sempuki

Lucky - it's becoming a recurring theme but we needed this one.

Arsenal now 2-2.

Underwhelming news - I was hoping for much better when I opened this thread.

United to be sold Dec 15 2006 By The Journal Newcastle United last night refused to comment on reports that a £227m bid for the club had been accepted. The reports say secret talks have led to a joint bid by American financiers Polygon and the United Bank of Switzerland being accepted unanimously by the club's board. The club remained tight-lipped about the prospect of a takeover which is now said to be in the "due dilligence" stage and expected to be completed in the New Year. Under-fire chairman Freddy Shepherd will receive £20m for his shares while major shareholders, the Hall family will reportedly walk away with around £48m from the deal. And Glenn Roeder is expected to stay on as manager with a transfer kitty of £20m at his disposal. The shock takeover scuppers rival interest shown by investors The Belgravia Group, who had been going through a similar due dilligence process, without making a firm bid for the club. Polygon and UBS had reportedly been speaking to the Magpies since the summer before putting an offer of 93p per share on the United board's table. With the deal picking up the club's debts of around £87m, the offer values the club at £140m. One season ticket holder and shareholder, Jonathan Wells, last night told The Journal he was happy with the reported deal. "Anybody buying Newcastle for less than a couple of hundred of million would have been getting a bargain so I think Freddy Shepherd has held out for a better price," he said. "I think it's probably good news. I think there's always been money to spend, though not as much money as the richer clubs. "A transfer kitty of £20m doesn't even go a quarter of the way towards what some of the clubs have. It's a question of whether we're ever going to challenge the top five. We looked like we were going to five years ago but have drifted away from that. "It would be nice to get back into the Liverpool and Arsenal area of the Premiership."

He's right I amended it! Anyway this is absolutely massive news if it's true and this morning could be very interesting. Tara Freddy!

GLENN ROEDER will get a huge transfer war chest if the £227million sale of Newcastle goes through. Toon boss Roeder can expect a £20m windfall should American financiers Polygon and the United Bank of Switzerland complete the New Year deal. Chairman Freddy Shepherd and the Hall family will also be huge winners. Shepherd will pick up £20m from the deal while former owner Sir John Hall and his son Douglas should scoop around £48m. Sir John paid £3m for the Toon in 1991. It will be another Premiership club takeover by foreign backers. They have pledged NOT to get involved in the playing side — unlike new West Ham supremo Eggert Magnusson, who sacked boss Alan Pardew this week. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-10151,00.html

Maybe the reports of Crouch and Wes Brown at the weekend had some truth.

CROUCH MOVE TO END IN FAILURE? PETER Crouch is a shock target for Newcastle United in the January transfer window. But the odds look against Glenn Roeder landing the 6ft 7in striker, who has netted nine times for Liverpool this season. And much could depend on the imminent take-over at Anfield by Dubai International Capital, with the super-rich investors likely to back manager Rafa Benitez in the transfer market once the expected £450m deal goes through. Crouch is not an automatic choice for Benitez, who also has summer acquisitions Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt to choose from up front. Roeder would not confirm United's interest, but he did say: "I'm an admirer of the way Peter Crouch plays and the fact that he also scores goals." Crouch, of course, would also be cup-tied in Europe, having played in the Champions League for Liverpool this season. Middlesbrough's Mark Viduka had been a target of Newcastle's in August, but the deal never got off the ground and United's interest in the forward is now dead, while Roeder has ruled out moves for defenders Jonathan Woodgate, Sylvain Distin and Fulham's Zat Knight. Both have been linked with the club in recent days as speculation intensifies ahead of January 1. But Roeder said: "I'm not interested in bringing Jonathan Woodgate, Sylvain Distin or Zat Knight to Newcastle United." It is also understood that another one-time target, Blackburn Rovers' right back Lucas Neill, is no longer on Roeder's shopping list.

Puntastic!

.com reckon he's got 5 yellow cards and will be banned for Wednesday. God knows what our defence will look like.

If the Zog gets banned maybe O'Brien will get a start - he'll have more chance than Luque!

Even with a full team Chelski away is a virtual write-off. The home game with Watford is more important in my opinion - hopefully Ken Dire will be back, maybe Parker for Emre although hopefully not Carr - I don't think it's co-incidental we are on a run without the leprechaun in the team.

Shocking when you see probably up to 8 starters are out.

Relief after nearly messing it up.

