TRon

Class.

that could have been written 2 or 3 years ago We have the benefit of hindsight now.

Looking at the poll I am quite surprised that 35% are so set against Shepherd. Despite his obvious flaws he's clearly got more to offer than Ashley, and if the other consortiums won't beat Shepherd's offer what does that say about them? Who's to say they won't be even tighter than Ashley? At least with Shepherd you know he will have a go.

My opinion on Shepherd hasn't changed one iota, it was his mis-management of the club and jobs for the boys which left us in such a poor state in the first place. But that doesn't mean I won't welcome him back. He might have been thick but he never lacked ambition, and I know he'll have a good go at getting the club back in the top flight, something which Cockney Wanka wouldn't even begin to contemplate.

KK walked though, he wasn't sacked, in fact Ashley tried to bring him back and KK refused. Tough shit if KK didn't like Wise, it doesn't make him entitled to £8m of the clubs money because he cannot put personal differences aside, he knew someone was going to fill the role, he said so himself. Like I said, I personally don't think keegan's got much of a case so I agree he's not entitled to any more money from the club. I was just pointing out that the keegan fiasco was of Ashley's own making and his shit decisions like appointing Wise have backfired spectacularly. By being a tight-arsed cunt, it's ended up costing him millions more than it would have to have given Keegan some support.

I don't think Keegan's got much of a case, but if Ashley had to pay up he could hardly complain. His decision to back Wise and Llambiarse over Keegan has cost him millions, at least now staring into the abyss the fat fool must acknowledge it.

But our main reason for needing to sell players is to drop the wage bill and Bassong is on f*** all, unlike 10 or more losers at the club on massive wages. We shouldn't be looking to sell our best players unless their wage is ridiculous. Aye, spot on, the money we save on the likes of Owen & Viduka going should be spent towards offering Bassong a higher wage. That's all very well, but a 10-12 million injection will cover wages for the whole squad for a few weeks/months (depending on who else is sold). Or pay a chunk of the (supposed) overdraft, thus reducing repayments, and thus having a few coins of liquid cash per month. I'm all for getting rid of the high rollers like Martins, Duff, Smth, Barton, Geremi et al, and keeping those on more reasonable wages - but the fact is all of those will be difficult to shift, and selling Bassong gives us some breathing space. Ashley's got us in a real pickle, and ideal situations are little removed from pipe dreams. It's the same thing as selling Martins for a seemingly paltry fee of 5 million - it's not so much about price as value... It's ironic that we will have to sell our young promising players on low wages so we can use the fee to pay the old, creaking spongers who got us relegated in the first place. Is it any wonder we are at rock bottom?

Ashley doesn't really have any option but to sell, as failure to do so would be a disaster for the club and him. That said, you can't rule anything out with this pillock, he really is a buffoon of the highest order. The only reason I still have doubts about this sale going through is because he has so much previous history of messing up deals. If anyone can fuck this up it's him.

It's great news that there's no staff at newcastle for now, it means any decision to sell players won't be made until we have new owners at the club rather than the Cockney spivs.

It's all a load of bollocks isn't it. Every single media outlet is just guessing so when/if it happens they can claim to be right. We won't know in advance of it actually happening IMO; it'll either come completely out of the blue or not happen at all. The problem is that it's annoying as fuck. I have some optimism that a sale might go through but that's just based on things like Shearer and Shepherd keeping their silence nothing to do with any of the clueless speculation in the press. Neither have ruled out a return to the club so they must believe there is some chance of progress. If Shearer thought he was just being dicked about he'd probably have lamped Llambiarse by now.

I would just like to take this opportunity to say how totally amazed as f*** I am that Fabricio is set to go back to Spain. I would also like to add that I am in shock. I wouldn't say I am in shock, but I do find myself feeling totally amazed by this turn of events. It's just amazing in a completely total sense.

If Sunderland is the best he can do he's not exactly in big demand is he?

During the good days under Keegan, four names were prominent regarding the board: John Hall Freddie Fletcher Douglas Hall Fred Shepherd When the first two left and the second tier was left in charge the decline began. Freddie Flether and SJH were sharp dealers, Hall Jnr and Fat Fred made headlines for different reasons unfortunately.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/06/26/michael-owen-was-right-for-united-shepherd-72703-23987776/ There were plenty of dissenting voices, Freddie. You just weren't listening. In fact, the loudest dissenting voice was Owen himself.

Does that mean players can bring their flip-flops and beach towels to training again?

Courtney and Harrison are both relics from the past, I doubt either of them have much first hand idea of what is going on. Reading between the lines though, Shearer keeping his options open suggests that he believes something is in the pipeline.

The only good scenario possible of a drawn out sale is the one you have mentioned. If we can't buy players while we are in take over limbo then we can't sell either. If that means players like Oba, Bassong and Beye staying we'll be stronger for it next season.

HAHAHAHAHA. The Parker trade mark turn WORKS pal! He was awesome for us last year. A real monster in the middle. I remember he won you the game at Upton Park a few years ago with some real crunching challenges, I couldn't believe it when we signed him. He's was the difference for us last year, we could have really struggled if it wasn't for him. Looking at it now it does seem totally crazy you kept Butt, signed Smith Barton and Nolan...(did Geremi play in the middle too?) and never really found a suitable replacement. Good players are always easier to sell than over-paid has-beens as I'm sure we'll find yet again this summer. If Nolan insists on staying he should be put through intensive training sessions twice a day. Then left out of the squad on match days for the remaining time on his contract.

I personally would rather have anyone than this cunt who owns us now. End of discussion.

Butt might be over the hill but at least he was once a quality player. Plus the old codger is still quicker than Nolan and has a bigger gas tank which is disgraceful but true.

People can criticise Al but there's no doubt that he's the key to locking down key players like Beye. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel finally.

The new yellow strip has been given headlines in the Sun...they just can't stay away from us. Great comment left by one reader: "Ideal colour for a bunch of money grabbing cowards."

Likes the beer too much by all accounts. I'd like to see Redyapps idea more widespread, alcohol bans for top level footballers. They're paid a small fortune to keep at the peak of physical fitness yet still go out regularly on the lash. It just doesn't make sense. By which accounts? Why do you need anyone's accounts? It's obvious from looking at the bleary-eyed cunt.

" What's the old saying? No news is good news". Let's fucking hope so.

Likes the beer too much by all accounts. I'd like to see Redyapps idea more widespread, alcohol bans for top level footballers. They're paid a small fortune to keep at the peak of physical fitness yet still go out regularly on the lash. It just doesn't make sense. Here's another idea: why not do appoint a competent manager who will employ proper scouts who do their homework before recommending players? JFK might have been good for a few headlines, but putting him in charge of recruitment was suicide from a business point of view. There again, he was only following orders from above so I guess we know where the buck stops.