Wallace

All of those clubs (and us until recently) play in Europe every year and most of them in the Champions League.

The most important decision they have to make is the choice of manager. The well-being of the whole club depends upon it. I just don't see how the board cannot see this. Newcastle's biggest failing has been its inability (with the exception of Keegan and Robson) to choose good managers. You would think the new lot would be a lot more imaginative. It seems that the only criteria is that they are cheap and they do as they are told.

] And that was at the time they were claiming Keegan was responsible for the signings.

That to me just says "he'll do as he is told". What a lack of imagination and ambition if they seriously think that JFK is going to develop the team and move the club forward.

But if he does go on to improve and becomes a good Premiership striker - 10k at the age of 25 would be very poor wages so I understand him knocking them back. Maybe, they just need to do something more incentive based as he lost his way for a while but seems to have got back on track recently.

If the NUSC weren't getting so much press coverage with their demands for communication from the club you can be sure this interview would never have happened. Thats rubbish I'm afraid. The club had said before Xmas they would talk after the transfer window. NUSC had sweet FA to do with the interview or the future meeting. In fact I don't even know if anyone on NUSC is part of the meeting, they might be I don't know. The club said just after christams they'd be speaking in the new year (Ashley's programme notes for the Liverpool game). That never happened though so Kinnear said it would be after the transfer window. Then he said it would be the end of the season that they'd talk to supporters groups. Now Llambias points out they're regularly talking to supporters groups. Nobody at the club is reading from the same page. Anyhow, why did they feel the need to break from their policy of silence, if not due to the pressure they were under? It's been known by the people who go to the meetings it would be February for a long time. I don't care what JK said how much of what he says is true anyway I think you're confusing meetings with fan representatives (stewarding, prices etc.) with broader communication (Club direction, transfer policy, who's running the club etc.). Llambias hasn't even been involved with the former has he? I think (assume) that's all Llambias is on about when he mentions the meetings with the fans. He hasn't been involved with those yet but he is in february from what I understand. Mort was included in the last lot though. There are meetings every month (I think) - and it is Simon Esland who normally attends from NUFC. The meetings are posted on the official website and a summary on True Faith. At the NUSC meeting last week, they said a couple of people from NUSC had attended the last one. I don't think they were actually "invited" to attend though. Points raised tend to be about stewarding and that sort of thing and not the direction of the club.

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/columnists/neil-farrington/2009/02/08/wise-should-face-music-at-newcastle-79310-22877719/ Wise should face music at Newcastle Feb 8 2009 by Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun AS with Mark Twain two centuries ago, reports last week of Dennis Wise’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Shame that, as the guy has a huck of a lot to answer for at Newcastle United. And then some. Not that I literally wish him dead, of course. No, the world needs irritating little Cockneys, if only to make the rest of us feel better about ourselves. It’s just that United, what with him having failed — again — to do the best part of his job properly, have no obvious further need of Dennis Wise. That’s with United, having begun February with a princely but unwanted profit of around £7 million, looking like paupers. Of course, there are other prime suspects in the strange case of the missing transfer targets (episode four). Suspects like owner Mike Ashley — it being his money that United saved in January. Like managing director Derek Llambias, whose decision to get hands-on with transfers by switching his office to Newcastle’s training ground the week before last was like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Like manager Joe Kinnear, who was still talking up the prospect of making top-class signings even as the deadline came and went. But who was doing the bidding of all three? Who, contrary to rumour and a supposedly strict remit to unearth Academy talent, remained at the sharp end of first-team transfers? Who, for example, went to France a fortnight ago to negotiate a reputedly done deal for Albin Ebondo? Who has been trying to find buyers in Spain for the very same players he so fatefully forced upon Kevin Keegan? Who, in those cases and others, failed? And so who else but this globetrotting, would-be Mr Fixit is most to blame for the fact that the January product of Newcastle’s worldwide talent trek was one former target, a bloke who has played almost 300 Premier League games and two players who have scored against them this season? Yet who else is as unaccountable for today’s problems at United — and the club’s uncertain tomorrow? Who else, now that Mike Ashley has shown his face on Tyneside and Llambias has belatedly broken his silence, remains safely behind the lines, like so many World War One generals? Well, out of sight should not mean out of mind. But, with Llambias taking fans’ questions and Ashley putting himself about, I fear it will. I fear Wise is here to stay. For as long as he wants to. Which, with him being far from the madding — and distracted — crowd, could be a long while. But the measure of his failure is all too easily gauged, on and off the pitch. Ultimately, what else but Wise’s sad apology for a transfer record ensured that just as Ashley headed into the Newcastle dressing room last week, decency — in the shape of a “disgusted” Shay Given — walked out of the door? But for that transfer record, would we be asking questions such as how United can hope to spend big, and spend well, in the summer on the back of a drop-off in season-ticket sales as huge as it is inevitable? Or how Newcastle can expect to be a club that top players still want to join? And how, with a team and a stadium bereft, could Ashley hope to be able to sell the club? All of which, of course, makes the absence of oft-promised new players at St James’s Park a disgrace. But that, in turn, makes the absence of the man supposed to sign them an outrage. So, taxi for Wise? Yes, if we only knew where he lived.

