TRon

"they?" the irony..

based on what? persuade me... Turned Wigan around from being totally doomed to relegation under Chris Whatshisface to staying up before the last day, bought some good players on a shoestring like Palacios, Zaki, Figueroa, Kapo etc I reckon they will finish comfortably mid-table this season, maybe top half Did a pretty good job at Birmingham too. I know they got relegated but it wasn't straight away, they had a couple of decent seasons before the relegation one and he got them back up at the first time of asking. Last season they didn't look like they'd go down to me under Bruce, when McLeish took over they weren't as good and paid the price. I think he's an underrated manager. Would be hard for any club to get him though since Dave Whelan is such a prick, he'd ask for something daft like £10m compensation and actually mean it. Bruce strikes me as being a 'signings' manager, a bit like Souness although that's a harsh comparison. I never really saw a definitive Steve Bruce style of play evolve, in fact at Birmingham it was pretty basic. When you watch a side led by Martinez, or Mowbray at West Brom, their influence is obvious. With Bruce, there's a nagging feeling it just depends if he strikes lucky with a couple of transfers. Maybe I'm doing him a disservice, but I'm just not convinced.

oh f***. the chance of a black hole is now greater with this. if this line of thinking merges with the old board/new board stuff i fear the whole internet will collapse in on itself to a point that doesn't exist in space but with a mass great enough to punch a whole through to dimensions where the most bizzarre is real (think mackems in milan). Hawkins will steal that if you don't copyright it asap. if you could amend that slightly to read "punch a hole through mackems in Milan" I'd be all for the Nigerian coup.

I don't like Shearer personally, but of all the geordie candidates, he's always struck me as someone who might have the credentials. Total stab in the dark though.

I was just thinking that even if Ambani or some oil-rich sheikh matched the offer, Ashley would sell to the Nigerians just to get revenge. Hw wouldn't to see some super billionaire show him how it should be done.

Maybe the journos were too busy booing to write about it.

jesus...

Admit it, you were persuaded by my post to that effect last night weren't you? Seriously though, not sending anyone to the charity thing is shocking. It's little things like that that show you how much the club is in disarray. They have shown themselves to be so far out of touch with the supporters that the damage is irreparable now. You were right about the dereliction of duty, but I was sticking to what I believed about being let down by Keegan, (which I still do). But there's no excuse for what is going on right now, future visions and 5 year plans mean sod all when you can't even pick up the phone to the caretaker manager and discuss what next?

What's the difference between having a Middle-Eastern owner and a Nigerian owner? I really don't care as long as they're rich and not thick. But they are not rich, not in terms of financing a football club, they are still looking for the buyers fee. Like every consortium has to, surely? I think what TT's saying is that if they are having to scrape around for money to buy the club, how will they finance transfers and the like?

I think it's reached the end of the road for me with regard to Ashley and friends. I can buy into a need to buy young, improving players. I can believe that Keegan had a daft transfer wish list that was impossible to implement. What is unforgiveable is the total lack of communication or even any hint of it to let us know what is going on. I heard somewhere today that Hughton has barely been contacted by anyone from the board, other than thanking him for taking the job on short-term. That could be dismissed as hearsay, but the fact they didn't send anyone to the charity do in Gateshead while Sunderland and Middlesbrough were represented speaks volumes. No public reassurances that the search for a manager hasn't been put on the shelf...nothing. Just a few hundred miles distance of safety from the turmoil at the club. Ashley is still the owner, but if he's given up on his football adventure, then he deserves all the flak he gets.

based on what? persuade me...

Which proves how much of a "Geordie" he is. Can't think of many genuine locals passing up the chance to manage their hometown club in favour of Wigan. I bet he'd crawl over broken glass to Old Trafford though.

Just hit lucky with a couple of signings IMO. Blackburn looked good under Souness when they got promoted.

I only started watching the game 5 minutes before we went down 3-0, but Cacapa's passing really, really surprised me; it was at least as good as anything I've seen in the last 4 years. Can't believe he went off instead of Butt. He looked yards quicker too, which was even more surprising.

He sold Keegan's players and brought in his own.

Perhaps he tried to fight his corner? Just a thought mind. I know it's a bit out there. Probably he did, but he didn't stick around, did he? From the point of view of the wellbeing of the club, he simply could not have picked a worsr time to leave. I agree about the timing of his leaving. But if he felt he could no longer work under Ashley and co. then would you want him to stay? Keegan wasn't in Curbishley's position (one game from the sack) if he really felt hard done by he should just have carried on working while complaining loudly like Mourinho and Rafa. If Ashley had then sacked him, at least no one could say he'd quit yet again.

shit scared of Barcelona we were The exception that proves the rule unfortunately.

