Wallace

Apparently Rafa sacked the agent who agreed to that clause

Link? https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/freddie-woodman-football-limbo-tries-15252479

The Chronicle have said on more than one occasions that there were a few clubs in for him in the Summer but Lee Charnley blocked any loan moves because he has not signed a new contract. That's the way to make him want to sign one

Simon Jordan on the radio today said he knew Jimenez and even he said he would believe Keegan's version over Jimenez!

may be something in this i guess, last season was about exceeding expectations and so forth this season we've deliberately had the chair kicked out from under us by ashley, has probably had an impact on everyone Aye, last season was more of an unknown as we'd just come up (again) but actively sabotaging your own club this season really is peak Ashley, then again he's been doing it for years. To me it is understandable why the players will be demoralised this season. I guess everyone could see it happening apart from Ashley and his cronies. They played their hearts out last season and got us to a decent position in the league. Then what happens? The players all come out asking for the manager to be backed. Ashley won't do it because Rafa won't sign the contract because Ashley won't sanction improvements to the infrastructure. The result being that he is only allowed to bring a player in if one leaves. This leads to players like Ritchie and Gayle being unsettled because they don't want to leave and neither does Rafa want them to leave but he needs to improve the squad and is not allowed to add to it. Hayden wants to leave - even does the decent thing and actually puts in a transfer request - but is not allowed to leave because Rafa knows he will not be able to afford anyone better. Then comes the annual dispute with players over bonuses - supposedly based on unattainable targets. So why should the players feel motivated to repeat last season's efforts? The owner clearly isn't interested or grateful for last season or even capable of comprehending what an enormous effort it was from everyone. His attitude is if they finished 10th, then that cuts him some slack as they can afford to drop a few places. He has no interest in rewarding them or motivating them to do better than last year. And the players brought in? All from relegated clubs or ones that were involved in relegation battles. Along with the difficult start and the gradual realisation that this season is going to be even more of a struggle and certainly not one to enjoy - either by players or fans, then it is not hard to see why players are not performing to the same levels. I am sure they are giving their all but will have been subconsciously affected by Ashley's decision making. And Rafa's situation is probably the main issue. The players have all bought into him but if he leaves, where does that leave them? It has never worked when players know a manager is leaving and almost always, the manager does end up leaving before the end of the season. So what happens next? Palace and Leicester will be difficult, then it is Man Utd. Where will we be then? If Ashley wouldn't back Rafa with 12 months left on his contract why would he do it with 6 months left? Does that mean he sacks Rafa? I wouldn't be surprised if he is waiting for the opportunity just like he did with Hughton. And no doubt the next manager will be given significant transfer funds as another kick in the teeth for Rafa with the underlying message that it was all Rafa's fault for not signing the contract.

There is also another Keegan event at the City Hall on 6th February alongside Shay Given. https://www.theatreroyal.co.uk/whats-on/newcastle-legends-with-kevin-keegan-and-shay-given?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NewcastleLegends&utm_content=version_A

So they have a problem with Lazaar, Gamez and Murphy. But what about all the money wasted on Carr's signings?

As it seems that Ashley wants Rafa to walk, then I am all for him seeing out his contract especially if he has to pay Ashley compo.

One of their new owners was on Total Sport last night and playing up to the fans again. Talking about how they have sold 22,000 season tickets, he mentioned that he remembers how Newcastle only use to have 10,000 when Ardiles was manager. Why would someone in a senior position within a club feel the need to say such a thing.

I heard that interview this morning – well the end of it because I always turn the radio off when Allardyce is on because I cannot bear to hear him speaking. My reaction was that he already knows he is the next manager as he was doing Bishop’s PR for Mike. It was Mike this, Mike that and Mike has done as he promised when he said that Rafa can have every penny the club generates and that Rafa is allowed to sign who he wants. If he has not criticised Rafa then that is because he has to be canny with what he says. Apologies for this as my imagination has been running riot since but the way I see it is that there is a deliberate campaign to make Rafa walk. If that does not happen, then by restricting transfer funds, the likelihood is that the team will struggle which will give them the excuse to sack him. Then they can appoint Allardyce because “he never gets a team relegated” and they will give him a huge transfer budget in January. They probably like the fact that the fans hate him so he won’t be able to galvanise them like Rafa has. He can keep the team in the league, he is not interested in the cups. I never seriously thought that Allardyce would come back to Newcastle because he had long resented his sacking and criticised Ashley for not acting quicker in the transfer market but in recent times he has been more conciliatory towards “Mike”. I didn’t think Ashley would be interested because as far as I am concerned Allardyce is responsible for our transfer policy because he wasted so much money on old players with expensive and long contracts. Never getting a team relegated is probably the only thing that has registered with Ashley. He has probably forgotten what an expensive appointment Allardyce is - with regards to salary, staff and poor transfer decisions (he buys a lot of players and most don't play). However, he will probably enjoy going for a pint with “Mike” where they can discuss the unrealistic expectations of the fans for such a small club. Then Ashley will probably sell the club with Allardyce in place so he is someone else’s problem knowing that he has well and truly shafted Rafa. Funny how the managers that are popular with the fans - Keegan, Hughton abnd Rafa are the ones that do a good job but are sacked / pushed to the exit whilst those the fans hold in contempt are retained for as long as possible.

Rafa is the first manager Ashley has had that has improved players. All of those 5th/6th options, were wasted money under previous managers mostly ending up loaned out with us paying part of their wages until they have seen out their contract. If they had bought a couple of 1st choice players instead, they could probably have sold them on for a profit and they would probably have been more cost-effective in the long run. Would Lascelles have developed into the player he is currently under any other manager - he was pretty much ignored by the previous managers. If the club end up selling him for a big fee then that will be purely down to Rafa.

