TRon

This is the bunch of cronies who negotiatied the £12m fee for Milner yes? What a bunch of wasters...

I would add to that as well as staying within a budget, targeting players who won't lose their re-sale value, e.g, Thierry Henry for say, £12m. That is if we are looking to stay with the long term strategy which the club just re-iterated during this episode.

Personally I don't think there's any comparison between Keegan and Souness. And aren't the problems you describe the same problems faced by all bar a handful of fashionable clubs? Incidentally I quite like the idea of the current set-up, but it has to work on all sides. If Keegan has the final say on who goes and comes, because he has to pick and prepare the team, would that be so bad? And if you don't trust the manager's judgement on players, maybe you should have picked a different manager? The comparison with Souness is only in regards to the stance both managers have taken. Souness wanted his own players and in the end Shepherd reluctantly caved in, and it cost us millions. Obviously Keegan is a lot better judge of a player, but the bottom line is if it goes wrong, Keegan won't be picking up the bill. Should he then be in a position to dictate incomings and outgoings? Turning down offers for Smith, £12m for Milner and handing Owen a massive contract....while these moves might make him popular in the dressing room, I'm not sure it's healthy from a financial perspective.

“Kevin still wants the job. Make no mistake about that. But he would like to be able to buy his own players. “If he was allowed to bring in his own players and he failed he would be the first to hold his hands up." -from a source close to Keegan allegedly. Sounds good but I remember similar noises from Souness when he was trying to force Shepherd's hand in the transfer market. It's all very well holding your hands up if it goes wrong, who pays the bill for players who lose their value or ask for daft wages? "Holding your hands up" won't do it.

I'm just glad we managed to get £12m for Milner before Keegan was in a position to pull a plug on that deal.

I wonder how good Wise was at his job? I'm assuming there was a reason he got it in the first place.

I say if Keegan has taken a dislike to the tea lady she should be stripped ,tarred and feathered and all her offspring should be hunted down and shot, ending her family line.

There's a couple of major business problems with this theory: 1 - Its not the manager's money. 2 - The manager doesn't have the time to dedicate to scouting. 3 - Managers get invested in their own selections ... the new guy wants his own players in ... resulting in a clear out & total loss of value. 3 - You have to be able say NO if the player valuation is not right ... consider that our current admin. team may be having discipline in this area which has rarely been a feature of our recent spending. Bingo - we have a winner. Probably not what people want to read though so best ignore.

Good post. Up until a few days ago everyone on here seemed happy with the way it was going, of course we would have preferred to have spent more money and got cover for our fullbacks but one thing that wasn't in doubt was the quality of the players that had come into the club, so much so that people expect Xisco to be class just because of how good the others have been. Without this set up would we have known that Jonas was prepared to buy out his contract? Or would we have managed to not only find a bright young lad like Bassong but manage to get him here on a trial so the manager can get a good look at him? Someone has been on the ball behind the scenes to make these things happen and it would be a shame to lose that. The only good thing about getting rid of Wise would be an end to the constant media circus claiming everyone is stabbing each other in the back. Both posts sum up my viewing of the situation pretty well. The unknown factor is whether Wise or anyone else has actually done something to deserve getting sacked...other than being a cock-eyed cunt (or percieved as).

I hope that's right tbh, if nothing else it removes one of the major threats to KK's influence. Put simply, I don't think we need a DoF. without any real proof that wise was a threat in any form. Doubt he'd be sacked if he wasn't pissing KK off tbh. Unless Ashley needs to protect his investment by keeping Keegan (and the fans) sweet. In which case it might be considered Wise is dispensable. Or maybe he really has deserved sacking...I have no idea, and neither do most people here tbh.

Before this all blew up I was going to raise the issue of whether Ashley was just turning us into a feeder club. But then bidding for Modric and signing Coloccini doesn't really suggest that. I think we could have signed more players before the summer window closed but the impression I get is that Keegan only wanted players of a certain quality/players he'd heard of.

as others have said, getting your players to play well together is the hardest, and therefore most important attribute, thats what he offers to us. they're dispensable, he isnt. No one who is doing a good job for Newcastle is dispensable unless they've done something out of order. I suppose once these talks are through we'll have an idea if that's been the case.

