ianovthetoon

Yeah, I hear Ronaldo is sick of playing for Man U and is refusing to sign a new contract. He might be fancy dropping down a league if we offer Man U a set of strips and a free bar in Shearer's on the Championship's opening weekend to see the lad go against Barnsley

The plain and simple fact is though, like any other industry, a good manager surrounds himself with people who can do the things you can't. The buck stops with the manager, but it's generally the people who work under him who are just as important and effective. As long as Shearer does this we'll be ok. Look at people like Brian Kidd, won all the plaudits as SAF's assistant at Manure, but when given the chance to go it alone he failed spectactularly. Put the right people in the important jobs and Shearer will do ok I reckon

If they are going to spend £200m on that shower of shit would do well to send Big Niall his CV. We'll let him have Nolan and Raylor for £7m each

One thing we're nailed on to see next season is the Sports Direct Logo on the back of the shirts above the name and number. I really hope not but it's inevitable

It's not directly with regards to our takeover, but I wonder how much that Texan hillbilly has paid for the mackems to take total control? If the mooted potential transfer budget is to be believed, then he will have made a substantial investment, given the £80m Keane was given to spunk on shite. My point is, I know we're in the Championship, but surely given our Stadium, fanbase ,potential and profile, were we to be successful, surely we make a much more attractive proposition than them. This is why I do see these takeover rumours having some mileage, even with Shepherd involved. The positive thing is though, if he was essentially the figurehead/guardian of other people's investment, he would be far more accountable, and wouldn't be given as free a reign as he had last time. It'll be boiling his piss thinking the Mackems have this fantastic opportunity to usurp our achievements of the last 15 years or so

That would be like one in the same thing wouldn't it? Would fit in well with Mike's cost cutting. No need for a team bus, metro day tickets all round!!

That would be like one in the same thing wouldn't it?

As it's difficult to make money out of a football club, I can't see Richard Branson entering the sport any time soon. He'd want to come in and be the best and most innovative, and given the level of investment that would require he'd be on until the day he dies. Only time I could possibly see him entering the game is if Clubs are allowed to negotiate their own TV deals, given he has the ideal platform to enter from. And to be honest, if he did come in and buy us we'd become even more of a laughing stock than we already are. Not only would we have virgin emblazoned across the top, I'm pretty sure he'd rename the ground as well.

How does it work with the Football League selling overseas TV rights? It's not beyond the realms of possibility that some foreign TV networks could approach them to buy rights of games as we do have decent support in some countries. Are there still the same restraints as the Premier League? Or could we hawk our own TV coverage around with a view to adding some shekels to the coffers?

Ashley: Don't know what these miserable fuckers want, I've virtually guaranteed them top six football next season and two games in Europe.

If you look at Ashley's statement from last night, the final sentence about discussing how to take the club forward could relate to the takeover. It might be a bit of a conspiracy theory but I reckon this could have been the plan from the first day Shearer took over. There was a mention of it at the time, and it would make sense, given that Shearer has at times been highly critical of Ashley's regime in the past. Kinnear has kept his trap shut, probably with a confidentiality clause in any payoff he was given. It would also make good sense given that a billionaire has just assumed control of our closest rivals, and whilst we are at best 12 months behind them, as a club we would want to lose as little ground as possible on them. If they have a vision and plan to make the best out of a bad situation, great. The optimism created by a fresh look at the top, coupled with a reasonable transfer kitty and (hopefully) good solid performances from the outset, should ensure that crowds remain high, keeping gate receipts at a reasonable level. I don't know how much we make from replica shirts, but the sponsor change and potential celebration of being promoted at the first time of asking could mean a complete new kit for the start of the 2010 campaign, so that might help bring in a few extra quid. In terms of television deals, it would be interesting if we were able to sell rights to our championship games abroad, as I'm sure there would be no shortage of takers. This would help bring in some revenue as well. Although we will inevitably still be short of what we make in the premier league, I'd say in the right hands we are still an attractive investment for anyone. We'd lose money in a season in the championship, but with promotion at the first time of asking, and good levels of investment in years 1 and 2 the club would be back to it's "Premier League" value in no time at all. We may not be a big club in terms of trophies and Champions League Football, but in terms of potential revenues and global fanbase we're still massive. At the end of the day it's the potential to make money that dictates a football club's value as much as winning trophies etc. How many teams in years gone by have had so much media coverage in the wake of relegation? Man City were relegated a few years ago and look at them now. They may have had to go right down before they got back to where they are now, but with the right management and outlook we can hopefully avoid that, and bounce back stronger. If you'd asked their fans back then if they could foresee one of the best players in the world signing for them at a cost of £30m they'd have laughed at you. So here's hoping.........

If Shearer stays on, he'll already have an idea who he will be getting rid of, and who he'd like to stay. Given comments in the media, I'd think Beye will stay on, and I'd like to hope he could persuade Bassong that a season in the Championship would be far better than warming the bench at the Emirates. I'd be surprised if Enrique stays on, so we'd be looking for one, perhaps two left backs, although on a reduced wage, Duff could more than do a job in that position in this division. Taylor has already said he'll stay, so that would be the defence sorted, with the likes of Tozer and Kadar being decent backups. Midfield is the main concern. Guthrie should stay, Butt inevitably will but hopefully will be used sparingly. I think Gutierrez will be away, but should he stay I think he'd terrify a lot of Championship defences. So we need 3 young quality midfielders. Up front, Carroll will do a job in the Championship with the right nurturing, and if we perhaps added Lita on a Bosman, he'd do a job, as he has for other sides in this division. We have Nile Ranger who should get his chance, and again, add a young promising striker who could come off the bench and do a job, and step up to the plate if required through injury. In goal, I'd rather we gave Krul his chance with Forster on the bench. Everyone not mentioned I'd sell for what we can get, and use youth to cover positions. We should ensure we have two players of similar quality for every position, and I think with the right mindset instilled by the management team we'll do alright. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we've been here before in years gone by and bounced back. We'll be a big draw for clubs like Doncaster, Scunthorpe etc, and we'll go to places we've never been before. If we can hit the ground running, attendances won't drop by much, and we can show the Premier League what they're missing It's a ride we didn't really want to take, but we have to now, so we may as well try to enjoy it!

