Consortium of one

American sports teams are catching on to the business model that Baggio is talking about. In American football, which has a salary cap, a lot of the roster is populated by "value" players. These "value" players are not as experienced, don't make as much money and, in many cases, will not be quite as good as their more experienced, more expensive counterparts. However, they have the potential to be as good, if not better, and allow the team to have the flexibility to spend more for other key areas of need. Now, American football has a salary cap while, say, American baseball does not. However, in reality everything has a cap, whether plainly stated or administered or not. Even the New York Yankees, whose payroll nearly doubled the next highest team's payroll cannot maintain that level and remain profitable. They too are pursuing this model. This model is predicated on scouting and player development. It is imperative to be able to spot talented youth and train them to maximize their value. It is also predicated on being able to unearth young talent that is further along the development path and coaching them to a level beyond what had been expected of them by their current clubs. Someone's else shit player who is never going to develop may be your squad player who will run through a wall for you because you recognized his talent, helped develop it and gave him a shot. Who knows, maybe some of these players develop into stars or solid starters. Once the stream of younger, capable, less expensive players gets established, money is available to safely address key areas and, most importantly, retain your own players who develop into stars. To begin, this is not a sexy way to go about business. For a team that has made it a habit to buy older, experienced players who are paid more and more than likely on the downside, this model can be quite a shock. While the back room staff is built up, the roster most likely has to be torn down. Branch Rickey, one of the greatest GMs in baseball had a saying, "Better to get rid of a player a year too early than a year too late." and he is right. The dead or dying wood has to be trimmed. It does not have to be a scorched earth policy though, at least in most cases. However, expectations do have to be lowered. The temptation for the quick fix has to be overcome and there has to be a level of commitment from everyone in the organization. Ownership has to ensure that money has to be spent on scouting and development. Scouts have to work hard to unearth talent. Coaches and managers have to be consistent in their approach to training from top to bottom. Patience is a virtue for the club and it's employees and for the supporters. This model is not a guarantee for success. Your scouting staff may not be up to the task. The ownership may be unwilling to commit the necessary funds to scouting and development. The manager may become impatient and feel the need to get results now. The club may do everything perfectly and the talent just doesn't pan out or there are injuries. There are no guarantees. However, I see this model as being the only one that will have a chance in the emerging economy. The days of being able to throw money around will be going, going gone. Even if the media pot of gold stays the same or even continues to grow, other revenue streams will be shrinking, including the pockets of the fans. The smart teams will adapt, the dumb teams will continue to throw money at problems, money they may no longer have available to them.

I voted to postpone the decision. I think the team has to have the right players around Owen. I'm probably not going to say this right but I can't see him as the primary scoring threat. He'd be much better off with other legit scoring or on the ball threats around him to take pressure off of him. I don't think he's big enough, strong enough or fast enough to be the primary focus of a team's defense but if he has space to slip into he can be deadly. The 433 with he, Oba and Viduka was ideal for him. Oba is pacey and is a concern and Duke was a big, strong guy who could hold up the ball. The type of player that Owen is is ideal to play offof that combination, IMO.

Has he been seen at SJP yet?

Seeing that Youtube video of an Allardyce training session. It drove home how totally misconfused the team was. They played like there were footprints all over the pitch and they were thinking, "Step here, step here, then here...or was it there?" and they were completely clueless and unable to react to the ball naturally. He signed crappy players and taught them crappy football.

Too young. Much too young. RIP

Before the end of May. I think there are targets already identified and close to being signed. The first one or two signings will be squad type signings. The bigger deals will take longer and will come in June or later.

I rang up Mr. Ashley's office, got put on conference call and heard the whole meeting. I thought everyone did?

I would guess this is what this whole meeting is about. Keegan is looking for older, more proven players. The rest of the staff is looking for younger more unproven players with upside. Ashley's going to get them together break out some nice cuban cigars, splash a little liquor around and get everyone on the same page.

Manager makes public statements Owner takes exception to, or wants clarification of said statements Owner and manager meet to discuss. Both leave the meeting on the same page. End of story. Nipped in the bud. Well done.

well played

I like Milner for his energy and don't mind his lack of pace but his crossing isn't quality enough to be first team for a top 5 or 6 squad. I also agree that he is a little to wispy to consistently man the middle. However, I think he'd be valuable as squad guy who can come in on either wing or the middle (for short periods) and give the team a differnet look or change of tempo. He's limited but he's easy to root for, IMO.

Turns out Modric is my 2nd cousin's 1st cousin once removed. I was given the phone number for my 2nd cousin's 1st cousin who lives in Zgreb so I called it on the off chance I could get Luka there. My 2nd cousin's 1st cousin answered the phone but damned if I could understand a word she said. I thought I caught the word "Newcastle" a couple of times but got frustrated and hung up. True story Really.

Don't you get the impression that the money is there, but we're not willing to pay over our own evaluation for players? They're not like Shepherd, who would probably say something like "Sod it, offer him £120k per week!" :S 5,4,3,2.... Oh sweet lord...see you all in about 20 pages when this gets resolved then... I'd aim higher

I'm getting extremely excited about Modric. His signing would send the massive message that Newcastle are going to be big players for years to come.

Taylor, like just about every other player, has performed better under Keegan once the Allardyce hangover wore off. He's played solid, if unspectacular, football and I hope he signs an extension.

Tevez

It could be like Thunderdome: Two posters enter, one poster leaves...

I think Duff can still be attractive to someone and moved. I tend to like the idea of Milner sharing time with Geremi. I think he is typical of the players under Allardyce: misused and with shaky confidence and I want to see him given an opportunity under Keegan. I really want to like Smith; he hustles his ass off, can play a lot of different positions but as someone else said, you could find a younger player to do what he does for a cheaper price.

Butt certainly looks like a first teamer and Barton is making a push, too. I'm a Geremi fan but I can't see him playing a full season at a high level next year. If he could live with being in the rotation one could make the point that he'd be the only player from the starting eleven to lose his position unless KK opts for a 4-4-2 next season. I'll be curious to see how the other teams try to deal with Viduka as the target man. Perhaps how he's defensed the rest of the way will tell us which direction KK will lean to for next season.

3-1 with one each for Viduka, Owen and Martins

Rozehnal doesn't have enough beef to play the back four in the EPL and, evidently, is having a problem elsewhere, too.

Barton is showing that a little confidence goes a long way. I think we've seen the worst of the team and hope we haven't yet seen it's best.

Butt's surprise really fired the team up. I was getting tired of Enrique's inartistic bombs in the first half. Butt's goal picked everyone up and they played a complete game in the 2nd half. It was great to see Geremi knock one home and better to see Martins do the same. Owen could be dangerous coming from the deeper position. Sometimes he would rush up and other times he'd hang back but just about everytime he rushed up he wasn't marked very well. Butt did a good job controlling the middle, Barton looked energized and the back four were very solid.

have you seen spanish football. foul given everytime a piece of clothing is touched. shola's style would be more suited to the BSP. Yes, I have. What was it like? Very Spanish. Holy crap but this made me laugh...