jdckelly

whats worth noting is this from the head of the saudi arabian league that he expects 10 more investors to come into english clubs. Is this really a good thing? http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gVi5IQl2q0EYnTkoZ9hpvQVz7joA

well cardiff and swansea play in the english league so theres precedent there

probably is as celtic and rangers rarely get out of cl groups so 10m is really as much as they can get compared to 30m a season guarenteed in prem

or he was just asked a question about shearer and was honest about it?

i think he was speaking at a sporting chance clinic function or something like that and well if your a reporter you'd obviously ask about it. In fairness I'd hope both shearer and barton could act as adults to each other if he came back because we ain't going to be able to offload him, no one will chance it with barton. In the summer transfer window someone will try to buy him (if he is fit) Probably whoever gets promoted with us or a bottom 6 Prem team Hull would certainly take a chance on him if Phil Orange is still manager I doubt it, if there was anyone willing to risk a move to barton he'd be gone already

sadly most people with money aren't as careless as Mike Ashley when it comes to buying football clubs

jesus christ thats ridiculous

i think he was speaking at a sporting chance clinic function or something like that and well if your a reporter you'd obviously ask about it. In fairness I'd hope both shearer and barton could act as adults to each other if he came back because we ain't going to be able to offload him, no one will chance it with barton.

I think Norway are 6 points behind us, which would mean a draw would guarantee we wont finish bottom of the play off table, and HOPEFULLY mean we actually get their finishing 2nd in Group 8 as Bulgaria are 5 points behind us. If we draw im celebrating a successful group stage on Saturday night, as I think we will win on Wednesday (even if we may not have to). i think all we need to wrap up 2nd place is 2 points and we're more or less guaranteed not to have lowest total. its the rankings/seedings issues that worries me, while there are some teams ranked above us i think we could take (france are a disaster zone under domenech and greece aint that good) its who comes out of group 4 in play off, germany or russia that is of concern, neithers a pleasant prospect in a play off Neither are Croatia tbh. Sweden could still put us in the bottom 4 too (I assume by seeded you mean top 4 playing bottom 4? or is it international rankings?). 4 or 6 points with both France and Sweden getting either 0, 1, 3 or 4, would do lovely international rankings (hence why its such a blatant bailout of france germany) and for some bizzare reason i don't get we're ranked above sweeden despite them getting to tournements a lot

I think Norway are 6 points behind us, which would mean a draw would guarantee we wont finish bottom of the play off table, and HOPEFULLY mean we actually get their finishing 2nd in Group 8 as Bulgaria are 5 points behind us. If we draw im celebrating a successful group stage on Saturday night, as I think we will win on Wednesday (even if we may not have to). i think all we need to wrap up 2nd place is 2 points and we're more or less guaranteed not to have lowest total. its the rankings/seedings issues that worries me, while there are some teams ranked above us i think we could take (france are a disaster zone under domenech and greece aint that good) its who comes out of group 4 in play off, germany or russia that is of concern, neithers a pleasant prospect in a play off

i think theres some combination of results that will put republic seeded for the play off draw (feckin fifa and changing the rules in the middle of the competition because platini got down the phone to blatter in case france got someone tough in the play off) i think we need a sweedish win (bizzarily we're higher ranked than sweeden) and slovakia i think it is to win too. Meanwhile with italy only needing a point and us realisticly not going to win the group and 2 italian managers im going to out on a limb here and predict 0-0 result.

yes but then what are we going to talk about in international break?