I wish Kinnear well but I hope if there is a contract on offer that his family persuade him it would be a very bad idea to stay on.

http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/His-Tyne-has-come.4958534.jp His Tyne has come PETER LOVENKRANDS is proof that one man's crisis can be another's salvation. Don't bother asking him about the boardroom troubles of his new club, Newcastle United, the threat of relegation at St James' Park, or the idiosyncrasies of his manager, Joe Kinnear. Not yet anyway. The former Rangers striker, whose career has gone off the rails these last couple of seasons, is glad just to be back in business, enjoying the dressing-room banter, and spending more time with his fam After two and a half years with German side Schalke, where his wife, Teresa, failed to settle, and he had been cast into the footballing wilderness, the chance to join a club hovering above the trap door of England's Premier League came as a blessed relief. Given just eight minutes' action in this season's Bundesliga, a role in one of the game's most popular soap operas was not to be sniffed at. And, with the family home just a couple of hours north, the 29-year-old has quickly adapted to the circus that is Newcastle United, scoring his first goal for the club yesterday against West Brom at The Hawthrons. "When I came home after my first training session, my wife said, 'what's up with you?' I was just so happy. When I walked into the dressing room, everyone was so nice. It helped that I had the Scottish accent. I'm not like a lot of foreigners. I can talk to anybody. And the way the team is run is much more relaxed. In Germany, you felt like you were constantly in handcuffs. Here, you can eat lunch when you feel like it, not when you're told to." It's his kind of club, and his kind of town. In Glasgow and Gelsenkirchen, he became used to former industrial heartlands, the kind of "hotbeds" that confuse football with religion. At Schalke, the fans were as passionate as any, their futuristic stadium sold out every week. At Rangers, football dominated life, on and off the pitch. Newcastle, where he has been only a few weeks, has all the emotion and intensity of Glasgow, but none of the Old Firm rivalry. "That's the thing," he says. "You don't have to go around watching over your shoulder for Celtic fans." Lovenkrands adores Scotland, and the club he played for. In Germany, he watched every Rangers match he could on satellite television. Married to a girl from Govan, he still calls himself a "bluenose", and hopes to attend next weekend's derby with his new team-mate, Alan Smith. When he has retired, the plan is to bring up a family at his home in Thorntonhall, to which he and his wife return between football duties. Glasgow, though, has its downside. In five and a half years with Rangers, he was assaulted three times by Celtic fans, and threatened by a Hearts supporter, whose team Lovenkrands had scored against two weeks earlier. "This guy came up to me, shouting and making bother. I had a dislocated shoulder at the time, so my arm was in a sling, and he knew I couldn't do anything. There used to be a lot of stuff like that, but from what I can gather, it is getting worse. "When I was attacked, it felt like it was only really me it had been done to. Now it seems to be everybody. A lot of the Rangers players have had their cars vandalised. I'm a wee bit worried. I just feel like a player is going to be stabbed soon. It's starting to get too much. You're used to getting abuse in the town. I've had that hundreds of times. You can take that on the chin, no problem, but when you start getting beat up because you play for the other team … that's where you have to draw the line." Maybe it meant Lovenkrands was doing his job. After an injury-hit first year at Ibrox, he came to life the following season with five goals against Celtic, the last an injury-time winner in the 2002 Scottish Cup final. In 2005-6, his final season at the club, he scored against Porto, Internazionale and Villarreal (twice) during Rangers' unexpected Champions League run. He grabbed breathtaking goals, turned games, and in those last few months at Ibrox, arguably kept his manager, Alex McLeish, in a job. And yet, for many, he was an exasperating player, who didn't always reproduce that form on the Premier League treadmill. "I scored 54 goals for Rangers," he responds. "Take away the six I scored against