Wallace

Just realised I have left my ticket back in Newcastle. Is there anyway I can get a duplicate ticket? Would the club send Southampton a list of those they have sold tickets to?

Why would someone like her want to buy us or any football club for that matter?

Spurs and West Ham apparently. I think only West Ham is achievable though, Spurs would cost more than us and double again to pay for the new stadium. If Spurs really is an option then it will be an indication that they have money to spend. There has been talk of Spurs being up for sale before and I can't remember the figures quoted at the time, but it was an awful lot more than we would cost and that was before the stadium. If someone like the City owner wanted a club and money was no object, then they would be a very attractive proposition. I would imagine though that if they did want to sell the club, nothing would happen until after they have moved into their new stadium.

You would think that those at the club charged with trying to find a buyer might have made contact with her before she appeared at the match. Just reinforces the opinion that a bunch of amateurs are running the club.

No-one at the club has any knowledge of this so obviously Keith Bishop planting stories in the media again. Can't imagine Rafa being too impressed whatever the motive behind the story is. Want to keep him at the club, then talk to him and back him. Don't speak to your media chums in London and let them convey your message. If Ashley is keen on wanting Rafa to stay then is going about it the wrong way. Would be just our luck that Ashley sells the club a month after Rafa leaves or a sale falls through because Rafa left.

Is it not because each club has to be on so many times so get them out the way early, add to that the media were expecting the possibility of an NUFC in chaos, always a story they love, with Rafa having walked (as that was the scenario the media seemed to believe when the TV games were announced). Sky attributed the drop in viewing figures for last season partly to our relegation (and also Villa) whilst the Championship figures showed a huge increase. There have been a few seasons where we have been shown more than one of the top 4 teams even when we have been rubbish. There does seem to be an extraordinarily high number of TV games for us at this point in the season especially against lesser teams but the cynic in me thinks that we will be hearing how their viewing figures have increased which they will attribute to their new subscription packages.

In one of his early interviews after joining us, Clark said that he felt that he had not really been coached at Villa. What a difference good coaching makes.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fascinating-furious-newcastle-united-transfer-13594544 From an article by Mark Douglas about the True Faith Forum the other night: "There were moments that hopefully enlightened: Benitez’s contract was pored over, along with those reports of the compensation that it might require to prise him from Newcastle. There is indeed a £5million release clause negotiated when he signed a three-year deal back in 2015 – but it is not Benitez personally who stands to lose if he walks away. Even if he was a free agent, anyone taking him before his deal expires in 2019 would have to pay that amount"

I think Allardyce is partially responsible for our transfer policy due to his signing of older players on long contracts and on big wages that summer. We were obviously hit really hard financially because of those signings who contributed little.

Just heard Barton on the radio compare the challenge to the one on Mbemba and asking why one was a sending off and the other not.

West Ham are not much of an improvement on us. I would hate for him to leave us to go there. They are quite liberal with the truth themselves and look at how they are trying to undermine Bilic in public at the moment. They will spend more on a single player than we will but Sullivan likes to buy players himself so the manager doesn't always get to choose. They might promise to cede control to Rafa to get him to sign but I think they will find it difficult not to interfere. When he leaves, I hope it will be to a genuinely bigger club.

