Wallace

A sports sponsorship "expert" said much the same on Sky earlier. He also thought that in the current climate it would be difficult to find a sponsor and the money would probably not be that great.

He is probably planning to do a "Shepherd" getting the money for the sponsorship and naming rights up front and use it to pay back the loan to himself so that the new owners will have not have that money for x years.

Irritated that the media seemed to have seized on the "£20m investment" and think that will be spent on the team. They obviously have not done their research on Ashley's record on transfers.

The ground is owned by the council not the club.

If it saves us selling anyone else in January it will be a start tbh. Do you believe that will be the case? So why not accept the £60m up front from Moat with £20m to be paid next year. He would rather "invest" a further £20m than take £20m less!! As always it does not make sense and just implies that he was never serious about selling the club. Oh and if he is going to do his "best" to achieve success for Newcastle, he would not be appointing Hughton as manager.

So he is fully committed again. I wonder how long for this time round.

It is a ridiculous situation that Ashley has allowed to happen. He says he cannot appoint a proper manager because he might sell the club at any time. He has been trying to sell it for over a year - probably over 2 years ie. since the day he bought it if we believe the newspapers - but there has been very little interest. If we get promoted how much more will he then want? I would have thought that if there was genuine interest by people that had the finances that now was the time to buy us because they would have the opportunity to prepare for promotion and get the structure in place and start scouting for premier league players etc. If Ashley waits until the end of the season, no doubt there will be several months of inactivity as he waits to see what happens and then it will be too late for new owners to do anything other than wait for the inevitable relegation. Now that he has allowed this situation to arise he has a problem in that no credible manager would work for Ashley. His unpredictability causes instablity, he undermines his managers (with the exception of Kinnear) and the on-off sale of the club means that potential managers would be concerned about how long they would get at the club and would want contracts to reflect that. I am depressed by the thought of Hughton as manager but there is no other option really so I just hope that the club is either sold very soon or he actually surprises us all and turns out to be a decent manager.

Well they will have played together a few times in the reserves so they should know each other's game.

Shirts now being put up on Ebay. Smith, Carroll and Ranger's are up already. Others being added throughout the day. More info on nufc.co.uk.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1221646/Northern-Exposure-Newcastle-fans-want-promotion-far-want-Alan-Shearer-Mike-Ashley-out.html From the link above: "As caretaker, Hughton has done a fine job, so the change of title will change little in the dressing room. The senior players will continue to have their say, and will continue to play and Hughton will just pray they all stay fit. But with the title manager comes come responsibility and while no one can question Hughton's reputation as one of football's nice guys, his press conferences have become pointless and often laughable exercises in proclaiming absolutely nothing. Newcastle supporters demand more from their manager. Because he was the caretaker and because he could blame those above or around him for making most of the decisions at the club, Hughton has been able to deflect any query with the kind of straight batting which even Geoffrey Boycott would have struggled to match in his pomp. No one in football is more skilled in saying 'I don't know' (or I do but I don't want to tell you) in so many different ways. He can't do that anymore if he is the manager. Even his repeated lack of accuracy surrounding injuries has been overlooked but it is a remarkable coincidence that when Shola Ameobi, Joey Barton and Steven Taylor were first injured Hughton said they might be back within days. In fact in each case it will be closer to months. Such things may not matter when you are the caretaker but he will be under greater scrutiny now in every aspect of the job. Not least the results."

Bernie Slaven wants Keegan!!!

Because Shearer will not be his puppet and wants money to buy players. And because it is potentially the KK situation all over again.

Now Hughton has the job, it is now countdown until he is sacked. I feel sorry for the guy because he will get no support from the board and he will be their fall guy.

So Ashley has "supposedly" given Moat 7 days to sort out a deal but in the meantime has offered Hughton the job. So if Moat's offer (I know - pigs might fly) is accepted, his first task will be to sack Hughton.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/simon-bird/Once-again-Mike-Ashley-s-numbers-just-don-t-add-up-article194037.html Once again Mike Ashley's numbers just don't add up By Simon Bird Published 13:13 19/10/09 . Well done Mike Ashley. You give an interview amounting to a few lines of quotes, and still you managed to offend Newcastle United fans! Ashley spoke this weekend to the Sunday Times Business section, and the gist was that Barry Moat needs to cough up £80million by the end of the week to buy the club, or it’s off the market. We’ve heard all that many times before during this tedious takeover saga. But Ashley took time to rather bitterly point out: “I have to put £20m a year into the club - I spend more than every other fan put together puts into the club each year. Well, let’s look at that boast in detail.... because as with most statements from this discredited regime, it doesn’t stand up to a simple fact test. Newcastle’s last published accounts (I assume Ashley has read them, although you never know, maybe not) says "matchday income" from ticket sales and corporate fans brought in £32million. That’s right, £32million pumped in from fans who it appears are having their loyalty questioned by Ashley. And then there’s the £27 million of "commercial income", a sizeable chunk of which included shirt sales... purchased by fans out of their own pockets. So Ashley is only a few tens of millions out in his figures. With that sort of grasp for detail, no wonder Newcastle have been in such a mess since he took over. Perhaps it is another one of those lies that the club tells as a "public relations exercise" and exposed by Kevin Keegan’s recent tribunal against Ashley.