Celtic, and the five I got in the Champions League, and I scored 43 goals against other clubs, but nobody seems to remember that. And most of them were from left midfield. I'm actually a striker. I played my heart out for Rangers in the wrong position, but people don't take that into consideration. When I scored against Celtic in that second season, I was playing up front, but as soon as we played someone else, they put me back in midfield. It didn't make any sense." Lovenkrands' consistency was often questioned. With his lightweight frame and searing pace, some accused him of lacking substance, of performing only in bursts. He admits that he wasn't mentally strong enough to handle the criticism, which demoralised him during his penultimate season. At the start of the following campaign, the one in which he helped Rangers to the last 16 of the Champions League, McLeish told him to find another club or be relegated to the Ibrox bench. They tried to strike a deal with Portsmouth, but Lovenkrands insisted on staying put. "I went through hell, as well as great times at Rangers. They were trying to get me away, but as soon as I started playing well, they were like, 'oh, please stay'. It shows you, though. If you put me in the right position, I'll do well for you." That summer, McLeish's successor, Paul Le Guen, showed no desire to keep him, and a move to Schalke was agreed. As part of a fluid front three, he made a big impact in his first season, nearly helping the German club to their first Bundesliga title since 1958. There were goals against Bayern Munich, local rivals Borussia Dortmund and the two that knocked leaders Werder Bremen off their perch. In fact, it was all going swimmingly until an ankle injury effectively ended his season, and he was forced to watch from the stands as his team-mates threw away their lead. "The coach came up to me at the end of the season and said that, if I hadn't been injured, we would have won the title." After which it all went wrong for Lovenkrands. Injuries and a new system worked against him the following year, and soon he lost his place in the team. With his wife unhappy, he was desperate for a move back to Britain. After a bid by Fulham was rejected in the summer, Schalke coach Fred Rutten couldn't even find a place for him on the bench. His last start for Schalke was in February of last year. "I love playing football, but it reached the stage where I didn't want to be picked in the squad. I knew I wouldn't get a game. They would take me all the way to Bayern Munich, and have me sitting in the stand. I would rather have been at home with my family." Eventually, Lovenkrands was released from his contract. After a two-week trial with Newcastle, who had been pipped by Rangers to his signature nine years ago, he signed on till the end of the season. Hoping to play up front, as he did in substitute appearances against Manchester City and Sunderland, he says he is quicker than he used to be, not off the mark perhaps, but over a longer distance. Schalke's sprint coach, who had competed against Linford Christie, taught him to take longer strides. "I didn't think you could change the way you run, but I have. I'm more like a proper sprinter now." Lovenkrands' immediate aim is to earn himself a longer contract, and beyond that maybe a place in Denmark's 2010 World Cup squad. Despite his problems at club level, he was called up for the recent qualifier in Portugal, and played in a dramatic 3-2 win. The national coach, Morten Olsen, sent him a Christmas card with a personal message inside. "Get your ass to another club," it read. Lovenkrands has represented his country in two major finals. In his games room at home, he has 10 framed strips hanging on the wall, one of them Michael Owen's. He acquired it at the 2002 World Cup after Denmark had lost to England in the second round. Despite playing no part in the 3-0 defeat, he sought out the man who had long been his inspiration. The young Englishman's pace, build and hunger for goals were all qualities he could identify with. Now, they have something else in common. With the same club, at the same juncture of a career that hasn't quite gone according to plan lately, their shared ambition is to score the goals that keep Newcastle United in the Premier League. "I want to do everything I can to help this club," says Lovenkrands. If he succeeds, he will have done himself a favour in the process.