I think West Ham have given Bilic until the next international break so this might just be a brief respite before it all starts again. Bilic is in the last year of his contract so that is highly unlikely to be renewed. Wouldn't be surprised if theydo want Rafa to get rid of Bilic in December so Rafa has the January window. Mind you the West Ham fans are complaining about their manager not being backed and with Sullivan coming out with statements that they don't believe are true and are aimed at undermining Bilic. I can just imagine Rafa leaving and the incoming stooge being given a decent transfer budge which would be absolutely galling.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/contradiction-that-is-rationing-newcastles-ambition-tdrtvvr23?shareToken=0617b98933aa62657dfbbb36b454e149 August 30 2017, 12:00pm, The Times Newcastle must wake up to what it means to have Rafael Benitez as manager George Caulkin, Northern Sports Correspondent The Game Daily: Mike Ashley risks making the Spaniard his next apology For as long as Rafa Benitez remains their manager, Newcastle United will improve. For as long Mike Ashley remains their owner, they will never be better in any meaningful sense, not if the definition of better includes vibrancy, hunger or straining for glory. This is the contradiction at the heart of a football club, the battleground of a testing, wearing summer, one which has left relationships brittle and ambition rationed. Benitez’s connection to Tyneside has become profound and emotional, the stirring provoked when he agreed to manage a flailing, failing institution now anchoring him to St James’ Park. What pushes him is a desire to reward those supporters who spend their Saturday afternoons repeating his name as if they still cannot comprehend that one of the most garlanded managers of his generation ever consented to be there. They must hope it is enough. If you ignored the heavy-handed spin of Ashley’s recent interview with Sky Sports, there was a moment which veered towards poignancy. Recalling the mistaken decisions which have peppered his decade at the club, he looked into the camera and spoke directly to Alan Shearer, one of his managerial cast-offs, and apologised. He did the same to Kevin Keegan, an “outstanding individual,” who “did his best for the football club”. Keegan was an aspirational, inspirational figure, both as a player and then a manager, instilling a sense of wonder and possibility into Tyneside. Shearer was the world-record signing who came home, rejecting Manchester United to become the club’s leading goalscorer. Keegan was all heart and feel, Shearer the clinical assassin. Few, if any, men have held more influence at the club in the modern era. After the first relegation of the Ashley era, Shearer never received a phone call telling him he was no longer required. Keegan had signings imposed upon him and left, later winning a case for constructive dismissal, in which Newcastle’s evidence was found to be “profoundly unsatisfactory”. The club’s insistence on doing things differently is occasionally interesting but has often felt like dysfunction and in both these cases it is unarguable. That dysfunction has not evaporated. The decision-making process which made the manager or head coach “just another employee and not the most important one,” to quote one of Ashley’s former executives, has not been re-written since Benitez’s arrival. If they understand that the Spaniard is a different calibre of manager to Steve McClaren, John Carver and Alan Pardew, they have not opened their eyes to what that means. Whatever happens between now and the transfer deadline, Benitez will not forget the club’s tardiness at the beginning of the window, when new players did not arrive and he challenged Ashley to “keep his word”. Nor that they refused to sanction the signings he wanted in January. It is not simply a matter of compiling a list and handing it over, but days and weeks of research and negotiations and effort. And, finally, it is about how much they trust him. On a day to day basis, Newcastle is run by Lee Charnley, the managing director. In Justin Barnes, an Ashley lieutenant who has been seeking investment in the club, there has been another layer of bureaucracy for Benitez to contend with, with Keith Bishop, PR to celebrities such as Alicia Douvall, the model, and Russell Grant, the astrologer, as well as to Newcastle, sandwiched in between. In no way can their model be described as normal. It was Ashley, though, who set strategy. His meetings with Benitez at the end of the last two seasons, when requirements were discussed and budgets agreed, were pivotal in persuading the manager to stay. If you have Benitez you must be prepared to be pushed, to listen and be advised. Why would you not want that or to keep him happy? Why not meet him after matches, make the odd call? And if you want to sell, then why not make Newcastle a going concern? Benitez’s expressions of concern have prompted tension, but from his perspective he is working for the fans, doing what he can to improve his team. And it needs improvement. The saddest thing of all would be if his instincts were wrong, that Newcastle do not have the potential that he initially thought. Because the poignant bit about Ashley’s interview was him recognising what he lost but not what he has. And nobody wants to watch him squirming through another apology.

Has Ashley actually ever invested in the club? - Buying the club is not an investment as he should get his money back - He has made loans to the club but wants that money back. Plus he is being paid in kind by the free advertising his shop receives. - Land that was previously owned by the club is being developed by him as a private venture. - The club has lost millions in two entirely avoidable relegations because of the decisions he has made. - He has lost the club millions in commercial revenue and exactly where does the revenue from merchandise goes. - Gate receipts have fallen - not for altruistic reasons - but to address falling attendance and to manipulate a positive image I am not one who thinks he should put his own money in but I hold him entirely accountable for the current financial situation. He has never invested in the club in the way it is portrayed in the media but he has consistently damaged the financial health of the club and continues to do so.