Thank fuck for that.

The thought of Dalglish back in charge chills my spine. He is the Anti-Keegan. His sides were always set out with fear of the opposition the biggest factor. No thanks.

You are conveniently forgetting that if he showed some spine and did stick it out (which if he sticks to that price, he still might) everyone is still going to be up in arms till he's gone. True Faith and Friends have made it quite clear that they intend their campaign to continue. So what is it you want? If he sells quick he's a coward, if he doesn't he's a cunt Half the Premiership would get rid of their board tomorrow and many have protested to that end. Man Utd hate the Glazers, Liverpool hate H&G, Everton hate Kenwright. Those clubs aren't in the state we are. I want Ashley out as much as anyone but not at the expense of Premiership football. Shepherd was a cunt as well but he never let things get to this stage, letting the club and the team be torn apart while he pisses around in bars trying to find a billionaire who might happen to have nipped in for a swift half. It's total dereliction of duty. I think dereliction of duty applies to KK more tbh, and even now if he came back as Newcastle manager I would back him 100% like I did before when plenty of others here were waving the white flag. I can totally respect Keegan walking out on Ashley because he wasn't getting undermined or not enough support. But the truth is he has gone down in my estimation because he also walked out leaving his players and the fans in the shit. If he'd stayed even til January giving notice, we would be alright. Did SBR ever quit? Did he quit England when the shit was flying? Did he quit Barcelona when the handkerchiefs were waved or when he got moved upstairs? Did he quit when Fat Fred was buying players behind his back? Ashley? I don't really care if he's here today or gone tomorrow. I expect a bit more from my heroes though, and Keegan should be leading that team out on Wednesday against Spurs, even if the circumstances aren't ideal.

You are conveniently forgetting that if he showed some spine and did stick it out (which if he sticks to that price, he still might) everyone is still going to be up in arms till he's gone. True Faith and Friends have made it quite clear that they intend their campaign to continue. So what is it you want? If he sells quick he's a coward, if he doesn't he's a cunt

When Zola was mentioned in connection with the Newcastle job it was plebs like you who were up in arms that it was a mate of Dennis Wise. Heads you win tails we lose. If Zola or Poyet go on to be outstanding managers I doubt any of you will see the irony. West ham fans WANTED a new manager, ours are still ranting like lunatics about the one that walked out (see your post for example). If you want a new manager then shut up. If you want a new owner, what the fuck makes you think the current one is going to be in a hurry to appoint a manager?

eeer.......not quite. I was saying how the club was slipping towards it, due to lack of investment in quality players and seemed to lack the understanding of how to succeed in football. Several things caused these comments, which as you appear to be so informed on what I've posted, I'm sure you will know what they are. Buying nobody in the January window despite our dangerous position was a situation only saved by the optimism and motivation fuelled by the appointment of Keegan. 8 months on, and we are nearer than ever. I'm going to be honest here, while we disagreed before, I didn't think you were so gullible as others. You truly have your head in the sand. We need to get a manager in, yes. But who do you think is going to come in and how many years do you think the club can go on like this ie setting their sights so low, with no investment in the team, and hope to get back up the top end of the table. This is a serious question, I'm wondering if you can really understand this or not ? If you believe that Ashleys youth policy will pay ultimate dividends, you are living in cloud cuckoo land. Even our top players we have will not want to stay at a club like this, and from there you set the ball rolling, in the wrong direction. The truth of the matter is, I never tell anybody how to spend their money. We have invested big money in players before Ashley came and a lot of it was wasted on sub-standard players. We need major investment in the team I agree, and would love to see it happen. I would say around £100million needs to be spent in fees and wages just to get us in a position to challenge for Europe. The question is where does this come from? Where would you suggest? As for Ashley's youth policy I'm quite sceptical of it as it happens. This latest signing Gonzalez looks a bit slow to me, but I need to see him over 90 mins. It could be Keegan was right when he said he wasn't good enough, and if that's the case it puts a big question mark over the scouting system I've generally been in favour of. FWIW, I will remind you again that for the money we have spent, we qualified for europe more than everybody but 4 teams over 15 years, we qualified for the Champions League, reached 2 FA Cup Finals, signed many top class international footballers including a world record signing, doubled the gates, transformed the ground from a rubbish tip into one of the best and biggest grounds in the country and filled it every game, and built a new training complex that had been needed for decades. So, don't make out that the club has taken in pots of money and wasted it all, because it certainly hasn't. If you do, then there lies your own particular problem. You just lack sound judgement and perception, sadly. I only ask that the club punches its weight, in the long run. Which is one of the biggest in the country, and the 3rd biggest gate , courtesy of being built up by the previous board that you slate. Nobody asked Ashley do come in and do an Abramovic, however anybody buying a football club should be aware that it needs to succeed on the pitch in order to generate more money, or keep generating money. Its not good enough to see a club like us needing players and adopting a penny pinching attitude that only the smaller clubs adopt. We have to act bigger than them if we want to be better than them. You're failing to realise (or admit) that when we stopped qualifying for Europe, Shepherd tightened the purse strings as well. When the money's already been spent you can't automatically conjure it from nowhere. The season Bowyer was signed, how much did we spend even though we were in the Champions League? Fuck all is the answer I believe. The season when Souness left and the players miraculously reached Europe, how much was given to Roeder? Was the squad strong enough then to compete for honours because I'd love to see you attempt to argue it was? 9m. The rest of the post isn't advocating spending money we don't have or setting up the club so it needs to stay in the Champions League is it, like Leeds did ? I don't know, how much money have we got? To be "punching our weight" as one of the biggest clubs in the country to match our gate will take some serious investment. A lot more than previously, since Abramovich and now City's Arabs have entered the scene. So where is it going to come from? I don't think you gave an answer to that. Who was the £9m spent on btw? I thought we only signed Bowyer that summer? You also failed to answer whether we invested enough money in the squad the season after Roeder was given the job. That was a seriously threadbare pool of players so according to your own standards it was criminal not to have spent a hell of a lot more than we did.