He's not the first to have said that about Taylor. Viduka said it recently on NUFC TV and I'm sure I've seen him mentioned as the thickest on Soccer AM as well - maybe even Shearer when he was on? Can't remember for certain. Peter Ramage said it as well at a talk-in where Taylor was also present. Maybe it is an in-joke at the club.

I accept that Ashley cannot sell the club but I cannot understand how he cannot see that Llambias and co. who are supposedly running the club for him are not making a very good job of it. For Llambias not to communicate to the media or supporters is disgraceful. The club needs leadership and to hide behind the occasionally anonymous statements on the official website is pathetic. I presume he is the person who represents the club at Premier League meetings etc in which case, he is the figurehead of the club. By refusing to speak in public, it indicates to me an unwillingness to accept responsibility for their decisions. (I am not so concerned with the lack of communication from Ashley because you don't hear from the owners of Man Utd, Blackburn, Spurs, Sunderland, Bolton, Chelsea etc. However, you do hear from David Gill, John Williams, Daniel Levy, Niall Quinn, Phil Gartside, Peter Kenyon). And how is Wise qualified to do the job he has been hired for? Originally, we were told he was in charge of recruitment for the Academy but latterly, I have seen comments in the press saying that he is running the club. In what way? Considering he has recently been a manager and a player, how can he have so little empathy with the manager's struggle with the size of the squad and the lack of players in certain positions. As a manager, would he have been happy for someone to buy the players for him. His managerial experience was in the lower leagues so he would not have been scouting Premier League standard players. The press have also reported players trying to have meetings with Wise and being refused. How would he have felt as a player or manager in a similar situation. We don't know whether it is Wise is responsible for the senior players coming in but he is credited with the Academy players. In this respect, we won't know if he is doing a good job for a few years yet. With the emphasis on developing young players which is a long-term strategy, how come Richard Money wanted to leave for Swindon only a few months after taking on the role. City's Academy Manager has been there for years. Why is Money still having to cover the reserves as we have not replaced Adam Sadler. And JFK. If Ashley only wants a competent mid-table team so that Premiership survival is guaranteed, how can he hope to get that with this joke of a manager. He needs a manager who can work with a limited budget, develop young players and make the best of the playing resources available - and someone who does not embarrass himself every time he speaks to the media. I cannot believe that Ashley seriously expects JFK to do anything else other than struggle and ultimately fail. By letting his mates run the club for him, Ashley is destroying the club. With good personnel, he could have a decent mid-table team with the current resources. The supporters would not be so disgruntled and neither would the players and maybe he might make a little more money. I accept the finances are not great but I do believe with different people running the club and a different manager that improvements could be made and I cannot for the life of me understand why Ashley (as a supposed football fan) cannot see this.

JFK has already said that he won't go 3 up front - after Owen mentioned it in an interview a while back.

They are hoping to have a live audio feed for those who cannot attend.

On TT, they are saying that guy on Skunkers reckons JFK will sign his contract this week. Dreadful news if true.

