French flavour sweet for Toon army

French flavour ... Newcastle United's French imports have had a real impact at the club. Source: Nick Potts / AP

The large bare-chested men that seem second only to polar bears in their ability to cope with extreme cold were not the most remarkable thing on display.

Faces were painted red, white and blue, necks were adorned with strings of onions and berets were worn by most.

Nope it wasn’t a scene in Paris, welcome to French Day at St James’ Park.

The 24th of February event may have been a one off but the influence from across the Channel on Newcastle United is certainly not. When the transfer window closed at the end of January the club had ten Frenchmen in their squad and a further four for whom French is their first language.

So strong is the French influence at the club that central defender Steven Taylor recently spoke of how his soundtrack on route to training is now made up of French CDs.

"I'm talking French all the time now, probably with a terrible accent but I'm trying. I'm not very good yet but Alan Pardew is worse."

In the January transfer window five players were brought in from Ligue 1 for a total cost of around AU$25 million.
In came Lille’s Mathieu Debuchy, Toulouse’s Moussa Sissoko, Nancy’s Massadio Haïdara, Montpellier’s Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Bordeaux’s Yoan Gouffran.

They joined an already strong contingent that included Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sylvain Marveaux and Gabriel Obertan. The rationale was simple – they represented good value.

It is not an approach that has always been associated with Newcastle. For years they were mired in debt and marquee purchases such as Michael Owen were the order of the day.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	28	23	2	3	37	71
2	Man City	28	17	8	3	27	59
3	Tottenham	28	16	6	6	16	54
4	Chelsea	28	15	7	6	26	52
5	Arsenal	28	13	8	7	21	47
6	Everton	28	11	12	5	9	45
7	Liverpool	28	11	9	8	19	42
8	Swansea	28	10	10	8	5	40
9	West Brom	28	12	4	12	1	40
10	Fulham	28	8	9	11	-5	33
11	Stoke	28	7	12	9	-7	33
12	West Ham	28	9	6	13	-9	33
13	Norwich	28	7	11	10	-18	32
14	Sunderland	28	7	9	12	-7	30
15	Newcastle	28	8	6	14	-11	30
16	Southampton	28	6	9	13	-12	27
17	Wigan	28	6	6	16	-22	24
18	Aston Villa	28	5	9	14	-27	24
19	Reading	28	5	8	15	-20	23
20	QPR	28	3	11	14	-23	20

When the owner Mike Ashley was not making strange managerial appointments such as Joe Kinnear he was busy outraging the fans by attempting to sell the club on its own website. But their relegation at the end of the 2008-2009 Barclays Premier League season signalled a dramatic change in how the club was run.

After 16 consecutive seasons in the top flight, dropping down to the Championship was always likely to cause considerable heartache, but it seems it was necessary. Despite all the allegations of mismanagement that could be thrown at Ashley, he stood by the club when they were relegated, continuing to pay Premier League wages to ensure they bounced straight back.

With the safe pair of hands Chris Hughton installed as manager they returned to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Just as the never ending controversy appeared to be at an end at St James’ Park Ashley decided it was time to stir things up mid way through their first season back in the Premier League. Sitting well clear of the relegation zone he sacked Hughton and installed a manager that was hardly likely to smooth things over with the fans – Alan Pardew.

‘Here we go again’ most in the North East would have thought, but it was not the case as they saw out the season and were never in danger of being sucked into a relegation dog fight.

The next season hopes of survival were far from the supporters’ minds as the club’s outstanding performances saw them finish within touching distance of a Champions League spot. Few envisaged such a season.

The off-season had been a turbulent one with key players Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique all following Andy Carroll, who had left in January, out the door.

But it signalled the start of the invasion from across the Channel. It could have failed, the demands in the EPL are very different from those in Ligue 1. But as recruits such as Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Sissoko have shown, Newcastle did their homework.

Their chief Scout Graham Carr was meticulous in scouting and when he decided it was time to act his shopping in France was hardly the work of someone rushing about ‘the discount supermarket.’

He knew what he was getting - he had to, that is his job. Unlike most Premier League clubs, Carr rather than the manager is the man tasked with identifying and bringing in new players.Pardew’s job is to state the type of player he is after, the rest is up to Carr.

Long seen as the backyard of Arsene Wenger, Carr sought to mow the Frenchman’s grass, he did such a good job that he has now supplanted the Arsenal boss. His knowledge was perhaps illustrated best by the capture of Cabaye, now known as the ‘dreamboat’ by the Newcastle fans.

Whilst all the fuss in the 2011 off-season was about Lille’s attacker Gervinho, Carr saw someone who could make a bigger impact for less than half the cost. Eighteen months on it is obvious that Carr, not Wenger, made the right choice.

Whilst a lot of credit has to go to Carr, Pardew has excelled in integrating so many players from one part of the world into his squad. Patrick Vieira predicted the French players would form their own clique and cause division, so far he has been proved wrong.

Pardew has forced them to learn English, no other language can be spoken on the training ground and they have taken part in rituals such as singing a song in front of the squad when they first arrive, all in the hope of speeding up their integration.

But it has not just been one way. As shown by French Day and Taylor’s willingness to learn French, the club has made every effort to make them feel at home.

The visit of Stoke City to St James’ Park on Sunday is unlikely to make many feel too comfortable.

But regardless of the result, French shopping trips for Newcastle are unlikely to end anytime soon, especially while the discounts prove to be so good.

Follow me on Twitter @beaubusch

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Watch the Toon army and its French contingent battle Stoke City, Live and in Exclusive, and in High Definition at 1.53am (EDT) on Sunday 11 March on Fox Sports 1 and 1HD.

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