Given Shearer's comments about mistakes etc etc, I'd say there's more chance of Bungle, Zippy and George being in charge next season. AS regardless will be leaving the clowns in charge under no doubt whatsoever that they are culpable in this season's fiasco. I wouldn't even put Kinnear in charge of the bait van. If Shearer stays, we'll be there or thereabouts with 35k plus

Could see it being Owen. Media would love it... repays his transfer fee in his last game for the Toon etc etc etc....... To be fair, if we had that scenario, couldn't really argue with it, given the shit we're in

At least we'll be playing in Europe Next Year (Cardiff and Swansea away!)

Still think he's better than Fabio?

Martin O'Neil a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to field his under 11 squad on Sunday

Saw something on the ticker bar on Setanta Sports News earlier saying Wolves are interested in Butt. Perhaps there is a God after all

It's not the fans going to Villa Park we need worry about, it'll be the renta mong charvas gathering at St James outside Shearers burning effigies of Mike Ashley and behaving like complete dipshits, because it's nailed on Sky will be there to capture them in all their glory as well.

Or Uri Geller again

If I was the actual manager (Shearer), I'd be sorely tempted to give myself a squad number and play up front and show the fuckers how to do it!!!!!!! The club probably still hold his registration so why not, can't do any worse than the shower of shit we have playin there. Would make a fantastic story in years to come if he scored the winner

Seeing as how most mutterings from SJP seem to be about how bad things were under Kinnear (fitness, discipline etc), I don't think even Ashley is clueless enough to want to go back to that. If we go down, I would still expect Shearer to stay on, or at worst he will have some kind of input in to who should come in. I would imagine Shearer to be quite visionary, and have enough about him to keep players at the club for a stab at promotion first time around. The likes of Bassong, Beye, Guthrie and perhaps even Viduka(on a much reduced wage on a pay per play deal) should be around next season regardless, as I feel they actually give a shit and may feel it's their duty to stick around, although I think they'd get some sort of clause guaranteeing them a transfer should we not come straight back up. Ashley is known as a gambler, and I think he might listen to Shearer in that it's worth a gamble assembling a quality side to attempt promotion first time around. This way the loss in revenue is only restricted to one season, and hopefully selling the likes of Martins and Barton and getting rid of a few of the higher earners (Owen, Smith, Geremi etc) should be some kind of recompense angainst this. Their combined salaries should come in somewhere around £15M in savings, along with perhaps £10Mish for Barton and Martins. Add that to the parachute payment and we're not far away financially from where we'd be in the premiership. I know we'll lose out in other areas, but I really think as we'd be a big draw for the other teams in the championship, they'd bring some good away followings with them, and if we assemble a team capable of winning a la Keegan the last time we were down there, we'd do alright crowd wise. At that time we regularly pulled in 36,000 plus for games with many more locked outside the ground. Whilst not great, ONE season only in the Championship wouldn't be as damaging as many think. We aren't financially in the shit like Leeds were, and if we can retain Shearer, have someone who I believe could assemble a team that would do well down there. There are quite a few young players who we've been linked to as a premiership team (Ledley, Fox, Barnes etc), who wouldn't be beyond our grasp as we'd still be a big draw with a high profile manager. I know it's still not over, but as has been said many times we're not a relegation team on paper. There is some genuine quality through the team, but also some "couldn't give a shit" deadwood as well. Get rid of the deadwood, try and retain some of the quality for 12 months and add some of the better Championship players who are young and improving and it might well turn out for the best!!!

Although every man and his dog can see it was a goal, I can think of more than one game this season which has a more defining role in us being in the situation we're in. Stoke at home being the blatantly obvious one. Throwing away the lead like we did was horrendous. You never know the realisation of it being shit or bust on Sunday might bring out some big performances, and see us get what we need to stay up. I'm pretty much resigned to our fate now, although whilst we still have a game to go there is a glimmer of hope. We've had more than enough "winnable" games in recent weeks to pull us out of the mire, and quite simply we ain't good enough. I started going to watch Newcastle in 1987 and can remember some of the total shite we had to watch week in week out, and will be there next season come what may. If Ashley has any sense, he will look at the fact we have far better resources at our disposal than most in the fizzy pop league, and give whoever is in charge (Shearer I hope), the financial backing he will need to get us out of the mess he allowed others to get us in. So although I must admit I had a bit of a drunken rant about that "goal" on Saturday, I'm not going to dwell on it. If you look at the games we've been ahead in this season to end up drawing, look at these. One of those performances turned around slightly would have us 2 points better off and more than likely safe.

Maybe instead of Graeme Danby prancing round the pitch we should just have Don't Stop Believing by Journey blasting out when the lads are on the pitch. Quite apt really