TIOTE WANTS TO STAY

Newcastle United midfielder Cheik Tiote has said that he is very much enjoying his life at Newcastle United and would not be interested in a move in the summer.

Chelsea have been showing a lot of interest in signing the midfielder for more than a year now, and it is thought that they will be coming in with a concrete bid in the summer.

However, the Ivory Coast international has said that he would like to stay with Newcastle United, as it provides him with the best opportunity to play regular football. This news is likely to come as a major blow to Chelsea and their hopes of reinvigorating their ageing squad.

The 25-year-old midfielder has been one of the best players in the Premier league ever since moving to Newcastle United for just £ 3.5 million in the summer of 2010. However, he is expected to cost upwards of £ 20 million if Chelsea were to agree a fee for him. Following the latest statement by the midfielder, though, it is highly unlikely that Chelsea will be persuading in signing the player. The latest football odds make Tiote odds-on to stay at St James Park.

Cheik Tiote has been one of the reasons for Newcastle United to be challenging at the top of the table for a Champions League position this season. The club are currently in the fifth position separated from the top four only on goal difference.

“My future is at Newcastle. I’m playing for Newcastle and I have to finish this season strongly and help the team get into Europe. If we do that, it will be good for the club and the fans. We are in a great position now,” Tiote said in a recent statement.

Yohan Cabaye arrived at Newcastle United in the summer and Tiote has formed a great partnership with him in the centre of midfield.

TAYLOR GETS LONG-TERM DEAL

Newcastle United have announced that midfielder Ryan Taylor has agreed an extension to his current deal. Ryan Taylor has now signed a new contract that will see his stay at the Tyneside extended by two years.

This comes as a welcome news for both Newcastle United fans and manager Alan Pardew, who has shown a lot of belief in the player.

Alan Pardew has been one of the best managers in the Premier league this season. Despite having a very limited budget at a Newcastle United, he has been able to get the team closer to the top four. Ryan Taylor has been a major part of the success Newcastle United have had this season.

Ryan Taylor joined Newcastle United back in 2009 from Wigan athletic. He is capable of playing on both sides of midfield and is widely known for his free kick taking abilities. So far, the 27-year-old midfielder has been featured in 25 appearances in the league alone for Newcastle United, thus making him one of the regular faces in the squad.

Newcastle United also recently persuaded goalkeeper Tim Krul and central defender Fabricio Coloccini to new contracts last week. Ryan Taylor becomes the latest to join in the list of players committing their future to the Tyneside club.

“I am delighted to secure a contract extension for Ryan. He has been outstanding for me this season wherever I have asked him to play. Ryan is a fantastic player who is firmly in the hearts of our fans, not only for his derby winner against Sunderland but also because of some excellent performances in the Newcastle shirt,” manager Alan Pardew said on the official website of the club. Newcastle will be hoping to make it into the top five if not into the top four this season.

SIMPSON CONFIDENT AHEAD OF ARSENAL CLASH

Newcastle United’s Danny Simpson said that he is extremely confident that Newcastle United can achieve a positive result against Arsenal on Monday night.

Newcastle United will be travelling to the Emirates stadium for the Monday night match with Arsenal.

Arsenal are some of the inform teams in the Premier league right now, and they come into the match with three victories against top teams. Arsenal have won against Tottenham, Liverpool, and AC Milan in their last three matches. The latest in-play Premier League betting odds make Arsenal the favourites for the third position, which would have been almost unthinkable two months ago.

Arsenal were beaten Tottenham by a massive 10 points, but Arsene Wenger’s men have now reduced the advantage Tottenham have to just four points. They will move to within one point of Tottenham with victory against Newcastle United, but Danny Simpson has said that the north-east club are more than capable of destroying the hopes of Arsenal on Monday.

Newcastle themselves come into the match on a good run of form, which has seen them continuously challenge for the top four positions alongside the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool. However, Alan Pardew will be aware of the fact that their top four ambitions will be realistically destroyed with a defeat against Arsenal on Monday night.

“We go there expecting a hard game. But we know with the squad we have got, we will be up for it and looking to get a result. There’s no reason why we can’t come away from the game with something. We’ve picked up two points at home from our last two games, so we haven’t lost and we are looking to kick on,” Danny Simpson said ahead of the match with Arsenal.

Newcastle United are five points behind Arsenal at this stage of the season, which is quite impressive.

GOLD REVEALS DEMBA CLAUSE

West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has made a sensational claim that former West Ham United striker and current Newcastle United leading goal scorer Demba Ba has released clause in his contract of just around £ 7 million.

There have been many rumours circulating in the world of football that Demba Ba has only a £ 7 million release clause.