Have put this in here because he is talking about the NUSC. http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2009/02/the-biggest-dan.html February 03, 2009 The biggest danger facing Newcastle is apathy George Caulkin This has been a bleak season for Newcastle United and it could still become bleaker, yet amid the turmoil and the departures, the controversy, the numbing performances, the concern, the mess and the self-inflicted mishaps, hope is shimmering. It is a delicate, fragile sort of hope, encircled by thorns, but it is there, nonetheless. It requires assiduous nurturing. It will come as little surprise that events on the pitch, which have been largely miserable, have not prompted this spark of optimism. It will come as absolutely no surprise that nothing which has taken place in the manager’s office or the boardroom, where mixed messages continue to thrive, has contributed to it. As usual, it has emanated from the stands. The media perpetuate two myths about Newcastle supporters; that they are impatient and that they are perennially militant. Both are wrong. Quite how fans who have had no domestic trophy to cheer since 1955 and none at all since 1969 can be accused of impatience has never been clear – decent football and a committed team are hardly outrageous demands - and the militancy thing is simply nonsense. During the less inspiring moments of Freddy Shepherd’s tenure as chairman – and there were plenty to choose from – episodes of outright dissent were rare. Perhaps that was because there were other divisive figures to rival directors, whether unpopular managers (appointed by Shepherd) or fractious players (bought by him), but mainly because of loyalty. Loyalty almost to a fault. People may have a mental image of teenage Geordies bouncing outside St James’ Park in front of the television cameras waving their shoes in the air, but that is not representative. The protests which accompanied the 2-1 home defeat to Hull City in September, shortly after the exit of Kevin Keegan and which precipitated Mike Ashley’s decision to sell the club were vibrant and raw, but also untypical. But Ashley, of course, is staying (at least until a buyer emerges) and things have not got any better on Tyneside. A relegation battle is being fought by a small squad and the transfer window saw two senior players leave including, in Shay Given, a world-class goalkeeper with a passion for the club, but a loathing for all the chaos. Only three signings arrived; Newcastle, shamefully, made an £8m profit on their dealings. Derek Llambias, the perma-smirking managing director, from whom nothing has been heard, will finally break his silence late this week, answering questions, sent in by readers, to two local newspapers, but a far more significant exchange of views will take place elsewhere. On Wednesday at 7pm, in the Tyneside Irish Centre, Newcastle’s soul will be wrestled over. The Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC), an independent body designed to represent fans and challenge the club (and in spite of quotes attributed elsewhere, it is the only organisation of its type), was established in the aftermath of Keegan’s departure. Still in its infancy, it needs legitimacy, backing and members. It has spokesmen and issues press releases, but it is not staffed by people who crave attention for the sake of it. Influential fanzines and websites like The Mag, nufc.com and true faith have offered guidance, financial and philosophical, to the NUSC, but none have a wish to set or control the agenda. What it will ultimately be and could become is still up for debate; yes, there should be principled and serious opposition to Ashley, but what are the wider issues? Where would it go post Ashley? The biggest danger facing Newcastle at present is not relegation. It is not their billionaire owner. It is not Dennis Wise. And it is not anger, impatience or militancy. It is apathy. For home matches, attendances have often been 5,000 below capacity and after years of heartache and underachievement, there is widespread muttering about season tickets not being renewed, of hope finally being extinguished. But it is there. If supporters have less power than they used to, they still have some and those who step out into the freezing weather and head for the Irish Centre will be reclaiming their club. Membership of the NUSC is not required. As they put it themselves, they wish to “establish some common ground. Bring with you your thoughts, your anger, your hope, your ideas, your wants, your needs.” The NUSC has already promoted a boycott of official club merchandise and has written to Ashley to request a meeting, anywhere in the country, on his terms, simply to discern his plans for Newcastle. As they anticipated, their letter was ignored. But the greater the numbers, the louder the voices, the more difficult it will be for ears to be blocked. There is hope for Newcastle; it just needs seeking out.

I hope Given told Ashley & co. a few home truths about what they were doing to the club. Don't suppose they will listen though.

I get that impression as well. He is better than what they have but they will move for a better keeper when the opportunity arises. A lot in the media seem to think Hughes won't be there next season and so a new manager might not rate Given either. I would have thought it would have made sense to see out the season here, have his testimonial (cos the money would likely have gone to local charities) and then moved when it was clearer what the situation will be at City next year. But I guess he has just had enough.

