Cronky

Says who? Sounds like the usual bollocks. Check your PM's Cant you share with us all ? Basically, 3 hours ago i was holding an offical letter from Mike Ashley requesting my mates dad (who's job is finding buyers/investors in the area) to find a buyer for the club, the price listed by Ashley was 450m pounds, and the letter was signed MA himself, can't say anything more. Prior to the Keegan debacle, Ashley was seeking local investors who he could enter into partnership with. He may well have valued - or tried to value - the club at £450m at that point. It sounds like that letter dates from that time. In which case, it doesn't mean that he's asking for that sort of money now, or anything like. On a related subject, I don't like the sound of American consortiums who are struggling to raise the money. In American sport, it's far easier to raise a profit because of the way things are organised to ensure that teams compete on an equal footing. Unless you're Man U, it's very difficult to make a profit in English football, and you wonder whether these American buyers really know what they're getting into. Bit like the Liverpool saga, which looks likely to end in tears.

I like Bassong and I'd keep him in. He's raw but he's quick and he has a go.

Unless Ashley has decided not to sell and will get rid of Wise. Then the only way to win back the fans will to get Shearer and give him full control. Or bring back Keegan and sack Wise, either one would win my favour. I'd still rather have KK back though, there was a great feeling around the club the both times he was here, I really miss that. Throughout this whole fiasco, the one man who really has done his job well is Dennis Wise. Coloccini, Guthrie, Bassong, Jonas - all good buys at a reasonable outlay, plus some promising youngsters like Ranger. Xisco seems to be a blunder but in this game you can't be right all the time. Yet he's the man that people seem most ready to sacrifice. That's one of life's little ironies. Ashley has made his mistakes, but one thing that does do him credit is that he was prepared to stick by his man despite all the pressure. Feel free to disagree. I thought Jimenez targeted the players and Wise recruited the Kids ,correct me if i am wrong . Not 100% sure on how the roles were divided up, but if Wise's job was restricted to the youth set-up and not the first teamers, why is he in the firing line? Thinking about it, as DOF his responsibilities must have been wider than that. It's been his list of transfer targets that have been compared to Keegan's and Kinnear's, even though others may have done the scouting.

I've heard that too.

Unless Ashley has decided not to sell and will get rid of Wise. Then the only way to win back the fans will to get Shearer and give him full control. Or bring back Keegan and sack Wise, either one would win my favour. I'd still rather have KK back though, there was a great feeling around the club the both times he was here, I really miss that. Throughout this whole fiasco, the one man who really has done his job well is Dennis Wise. Coloccini, Guthrie, Bassong, Jonas - all good buys at a reasonable outlay, plus some promising youngsters like Ranger. Xisco seems to be a blunder but in this game you can't be right all the time. Yet he's the man that people seem most ready to sacrifice. That's one of life's little ironies. Ashley has made his mistakes, but one thing that does do him credit is that he was prepared to stick by his man despite all the pressure. Feel free to disagree.

Yes Seems good fodder and bit better than Shola. Why should West Brom help us out? It's not exactly in their interests.

I like JK, but even I'm beginning to get fed up with these type of comments. He should either say what he knows, or say nothing. These hints are pointless.

I don't see how Gallas can remain at the club now. He's really burned his boats. He'd be a great signing for us, but wouldn't want to come and has too much baggage anyway. Probably destined for Spurs.

Riise would be a good bet. I don't think he's particularly suited to Italian football either.

The idea that Wise and co were imposed on Keegan after he had been appointed on a different understanding doesn’t sound at all likely, but let’s say for the sake of argument that that was the case, and that Keegan carried on in the hope that he could change things. It then appears that he exposed those differences publicly after the Chelsea game, and there was then a meeting in which Ashley clearly stated that Wise and the set-up would stay. If Keegan was going to resign on this point of principle, that was the time to do it. The team was safe, and another manager could have been brought in who could have made use of the transfer window.

Imho Shearer has never came across as a quitter and he knows what he is taking on with the toon and everything that goes with it media etc .He comes across determined and talks the talk will have a good knowledge of and know a good player when he sees one as his pundit work helps in that respect . As we've seen with Keegan - twice with us and once with England - there are ways of quitting whilst still looking like you're behaving very honourably.