It has today he confirmed by the former Birmingham city co-owner David Sullivan. Demba Ba arrived on a free transfer from West Ham United in the summer. He was extremely close to joining Stoke City, who decided to pull out at the last minute on the concerns of his knee condition.

Demba Ba, however, has been a revelation at Newcastle United, who have been missing £ 35 million striker Andy Carroll a lot during the back end of last season. The arrival of Demba Ba has been such a addition to the Newcastle United squad in such a way that they are now challenging for the Champions League positions.

It would have been unimaginable only two years ago when Newcastle United were back in the Championship after being relegated from the Premier league. Many were suggesting that it will be tough for Newcastle United to retain their Premier league position after their arrival, but Demba Ba’s spectacular form has seen them rise to the position of being a challenge for the Champions League position.

“This didn’t work for anyone except Demba Ba… and Newcastle. I’m told he’s got a £7m get-out at Newcastle and he gets half the money over that. They keep denying it but I think you’ll see in the summer he will leave Newcastle or he’ll get a monstrous rise to stay there,” West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan said in a recent interview.

DEMBA STAYING IN NEWCASTLE

Newcastle United striker Demba Ba has said that he is not looking to leave the north-east club at this moment and has laughed off any rumours suggesting that he might move soon.

Demba Ba arrived on a free transfer from West Ham United in the summer, and he has been one of the best signings of the summer.

So far, he has been extremely crucial towards Newcastle United climbing of the table and also making a challenge for the Champions League positions. Luckily, Newcastle United did not miss him for a long due to the African cup of nations, as the striker returned from international duty after this international team got excelled from the competition at a very early stage.

Immediately after his return, Demba Ba scored the winner in the match against Aston Villa during the weekend, thus once again stressing his importance to the club. Demba Ba has quickly enabled Newcastle United fans to forget the memory of Andy Carroll, who moved to Liverpool in a £ 35 million deal just over a year ago. There were questions about the fitness of Demba Ba before he signed for Newcastle United, but the gamble Alan Pardew took with the Senegalese striker seems to have paid off.

It has been recently revealed that Demba Ba could leave Newcastle United for as little as £ 7 million due to a clause in his contract (whihc I personally have been tempted to stick some free Premier League bets on!) but it seems he is happy at the club, especially now his intenational team-mate has joined him in Toon.

“I am really, really happy for Papiss. It’s really important to score for a new club early on; when you come in and score right away you feel much better. It helps a lot and his was a goal of real class on the perfect return to Newcastle for me,” Demba Ba said after the match when his fellow Senegalese player Cisse scored the opening goal.

NEWCASTLE SPONSORED BY VIRGIN

Newcastle United have agreed to a £ 20 million shirt sponsorship deal with Virgin Money for a period believed to be around two years, after a breakthrough in the contract negotiations between the two parties.

Newcastle and Virgin had been locked in contract talks for weeks before the owner of Virgin Sir Richard Branson agreed to bail out cash-stricken Newcastle based bank Northern Rock and buy all the shares.

According to the reports that were received, the deal was concluded late on Tuesday, the 3rd of January, 2012 when Virgin Money agreed to meet the demands of the club and signed on the dotted line.

The club played its first match with their shirt emblazoned with the logo of the new sponsors in the 3-0 rout of English champions Manchester United on the 4th of January – a shock result that allowed some fans to make serious money by backing Newcastle at some of the best online football betting odds this season.

The new shirt sponsorship deal has gone a long way in securing the club’s financial stability, coming as quickly as it does after a deal to rename the famous St. James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena was concluded a couple of months back, bringing in extra cash for the club.

Northern Rock, which had been the shirt sponsors for the club for almost eight years in a deal that ran until the end of the current season, was taken over by Virgin Money on New Year’s Day this year and this led to complications in their contractual obligations with the club.

It is believed that Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley will offer Virgin Money the chance to combine their shirt sponsorship deal with the naming rights of the stadium and bring an end to the controversy over renaming the stadium.

NEWCASTLE WORRY AHEAD OF ANFIELD TRIP

Newcastle United will be making the difficult trip to Anfield on the final weekend of 2011 in the Barclays Premier League. Even though a visit to Liverpool is always very tough, Newcastle United will have reasons to worry because they have just one victory in five matches.

The win over Bolton on Boxing Day was their first to stop the rot, which began with the defeat against Chelsea a few weeks ago. A number of injuries in a defensive department did not help things for Alan Pardew, but he seems to have stabilised things at Tyneside.

Newcastle United will most probably be up against former striker Andy Carroll given that Luis Suarez has been suspended for his obscene gestures during the match against Fulham. Andy Carroll has largely been disappointing since making his £ 35 million move from Liverpool almost a year ago. Recently, Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew admitted that he should be more than interested in taking Andy Carroll back to St James’s Park.

