Jame O'Hara thinks England is like Westeros as he spouts out lazy theory about players refusing to join Newcastle United
Newcastle United have missed out on several transfer targets this summer as players have opted to join 'Big Six' clubs over the Magpies.
As it turns out, though, it's not that these Legacy clubs with their PSR shields can offer more money in wages that's making these players opt to move elsewhere, it's because it's just so bloody cold in Newcastle. Much colder than London and even Manchester.
We have heard this lazy argument many times before, with the likes of Alan Brazil and Gabby Agbonlahor parroting the nonsense that Newcastle is not an attractive city and it's much colder than down south.
Apparently, the UK is like Westeros, and Scotch Corner is The Wall, and everything north of that is just a frozen wasteland. They go on as if the weather in Newcastle has never been better than it is in London at any given time.
Jamie O'Hara has reached for the geography lessons
O'Hara went on his uneducated rant on TalkSPORT, spouting the same narrative. It's almost as if everyone who works for them is given a script that 'North Bad, South Good.'
“Newcastle are failing to get quite a lot of their targets over the line at the moment. They’ve got to go to the next level, haven’t they?
“Players are going, 'You know what, Liverpool, Chelsea, London… Newcastle? It's a bit cold. If they could spend whatever they wanted, which the owners could, you'd get the player over the line because you'd say, I'll pay £10-15million over the odds for him because I'm going to make sure I get him at Newcastle.
“But they don't have that option, right? They've got to be careful with how they spend their money, which makes it more difficult to get deals that they want. Let me tell you now, foreign players will choose London over Newcastle every time.
“They will, you know that's true whether that's right or not. Newcastle are a great football club, but you have other situations that come into effect with wives, children, where they want to be. Newcastle, geographically, is a little bit of an issue for them because they're up north.”
Newcastle is not the tundra
For such a small country, it's wild how different the climate is in each quarter of the country, according to these pundits.
There is an element of truth to the geographical issue as Newcastle doesn't have the same PR machine as London does, so of course, foreign players are less likely to know what a great city it is, and obviously, when you're earning so much money, the cost of living isn't a factor.
It's still a lazy thing to keep spouting as a reason. We're sure that Newcastle will explain what a good city it is when they're talking to potential players, and other players who have played here in the past will speak highly of it to potential targets. It's not as cut and dry as Jamie O'Hara and his ilk continuously make out.
Cue Jeff Stelling!