Newcastle's business ventures could see stakes rise to £240m Michael Walker and Ewan Murray Friday December 8, 2006 The Guardian The Belgravia Group, a Jersey-based business considering a takeover of Newcastle United, is understood to have made solid progress over the past few weeks in its discussions with the club. Belgravia has been studying the club's books and has now reached a stage where it is assessing if, when and how to make a successful bid to take control at St James' Park. It appears Belgravia is satisfied with the initial part of its audit but a city source said it is not a question of moving from there to an immediate offer for the shareholdings of the Hall family (41%) and the chairman, Freddy Shepherd (29%). An estimated fee for the club is £150m but it is believed there is a simultaneous negotiation relating to possible business ventures surrounding the club. That could take the price towards £240m. Belgravia and Newcastle United plc refused to confirm yesterday whether Shepherd had met the senior figures of Belgravia. Both parties seem keen to continue talks in private despite impatience on Tyneside for a resolution to something first announced on August 21.

Isn't Mark Stimson (former blonde bombshell now baldy) the manager there?

Baba's backed over boo-boysDec 7 2006 By Alan Oliver, The Evening Chronicle Glenn Roeder jumped to the defence of his left-back Celestine Babayaro after Newcastle United's excellent victory over Reading at St James' Park. The Nigerian international returned to the side for the first time since he injured his groin at Watford a month ago and, not surprisingly, looked a bit ring-rusty. But it was his miskick in the move which led to Reading going 2-1 ahead in the 42nd minute which led to the former Chelsea man being booed by the home supporters. And for a spell at the start of the second half, Babayaro had the ignominy of again being targeted by his own fans, before they got behind Roeder's team with what can only be described as magnificent support. I asked to interview Babayaro and match referee Rob Styles to explain why he had disallowed what looked like a perfectly good Antoine Sibierski goal when Reading were rocking at 2-2. But neither Babayaro nor Styles appeared, and I was told that Roeder was "dealing with" the situation regarding his left-back. And sure enough, after the match Roeder said: "Babayaro showed immense courage and bravery to play through that difficult period. "I was quite surprised at the reaction he was getting when he was on the ball early in the second half. "But he kept showing for the ball and playing well and it all changed again and our supporters got behind him again." While Roeder was talking, I was told that Babayaro was sitting in the dressing room with his head in his hands being comforted by assistant manager Nigel Pearson. I wrote in the Chronicle last night that Babayaro is not popular with the fans and he should ask himself why. But at least, as Roeder pointed out, the left-back had the bottle to come through that awful 15-minute period at the start of the second half, and for the sake of the club, I can only hope the fans get behind the player. After all, as revealed in the Chronicle last night, Olivier Bernard is struggling to play again this season because of a hip problem similar to that of Shola Ameobi, leaving Babayaro as United's only recognised left-back.

Roeder plans swap for Bent Newcastle United have asked Charlton to let them know if they decide to sell Darren Bent in January and are prepared to offer James Milner and Steve Carr in part-exchange. St James’ Park manager Glenn Roeder has made £10 million-rated Bent his priority with Michael Owen and Shola Ameobi set to miss the majority of the season and Albert Luque getting ready to return to Spain on loan. Chairman Freddy Shepherd is reluctant to spend another large sum after investing more than £40m on Owen, Luque, Damien Duff and Obafemi Martins in the last 18 months. Bottom club Charlton are reluctant to sell Bent in the transfer window if they feel they have a chance of staying in the Premiership but know he wants to move to a bigger club. Roeder is also keeping tabs on Bolton striker Kevin Davies. Talks over a new three-year deal have stalled, with manager Sam Allardyce refusing to get anywhere near Davies’ request to be paid £30,000 a week. Bolton have resurrected Davies’ career but the player does not want to be taken for granted.

Sounds good to me and the transfer window might be exciting for once as we'd definitely be going for players at the top end of the market.

I remember being very impressed at the time with John Gallacher but he seemed to completely disappear without trace. Didn't Sumo get 36 goals and McGhee 25? Awesome statistics it must be said.

Thought it was. Will you be mentioning the horror of the Mackem ice cream man and gargoyle? - one of my worst ever experiences watching the Toon. I had my GCSEs the next day and all I could think about was how gutted I was.

What was the game when we won 5-4 and McGhee scored a brilliant individual goal in the last minute after being 4-2 down?

First home win since August - hallelujah!

West Sham winning.

Perhaps I'm being overly (and unusually) optimistic but if Roeder is looking at players at the top end of the market like Huntelaar does this mean we have money to spend?