Rob W

well he owns about 700 acres of the most expensive real estate on the planet - move Chelski out of town and he's sitting on a fortune just there

aye HTT gets very down sometimes...............

ironically the premiership is experiencing a huge boom due to the TV money so it will take a couple of years, when tv rights are renegotiated, to see if this has any effect. crowds might fall a bit but this is less important than ever. As long as people can afford current sky/cable prices/going to bars and watch advertising for products they then purchase, it will all be fine. That's the whole point, though - as unemployment rises(which it will, and in a big way ; I know of firms in the UK who are laying off thousands of workers),one of the things which will have to be sacrificed is Sky TV. Energy costs(heating, electricity) are also going to rise steadily... I don't think many people have realised just how serious this recession is going to be. As I said before, there will be HUGE repercussions for Prem clubs. I agree there will be huge repercussions for premiership clubs but your recession facts aren't quite right. The only good thing to come for us is that energy and food prices should come down.....everyhting else will get more expensive. That is why Abramovich et al are losing money. The cost of a barrel of oil is falling massively. This will pass on to customers eventually bringing down the cost of food and petrol. As long as there is a global recession the confidence in the commodities markets will be low. Are you not aware of how serious the Electricity generation situation in the UK is? In a minimum of 6 years, 40% of the current generating capacity is due to be shut down, either because of EU rules on emissions(Coal-fired Power stations like Drax)or because the old Nuclear stations are worn out(the one at Hartlepool is indeed out of action NOW because of corrosion which is making it dangerous). The UK Govt sold off Westinghouse to Toshiba of Japan in 2006, yet they were the ONLY UK manufacturer of Nuclear Power stations...and just a few weeks ago, the UK Govt begged and pleaded for EDF(the French Nuclear Plant builders and energy company)to buy up British Energy...how stupid is that ? Toshiba now have 19 orders for new power stations....... It will take EDF 9 YEARS to get cracking on building new Nuclear Power stations...in the meantime, the UK is dependent upon Russian Gas supplies BUT - the former Energy Minister admitted that it was 'highly likely' that there would be Power cuts this winter in the UK if a cold snap occurred..also, the lack of storage for Gas means that UK has to buy it at excessive prices from the Continent in winter... Upshot of all this is higher bills - regardless of Oil prices, and DON'T expect those to stay where they are now - will be close to $100 p.barrel again as soon as US winter heating season starts. I am NOT wrong about Recession - wait and see ; I KNOW that a famous firm in the Building trade HAS laid off 2000 over the past few weeks.People are in denial of what has happened over the past few months - there has been a MASSIVE failure of the world's Financial system and the likes of this has not happened since 1929...confidence has been lost in the whole system(as has many people's savings/Pensions), and the UK no longer has the manufacturing capacity to recover as it did in 1929...to a lesser extent, this also applies to the USA and the World has seen through both countries after their attempts to build an economy on Debt and rising house prices, which failed as soon as wages failed to keep pace with house prices. That is why this stockmarket sell-off has been so severe...there is NO confidence. Westinghouse UK was a subsid of Westinghouse US - they produced a workable reactor but the Brits went on for years building AGR types which never really worked economically before they turned to the US model You could have a set of new reactors in less than 5 years IF the Govt suspended the planning rules We don't run out of electricity - we just build new gas powered stations - very easy and quick to do - the PRICE of electricity based on imported gas (from our friends at GAZPROM) is, as you point out, another matter.................... The Govt has just spun the energy guys out of DTI/BERR into DECC - better than ANT I suppose

you really have to wonder why clubs like Derby, Villa, Forest (FFS!) have had their day in the sunshine while we have had exactly NOWT in nearly 40 years................................

