manorpark

Because we arent the only team in the league with a good manager, the other teams also have more settled squads. Honestly I think we probably will make a big improvement and will finish top 7 but it wont be the bare minimum because we won't definitely be the 7th best team in the league next year. I don't have any pre-conceived answers to this, so it is not a 'loaded' question - but do you think that Ashley would be content with 7th/less than 7th, some 10 months after he has spent £133M to buy the club + Debt Repayment, plus money on players in two transfer windows? What do you think he would expect the following season? I am sure Allardyce will tell jim straight and I hope he actually looks at the bigger picture. Do you think Lerner is going to sack M'ON for finishing 11th? I am an Allerdyce fan, and I am certain he will explain the practicalities. My concern is that (as for Raniere and Abramovich) Allerdyce is not "Ashley's man". It could be to our benefit, it may not be, but I feel there will be a combined pressure on here, to (a) build a sound structure, and (b) to start a big improvement - "ASAP".

Because we arent the only team in the league with a good manager, the other teams also have more settled squads. Honestly I think we probably will make a big improvement and will finish top 7 but it wont be the bare minimum because we won't definitely be the 7th best team in the league next year. I don't have any pre-conceived answers to this, so it is not a 'loaded' question - but do you think that Ashley would be content with 7th/less than 7th, some 10 months after he has spent £133M to buy the club + Debt Repayment, plus money on players in two transfer windows? What do you think he would expect the following season?

CLOSE SEASON: Ashley completes takeover and carries out his Strategic Review. The club is taken off the LSE and becomes a private company. A lot of our earned income, plus some of Ashleys own investment, is released to Sam Allerdyce. He (SA) "knows what he wants already". It is only the "who" that will vary, depending on the amount of money Ashley releases. Using his business brain, Ashley does not release to the media how much funding is available to Big Sam. Sam acquires an entire new defence of quality players, to add to Taylor and Given/Harper. Based on his philosophy of 'two good players for each position' he will need to acquire 7 new defensive players. All of his purchases will be 'value for money', with some of them (perhaps two) being very expensive "star" internationals, but always (even if costing £10M - £15M) being value for money. We will be nobodies soft-touch, no matter what the price level. Attacking players may be bought (perhaps one 'top' player?) but whether this happens depends partially on the Owen situation. Owen would be an idiot to leave . . but you never know. NEXT SEASON (2007/2008): That dreaded word - "consolidation" , but a form of consolidation that makes even our "dreams" of recent years, look low key. I would expect us to (at times) be mixing it at the top (hopefully prompting even the most bigotted of the London-media to 'hint' at a new member of the Top Four) but it may well be too early to maintain that level. The dreaded 'UEFA Cup' spot, may be the best we can hope for ("maybe" . . . ) We should do ok in both cups (Sam will have instilled a bit more 'steel' into our play and the new in-depth backroom structure is starting to pay dividends) but really, it is all about the season after. SEASON AFTER (2008/2009): We have to be REALISTIC. By that, I mean we have to be able to adjust to the NEW REALISM. We are (by then) 12 months into the post-takeover era and will have benefitted from two more productive transfer windows by then. Remember, we were already a VERY rich club, the 'debt' that some people went on about was always a structured and well-able-to-be-serviced debt that was nothing to worry about, but even that is probably now gone. Added to our already high income, we will have even further increased income (higher league placing / improved Ashley-inspired sponsorship / and improved Sky Premiership deal anyway) to which prudent (but I am sure very LARGE) amounts of Ashley's (SJHL) money will be added. In other words "lots of money". Champions League qualification will be Ashley's (probably unspoken) minimum aim for his second season. A flirtation with 'challenging for the title' would be good, also. THE CHAIRMAN: Mr F Shepherd is, from now on, a "figurehead" only. He will be useful (football club awareness/knowledge) to Ashley for a while, not likely to last long though. FINALLY: I think many of us (me included, to be fair) will find it VERY difficult to adjust to the new levels of 'what is realistic' in an already high-earning club, with a new motivated Billionaire owner pushing and pushing and pushing us onward. I have tried to reflect the new realism above, I may even have understated it. If our billionaire really pushes us on, financially - anything is possible. It is beyond our comprehension, really, I feel. As I say, I have tried to reflect this 'new realism' above - many will not class it as 'new realism' . . . . I suspect!!!

