Benwell Lad

First of all let me say it, I love Kevin Keegan, a genuine man and a people's person. I loved watching him play in black and white, I loved what he brought to us as a manager. When he returned in January like many I was misty eyed and tried to believe the "Messiah's return" was the best thing for us, but deep down inside me there were serious doubts about whether he would truly be up to the job of modern day football management. It seems that towards the end of his latest tenure as manager at Newcastle he fought a losing battle in trying to resist the modern football trend of a management team running the business and recruitment side of the club and a coach looking after the team, training and matches. Sadly whether we like it or not English football will gradually adopt the system they already have in Spain,Italy, Germany and France etc and in a few years there will be no managers as such, only head coaches like Scolari at Chelsea. I'm sorry it ended like it did for Keegan and that he was unable to iron out the differences, after all he was building a good team and he himself was pleased with a lot of the recruitment to date and I really wish that even when he regarded his position as untenable that he couldn't have said "OK I'm being paid millions this isn't working but I'll stay with the players until a successor is found" thereby avoiding the present shambolic state of affairs. Sorry you went King Kev, but life WILL go on. We will continue supporting Newcastle, although right now it feels hard to do so, I guess the only reason we're so upset is because we truly love the club. I hope whoever succeeds KK will be given a fair chance by us, the fans, and that he will be able to adapt to the way football seems to be evolving.

Supermac, Glenn Roeder, Rob Lee, Warren Barton and many other southerners/Londoners have been held in great affection in Newcastle. The tone of the article is a bit patronising and parochial, I don't believe we have anything against Londoners in general and irrespective of where these people came from they would be facing the same criticisms.

Good luck to the kid, he seems to have talent and a decent attitude. Amongst all the accusations and anger presently flying around we MUST do our bit to help the players and even give this kid extra support.

I reallt wanted Keegan to stay but once again he has bottled it when things didn't go entirely his way. It's the third time he's walked out on Newcastle and we're the club he loves. Great guy but maybe this will be the best thing in the long run, although right now it feels like anything but.

I 100% want KK to remain as our manager, but the longer this goes on the more I begin to think he is the main cause of the problem most likely helped by Terry Mac. Get it sorted Kev, it appears right now you're holding most of the aces. Please stay but if you are going just go.

One man doesn't run a football club but one man should run team affairs including which players he wants playing for him. That man is the most important person at the football club because he determines whether or not we are successful. All other employees of the football club are there to support the manager, and that includes the chairman, director of football, scouts, contract negotiators, coaches, players, boot boy etc. That is why Keegan should be given exactly what he wants and needs if he is to do his job to the best of his ability. Ashley should say to Keegan 'this is how much you have to spend, this is our salary cap, all players purchased must be under the age of 26. Now off you go sunshine, go and bring us some silverware'. End of! Try telling AC Milan, Barcalona, Real Madrid and Chelsea that. None of them clubs run under the system you have just described, as well as half the clubs on the continent. The Chairmen of all of these clubs buy and sell player sbehind their managers' backs. Are you sure about that? Sadly, yes they do. Maybe not in the sinister way you suggest but very few continental coaches get much say in who the club buys or sells. They have a manager (more akin to an English chairman or CEO) who recruits players and a coach (like an English manager) who works with what he has at his disposal. It works OK at Real Madrid and to some extent Chelsea but obviously was never going to work for Newcastle.

And even more worrying :- "This is what Newcastle fans are saying about the matter"

There's no way that's true, if there was a 'revolt' (which there isn't) can you imagine Michael Owen 'leading it'? Laughable. Certainly is laughable, but no more so than most of the other tripe written recently.

Agree they're unlikely to go down but the original point was that IF they did they would not be able to shift their players. Most of their signings were not in big demand but were given long contracts on extremely high wages, which lets face it was the reason they chose to go to Sunderland. It's very unlikely any of those players would find similar terms elsewhere. Their gates are below 40K already and that is 2 games into a Premiership season where they have spent record amounts and optimism is at an all time high. They'd get better than average crowds in the Championship but that didn't help Leeds, Leicester or indeed Derby so far. Any club who go down will have financial problems but as the financial guy said IF they did they would have massive problems due to the disproportionately top heavy wage bill they have structured. Still like you say they're unlikely to go down.

