quayside

Class imo.

Panic sets in at this time of year. Bluffs have been called and clubs that need to sign players, sometimes just to prove they are in the market, pay silly money.

Indeed. Getting stick from his own fans - they don't like the fact that he used to play for the "other" Turkish team

Levy is about as good as there is at extracting value, but we got £35 million for Andy Carroll which will probably rank as the all time over-valuation. Yohan was really poor last season and whatever is going on around them great players will show their class - and he didn't. £15 million would be a decent piece of business on the face of it, what happens to that money is for another discussion.....

The end of last season proved that The City players have hearts the size of peas. However now they've got a new brilliant manager with a positive outlook and they're revitalised. You may be right but we are only one game into the season and its far too early to judge. The sheer talent in their squad is mind boggling and they quite clearly have the weapons to win the league convincingly. But playing a side like us at home on a warm August night is certainly not a test of their heart. Yes but coming off the back of last season what has changed? We have one new player! Aside from that it's the same manager, same players, same result and same performance. My post was about Man City. I was simply saying that last night doesn't prove that last seasons "lack of heart" issues have vanished. I don't think it revealed much about Pellegrini either, although we now know he clearly isn't anti 4-4-2.

The end of last season proved that The City players have hearts the size of peas. However now they've got a new brilliant manager with a positive outlook and they're revitalised. You may be right but we are only one game into the season and its far too early to judge. The sheer talent in their squad is mind boggling and they quite clearly have the weapons to win the league convincingly. But playing a side like us at home on a warm August night is certainly not a test of their heart.

As a matter of interest why? I'm not saying he's the most cost/effective player we could go for for but as an out and out winger he's way better than what we have and the money side of it isn't our worry, is it?

Without debating the merits of Downing the team that won the Premiership last season had players who could play effectively as wingers in their squad. They didn't use them that way every game but you have to have options. I agree in principle but I think an interest in players like Downing signals a return to a flat midfield four, which doesn't suit more a large number of our better players.Also, I'd like to see Pardew successfully implement a cohesive style of play before worrying about tactical flexibility. His indecisiveness about such matters last season didn't help us at all. I do think Pardew did nor/does not close the deals on player transfers. I also think he was left short for a good chunk of last season. Reinforcements were provided in January but tbh its not so easy to bed new players into a squad mid season. OK got that stuff out of the way! Downing would be a weird signing in terms of age/profile etc but he's better than what we have to do that job right now. A lower league. younger player would make a lot more sense. Give the manager a decent range of weapons and if he doesn't deliver he has to go and there is no poisoned chalice for whoever takes over - but if that is JFK I am back to sniffing glue.

Without debating the merits of Downing the team that won the Premiership last season had players who could play effectively as wingers in their squad. They didn't use them that way every game but you have to have options.

Could not resist a bit of internet research on this one. Was it Alan Foggon?

Bit harsh. It would probably be the best way to achieve closure I think.

Not in the slightest bit arsed about what he does or doesn't "say" in interviews. I really could not give a f*ck. All managers talk utter crap in press interviews. One good season, one bad season - what happens next? I hope he gets a balanced squad to work with, he did not have that for a good chunk of last season. Remy coming in looks good, another striker, a decent defender and a winger (or two), and if we hang on to our best players he has to deliver or die imo.

Late to the thread - but from the title I thought it might be an opportunity for anyone who has an unfashionable view to let it go here. Like Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Krul etc have not put in transfer requests and we have not sacked Pardew so everything is clearly cool at SJP - that sort of stuff?

He did. I'm probably one of the more optimistic punters on this forum but every word that comes out of Kinnear's mouth still scares the crap out of me.

Hi Joe C*nt

Just an observation - I do not think that when JFK mentioned fan "forums" he was referring to anything on the internet. There is a definition of the word "forum" that reads "a public meeting place for open discussion" and it is this type of forum I believe JFK was alluding to. I would like to make it clear that I do not intend this post to be construed as any sort of offer by me to act as an interpreter for his public utterances (past, present or future).

The journo's name is Paul Rowan.

There's no saying how this will pan out. But if I were AP I would not walk because I would back myself to win any sort of PR victory over JFK. FFS you can win that particular contest by saying nothing and letting JFK destroy himself every time he opens his mouth. Also I would back myself to stand the pressure better than JFK can, he would be more likely to crack before AP. Plus if Ashley wants rid then I would want a simple full payout without having to go through the complexities of walking and then needing to launch a constructive dismissal claim to get what's due.

Only "evidence" is Daily Mail theory that they have known each other for 10 years or more (possibly through drinking in the same pub in the Hertfordshire village where Ashley spends most of his time) and Ashley likes him and respects his knowledge of football. Its not much but there is clearly some sort of bond between them otherwise why all this?

No he hasnt, hes moved sideways. why are people talking utter bollocks about all of this? Lambazy is an accountant(effectively) and should never have been involved on the football side. Its clear that the press are printing all sorts of made up junk over this, and some you sponges are just accepting it. Be discerning for once in yer life!

