macphisto

Just been reading the 3 Legends book and found it to be an alright read and there are some interesting bits from Malcolm. According to him he reckons that fat Fred wanted Woodgate back in the summer but Roeder wanted Huth so we ended up with no one! He also claims that Robson knew nothing about the signing of Milner! Bernie also states as fact that Mclaren tried to become the manager of the Toon when he was at Middlesbrough! There is some rubbish in the book though as Malcolm states that Mclaren had not done enough in management to become the England manager and then says he would have given the job to Alan Ball!!

Not sure if this should be in the takeover thread but I thought it deserved to be a separate topic! I was just wondering what people thought were the reasons for the mad rush to take over football clubs? My guess is that they must all be expecting to make money on Internet rights and subscriptions in the future as this is the only way that all the new owners will recoup their money with out having to rely on Champions League qualification and other non certainties (i.e. whether Newcastle will be granted rights for a casino, West Ham making money on relocating to the new Olympic stadium). It doesn’t take too much of a smart person to know that Internet rights will happen at some stage and when they do the clubs will make a fortune. It all looks very similar to just before the “sky revolution” kicked off and I can see it having the same impact. For example just before and after Sky was launched many clubs floated on the stock market. Only difference now is that new owners are coming in and taking the clubs private again. Speaking about the early 90’s I think it was obvious what was going to happen with Satellite TV and it’s impact on football which is one of the reasons I never had too much affection for John Hall. Fair play to him for putting his money down but I don’t think he had the Toon at heart, it was strictly business, though possibly for the adulation as well (naming a stand after himself). The very fact that he decided to watch the Falcons instead of us when he took them over says it all really! Going slightly off topic, if I am right with regards to Internet rights, then the one club who would benefit more than any other is Celtic as I could see them making a shed load of money!!

Just been reading this thread and quite surprised that so many people think Dalglish did so badly when you look at the facts!! I doubt he wanted to sell Sir Les but rather it was the decision of the board. He also wasn't to blame for Beardsley getting too old, which meant he lost one of the best players ever to play for the toon. Looking back I find it strange that more of a fuss was not made about Beardsley leaving Newcastle and the impact it would have. I think his leaving had the same effect as say Shearer leaving at the end of last season. The only other player he got rid of was Ginola which he was right in doing because after he got sent off at Arsenal and his move to Barcelona the next summer got blocked was never the same player again. With regards to his signings, after Keegan I think he bought better than any of the other managers since. Yeah you can go on about Rush, Hamilton,Pistone and Anderson but some of his other buys were decent servants, with some still at the club: Solano Given Speed Hamman (Can't deny he's a good player and one we should not have sold) Dabizas (not really a good defender, but by Newcastle standards he did OK and was fairly cheap) Griffin (Good buy for the price paid) Tomasson (did poor for us but I'm including him as he's done enough since then to prove he's a good player) Compared to Gullit who bought absolute rubbish with his only decent signing being Dyer. With regards to Robson, can't deny he did a good job here but most of his signings were poor. Sure he made some half decent signings for little money in Gallagher, Bernard, Acuna but I think he really fell down with his big money signings. Only ones who stand out are Bellamy and Robert and they only lasted a few seasons and we lost money on them! I'm not saying Dalglish's transfer record is fantastic, but rather he did a better job than any of the other managers since him in the transfer market. If anything though it just illustrates how much money we have wasted over the years and for any future manager the first thing I would look at is his record in the transfer market.

The guy who is going to become a lawyer is not Paul Winsper but the assistant physiotherapist, Ferris I think his name is!