Very reassuring. Sounds excellent. Somehow I don't think Keegan would be upset at securing a Spanish U21 forward who was top scorer in a La Liga side last year.

A lot of Premiership clubs are in worse situations than Newcastle and some even in greater turmoil. The media just don't seem so obsessed with them however.

Thanks very much. Sometimes I feel unappreciated around here! was meant for me Nope, was meant for me. Erm... coz I say so? look ,he's from benwell,if you want to wake him and ask him you can but he'll send his charva knife wielding clan after ya. tell you what ? i'll concede. Nice post too Madras but applause was intended for Hindu Times starting a thread about FOOTBALL of all strange things. I originate from Benwell and still go back occasionally. Back then it wasn't a charva infested knife wielding place, well maybe an occasional knife but not too many.

What a good post I'd almost forgotten about the football.

See where you're coming from, but not as things are at present. Mike Ashley has made us debt free and our wage bill is a lot more sustainable than theirs. At least that's what the business analyst said................

But there again Sky did say Keegan had been fired and BBC radio 5 did say "Kevin Keegan has parted company with Newcastle after just 8 months in charge" hours before the club made any kind of statement. They should admit they were wrong and were sold down the river by some other journalist's rumours, they should apologise for reporting rumour as fact and the confusion and anger it subsequently caused.

How do you know how much their owners will be willing to splash next season? From what they've done this transfer window I would suggest it's pretty clear they have set their sights high and are willing to invest accordingly. Oh, and didn't they spend a lot last season as well, only the level of player they could attract was lower because they had only just come up and were prime candidates to go down. As they continue to progress they will be able to attract a higher profile of player, and seeing as they've spent big in every major transfer window since their takeover I would like to know what makes you think it will stop soon? we'll see. maybe they'll be able to match it next year maybe not, but the year after, and the one after that? we may well be hampered in our spending because we're giving a lot of very average players a lot of money, but what happens when they want to replace the ferdinands, the malbranques and the dioufs (who are not brilliant players, although they are good) and find they dont want to go because they are being paid 60K a week a piece and no one will pay them that much. they don't have a bottomless pit of money. If those three players you mention had signed for us this transfer window countless people would have been quite happy I imagine. Hell, they're happy with Danny Guthrie and Bassong who are a damn sight less proven in this league.. I think Guthrie and Bassong are very shrewd acquisitions and Jonas and Coloccini excellent ones. Sorry but the only player Sunderland have signed who I think would have been good for us is McCartney, none of the others are any better than squad players we already have. You think we have someone better than Malbranque in the middle of the park? Yes I do. A couple actually and they're probably better suited to playing and living in the north east long term. If Malbranque is still a regular starter for Sunderland and playing well at the end of the season I may review my opinion.

On the contrary, you can guarantee that they will all be digging deeper than ever to find any traces of unrest and no doubt fabricating internal frictions where they can't find any. They've all been made to look stupid and they'll do anything they can do to prove they were right all along. If anything we are in for a rougher ride than ever from the media now. Lets wait until the whole episode is over first and we can say for definite that they were wrong They were wrong though, Keegan wasn't sacked and didn't walk out. They were reporting as if it happened there and then. He may have walked out at one point on Tuesday, but for Sky to be reporting it in that manner is apauling, without any official word from the club, they were reporting what was a rumour for atleast 2/3rd's of the news cycle. But they used the safety net phrase.... "sources tell us" Its like avoiding a libel claim by stating 'allegedly' - you are saying something which would seem to be fact, but then covering yourself. The BBC blog article says as much... "The BBC and almost every other outlet received information from the most reliable and informed sources that Keegan had left his position. This would not have been reported had there been the slightest doubt." If he ends up staying, its just more reason not to belive the press in future, until things come direct from the club/people concerned. Maybe from now on we should treat any report using unnamed sources as fabrication. If someone has said something which can create such confusion and end up being the main story on certain news channels then the "source" should be bloody well named.

