Bad Mongo

Just what exactly is the massive work he had put into the academy?

It is the structure that has failed. The people working in it have brought in some good players, but I'm sure they could have done that if they were working under the manager instead of the other way around. On the other hand, the structure as it is is a recipe for conflicts between the man in charge of the first team and the people bringing in players to the team. You may say it would be fine if the team manager was more of a coach and a yes-man than Keegan is, but then there is the question of whether such a person will have the players' full respect. The structure won't work, and so far it hasn't worked. That's a fact.

David Bowie. He would bring some of the glamour back, and could take our mind off football for a while.

And so what? If Keegan had said "no, it was Wise, he sold him behind my back", don't you think the board would have some issue with that? He had to say what he said at the time, even though selling Milner clearly wasn't his idea.

Sorry, but the world just doesn't work that way.

Milner wanted to leave, so we sold him (and Keegan probably approved it) for 12 mil. How is this relevant? Milner wanted a contract that reflected the club's valuation of him. If the club rejects offers of £10M for him, then he should at least be paid as a £10M player.

You know perfectly well that that's just guesswork. Also, it doesn't make sense.

I don't think the poll options go well with the question.

All of that is, at best, bullshit.

I seriously don't think think it's the personnel that has caused the problem (despite my avatar). They've done a great job in bringing in good players for reasonable money, the problem is that they haven't been the right players, or, rather, the right players have been missing. That is what happens when the manager isn't in charge of player recruitment. We now have a squad with three left wingers (I count Jonas as one) and no real right wingers (Geremi is no longer one). Instead of finding the best players for the team, they have been finding good players for the team to make the best of. That might look economical up front, but I doubt it will bring the best return of investment. Naturally, this is a recipe for conflicts between manager and board.

Feel a bit sorry for him. He did some good and some very bad, probably all with no ill intentions, but in the end he'll probably have made more money on it than I will do in my entire life. Good riddance and no grudges. [edit] And now sell up and get out quickly, you big fat cunt.

Why should the club then go on to lie to the fans, and have Keegan do the same? Why not just say that we've got a fantastic modern set-up with world-class scouting and fantastic negotiators: Keegan only needs to say which type of player he wants, and they'll dig him up from somewhere.

The club have positively confirmed they're liars by releasing a statement that contradicts a lot of what they have said earlier. I don't understand why this is still a matter of debate.

And you know this because ... ? No.

One of the stories circulating was that Keegan was enraged when told by Wise that the Schweinsteiger transfer didn't happen because Tony Jimenez didn't want to sign him. Which seems like a reasonable response. So I think it might be true, since it would explain why Keegan flipped. Problem is, it's still just speculation, and I don't have any solid facts. It just fits the pattern I'd expect: first having to deal with an unwanted situation beyond his control (Milner) then a major blow (Schweinsteiger), and at last being pissed around for no good reason (Xisco and Nacho). Before that, he must have been disappointed with the slow progress on the transfer market, especially as there were people working "full time" on it. Poor communication has probably been a part of it as well. You don't get so easily disappointed if you know what to expect.

My guess is that, probably among many other niggling things, Keegan felt massively let down when after he'd been convinced/forced to sell Milner, and told the fans to judge him after the last day of the transfer windows, he got only a loan signing they hadn't even bothered telling him about and a very inexperienced striker, making him look a right cunt.

It's a team game, and although the new signings are OK, they have only barely improved the first team. An injury to either Coloccini or Jonas, and we're worse off than we would be last year with an injury to Faye or Milner. The left back we didn't sign. The replacement for Milner. Wouldn't it be better if the man bringing it all together had some say in what he was supposed to bring together, instead of just buying a bunch of "brilliant" discount players and hope they all would gel?

Would you expect to get 12 months out of him without a resignation? If the deal is good and promises are kept, then I see no reason to believe he'll resign again.

Sorry to break this to you, but Newcastle lost today, man.

Yes. I wouldn't expect a top half finish with any other manager than Keegan.

How do you know that was the reason why Barton was kept? There's a very good chance no one would want him at the moment.

Allardyce would probably have lost that game with that squad as well.

It's not a compromise if it doesn't involve both.

Stop it.

Similarly with Windows, you can use Task Manager (right click on the task bar --> task manager) and close just Firefox (or whatever browser you use). Or better yet, use NoScript plugin for Firefox and don't be rickrolled unless you want to.