already was – world class. Unfortunately for Rasmus, things haven’t worked out. Despite working his socks off, saying the right things, acting the right way and insisting, despite being ridiculed and lambasted for his underperformance, that he would still like to play for the club, fans and institution are in agreement, he’s not good enough. Now he has a contract, which he could sit out, but we know how that plays out.
First he gets left out of matchday squads, to make clear his position. Then the fans start complaining online and through social media. Fuck off, Rasmus! You’re a £70m piece of shit who isn’t good enough to lace *insert new strikers name here * boots. The viral videos go round, showing a montage of missteps. Thankfully Rasmus isn’t black otherwise we all know the knuckle dragging minority would be saying things far worse than ‘you’re shit’. But poor young Rasmus holds on, he believes he can still make it if he just continues to work hard. But summer 2026 rolls around and he gets the bad news, he’s in the Bomb Squad.
Let’s all laugh at the Bomb Squad. Some of these players might be here for disciplinary reasons or because the player and new manager don’t see eye-to-eye, but mainly it’s that they are paid too much and aren’t good enough for that money. These players have their squad numbers taken away, left out of pre-season tours, are informed they must train alone or possibly with the youth teams. No European squad lists for them. They might have honoured their contracts, but that doesn’t matter, we don’t want you anymore. And if we don’t want you anymore, we’ll try all the tricks legally open to us to try and force you out.
Obviously this behaviour is met with appalled and aghast reactions from former pro’s and pundits. How dare the club and fans treat a football player who has done nothing wrong this way. Oh wait, that doesn’t happen. Nobody gives a crap about the football player who isn’t good enough. You want to know why? Because we’re all football fans and when our players aren’t good enough we want them to fuck off out of our club.
And its all clubs and practically all fans. Who here gives a shit about where their failed players go? Who worries about their dreams dying? Absolutely no one, not even when those players have already been fantastic for their clubs and fans. Club legend Andy Robertson for Liverpool – you’re legs have gone buddy, thanks for the memories, 2 premier Leagues and Champions League, but you can either sit on the bench and teach young players how to act or get lost for a small transfer fee. KDB? OAP more like, don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Kevin. Thanks for being one of the greatest ever premier league players…
But woe betide any player to prioritise their own very short career over the fans of whichever club most recently bought them. To act like the absolute mercenary that they are treated as by club and fan. Hero when successful, loser when not. These players are not judged on their personality, they’re judged on their ability and performance. When form fades and age catches up, they’re relegated to legacy players everyone would rather was removed from the wage bill.
Isak has to accept that he can be kept regardless of his wishes and made to work for Newcastle for another 3 years being paid £120,000 a week as a player who is valued by his club at £150m, that’s the way employment contracts work and that’s what he signed. It is what it is. You’ll get no argument from me. But he should do everything he can to get the move he wants and fulfil the dreams he has, because if he had not been good enough, Newcastle would have pushed him out the door as quickly as they would have forgotten about him.
Ed Ern
Re “You signed a contract, my dude” August 14.
Let’s talk about the law, shall we? And yes, I remember something from Law School. (as does my ass: it was never so sore. Beautiful buildings, impossible to sit).
“Under English common law, you cannot enforce a contract for personal performance.”
So unless the contract has some clause saying that it will be interpreted by, say, the laws of Saudi Arabia, where slavery still exists, then Newcastle can go whistle. Meaning that they can either reluctantly take the money or they can hold their breath until their face turns blue-black.
To look for morality in the law defies reality: “Lawyers are like dice: they can lie on any side.”
If you want morality, go talk to a priest/rabbi/whatever. That was, and probably still is, the law. My apologies to your many readers and pundits, but they have no idea what they are talking about. And then… remember Raheem Sterling? Was that really so long ago that Liverpool fans don’t remember?
Ciao.
Richard Smiley
Calm down, Liverpool fans
This mail from Ed Ern seemed pretty silly to me. The argument we don’t have depth anymore because we’ve allowed a striker who regularly missed easy chances go and tragically lost a striker who only ever played a third of a season due to injury is a bad argument.
The primary reason we didn’t rotate last year was because Slot didn’t trust the back ups, and considering we lost whenever the back ups played you have to agree with him.
I’m glad he moved Quansah on I didn’t see the next Paolo Maldini as many Liverpool fans did, I saw a player who struggled to stay composed on the ball and often gave it away and as such was targeted by every team he played against. I haven’t seen Leoni play there’s not many ways he can be worse than Quansah, a player who even Klopp started to trust less and less.
We could do with another CB that true but in pretty much every other area we have upgraded the starting 11. I’m not too worried about the lack of a back-up striker because last season we had two and neither was very useful. Salah scored all the goals anyway and this season he has Ekitike, Wirtz to help him out.
And yes, if all our first team players get injured we would be knackered. But what if our backups got injured too? What if THEIR back ups got injured at same time? Maybe we need 4 full 11s just in case the starters, back ups and their back ups all get injured?
You can’t plan squad based on a fear of injury because otherwise you’ll be endlessly buying players and you’ll be doing….actually you’ll just be Chelsea. We won the league with largely worse players last year.
Stop panicking.
Lee
READ: Arne Slot under huge pressure at Liverpool after a transfer window which has flattered to deceive
A Toon tale
Reading NUFC supporter Adam G’s mail this morning, my first thoughts were you should probably worry about Newcastle staying up for next season, the way things are going. Never mind wishing Sunderland well. But this mail did nudge me to write in about something I was told a few years ago and will finally come to pass this year.
I moved to Newcastle in 2021, after living in many places around the world. I immediately took to the city and, especially, its people. It’s an amazing place to live and full of the most friendly, generous people you’d ever wish to meet. The first week of my new job, I got chatting to the cleaning lady. A Geordie in her golden years who lost her husband in 2016. His final request was for his ashes to be scattered around St James Park stadium during a Newcastle v Sunderland derby. Sunderland were relegated at the end of the 2016-17 season so she said she’d be holding on until Sunderland were back in the Premiership.
This season she gets to fulfill her promise. I’m not sure how she’ll do it but she’s a canny old bird and I’m sure she has a plan. I probably won’t get to the game. But I’ll certainly be thinking of her that day and picturing her husband being discreetly sprinkled around the SJP concourse though some clever mechanism existing the leg of her trousers.
Strictly Anonymous (Because she could just, possibly, read the mailbox)
