Mike

Let's be a bit realistic, for a second. Pretend you're Jose Mourinho. You're sitting on your ass at home, doing absolutely nothing. If you continue to do absolutely nothing for another six or seven months, you could be the manager of Milan or Barcelona. You could go to Camp Nou and possibly be the man that guides Messi, dos Santos and Bojan through the rest of their careers. You could go to the San Siro and work with the best player in the world and aid in the development of Pato. or You could come to Newcastle and teach James Milner to cross a ball.

But we don't know the exact circumstances - personally I think Ashley didnt trust SA with his money and wouldnt give him much in the window, SA got fed up, and so they mutally parted. Might not have been as simple as Mort just getting rid. I agree that the actual circumstances are obfuscated by the speculation and rumor, but the one thing we do know is that moments before he "mutually parted", Sam was at a press conference apparently under the impression that he was preparing for the Man United game. A reporter mentioned the rumor that he was no longer employed, he said he had no idea about that and left to speak with the chairman. An hour later he was gone. If the above is true, then Ashley and Mort were well aware of Sam's future long before he even suspected there was a problem. With that in mind, there has to be a surreptitious way to contact out of work managers and gauge their interest in the position. Right now it seems like they all walked into a room, sat down, undid their jackets, sipped some water, looked at one another and said "'arry? Right. 'arry then." and fucked off to Hong Kong.

Everytime I wake up/log in, this situation gets more ridiculous/embarrassing. They actually fired Sam with no concrete replacement, in the middle of the transfer window? That's something right there.

I can't buy any of this. Why would you fire Sam to hire Harry? It's a lateral move. Redknapp was given time to build what he has built at Portsmouth. I have to hold out hope that the termination of Sam was done with some sort of plan in place.

Signed Alan Smith. This in turn saves us the visual of a shirtless Mike Ashley.

That press conference with Redknapp/McClaren holding the shirt up is going to be so depressing. I hate this thread for sucking me in.

Nailed on to not happen now.

Already have the new avatar up and everything. Like the text below it? Impressed by the entire thing, man.

Trying not to get drawn into the speculation. Know it'll be a letdown.

Already have the new avatar up and everything.

Steve McClaren with 100m...

I think what's happening is that they've targeted a specific, currently employed British manager. I doubt they've ruled foreigners out altogether. If their initial approach for whichever manager they have targeted is knocked back, they'll pursue other avenues.

Continue supporting Newcastle. what could be more obscene?

What's the problem with hiring a foreigner? Goddamn I wish this made sense.

Not foreign? Fucking hell.

What the fuck happened? Jesus Christ this is ridiculous. They have to have someone lined up. Shocked!

Have to say the same thing. Unbelievable.

Rozenhal really is fucking awful.

Even if it means 10 men, get Smith off.

Few minutes back over here. Has this actually happened?

Would love some subs, but who do you put in?

Is this massive bastard actually going to score on us?

Happens every second half.

Count yourself lucky you've never had to sit through North East Soccer Night. Or Super Soccer Saturday Sunday or whatever the fuck they call that.

Faye is making a case for himself.