magorific

When you say "so long" you actually mean 10 days (?), right? Were you one of non exisiting people who have alway hated the clubs secrecy and hated that the media knew 'nothing'? If so, then i suppose 10 days IS a long time, then again, for me i was happy to wait - especially as we dont know the nature of the meeting that Ahley had with keegan and especially as how Ashley was on 'business' at the time. Still doesnt equate to forcing him out, especially after having put in so much of his personal welath into the club, bringing back a hugely popular figure, regenerating the youth system and improving our scouting sytem beyond the realms of the major clubs in the major leagues. He hasnt even been given ONE chance to rectify his one major mistake - which was employing Keegan in the first place. As for your diluted protests - who's to say? Moot point really. Ok, so Mclaren was one of 4 manager i mentioned - although strictly speaking silverware will always been on your permanent record of achievments, not " got a team from second division to near the top of the premier league - with a fair bit of cash". Pedantic i know, but unfortunately true. The bottom line is that he IS part of a group of mediocre managers, any defence of him is defence based purely on personal feelings for the man, becasue someone with equal record at antoerh club wouldnt get a second hearing here, and that isnt subjectivity. As for your final question - it depends on what side you view the argument - if you genuinely believe that Wise hasbeen indermining Keegan from the start and Keegan actually had NO say on the signings then it would be Wise who should of left - and Keegan should of left when he was first undermined as his principles are so strong. But if you view the argument as Keegans targets not fitting into the policy of the club and possibly dragging his heels over the situation forcing Wise to sign players over his head without his authoriy then maybe Keegan was right to leave. As you can see, in both scenarios Keegan doesnt come of favourably so i'd say that for the best interests of the club Keegan should definitely of left and replaced with a manager who could defintiely work within a team structure. There is also a case for Wise becoming an antagonist and him therefore leaving as well. He hasnt even been given ONE chance to rectify his one major mistake - which was employing Keegan in the first place . . ." WTF? You condemn Keegan unreservedly for NOT accepting Wise's input, then conclude by saying Wise could be an "antagonist" and should go as well. WTF? You say the point about diluted protests is "moot", yet the basis of your original argument was that the strength of those very same protests proved NUFC fans are not patient enough. WTF? "improving our scouting sytem beyond the realms of the major clubs in the major leagues . . ." WTF??? We are playing David f***ing Edgar at right-back ffs......................

Oh aye, dont get me wrong i was happy with what keegan was doing - in fact supremeley happy with that way the club was going upto the end of the transfer window- thats not to say that had the window shut under normal circumstance i wouldnt of been lambasting the board for the lack of depth in the squad, becasue i would of. My point is that there seems to be a huge majority of fans who have been thinking with their hearts and not with there heads - they've prioritised the wrong thing in my opinion. As you say, it's no good having the sytems if you dont have someone who can manage the players - well it turns out that Keegan couldnt manage the players becasue he couldnt fit into the system so he leaves. Thats the simple equation. We should of voiced our concerns, voiced our unhappiness at a good start being wasted and politics undermining the fans and the club but thats as far as it shouldof gone, forcing the owner out seems like such a disproportionate reaction. Losing keegan wouldnt of been the end of the world for this club. the stats is a very relevant point to be fair - he is a mediocre manager, he doesnt havent a record which is that much better than the likes of Curbishly, Allardyce, Veneable even Mclaren has more solid achievemnts than him. The point is that his major managerial achievment was over 15 years ago and the fans have put that sentimentality above the sytem that Ashley and co have tried to input, and for the life of me i cant see why, hence my belief that the fans are thinking with there hearts not their heads. football is a passionate game- but when it comes to deciding the future of your entire club - what your heart says should be a million miles away from what you should actually be doing. Why is wanting to get rid of an owner who said NOTHING, and authorised his club to say NOTHING for so long after KK disappeared so wrong? Had Ashley explained himself, I've no doubt the protests would have been seriously diluted. That isn't my heart talking, it's my head. The FACTS are also that he and his chosen people failed to address several basic necessities in the summer transfer market. As for your stats argument, it falls down - in my view- when you start suggesting his record is no better than that of a manager like McClaren (how does winning the League Cup compare with turning Newcastle from certainties for the old Div 3 into marginally the second best team in the country?). To finish, a question for you: who should have stayed at Newcastle after the end of the transfer window: Keegan or Wise?