A typically perceptive piece by Henry Winter in today's Telegraph: Even SportsDirect’s annual report trumpets Ashley’s business as the “consumers’ champion”. So why such current disregard for the customers and consumers otherwise known as Newcastle supporters? Ashley’s appointment of Joe Kinnear as director of football on a three-year contract has been greeted with inevitable dismay by the majority of them. Their anger understandably intensified when Kinnear made derogatory remarks about them, questioning their intelligence in a radio interview. A SportsDirect employee showing such a lack of respect to customers would not last long. Since it emerged that Kinnear was returning to St James’ Park, the spotlight has primarily shone on the ebullient, often foul-mouthed, always opinionated Dubliner with the gift of the gaffe. After four years out of the game, Kinnear was hardly going to turn down the opportunity of such an influential role at such a prominent club. Three years’ money? Thank you very much. It is pointless blaming Kinnear. The real question is why Ashley has rolled this 66-year-old human hand grenade through St James’ Park (unless it is an elaborate plan to try the patience of Alan Pardew to the point where the manager walks). Ashley knows that Newcastle fans themselves will not walk away, that they are not like SportsDirect customers who can switch to another store if the service or goods are poor. Newcastle fans are loyal. St James’ Park dominates the city landscape figuratively and emotionally. Season‑tickets are a laminated show of faith. Deciding not to renew is a huge and painful step. Ashley understands that. So why push some towards considering cutting bonds made at birth? At the very least, some fans may simply record their dissent by limiting expenditure at the club shop, at the catering outlets, affecting Ashley’s profits. Ashley is a brilliant businessman, an entrepreneur who incentivises his SportsDirect workforce to deliver impressive returns. I have only ever had five minutes in his company but even during that fleeting period it was impossible not to admire his sharp analytical mind. He took a couple of the footballing issues of the day, dismantled them and then put them back together, suggesting possible solutions. So his alienating of Newcastle fans defies the logic he applies to his working life. So where to go from here? First, Ashley needs to remind Kinnear of some of the principles that make SportsDirect so successful. The new director of football has to show more respect to fans, staff and players. Creative tension may work in rock bands and theatrical troupes but teams and clubs need unity. Togetherness was one of the key ingredients of Wimbledon under Kinnear in the Nineties. There were some feisty characters in the dressing-room but they usually stood shoulder to shoulder when it counted, when the opposition threatened most. At Wimbledon, some of the players would talk positively about Kinnear’s man-management qualities, the way he challenged them to do better. Marcus Gayle improved under Kinnear’s constant coaxing. When Gayle suffered a dip in form for the then Premier League side, Kinnear would shout: “Do you want to go back to where you come from?” Back to the third tier. If Ashley’s gamble is to pay off, he needs Kinnear to appreciate that the game has changed, that motivating modern millionaires requires more subtlety than his Wimbledon rhetoric. Footballers now are far more sensitive than the old Crazy Gang. If Kinnear wants to keep Newcastle’s best players, he cannot refer to Yohan Cabaye as Yohan Kebab. He called Charles N’Zogbia Charles Insomnia in 2009 and the winger left. It is disrespectful. I have interviewed Kinnear down the years and he is a far shrewder individual than the circus act currently filling bulletins and headlines. He must know this aggressive stance is dangerous. Ashley might want Kinnear to shake Newcastle up, avoiding a repeat of last season’s wobble, but not to the extent of civil war. It is hard to imagine Ashley allowing one of his executives to belittle those business reporters who help to shape the image of SportsDirect. Kinnear should urgently rethink his denigrating of what he calls the “snidey press”, who are actually individuals who care about the club and spend their life chronicling its importance to so many. Deliberately fostering a stressful environment is also hardly sensible for somebody who suffered a heart attack in 1999 and underwent heart bypass surgery in 2009. Kinnear should calm down and make some friends in one of the country’s friendliest cities. Ashley also needs to advise Kinnear that his old recruiting grounds, lower leagues and non-League, are not as fertile as before. Newcastle have enjoyed success bringing in players from France. Ashley needs Kinnear to work well with the chief scout, Graham Carr, whose talent-spotting skills are much admired by other chairmen. Newcastle’s statement must have made painful reading for Carr and Pardew, saying they “will report into Joe”. Kinnear is in charge. The new director of football insists he will not pick the team but he’s above the man who does. Pardew has effectively been downgraded to first-team coach, unfair on a decent manager. This is no way to run a club or a business.

Strangest thing for me was Kinnear in his sky sports interview said Llambias would control finances at the club...he then said in his Talksport interview that he had resigned 10 days ago and when asked what's his message towards the negative Newcastle fans, his response was 'well what do they want? Ask them if the want Derek Lambazey back?'. I then assumed Llambias had gone all together but then he was in the club statement as Managing Director (which i assumed he always was) welcoming Kinnear to the club. Now it comes out he has in fact resigned all together from the club. It's all very unclear what is actually going and it’s painful to watch it all unfold. I've never wanted to hear Pardew's voice so much to see if we can gauge a feeling of what his thoughts realistically are. Deciphering the crap spouted by JFK is a dark art, but I think he was saying that Lambias had quit from the football side of things but was staying on to oversee the rest of it. It now seems quite possible that Llambias knew nothing about this change of role until JFK was appointed. As I said above don't read anything into the official welcome message from DL to JFK, its just standard PR blurb trotted out whenever anyone is appointed.

I don't think that welcome attributed to Llambias was anything other than standard guff written by some lackey in the clubs PR office. As you say there has been a massive breakdown in the relationship between Ashley and Llambias. Possibilities are that (as Kaka said) Ashley doesn't think DL was getting the job down on the football transfer side of things, and/or tension between them over whether Pardew should be sacked or not, and/or simply that Ashley impulsively decided to give his mate JFK a job without consulting anyone else in the club.

Clearly wasn't involved in bringing JFK to the club and feels he has been shafted by Ashley.

I'd love to have this fuckwit back. Hmm.....did he ever apologise to fans (and the good lady folk of Newcastle) after the Marbella brothel incident?