Since Chelski have done it and bombed everyone out of the water, there isn't really any alternative, other than declare everything they've won null and void and make them give their trophies back. A solution I would favour as it happens.

If you want an exact breakdown, try e-mailing the club.

I think Ashley has done well but his funds are limited. A take over by this Indian guy would possibly give us the best of both worlds. Not only a good scouting system if we could keep everyone on board, but also big transfer money to keep Keegan happy.

I think this fella might surprise a few on here. Just got a feeling he's a lot better than people might realise.

Fail to sack Barton. Fail to sell Smith/Ameobi/etc. Fail to get in enough players. Give Dennis Wise a BOARD position. Allow Dennis Wise power over recruitment/retention. Make us like liek an even bigger bunch of twats that those supporting Souness/Allardyce did. I highlighted the only semi-valid point from your rant. The rest of it isn't worth addressing tbh.

Annual net worth of 42 billion. 6th richest person on the planet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Ambani Could be the best solution all round. Would like to keep Jiminez and co though. With the purse strings being loosened everybody would be happy.

I would like to think both sides have been able to make their cases. I doubt it's a case of one is 100% right or the other 100% wrong. Hopefully the end result is we keep Keegan as manager, and we keep what has been a pretty successful recruitment team in place.

One of the problems of giving the manager absolute say in who stays and who goes, is that when he leaves you have to start all over again with the new manager wanting his own players. In this scenario, I like the continental system better in that when a new coach is brought in it doesn't mean an absolute squad overhaul. Keegan obviously isn't happy that he isn't getting his way more, but I honestly believe that his forte is coaching and motivating, and it would be a mistake to give him too much say in who stays or goes. He should have input but he can't be allowed to undermine the transfer set up.

and if he's going to walk out over milner,smith and barton you have to question him. thats bloody ridiculous, if this is the issue he's not walking because of the quality/lack of quality of the players, he's walking because of the principle that players shouldnt be sold without his consent, i'd like to hear a convincing argument that this should be the case It costs the club money to keep the likes of Smith here on 60k a week. That's not a principle it's a bill. yeah you're right, thats not a principle, its a weekly wage, so you've confused two issues. one is who should be in charge of who leaves and doesnt leave the club, the second is how much should we pay those coming in. keegan certainly wasnt responsible for the second in the case of smith, but he obviously wants to be in charge of the first, and i agree with him, i'm yet to hear a convincing argument otherwise, would you like to provide one? If Keegan being in charge of who leaves the club means paying Smith 60k/week when we could sell him, then I would say his principles are costing the club serious money for no benefit. That's not something I agree with.

and if he's going to walk out over milner,smith and barton you have to question him. thats bloody ridiculous, if this is the issue he's not walking because of the quality/lack of quality of the players, he's walking because of the principle that players shouldnt be sold without his consent, i'd like to hear a convincing argument that this should be the case It costs the club money to keep the likes of Smith here on 60k a week. That's not a principle it's a bill.

If Ashley caves in to Keegan we could end up with Robbie Fowler type signings (Thierry Henry?) rather than steals like Jonas. I'd be wary of that scenario if I was Ashley. Didnt Keegan sign the likes of Ginola, Beardsley, Cole, Shearer, Asprilla, Ferdinand? Good enough for me Keegan buys names. He's capable of making very good signings but he wouldn't have a clue how to go about making Wenger type signings. Hence daft decisions like Fowler and given half a chance, Thierry Henry, players who command premium prices when they are going downhill. Can you sustain a football club like that?

If Ashley caves in to Keegan we could end up with Robbie Fowler type signings (Thierry Henry?) rather than steals like Jonas. I'd be wary of that scenario if I was Ashley.

Does it look good on paper , not sure about that. This set up is a f-king joke, how on earth can kk build a team, when someone else is choosing the players at the club, Its recipe for RELEGATION. When KK made the decisions on Transfers, he took from bottom of the second div, to top of the div, then third in the prem at first try, the Football was brill, the times were good, This is why KK is so popular..... If youy werent around to see it home and away like i was, then you wont truely understand. How can KK make all the decisions on transfers when he hasn't even seen many players in world football? He's a big fan of Henry, we all know that, but it was Wenger who bought him when he was relatively unknown, and KK wanted to buy him after he's past his peak.