I would be surprised if we get promoted if Ashley stays as I cannot believe he will spend the necessary money to do so. If we don't get promoted this season, then the remaining decent players will be off and some poorer ones brought in and then it will be a case of rebuilding from scratch. Promotion the following season would be even more unlikely. His latest comments imply that he has learnt nothing from the past 2 years and is prepared to make the same mistakes all over again thinking that his luck is bound to change at some point. If we then have to go through this farce again next Summer - promoted or not - it will be probably end up in the same way but we will be in an even worse state than we are today. With regards to the £80m cash up front - we don't really know if that is the true amount. He may just want that much up front and the balance paid off at a later date, extra payments if promoted and what about the "loan" from Ashley. At the beginning of this saga, it was implied that it was £100m, and he would write off all the debts and then it gradually appeared that was not the case but then again, we still really don't know what the true price of the club is. Has Moat got the money? Who knows? I have no idea of his finances. Journalists may infer he does not have the money but how do they know? Surely all of that information is confidential anyway. He has never spoken in public about his offer. Maybe it is all a game of brinkmanship on his part. Maybe he believes the club is seriously overpriced. We have not seen the books so we don't know what state it is in. Ashley's latest comments make it appear that he has done his best and all he wants is £80m up front and that it is his misfortune that everyone is messing him around and no-one has met his price. I suspect that as always with Ashley, the truth is much complicated than that.

What a load of bull. Despite the man being a c*** I've always defended the fact that he hasn't made money from the club and has subsidised it every year. But that statement is utter bollocks. Revenue from fans last year (well last financial statement) came to around £54m, you'd think he'd be aware of that wouldn't you? Yet another example of poor PR. Should have praised the continued support to the team instead of saying his money is worth more than the fans. Keep alienating the fans and and he will have to put in even more money to keep the club going.

Hopefully Scunthorpe's win against promotion candidates Sheffield United will mean that our players have the right attitude for this game.

The bit in bold is what I picked up on, to me it reads as though he's trying to sell himself as the better option to run the club as he's the one with the money than instead if Moat takes over we're struggle financially. But what good is that if he won't invest in the team and appoint a proper manager.

One of the most frustrating things for me was when we get the ball into a good position in and around the box, our players seem to have to stop and think before making a pass or shooting giving the opposition plenty of time to nick the ball or get back in position. If we had an instinctive striker, we could have won that game even if we didn't deserve it.

I think clubs underplay or overplay injuries to mislead the oppositon about the likely team. Look at the number of times some big name has made a miraculous recovery to play against us. I do however think there may be a problem with the fitness training and medical advice at the club which has an impact on the injuries picked up and players rehab. We have been through countless managers and coaches but still seem to have the same problems.

Well I thought the club had already "confirmed" that they had received bids of £100m and then that they had received a bid just short of 100m and then that they had a agreement with Moat but the overdraft had to be sorted with the bank and that was the hold-up. Now he wants £80m! Just more confusing statements from Ashley to muddy the waters. Who knows what to believe.

They are meant to be pretty good going forward and they have quite a lot of pace. Quite inconsistent at home though.

They might put Simpson in the middle as he did OK when he played there earlier this season and Ryan Taylor at rightback.

I can't imagine he would get much more money either if we are promoted. Most of the players that could be sold for decent money have gone, meantime the debt will be rising. If we go get promoted, the buyer will have to have a an awful lot more money than the asking price in order to buy new players. Everything at the moment is being run on a shoestring and with as few players and coaching staff as possible. If we do get promoted, will he then spend the whole of the close season faffing about "selling" the club and therefore saying he cannot make any decisions until the new owners take over. In that case, he will have stuffed up the next season - even worse if we go up via the play-offs. Maybe the fraud squad thing will have an effect. If he is worried about that, it might force his hand. However, the idiot has a record of missing the boat and always hanging on for a better offer so I am sure that will continue. I don't know why he turns up for games as he looks thoroughly miserable and if he does want to keep us then what is the point in not investing in the club. His continued prescence at the club just promotes a negative image of the club. If he does stay on, I just hope that he gets rid of Llambias and appoints an experienced chairman who is able to run the club properly and with dignity. And to just be honest for a change.