AyeDubbleYoo

well put. casting side any arguments about who was right or wrong in the past few days, and getting back to the more traditional criteria with which one judges a chairman or owner, you have to ask - did they appoint the right man? in this case, they got it wrong, not because Keegan is a bad manager (he's not) but because he wasn't suited to the method of management the club went on to introduce. He tried to change this, they refused, and now it leaves the club in a difficult position, with any incoming manager knowing they won't be the man in charge. Like Keegan, they may take the job in the hope that they can change the structure from within, but if they do we'll simply have a repeat of this exact situation in a year's time. if the club must go with this style of management, they mustnow go for someone who they are absolutely, 100% sure is fine with the system in place, which won't be the easiest task. Two very fair points, with Ashley's inexperience with running a football club I can't blame him too much for the way KK conflicted with his system. That's the sort of thing you might be able to play down in the excitement of hiring him. At least from now on he will know that whoever he brings in will have to be prepared to work with the system and fully pre-warned. If that happens we might actually be better off than with Keegan.

Let's bear in mind that Milner asked for pay rise one year into his contract, and then put in a written transfer request when that was (rightly) refused. If you then get a £12 million bid for the player (and I don't think I've heard anyone say that wasn't a good price) you'd have to be stupid not to accept it. I can't see that the Board are in any way at fault there. If Keegan resigned over selling a player of Milner's calibre for £12m then it's not Ashley that we should be protesting against. If everything we're hearing is correct then Keegan was undermined, manipulated, lied to and made to look a fool by his employers. That took away all the trust and faith he had in them - they'd done it once so what would stop them doing it again? It doesn't matter what deal or potential 'solution' they put on the table, once he knew he couldn't trust them there was never a chance he would stick around. IMO Ashley and his team are 100% to blame for this. The first sign that Keegan wasn't happy with the way things were working should've prompted change - that was the only way this could've been avoided. I'll never stop supporting Newcastle United but my love for the club has diminished after this sorry episode. I know what you're saying, and I feel the same to a certain extent. But saying 'If everything we're hearing is correct' is a massive if, that's almost certainly not true. And why should the first sign that Keegan wasn't happy prompted change? It should have prompted discussions and compromise, yes, but not Ashley just doing whatever Keegan wanted. A football club can't be run like that.

People are eating up the Ashley stuff eagerly enough.

That is scarily accurate! I'm defnitely reaching acceptance now, although some people are firmly in anger.

Good post. It shouldn't have been too difficult to get this to work, looks to me like one side (KK?) being too pig-headed/proud to compromise. As you say, shame as it had showed more positives than negatives so far. Agreed, a little bit more give or take and we wouldn't be having this discussion. I'm disappointed at how it's turned out, but with Keegan and Ashley equally. And if Keegan had stayed, how long would he have been manager? Another year? Two? Ashley has to look to the long term stability of the club and if KK couldn't buy into that then it's sad but unavoidable that he exits. There's no way Ashley has failed.

I think we can a still have a good season, the players seem to have bought into a better style of football - let's hope it won't disolve because Keegan has left. The fans are very important as well, I believe we'd be better served in getting behind the players than using the match as a way to protest and get at Ashley. I think there will probably be a new manager in place by the Hull game, so that might have an impact as well. We definitely won't be in trouble this season, the players have too much quality. That's why I can't hate on the recruitment team too much!

Brilliant Although the point is serious, the way we're turning against a man who seems only to want the best for the club is very worrying.

That's exactly what we will do though, no point pretending otherwise.

Let's bear in mind that Milner asked for pay rise one year into his contract, and then put in a written transfer request when that was (rightly) refused. If you then get a £12 million bid for the player (and I don't think I've heard anyone say that wasn't a good price) you'd have to be stupid not to accept it. I can't see that the Board are in any way at fault there. If Keegan resigned over selling a player of Milner's calibre for £12m then it's not Ashley that we should be protesting against.

