Consortium of one

Based on? I'm assuming transfer budgets were discussed before he accepted the position. The much publicised interview at the back end of last season. I'd assume his specific role was discussed then as well, but he continually appears to suggest not. If he wasn't happy then with the transfer budget then he should have left at the end of the season. This is why I think Ashley was trying to prop up an uneasy alliance that was doomed to fail. I think he told both sides that it was going to work and both sides took that to mean that they would ultimately get their way. Wise, et al, got their way in the end and Keegan walked. There was a communications break down and as good as this management team is at procuring inexpensive talent, they appear to be as bad at communicating.

BBC website confirms http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/default.stm

Just because you get a big influx of cash doesn't mean you have to sell your soul in the process. No team I root for will ever have it's only asset be lots of cash. I just can't root for the kind of team that covers up mistakes by throwing more money at them. But, and it's a big but, there is nothing wrong with having some cash reserves to go out and make a difference. Having a big influx of cash should help accelerate the rebuilding process, ie: instead of waiting to sell players to buy the type of players you want, you can go and buy the types of players you want and then go and sell the dead wood. Once you have balanced the team then you can go and balance the budget and then run the team in a fiscally sane way. That way you can save your cash reserves for that one player that will put you over the top and/or make improvements to the stadium or training grounds if needed. I understand what Ashley is trying to do and I agree with it. It should take a while to undo the mess and rebuild the team the right way if you don't have a ton of cash handy. My only beef (not with Ashley atm) is that someone was telling Keegan one thing and then trying to do something else behind his back.

The decision that Mike Ashley makes regarding this situation will define his ownership of the club. He's at the Rubicon and he can't just dip his toes in the water. He has to cross or not.

I think Ashley has tried to get them to work all together. It's failed. Ashley has to now make the tough decision: either fully support the management team or fully support Keegan. If he supports the management team, Keegan is gone. If he supports Keegan someone else's head will role, probably Wise's. If Ashley tries to patch this up, it won't work. He's tried that already and all it's done is get us to where we are. He has to make an emphatic decision and it can't be gray. It has to be black and white (yes that's a pun, too).

I think we'll start off ----------------------Given---------------------- Beye-------Taylor--------Colo--------Enrique Jonas------Guthrie------Barton------Zogs -------------Owen-------Martins------------- But will hopefully go to ----------------------Given---------------------- Beye-------Taylor--------Colo--------Enrique Jonas------Nacho------Guthrie------Zogs -------------Owen-------Xisco------------- Right now (outside of injury) I see our primary problem areas to be Enrique and N'Zogbia, especially Zogs. I don't get to see every game but Enrique can only play at one speed and lacks finesse. Zogs looks like he's given a lot of space to operate and allows himself to be drawn in with the ball at his feet and then he gets his pocket picked. I don't think N'zogbia can be counted on to deliver reliable service from the left wing. I liked they way we played 4-3-3 last year but given the injury record of our forwards can we do it again? Right now, the best thing about 4-3-3 is that it gets Zogs off the pitch, IMO. I'd rather see us play 4-4-2 and integrate Nach in as a playmaker and Xisco as target man. Let Guthrie and Barton foght it out as holding MF. Look for the needed help at both FB spots (more of a back up for Beye, someone to push Enrique, who still could bloom) and left wing to replace Zogs. I'd look to move Smith on and perhaps Barton if he loses out to Guthrie. If Guthrie wins the holding spot and Barton gets moved, I'd bring in a genuine DM to cover Guthrie and start when a more defensive lineup is required.

The players back Keegan and Keegan comes back to them, bristling with power and authority, "They wanted to sell the lot of you lads. They said all of you had a price. Especially you, Smitty. They said if you tried to kick a ball into the ocean, you'd miss. And you would but that's not the point. The point is I'm the gaffer and I decide who goes and who stays and you're my lads so I say you stay. All of you. Well, at least until January. Right, so let's get ready for Hull!"

Next couple of important dates: Friday 9-5-08 Final FM weegie update Saturday 9-13-08 (h) Hull City

Someone is in over their head and it ain't Keegan. I don't think Ashley had anything to do with this but I'll bet he's the one who is trying to set it right. At some point I have the feeling that Ashley is going to decide that owning a football club and being held up for public scorn isn't all that much fun and he's going to sell. Here's what I hope for: 1) Keegan stays 2) He's told that he really, finally, definitely has final say over all player moves 3) Ashley takes on a partner or sells so the club has more cash* available 4) This summer's acquisitions play really well so Keegan trusts the 3 amigos judgement on talent 5) Targets are identified for the January window and the team can reasonably secure it so the dead wood can be continued to be trimmed off the current roster. 6) The club move forward * cash as in cold hard cash. Ashley may be worth X but his worth is measured in mostly non cash assets. It would take time for him to liquidize some assets to have some ready cash.

