ianovthetoon

He is on the board of a local company based in Prudhoe that is at the forefront of Business Telecoms in this country, rapidly expanding. They provide most UK call centres and large retail companies with telephony solutions, and whilst he's a wealthy bloke, he would have to have major backing as he's not wealthy enough to buy us on his own. He's been linked to us before, and makes perfect sense given the "local connections" stuff given out by Keith Harris

They don't give a toss mate. It's a bit like sitting in a Sports Direct Shop having a debate on how shit Lonsdale Sportswear is. Wonder if he would allow that

Niall Quinn has simply appointed the right people around him, the business side is dealt with by the Chief Exec, whilst the PR, Strategy etc are devised by Quinn

It seems to make more sense really. If he crashed and burned as a manager here, it would be hard to see a way back in for him, but to give arguably the best player of this generation the chance to mould the club with a more strategic/long term plan would be of far more benefit. As it's "his" club in terms of support, as a born winner he'd go hell for leather to make sure we were a success

The whole talk of the summer has involved mindless speculation of Alan Shearer taking over as manager. I've been thinking about this for a few days, but does anyone think that Shearer might be a better bet as Chairman, ala Niall Quinn. Local Hero, Media darling, knows what the club requires, would get the fans on side regardless of who the manager is. Perhaps this would be a better strategy for any would be buyers

All these daft rumours are getting silly now. Is this a joke or something? Whats his managerial history shows?? Would be even more random than JFK's appointment! The only reason you wouldn't laugh that out of court is that it's just the type of cheap crackpot appointment Ashley would make. It makes you wonder, IF there is any substance to this, who is actually advising Ashley on matters. More chance of it being Rolf Harris than Keith Harris

All these daft rumours are getting silly now. Is this a joke or something? Whats his managerial history shows?? Would be even more random than JFK's appointment!

Derek's on his way round to hoy them out!!!!

Article about the amount of players left without clubs. How many of them would you sign given our position. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1204413/The-Dole-XI-Hundreds-left-footballs-scrapheap-scramble-new-club-reaches-boiling-point.html I'd take Sibierski back in a flash, Sol Campbell and Moritz Volz. Could all do a cracking job for us

And of course he endeared himself to the Newcastle Fans by saying we had delusions of grandeur Would go down like a lead balloon. If this happens I'd be pretty much convinced fatty is hellbent on pissing us off

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/08/05/ashley-considers-staying-for-another-season-72703-24322534/ rehash of the Guardian article really, mentions bringing in Strachan, Curbishley or Coppell, whilst Shearer would listen to what Ashley had to say

THAN WHO?! Fred West?! Be careful there mate, you might start an internet rumour. New club doctor - Mr Harold Shipman. At least he'd be able to get the likes of Geremi off the wage bill

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/newcastle/article6739474.ece Wouldn't be the perfect scenario, but would be a step forward

Just listened to the Newcastle bit of the interview, and the end of the month comments were pretty much put in his mouth by the interviewer. The bit about local influence being important was also quite an interesting point, but that doesn't neccesarily mean Shepherd. Barry Moat was mentioned in the Chronicle back by Middle Eastern money. It's something that was mentioned last time we were up for sale. I just think that could be where we're going. If there are players going out/coming in and Shearer is lined up to take charge when the takeover goes through, he could still advise who goes/stays. Martins would have gone with Shearer at the helm anyway, and it could be why we're digging our heels in over the fees for Beye/Bassong. I think if a takeover is imminent, as has been mentioned, Keith Harris couldn't come out and say anyway. Key thing I thought about (and it's just a theory), if the takeover was announced Friday or even Saturday morning, that would give the players a huge lift ahead of Saturday's game, with Shearer maybe taking over on the Monday. There have been quotes attributed to Shearer saying he would be a summariser for Saturday's game, nothing mentioned about the rest of the season.