IF Ashley cannot sell NUFC and the club goes down, you will be proved right especially about damaging the club. On the other hand, any new owners will know that they cant take NUFC over and f*** about with the fans and take them for granted like Mike Ashley and his mates did. This could and should ultimately result in us getting a more stable club that is ran in a far more professional manner than what it ever was under Mike Ashleys "team" of non communicators. Nufc fans will only take to an owner who's gonna lavish them with transfer funds - they're too impatient to see a long term policy and system take shape especially at the expense of a statistically mediocre manager. How many Abramovich's are there out there? Theres something like 2000 billlionaires out there, how many do you think would be keen to blow there money on nufc? A club which now has a history of forcing out the previous incumbents, maybe even 2 of them. How many of these billoinaires at a guess do you think would be keen to own a club where the fans are more powerful than the man with the purse strings? Im still unsure how you've come to the conclusion that he's taken the fans for granted. As for your final dig - the club spends its entire tenure keeping a privacy shield away from the media and with that also the fans and the club is congratulated for keeping out the poisonous press, but the fans couldnt wait 2 weeks to see how things transpired before the club made a statement and is lambasted for the lack of communication.....damned if you do, damned if you dont. You really couldnt make it up. Rubbish, frankly. Was there any sign or sound of fans' revolt in the air in the last few weeks of last season? The majority were happy we seemed to be making slow but steady progress under Keegan, with the promise of the squad being significantly - but NOT spectacularly - in the summer. It wasn't. KK felt betrayed. So do the fans. Why would we look to revolt at the end of last season? If you're trying to say that nufc fans would be happy with an owner who has a long term plan for the club with slow steady progress, then what was wrong with Ashley's plan? Putting aside the still unknown circumstances of Keegans departures, what problems did you see with a club who looked to invest in younger players from around the whole of europe and not just the big clubs of the major leagues, looking to develop them and making them stars for the club? I am more than happy to admit i was very dissapointed with the lack of acitvity surrounding this club - however with a club that was rowing in seperate directions i can see, but not understand why we had so little activity. EDIT: The sad fact of this case is that the fans are using the lack of numbers as another stick to beat Ashley with (which they are well within there rights) but are conviniently forgetting that the clubs squad has dramatically improved. Which was more important out the 2? Put it simply, would you rather have a good sized squad with similar quality to last year or would you rather have a similar sizeds squad which was better than last year? I know which is more important - you have to ask yourself if you do and if you do you'll understand where you arguments fall down. Only just logged back on now, so apologies for late reply. Of course there is nothing wrong with a plan to curb over-spending on trophy signings and search for talented youngsters worldwide. But Ashley pursued that plan with men totally ill equipped to follow Arsenal's lead. Dennis f*****g Wise and an ex Chelsea steward ffs. Had he put a Frank Arneson type in to do the job of finding talent, we'd have found some worth having, Keegan would still be here and the fans would be saying nowt. As it is, Ashley's stuck by men who have unearthed precious little in the way of decent young talent (Kadar aside, perhaps) and made one undeniably good senior signing (Gutierrez), while ignoring blatant shortcomings (lack of full-backs, creative midfielders) in a squad that you, bizarrely, claim has been "dramatically" strengthened. That's not to mention that Ashley himself was promising corporate fans a "wow" signing before the close of the transfer window.....

IF Ashley cannot sell NUFC and the club goes down, you will be proved right especially about damaging the club. On the other hand, any new owners will know that they cant take NUFC over and f*** about with the fans and take them for granted like Mike Ashley and his mates did. This could and should ultimately result in us getting a more stable club that is ran in a far more professional manner than what it ever was under Mike Ashleys "team" of non communicators. Nufc fans will only take to an owner who's gonna lavish them with transfer funds - they're too impatient to see a long term policy and system take shape especially at the expense of a statistically mediocre manager. How many Abramovich's are there out there? Theres something like 2000 billlionaires out there, how many do you think would be keen to blow there money on nufc? A club which now has a history of forcing out the previous incumbents, maybe even 2 of them. How many of these billoinaires at a guess do you think would be keen to own a club where the fans are more powerful than the man with the purse strings? Im still unsure how you've come to the conclusion that he's taken the fans for granted. As for your final dig - the club spends its entire tenure keeping a privacy shield away from the media and with that also the fans and the club is congratulated for keeping out the poisonous press, but the fans couldnt wait 2 weeks to see how things transpired before the club made a statement and is lambasted for the lack of communication.....damned if you do, damned if you dont. You really couldnt make it up. Rubbish, frankly. Was there any sign or sound of fans' revolt in the air in the last few weeks of last season? The majority were happy we seemed to be making slow but steady progress under Keegan, with the promise of the squad being significantly - but NOT spectacularly - in the summer. It wasn't. KK felt betrayed. So do the fans.

