toontownman

Cant see this Nigerian company having as much money as ashley let alone more. Can see us being worse off should they come in, good intentions or not.

Venables makes me feel sick, it might work in the short term though. Would probably prefer Hoddle who would probably be more reliable, steadying fit. Venables could be a great fit or it could be a disaster. Neither inspire me but we dont have many choices and need someone in asap!

I agree, but some people probably aren't making a protest by not going, they just guess it could be a particularly miserable game, regardless of the result. I'm still undecided, let's face it, it'll be easy to get tickets on the gate. All of this. Boycott means f-all to Ashley, just gives the press more to feed on and takes away support from the team. One that desperatley needs all the help it can get in the one competition we might actually of had a chance of winning. Sad.

OMG 75m transfer kitty, lets get them in right away! 75m over 10 years! This Nigerian consortium un-nerves me.

LOL, funniest analogy of the year. However I think we are desperate enough for a shag that we'll consider anything right now. Lets hope we don't wake up in the morning to find we've made a terrible mistake. To be fair we have bedded enough stunners that turned out to be bunny boilers, boring as hell or commitment-a-phobes that or they had ego's that were unbearable to live with, granted we shafted one or two good ones in more ways than one. Some people just have no luck in love.

Would be suprised if he didnt want another crack at it, certainly would have alot to prove after last time. Been out of the game longer than Keegan though, which shouldnt matter if he is just interim and coaching for the short term. He had a very tough job thrust upon him the first time, was always going to be hard following Keegan as Im sure will be the case again. He also had to rebuild the youth and reserve teams Keegan had abolished before his exit. Players respect him and he would probably settle the ship. Would be insane if not odd if he came back again but nothing is a suprise anymore!

At least they might bring appiah in when they come.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/top10s/article1711376.ece Closest the Sun has come to talking sense ever?

Not for me, although I like the man. I would doubt he would come either, he is turning things round at Fulham slowly and talked about repaying Fulhams faith in him, he also has no reason for the extra stress at his age. Certainly better than a whole host of other names already mentioned but would still prefer the likes of Houllier.

We will get raped in this game imo. Hopefully Martins will be back, resting Owen isnt a bad idea but we really need him, dont see him dropped. Bassong is a must for LB.

Sadly this. The main target should be getting one of these in for the short term in the hopes they can turn us around to a position that might be attractive to a higher quality of manager. On the down side this approach would still see the majority of players leaving. They just want stability and some kind of communication, sounds familiar..

Houllier, Houllier, Houllier! please.

thats almost as bad as my Venables claims! No quotes, no names yet apparently 8 have turned the job down. Farce is the right word, but ironically written.

Beardsley for Manager, of the youth team. Know little of his coaching skills, seems strange a shame he is still at Boro but they have a great set up and maybe something he can bring back to us in the future.

wouldnt suprise me to see Viduka play a quarter of the amount of games xisco does, but I bet he scores double the amount of goals.

Was mentioned that Venables rebuffed an approach from us to take over on Setanta this morning in the build up to the bolton/arsenal game. I havent seen it written or mentioned anywhere else, although I havent been searching for it, just what they said.

Go all out for Houllier IMO. Was previously interested, will get the squad together, has the experience, is respected and more than anything else might keep Michael Owen here longer than January. Might understandably not fancy the job under the current circumstances, however at his age might also like the short term appeal of steadying the ship. Can see O'Leary here by weds though. El Tel has already turned us down apparently so I doubt we are even thinking outside the British box.

