Dokko

Footballing knowledge at boardroom level? People saying Allardyce won't like him above him, look at the names being linked with the same job at Arsenal. Garde & Grimandi, two players who actually played under Wenger, and ROEDER! Currently a boardroom with no football experience as well.

There was no admittance to the clause last year though. So its speculation, as is the clause dropping again. Why would we put it in for CL only? We weren't exactly prime for a place back then, thats a huge risk to take. All sources say its euro football, not CL, always mentioned as European football, and micky Owen didn't mind playing in it for Liverpool and picking up a medal, and am sure he wouldn't mind doing the same again right now.

agreed Not really, Shearer is gunning for management at some stage. KK won't be going there again, in fact he might and probably wont return anyway.

That was all just media speculation though was it not? By the looks of it, on Wednesday there'll be no get out for him. But Shepherd himself says that Owen will have to stay for "another year" from August 1st, which says to me that the clause is re-activated next summer. He doesn't say anything about this being the end of the clause for good. The 20% thing seems the most reliable/likely answer to me from all that I've seen/heard. It wont be if we don't get Europe again, then it will be activated. If we do it won't, but he'll be in the last year of his contract and either wanting another, or being sold anyway.

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=43146.msg937477#msg937477 My take on it last night before this came out. Must say KK would fit in quite well if thats what a DOF will be doing.

Aye just random crap made up by the papers.

Sorry like but that is total tosh. If he craved that so much he wouldn't of walked away from football and hidden himself from the limelight for so long. My point was that if he's not the one in charge, he doesn't want to know. The way he's walked away from top class football completely reinforces that. He had enough of management and the media hatred that came with it, he's never wanted to walk away from football, hence what's he's doing right now. He's not in top level football because he doesn't want to be a manager anymore, and no other opportunities have arisen for him. This would be the 1st time he's been given a chance to get back in to it without having to manage. Another thing is if Ashley & Mort are as good as people think they are then they'll have put this passed SA 1st. Right now SA is the manager, and i think the last thing they need to do is piss off a man who's going to stabilize the club at the very least. It wouldn't surprise me at all if SA has already said yes to this. If not, then they've made a huge mistake.

So i take it this clause is now dead and buried as long as we get Euro next season?

Sorry like but that is total tosh. If he craved that so much he wouldn't of walked away from football and hidden himself from the limelight for so long.

Also SA needs a DOF, and KK even though appointed by the board would be firmly on SA's side. The board would inadvertently be appointing an ally to Sam as KK would want whats best on the pitch, and knowing the pressures of management want to support his fellow manager as much as he can. KK turned his back on the club when it went PLC, is now going back to grass roots, this is the type of person we would be bringing in, someone who's got a lot more in common with SA than the board. The more i think of it, the more i think it could work, i just hope SA sees it like this, tbh, he's a bit naive if he sees it any other way, KK doesn't want his job, that part of his life is well over, hes ready to move up again, this would be perfect for him.

Right now this is not a bad idea. The initial buzz of the takeover is fastly wearing off due to who we've signed and now the press are jumping on it to spread even more uncertainty amongst supporters. I think we need a DOF, Keegan though is a nostalgic appointment. I'd have thought Ashley/Mort would of went for the best man possible, the man on top of his game, not someone who's been away for a long time. But, KK still holds a lot of respect, and could still do a great job alongside SA in bringing in players. Its been said but i'll say it again, if SA is happy with this, then i am happy with this. A DOF needs a team anyway, KK would be a great part of that team alongside lawyers & scouts.

No transfer news for 3 weeks. In need of defenders New regime Manager saying he's missing out = Papers ability to capitalize on our uncertainty and anxiety as we've got a reclusive owner who won't state his intentions. You can say what you want about the rags, but this uncertainty has only bred because our new owner has let it. Now if its a ploy so we get player on the cheap then he's done a good job, if its been to mask the truth that there was no money then the fuker is already on level par as the old board, and i find myself waiting for another takeover.

Aye, you telling me, same kind of total disbelief, its not April 1st, whats going on?

