Taylor transfer listed: When will we learn?

Just as everything was looking rosey in the Newcastle United garden following the weekend rampage over Aston Villa, the Magpies did what they have always been experts at by wiping off the Tyne Bridge-wide grins on its supporters before the next game even got underway. For this afternoon, it emerged that Steven Taylor, the Toon-mad and always improving centre-back, has been placed on the transfer list.

It seems Mike Ashley will never learn. When fans are happy and temporarily ignorant of the problems which are still firmly entrenched at the top of the club, he just goes and reminds them of the absolute cluelessness which oversees Newcastle United.

Taylor has his critics, but at just 24 and with a long career still in front of thim, he is exactly the type of player this regime claim to be attracted to. Added to the fact that he has bundles of Premier League experience and is a local lad who is one of the few success stories of the youth academy in recent years, and it seems a no-brainer that he must stay.

Yet, as was the case three years ago, there has evidently been some problems with agreeing terms over a new contract. Reports claim that £40K was offered but the player wanted £60K, yet as he must be full aware of the financial problems which currently engulf the club, it seems difficult to accept this statement. Unless, of course, his agent Paul Stretford has been doing what agents do best by trying their very best to throw footballers’ careers down the drain for a few more pennies in their own pocket.

It’s hard to believe Taylor himself does want this amount of money, but if he did then his reasons seem obvious. Fabricio Coloccini earns around £60-80K and is no more than the equal of his Geordie colleague. But, even if this is the case, why make it so public? It can only be assumed this is designed to humiliate the player, who is said to want to remain at the club, and force him into agreeing lower terms. In any case, it’s unlikely he will be going anywhere this transfer window as he is carrying an injury.

But the timing of such a statement, when the club is on a high and with few off-field distractions to deal with, is no less than amateur stewardship by Ashley and his merry men. Steven Taylor is by no means the finished article but he has the potential to be a fine player for club and possibly even country, and should be held onto by any means. There’s no replacements out there for a similar cost and, while we don’t want to lose him on a free transfer at the end of the season, things must be sorted out immediately for the good of the club.