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This.Thats all. Wouldnt they be suing him for 2m? Couldnt give a shit tbh,i just know if something meant so much to me i wouldnt be trying to skank money from it. Seeing as he was contractually obliged to pay up £2m if he broke the deal, he'd only avoid that if he claimed that they'd broken the deal. Bearing that in mind might explain him accepting an out of court settlement, eh? Doesn't want to be wrongfully sued but doesn't want to screw the club he loves - a settlement would thus not suggest his case wasn't watertight. Flawless logic, so far as I'm aware.

Dont be crazy. As if Ashley is thinking of 'hanging Keegan out to dry' after the reaction of the fans to him leaving. PR disaster. Turn of phrase which seemed appropriate as I was thinking back to their 'FACT' phase. If they're in the right, they should set about demonstrating it as clearly as possible so as to nullify that reaction you speak of. It still hangs over the club, we've lived through the PR disaster - I dare say it can't get any worse, as I think going forwards, things that are going to drive attendances down and generally upset the support are going to relate far more to their overall running of the club (appearing to seriously consider Kinnear the long-term manager of the club etc.). 'Out of court settlements' and silence are going to be for the worse, if they're serious about wanting to drive this club on with the spirit it possessed not so long ago. On a personal level, I agree with you. I dont think a lot of other fans would accept Keegan getting another fucking over from the club, nor do i think the club's hierarchy understands where some fans (the open-minded ones) are with regards to the whole debate. I might be wrong, but my judgement is most of those who would have a support-ending reaction to Keegan getting fucked already have done, though it might make some others feel temporarily sore again. Still, making a triage judgement, I also think it would make many feel less sore about the previous fucking - and for yet more, it would dispel some of the fog that has surrounded the regime's motivations since it all took place. People won't keep looking back to that period wondering what took place and whether it means the regime do or don't deserve faith over future matters. Agreed on your last point about the club not understanding. They seem to be consistently clueless as to what people want out of the club.

Dont be crazy. As if Ashley is thinking of 'hanging Keegan out to dry' after the reaction of the fans to him leaving. PR disaster. Turn of phrase which seemed appropriate as I was thinking back to their 'FACT' phase. If they're in the right, they should set about demonstrating it as clearly as possible so as to nullify that reaction you speak of. It still hangs over the club, we've lived through the PR disaster - I dare say it can't get any worse, as I think going forwards, things that are going to drive attendances down and generally upset the support are going to relate far more to their overall running of the club (appearing to seriously consider Kinnear the long-term manager of the club etc.). 'Out of court settlements' and silence are going to be for the worse, if they're serious about wanting to drive this club on with the spirit it possessed not so long ago - succeeding in justifying their behaviour in September, both legally and morally, would do them a huge amount of good.

Very selective. There is no plan for Kinnear to get a net spend of £30 million in the summer, regardless of the outcome of Keegan's settlement, and nothing that Llambias has said points to that happening. Have you been in the boardroom meetings recently then? Funny how we tend to believe the press when it's negative and not when it says something like that. It's a nonsense sentence. By that same token, we'll also be shelling out money for Luque et al from that 'Summer kitty'. Furthermore, it's the first time I've ever encountered the figure '£15m'. Just yesterday I heard Llambias, with my own ears, say '£5m to £10m a season' - a reduction on the original figure of £20m. Finally, regarding this figure's use, it assumes it all goes into transfer spending this Summer, not having previously been dipped into, nor earmarked for next January, nor - most importantly - spent on our apparently serious debts. There has never been any indication that Ashley intends to 'plough' this sum into the club's transfers while separately loaning it money for running costs. Indeed. If they're in the right, they should hang him out to dry for the good of the club, in my view.

Just to pick up on this logic which I hear a lot; How many managers have we had that were 'proven' (to be good) (by reasonable standards) before coming to us over the past 15 years? Two or maybe three out of seven by most's standards (SBR (obviously), Dalglish (Championships at Liverpool and Blackburn, can't really complain) and arguably Allardyce (considerable long-term achievements with small clubs, I know many would disagree)) - the rest are Keegan (totally unproven), Souness and Roeder (proven to be bad) and Gullit (mixed - fairly unproven, with some bad points coming from Chelsea). Therefore, there's no sense in saying we should go for Martinez just because we've been trying the opposite in the past. Go for him because you think what he's doing is proving him, go for him because you predict he will prove himself with us - fine, but not because we should spin the wheel 'for a change'.

Big ears, apparently.

Not happy. Expected this, but not happy.

Fuck.

For my reputation's sake, I should point out I don't particularly believe in what I said myself. It is the most sensible-sounding explanation for it all as I can up up with, but as we're finding, we seem to have an administration that can come up with as logic-defying a collection of decisions as our previous one, amazingly. That said, I do find the eagerness to speak about it combined with the inaction strange and worthy of explanation. I make a habit of treating the content of this board's words as worthless, and instead trying to divine their purpose from the tangible actions I can hold onto as being true. As such, for once, this approach allows for a relatively positive spin - 'Kinnear speaks of contract offer + Board speaks of contract offer + no contract to be signed until Summer = ??'