Funniest article of the weekend goes to: Lee Bowyer luring Kieron Dyer to West Ham http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/07/29/sfnbow129.xml Lee Bowyer has urged unsettled Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer to forget the lure of European football with Tottenham and join him at Upton Park instead. More than a little surprising, perhaps, considering the pair infamously came to blows on the pitch two years ago when they were still team-mates on Tyneside. advertisement The unforgettable fracas occurred during the second half of Newcastle's 3-0 home defeat to Aston Villa in April 2005. The duo had to be separated and were sent off in shame. But Bowyer, 30, claims he is now a reformed character and insists there is no lingering animosity between the two. "We're fine now,'' he said. ''Back then when it happened, it was just a crazy moment but I honestly don't have any worries about it at all now. ''Admittedly, when I was younger I made many mistakes but now I'm older, I just want to keep myself to myself." Dyer is expected to make his exit from St James' Park within the next 48 hours, bringing an eight-year stay in the North East to a close. West Ham head the pursuit to secure the England international's services for a reported £5 million. Bowyer says he would relish the opportunity of a midfield reunion with Dyer, adding to the trio of former Newcastle players already at the east London club, the others being new arrivals Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker. Bowyer added: "He's a great player, another international, and I think that if he comes to West Ham the competition he would bring would be very good for the squad. He can play anywhere across the middle and as a striker, so why not go for him? Let's wait and see what happens." Bowyer describes West Ham's showing last season, when they struggled to avoid relegation, as 'unacceptable'.But he believes chairman Eggert Magnusson has given a clear sign of intent by adopting a big-spending policy and that the club are ready to progress. "It's exciting because some exceptional players have come to join our club," he said. "I think that the chairman and the manager are now showing the right ambition and that can only be good for everyone.'' Despite the £3 million purchase of Freddie Ljungberg from Arsenal, who scored in yesterday's 3-1 win over Southend, West Ham manager Alan Curbishley has said he is determined to add another midfielder after the ankle injury sustained by new signing Julien Faubert, which could keep him out for up to six months. Dyer sat on the sidelines during Newcastle's 4-1 win over Celtic on Thursday and he will not feature in today's match against Juventus. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce said he had no choice but to "protect the club's asset" as a move now seems inevitable for Dyer.

Cheers.

Sort that fuking AV out.

I saw that quote and I agree with it, but I don't suppose too many people will quite have it in them to admit that he is right about anything at all. Isn't that going to be Morts job (and the team he brings in) though? FS was doing the job of about 5 people in the end, and why not enough opinion was ever given only his and the Halls mattered. Surrounding himself with his own family didn't help the situation. I don't think we need Ashley to be hands on, we just need his money, what we do need though is his people, an d hopefully more arrivals will come in the coming months. Mort himself probably hasn't had the time to be hands on with the manager etc, but maybe this is intentional as that role is seen for a DOF to come in and handle. It reads to me as saying that Sam is unhappy with the fact that he had someone to help him run the club and take weight off him, doing the day to day things that Shepherd did whatever they were, and now that isn't the case. Its a bit of a one in the eye for those who said he "interfered" to have a manager insinuate he found him helpful. Which backs up what other managers have said too, Gullit and Dalglish have both said they have no complaints about him at all. The danger here is if the new owners want to run the club in this way, we could also lose Allardyce. Whether you are happy with this depends of course on how good you think he is, and who a replacement would be But what Shepherd is saying is that Newcastle is too big a club not to need a small team of people running it in constant attendance on a day to day basis in their various roles whatever they may be, and he is right. Too right it takes a big team, but FS tried to run it all by himself. I remember, i think anyway, board members leaving, positions opening up, and those never replaced, but FS taking control of them instead, for long periods of time at least. Its no wonder he made too many mistakes in the end, he was making far too many, and i think that's where people see it as interference. We will never know how much of a hand he had in transfers, but am sure he did, but if we had a DOF that would be his job, and if SA was happy with how he saw FS taking on a form of that role, then in the end SA is saying he could possibly work with a DOF in some capacity and make it work. Am i reading too much into that? No, I can agree with you that he was probably doing too much, and anyone doing too much makes more mistakes than they would. That is entirely fair comment and significant too TT. Baggio is going to come along now and tell us about his DOF's etc but essentially if Sam feels he has lost some support and Mort is not an ally to him like Shepherd was, then it needs to rectified quickly with an appointment of someone, and someone else too if the club needs it to run the club on a day to day basis. Most managers need a number 2 these days, or they have them should I say, as well as whatever job Shepherd did. Must admit, I'm not up to date on any backround changes he's made yet, have we missed something, I did read that a lot of his staff at Bolton handed in their notices, is this true ? I'm all for the club changing its scouting, coaching and medical setup , thats one of the main reasons I wanted Allardyce as manager. His own staff are not here ATM are they? Loads of talk about them resigning, but i haven't heard of any coming here since then. Last i heard a 'war room' was being built at the training complex, but that's not going to be much use if its manned by Terry Mac & Lee Clark is it? An assistant would help, but maybe he finds enough of what he needs in Pearson for that. I hope so, i've taken a liking to him, but no real idea why. Bond i just didn't like from the start, again no idea why. SA could possibly feel isolated ATM with the man who brought him in gone, no direct or working link to the board & owner, and press reports saying he might not be the man for the job, also not being backed so far in this very important transfer window might be playing on his mind. But whats clear right now is he has 99% of the players, and 99% of the fans, and that alone will keep him in a job, when either dwindles, then the board can act against, but i'm sure the fans will be more patient than usual (signing players is a different ball game as you can only do it at certain times, form picks up etc), and i think his personality is reaching all kinds of players (even Luque), and as long as that happens and were winning games and progressing, the fans are onside. DOF? Wow, its a strange role isn't it? I'm not sold on the idea, simply as there is no real definition on it. Some people reckon its this, some something totally different, some find the role insulting, some find it useful, some think its key to a successful football club. For me a DOF is the go between from the board to manager. He should be working with the manager, and slightly against the board. Pushing for money and signings, the footballing voice on the board. For me, if thats how it is, we need one. Right now SA is so busy with training and tactics he doesn't have time for a now and then plan of players, academies, facilities and targeting and signing the right players or looking elsewhere and building up shortlists for the future, and the now. Signing players gets more difficult as the years go on, the market is cut throat, a DOF could ease the load on SA, and at least get him communicating with the board. For me FS saw himself as DOF and a Chairman, and it simply doesn't work, and again, another reason why people call him interfering, especially with transfers. So if we theoretically decide on a DOF being a good idea, who has the larger input on who it should be? Board only appointment, a recommendation from SA or a joint decision? That's where it gets tricky.