Stating the obvious here but if we don't buy some players this Summer, the need will be even greater next year. Prices are only going to increase and with the way we do our transfer business, what might seem like a decent budget initially will not go far once wages and agents fees are taken into account. Few of our players (Lascelles excepted) are going to bring in much in transfer fees - and even then it will probably cost more to replace them. And the argument that the next manager might not want any player we might buy this Summer so we best not bother is ridiculous because Rafa has improved most of the players so far so they would be able to sell them on for a profit. It is only the bargain basement signings that you can't get rid of because they are not good enough for other Premier League teams and as Championship clubs can't afford them, they end up on loan with the club having to pay their wages whilst their contracts run down. The club have wasted so much money in going for the 5th choice whilst if they had paid the extra couple of million for the first choice then they would have in all likelihood made a profit instead. We can no longer allow for the promoted clubs to be guaranteed relegation candidates. Wolves and Fulham are likely to stay up. Current Championship clubs are spending more than us and will probably happily spend the TV money once they are promoted to guarantee safety. It is only a matter of time before we are relegated again and when that happens I would be surprised if we are fortunate to have a good enough manager to bring us back up again.

With the way Rafa's is phrasing his questions to Mike Ashley, if he does leave, it will tantamount to Ashley saying that he has no interest in competing or trying to win things. We all believe that anyway but with Rafa being so specific about what he is asking for, there can be no misunderstanding about Ashley's response should he leave. Good luck on getting £400m for the club then or anything like was offered before. It would be a bleak future indeed for the club as the fallout will be massive.

http://www.football365.com/news/return-to-sender-whats-next-for-the-pls-30-loanees This from an article on Football365 about the future of this season's loan players made me smile.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5613665/Newcastle-boss-Benitez-anxious-Chelsea-loanee-Kenedy-priced-permanent-move.html

What I don’t get is if she is not serious about buying the club, why would she spend so much time and money on it. It must cost a fair bit to do due diligence as thoroughly as she seems to have done and to appoint Chris Mort’s company as well. She has also spent time talking to people in the city such as council officials as well as the Falcons. It all seems a bit extreme if she doesn’t have the means to buy the club. There have been plenty of people previously who have talked about buying the club in the media but that’s all they have done - they never got as far as due diligence. Why risk your reputation if it is all a charade. Any publicity she is getting is negative.

I am probably being a bit thick here but if Amanda Staveley has to repay the £30m supposedly allocated to transfers, does that mean we don't have any money at all? If it is coming out of the clubs's accounts, why would it have to be repaid or is Ashley having to loan the money to us? And if Ashley is still in control, will he concede on the add-ons and wages or will we lose players because of an odd million or so on top of the fees as we seem to do with most of our targets. We are probably better off with the loan market because January is not the time to restructure a squad unless the players you actually want are available otherwise you might end up with players not really wanted 6 months later.

If he keeps us and keeps running us like he has done then the club will be worth nowhere what it is now (even at a £250m valuation) as we will go back down, and even the Championship is becoming expensive and hard to compete in. The TV money won’t come, and the SD exposure will decrease, and the fans will have had enough. A lot of West Ham fans seems to think that the Gold and Sullivan are preparing to sell the club.

Whatever the club is worth, one thing is certain and that is that the club needs an absolute fortune spent on it - bearing in mind there has been no investment in the club at any level - just cost-cutting across the board. As well as the first team, the Academy is a joke, the ground needs updating etc. The club is totally dependent upon the TV revenue because he has removed all other avenues of revenues to benefit SD. Ashley has ran the club into the ground and with each passing season, more and more investment is required in the club and none will be provided by Ashley. The way he runs the club and the transfer business means we are at a disadvantage against every other club and unless he changes his approach, that will not improve e.g. only buying players with cash in the bank rather than instalments like every other club - so we get 4 £5m players instead of 1 £20m player because there is no squad depth and no youngsters coming through to supplement the squad because of the lack of investment in the Academy. If we go down, there is no guarantee we will come back up straight away again and he is a fool if he thinks that. Our playing squad will not generate the fees the last one did and other clubs will also have their parachute payments and are spending more on players than we have done in the Premier League. I also think the fanbase may not be so supportive next time as Rafa will be gone and god knows who we would end up with then.

Why is it that only the 5th place is ever remembered of his time here and not that we were in a relegation battle for three of his four seasons?

I guess the same is true of the Karl Darlow song which I had never heard before we sang it and I now hear it a lot on the TV this season. Also the Cabaye song which we popularised (think I had heard it was originally sung at Celtic) but is now sung at every other club.

Is that true? I'd have him back to be honest. Seemed like a decent stand-up bloke. I remember going to the Ipswich away game the first season we got relegated and was sat next to Chris Mort in the away end. He had already left NUFC at that point.

I wonder how much the land opposite the ground that is worth. You can add that to any profit he makes out of selling the club.

If Ashley refuses to budge on a price then he will probably be stuck with us. The club is more attractive now because we have a world class manager - lose him and the subsequent unrest in the fanbase and he won't achieve whatever price is likely to be offered. It would be interesting to know who the other interested parties are because Amanda Staveley might not even be the best option. However I won't get excited until a change in ownership is official as I really wouldn't put it past Ashley to change his mind at the last minute.

Yes. Contract Southampton box office tomorrow morning and they will contact NUFC and then print a duplicate for you to collect. NUFC box office will be closed tomorrow. That’s good to hear. Wasn’t sure with it being a Sunday. Thanks.