Newcastle United are going through a difficult place at the moment with a number of strikers either suffering from injuries or set to depart for the African cup of nations. As a result, Alan Pardew has been discussing the possibility of loan move for Andy Carroll, but he can be sure that the former Newcastle United striker will be the starting 11 for this match.

“Newcastle took a chance on Ba when he failed a medical at Stoke and they have been rewarded. I think he has been the pick of their signings this year but he’s not the only good player they have brought in. I’ve been impressed with Yohan Cabaye and a few others as well,” Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said when asked about Newcastle United’s transfer policy.

PARDEW PROUD OF FANS

Alan Pardew has said that the fans of Newcastle United deserve a special price for standing by the club at through thick and thin. Many expected that Newcastle United will not be able to return straight back into the Premier League after their relegation to the championship a few seasons ago.

However, spurred on by their frantic support, Newcastle United have been able to come back into the Premier League. Even better is the fact that they are now capable of challenging for the European places, and manager Alan Pardew reckons that one of the main reasons for it is due to the support of the crowds.

Newcastle are now at the lowest they have ever been on the Premier league betting indexes, and their fans are widely acknowledged to be the passionate crowd amongst the various Premier League teams.

One of the best examples of their support team in the recent match against Swansea city. Even though Newcastle United struggled to break down the newly promoted Swansea city, there was no disgruntle amongst the fans. This, according to Alan Pardew, was one of the main reasons Newcastle United were able to avoid defeat against Swansea city. Alan Pardew says that he will be repaying their faith by leading the team to victory in the match against West Bromwich Albion tonight.

“I thanked them for their patience on Saturday. No one wants to see a 0-0, especially when it’s freezing cold. The one thing I do know about Wednesday night is that we’ll have the floodlights on. It creates a special atmosphere, and that’ll be an advantage for us,” Alan Pardew said ahead of the match with West Brom.

Newcastle United can claim back into the top six with a victory over West Brom, but it is easier said than done, as West Brom will be looking for victory after last week’s defeat to Wigan. Newcastle face Manchester United in the New Year, and will need their fans to be at their best to help them overcome the Red Devils like Blackburn Rovers did.

Ba talks up Newcastle

Newcastle striker Demba Ba believes his current side have a lot in common with the Hoffenheim team which shook up the Bundesliga in the 2008-09 season.

The German club were newly promoted but led the league at the halfway point of the season before cementing a seventh place finish, which was still beyond their expectations.

Ba’s personal contribution was 14 goals in 35 games and although Newcastle’s precise circumstances are not identical to those of Hoffenheim, he believes that there are a lot of common factors.

“What I saw in Hoffenheim is the same thing here,” Ba told BBC Newcastle.

“We have a young manager who knows how to manage and the team is similar, good footballers, good with the ball.”

As with his spell at Hoffenheim, Ba has been instrumental in Newcastle’s good fortunes this season, clocking up an impressive 11 goals in 16 games. Those tracking the African Cup of Nations betting will have been very impressed by his efforts.

His goals helped ensure Newcastle were unbeaten until they faced league-leaders Manchester City and a penalty against Manchester United in their next game saw the side grab a valuable point from a tough fixture.

He was back among the goals during the side’s trip to Norwich City, but his fantastic brace was in vein as defensive frailties saw Newcastle ship four goals to go down 4-2.

The Magpies may end up paying the price of Ba’s fine form though, with a call up for the African Cup of Nations looking almost certain for the Senegal striker and he could miss up to eight Premier League games if his national side go all the way.

NEWCASTLE START TO DREAM

Even though Newcastle United were going into a tough run of fixtures – which included the teams like Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea – Newcastle have been able to maintain their strong run of form, and keep their position in the top four.

Even though they lost their unbeaten record against Manchester City, they did extremely well against Man Utd to come away with a draw. Whilst the penalty that led to the equaliser was highly disputable, Newcastle United midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa believes that there should be no reason why Newcastle shouldn’t challenge for the title. This comes as quite strong statement because Newcastle United were only promoted last season!

The Premier League has been won by just four clubs since its inception in 1992. Even though there may be a case for a change at the top of the helm, it is nothing but extremely tough to see Newcastle United going even close to winning the title. The 1-1 draw with Man Utd may have given them a great deal of confidence, but they need to be winning regularly right up until the end of the season.

Speaking after the win against Manchester United, Hatem Ben Arfa said “I think that if we gain in confidence, we can go far, and why not challenge for the title? I think the only thing that makes a difference is confidence. We really have great footballers here now, and if we carry on like this, then we can do something.”

Having completed almost a third of the campaign, Newcastle United are nine points behind leaders Manchester City.