David Craig: "It's all over .... er, no it isn't, er yes it is ........."

I heard the same.

Steve Bruce's odds tumbling everywhere today. Either the bookies are running scared or someone has lumped quite serious money on him.

I'm sick of people blaming KK for things. Piss of you twats. i'm sick of people blindly believing one side or the other with no f***ing evidence. piss off you twats. Quite. No evidence? FFS, look at the state of our f**ing squad! Not one fit full-back after KK went on for literally months about needing new full-backs in.

They (Reliance) said they hadn't been able to have a serious discussion with anyone at the club re a takeover. Sad if true.

What is this Newcastle Echo?

Ince's odds have plummeted to as low as 6/1. At least it shows the bookies don't have a clue what's what....

Oh aye - I can just see the generous Blackburn board freely releasing Ince from that brand new contract The article seems to base its theory solely on the fact that the Wiki page says Ince and Wise are mates...........

Tonight's Chron says Ince is now a contender. Mind, AO quotes directly from Ince's Wikipedia page......

Ashley is getting a lot of stick from some fans although nobody knows what part he's played in all of this, if any. Keegan has done what he's done in the past, he's walked away from a managers job when things haven't gone his way. I'll reserve judgement before deciding who has come out of it the worst. Ashley appointed Wise on a premise that he failed to stick to You won't have long to wait for proof that the goalposts were moved on Keegan. I'll say no more... Howay man, spit it out. Facts and specifics have been a bit thin on the ground recently...... I'm told a statement from Ashley, which won't do him any favours, is imminent Are you "sensing" a statement is imminent, David Craig style? No.

Ashley is getting a lot of stick from some fans although nobody knows what part he's played in all of this, if any. Keegan has done what he's done in the past, he's walked away from a managers job when things haven't gone his way. I'll reserve judgement before deciding who has come out of it the worst. Ashley appointed Wise on a premise that he failed to stick to You won't have long to wait for proof that the goalposts were moved on Keegan. I'll say no more... Howay man, spit it out. Facts and specifics have been a bit thin on the ground recently...... I'm told a statement from Ashley, which won't do him any favours, is imminent

Ashley is getting a lot of stick from some fans although nobody knows what part he's played in all of this, if any. Keegan has done what he's done in the past, he's walked away from a managers job when things haven't gone his way. I'll reserve judgement before deciding who has come out of it the worst. Ashley appointed Wise on a premise that he failed to stick to You won't have long to wait for proof that the goalposts were moved on Keegan. I'll say no more... Howay man, spit it out. Facts and specifics have been a bit thin on the ground recently...... Ashley will Keegan was told that he had the final say. So why the f*** are you slagging him off then?

Ashley is getting a lot of stick from some fans although nobody knows what part he's played in all of this, if any. Keegan has done what he's done in the past, he's walked away from a managers job when things haven't gone his way. I'll reserve judgement before deciding who has come out of it the worst. Ashley appointed Wise on a premise that he failed to stick to You won't have long to wait for proof that the goalposts were moved on Keegan. I'll say no more...

I would rather Keegan had remained as manager but if anybody comes out of this looking like a clown then so far it's him for spitting his dummy out again, as usual he acts like a little kid in a playground. I must admit that I question just how much the club means to him when he can just walk away from it, something you often have a go at fans for doing. I think Keegan should have had a final say on transfers and it looks like the players he wanted to bring in were given less priority than the ones others wanted to bring in and that is wrong but the players who have come to the club during the transfer window and played look as if they will improve us. It was a good idea to increase the capacity, it was something which had to be done at the time but it didn't cost £100 million no matter how many times you try to make it appear that it did. Most, if not all of the top clubs do carry debt, a lot of clubs are struggling with debt and that will become worse over the next year or two. I expect a few people at Liverpool and Arsenal are a bit more worried about debt since Man City were taken over meaning that one of those clubs is very unlikely to be playing CL football every season. So you honestly believe that Keegan has come out of this looking worse than Ashley?