a lot of bloody depressed folks around SJP

Cape Town - Is the South African consortium of businessmen bidding to buy English Premiership club Newcastle United biting off more than they can chew? One local journalist, Edward Griffiths, who was involved in various SA bid campaigns and is general manager of SATV sport, believes they are; in fact, he goes further and says the group, who call themselves the New Newcastle United and are headed by one Jonathan Cleland, are preparing to make what could prove to be the biggest mistake of their lives. Griffiths in his weekly column, One Small Voice, says these investors who are reportedly on the brink of buying the Magpies for R4,2 billion “must be mad”. “Taking into account the inevitable stress and strife, bearing in mind the public humiliation when their vision turns sour, as it will, this poisoned chalice of a club is not worth R4,2 billion. The consortium may be attracted by the prospect of owning a high-profile English football club, rubbing shoulders with the Americans who own Manchester United, the Russians who own Chelsea, the Arabs who have recently bought Manchester City and even the Icelanders who run West Ham. They may believe the FA Premier League is an elite club they want to join, not just because of the prestige, but also because, by every measure, the product is continuing to boom worldwide. In terms of TV rights sales, TV audiences and merchandise sales, the FAPL has become the world’s favourite league. ‘“We can make money’, these tycoons may tell each other, and they may well be right. If the current owner Mike Ashley does sell, he could make a tidy £50-million profit on the deal. Even so, the sports shop millionaire will not reflect on his period in charge at St James’s Park with any pleasure at all because he and his family are now hated — literally hated — by hundreds of thousands of disappointed fans. “What the wide-eyed South Africans need to understand, sooner rather than later, is that Newcastle United is different. This is not a normal football club with normal fans and normal ambitions. It is a social movement fuelled, inspired and ultimately constrained by the hopes and frustrations of the community. “The football club is an institution so closely identified with the people who live in this proud, but economically and socially depressed area that whoever happens to ‘own’ the club according to the documents at Companies House, nobody will convince the hordes of supporters who wear black-and-white striped shirts every Saturday that the club belongs to anybody except them. When you buy Newcastle United, you don’t buy an asset. You buy a burden, effectively a responsibility to give the self-styled ‘best supporters in the world’ the success they crave. Many have tried in the past 50 years. All have failed. Newcastle last won the championship in 1926/27 and have not won a domestic trophy since the FA Cup in 1955. Year in, year out, successive owners have arrived with fanfare and failed. “The club has been called the ‘sleeping giant’ of English football so often that the question needs to be asked whether the giant is actually sleeping or whether it has in fact expired. Any self-respecting ‘Geordie’ will tell you, at length, that it is a disgrace that such a big club has not won more, and that the fans deserve much better, and that is the owner’s fault. Most youngsters growing up in the Newcastle area are not aware that ‘Sack the Board’ is actually three separate words until they are 11 years old. “The words of Oscar Wilde were never more true - ‘Yet each man must kill the thing he loves,’ he wrote. The supporters of Newcastle United have effectively killed the football club they love because they demand so much so quickly that every owner, every Board, has consistently failed to deliver. The supporters don’t want a trophy tomorrow: they want it yesterday. Their enthusiasm and passion for their club is so great that planning and preparation is impossible. “The South Africans may well take over and, amazingly, they may tempt the hugely popular Kevin Keegan to return as manager by giving him five percent of the club (overlooking his record as a serial quitter). There will be an initial burst of optimism, but it will end, sooner or later, in anger, bitterness and recrimination, because, in simple terms, the overblown expectations of the club’s devoted supporters are impossible to meet. “All this pain can be avoided. Just say ‘no deal’”.

personally I'd prefer the Arabs - they 're likely to take a longer view any Oligarch is always in danger from the dreaded exploding Mercedes syndrome............

LEGALLY the Board are supposed to represent the interests of the shareholders - when there is only one that's pretty easy they only have any power when the shareholding is widely spread

1 Scrap the away goals rule and penalty shoot-outs in two-legged games NO! I can remember what it was like before it came in - 11 man defences away from home - it really was bloody awful 2 Use goal difference before head-to-head records agreed 3 Introduce “celebration time” and remove punishments Introduce a proper (NEUTRAL) time keeper with a klaxon - the ref can indicate "stop the clock" and "start the clock" but the time keeper wtaches the time 4 Book players for ANY dissent Rugby Union & League have it right - only the Captain shopuld be allowed to approach the officials 5 Scrap the rule that forces injured players to leave the pitch after receiving treatment before re-entering the field if there is no advantage to be gained by feigning injury (see timekeeper) then may be this would work 6 If a player falls to the ground and stays down apparently injured for, say, three seconds, the referee should stop the game immediately don't think it would work but see above 7 Players must retreat ten yards at a free kick within five seconds Agreed - a yellow card for not doing so 8 Dismiss goalkeepers for encroachment at a penalty Agreed 9 Suspensions for an accumulation of non-bookable fouls conceded Not necessary - you can be booked for "ungentlemany conduct" for a succesion of fouls - any way most refs have a quiet word and tell them "one more of any sort and your booked sonny" 10 Scrap offside Tough one - you might finish up with two attackers and two defenders staying in the goal area all game............ I'd certainly go back to the old rule where if you're offside your'e offside and get rid of the "not interfering with the play" One alternative might be to make it only operative beyond the line of the Penalty area......

naaa - easy win...........

always believe what coppers tell you do you?

aye - he could walk on water 2 weeks ago and now he is Fat Fred, or worse

Not really. They're members and vote on the president etc but that's it. but legally they own the club

50,000 x £ 4,000 = £ 200 million and we can own the club .......................... It's a kidney each but heyy..............

"the cleansing power of the flames" :knuppel2:

Come on man! he's an EMPLOYEE not a bloody Saint You flounce at work like Keegan and see what happens - if you HAVE a job of course.....................

Whatever your position on KK and Wise and Ashleigh you have to recognise that KK is not going to be around SJP for much longer No-one can behave like that in any outfit and have a future

these guys from the UAE will be in in for the long term - they'll spend the cash over 3-4 years - not all at Christmas More Sheikh Mohammed than the Roman A IMHO

well - all bubbles burst eventually - I can't see any of these mega owners being happy shelling out if they miss the CL a coupleof seasons in a row. also its better to have a top 6 than a top 4 - that way they will take points off each other and allow a well managed, stable side like NUFC (cough, cough,cough...) their chance

usual Grand Opera at SJP people running about screaming, place on fire, all is lost, meeja circling in packs, bllood & gore everywhere why change the habits of a lifetime?

let's face it - there aren't that many top rate players in the England we're dependent on set pieces played in by a semi-retired American resident we struggle to beat teams that are anywhere near us in the rankings we've gone through three managers in as many years and none of them have managed to make any impact

usual old rubbish

If Milner is so damn good why were the Villians the only ones interested????

Barton has a long and bad record - it's not one transgression - it's a bucket load If he didn't have the money to employ top class lawyers he'd be inside for a very long time I was disappointed that we bought him and I'm really sick that he wears the shirt now

"Unless he scores 30 goals this season" :idiot2: now that's what I call a stretch target............... I'd settle for 15 me sel' like