Mike Dean Refereeing

I think this is fairly on the nail but not because the new people will make money necessarily but because it will show him up as being useless. I honestly believe that if he can sell the club to someone who will then get us relegated rather than promoted then he would do. Last thing he will want is for those that follow him to be successful. Probably not too far from the truth. £100M is looking like a difficult price for anyone to match, so he might think he can carve the club up, leave it ruined and walk away with the same kind of money he is being offered at present. Nobody knows the terms and conditions under which the likes of Martins etc are being sold, but I'd be surprised if all sales at the moment aren't cash up front. Wolfsburg have a wealthy benefactor I believe so for them that wouldn't be a problem, and if Bassong ends up going to Citeh, again, cash will be fine. He could then sell the lease on the ground and/or training ground and make the club pay to lease these back. All of the incoming money could go back in his pocket, then he could call time on the whole thing. There's not going to be much left, but the queue will be a mile long to pick up the club out of administration for an absolute song. It would mean a really difficult season, and might take a decade to turn round, but at least we'd be rid of that spiteful, disrespectful cockney bastard once and for all. The thing is though, he must be so delusional to think he can now walk away with any of his reputation intact. He's in a no win situation. He's allowed the club to stagnate over the summer, failed to deliver any type of communication to his "customers", and now runs the risk of walking away with nothing at all The only thing we can really look to is that none of the parties who have done due diligence have came out and commented/leaked information on the club's finances so there must still be some hope that a deal will be made. If any of these parties had pulled out/felt as though they were being treated harshly I'm certain that some information would have found it's way in to the public domain. I don't buy in to the stories that it could take months. In a few months the club won't be worth £50M let alone the £100M asking price if nothing happens. It seems as though it's a "shit or bust" scenario where we're sold in the next 2-3 weeks, or not at all. The aftermath of the not at all option could prove very hurtful to the club. I really want to remain optimistic/believe tales of an imminent takeover, but nothing except a couple of rumours make it seem possible/plausible. It's Mike Ashley's prerogative to tell us nothing as he owns the club, but in order to ensure revenue continues to keep his investment afloat you'd think he would at least give some sort of honest evaluation of where we are, and how he envisages the next 3 months panning out.

George Graham - been out the game a while though Glenn Roeder - knows the club, could possibly unite the players Paul Jewell - Has history of getting promotion from the Championship John Carver - A geordie, would be a gamble but it might pay off Ian Dowie - Not quite the Shearer dream ticket, but could possibly do a job Gordon Strachan - Worth asking, although given the remit they'll have possibly not El Tel - Snubbed Ashley once before, no reason why he'd say yes this time JFK - Would come back straight away, although I think it would be seriously detrimental to his health Gary Speed - No experience but highly rated as a coach, knows the club and wouldn't cost the earth Thing is, unless MA wants to see the club go under, he has to get this right. He either has to sell or make a go of it. We've got a good price for Martins, Likely to make a huge profit on Bassong, good price for Beye looks likely. Get rid of the likes of Jonas and Collocini and make at least half of this money available to an experienced manager, and I think we'd have enough to escape this division

Depends how they are paid. If they are taking a percentage of the deal, they could be deliberatley stalling things as they anticipate a more lucrative deal in the future. I would imagine they'll take a small percentage from the sale price as well as a daily fee for services rendered. Even if we aren't sold Ashley will have to pay them something. The positive you can take is that there haven't been any direct quotes attributed to Seymour Pierce for a while. Could be that they're working on something?

He is. He knows he can't sell us, so will now start to get rid of any player we have a chance of getting money for. Bassong, Beye and Enrique wont be here much longer. Unless he demands cash up front, Ashley doesn't stand to gain, unless he's still in charge in a couple of years. Oh wait..................

i doubt it, we'll be stuck with hughton I think it's now time for the question to be asked: "which would you prefer, Houghton or Kinnear?" i'd still rather have richard money promoted in all honesty, or even o'leary if he's llambo's best mate. at least money would have faith in the academy lads like lua lua, inman, danquah, ranger etc I'd settle for George Graham to be honest

IF Mike Ashley stays, I think he needs to think about making some changes at the top, most importantly replacing Llambias. His PR skills are atrocious, he appears to have as much contempt for Newcastle Fans as his boss, and we need someone in charge who has experience of running a football club. The new man should be given complete autonomy over the hiring of staff on the footballing side, because you just know that is busy ironing his tracksuit and cleaning his boots ready for the end of the month

It's quite possible no one will tell Ryder anything and that the Arab story is still on. Alternatively, MA is clinging to the hope he can sell before August 31st, if not there's a 2 week break for the internationals where he can bring in a manager and some loan signings

He never said it was DIC anyhow... Very true, but we still appear to be as far away from the takeover as ever. The Barry Moat story would carry a little more credence I guess, and there are no quotes dismissing that........

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/08/04/toon-takeover-still-on-hold-as-talks-played-down-72703-24310740/ nothing to see, move along..................