From www.newcastlebanter.co.uk Keegan and Ashley: Triumph and Betrayal By Neil Farrington on Sep 4, 08 10:58 PM in SO farewell then, Kevin Keegan - and congratulations. Congratulations not only on leaving Tyneside - surely, for the last time - with your integrity intact. No, congratulations on achieving arguably - hopefully - the greatest triumph of your career at Newcastle United simply by walking away from St James's Park . . . And so exposing the businessmen - businessmen? - who purport to run the club (and so serve the most deserving fans in football) as the witless, conniving, mostly absent fools they are. Cowards too, even if my strong belief that none of them will show their face any time soon in the city they have so callously betrayed is mistaken. For even those few Geordies who felt no emotional pull towards Keegan; even outsiders who habitually gawp at St James's like rubberneckers passing a car crash; cannot deny that the conduct of Newcastle's so-called hierarchy this week - not to mention recent months - has been disgraceful. For two-and-a-half days, Mike Ashley and his goons left a city which lives and breathes football gasping in a vacuum of rumour, speculation and fear. Then they cast that proud town into misery with a pitiless cruelty that bodes worse still for United in the months ahead. Apparently, that's simply the way Mr Ashley does business; the way he got to be the man he is . . . a sad, wannabe football fan and social adolescent (necking a pint in one, indeed). Well,, I am pretty sure he has just made one of the worst business decisions of his life. Having sown an ill wind, he must now reap the whirlwind. Sure, he will have little trouble persuading the outsiders whose fascination with the Newcastle circus grows ever more morbid to switch their attention to the question of Keegan's successor. Why, with more false promises, he might even tempt a credible character - from abroad, most probably - to take the job, Dennis Wise and all. But I reckon Ashley's hopes of making a tidy profit from his ruinous flirtation with football followed Keegan out the door. And even he should know that Newcastle itself will never forget the events of September 2008, or his part in them. And will never forgive. If Ashley acknowledges that fact - and his loyalty to Wise and co above Keegan suggests a detachment from reality - his backside may drop so fast and far in the next few days that he bails out of football to the first bidder. Shame on him that he has left a city praying for such small mercies.

I hear where you're coming from, but do Wise, Jimenez and Vetere represent that solid a recruitment team? Wise seems to have no more contacts in the game than the next man, Jimenez is an ex Chelsea steward and Vetere is largely unknown.

Ambani planning to fly to the UK on Monday to discuss a club takeover (with NUFC top of his list), according to today's Chron.

Great news if true. Let's hope Oliver gets something right for once. This could be required tbh, depends on whether Ashley's had enough. Agreed.

AO saying in the Chron that Keegan definuitely wants to stay - quoting a source close to KK - but that KK wants to buy and sell his own players without interference. Also reckons the Indian businessman Anil Ambani wants to make Ashley a £275m offer for the club.

That's my point . . . he wouldn't resign. Therefore, he HAS either been sacked I think you underestimate KK or rather have overplayed this whole skint thing. EWven if he was skint, KK would not stand for any crap and would rather as he has shown right throughout his career as a player and manager to walk away, even at the expense of money, especially where Newcastle United is concerned. This is a man who when he first took over with the club at the bottom of the old 2nd division and skint paid Terry Mac's wages from his own pocket and didn't claim a salary himself until the club was not only safe but financially stable too. Indeed he wasn't going to ask for anything if the club were relegated so had we went down he would have been massively out of pocket. I say massively, he had a few bob back then because he was prepared to buy Sir John Hall out or give him his money back for the club and run it himself. This by the way people - these facts - is why we love him so much more than anything, because he genuinly cares about the club, enough to walk away if he feels he's being taken for a ride. 7 Worthy sentiments, and I hope you're right.

Club statement at 12.13am. thought it was 12.14am He can't afford to walk. The bottom line is the bottom line - Soccer Circus is dying on its arse and he's skint. you're his accountant are u? or do u just believe the southern press? No, I believe company accounts posted at Companies House. Soccer Circus turned over 270k (that's TURNED OVER) in its first year of trading - a sad and pathetic figure considering the millions it cost to set up. Thats you. The bit in bold. BAM! Millions to set up? Didn't know you were so savvy with the venture. Oh dear. Sorry to have to educate you, but a company report for a start-up business such as Soccer City has to list the investments made in said company (ie capital funds provided) by all directors. SC's company report shows that KK and a couple of others chucked millions in each. This has been reported. You must have missed it. BAM. Sorry to educate you but it wasn't 'Soccer City'. You must have got it confused with another soccer-name enterprise. DOUBLE BAM. But anyway, BAMing aside, where would one find such company reports? Cheers for educating me. Ah, a pedant as well. That figures. Go to the companies house website (or, like me, just read newspapers - the article linked above).