One other thing is - Souness has been saying that he didn't enjoy his time at Newcastle United and that we are a big club with big problems - and that Ashley should watch out!! (He is saying that "HE" didn't enjoy his time here!!!!!!!) And neither did we I remember in history (at school) there was something called "The Dark Ages". His time here was "Dark Ages 2 - The Return" !!!!! That's a PC game isn't it....I can't stand Souness, everytime he's on sky makes me want to punch the tv. Probably . . and yeah, I know THAT feeling!

One other thing is - Souness has been saying that he didn't enjoy his time at Newcastle United and that we are a big club with big problems - and that Ashley should watch out!! (He is saying that "HE" didn't enjoy his time here!!!!!!!) And neither did we I remember in history (at school) there was something called "The Dark Ages". His time here was "Dark Ages 2 - The Return" !!!!!

Tend to agree with your last comment. However, that is why Ashley and Allerdyce will be there. Their job is to "attract" the best in the initial period.

Isn't it great that DEFENDERS are being linked with us and being seen as exciting buys. Never seemed to really happen under the last two - we were always being linked with endless "midfielders" !

While obviously correct (no-one would pay £133M for anything less!) but it is a concept that is going to prove VERY difficult for some to assimilate, believe and accept. It will take a while.

One other thing is - Souness has been saying that he didn't enjoy his time at Newcastle United and that we are a big club with big problems - and that Ashley should watch out!! (He is saying that "HE" didn't enjoy his time here!!!!!!!)

Stranger things have happened with Newcastle in the past. Hopefully (in our new environment of "our money allied to Ashley's money") we will all soon come to accept that signing players like Torres is the norm and no longer qualifies to be classed as "stranger things". I am sure that is what our new owner has in mind - and I am happy to go along with him in that!!

Mega difference. Shearer was one of the top 3 players in the world at the time alongside Sammer & Ronaldo. If we'd just finished 12th in 1996, do you think he'd have turned down Man Utd to sign for us? No chance. Shearer signed for us to win things and to play in the Champions League. Luckily / coincidentally for him, we were also his home-town club.

Both?

Alan Shearer joined us for a world record fee, because we were (according to most people in football) "the next big thing". We were rich, we were 2nd only to Manchester United in income and popularity, we had a charismatic chairman and manager, allied to (what had always been there) a huge fanbase. He (along with Keegan, John Hall, me! and most of the countries football commentators) expected us to take over! He joined to win things. . . . and . . my goodness - it was also his 'home town club' - unbelievable, that it was there!!! (for him). It is "cosy" (and SO MANY people do it AUTOMATICALLY) to look back on it NOW, and only mention the one aspect of it all - the "home town club" aspect! It is revisionist, but cosy and 'easy to assimilate' - it just happens not (in isolation) to be true !! (but who cares about that). So, "here's to the next person" (poster-on-here / reporter in a paper, or whatever) who compares some 'jonny going home' (some Woodgate, or whoever) to Alan Shearer - it will never stop. Spot on. Even Shearer himself has refuted the notion that he turned down the chance to win things to join us, but what does he know? Many people 'do not listen to reality', because it does not suit them to do so.

One of the best commentaries was from "Match of the Day" in the early 1970s. We beat Arsenal 3-1 (if I remember rightly . . ) and we were attacking up the left wing. Bryan Robson makes a short pass forward to Wyn Davies and runs on, Wyn just 'flicks' the ball up into the air and into the path of the on-running Robson who 'half-volleys' it into the net from some 25 yards. "Oh What Football" shouts the commentator, Kenneth Wolstenhome, "Oh What Football" !!!!!!!!!!! Great commentary and a never-to-be-forgotton TV football moment - especially as it was against the Arsew*pes, and the BBC was (and some of you will not be able to believe this!) even more "parochial / London-centric" then, than it is now!

Alan Shearer joined us for a world record fee, because we were (according to most people in football) "the next big thing". We were rich, we were 2nd only to Manchester United in income and popularity, we had a charismatic chairman and manager, allied to (what had always been there) a huge fanbase. He (along with Keegan, John Hall, me! and most of the countries football commentators) expected us to take over! He joined to win things. . . . and . . my goodness - it was also his 'home town club' - unbelievable, that it was there!!! (for him). It is "cosy" (and SO MANY people do it AUTOMATICALLY) to look back on it NOW, and only mention the one aspect of it all - the "home town club" aspect! It is revisionist, but cosy and 'easy to assimilate' - it just happens not (in isolation) to be true !! (but who cares about that). So, "here's to the next person" (poster-on-here / reporter in a paper, or whatever) who compares some 'jonny going home' (some Woodgate, or whoever) to Alan Shearer - it will never stop.