They are very close to an agent or two which influences a lot of their buys and a lot of the players are bought by Sullivan rather than the manager.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4839444/Transfer-deadline-day-spending-LATEST-Window-numbers.html According to the table in that article, we have spent £36.2m and brought in £24.7 leaving a net spend of £11.5m. When you consider the players who have left: de Jong, Murphy, Hanley, Riviere, Gouffran, Anita, Krul and Lazaar - that must be between £250k to £300k per week off the wage bill as well so £12m+ a year. I would be surprised if the wages for the new arrivals totalled that much.

Bilic is in the last year of his contract. I can imagine they will hope they can get through till the end of the season and then try for Rafa.

I think the fact that Rafa was on the verge of signing a contract to manage West Ham before Real Madrid came in shows that he would consider going there. There are different problems with the board at that club as Sullivan likes to buy the players he wants so the manager does not always have much say and they like to talk too much in the media. But they do seem willing to spend and are in a hurry to establish themselves in the upper places in the league although they do seem to think spending big or getting a name in rather than building a team is the way to do it. However, would Rafa spend the next few days persuading players to join us only to then leave a few days later? He has shown he has a strong sense of loyalty to his players. If no-one comes in at all, well that might be different. The local journalists seem to strongly believe he will stay for this season at least.

If Rafa has planned to leave after the West Ham game as suggested on here earlier this week, I guess the club must know about it. It wouldn't surprise me if they went and bought a decent player out of spite and also to try and defuse the inevitable fall out.

It seems to me that since the media started the whole "Rafa's negativity is affecting the team" narrative after the Huddersfield game that suddenly a lot of fans are becoming more vocal about Rafa needing to look at himself first and criticising his tactics and buys.

According to Mark Douglas' book, he wanted Townsend, Loftus-Cheek and Delph in January, all on loan (albeit with loan fees) and clauses in their contracts that if we were promoted, their transfers would all be made permanent for an additional fee on top of that. Promotion effectively sealed and half of the recruitment for the summer done in January. Why they didn't go ahead with that I've no f***ing clue, absolute c***s... This is typical of the short-term view the club takes. There is no way we could afford them now but we could if we had done the deals in January.

He talking about Merino who he has seen quite a bit and rates highly and I think he said that he could be NUFC's Martinez.

Ross Gregory‏ @rossgregory9 Worth pointing out for Shelvey fans, he completed six successful passes in the 48 minutes he was on the pitch. Merino made 12 in 15 mins...

It was really interesting tonight. Saw a really different personality to the one we see in interviews. Very smiley, very comfortable with his audience and very funny at times. And boy can he talk! You can see why people say he will talk football for hours with anyone. I felt though that he had his own agenda and there were specific points he wanted to get across so he didn't really answer Mick Lowes' questions. He'd start off and then drift off back to other subjects such as transfers and the importance of the fans supporting the players and that he could go to China for big money (mentioned more than once) - none of which had been subjects raised by Lowes. He was talking about formations and then asked who had been at the Bradford game and starting asking them about what formation, they thought they played last night and whether they were playing deep or advanced. There were a couple of times when he stepped down to walk through the fans to ask their opinions. He is also very aware of what fans are saying e.g. he said that fans thinking that we were saving our money for a £30m striker would be very disappointed. FWIW, I thought he said he was happier now rather than happy but I might have misheard but he was very positive and talked about how the team would improve over the next few seasons which gave the impression he was planning for the long term. I think his main message though (mentioned several times) was that it was really important to be united next season because it will be tough and the players will need our support and not be criticised if things are not going well.

This. I am so nervous before every game because we have to go up this year. If not, we will lose the manager and a lot of players will have to be sold because we couldn't afford them anymore. Plus the relegated clubs will probably be better off financially (Mackems excepted) with their £100m and those 4-5 clubs that miss out on promotion will still be competitive and will retain most of their players. Last time round, the club was in such disarray and pre-season, pundits were predicting another relegation. I seem to remember that Forest were hanging in there like Huddersfield this time.