A lot of inconsistencies Milner: Initially we heard Keegan didn't want him to go. Then he's gone for a great fee and Keegan seems happy and says it was necessary to move the team forward. Barton: the club want to sack him and Keegan doesn't. Barton is talked about in a 3 team transfer but then Barton is quoted as saying that he feels he owes it to Newcastle to stay. Owen: is asked for to settle for reduced wages for a few months but then as the window is closing NUFC release that they are offering him a raise over 3 years. Keegan says he wants proven Premiership players and doesn't fancy South American players. He gets 4 South American players and only one player with limited Premiership experience. I REALLY like the talent that has been brought in but there seems to be a huge disconnect between Keegan and the management team (Llambias, wise, Vetere, Jiminez). And this disconnect appears to have been there right along. I honestly don't know how this uneasy alliance has stayed together for as long as it has.

I'll bet Keegan wants more say in personnell and he's going to get it. As Bill Parcells once said, "If you want me to cook the meal, you should let me buy the groceries."

In order to save money, Keegan was doing double duty as the Webmaster. Since he has gone, apparently, there is no one there to update the website with the news...

Put it this way, if we could sell him tomorrow for let's say 7 million and we could save 18 million in wages over the next 3 years, thatr would give us 25 million to attract a striker (transfer fee and wages) to build our team around. I think there are options out there who would prove to add more value than Owen has done in the past three years for us. Obviously I appreciate there is only one day left in the transfer window, so all of this is now merely a theoretical possibility, which is exactly why I am not happy with this news: we have failed to deal with this situation when we could and are now in a position where we are no longer the party in control.. You make some really good points but what top flight striker would come to us when we can't offer European football? Perhaps the thought is that by paying Owen to stay gives us a better chance at Euro football next year with him than we would have without him. It's a gamble and the team loses if he has a lot of those niggling injuries but if he stays healthy, we know he can hit the back of the net and maybe steal a berth in Europe next year. It's a tough call.

i dont think its a love in by any means, or the op certainly isnt, its simply a plea to back him, as he is ours, and while he stays ours, which appears to be the forseeable future, then we should be behind him 100%. if kk is, thats enough for me. this

pass and move.attack as a unit,defend as a unit. Yep and that's going to take a while for our team to get to that point. Wenger does it the right way. He's a TEAM builder.

Message boards always get polarized. There people on the positive side and there are people on the negative side. The vast amount of people are between them and they invariably get pushed out to the extremes based solely on as little as one portion of one post. I'musually pretty positive and prefer to optimistic. I don't like to criticize my teams all that much but if someone else wants to that's their right. When somone is always negative, I do wonder why they bother to root, though. Anyways, arguing over the quality of our fandom is kind of silly. I'd much rather discuss strategy. Like why did Arse back off after Persie's PK? What contributed to our run of good form mid game? And why didn't it lead to more legit shots on goal? FWIW, Arsenal dominated because they had more talent on the pitch and that talent was far more cohesive than the injury riddled, thrown together XI that we had. We have some nice pieces and I hope we sign a few more. If we do, it's going to take a while for them all to gel. Until then, we're going to have to deal with some shit. But don't forget that shit makes the flowers grow

Arsenal had free run of the midfield and were able to bring massive amounts of players forward. Arsenal's communication and passing were sublime and they would have made most defenses look bad on this day.

Arsenal's play in the box was exquisite and was made possible because they won the midfield. Butt was horrible, IMO, and way out of his league in this game. Zog's was ineffective tracking back, Guthrie was over run at times (though no fault of his own) and I thought Jones was MoM. He has a great workrate and has a good head about him. He made some canny passes that went whoosh over Ameobi's and one or two other heads. I thought the team played rushed early on aqnd had they been able to score wen the tempo slowedcould ave made it more interesting. Nasri is a little punk and I'll be watching him.

After watching that, I am so pumped, even if we don't bring in a single player.

stealing a point would be clutch, given the circumstances.

If he could play 3-4 positions well enough, he'd be worth 4m. Assuming LB, CD and DM, I'm sure Keegan could get him a lot of minutes. With a smallish squad having some players with a lot of versatility is a must.

I think some of the panic comes from the current striker situation and that is due to injury/injury proneness. I really like the players that have been brought in, it highlights the scouting ability. The players who were gone early, weren't integral parts of the team. However, Faye and now Milner were integral parts and their loss from an already thin squad is problematic. I think everyone would feel a little better if 2 or 3 squad players had been brought in early. If the squad were fuller, one or two big deadline signings would have put us over the top (so to speak) rather than just getting us up to par as far as squad size and flexibility are concerned. I think the team desperately needs a creative midfielder and a young striker to cover an aging and injury prone trio for this season. Those needs have been there right along but are exacerbated by a lack of quality depth throughout the roster. Keeper is the only position I'm OK with right now.

Seb Larsson Joao Moutinho or Skjelbred Young striker (I've seen Trejo's name metioned for the PL) Young RB

Yes. If we don't have a replacement on board, Milner can wait until January.

This. I removed my post ripping him. I posted it before I knew he handed in his request a week ago.