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/premiership/article2631118.ece Shepherd supports Ashley to launch 'new Magpies era' By Andy Hunter Published: 08 June 2007 The billionaire retailer Mike Ashley took a significant step towards absolute control of Newcastle United yesterday when he bought out Freddy Shepherd and the chairman declared him the man to launch "a vibrant new era" on Tyneside. St James Holdings Limited, the company created by Ashley to acquire Newcastle shares, announced to the Stock Exchange that it had agreed to pay just over £37m for the Shepherd family's 28.06 per cent stake in the club at 101p a share. That investment gives the 25th-richest man in Britain almost 70 per cent of the company, following the 41.6 per cent holding he purchased for £55m from Sir John Hall a fortnight ago. Ashley, who made his fortune with the Sports Direct International retail chain, will assume control at St James' Park once he passes the 75 per cent threshold and can complete his ambitions for a £134.4m takeover, and to delist the club back into private ownership when he has acquired 90 per cent. Both targets now appear within Ashley's grasp, after Shepherd not only relinquished a 16-year financial interest in Newcastle but gave his support to the takeover and urged remaining shareholders to follow suit. The colourful and controversial chairman, currently recovering from pneumonia and a collapsed lung, initially opposed Ashley's bid for control but has reconsidered following a series of face-to-face meetings with the businessman. "As chairman of Newcastle United, I have always tried to act in the very best interests of this great football club, and stressed that should the right person emerge, then I would support them fully," Shepherd said. "I believe Mike Ashley and SJHL, along with new manager Sam Allardyce, can deliver a vibrant new era at Newcastle United and I sincerely hope that together we can all enjoy successful times." Shepherd's change of heart came after Ashley increased his offer from 100p a share and provided assurances he would be retained as a salaried chairman, although that position will be reviewed once the sports tycoon has, as is now anticipated, gained complete control of Newcastle. There is an unmistakable and rapid sense of change on Tyneside that applies not only to Ashley's takeover attempt. In his first week at the helm Allardyce has signed Mark Viduka on a free transfer from Middlesbrough, agreed a deal in principle to sign Joey Barton from Manchester City and last night it was confirmed that Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim should complete his move to St James' Park on Monday. "He is a free agent and he is available," Allardyce said of his former employee. "He has got three or four years of experience in the Premiership." Barton will finalise a £5.5m transfer once he has agreed the terms of his departure from Manchester City while the Newcastle manager met Viduka in London yesterday to secure the Australian international on a two-year contract, with the option of a third.

"PEANUTS . . PEANUTS . . . TANNER-A-BAG" (So I remember me grandad telling me . . )

Could not agree more, that is exactly what I have been thinking needs doing. Also, what about these two statues??

I was more excited in the other thread. This one is dull. Utter s*** isnt it. James has killed of the discussion. Well done pratt. Can it not be re-opened - and 'merge' these posts onto it??

I was more excited in the other thread. This one is dull. Mebbe - it was all "new" in the old one wasn't it. We are getting used to it all, a bit, now. Well actually . . . I'm not!!!! (opens another can!)

Thats what I thought Allerdyce said. This new BBC article is quite certain though - he is having a medical NOW!

Was the old thread a record at all?? No, but after the discussion about match day threads i thought it would have been easy to keep the debate going. Mind you, it was James who locked the thread, probably because most of the discussion was going over his enormously deformed head. May not have been a 'record' but it was a great thread to take part in (2741 Posts / 36,908 Views / 110 Pages!) A lot of the pleasure of taking part in the thread, was probably the subject-matter Hey, isn't it a GREAT close season!!!!!!!!!! Best for years . . . .

Was the old thread a record at all??

Hmm, not sure - he still seems to be quite a private man, and despite this takeover and visits to the North East, he still hasn't been photographed. If he can appoint a Chief Exec quick enough, and/or in time for completion of the takeover, then he may leave any announcements to them. However, I'm sure I read soemthign early days saying he would attend matches up here - will probably just have the windows of his private box fitted with two way mirrored galss!!!! I think that he (Ashley) intends to write a little about his vision and plans for the club, in the "offer document" that is being posted out today to shareholders. That should be a very interesting read. I am looking forward to that - just about the first direct words (apart from those in his letter of 23rd May) about 'our' future, from our new owner!

Didn't Shola come from the Academy? . . . . er yeah, see what you mean!!!!!!!! Actually, not sure he did come via the Academy?