I saw that quote and I agree with it, but I don't suppose too many people will quite have it in them to admit that he is right about anything at all. Isn't that going to be Morts job (and the team he brings in) though? FS was doing the job of about 5 people in the end, and why not enough opinion was ever given only his and the Halls mattered. Surrounding himself with his own family didn't help the situation. I don't think we need Ashley to be hands on, we just need his money, what we do need though is his people, an d hopefully more arrivals will come in the coming months. Mort himself probably hasn't had the time to be hands on with the manager etc, but maybe this is intentional as that role is seen for a DOF to come in and handle. It reads to me as saying that Sam is unhappy with the fact that he had someone to help him run the club and take weight off him, doing the day to day things that Shepherd did whatever they were, and now that isn't the case. Its a bit of a one in the eye for those who said he "interfered" to have a manager insinuate he found him helpful. Which backs up what other managers have said too, Gullit and Dalglish have both said they have no complaints about him at all. The danger here is if the new owners want to run the club in this way, we could also lose Allardyce. Whether you are happy with this depends of course on how good you think he is, and who a replacement would be But what Shepherd is saying is that Newcastle is too big a club not to need a small team of people running it in constant attendance on a day to day basis in their various roles whatever they may be, and he is right. Too right it takes a big team, but FS tried to run it all by himself. I remember, i think anyway, board members leaving, positions opening up, and those never replaced, but FS taking control of them instead, for long periods of time at least. Its no wonder he made too many mistakes in the end, he was making far too many, and i think that's where people see it as interference. We will never know how much of a hand he had in transfers, but am sure he did, but if we had a DOF that would be his job, and if SA was happy with how he saw FS taking on a form of that role, then in the end SA is saying he could possibly work with a DOF in some capacity and make it work. Am i reading too much into that?

I saw that quote and I agree with it, but I don't suppose too many people will quite have it in them to admit that he is right about anything at all. Isn't that going to be Morts job (and the team he brings in) though? FS was doing the job of about 5 people in the end, and why not enough opinion was ever given only his and the Halls mattered. Surrounding himself with his own family didn't help the situation. I don't think we need Ashley to be hands on, we just need his money, what we do need though is his people, an d hopefully more arrivals will come in the coming months. Mort himself probably hasn't had the time to be hands on with the manager etc, but maybe this is intentional as that role is seen for a DOF to come in and handle.

He looked good in one of the friendlies I watched the other night. But Eduardo just looked creamy. It goes without saying Eduardo will be good, i've never seen him ( i think i might of but not sure) but the fee and who's bought him suggests he'll do the business. Bendtner FTW simply as he's not a glamour signing, and i like his style.

For me, and am going for the less obvious i'm looking forward to seeing: Nicklas Bendtner (Technically a new EPL player) - A handful at Birmingham, i think with Henry out of the way Wenger has a licence to start anyone he wants, chopping and changing upfront will be done without causing sin against Arsenal fans.

Nani, Anderson & Eduardo, some imagination you all have! So glad you pointed out these £10m+ players just in case i missed them or something.

