Newcastle Eagles will not do the continental

Apr 17 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

NEWCASTLE Eagles chief Paul Blake has revealed there is no chance of the all-conquering force of British basketball entering European competition next season.

Newcastle are likely to rest players in their penultimate league game of the season against bottom club London Capitals in preparation for the end of the season play-offs, having already wrapped up their second successive league title and their third in the last four years.

But, having established the franchise as the team to beat in domestic basketball under the astute leadership of player-coach Fabulous Flournoy, Blake’s dream of taking the Eagles into Europe has been put on hold for yet another year.

He said: “We’re not entertaining the idea for next season. Not unless a Fairy Godmother suddenly materialises or we win the lottery. It is too risky in the current economic climate and we have always maintained we will not do it until we are ready to do so.

“We wouldn’t have been able to enter next season anyway because one of the main requirements is that your home arena is available every Tuesday during the busy time before Christmas, and in an emergency, the Wednesday.

“We simply cannot do that as the Arena has a run of concerts on at that time and none of the other possible venues up here are big enough for us. We just have to accept that it’s not going to happen. It’s not anybody’s fault we are just being realistic.”

Although continental competition remains on hold, Blake (pictured) is determined to make sure new contract talks are not as he looks to ensure the majority of this season’s championship winning squad remain together.

He said: “A few of the players and their agents have been trying to get hold of me in the last few days, but I’ve been busy with other things. It is something I want to get done in the next few weeks, though, because it gets harder once the players have flown home.

“It is never easy to get things done immediately because agents tell players not to sign anything quickly. They tend to want to have a little look around first at what else is on offer, but we want to try and make sure the lion’s share of this year’s team are back with us again to defend our title.

“I’ve had a couple of conversations and, as far as I can tell, everyone wants to come back, so hopefully it will be pretty straightforward to get everything done this close season.”

With the recession continuing to grip the country the Eagles, like every company, is having to be cautious with its expenditure. Blake, though, is confident the club’s finances will allow them to keep all of their best players.

He said: “We are going to have to look at the budget and decide on each player individually. We do not lose money, but we do not make any either. We always have to balance the books every year. The thing with the way the club is run is, if we made more money one year, we would spend it on the team or the backroom staff. Everything goes back into the club to make it stronger.”