TRon

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.

Depends if Keegan was hired as a coach or a manager. If it's the latter, he's every right to throw his toys out of the pram. If Keegan being 'manager' means keeping the likes of Smith and Milner out of some misplaced loyalty then I'd rather he stuck to coaching...which he's done very well I should add.

There are some very good posts in this thread rather than the reactionary rubbish being spouted by a lot of people. Regarding Ashley, I ask myself the question "What has Ashley done wrong?" Attempt to sell Barton? Attempt to sell Owen? Successfully sell Milner for £12m? Unearth players like Colo, Jonas, Guthrie and these new guys? Make Keegan Manager? You could argue that Owen shouldn't be sold, but he's been offered a contract and doesn't seem committed to sign it yet. Like someone else said in this thread, Keegan seems to be fighting the wrong battles, and if he'd just stick to what he's good at this could all work very well.

Fuck Ashley, I'm sure Keegan will not walk away and will do a Niall Quinn and buy out the club...show Ashley how to do it properly by investing his own millions in the squad and building a crack world-wide scouting network led by Arthur Cox and Terry Mac.

Like what?

None.

I'm sure he has his reasons. For all we know, he may be at training as normal first thing in the morning. He should have been there today if he wanted to keep this private.

When the chips were down and KK was struggling, good to see some were offering their unreserved support when it mattered

No, we need a scapegoat, so let's follow the media bait I say.

Not sure KK is convinced (assuming he knows who they are).

The club have made their announcement, they want Keegan to be part of their "long term strategy". We are now waiting to hear from KK on whether he wants to be part of it is how I read it. I don't think there's any doubt he wants to be part of the club's long term strategy but whether he wants to continue working wth a bunch of hapless cockney fuckwits is a different matter. He had similar problems working with hapless Geordie fuckwits last time he was manager IIRC. That's your lot as a football manager I suppose.

The club have made their announcement, they want Keegan to be part of their "long term strategy". We are now waiting to hear from KK on whether he wants to be part of it is how I read it.

I hope Keegan appreciates us as much as we appreciate him. We aren't going to win the league just yet, but we seemed to be putting together a canny team, so it would be a shame if he just walked out again.

Not that i'm disagreeing (or agreeing) but how can you pin all of the blame on Ashley? there are two sides to every story and we don't even properly know one side yet! The 2 most important things to any club should be the fans and the first team. KK knows that, Ashley doesn't seem to have grasped it and is doing things in a kind of bargain basement way. Phrases like long term strategy are there to buy time & will only gain credence if short & medium actions pave the way. Ashley has given false hope and allegedly false promises to supporters - Wow. He's made KK look like a tit and we all know where that road leads. Keegan himself has said there was money to buy regardless of the sale of Milner. We don't actually know that Ashley buying bargain basement is the root of the problem.