Of course, all Directors report to managers, or did I get that the wrong way around? someone in Wise's role who is a glorified head scout with some additional authority at youth level should report to the manager. if not you have a case where a scout has more authority on some first team matters than the manager which is madness and as already said, is the kind of thing that has caused plenty of managers to leave their jobs, not just keegan. and that's the elephant in the room for those who attack keegan - if it was a problem caused by his personality, how come the situation has replicated itself many times over with different managers with different personalities to keegan? Yes, knowing his character of being passionate, wanting control and often being confrontational to effect change, it made it more likely that such a situation would flare up if the backroom staff ever tried to interfere - which makes it all the more damning that Ashley and his cohorts should attempt to do so. and that's the root cause of our problems. it's even worse when you think that it was well within ashley's powers to come in and sort the situation out by deciding to back his manager - either earlier in the window with cash and the authority to use it, or later once the situation flared up. that he chose his value-for-money system/reluctance to spend as more important than a/ the manager and - amazingly - b/owning the club says a lot about the man. it's disappointing that we all criticised Shepherd for interfering in these matters when Robson and Souness were here, yet some are reluctant to do the same when it's Ashley and his cohorts doing the same. though it has came about through different means, the end result is the same - a poor squad without a good manager directing them. The DOF system clearly has its drawbacks, because it demands a high level of mutual trust and respect between the Manager and the DOF, and they need to have the same overall objectives. Reporting to a Board of non-experts has its problems as well, although at least it's clear who is at fault when footballing decisions go wrong. My beef with Keegan is that I feel he knew what he was getting into, but then tried to change things around through non-cooperation with the system. He should either have quit at an appropriate time or knuckled down. Instead we had a damaging, drawn out public row from which nobody has benefited.

I was forgetting about Richards. He's always done well at RB in my eyes, but clearly not Capello's. Neville is yesterday's man I think, and Brown isn't good going forward. Johnson is a risk, but if he can sort himself out between his ears, he's the best of the lot.

When he's fit I'd have Walcott ahead of SWP every time. Same pace but a better touch. Aaagh. Now that is seriously wrong. Walcott's touch is poor for an international player.

I'd go - .......James Johnson...Terry...Ferdinand....Cole .....Gerrard....Barry......Lampard ............SWP......Rooney ................Heskey I don't understand the negativity about SWP. I thought he looked dangerous all evening and was unlucky not to score.

Surely we've got to find a place for SWP. He's the sort of player that managers don't always trust, because he does lose possession a lot, but I love the way he's always eager to get on the ball and use it positively. Young still needs to mature a bit for international football. He doesn't seem to use his brains.

Terry is dominant for Chelsea, but becomes very indecisive in an England shirt. He's got enough caps now to have become more confident and relaxed. If Carson called for it, Terry has to either get out of the way, or if he doesn't think that he can, hoof the ball into touch.

I'm pretty sure that this issue of the intrusion into his personal life is the main reason why Shearer has hesitated to go into management. If or when he takes the plunge, he wants to be sure that it'll be worth the sacrifice. Trouble is, there are no guarantees. I'd worry that he may be reluctant to put in the hours needed, or get disillusioned when he faces setbacks.

Ashley, Wise and Kinnear to stay, and everyone to stop moaning.

You're assuming that after he does shite, we'll still be in the Premiership.

I can't see that Ashley would want to work with Shearer. He passed him over in January, and Shearer came out in support of Keegan at the time of the walk-out. Besides, Ashley will feel that he's already been shafted by appointing a 'fan's favourite' who then tries to use his popularity against him.

We're weak at centre back, which is a position where you can't afford to be weak. So Faye, for me. Closely followed by Dyer, who would give us pace and energy through the centre. I can't help but feel that both ended up leaving for non-footballing reasons - Faye because he fell out with Keegan, Dyer because he fell out with the fans.

It just sounds like Shearer is making it known - as he did in January - that he'd be interested in the job if it was offered. There's no real indication that anything significant has gone on behind the scenes.

These stats about his goal-scoring don't tell the full story IMO. He's a specialist goal-poacher who doesn't do a lot of work outside the penalty box and doesn't create much for others. He's not a Beardsley or a Rooney. So if you pick a player like Owen, you are sacrificing something in another area of the team, and you have to feel reassured that he's worth it. It doesn't help his case that he misses as many as he scores.

So yet again, the whole club is run around the needs and wishes of one player. No thanks. The whole 'fitness' issue has always been an excuse. Kinnear - quite rightly - feels that the present striking partnership has done well enough to keep their places but then - quite wrongly - because of Owen's status he has to come out with all this rubbish about what a great player he is, but he doesn't want to risk him. If he rated him that highly, he'd have picked him. This whole thing is bad for the team. If Owen gets picked now, everyone's now going to wonder whether it's because of who he is. Sorry, but what a steaming hot pile of sh*te. Owen is picked now because he's our best goalscorer and still best striker. Well that's a matter of opinion. But if the player is making some kind of protest in the match programme, and the manager is coming out with excuses like he's on the back foot, then it's bound to introduce some doubt in the other players' minds if and when Owen comes back. The manager shouldn't be trying to justify himself like that. Unless these big name players can really justify their status through performances on the pitch, then they're more trouble than they're worth.