Manu would take £3m for Silvestre, he simply has no future at Manu. Too scared to come here, knows he'll get lamped off Barton for shite performances in training.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=471478&in_page_id=1779&ct=5 EXCLUSIVE By BOB CASS Last updated at 19:07pm on 28th July 2007 Freddy Shepherd, ousted last week as chairman of Newcastle United, has claimed that his former close friends and boardroom colleagues Sir John and Douglas Hall sold their shareholdings to new owner Mike Ashley without telling him of their intentions. Shepherd says he first heard of the deal as he lay in a hospital bed, fighting pneumonia and a collapsed lung. http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/07_03/shepperd2MOS280707_468x518.jpg "I was lying there with tubes, drains and all sorts sticking out all over when my brother, Bruce, came in and told me that John had arranged to sell his 40 per cent shareholding," said Shepherd in an exclusive interview. "From where I saw it, the whole thing had been done behind my back.Neither John nor Douglas had been in touch to inform me of their intentions. I was not aware of Ashley's interest in the club. His name had never been mentioned. "There had been a few people expressing an interest in the club but he was never on my radar. "I felt disappointed by what had happened, especially remembering our past relationship." Shepherd, who later sold his own 29 per cent shareholding to Ashley for £38 million, insists that he would have put up a greater fight to retain control of the club had he been fit enough. "I was too ill to put up a fight," he said. "Had I not been in the state I was, if I hadn't have been in hospital, things might have been different. "I believe I could have found enough backing to make a counter-bid but it was more or less a fait accompli. "If I had been fit I might have taken up the challenge but I was lying on my back without the strength to do anything. "My main priority was to get well again. I was told later that my condition was very serious and potentially fatal. They took four and a half litres of fluid off my lungs and I lost two and a half stone in weight." Shepherd revealed his disappointment at the circumstances of the club's sale as we spoke in the boardroom at the headquarters of the family business, Shepherd Offshore. Overlooking the Tyne, it somehow lacked the opulence of the boardroom at St James' Park — a 20-minute drive away — where Shepherd had spent the previous 15 years as vice-chairman and then chairman. HIS decision to sell his shareholding to Ashley prompted criticism from some in the city but Shepherd said: "I had no other option but to follow suit and sell my shares." He insists much was achieved in his time at the club. "We have a ground that would cost the thick end of £300m to build today, one of the best training establishments in the country and a brand new academy. "We also have some top-quality players. There is no doubt we'd have finished a lot higher in the table last season but for what everybody acknowledges was a horrendous run of injuries.You have to accept criticism, although a lot of it was personal. But I just wonder what the supporters wanted from me. "None of the managers who were at the club while I was chairman could say they didn't get 100 per cent backing in the transfer market. "Looking back, I probably went too far to try to please the managers and the supporters." He accepts that the downward trend during the managerial reign of Graeme Souness and his successor, Glenn Roeder, began with the departure of Sir Bobby Robson. Shepherd says he regrets the circumstances surrounding the sacking of the former England manager. "Bobby and I remain firm friends. He knows what happened and doesn't hold anything against me," said Shepherd. He also insisted that, contrary to speculation fanned by recent police raids in Newcastle, he had a clear conscience when it came to investigations into Premier League transfer dealings. Although Shepherd was one of two football personalities questioned in their homes by City of London police investigating corruption in football, he said: "I've co-operated fully with the investigations by Quest and anybody else. I have absolutely nothing to hide. "Lord Stevens has said all of the clubs are in the clear, so that should be the end of it all as far as I am concerned." He believes he has left Newcastle in good managerial hands, saying: "At least I feel my last appointment could turn out to be the right one. "Sam Allardyce will be successful as manager if he receives the kind of backing that I gave the people who were in the job before him. He's exactly the right type for Newcastle — tall in stature; strong willed; an out-and-out football man. That's what the club needs right now." Shepherd accepts he was on borrowed time at the club once Ashley assumed complete control. But he warned the new owner that Newcastle need daily, hands-on treatment to be successful. "Once the club was de-listed, my situation was redundant," he said. "Mike Ashley now owns the club lock, stock and barrel and is solely responsible for their future welfare. I wouldn't presume to tell him how to run things but all I will say is that I don't believe it can be done by proxy. "We may live in an age of communication but I believe Newcastle are a club who need dedicated day-to-day handling. "The competition for success in the Premier League is fearsome. It doesn't begin to resemble what the situation was like when we first moved into St James' Park. Those who supported the club before then seem to forget the bad old days. "I supported the club, starting from my days as a kid standing on the terraces at the Gallowgate End before I moved into the boardroom, and I'll still be supporting the club now that I've left it. "And I'm proud of what has been achieved during my time there. I've made mistakes but show me somebody who hasn't. On the whole, I think I've done a good job. "I want Newcastle to be successful and I hope Mike Ashley can do what, regrettably, I could not — that is, bring some major silverware into the trophy room."

I've known in my lifetime about 20-30 Scots, and i've found one who i can tolerate. I might have just been unlucky, but my opinion is formed, there all tarred with the same for me, i know i shouldn't but its hard not too. Actually just thinking make that 2, theres an old bloke i have a few pints with and he's hilariously serious, its comical. One hand a pint of the cheapest beer, the other a daily record.