I'm sure you're not meant to drink alcohol when you're on diazepam, you know. On the other hand, he's a local lad so he'll have the support of the crowd

eeer.......not quite. I was saying how the club was slipping towards it, due to lack of investment in quality players and seemed to lack the understanding of how to succeed in football. Several things caused these comments, which as you appear to be so informed on what I've posted, I'm sure you will know what they are. Buying nobody in the January window despite our dangerous position was a situation only saved by the optimism and motivation fuelled by the appointment of Keegan. 8 months on, and we are nearer than ever. I'm going to be honest here, while we disagreed before, I didn't think you were so gullible as others. You truly have your head in the sand. We need to get a manager in, yes. But who do you think is going to come in and how many years do you think the club can go on like this ie setting their sights so low, with no investment in the team, and hope to get back up the top end of the table. This is a serious question, I'm wondering if you can really understand this or not ? If you believe that Ashleys youth policy will pay ultimate dividends, you are living in cloud cuckoo land. Even our top players we have will not want to stay at a club like this, and from there you set the ball rolling, in the wrong direction. The truth of the matter is, I never tell anybody how to spend their money. We have invested big money in players before Ashley came and a lot of it was wasted on sub-standard players. We need major investment in the team I agree, and would love to see it happen. I would say around £100million needs to be spent in fees and wages just to get us in a position to challenge for Europe. The question is where does this come from? Where would you suggest? As for Ashley's youth policy I'm quite sceptical of it as it happens. This latest signing Gonzalez looks a bit slow to me, but I need to see him over 90 mins. It could be Keegan was right when he said he wasn't good enough, and if that's the case it puts a big question mark over the scouting system I've generally been in favour of. FWIW, I will remind you again that for the money we have spent, we qualified for europe more than everybody but 4 teams over 15 years, we qualified for the Champions League, reached 2 FA Cup Finals, signed many top class international footballers including a world record signing, doubled the gates, transformed the ground from a rubbish tip into one of the best and biggest grounds in the country and filled it every game, and built a new training complex that had been needed for decades. So, don't make out that the club has taken in pots of money and wasted it all, because it certainly hasn't. If you do, then there lies your own particular problem. You just lack sound judgement and perception, sadly. I only ask that the club punches its weight, in the long run. Which is one of the biggest in the country, and the 3rd biggest gate , courtesy of being built up by the previous board that you slate. Nobody asked Ashley do come in and do an Abramovic, however anybody buying a football club should be aware that it needs to succeed on the pitch in order to generate more money, or keep generating money. Its not good enough to see a club like us needing players and adopting a penny pinching attitude that only the smaller clubs adopt. We have to act bigger than them if we want to be better than them. You're failing to realise (or admit) that when we stopped qualifying for Europe, Shepherd tightened the purse strings as well. When the money's already been spent you can't automatically conjure it from nowhere. The season Bowyer was signed, how much did we spend even though we were in the Champions League? Fuck all is the answer I believe. The season when Souness left and the players miraculously reached Europe, how much was given to Roeder? Was the squad strong enough then to compete for honours because I'd love to see you attempt to argue it was?