Liverpool may have spent small this summer but they've spent a bomb in recent years. I don't know the net spending but 25M on Torres, 18M on Mascherano and 20M on Keane all in the space of a year is a level of spending most other clubs have no hope of competing with. the effects of those yanks buyout are starting to hit liverpools spending and even with cl money their net spending is below a lot of teams this year. Though you are right rafas net spend is fairly big alright Of course it is thats why teams find it so hard to break the top 4. The CL money gives them a massive advantage which means it would be almost impossible to break nowadays without Billionaire backing. I don't think we need to worry about challenging for CL places, I'd be happy being in the UEfa every couple of seasons and playing some decent football. the downside is how addicted to the cl cash the sky 4 are, in particular liverpool and man u. One bad season and a miss on cl places and they are so badly up the shit creek it won't even be funny. After all look what happened to leeds and what happened to their finances after missing out on cl when they had planned on having that cash to spend. Or even us though not to as great an extent so far. Arsenal would probably be able to handle a drop from the cl places (though they would lose players like fabregas and arshavin) and chelsea have abramovich cash to rely on so they'd be fine

Yeah what could go wrong with a DOF eh? in theory its a good idea, introduce football man to board to give the footballing perspective to board members who are more used to cash side of things and dof can act as go between manager and board. However so far in england its just ended up as dof buying players with or without managers knowledge depending on the case. not to mention our flirtation with the role. However I think in our case it was to do more with incompetent people appointed more than anything

Liverpool may have spent small this summer but they've spent a bomb in recent years. I don't know the net spending but 25M on Torres, 18M on Mascherano and 20M on Keane all in the space of a year is a level of spending most other clubs have no hope of competing with. the effects of those yanks buyout are starting to hit liverpools spending and even with cl money their net spending is below a lot of teams this year. Though you are right rafas net spend is fairly big alright

Not disparaging what Wenger's done at Arsenal at all - his track record with signings is superb - however when people point to Arsenal and say look what you can do with no money they never take into account the fact that Arsenal have the third highest wage bill in the premiership, double most non-CL clubs (over £100m in 08). That academy and holding on to the best that comes through it doesn't come cheap. they do have a large wage bill however its designed with a wage cap i think so they don't spend beyond what they can afford. The acedemy running costs are high there but it more than pays for itself with young talent making it into the 1st team saving on buying a player for that position and those who don't make it are sold on to mid-table/bottom half of prem team and the money goes to keeping the academy going

and apparently avram grant is being lined up for a return to fratton park in what role is not clear though

Not kicking you in the bollocks but surely if there are two rival consortiums meeting Ashley tonight, it would therefore imply competition and therefore a deal to be done by monday would be very very ambitious, especially by Ashley's standards. Agree that the KK issue has opended the door right up, but. Lets see if you are right on Monday hey? P.S. Why would Mort possibly want to return as Chairman given he probably had the chance to do so before now, with someone he knows and the Helm not some camel in the sand.

press association ain't exactly bullshitters But they will be being fed by the same sources as the Times, Mirror etc.... and usually thats not from the ashley point of view as simon bird and caulkin are both harsh critics of him. Ashley slanted "exclusives" tend to appear in the news of the world and the sun (see llambias interview during summer, what keegan was suing for recently in the sun, keegans "wish list" in notw last year you being serious? you reference the 2 national journalists who actually like Newcastle as a club and say therefore the press association won't be fed Ashley's bollocks and are you being serious with the outcome of the keegan case showing them as a bunch of liars that any press organisation with a shred of dignity would take anything that comes from the ashley regime as anything other than a bunch of self serving lies Skysports gave the man at the centre of it all the chance to "give his side of the story" without the slightest bit of interrogation, not sure I can hold the press association in any higher regard. After all a source is a source to them, at least its better than making them up as many of the papers seem to. skysports are just interested in getting more viewers on and with keegan haven given his side on espn they may have felt they needed to match that by getting wise to give his side

press association ain't exactly bullshitters But they will be being fed by the same sources as the Times, Mirror etc.... and usually thats not from the ashley point of view as simon bird and caulkin are both harsh critics of him. Ashley slanted "exclusives" tend to appear in the news of the world and the sun (see llambias interview during summer, what keegan was suing for recently in the sun, keegans "wish list" in notw last year you being serious? you reference the 2 national journalists who actually like Newcastle as a club and say therefore the press association won't be fed Ashley's bollocks and are you being serious with the outcome of the keegan case showing them as a bunch of liars that any press organisation with a shred of dignity would take anything that comes from the ashley regime as anything other than a bunch of self serving lies