Out April 1st, aye. Ah, well there you go.

Awful... White and red looks tacky as fuck, incidentally. Like some sort of tinpot ex-Soviet country. Keep it white or maybe have blue on for old time's sake

Do that at home. No way would I have that in the stadium. Replays at certain times - maybe (half-time?).

I remember seeing the full version of that, getting on 20 years ago on The Word, that bloke is actually wearing dungarees but the donkey started chasing him and whilst trying to mount him, his dungarees fell down and the terror on the blokes face as he tried to run away with donkey trying to rape his bare arse. Hilarious viewing at the time! :lol:

I'm gonna give them some credit and suggest this is a facade Kinnear and the Board were cooperating in - Kinnear wasn't going to be kept on, but both parties recognised that perceivably limited authority undermines an incumbent manager. Thus they agreed to pretend it was forever in order to maximise their respective successes, Kinnear now holding a better chance of accruing a decent reputation. This would explain why he didn't snap their hand off when offered the job but made a habit of talking about it. That's probably it...

No, he wasn't, he was buying them on the open market, from other people. And furthermore for the sake of argument, what would it have to do with anything if he was? Neither Shepherd nor anyone else was putting anything into the club. I could've bought shares off the Halls with fresh money, never mind money Shepherd voted to take out of the club, but the act wouldn't have made any difference to the club's prospects in itself.

As I feared, Ashley and Llambias are disavowing the footballing aspect of the club. The trouble is if refuse to give significant consideration to footballing matters, we must ask who effectively holds the executive powers in that theatre? Who informs them how and when they should act? I believe, as per usual in England, the DoF has ended up securing a niche for himself, able to allow blame to be attached to the 'coach', while possessing the ear of whoever holds his job in their hands. Jimenez is gone, Vetere is merely a scout so far as I'm aware, and Kinnear is/was a patsy. Wise, it keeps being suggested, is untouchable. While I don't think that will quite be the case, I do strongly suspect his position in the decision-making structure will hold us back for some time (see Comolli). It wouldn't have been so bad if Wise were a person who was there as a 'Director of the Director of Football' - literally the footballing eyes and ears of the chairman, if the chairman rightly recognises he is so incompetent in that sphere. Someone fulfilling that role would, obviously, need to be trustworthy enough not to seek to seize power themselves (for someone who did, see Pleat).

It wouldn't be quite so bad if there was anything in the world to suggest Wise was appropriate for the job. Ultimately, he's just a lower division manager with some friends in the game. Might as well have gone for Tony Adams. Having said that I'm glad we didn't go for Adams. No one outside the club really knows whether Wise is doing a good job or a bad job, he's just an easy target being a cross-eyed dwarf with an attitude problem. If we know that to be true, we already know he isn't right for the job - the relationship between DoFs and 'Coaches' is absolutely critical. As madras has already driven at, though, its the original decision to appoint him that I take the greatest issue with. Where was the rationale behind having him before anyone else?

It wouldn't be quite so bad if there was anything in the world to suggest Wise was appropriate for the job. Ultimately, he's just a lower division manager with some friends in the game. Might as well have gone for Tony Adams.

I can't work out if it's a shadow or if he's growing a 'tache! Looks like Michael Jackson. NUFC really nearly was the death of a manager. Wow. Best of luck to him in his recovery. In what way does he look like Michael Jackson? Nostril-to-chin area. Looks strangely chiselled, misshapen and plastic. Similar colour, too.

I can't work out if it's a shadow or if he's growing a 'tache! Looks like Michael Jackson. NUFC really nearly was the death of a manager. Wow. Best of luck to him in his recovery.

Doesn't sound like he wasn't saying that, either, though. Going off his statement alone, we cannot tell, put simply. Another reasonable interpretation of those two sentences is that the £8m referred to is perceived as being Ashley's, not the club's, and it's this money that he's 'not afraid to spend'. You know, the same way as how his loan to the club is apparently actually him taking on the debt himself.

Re: Dean and Webb, how come we were never allowed to have Clattenburg referee our games? That's why action should be taken over these revelations. Either they've lied or the Premier League has had double standards. I think it's fair to assume they aren't just into '60s pop classics.

That was Harper. 'Oh...'

Getting better. I John Robertson was a slow, unspectacular winger but knew how to put a cross in. He's obviously been doing something with him. I'd consider him a right sided midfielder rather than a winger, in any case, if that makes sense. Also in his favour may be the fact that we have Young on the other wing sticking the crosses in, so he's not the only player we can turn to for balls in to the box. That brings back memories. Ironic you should say that seeing as Souness was one of the worst things to happen to Milner.

What inspired you to take on the job? How do you feel you've built upon Chris Mort's tenure at the club?