I love KK, and it is very easy to accept his version of events at face value. But the statements coming out of the club lead me to believe that it isn't as straighforward as that, it if KK had been a slightly more sensible and less volatile character then their may have been a way forward for him to stay. For me this has taken the shine off Keegan for good, I don't know all the facts but that's my instinctive reaction.

Me too lads, I don't actually know what we would be protesting about.

You know what, I wouldn't be surprised if she writes a very pro Keegan piece now She probably will, it seems it's the club she hates.

I agree, although he isn't a bad manager it would be insane bearing in mind the fans reaction.

not before the hull game but i agree Guys, I'd love to see KK back as much as anyone but there's no way that is going to happen. If Ashley was planning to get out that easily he would have just given in to everything Keegan asked for in the first place.

Exactly, the idea that they were 'right all along' is taking it way too far.

Don't think I can post any useful contribution rightnow, just fallen out of love with football in a big way.

I can't see us accepting anyone called Marcelino anywhere near St James' Park! i'm sure someone told me the infamous broken finger marcelino is chief scout at liverpool now. That explains a lot.

I can't see us accepting anyone called Marcelino anywhere near St James' Park!

We could go round in circles about this for ages, obviously we have different views about the merits of the new owner. But if you mean that Ashley doesn't have a clue what's going on, then you don't know that and neither does anyone else. Look. None of us are party to 'the facts' and in these situations we probably never will be. But I know what I see...I see a man who loves the club and even with mighty odds stacked against him has got an average side to play spells of good football (even a respectable draw at ManU)...I see a man who is clearly our key asset behaving like a person who clearly feels alienated and fed up with things around him. Yeah, I agree with that. All we don't know is what has made him feel like that and whether he's justified. I'm not arguing against Keegan, I love the guy.

I disagree completely, I think that's the best thing that could happen - it would show that all parties were mature and had the capacity for compromise, as well as having the best interests of the club at heart. More likely it would show that Keegan can't afford to leave from a financial point of view or that the board can't bring themselves to sack him, fearing the supporters backlash. So we soldier on waiting for this to inevitably boil over again, and we get another week of this. Ideally everything would be rosy and nothing would need to change. But that really doesn't seem to be the case. I'm not so sure, everyone in football seems to have got into a mindset where if a manager disagrees with an owner then one of them has to go. But there's no reason it has to work like that is there? I think it would be great if everyone was still in their jobs after this. I'm not saying that everything would stay the same, but I think it's more a case of the system/balance of power needing to be tweaked than someone needing to be booted out.

We could go round in circles about this for ages, obviously we have different views about the merits of the new owner. But if you mean that Ashley doesn't have a clue what's going on, then you don't know that and neither does anyone else.

Look, I know that under the Hall/Shepherd regimes we achieved a lot and had some of the greatest times we've ever had. I'll not forget them for that, it was amazing. But where were we at the end? Heading for the championship with a crippling wage budget, massive debts and Sam Allardyce as the latest in a line of hastily appointed and then prematurely axed managers... each given a transfer budget that the club clearly was struggling to sustain. So Ashley comes in, thoroughly reviews the club and because of that decides he needs to change the structure. He does so, and brings back Kevin Keegan in the process. We all think he's brilliant. Then this week's events happen, and because there appears to be a disagreement between Keegan and one or more of the senior staff we're discussing whether Ashley has 'failed Newcastle'. Moles are longer sighted than that TBH.

I've surprised myself over this whole affair. Being a hardcore Keegan devotee from the first time round I thought I would share the view that what he says goes, and that the system should be scrapped/remoulded to accomodate him. But in fact I find myself hoping that he will compromise as much as Ashley will. I realy hope that the objections of Keegan, however great he might be, don't lead to the dismantling of what I think is a solid recruitment and spending policy.

The fact anyone is seriously considering that Ashley has 'failed Newcastle' is a sad reflection on the jerky knees of some of our fans. I can think of some other verbs for what he's done for Newcastle, 'saved' being the one I would go for.

Have we got the full set of randomly made up opposite possible theories yet? We must be getting close now