NG32

Oh FFS, supporting NUFC is like eating glass.

Wow sounds like we are having a nightmare. Lets see what the second half brings.

The independent reckons Xabi Alonso could be flogged as Liverpool are skint, they've priced Crouch at 15 million apparently. I'de take both of them, for a sensible price of course. Xabi would be great sat in our midfield.

We have the media to thank for that.

Whatever happens the papers will still right bollocks. "It's time to grovel, Keegan" Thats a shocking headline, and if i were Custis I wouldn't be going to SJP for a while. CUNT.

Sign Peter Crouch and pump him with cattle steriods Until he is like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Abomination.gif

I lile the front but not the back.

Shit team tho

Knew it, totally blown out of scale by a bunch of shit house journalists. Cunts, may you all choke on your fried breakfasts tomorrow morning.

Paris St Germain's second string offered some respite from a season of torment, by securing a place in the French Cup final with a 1-0 victory over second division Amiens on Tuesday. PSG have already qualified for next season's Uefa Cup after winning the League Cup. Yet, despite the cup success, the club is on the brink of disaster, locked in a battle to stay in Ligue 1. Relegation would leave Paris as the only major European capital with no football club in the top flight of its national league. The problems besetting PSG have become the ongoing saga of the domestic game in France. Once a big European club, in recent years it has lurched from one crisis to another, and its problems on the field have been compounded by the violence and racism of some of its followers. Once again they made a dubious name for themselves at Amiens as the game was held up for 10 minutes after tear gas drifted into the ground; police had used it outside the stadium to disperse ticket-less PSG supporters who tried to force their way in. On the pitch the hero was 20-year-old Yannick Boli, nephew of the former Marseille and Rangers French international defender Basile Boli. His individual goal prevented further embarrassment for PSG - and for the club's other Glasgow connection, the beleaguered coach Paul Le Guen. Boli's goal sent PSG into the final The former Rangers boss got it right this time. His decision to field a young side and to bring Boli off the bench paid off. But in the league he has failed to get the best out of his more experienced players: club captain and Portuguese international Pauleta apart, they have regularly underperformed. The team failed to win any of their first 10 home games, succumbing to repeated and sometimes comic defensive howlers, notably from goalkeeper Mickael Landreau. With just two matches remaining, PSG lie third from bottom and could go down for the first time in their history. If, as expected, Paul Le Guen leaves at the end of the season he will not be the first coach with a previously good reputation to have failed at PSG. His problems in Paris - and those during his eight-month spell at Rangers - contrast with the success at Lyon where, under his guidance, the club won three successive league titles and twice reached the Champions League quarter-finals. Before a recent home game, some PSG fans said they thought Le Guen's style was more suited to Lyon's stable and serene atmosphere than it was to the Paris pressure cooker, where he did "more harm than good". Others blame the club for lacking a long-term strategy and for a poor recruitment policy, arguing Le Guen's purchases last summer are simply not up to the job. "They had a link with Claude Makelele from Chelsea, but Le Guen didn't want him", says Jerome Touboul from the sports newspaper L'Equipe. "He preferred to buy players from clubs like Rennes in France; they are not good enough mentally to support the pressure in Paris this season." But PSG's problems pre-date the arrival of the current coach, the sixth to take the reins this decade. It's not like in London, where you have seven or eight good clubs, in Paris you have only one L'Equipe's Jerome Touboul Since 1998 the club has also been through as many chairmen, following the recent departure of Alain Cayzac. Star players such as Ronaldinho failed to make an impact and the millions invested by Canal Plus, before the TV company pulled out two years ago, did not halt the decline. Meanwhile, unwelcome elements among PSG's support have been doing their best to stamp their own identity on the club. In recent years, some among the traditional white following have battled for supremacy - sometimes physically - with increasing numbers of new supporters from Paris' racially diverse suburbs. During this year's League Cup Final at the Stade de France, PSG followers unveiled a large banner insulting people from the north of France - home to the team's opponents Lens - as "paedophiles" and "inbreeders". Afterwards the supporters group the Boulogne Boys was outlawed and the club banned from next year's tournament. A police investigation found at least part of the banner had been put together inside the Parc des Princes. The authorities stand accused of having been too tolerant for too long towards PSG's hooligans, even though they number only a few hundred. "Football is not considered important enough to mobilise the police, French justice, Paris St Germain, the Football League, the Ministry of Sport," says sports psychologist Patrick Mignon, who in the past has mediated between PSG and its fans. The decision not to dock league points for the banner episode has angered other clubs and supporters across France. Some have even suggested there is a conspiracy to keep PSG in the top flight. Relegation would certainly be an embarrassment for the French capital, and for Paris city council, which subsidises the club to the tune of £1.8m a year. "It's not like in London, where you have seven or eight good clubs, in Paris you have only one," added Touboul. "For the French league it wouldn't be a good thing; the Parc des Princes is considered to be the most beautiful stadium in France, so the symbol of PSG in Ligue 2 would be very strong." PSG itself is now in a desperate fight to avoid becoming consigned to French football history. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7388386.stm

He's a billionaire you nutter His personal fortune was over £2 billion before he took over.. £1800 million when he took over, £1200 million now. That is 33% of his wealth lost since coming here. Only two years left at this rate He spent 600 mil in Blue Bamboo!!!!!!