I went to this joke of a game today, and I think you have got it absolutely spot on. Must be in the minority then, I thought Duff played well after the first 15mins. Colo wasnt nearly as bad as your making out and is still finding his feet in the league, having the snails infront protecting the back four and the complete bilge on either full back flank we had today would make Ferdinand or Terry look like Boumsong. As someone earlier stated Edgar is worse than Ramage and has half his pace! Xisco looked good holding up play but lacks the edge coming forward, some of his lay offs were great, working alongside fatty viduka when he is back will do him wonders. Thought Butt was wasteful again, alongside a LB a replacement for Butt is priority come January. Cacapa played well but like Geremi is limited due to his woeful lack of pace, despite showing decent creativity. I cant understand why Bassong isnt starting, Nacho looked lightweight when he came on but might be a better bet for Weds than sticking with Cacapa and Butt. There were two teams for the taking today, unfortunatley West Ham had the positive edge having appointed Zola, whilst we are very much in limbo. We could have easily had two penalties courtesy of Scott Parker and a free kick right on the edge, none of which were given. It was never going to be our day after the luck we had for the first goal. I have seen us play much worse, I'm not concerned in the slightest about the team, the passing and forward thinking football is still leagues ahead of what we are used pre Keegan (2nd coming), we had some great link up play at times but struggled to convert, we miss someone running through the middle, hopefully Nacho can step up to that. Its strained at the moment but we have half our first team injured. Its imperative however we get in someone experienced in charge to turn the negativity around and get the players lifted. The club will be set up nicely when the injured return over the next 3 weeks and whoever takes over really only needs a handful of quality players in January to push us drastically forward. Getting a manager in (even interim) will be enough to swing the players spirits back to winning ways. The problem is finding the right person and soon.

Times ten. Would probably rather have him than Ince but there must be better choices even for the short term.

Venables wouldnt be a bad bet. Dislike the man but he is a good coach and would command respect amongst the players, rather than sneers and laughter the O'Leary or Curbs would provoke. Cant see us appointing anyone other than Interim which cuts the decent names down to minimum. Interim could be a bad bet mind, just imagine O'Leary did well for a few matches, suddenly the press would be wetting themselves pushing him for the full time job, wouldnt take long for the mongs to follow suit. There isnt much reason for Keegan not coming back if he really wants the job now Cashley is on the way out. I think it would be farcical to get someone in for a month or two only for Keegan to come back with new owners, If he doesnt come back now Id rather we moved on to someone completely different with the new board coming in.

You see, its not all bad news! http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/newcastle/article4769607.ece Should be fit just in time for us to pay someone to take him in January.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/sep/16/newcastleunited.premierleague1 Debt? What Debt? Shepherd hits out at Ashley over 'ridiculous' Newcastle claims Mike Ashley's claims that he inherited a financial mess at Newcastle United and possibly saved the club from going bust have been rubbished by Freddy Shepherd. Newcastle's former chairman last night defended his regime and said he had left all departments in good shape. Ashley is seeking to sell the club a year after buying out the Hall family along with Shepherd, who had a smaller stake. He claimed on Sunday that without him Newcastle "might not have survived". But Shepherd said the sports retailer, who had opted against due diligence, had purchased a club equipped for prosperity. "It's absolutely ridiculous; everything was covered," Shepherd said. "But what Ashley didn't realise was that he had to pay off the mortgage on the stadium. If the Halls lost control, that debt had to be paid immediately. The largest part of the debt was the stadium and I think he had to pay around £57m. "To build that stadium now would cost £450m. Newcastle were in good shape when I left. There was no way the club was going anywhere but upwards." Nevertheless Newcastle still owe about £27m in instalments on transfer fees negotiated under Shepherd. "Yes, they are still paying off the tail end of Owen's deal and possibly one or two others, but we're not the first to have done that," he said. "It's not unusual. We'll stand by our record, the Halls and the Shepherds. We built a great stadium, we built a great training ground. We left all the tools there and a good set of players. Everything was there. We've nothing to be ashamed of. "We were always looking at ways to expand the business and increase turnover. I make no apology for the fact that we were in the Champions League twice and Europe more times than I can recall." Shepherd believes Newcastle to be worth "about £230m". He said: "Ashley would get a buyer at that price. That would prove he does love the club and is doing right by it rather than himself." But Ashley is expected to put the asking price at about £300m. Shepherd said he was considering offers from two consortiums to become involved again. "A lot of people can buy football clubs. It has now been proved not a lot of people can run them." And he said Ashley, while seeking a buyer, should reinstate Kevin Keegan as manager.

Does this mean there is no chance of Mort returning? Shame its come to this. This whole episode will certainly act as a warning to potential investors.

Bassong is the bollocks. I have been really pleased with Bassong Looks a tidy defender. So far so good. If Enrique isnt fit for Spammers we need to start him at LB. If Enrique is fit I wouldnt mind him starting at CB, dropping butt and maybe putting Colo just infront.

That or just sticking two fingers up at Keegan for walking away!