On the contrary, you can guarantee that they will all be digging deeper than ever to find any traces of unrest and no doubt fabricating internal frictions where they can't find any. They've all been made to look stupid and they'll do anything they can do to prove they were right all along. If anything we are in for a rougher ride than ever from the media now. You may be right, but after yesterday's press debacle it's hard to see how they could sink any lower. But there again .....................

How do you know how much their owners will be willing to splash next season? From what they've done this transfer window I would suggest it's pretty clear they have set their sights high and are willing to invest accordingly. Oh, and didn't they spend a lot last season as well, only the level of player they could attract was lower because they had only just come up and were prime candidates to go down. As they continue to progress they will be able to attract a higher profile of player, and seeing as they've spent big in every major transfer window since their takeover I would like to know what makes you think it will stop soon? we'll see. maybe they'll be able to match it next year maybe not, but the year after, and the one after that? we may well be hampered in our spending because we're giving a lot of very average players a lot of money, but what happens when they want to replace the ferdinands, the malbranques and the dioufs (who are not brilliant players, although they are good) and find they dont want to go because they are being paid 60K a week a piece and no one will pay them that much. they don't have a bottomless pit of money. If those three players you mention had signed for us this transfer window countless people would have been quite happy I imagine. Hell, they're happy with Danny Guthrie and Bassong who are a damn sight less proven in this league.. I think Guthrie and Bassong are very shrewd acquisitions and Jonas and Coloccini excellent ones. Sorry but the only player Sunderland have signed who I think would have been good for us is McCartney, none of the others are any better than squad players we already have.

Usually I wouldn't agree that the press should be held accountable for the effects of what they report, (Football wise, other issues are completely different) however with SSN and Co. stating that Keegan was sacked as if it was fact this has actually had a LARGE detremental effect upon our club. The anti - Ashley feeling was spread rediculous amounts on Tuesday, which I feel will linger and likely undermine what will happen with us in the future. The 500 or so that turned out to protest done so thinking that SSN etc... was reporting fact, which is what they made it out to be, however instead they knew f*** all. Obviously something happened on Monday night/Tuesday morning, but they haven't got a clue. The rediculous idea that the media have a conspiracy against us isn't looking too far off the mark tbh. Murdoch to buy Newcastle ?

but they have a much better squad of players and are looking more likely to stay up ? Much better than "preparing for relegation" don't you think ? Definitely. Unless they were to get relegated of course. But as you say that's unlikely.

I've always enjoyed the old Newcastle/Sunderland rivalry like any north eastern fan. Funnily enough I actually liked their previous managers Reid and MacCarthy who were true football men. My dislike of them definitely got worse when they hired the leg breaking, country betraying Keane to manage them. And then when they signed Chimbonda and the hockler.............. In fairness I think they finally made a good signing when they got MacCartney back. I'm not saying they will go down, or even that I hope that they will go down for that matter, just saying that some financial business analyst has said they will be in big trouble IF they go down.

Only passing on what some business analyst said. Anyway Sky etc full of emails and texts from mischievous mackems pretending to be NUFC fans, so best they know what the consequences for their own failure may be.

Is their any chance that Sky TV, BBC, Tyne Tees TV and various publications may offer a public apology for the confusion and anger they caused yesterday due to reporting rumours and lies , and their ridiculing of Newcastle United and it's supporters ?

According to some business analyst on radio this evening. Apparently their wage bill is astronomical and way out of line with revenues. Relegation would finish them off this time. Bearing in mind their gates are already below 40K this season despite man City bringing a huge following, Keane may be under real pressure for the first time if results don't go their way. At least their previous regime prepared for relegation and always had contingencies in place.