Scudamore defends Prem League after KKs comments........ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7388360.stm

True-faith raise some interesting points http://www.true-faith.co.uk/html/Features/mort_response_080508.htm I'm not sure if the words above from our Chairman address all of the concerns raised by Kevin Keegan's demeanour and comments following the Chelsea game. Chris Mort, again, as per his training as a top London lawyer, has chosen his words carefully. Certainly when Kevin talks about not being able to break into the top four of the Premier League any time soon, I think we pretty much accept that as a reality of the inequitable state of Premier League football. KK is not saying anything we haven't for the last few years. However, there were other concerns raised by KK's post-match comments that have caused disquiet amongst the rank and file and set a few hares running. They include; (a) the lack of dialogue between KK and Mike Ashley. That can't be right. (b) KK's role in the procurement of players for Newcastle United and his place in the pecking order in the decision making as to who the club pursues and "fetches" to the club. KK's comments didn't inspire confidence he was the man in the driving seat in terms which players come to the club. KK can't have responsibility for the first team without the authority to shape it. © the relationship between KK and Chris Mort and Denis Wise. At the very least there is a lack of communication. (d) KK's lack of knowledge as to the budget available to bring new players to the club. We know we can't compete in the short term with those clubs being pumped up by CL and other money but its not unreasonable for us to have thoughts about competing with Everton, City, Spurs, Blackburn, Everton, Villa and Portsmouth. If we're going to be an also-ran let's hope we'll be breaking into a trot. (e) why is it taking so long to sort Michael Owen's contract? The same can be said regarding Steven Taylor and Oba Martins. Get a leg on, man! (f) sorting the club's debt and putting us on a sound financial footing and being mindful of the pitfalls of over-reaching ourselves a la Leeds is important but risk is also part of any business and just because one club has f***** up shouldn't mean there is a cap on ambition. Buying new players isn't an option for a football club in the same way buying petrol isn't if you are running a Ferrari. (g) Its also refreshing to be spoke to like adults following the years of cringeing at the bollocks spewed by Shepherd but questions and uncertainty remains. We've been told Ashley has put in a lot of dosh to stabilise the club's debts (is it just me or does it go up a few mill every time its quoted in the press?) but frankly that must have been a consideration in the business plan when he bought the club. Or are we being told between the lines Ashley failed to conduct due care and diligence in his purchase of the club? Was the money used to stabilise the debts due to the previous administration, money that would have been used to buy players by the new owner? We're in for an interesting summer but one thing is for certain, Ashley, Mort and the new directors, Wise included are under scrutiny over the next couple of months and we'll want to see the club conducting its business a lot more professionally than it has in the recent past. Those now running the club should understand we trust Kevin Keegan absolutely - we go back - we're just getting to know the new boys in the boardroom. Its my belief we'll discover a lot about them in the next month. We'll learn who is really in charge of the team at NUFC. And so will Kevin Keegan.

From nufc.com "Question Time A hyperbole-free account of current events, without using phrases like "Judgment Day" or "Kevin in Crisis" etc. The manager met the media on Thursday lunchtime to talk about Sunday's game away to Everton. Before that press conference got underway, Keegan said: "This press conference has been brought forward because I'm going London tomorrow to meet Mike Ashley. That's a good thing and I look forward to that." KK then confirmed he would only answer questions relating to Sunday's game. He also revealed that the club would find out in the next fortnight the length of Mark Viduka's unavailability through injury estimated at anything between three & six months. The manager meets the owner on Friday about subjects tbc. The Executive Director (Football) is also expected to be present. "

Yes, i think this is probably as close as can possibly be to what is going on at the moment without being inside the club. If that is the case, they need to just sit back and let KK work his magic. Let him do what he does best and build a footballing side, then when we get that sorted start plucking top young talent to compliment the first team.

Maybe, just maybe. This was KKs plan all along, just a gentle nudge to get the board under a "little" pressure to come out and say summik. Just a thought, could be totally wrong.

Mort said we offered higher wages to Modric but he chose Spurs becuase of London and the fact that they were playing in europe next season.

Go on Magpie lad you tell'em!

KK has said nowt wrong for me. Cant see why everyone is so concerned.

Absolute stroke of genius. Think back to England making (nearly) the same mistake two years ago, then make it yourself. What an idiot. Yep total Knacker, i dont think his powers of forcing people into doing it his way within the football world will work. Plenty of other high paid jobs and decent sized clubs outthere without the hassle of a human rights abuser bashing you over the head every 5 mins. "I pay you money, you win me many games" FUCK OFF DAFT CUNT

Haha, that's brilliant. http://i30.tinypic.com/2rggwvn.jpg It's from the Stoke game isn't it? Unimpressed on the day he returned. That's some going. f*** sake, could be taking about anything. "Keegan bores Ashley with his how to win at connect 4 in 7 easy steps"

usually between 12 and 3 aren't they ?

NUFC cant win, if we say we are going for 4th spot everybody in the media laughs and jokes. Newcastle and its fans getting carried away. Play it down and make some realistic comments about it going to be very hard and now we have no ambition.

When do they not? True, but that shouldn't stop KK speaking his mind. Again, true, but surely Keegan's experienced enough to know what the media are like. They'll pounce on anything and his interview was an easy target. So keegan shouldn't be himself and act like a Steve McClaren? "I thought we were magnificent tonight"