press association ain't exactly bullshitters But they will be being fed by the same sources as the Times, Mirror etc.... and usually thats not from the ashley point of view as simon bird and caulkin are both harsh critics of him. Ashley slanted "exclusives" tend to appear in the news of the world and the sun (see llambias interview during summer, what keegan was suing for recently in the sun, keegans "wish list" in notw last year

press association ain't exactly bullshitters

Five different consortia are competing to complete a takeover at Newcastle, Press Association Sport understands. Tyneside businessman Barry Moat is one of the interested parties, and the preferred bidder of investment bankers Seymour Pierce, who were engaged by owner Mike Ashley to find a buyer back in May. However, four other groups, all understood to be based overseas - one of them in South Africa - are also currently engaged in dialogue with the hierarchy at St James' Park. In each case the interest is long-standing, and the resolution of former manager Kevin Keegan's case for constructive dismissal last week has opened the way for a deal to be struck. Keegan's legal team, of course, were seeking a total of more than £25million in damages and an award of that magnitude would have had serious financial consequences for the Magpies and any future owner. But the club were eventually ordered to pay the 58-year-old £2million, a sum that is manageable within the vastly-reduced budget upon which they are operating in the wake of relegation from the Barclays Premier League. However, while the removal of a major obstacle to any sale has opened the way for significant progress in the takeover saga, there is still some way to go before a deal can be pushed through. Ashley is still keen to sell but Newcastle's positive start to the season on the field has slightly reduced the urgency to do so. The sportswear magnate has insisted from the off he wants £100million for the club and that price remains non-negotiable despite speculation some would-be owners believe they can gain control for less. In addition, Ashley wants the successful candidates to prove they have the cash up front to complete a buy-out, something none of the five have done as yet. But sources on Tyneside insist, as they have done from the start, no timescale has been imposed on the ongoing discussions and it is simply a matter of who is first past the post. Newcastle are, of course, a much leaner outfit than they were a few months ago, although that is the result of necessity rather than prudence in the wake of a massive reduction in revenue following the drop from the top flight. Many members of last season's squad - the likes of Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Obafemi Martins, Sebastien Bassong, Damien Duff, Habib Beye and Claudio Cacapa - have departed and the annual wage bill has fallen from £74million to around half that figure. Against the odds, the Magpies still led the Championship table by three points going into the break for international matches and, if they manage to sustain that level of performance and climb back into the big time, their income would increase dramatically once again. However, so too would their need to buy, with the current squad short on numbers and much weaker in terms of quality than the one that slipped out of the division in May, and that would call for major investment from whoever was in the boardroom at the time.

that ones been on off for a few years

Didn't just walk out on him tbh, walked out on us. Should have just went public with the story then Ashley would have had to either fire him or back him. Anyone with any sense would blame Keegan as well as Ashley. The above response spells out what he should have done. I know how much I love this club, Keegan says he loves this club, I know that I would NOT have done what he did and would have done something like what is suggested above. Someone who loved the club and the city and the supporters (in his position) would do a MILLION things, would do ANYTHING . . . rather than walk out on the club and supporters so soon after he came back to 'finish unfinished business'. I know that genuinly blind and almost obsessed Keegan lovers CAN NOT accept that he is even partially to blame. They just never will, which is a shame. If Keegan had of waited until he was sacked, he would have been entitled to even more money !!!! And you would have still been having a go at him for that as well, how about looking at Ashleys part for putting Keegan in the postion where he had to do what he did ? Why?? We all know that Ashley is to blame for this . . . THAT is not at issue. What IS at issue is that there are some people who do not think that Keegan shares some of the blame. I repeat (!!!) he should not have resigned, he should have done what has been suggested - if he really loved the club as he says he does. So you accept that Ashely forced Keegan to walk by lying and undermining him on transfers, but Keegan should have stuck it out and waited for a even bigger fat wedge for getting sacked !!!! Have i got this right, because if i have then that would have been even worse for the club. As it stands he got a small payout (how much did fat sam get for getting sacked) and shown to the world how badly Ashley has been running this club. again if he was sacked in the traditional sense all he would have got was 2m thanks to the clause in his contract