Yeah I mean whats 11 years like you'd think after 11 years if he wanted to leave he'd stick a request straight in instead of going through the dance he danced. It really winds me up when a player wants to leave and they won't hand in a transfer request just so that they can get extra money out of the selling club - especially when they are often moving for a much better contract at the new club.

If we are still in the Premiership next season, I guess we are guaranteed a goal against City.

well that'll save us two goals a season Stevie is meant to quite pally with Ryan so that source would make sense.

How come after the "brilliant" performances against Blackburn and City, that Kinnear is talking about a 3 and a half year contract. It was 2 years before Blackburb - an extra 18 months for losing 2 games - he will be here for life at this rate. What an idiot.

Obviously questions will be vetted but I still think it would be worthwhile submitting the questions to the Chronicle as it gives an indication of what supporters want do know and their genuine concerns for the club. They may even be able to discuss them off record with Llambias and perhaps something will start to sink in!

The next manager will have to have the ability to develop the younger players and not be afraid to play them. The players with big egos will not be here next season.

http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Football/2009/1/25/Prem-NZogbia-on-Villa/gnid-37053/ Charles N’Zogbia has urged Newcastle to lower his price and to sell him, with Aston Villa his favoured destination. The midfielder claims it is ‘impossible to improve’ at St James’ Park, and says he is tired of the same routine year in, year out. The 22-year-old believes he must move clubs to reach the next level, and he has named Villa - rather than Arsenal - as his preferred destination. N’Zogbia is desperate to be transferred as soon as possible, and he believes that moving to Villa Park instead of Emirates Stadium would be a better option for his career. N’Zogbia told Foot Mercato: “I’m still in stand-by, waiting for the club to make a decision. We did everything to put the club that are interested in contact with Newcastle. “But it seems that something is frozen on Newcastle’s part. They have the cards in their hands. It’s just about a good offer being made. “The club is asking for too much money. All we can do is wait and see. "The clubs that are interested remain the same, but it’s tough because they are asking for a ridiculous sum of money. "Arsenal and Aston Villa are top teams in the English league, so I’d be happy to join them. “I don’t have a priority. Both are good clubs, but I have a little preference for Aston Villa. They have been improving as a team in the last few years, which proves that they can do well. “I don’t think (that being in Villa’s starting XI is easier than in Arsenal’s), and it’s a young team. Aston Villa’s manager is a good coach, according to my friends. I think he could make me better.” However, while Villa is apparently the Frenchman’s favoured destination, he has refused to rule Lyon out of the race for his signing. He added: “The door is not closed to Olympique Lyonnais. Perhaps after speaking to Newcastle their interest was not as strong as it used to be. I don’t know what happened, but the door remains open. “I’m not upset (to be linked with a host of clubs). If a transfer is meant to be, that’s good news.” Even if negotiations over a January move appear to have stalled, N’Zogbia says he will remain committed to his club. But the versatile player is fed up with the routine at Newcastle and does not think the team will match the fans’ expectations. He said: “I’ll give my best for the last four months if I’m to stay, and then I’ll see what happens in the summer. I’ve told the club I want to improve and that it’s impossible here. “If I don’t leave in January, we’ll discuss things again regarding a summer move. Every year it’s the same - the club tell us the same thing. We reach the half-season and it’s always the same. “I’ve been listening to the same thing for four years. I’ve had enough.” When asked if his employers would let him go if they received a suitable offer, he said: “Yes, that’s for sure. “And I believe that they are going to change their mind regarding my selling price and drop it, especially as the transfer window is nearing its end. “Anything can happen. We have to be alert. I could depart during the week or on the last day of the January transfer window.”

It would be stupid to spend money on another goalkeeper when we have Harper here and Krul as back up. If Harper does not sign his contract then look at it again in the Summer. Shay must have been first choice keeper here when he was 21/22 so I don't see why Krul can't step up. Also James would expect a big salary and I think if he was open to a move, 'Arry would probably be in there. Other positions are much more of a priority.